Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

This is the back half of my worse classroom. It's missing part of its roof from a storm that swept through last school year.

Lizard in my mosquito net. A not very good picture of a urraca. Giant spider in my new house. There's actually a lot more to this cricket, but he blended in perfectly with my chair. Cool.

Andrew says my blog should be about clothes, but I'm going against his wishes, and making this one about food. As with everything else here, there are ups and downs. Now that I am living on my own, I have been taking this opportunity to cook some of the things I have been madly craving since my arrival here. This is also a chance to educate you all about what an Americanized kitchen in Nicaragua looks like. This is my kitchen now. I have a wooden table for preparing food, a two burner stove and gas tank, and a place to wash dishes. I currently have a serving platter in place of a cutting board, one knife, a frying pan, and an aluminum pot that I have to pick up with my dish towel when it's hot. I recently sprung for the lovely green Tupperware so that I can preserve my leftovers. As for food supplies, there is no grocery store here in Mérida. There are 3 pulperias that I go to with regular frequency, and if you'll remember pulperia means small store in someone's house t...

I am learning the difficulties of planning in Nicaragua. Last week was the first full week of classes, and it has become clear to me that while there are many similarities, there are some significant differences between the schools here and the schools back in the US. Some key differences I have discovered: 1. The kids wear uniforms. No, this was not difficult to see, but it does make a difference. Last week, a rather significant number of kids just did not go to school because they weren't "ready." They didn't have their notebooks, pencils, or new uniforms. So they did not go to school. While it is not uncommon for kids new to a school to show up a few days late in the US, generally students who are returning to the same school from the last year go to school when school starts. From what the teachers here have told me, this is quite normal. 2. The kids and teachers only go to school for half a day. The morning turn is usually 7:15-12:15, and the afternoon fr...

The first week of school has been a rough one for me. The best way I can explain why is by bringing up a hierarchy. The other Nica45ers tease me because I love hierarchies. They're just such a nice way of organizing things. (That's for you Andrew.) Anyway, Maslow's hierarchy of needs. I feel like this week, I have been trying to fulfill every level at once. Let's start at the bottom. Basic needs: food, water, etc. I bought a two burner cookstove, but when trying to buy a gas tank, I discovered that it's illegal to put it in the bus. Seeing as how that is the only form of transportation available to me other than my bike, this seemed rather inconvenient. Turns out there's a truck that goes through Merida, sometimes, that sells gas and tanks. This highlights the difficulty of living alone in rural Nicaragua. You don't go to the store, the stores come to you. The condition is that you have to be there. Since I don't work in Merida, it's d...

This is my new house! Well, almost mine. I have to do the repairs as dictated by Peace Corps - bars for the doors etc. and I'm waiting on the guys to arrive to connect the lights, and I won't even go into the details of the latrine. But I have a house! My kitchen, where I will whip up amazing delicacies using rice, beans, platano, and garlic. Two views of my living room. The bedroom, notice my tiny window, all the way to the right. And my shower. Yes, it's basically outdoors, which I really like. The part I really don't like is the constant dripping of the faucet.