This past weekend, all of us took off our volunteer hats and became true tourists, heading to Granada for our first and only trip with everyone in the house. Yes, that's right, Cat, Leo, Uzair, Brett, Megan, Rachelle and I all spent an entire weekend together, and no one killed anyone else. But just barely. Xochilth, a friend of Cat's, came with us too. Xochilth's mom, Ines, is the housekeeper and cook in our house, so she is around a lot, but I'm not so I didn't know her too well. She is a riot and it definitely added an interesting dynamic not having anyone on the same level of Spanish/English proficiency in the group. Fun times translating.
Friday was a super relaxing day for me, which are few and far between these days. After sleeping in a bit and running 10k with Leo, I enjoyed a pancake breakfast and then spent a lazy morning wandering around town before eating an amazing lunch in the house and then heading off to Granada! Granada is a very old colonial city that was built by the Spanish, so basically, when you are there it feels much like you are in Spain! At least, what I imagine Spain is like. Huge churches, clean streets, big stucco houses in bright colors, and tons of restaurants and foreigners. It doesn't feel like the true Nicaragua at all, but is lovely just the same.
When we got to Granada, we headed out to take a boat tour of the 365 isletas (little islands) in Lake Cocibolca, or Lake Nicaragua, whatever you want to call it. It was super fun and interesting to see the islands and wildlife. A lot of islands are owned by Nica or foreign people with a lot of money, so that was interesting. They are very peaceful, especially in the evening when we went on the tour. We then had some delicious shish ke babs at our hostel and headed out for some dancing... unfortunately, it turned into yet another night where three hours after I want to go to bed, everyone else doesn't want to go back and in order to avoid walking through a big city alone at night I am stuck at some stupid club. Sigh... such is life traveling with a group.
The next morning Rachelle, Megan and I got up early and had what I think was one of the best breakfasts of my entire life. I won't go into detail about food too much but it was amazing. Then the group headed out to the Laguna de Apoyo, a lake formed by volcanic craters. The lake is in a protected reserve and no motorboats are allowed on it - it is clean, quiet and beautiful. The water is totally clear and very warm, one of the most beautiful places I have ever swam. I barely got out of the water all day!
One of the tourist highlights was the Masaya Volcano night tour. I have been waiting for this Granada trip since orientation week, and I was the only one in the house who hadn't been there yet, so it was all quite exciting. We hiked around part of an active crater that was smoking, which was a bit rough on the lungs, and then hiked up a trail to the top of the Masaya volcano (we had driven up most of it, so not that intense). We watched the sunset over Managua from there, then went down to some caves, one of which was full of bats and one of which we got to walk into. It was pretty cool because the roots of this huge pepper tree grew all the way through the walls of the cave and help keep the walls stable! Sweet! The last stop was to see some lava glowing in the dark. No big deal....
When we got back to Granada, I had a truly lovely meal with Megan, Brett and Rachelle. The tensions with certain other members of our house don't exist between the four of us, and we actually had some interesting conversations that I was able to contribute to which is not usually the case. (I hate listening to music with headphones, but with the whole group it's actually a habit I have gotten into quite frequently, let's just say). We went to a restaurant that was said to be the best pizza in Nicaragua, and while I haven't eaten much pizza here I'm pretty sure it's true. After that perfection, I went straight to bed.
Today after breakfast we spent some time touring the city, which is gorgeous and quite peaceful. We climbed to the top of the Cathedral tower, which provided us with a beautiful view of the city and was really fun even though we had to pay $1 (ridiculously overpriced for Nicaragua). While wandering around the park I met up with a street kid named Jose who I had bought breakfast for earlier that morning. He introduced me to his siblings and I was able to buy them some more food and hang out a bit more with my new adorable and cheerful friends. Yes, it is sometimes depressing to live in a country with so much poverty, but the atmosphere here is not nearly as hopeless as you would think, and I sort of have to learn to live with the fact that as only one person I can only make the most miniscule of dents in making the world better, and that sometimes I have to accept that that's all I can do for now.
Anyway, the other two girls and I walked down to the lake and ate fresh coconuts - people sell them with the tough shell taken off, you poke a hole in it with a straw, drink the milk out and then eat the coconut meat. It's delicious. It was SO hot in Granada! Like summer starting all over again.
This past week, the rain finally stopped, and it is heating up again. I think we have had now five or six days with only one rainstorm, whereas before last Wednesday it had rained every single day for over a month, I'm estimating probably about six weeks. The rainy season is supposed to be over, but due to the tropical storms in the Caribbean that I'm sure you have heard about (they are now heading North) we have been getting TONS of rain.
So tomorrow, I am heading back for my last week at the orphanage. Kind of hard to believe. I'm not starting to think yet about saying good-bye to the kids, but to be honest, I have been thinking a lot about getting home. I'm feeling ecstatic about the idea of seeing my family and some of my friends, and being able to talk to the rest of my friends on the phone at least. I'm sure that I will miss Nicaragua a lot, but it will also be good to just plain be home, blend in, have my own space, go skiing, and spend some time with family.
Well, thank you for reading, as always. and I will see some of you very soon! One week from now I will be in Chicago!