Esteli- Small Town Con Un Corazon Enorme

We departed Granada and said goodbye to Veronica and Achim and wished them well on their trip back to Europe after traveling all over the world for nine months. It was hard to say goodbye as we had experienced so much together in such a short amount of time and not knowing when we would see each other again, but they were extremely tired from such a long trip and looking forward to going home and resting up.

We went to Esteli to do some volunteer work at Hope Clinic (A medical clinic based out of Ypsilanti, Michigan) Esteli, Nicaragua branch. We heard about the clinic through one of Michelle's friends back in Michigan and were excited about helping out in the Nicaraguan clinic.

Esteli is the principal town between Managua and the Honduran border and is located in the highland area. Tobacco, livestock and cheese are produced in the surrounding area. The town became a refuge for Cuban cigar makers after the Cuban Revolution in 1959, which helped make Esteli one of the most important cigar producing towns in the world. Esteli saw heavy fighting during the revolution and afterward the town remained one of the Sandinista's strongest support bases. This is evident even today as numerous Sandinista murals line the city's walls.

What a relief it was to be up in the cool highlands (about 2500 feet in elevation) after experiencing such intense heat throughout our stay in Nicaragua. We enjoyed wandering around the town during the day and not dripping with sweat although the town has water rationing which equated to us to waking up at 6AM every morning before there was no running water available for the day.

At night we were exploring the city and decided to check out a bar where there was live music playing- a Mexican Mariachi band! We ended up being the recipients of a serenade that someone at the table next to us gave us as a gift. A few minutes later Luis Manuel, came over and introduced himself to us and said that he got us that song as a gift to welcome us to Nicaragua. We talked for a bit and he ended up inviting us back to his house and offered to let us stay there for the night and feed us. We let him know that we already had a place to stay and thanked him for his generous offer. He suggested we stop by his house tomorrow morning to try some Nicaraguan food. He said to just go to the barrio Heroes y Martires and ask for Luis Manuel (in Esteli there are no street signs so navigating can be a bit difficult). We took him up on his offer and went to bed to rest up for our date with our new friend.

The next morning we woke up early and ran into Luis Manuel walking on the street while we were on the way to his place. He said he was on his way to the bar where we were last night to talk to his friend so we joined him and talked for a bit at the bar. He was telling us his story about how he works as a truck driver and is really into poetry. He said he has the ability to write poetry on the spot (kind of a "freestyle poet" if you will) and often his poems get read on a radio show in the area. He even wrote Michelle and I a poem right on the spot - describing us as the perfect couple. What a great act of kindness by Luis Manuel to dedicate a poem to us- that is something that has never happened to either one of us before! He went on and on about the famous Nicaraguan poet Ruben Dario and mentioned that he is one of his greatest heroes and has read many of Dario's works.

While we were hanging out at the bar Luis Manuel phoned his wife and told her to buy some tamales at the market because they were having guests over. I could feel Luis Manuel's excitement about teaching us about all of his country's staples and could tell that he was extremely proud to be a Nicaraguan. Later I mentioned that I wanted to buy a Carlos Mejia CD ( a famous Nicaraguan who sings protest songs about the Sandinistas) from the piratas before I left town and without hesitation he called his wife again and told her to pickup one of his disks while she was out getting tamales. Then he insisted that we go to his house to meet his family and try out his wife's Nicaraguan cuisine.

We entered Luis Manuel's house and he instantly put in a Carlos Mejia CD in his stereo and turned it up full blast!! Then he went and retrieved a very thick book of Dario poetry and said that he had read the book cover to cover several times. He then gave Michelle a hand carved fish as a gift that he had on the wall of his house and said it was something for her to remember Nicaragua by and handed us three CDs of famous Nicaraguan music and said it was our "regalito" or gift. We were very thankful for all of his warmth and kindness but didnt have anything to give him so we thanked him graciously. He said that he is the type of person that people never forget and he has many friends and kept saying "cuando uds regresan a Nicaragua, visten Luis Manuel" and told us he wanted to give us an experience we would never forget. I am sure we will never forget his warmth, hospitality and intense Nicaraguan pride. It is not often you meet someone with such a huge heart as Luis Manuel.

When his wife came home we all sat down and had some tamales and drank a cup of famous Nicaraguan coffee. We asked them where we could buy a good bag of coffee for our Dads and Luis Manuel went back into the kitchen and brought out a bag of coffee beans grown in Esteli without a second thought. He said "make sure to tell your Dad that this is a *regalito* de Luis Manuel." Our stomachs were stuffed from all of the tamales they kept bringing out and by now we could hardly even move. It was definitely nap time as Luis Manuel was out pretty late the night before with his friends and we were stuffed to capacity. We left Luis Manuel's house with our hands full of Nicaraguan specialties and thanked him many times over for all his generosity.

The rest of the day was devoted to finding out where the clinic was that we were supposed to volunteer at the following morning. After searching the internet and asking countless locals where "Hope Clinic" or "Tim's Clinic" was located we finally found the place after several hours.

The next morning we went out looking for some breakfast and saw a piece of notebook paper hanging at the entrance of a small house that said "hay tortillas" in fainted lead pencil handwriting. Jackpot!! We knocked on the door and some answered and there was a lady in the back cooking freshly made tortillas in her house!! We bought about ten and then they recommended us a house located a block away where we could buy some cheese to fill our tortillas. This time there was no sign as we just knocked on a few doors and finally someone answered and told us "si hay queso aqui" and went back to her fridge and sold us some excellent tasting cheese!! Tortillas and cheese- perfect breakfast food indeed!!

After breakfast we visited the clinic and met up with Chilito, the lady we had been in contact with and who was helping coordinate our volunteer work. We helped Chilito organize some pills for a few hours and then we met her at her house and hung out with her family. She offered to have us stay at her place and stay in her son Ronny's room but we told her we had to take off that evening to catch a flight in Managua. She said the next time we return we could stay at her place as long as we want and hosts volunteers at the clinic all the time (many people from the Ypsilanti branch of Hope Clinic volunteer in Esteli and stay with Chilito). She mentioned that she will be in Ann Arbor in a few weeks helping two Nicaraguan patients that need to come to the US for surgery. Chilito coordinated the whole exchange and would be serving as a nurse for the patients during their recovery period in MI. What a small world!! To top it all off, her son Ronny's girlfriend lives in Ann Arbor as well (they met while she came down to Esteli to volunteer at the clinic). Now that is a long distance relationship!! We hung out at Chilito's place and Ronny played us some songs on the guitar and gave us each one of the necklaces that he makes by hand. Ronny is one of the most talented kids I have ever met- he plays the guitar and sings, dresses up as a clown for kid's birthday parties, makes hand made necklaces, has a wall full of art he painted himself and performs in variety shows- all at the age of 16. He is the type of kid that could become a household name really quick- wait a few years and maybe we'll see!!

After hanging out with Chilito and her family for a bit, it was time to catch the bus back to Managua. Ronny accompanied us back to the bus stop and we boarded the last bus just as it was pulling out to leave- perfect timing or else we probably would have missed our plane back to MI- which did not seem like a bad idea given the great experience we had in Esteli!!

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