The Simple Life

I realized this morning that it has been over a week since I last posted to the blog. All I can say is that I feel as though the past week has been marked more by the enjoyment of simple activities and the establishment of somewhat of a routine that I expect to follow during my remaining time here.

Although the sun is shining at this moment, the past 4 days have been marked by near incessant rain. At first, I thought it was just the remnants of Tropical Storm Matthew passing through Nicaragua, but I am beginning to suspect that there may be more of this to come in the weeks ahead. People here say that October is usually the most severe month in terms of rainfall, but that since September has brought such a tremendous amount of rain, they don't know what to expect. Many areas of the country are currently experiencing terrible problems with flooding, and an area of Northern Nica that I hope to visit after I leave La Mariposa is inaccessible at the moment due to a collapsed bridge. Hence, I may need to reconsider my projected route.

I am still loving my homestay, and my Spanish is improving noticeably. Yesterday, my host mom Melba and I took a microbus to Managua to visit one of the fancy "super" mercados in order to buy ingredients to make cookies. For me, the supermarket felt a bit sterile and boring in relation to the open-air markets that are common here, but I think Melba was in love! She had never been before and commented on how much cleaner and more peaceful it was than the typical markets.

As a side note, I've been meaning to mention the microbus system of travel common in Nica. It's actually fairly similar to what I remember of the intercity transport system in Cameroon, and I'm often quite amused by watching how the system operates. Basically, from the wee hours of the morning and into the evening, small "microbuses" run up and down the streets, carrying passengers from city to city. Every bus has a designated doorman of sorts whose job it is to open and close the doors for incoming/outgoing passengers, collect the fares and yell the destination of the microbus multiple times at any passerby who seems as though he/she may have the slightest inclination to go anywhere.

In the interest of efficiency, passengers are encouraged to enter and exit the buses as quickly as humanly possible, and the guys at the door are often left hanging precariously out of the door as the bus speeds toward the next stop. Also to maximize revenues (I suppose), the buses are always packed to the gills and the doormen will almost always try to squeeze in one more person, regardless of whether that person's "seat" consists of someone else's lap. To be sure, personal space issues are moot in a microbus, and people here seem to accept without fuss having their knees crunched against someone else's or holding a package or child that belongs to their neighbor. That said, the trip is a serious bargain - to get from La Concha to Managua, for instance, a ride of about an hour, costs 23 cordoba - just slightly more than one dollar.

Anyway, a few highlights from last week: Bergman and I , along with his 5-year old son Pedro, visited a small finca de pinas (pineapple) owned by a local family. Getting there was a little precarious due to the abysmal condition of the road, and after multiple unsuccessful attempts to cross an especially treacherous section, we decided to abandon the truck in favor of walking. I was impressed by the finca and especially the diversity of crops growing there - papayas, plantains, bananas, coffee, all manner of herbs. As my conversation teacher and I discussed today, just about anything will grow in the rich soil around here. Also on this outing, Pedro taught me my new favorite word in Spanish: dinosaurio. It is, of course, the word for dinosaur, but with only two letters more than the English word, dinosaurio is pronounced dee-no-sow-oo-ree-oh. Much more fun to enunciate!

Later in the week, we visited the lovely city of Diriamba with its beautiful basilica (where Pope John Paul visited in the 80s). We stopped into an ecological museum containing lots of interesting information about the various ecosystems present in Nica and a great model of the largest volcanoes in the country that noted which are still active and when they last erupted (more than one of which was in the past six years!).

This weekend was pretty low-key due to the rain, but I used the opportunity to pull out the deck of cards I brought from the States and teach the kids to play War, or "Guerra" as it's known here. They were instantly hooked and I've returned home just about every night this week to find them playing cards at the table. Also, my host brother Chris and I killed a couple of hours playing "baseball" in the backyard using some stitched-together strips of cloth in the form of a ball and a stick (that fell apart after a couple of hundred swings). Who said having a good time requires fancy equipment?

This afternoon, I'm having coffee with a friend of Paulette's who has traveled extensively in Central America; I'm hoping she'll have some suggestions as far as interesting places to visit during the remainder of my time here. After that, I'll head back to the casa to bake a cake for little Yaser's fourth birthday, which is tomorrow. As I said, I've settled into a nice little routine here.

Okay, please keep your fingers crossed that Nica doesn't get hit with any major storms in the next few weeks. I am safe and sound, but the picture in other parts of the country is pretty grim right now. Muchas gracias!