As the number of weekends I have left in Nicaragua dwindles (only 6 more!), I find myself trying to pack more and more into each one. This past weekend was no exception.
On Friday I left the office early to go to Kelly’s crocheting class. It was fun to see the group in general – about 25 very talented ladies that are making much more than uneven coasters after only a few classes. It was also a special day because, as I mentioned in my last post, we were celebrating the day of Nicaraguan women. Kelly bought a cake and soda for the occasion, and it was a nice little party.
Friday night we had a full house with several of Kelly and Joe’s friends in town from other parts of the country. I helped with cooking, and I’m proud to say that I single handedly made the tostones, which are fried plantains that are a staple here in Nicaragua. They turned out really well, and with only one minor casualty (I did, unfortunately, burn my hand pretty badly on the oil, but it was worth it).
On Saturday, Kelly, Joe and I embarked on an overnight trip with two of their other friends – Callie, another volunteer from Cusmapa in the north, and her boyfriend Oswaldo. First we headed to Masaya where we had a few musical errands. Callie bought a beautiful handmade guitar and needed to place an order for a small, ‘travel size’ marimba to bring to the States when she takes the Fabretto choir there in a few weeks. I also had the chance to go to the “Gringo Market,” which is the craft market with lots of nice, artsy souvenirs for tourists. At the market, I was on a mission – against my better judgment given the two days of traveling ahead of me, I was in search of a hammock. Fortunately and unfortunately, there were many to choose from. In fact, it was a dizzying assortment of almost-but-not-quite-identical options, each with slight differences in yarn thickness, color, price and acceptance of credit cards and none with the perfect combination. However, just when I was ready to give up, I found one that had most of what I was looking for. Without a second thought, I bought it. Immediately after, as I attempted to navigate the market while holding the hammock (which includes a three foot long wooden piece), I regretted my purchase.
From Masaya, we had plans to go to the Laguna de Apoyo which is the beautiful volcanic lake I visited a few weeks ago. To get there, we piled all five people plus a cab driver, a ukulele, a guitar, a hammock and five backpacks into some sort of dilapidated Geo Metro and we were off. We were headed for the “Proyecto Ecologico” – a place that was included in our guidebook without proper name or address. After a few failed attempts to find it, we landed on our best guess – a hostel that cost $5 per person and could best be described as ‘minimalist.’ The rooms themselves had nothing more than beds. There was a hammock hanging in front of the house that looked like it was made of dental floss or maybe from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” it was so worn out. Also, we got that $5 rate at a discount because the bathroom by our house was out of service. Not a problem, said the owner – we could just use the functioning bathrooms in the nearby main house. All we had to do was walk over – and walk past two of the biggest German Shepherds I’ve ever seen, the same ones that ‘greeted us’ when we’d first arrived in a way that almost made us run the opposite direction. It turned out that throughout the entire course of the weekend, every time we tried to pass, the dogs would bark with the same “I want to kill you” tone that they’d first used with us. It definitely added an element of adventure to every trip to the bathroom.
Jokes aside, though, the place ended up being pretty nice for $5 per person. Also, as a major added bonus, there was a hook hanging above the dental floss hammock that perfectly hung my brand new hammock, so I got two full days of use out of my new purchase. It almost made up for the hassle of carrying the thing around.
We also made good use of the new guitar – with such a musically talented group (myself excluded), we didn’t need an iPod because Callie played a bunch of classics (Beatles, Rolling Stones, John Denver, and various Nica artists) that we all sang along to.
After a good night on Saturday, we woke up Sunday and went out for breakfast. One of the best parts about the restaurants around the Laguna is that you can swim while you wait for your food because every restaurant is right on the water, so that’s exactly what we did. From there, we moved on to another more secluded area of the beach and swam, read and relaxed the rest of the day. It was really nice, though I got a lot of sun (again) and the swimming wore me out. By the time we made it home, we were thoroughly exhausted…I fell asleep right when my head hit the pillow.
