It was a nice quiet weekend in Managua, which was a good change from all the traveling I've been doing as of late, but also bittersweet as I realize it is my second to last one here in Nicaragua. While I'm ready to go home in a lot of respects, it will still be hard to leave this place. I'm already thinking about when I'll be able to get back here for a week.
Friday I had my last meeting with the cooks and administrator in San Isidro. I'm going to miss that group since I've spent a lot of time working with them, my nearest neighbors. It was a good meeting too, so I feel pretty good about where things will be left when I'm gone.
Since I was up in San Isidro, I got to head home a little earlier than normal, and was also able to stop by Kelly's knitting class for a visit. They were dividing up the mounds of yarn that I brought back from the States, and they seemed excited to use it to start their new projects - booties, purses, flowers, and other crafts Kelly has taught them.
Friday night we went to an El Salvadorian restaurant for pupusas, which are tortillas stuffed with cheese, chicken, beans, and other goodies. We met our friend Jason there and had a good time hanging out until they just about kicked us out.
Saturday I made some french toast for us for breakfast (I think I have finally mastered most of our breakfast meals - pancakes, banana pancakes, french toast and gallo pinto). Then we went to an organic market just outside of town to get our groceries. They didn't have as much as we were expecting, but what we did buy there looks really good and fresh. Combining that with some other ingredients we'd purchased throughout the week - including a bottle of wine - we also had a killer dinner of BBQ chicken quesadillas with guacamole.
From there, Kelly and I had an impromptu girl's night (even though Joe was around too). First we attempted to make some premixed cookie mix I brought from the States without an oven. We pan fried some and made others in the crock pot. Neither really turned out like cookies, but it was processed goodness nonetheless. Then we made foot baths and did pedicures while sitting in our rocking chairs crocheting. It was quite the picture (we took a picture too, but I don't have it yet). I'm happy to report I learned a few new things about crocheting too. First, I found out that the knot I've been doing all along - which I thought was correct - was, in fact, my own misinterpretation/invention. I still like how it looks, so I'll call it the Knicky Knot (cheesy, I know) and keep going with it. I also learned how to crochet in circles, and I made a (sort of) hat. I'm hoping to learn how to make flowers before I go too...we shall see.
After girls night, we played some of the new games I brough from home, including Don't Break the Ice and Chutes and Ladders. We had some good laughs playing games made for ages 3 and up.
Today (Sunday) we were supposed to go on a trip to the beach with our neighborhood but it never ended up happening. Instead, Kelly and I came to a hotel where you can use the pool (and wireless internet!) for the day for a small fee. It's been a nice relaxing day of reading, emailing, swimming and tanning. I am definitely going to miss having a little piece of paradise like this within a few minutes of my house. Lake Michigan will have to work!
Since I'm doing my grand final tour of the north this week, I'm not sure how much I'll be able to write before Friday. I'll be back with a few more entries before the end, though, no worries.
Sunday, April 19, 2009
Friday, April 17, 2009
I think I'm ready to go back to the El
As you know, my morning commute here in Nicaragua is pretty different from what it was in Chicago. There's no El, no taxi, and no airplane...just me and 8 of my closest friends in the back of a pick-up truck.
There's always a little more adventure associated with my Nica commute than my Chicago commute, but today was really quite exceptional. Shortly after we got on the main highway heading for the office, we stopped at a stoplight. As we were waiting, a couple young kids came up and started begging for money. One of the boys, who was no more than 10 years old, had a plastic pistol, which I found a little disturbing. One of the guys in the truck was asking him something about the pistol and sort of teasing him. The boy's reaction was to pick up a rock the size of a baseball and hold it above his head, threatening to throw it at us in the truck. Great.
The man who originally taunted the boy was trying to talk him out of it and distract him while we waited for the light to change. He was fairly successful until the very end when the boy, seeing that we were moving, chucked the rock at the guy's back. Fortunately he couldn't throw very hard, and we were already on our way. Or so we thought.
