Let's be real, today did not start off so hot. I guess I have had a little bit of traveler's sickness yesterday and today, and when I woke up at 4 am and tried to run outside to the latrine, I tiptoed to the living room but got yelled at simultaneously by the silly rooster and by Douglas' phone alarm that just happened to go off at that exact moment. Plus, the lock on the door was great for our safety but too daunting in my delirious state. Too many signs telling me I should not be up then, so I crawled back into bed and tried to sleep for a couple more hours.
When it was la hora to actually be awake, I watched baby Diegmar while Jenifer took the others to school. He is such an easy baby, he just played with his baby backpack the whole time! I made sure I had my own pack ready to go then because St. Luke was going to Los Alpes, an eco-tourism lodge. We pulled up and it is absolutely gorgeous with a great view out into the hills and forests, and our first stop here was to take a bathroom break. I was not feeling wonderful, but I definitely felt better after I vomité my breakfast (sorry if that is too much information!), so this was a key stop... And Meredith checked on me and made sure to give me pepto and the option of an anti-nausea pill, which was sweet and necessary. Fellow travelers, just take care of yourselves! Meredith offered me the option of staying in the lodge because it would be a home base for our day and did not know if there would be other bathroom options, but I was doing okay just sitting for a little while, and we all hopped back on the bus to learn how to make tortillas!
Steps to make this staple of the Nica diet:
1) Wash your hands.
2) Kira and Joy washed the kernels (already taken off the ears, other ears were hanging in their husks drying) in the kitchen sink.
3) To make masa, corn flour, all you need is just corn and water and put it through the grinder! Here our Doña (sorry I forgot her name!) demonstrates.
4) Once you have a mass of masa, put a little water on the dough, and knead it like Cody did.
5) Pat out small balls of masa into a larger circle on top of a circle of wax paper so it does not stick to the table. Kira came out with a pretty perfect one! People ragged on Francisco's because his did not turn out so beautiful, "It's supposed to be in your blood!"
6) You then slap the dough circle down on a hot metal sheet over burning wood and "dele vuelta," flip it over, with the huge knife.
7) Lastly, your cooked tortilla gets tossed onto a palm leaf to eat, nice and warm. Paul and Christopher are enjoying (and perhaps also comparing) their creations.
Round two: Jennifer and Meredith get in on the action.
Group pic!
We have all gotten pretty cozy with each other on this trip!
And back at the lodge, more bonding. While Kira and Chris may have preferred to just take naps in the hammock, the group was to take about an hour walk. And I was planning on going, but Luci said she did not feel well either but did not want to stay back in the lodge by herself, and Laurie offered to stay with her but I figured it may be a good idea for me to let my stomach get un-upset too.
Here is the view from the lodge while Luci and I took our needed hammock naps to rest up, and then I gave my camera to the rest of the group to take pictures...
... so this is what their forest walk looked like - apparently they learned about a lot of different species of plants and animals.
Cool tree.
Good job getting pictures, crew!
The group came back to the lounge and plopped down, but the thing was, if we were going to go ziplining, we had to go before lunch or there was potential for additional upset stomachs. Paul and Laurie decided to stay behind with Meredith and eat lunch, and the rest of us headed out Nica-style, AKA Jennifer, Don, and I sat in the cab while everyone else piled into the truck bed. Good they all like each other!
We all got outfitted with harnesses, which was kind of funny now that I had worn a skirt - oops! Kira and I had to wait on helmets, and what came were a teeny kid-sized for her and a too-big bike helmet for me. But at least we were going to be strapped in safely. While others did practice runs, Jennifer and I gave our cameras to Francisco, who gave up his chance to zipline and vowed to watch our things.
Unfortunately, we only had time to do three out of the eight runs that took us around the course and over the lagoon, but our guide was a character and let us do some tricks. Here's Don on his first run, which we all did normal to get the feel of it.
Yeah Don!
There he is, that little dot bouncing over the lake.
Joy, showing off some of that alegría!
The second run we could ask for no water or to be dunked in the lagoon, and I think most of us said "poco agua," just a little water - I may have skimmed it a little too intensely, but it was worth it, totally.
