Land of Lakes and Volcanoes

That last week was a bit of a blur and a bunch of the stuff I did that week never made it to the web, so today I was feeling homesick, listening to music from Nicaragua and looking at pictures and I thought it really would be a shame if no one saw these. In no particular order… One of the beautiful folkloric dances that some of the elementary school girls performed at my going away party with the teachers. My original counterpart organized them and they practiced just for the occasion and everything. They looked beautiful and they made me cry. Yes, that is a man in a coconut tree. He was climbing them to pull down coconuts and dead branches with no tools to speak of. He just climbed up there with bare feet and hands. I watched him go up and down about 3 teams. It was impressive. The kids from my host family in the mango tree in front of the house. I miss that crazy bunch of kids. Tereza at my going away party at Caballito’s Mar that last evening. We ate slightly unripe, stolen m...

Some people have asked me if I will be continuing with this blog, and honestly I'm not really sure. I'd like to think my life is as interesting as ever, that I'm just cool enough to warrant maintaining a running public dialogue about going to the grocery store. However, the whole reason I started this blog was because I was going somewhere interesting that people wouldn't know about. I was writing about a new culture. I think it might be an entirely different thing when I'm writing about some of the same people who might be reading. Lines crossing, weirdness ensuing, all that. In the sense of audience pleasing, I think the conclusion would have to be to just end gracefully. However, I find that I gained quite a bit by maintaining the blog. Oddly enough, it forced me to live more in the moment, so that I could write about it later. If I was at home and there was the opportunity to do something fun, something perhaps worth documenting, I took that opportunity ...

So I'm leaving, oh, tomorrow, and have been reflecting on my experience here. So here's my list of lists: Things I've Loved From the Start: 1. It's amazingly beautiful here in general. Ometepe more than other places I think. On the island there are 2 volcanoes, a laguna in the top of one of them, cloud forest, a black sand beach, petroglyphs, 2 waterfalls, a river with two types of jicanas where you can go kayaking, monkeys, and a natural spring pool. I'm sorry, but when will I ever live in another place that amazing? 2. The people are the nicest I've ever met. This has really changed my outlook on things. In the states we've come to accept a certain level of rudeness from people I think. If your doctor is brusque with you, or your dentist or whoever, we think, "Well, they're busy. I'm here to receive a service, etc..." After having been here, I find the return to that sort of culture a little disappointing. There's no reason w...

Okay, no time for a real post, but I felt that I should let everyone know that I'm coming home sometime next week instead of in July. See you then!