Unfortunately, the light changed again before we could get out of the intersection. We turned around to see that the boy had recovered the big rock he'd thrown before, and was once again marching toward us with it held over his head. Fortunately, as he got close to us, one of the other guys in the truck grabbed it out of his hand. Unfortunately, that just prompted the kid to find other rocks, this time smaller, which he began firing at us in rapid succession. Again, thankfully, the other Nicas in the truck were able to catch or block them, so no one got hit and people even got a laugh out of the whole thing. Still, as we were pulling away, I thought "Only in Nicaragua would this happen and people find it funny. You can't make this stuff up."
There's always a little more adventure associated with my Nica commute than my Chicago commute, but today was really quite exceptional. Shortly after we got on the main highway heading for the office, we stopped at a stoplight. As we were waiting, a couple young kids came up and started begging for money. One of the boys, who was no more than 10 years old, had a plastic pistol, which I found a little disturbing. One of the guys in the truck was asking him something about the pistol and sort of teasing him. The boy's reaction was to pick up a rock the size of a baseball and hold it above his head, threatening to throw it at us in the truck. Great.
The man who originally taunted the boy was trying to talk him out of it and distract him while we waited for the light to change. He was fairly successful until the very end when the boy, seeing that we were moving, chucked the rock at the guy's back. Fortunately he couldn't throw very hard, and we were already on our way. Or so we thought.
Unfortunately, the light changed again before we could get out of the intersection. We turned around to see that the boy had recovered the big rock he'd thrown before, and was once again marching toward us with it held over his head. Fortunately, as he got close to us, one of the other guys in the truck grabbed it out of his hand. Unfortunately, that just prompted the kid to find other rocks, this time smaller, which he began firing at us in rapid succession. Again, thankfully, the other Nicas in the truck were able to catch or block them, so no one got hit and people even got a laugh out of the whole thing. Still, as we were pulling away, I thought "Only in Nicaragua would this happen and people find it funny. You can't make this stuff up."
Wednesday, April 15, 2009
Into the Home Stretch
After another long day of traveling, I made it back to Managua late Monday ready to embark on the ‘home stretch’ of my Nicaragua experience. I came back bearing many gifts, almost all thanks to the generosity of family and friends back home. My suitcase was full of yarn for Kelly’s knitting group, spices for our kitchen, games and art supplies for the neighborhood kids, and a little bit of Easter candy…for me.
The roommates came to the airport to pick me up which was really nice because they helped me with my luggage and caught me up on the happenings from the week prior.
The biggest news story out of San Isidro was a bit of a disappointing one. Last week small amounts of money began disappearing on days when some of the neighborhood kids were over. Joe and Kelly finally isolated the culprits down to three, and it took until last night for them to find the guilty party, but the case has now been closed. Unfortunately the kids who were the troublemakers will have to earn their way back into the house and earn the ability to play all those fun new games.
The other big news was that Joe and Kelly broke down and bought a blender so that we no longer have to borrow the neighbor’s all the time. It’s been spaghetti sauce and milkshakes galore ever since. I think the blender usage has actually already surpassed the grill though, to be fair, one is a lot easier to use than the other!
Other than those two developments, though, I’ve basically just fallen back into the same routine as before I left. I was back at work yesterday and had a meeting with the Director and COO to discuss use of my last few weeks and plans for next steps. It sounds like there may be a ‘new Nicky’ coming down the pipeline too – but this woman has a nutrition degree from undergrad and an MBA from Kellogg, so she’ll probably put me to shame.
Last night I returned to bucket showers after a week of being spoiled with water pressure. The one point of good news, though, is that it’s gotten so hot here during the day that the water we save in buckets from the night before actually is still quite warm by the time I use it to bathe at night. How convenient!
At any rate, I know how quickly my last few weeks here will go, and, while part of me was ready to stay Stateside after my nice trip home, I know that I need to soak up all that Nicaragua has to offer – the good and the not-so-good – because I won’t have the opportunity for much longer.