The third run was for some crazier stunts - some people did helicopters (I picked this one and nearly bowled the guy over catching us at the other end) and others even did some partner tricks. All in all, I am grateful for the time to rest before because I would not have wanted to miss this!
Back in the truck we went with two guides hanging off the sides, and our almuerzo, lunch, consisted of enchiladas with rice and refried beans and a glass of sweet tea. The beans were not a great idea for me, so I donated them, but I was glad to keep some food in my system. Word to the wise, stick to your rice, corn, and bananas/plantains to settle possible stomach issues.
Fun and games and exhilaration: over. Time for serious business: dress rehearsal. It's time to dance, folks! We got dropped off at the PML office and Meredith ran off to go pick up our costumes from Xuchialt, but our teacher Marta did not show up for another half hour. However, Sherscka came to hang out with us! We met Sherscka at a pre-trip dinner we had in July at Laurie and Luci's home, as she had flown up with a PML Nica high school delegation to visit Lane and Marion from St. Luke. They have been very involved with PML and so encouraging of our delegation, and if my memory serves me right, they had stayed with Sherscka's grandmother way back and now Sherscka is like family to them. She said she had a great time in Minnesota and it is wild to see us in her country!
When Marta got there, we ran through our dance a few times as Sherscka looked on, but she threw a different order at us than the choreography we had practiced, but don't worry, we got it all figured out, and then we ran off to change into our costumes. Only, we ran into some issues. Pint-sized Joy and Luci managed to slip on the yellow silk shirts without any problem, and Kira's blue shirt fit her well too, but there was no way Laurie, Jennifer, and I were going to pull those shirts over our heads without pleading for a little stretch in the fabric. So the three of us emerged from our makeshift changing room in the shirts we came wearing, tucked into our Nicaraguan folk skirts, having to make do (which, let's be honest, is totally Nicaraguan custom anyways - make the best of what you've got!). And this was made all the more hilarious by the fact that our guys were only given costume shirts, so we have traditional skirts, and they have traditional shirts and bandanas with the pants they came wearing!
A mis-matched crew we were, but Sherscka taught us how to tie our skirts to avoid wardrobe malfunctions and also how to trace down the side seams and hold our skirts by that first ribbon at the bottom. Perfect for swishing and twirling.
After that brief moment of costume panic, we had some time to breathe and to hang out while the lovely jovenes put on their makeup. Hopping on the bus for Gotitas while in our costumes, Jennifer exclaimed, "There's just so much skirt!" Truth. And we did not own these, we were renting them from Xuchialt, so we had to a) not make fools of ourselves dancing and b) take care of our pretty skirts.
The despedida, going-away party, was off to a late start, as most things are in Nicaragua, social events anyways. Our families trickled in, each having brought a dish for the potluck, which was their responsibility while we provided the entertainment. Meredith started off the night with a huge thank-you to our families and to the community, and then we got to our dance.
Gringos doing a Nicaraguan folk dance after two lessons and a rehearsal, ay! We also were dancing to a song without any lyrics that we had only practiced a couple times through not counting aloud, so when we performed it, we got off in a few places and while fun and our families applauded, we did not think we did it justice. There was just one main part in the middle that portions of the choreography got all mixed around, so we wanted to try to make our families proud, so we asked if we could do it over again. We may have looked a bit sillier, but it really did help us to count it out loud uno to ocho in unison. This second time was so much better, and when we all got through that middle part together, our audience recognized that and applauded lovingly. We then shared some laughs with our audience, but we did it! And we hopefully did not disappoint our dance teacher too much either.
I think Meredith had my camera at this point so she got some pictures of us (thanks Meredith!).
Francisco with his imaginary hat.
My partner Francisco, the lovely Francisco, and me.
Yay, we did it!
The next part of this going-away party, which literally translates to "farewell," Meredith kept us up in the front of the room and asked if there were any family members out there who would come up to the microphone and say a little bit about their experience with their delegate. There was an air of uncertainty out there to see if anybody would actually want to, but Johanna, Laurie and Luci's host mom came up to the mike. And after hearing so many lovely stories from Luci and Laurie about Johanna, especially her cooking, it was so clear what a positive experience they had with her. And man, when Johanna started talking, Luci and Laurie started crying, and I started getting teary too! For those of you who know me well, I hate crying. But I couldn't help it. It was amazing how much we all forged such strong bonds with our host families in less than two weeks. Bonds that surpassed language and all.
