¡Hola from Jinotepe! Yesterday was quite an adventurous day as Rachelle, Jackie Chan and I decided to go to climb the volcano Mombacho. We got up early and stopped at the grocery store to get a few snacks, though no real food since it was Sunday and everything was closed. Then we were introduced to the public transportation system here in Nica. The "chicken buses"are basically very old school buses that are cheaper but stop just about everywhere, and the "express buses" are big vans that go a little faster. We took the big bus out to the volcano, so we waited for the bus to leave for around an hour and then it was a two hour trip.
Eventually, we got off at Mombacho and hiked up to the park entrance. Even though there is a cheap fee for going up it "a pie" (on foot), and we decided that one would be a good option, that doesn´t mean that it is a sane or reasonable way to go to the top of the volcano. We got some strange looks, but we thought that they were just trying to get us to pay more to take the truck up. Wrong! We really were crazy. We decided it was worth it, though, and a great way to see the mountain and the area. There was a shade-grown coffee plantation about half way up that was really cool to see. We didn´t hike around too much up top because we had already spent a lot of our day getting there, but we did see some really awesome lookout points and beautiful rainforest. By the time we hiked back down, it was 5 pm and we were hungry, exhausted and had lost a great amount of body fluids from sweating so much, so we accepted a reasonably priced ride from a mini taxi (like a scooter, but wider so that three people can just fit in the back - it was really fun!) This somehow only took about 20 minutes to get back to Jinotepe. hmm... Jackie Chan majored in film and TV in college, so he always has his huge video camera out and is performing some ridiculous antics. Rachelle and I all but abandoned him on the volcano because this takes quite a bit of time. I´m looking forward to seeing his film. I also got a lot of Spanish practice yesterday since I had to translate for all three of us! That was good though.
This morning I skipped the 6 a.m. run to sleep in, but sleeping in really does not happen here as the city is fully awake by 5 and there is so much noise outside it´s impossible to sleep through it. After breakfast (every morning we have rice and beans, toast with guavaba jam, eggs, fresh fruit, and delicious and I MEAN DELICIOUS coffee), we had our first Spanish class.... Leo is a good teacher but the other two have had zero Spanish and I have been taking it for ten years and it is my minor in college. Ugh... it was a long four hours. I did learn some new vocabulary though and am learning some Nicaragua-specific linguistics. For example, here they say "vos" instead of tú. I´ve been told that after this week when it is just Rachelle and me taking Spanish (Jackie Chan is leaving to work in some rainforest place on the other side of the country) it can be a lot more individual and adjusted to our levels. In the afternoon we took the bus to the Masaya market, which is this huge market that sells EVERYTHING, including local artesanía... I have no idea what the English word for that is, but it`s all beautiful. I´m planning to buy a hammock there eventually but today was too overwhelming to buy anything! There was also a little too much raw meat there for my comfort level, haha.
Next Monday and Tuesday are national holidays - all of Central America got their independence from Spain on the same day, so the 14th and 15th are Independence Day all over Central America. We still have Spanish class, but I won´t start work until Wednesday -although I´m not sure how that will work because I also have a meeting with my second work placement on that day. I´m excited to find out where both places are. I´m hoping to buy an inexpensive bike to ride to work every day so I won´t have to take the bus, but we´ll see how far away the orphanage is.
Well, I forgot what else I was going to say... sorry this is not terribly interesting or educational yet, and pretty long, but since I can´t talk to you all every day and ramble on then, this will have to be the story of my life! I am really enjoying it, but also missing school a little bit still... but that´s okay, it will be even better to go back knowing more about the world and being away for so long.
Please e-mail me to tell me about your lives too! setaylor@pugetsound.edu
I´m off to go read in the hammock - still one of my favorite activities.
Love to all!