P.S. Not to overkill on soliciting donations since I sent out an email to many of you already, but I just wanted to put out a reminder that I am trying to raise money for health and nutrition programs at Fabretto through Razoo pages that a co-worker and I created. Links are below - donate if you can. Thanks!
Nutrition:
http://www.razoo.com/widgets/1f516f7d-1724-479c-9f09-bcb42dd62613
Health:
http://www.razoo.com/widgets/39e7b7f1-9886-4303-91d1-3a35af327c5f
The roommates came to the airport to pick me up which was really nice because they helped me with my luggage and caught me up on the happenings from the week prior.
The biggest news story out of San Isidro was a bit of a disappointing one. Last week small amounts of money began disappearing on days when some of the neighborhood kids were over. Joe and Kelly finally isolated the culprits down to three, and it took until last night for them to find the guilty party, but the case has now been closed. Unfortunately the kids who were the troublemakers will have to earn their way back into the house and earn the ability to play all those fun new games.
The other big news was that Joe and Kelly broke down and bought a blender so that we no longer have to borrow the neighbor’s all the time. It’s been spaghetti sauce and milkshakes galore ever since. I think the blender usage has actually already surpassed the grill though, to be fair, one is a lot easier to use than the other!
Other than those two developments, though, I’ve basically just fallen back into the same routine as before I left. I was back at work yesterday and had a meeting with the Director and COO to discuss use of my last few weeks and plans for next steps. It sounds like there may be a ‘new Nicky’ coming down the pipeline too – but this woman has a nutrition degree from undergrad and an MBA from Kellogg, so she’ll probably put me to shame.
Last night I returned to bucket showers after a week of being spoiled with water pressure. The one point of good news, though, is that it’s gotten so hot here during the day that the water we save in buckets from the night before actually is still quite warm by the time I use it to bathe at night. How convenient!
At any rate, I know how quickly my last few weeks here will go, and, while part of me was ready to stay Stateside after my nice trip home, I know that I need to soak up all that Nicaragua has to offer – the good and the not-so-good – because I won’t have the opportunity for much longer.
P.S. Not to overkill on soliciting donations since I sent out an email to many of you already, but I just wanted to put out a reminder that I am trying to raise money for health and nutrition programs at Fabretto through Razoo pages that a co-worker and I created. Links are below - donate if you can. Thanks!
Nutrition:
http://www.razoo.com/widgets/1f516f7d-1724-479c-9f09-bcb42dd62613
Health:
http://www.razoo.com/widgets/39e7b7f1-9886-4303-91d1-3a35af327c5f
Friday, April 10, 2009
Planes, Trains and Automobiles: Managua to Cedarburg
It's been awhile since my last post, so I figured I should check in with an update. There is a fair bit to share, too, since it's been a whirlwind week. I started out last weekend in Managua, then traveled from Managua to the island of Ometepe via truck + ferry for a three day vacation, then flew from Managua to Chicago, spent a night in the city, then took a train to Milwaukee, and got a ride home to Cedarburg. Therefore, this post is technically coming from my parents' kitchen, and not Nicaragua, but I think that's okay just this one time.
The trip to Ometepe was really nice and relaxing. I went with my roommates and another one of our friends, and it was a good, laid back group to travel with. Our friend Jason had another volunteer's truck for the week, so we were able to drive from Managua to San Jorge, the port where you leave to go to Ometepe. We then brough the truck on the ferry and crossed Lake Nicaragua to the island.
Ometepe is a pretty interesting place. The lake that surrounds it is the largest freshwater lake in Central America - if I recall, it's the same size as Puerto Rico - and it's also the only freshwater lake with sharks. The island has two volcanos on it, one inactive called Maderas and one active one called Concepcion. The place where we were staying was closer to Maderas, and to get there we had to drive a good hour by dirt road. Suffice to say it was pretty remote, which ended up being a good thing since it was a peaceful trip in spite of the usual chaos associated with traveling during Semana Santa.
