Skip to main content

I'm going to...

the island of Ometepe!!! I'm not kidding, and I can't believe how lucky I am. I am going to the town of Merida, which has about 1500 people. I am going to be working in 4 schools. I have two counterparts, who I met today. One from the Ministry of Education, and one who works with MARENA, which is the environmental ministry. Tomorrow I am visiting my site for a week, so when I get back I will be spending a lot of money to upload A LOT of cool pictures. It's 2 hours by bus from Managua, 1 hour on a ferry, and then 2 more hours on a bus. It's remote, but lovely. There's also a biological field/research/education station there. Here's the webpage, and there's a Hacienda associated with them in Merida, and on their webpage there's a sort of map with a big arrow pointing at my house. There's also a tiny islet off the coast at Merida that I can kayak to apparently, and I might get to ride a horse to one of my schools, and the island has petroglyphs, honey production, and coffee!! Yes, I am the luckiest person alive.

There is also a lot of cool info about the island on the Bainbridge sister island page.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Denise, so happy you got the site you wanted!!! What an adventure! You will have to introduce me to your horse in March.

T
October 27, 2007 at 12:38 AM
Rani said…
Congrats! Be sure to post your new mailing address when you're settled.

Maybe I'll order some Ometepe coffee! I've decided to become a coffee drinker in Oregon. I'm brainstorming ways to survive the dreary rainy winter, and I'm crossing "hibernation" off the list. Sure, coffee makes me jittery, but it will wake me up, and help me fit in with the natives (caffeine and/or crystal meth addicts).

The websites look promising! Lots of smiling pale people. No one appears to be suffering from exotic parasites. Vegetarian-friendly buffet very enticing...
October 28, 2007 at 5:03 PM
Briana said…
Denise,

That's great! The website for the lab says they teach primate behavior and ethnobotany. Too cool!! Hope you get to take some classes as well as teach in your schools.

We sent you a care package yesterday (the 29th of Oct) hope it reaches you before you leave Managua.

Can't wait to hear more about what you're doing and going to be doing!

hugs,
Briana and company
PS - it hit 36 F here last night - eeks! Cold!
October 30, 2007 at 5:38 PM
Jenice said…
Hi Denise,

I am so happy that you got what you wanted. You will have to give me/us your address so that I can send you a care package. You will have to fill me in on your new town because I may just have to visit you and the field station;) Miss ya...j
November 2, 2007 at 8:44 PM
Anonymous said…
So you will be going from well to do to the real rural! You can do it! Will send chicken wire if needed!!!! You know I love you!!
November 3, 2007 at 5:37 PM
Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

The Land of Lost Things

I met my new therapist last week.  I test drove a few, and she was the one that stuck.  She seems like she's not going to let me get by with any bullshit, and she said a couple of things that zinged me in our very first meeting.  That was unexpected, delightful, and now, with time to think about it, terrifying. I've been doing so much soul searching lately, so much careful consideration of my life and where I am - you'd think I'd be finding myself, but instead I feel so completely lost.  A few reasons: 1. I sabotage relationships in a really predictable way.  I had always thought of this behavior in one way, but with one sentence, this woman last week made me question everything I thought about that.  It's good to question it; it's what I wanted, but to be confronted so quickly by something that I had never considered is frightening.  I've spent so much time trying to figure this stuff out, and it turns out that I've been so completely wrong about ...
6 comments
Read more

Series Finale

Life is not like Sex and the City, or Private Practice, or any other show where people in their late 20's / 30's / 40's are dating for our amusement. It's not fun. It's not glamorous. Relationships do not end with a lesson learned and a glass of wine. Okay, the wine is fairly accurate. The rest of it is crap. We watch those shows because of how inaccurate they are. We'd like to believe that after our latest heartbreak, we will recline in a bubble bath or in front of our computers, marveling at our newfound wisdom and patting ourselves on the back for becoming a more mature person. Let's for a moment apply this entirely artificial paradigm to my life. The basic ingredients are there: single woman in her distressingly late 20s, eligible-ish men, dates, alcohol, occasionally fabulous clothes. Hell, I've even got the klatch of cackling besties to tell me that the latest guy is unworthy of my distress. The basics are here. Things just don't see...
6 comments
Read more

2011 Reading Challenges

On the first day of this new year, I am pulling together the reading challenges in which I want to participate.  There are so many that sound interesting that I'm not doing, particularly a bunch of them that are regional authors, which I'm trying to cover with my Global Reading Challenge.  I've chosen a bunch of them, but the problem won't be reading quantity, but more like reading strategy.  I read 3 or 4 books a week and most of these challenges allow crossovers, so I see no problems reading enough books, merely reading the right books and then, perhaps more challenging, writing about them, which some challenges require, and some only suggest.  Either way, it's a neat way to prioritize reading for the coming year. The Challenges in Which I Shall Participate Southern Literature Challenge - I've never read enough Southern Lit, and while some of the newer stuff is truly awful, I'd like to explore some older books. It's any book set in the South by a S...
4 comments
Read more