On Friday I left the office early to go to Kelly’s crocheting class. It was fun to see the group in general – about 25 very talented ladies that are making much more than uneven coasters after only a few classes. It was also a special day because, as I mentioned in my last post, we were celebrating the day of Nicaraguan women. Kelly bought a cake and soda for the occasion, and it was a nice little party.
Friday night we had a full house with several of Kelly and Joe’s friends in town from other parts of the country. I helped with cooking, and I’m proud to say that I single handedly made the tostones, which are fried plantains that are a staple here in Nicaragua. They turned out really well, and with only one minor casualty (I did, unfortunately, burn my hand pretty badly on the oil, but it was worth it).
On Saturday, Kelly, Joe and I embarked on an overnight trip with two of their other friends – Callie, another volunteer from Cusmapa in the north, and her boyfriend Oswaldo. First we headed to Masaya where we had a few musical errands. Callie bought a beautiful handmade guitar and needed to place an order for a small, ‘travel size’ marimba to bring to the States when she takes the Fabretto choir there in a few weeks. I also had the chance to go to the “Gringo Market,” which is the craft market with lots of nice, artsy souvenirs for tourists. At the market, I was on a mission – against my better judgment given the two days of traveling ahead of me, I was in search of a hammock. Fortunately and unfortunately, there were many to choose from. In fact, it was a dizzying assortment of almost-but-not-quite-identical options, each with slight differences in yarn thickness, color, price and acceptance of credit cards and none with the perfect combination. However, just when I was ready to give up, I found one that had most of what I was looking for. Without a second thought, I bought it. Immediately after, as I attempted to navigate the market while holding the hammock (which includes a three foot long wooden piece), I regretted my purchase.
From Masaya, we had plans to go to the Laguna de Apoyo which is the beautiful volcanic lake I visited a few weeks ago. To get there, we piled all five people plus a cab driver, a ukulele, a guitar, a hammock and five backpacks into some sort of dilapidated Geo Metro and we were off. We were headed for the “Proyecto Ecologico” – a place that was included in our guidebook without proper name or address. After a few failed attempts to find it, we landed on our best guess – a hostel that cost $5 per person and could best be described as ‘minimalist.’ The rooms themselves had nothing more than beds. There was a hammock hanging in front of the house that looked like it was made of dental floss or maybe from the movie “Pirates of the Caribbean” it was so worn out. Also, we got that $5 rate at a discount because the bathroom by our house was out of service. Not a problem, said the owner – we could just use the functioning bathrooms in the nearby main house. All we had to do was walk over – and walk past two of the biggest German Shepherds I’ve ever seen, the same ones that ‘greeted us’ when we’d first arrived in a way that almost made us run the opposite direction. It turned out that throughout the entire course of the weekend, every time we tried to pass, the dogs would bark with the same “I want to kill you” tone that they’d first used with us. It definitely added an element of adventure to every trip to the bathroom.
Jokes aside, though, the place ended up being pretty nice for $5 per person. Also, as a major added bonus, there was a hook hanging above the dental floss hammock that perfectly hung my brand new hammock, so I got two full days of use out of my new purchase. It almost made up for the hassle of carrying the thing around.
We also made good use of the new guitar – with such a musically talented group (myself excluded), we didn’t need an iPod because Callie played a bunch of classics (Beatles, Rolling Stones, John Denver, and various Nica artists) that we all sang along to.
After a good night on Saturday, we woke up Sunday and went out for breakfast. One of the best parts about the restaurants around the Laguna is that you can swim while you wait for your food because every restaurant is right on the water, so that’s exactly what we did. From there, we moved on to another more secluded area of the beach and swam, read and relaxed the rest of the day. It was really nice, though I got a lot of sun (again) and the swimming wore me out. By the time we made it home, we were thoroughly exhausted…I fell asleep right when my head hit the pillow.
The luxury suite
Contrasting my bright new hammock with the flossy old hammock
View from our 'porch' - not bad!
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