We did lots of relaxing on the trip - reading in the hammock at our cabana, swimming at the tiny beach down the road, eating and drinking at the hotel restaurant, and sleeping. However, on the last day there (Tuesday), I decided to be adventurous, so Kelly and I signed up for the horseback riding tour to see monkeys. It was about as wild as you'd expect for a morning riding horses in a place where helmets, safety waivers, etc. are not widely used. In fact, the lesson that they gave us at the beginning of the trek was "here's how you go left...here's how you go right...kick them to go...GO!" It turns out that the critical 4th component of that lesson - Stop! - would have come in handy because within seconds of getting down to the end of the hotel driveway, my horse decided to start galloping full-out for about 5 minutes. It was a little frightening, but eventually I got Ballo under control and it was actually a nice ride. Seeing the howler monkeys was especially cool - I think we spotted about 10 in all.
After Ometepe it was a quick turn around to get ready for the trip home. I had an early flight out the morning after we got back, so I finished the last of my packing, arranged for my neighbor who has a cab to pick me up early in the morning, and then tried desperately to sleep in spite of the heat that now stays around all night in Managua.
The trip home itself was pretty uneventful, with the one minor bummer of one of my bottles of rum breaking in my bag on its way to Miami and soaking all of my clothes in booze. Fortunately nothing was damaged though. Getting back was also a lot less shocking than I had expected. I think I'll be really glad I came home for a bit, because it's a good warm-up for the final return, plus I got to bring back all kinds of souvenirs now and can take some things from the States back to Nica too.
So far my mini vacation here in the States has been really nice and made me excited to come back to friends and family more permanently in May. I've also been doing quite the tour of my favorite foods that I've missed, including Ian's pizza in Chicago (in case you're not familiar, they make things like Mac N Cheese pizza, and it's amazing), Kopp's for a burger and Custard, all you can eat crab legs, and so much more!
Since the blog is not called Wisco Nicky, I suppose that's enough of my adventures at home. I'll be here until Monday, and I'm sure my return to Nicaragua early next week will be busy, but I'll be back with more stories (and pictures from Ometepe) soon!
The trip to Ometepe was really nice and relaxing. I went with my roommates and another one of our friends, and it was a good, laid back group to travel with. Our friend Jason had another volunteer's truck for the week, so we were able to drive from Managua to San Jorge, the port where you leave to go to Ometepe. We then brough the truck on the ferry and crossed Lake Nicaragua to the island.
Ometepe is a pretty interesting place. The lake that surrounds it is the largest freshwater lake in Central America - if I recall, it's the same size as Puerto Rico - and it's also the only freshwater lake with sharks. The island has two volcanos on it, one inactive called Maderas and one active one called Concepcion. The place where we were staying was closer to Maderas, and to get there we had to drive a good hour by dirt road. Suffice to say it was pretty remote, which ended up being a good thing since it was a peaceful trip in spite of the usual chaos associated with traveling during Semana Santa.
We did lots of relaxing on the trip - reading in the hammock at our cabana, swimming at the tiny beach down the road, eating and drinking at the hotel restaurant, and sleeping. However, on the last day there (Tuesday), I decided to be adventurous, so Kelly and I signed up for the horseback riding tour to see monkeys. It was about as wild as you'd expect for a morning riding horses in a place where helmets, safety waivers, etc. are not widely used. In fact, the lesson that they gave us at the beginning of the trek was "here's how you go left...here's how you go right...kick them to go...GO!" It turns out that the critical 4th component of that lesson - Stop! - would have come in handy because within seconds of getting down to the end of the hotel driveway, my horse decided to start galloping full-out for about 5 minutes. It was a little frightening, but eventually I got Ballo under control and it was actually a nice ride. Seeing the howler monkeys was especially cool - I think we spotted about 10 in all.