Following Johanna, Meredith invited anyone else who wanted to come up and share a little about their delegation experience, so all the families came up one by one. It was really too bad my papa could not be there for this, but it was nice to see his host mom and little host brother Frankie were able to come and hopefully feel included tonight. Each delegate got to have their moment up there with their family, sharing stories, thanksgiving, laughter, and tears, and after their family gave their peace, each of us got to talk about how being with our Nica families has touched us, mostly through Meredith's interpretation. Paul and Jennifer did theirs in Spanish (the Spanish profes they are!), and when my mama Jenifer came up and linked arms with me to get me up there, Meredith whispered, "I hope you'll do yours in Spanish too."
Jenifer and I were both crying when we got up there, hardly able to look at each other without laughing through our tears. I definitely not expect to be this much of a mess, but we were! And I was thankful she decided to speak first, beginning with an apology for her kids embarrassingly bad behavior towards me and saying I am like another member of her family. Then it was my turn to stumble through tears and Spanish, "Odio las despedidas..." I hate goodbyes... along with public speaking because I wanted to do my host family justice and not forget everything I wanted to thank them for. I just wanted to thank them for the incredible experience, for patience with my Spanish (especially my host brothers for playing with me even if I did not understand their kid-talk at all), and for their welcoming warmth. Conversations with my host mom were hands-down the best part of my homestay, and I also wanted to further encourage her for being so strong and for all of her future goals - she will be a great lawyer, and hopefully soon! I have truly learned so much from her and am so grateful for this entire experience.
Our turn at the mike for thank-yous and goodbyes.
All of us delegates have been touched by personal connections with our Nicaraguan families, surprised by how we could connect even though it was not easy at times. We will treasure how these homestays have impacted us, and even if the Carlos Nuñez community hosts one or twenty more delegations in the future through PML, Meredith said there seems to be always something a little extra special about that first delegation. After the "flowery" thank-yous, we could let all of the sadness and reminiscing go and just enjoy this last night with our families. Food time!
The host mamas had prepared this "caballo grande" for us - apparently the literal translation for potluck is "large horse"! We filled our plates with samplings of lots of dishes from repochetas filled with meat and cheese to boiled yucca, the usual rice and beans, some fried plantains, etc. I tried Johanna's melon fresco, and I of course had to have a glass of my own mama's too because I know from experience that hers is always awesome. I still was feeling a bit sick, but I ignored it because I wanted to dance - it's a fiesta after all! Don grabbed me to make up some merengue and try to encourage others to dance, and the fiesta started moving outside, following the piñata setup in the works.
Don also made my little brother pretty spanking happy by playing a little hot potato with this chimbomba too.
The majority of us flowed outside when the piñatas were ready then, with Luci's brother Jose at the helm, manning the pulley. Paul and Jennifer's clown face piñata got whacked first, with kids taking turns until it burst open. Then the scramble for the dulces, sweets, commenced!
Dad's/Francisco's/my tomato piñata came next, and here Maria Mercedes, one of the girls that eventually overcame her timidness to play frisbee and soccer with us gringos, takes a swing at it.
A rush for the cracked tomato!
Ignoring piñata pieces all over the ground, the crowd energy shifted to dance party with a mix of Latin dance music and Pitbull in the background. I danced with a few younger girls, some of whom just stared at me like I was crazy, but silly dancing is the best. Here Cody charms a little three-year old with his dance skills.
I danced a little with Paul and Jennifer too, who had picked up some merengue skills with their various Latin America experiences too.
I think Jenifer and the boys got a little overwhelmed with all of the noise and people, so we stayed for a while to help clean up inside Gotitas, and then headed home, with the boys complaining of weary feet and tossing chimbombas (balloons) up in the air. The dancing was maybe not the best idea for my traveler's sickness, but it was worth it. Physically and emotionally, we were all pretty wiped, but thankful for one last night together.
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