After Ometepe it was a quick turn around to get ready for the trip home. I had an early flight out the morning after we got back, so I finished the last of my packing, arranged for my neighbor who has a cab to pick me up early in the morning, and then tried desperately to sleep in spite of the heat that now stays around all night in Managua.
The trip home itself was pretty uneventful, with the one minor bummer of one of my bottles of rum breaking in my bag on its way to Miami and soaking all of my clothes in booze. Fortunately nothing was damaged though. Getting back was also a lot less shocking than I had expected. I think I'll be really glad I came home for a bit, because it's a good warm-up for the final return, plus I got to bring back all kinds of souvenirs now and can take some things from the States back to Nica too.
So far my mini vacation here in the States has been really nice and made me excited to come back to friends and family more permanently in May. I've also been doing quite the tour of my favorite foods that I've missed, including Ian's pizza in Chicago (in case you're not familiar, they make things like Mac N Cheese pizza, and it's amazing), Kopp's for a burger and Custard, all you can eat crab legs, and so much more!
Since the blog is not called Wisco Nicky, I suppose that's enough of my adventures at home. I'll be here until Monday, and I'm sure my return to Nicaragua early next week will be busy, but I'll be back with more stories (and pictures from Ometepe) soon!
Wednesday, April 1, 2009
Checking in...
For all the loyal blog checkers out there, I wanted to just quickly say that I'm alive. It's been another really busy week, so apologies for not writing more frequently. I think it's finally setting in for everyone that I only have a few weeks left (myself included), so the work is just getting piled on. Add that to the extreme heat here - probably well over 100 degrees daily - and I haven't been an extremely happy camper this week.
However, I do have LOTS to look forward to in the next week and a half. On Friday, we are supposed to have a party with some of the other volunteers and neighbors at our house. We've been talking about doing something like this for awhile, but it looks like we'll finally get it together this week. It should be good practice for my goodbye party, which is coming up soon as well!
This weekend is technically the start of the week of vacation for Semana Santa here, so I am heading off to Ometepe, which is an island in the Lake of Nicaragua with two volcanos on it. It's supposed to be really beautiful, and I'm staying in a place that is fairly remote, so I'm excited for some swimming, horseback riding, volcano climbing (maybe) and just relaxing in general. Still to be determined if a few friends from Managua will be joining or not - but hopefully that will work out for at least part of the visit.
I plan on getting back from Ometepe Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning (bright and extremely early), I will be heading to the airport and then back to the States for Easter. I'll be stopping through Chicago Wednesday night (if you're around and want to grab a drink, let me know!). Then I'll be back home in the 'burg Thursday through early Monday. I'm really looking forward to being home for a bit, catching up with everyone, unloading one round of souvenirs to make room for more, and stocking up on some things to bring back to Nicaragua for the home stretch.
Because of all this excitement, I probably won't be posting much over the next week. Once I get home, I can put some pics from Ometepe up or, better yet, I can see many of you in person and share the stories!
Thanks, as always, for reading - looking forward to being back Stateside very soon.
However, I do have LOTS to look forward to in the next week and a half. On Friday, we are supposed to have a party with some of the other volunteers and neighbors at our house. We've been talking about doing something like this for awhile, but it looks like we'll finally get it together this week. It should be good practice for my goodbye party, which is coming up soon as well!
This weekend is technically the start of the week of vacation for Semana Santa here, so I am heading off to Ometepe, which is an island in the Lake of Nicaragua with two volcanos on it. It's supposed to be really beautiful, and I'm staying in a place that is fairly remote, so I'm excited for some swimming, horseback riding, volcano climbing (maybe) and just relaxing in general. Still to be determined if a few friends from Managua will be joining or not - but hopefully that will work out for at least part of the visit.
I plan on getting back from Ometepe Tuesday evening. Wednesday morning (bright and extremely early), I will be heading to the airport and then back to the States for Easter. I'll be stopping through Chicago Wednesday night (if you're around and want to grab a drink, let me know!). Then I'll be back home in the 'burg Thursday through early Monday. I'm really looking forward to being home for a bit, catching up with everyone, unloading one round of souvenirs to make room for more, and stocking up on some things to bring back to Nicaragua for the home stretch.
Because of all this excitement, I probably won't be posting much over the next week. Once I get home, I can put some pics from Ometepe up or, better yet, I can see many of you in person and share the stories!
Thanks, as always, for reading - looking forward to being back Stateside very soon.
Monday, March 30, 2009
Beach weekend...aka heaven
Our big volunteer trip to the beach finally arrived this weekend, and it was truly worth the wait. It was probably one of the most relaxing weekends I've had in awhile, and certainly a favorite from all my time here in Nicaragua. It was so generous of my friend Rosario to share her family's amazing beach house with us for the weekend!
The trip started on Friday night after work with the core group of people that stayed at the beach the whole weekend. It was Rosario, me, Kelly, and then two volunteers who are living in Cusmapa right now, Monica and Pablo. They are both from Spain and are here working on a project for a joint national park between Honduras and Nicaragua.
After grocery shopping and a few other stops, we didn't get to the beach until after dark. Then Kelly made some delicious pasta with alfredo sauce, and we played Uno and talked well into the early morning.
I'm really glad we got there Friday night, even if it was late, because waking up on the beach Saturday morning was awesome. We had plenty of time to read in the hammocks, swim in the ocean and the pool and just relax in general before the big group of Saturday visitors came. They were some of Rosario's friends from growing up, as well as visitors from Miami who work with an NGO called the American Nicaragua Fund. They stayed until sunset, and then it was back to the five of us. We had ambitions of going out to the disco nearby, Camacho's, but everyone was tired from the full day in the sun (and I was, surprise surprise, sunburned). We ended up just calling it an early night.
Sunday was generally more of the same - reading, lounging, swimming in the ocean, etc. Rough life, huh? One major highlight from Sunday, though, was that we walked over to the fishing boats near the house and bough some fresh fish for lunch. Per usual, Kelly worked some wonders in the kitchen and it turned out to be a really delicious lunch. We also had some other visitors for the day. A couple people that work at NicaHope, which is the Fabretto extension project in the dump, stopped by for a few hours, so that was fun too.
All in all, there's not too much to report on from the weekend because so much of it was just lounging and relaxing. That's what made it so great though! Also, I have lots and lots of pictures to share, which should fill in the gaps. Here are the ones from the beach, as well as some older ones from Cusmapa last week, as well as the dance party we had with the neighborhood kids awhile back that I stole from Kelly. Enjoy!
The trip started on Friday night after work with the core group of people that stayed at the beach the whole weekend. It was Rosario, me, Kelly, and then two volunteers who are living in Cusmapa right now, Monica and Pablo. They are both from Spain and are here working on a project for a joint national park between Honduras and Nicaragua.
After grocery shopping and a few other stops, we didn't get to the beach until after dark. Then Kelly made some delicious pasta with alfredo sauce, and we played Uno and talked well into the early morning.
I'm really glad we got there Friday night, even if it was late, because waking up on the beach Saturday morning was awesome. We had plenty of time to read in the hammocks, swim in the ocean and the pool and just relax in general before the big group of Saturday visitors came. They were some of Rosario's friends from growing up, as well as visitors from Miami who work with an NGO called the American Nicaragua Fund. They stayed until sunset, and then it was back to the five of us. We had ambitions of going out to the disco nearby, Camacho's, but everyone was tired from the full day in the sun (and I was, surprise surprise, sunburned). We ended up just calling it an early night.
Sunday was generally more of the same - reading, lounging, swimming in the ocean, etc. Rough life, huh? One major highlight from Sunday, though, was that we walked over to the fishing boats near the house and bough some fresh fish for lunch. Per usual, Kelly worked some wonders in the kitchen and it turned out to be a really delicious lunch. We also had some other visitors for the day. A couple people that work at NicaHope, which is the Fabretto extension project in the dump, stopped by for a few hours, so that was fun too.
All in all, there's not too much to report on from the weekend because so much of it was just lounging and relaxing. That's what made it so great though! Also, I have lots and lots of pictures to share, which should fill in the gaps. Here are the ones from the beach, as well as some older ones from Cusmapa last week, as well as the dance party we had with the neighborhood kids awhile back that I stole from Kelly. Enjoy!
Friday, March 27, 2009
You're eating what??
Since I've gotten some complaints about my lack of blogging this week, here's one more post before the weekend.
Today was yet another one of those glorious days when I received a little slip of paper from the post office saying I got a package. Even though some of the excitement was lost because of the fact that I knew exactly what was in it (since I pried it out of my mom), that also ADDED to the excitement because I knew it was one of my favorite treats. Puppy chow!
Whenever I get things in the mail, I have made a point of sharing some of the sweets with all the people who help me get to the post office. I think this tradition is actually working in my favor, because I've been able to get there more and more easily the more cookies I give to the receptionist!
At any rate, when she told me I had a package and said she was wondering what kind of 'galletas' (cookies) would be inside, I said, "Actually, it's not cookies, it's..." and then I realized that I was about to tell her it was dog food, since I can't think of a better translation. She made a face, and I told her it wasn't really dog food, just that was the name. "Trust me, it's good."
When we got to the post office, I found my puppy chow and immediately opened it up. For better or worse, the Nicaraguan heat had melted it, so you couldn't see the powdered sugar any more and it was all stuck together. It was also coming out in sticky clumps, and generally didn't look that appetizing. I told the driver, "Since you helped me get my package, I want to share some of this with you. It's...puppy food." I'm sure that between looking at the melted goo and hearing me describe it as dog food, he was probably like "Gee thanks, I should have had someone else drive!"
Still, when he tried it he said it was very "rico" or delicious. The receptionist loved it too, though she had the same initial reaction as the driver. In fact, even when I told a few of the Americans that I got puppy chow, they had no idea what I was talking about. Must be a Wisconsin thing. Regardless of where it came from, though, it's one of my favorite inventions of all!
Thanks for sending, Mom!
Today was yet another one of those glorious days when I received a little slip of paper from the post office saying I got a package. Even though some of the excitement was lost because of the fact that I knew exactly what was in it (since I pried it out of my mom), that also ADDED to the excitement because I knew it was one of my favorite treats. Puppy chow!
Whenever I get things in the mail, I have made a point of sharing some of the sweets with all the people who help me get to the post office. I think this tradition is actually working in my favor, because I've been able to get there more and more easily the more cookies I give to the receptionist!
At any rate, when she told me I had a package and said she was wondering what kind of 'galletas' (cookies) would be inside, I said, "Actually, it's not cookies, it's..." and then I realized that I was about to tell her it was dog food, since I can't think of a better translation. She made a face, and I told her it wasn't really dog food, just that was the name. "Trust me, it's good."
When we got to the post office, I found my puppy chow and immediately opened it up. For better or worse, the Nicaraguan heat had melted it, so you couldn't see the powdered sugar any more and it was all stuck together. It was also coming out in sticky clumps, and generally didn't look that appetizing. I told the driver, "Since you helped me get my package, I want to share some of this with you. It's...puppy food." I'm sure that between looking at the melted goo and hearing me describe it as dog food, he was probably like "Gee thanks, I should have had someone else drive!"
Still, when he tried it he said it was very "rico" or delicious. The receptionist loved it too, though she had the same initial reaction as the driver. In fact, even when I told a few of the Americans that I got puppy chow, they had no idea what I was talking about. Must be a Wisconsin thing. Regardless of where it came from, though, it's one of my favorite inventions of all!
Thanks for sending, Mom!
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