Blogs from Northern Highlands, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 17

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Ah, back in Estelí! Left on the 2pm bus out of my community and caught the 3:15 expresso from Somoto to Managua, getting off at Estelí. So I met a guy in the station. A very chele Nican who spoke great English, about my age I suppose. I told him I was a Peace Corps Volunteer and he was like, wow, you guys are famous here. He was friends with the chofer, the driver, and the cobrador, the guy who takes money... and they wouldn´t let me pay! Talk about respect. Made my day! But then Luna upped their prices, PCV or not. So that sucks. But the expresso made me happy :) So! News! I have a new roof! Two days ago, so Tuesday, before I went into Somoto for lab tests, I told my ... read more
Photo 2
buying lumber and strapping it to the truck!
my empty room


I am sitting in a cyber in Somoto. But the radio is on. And I just heard part of Hillary´s speech. And they´re talking in Spanish about the Inauguration. And I´m trying to get CNN to work so I can see what´s up. That is all. Just heard Biden swear in! Listening to Obama swear in right now! eeeek!!"!"!!! Listening to his speech on the radio now! U.S. President Barack Obama: "We have chosen hope over fear, unity of purpose over conflict and discord." Also! I got a package! From stynes! Full of snickers and starbursts and o.b. tampons! I will certainly have a Molly Party under my mosquitero ;) THANK YOU!!!! I also received an Ozarks postcard from clandrus! See also, I am sick. But! I just went to the lab. And had my blood ... read more


currently obsessed with: - papi te quiero by ivy queen. seriously, on repeat on my ipod. - joy luck club by amy tan. how in the world have i never read this book before? - my celeste sweatshirt. sky blue is a distinct color here. there´s azul. and there´s celeste. silvia, the lady at the post office, gave me a brief massage this morning and i wanted her never to stop. god what i wouldn´t give for a pedicure and a massage. but neither of those things are going to happen professionally here in the nica. and thus i must take care of my own feet. something i neither like nor am any good at. and i have to rely on others for brief massages. which i don´t like either. liz sent me an envelope full ... read more


two entries here, from the 12th and today, the 14th. 12 Jan 2009 Monday 10:10 pm Well. Walked to San Lucas this morning and caught a cab to Somoto. Called Mom and surprised her at work - haha. Had a fairly uneventful morning in Somoto, though I did, predictably, run into two Health PCVs who live in the department of Madriz, too. Went to try and look at mattresses for my bed, but they were waaaay expensive where I was looking and I’m not entirely sure what size my bed is and it was a failed mission. Took a cab to San Lucas and hiked up the mountain, too. The rest of the day after Somoto, though, has been fairly eventful. With good news and bad news. Good news is that I created my ultimate playlist ... read more


Ah, the joys of living in a developing country. After my last post, the 1:30 bus that I caught home broke down halfway up the mountain and the engine started smoking. Of course everyone tried to trample each other getting off the bus. I was taking my time, trying not to get run over, mostly because the driver wasn´t worried, so I wasn´t worried. But it was fun walking into town and getting to say that the bus caught on fire! Also, after not seeing other PCVs in my area - they are all over the damn place! There are only three of us Agriculture PCVs in Madriz but there are 8 Health volunteers... and now I see someone everytime I come into Somoto. It´s nice. Just to know there are others out there. So, in ... read more


Ondanks dat we de wekker hadden gezet, toch nog een sprintje + taxi-rit moeten nemen om op tijd op het busstation te geraken...om er dan achter te komen dat de bus vertraging heeft - what a surprise! Busritje tot bijna aan de grens met Honduras en tegen 11u begonnen we aan onze wandeling richting de Canyon de Somoto. Het eerste deel was te voet: berg op & af, via stenen de rivier nog droog over zien te geraken en dan kon de waterpret beginnen! Onze gids deed de stukken door de rivier in een rubberen band met onze rugzakken op zijn schoot om zo onze spullen zo droog mogelijk te houden. Nanna heeft een paar keer haar knie gestoten omdat ze de dikke stenen onder water niet op tijd had gezien :-s KingZ heeft zich weer ... read more
Somoto
El Canyon de Somoto
El Canyon de Somoto


Hellooooo dear readers! Or shall I address this to my dear stalkers? I am in a crackity mood this morning. It´s kind of weird weather day here in the northern Nica. Super windy... like SUPER duper windy and cloudy and - weird weather. Yes, that was very redudant. So, had my Uncle T, the carpintero, come look at my room to give me an estimate for a zinc roof. He called a few ferreterías to get zinc estimates, and then worked it all out including the wood supports needed, the next to cheapest zinc, and the nails... and it adds up to about 2,000 cords, or $100. Totally doable. TOTALLY. Ahhhh so hopefully we can get the stuff together this month and begin in February. I am also going to go price a mattress this morning ... read more


Toch maar gene wekker gezet om de bus van 6u naar Somoto te nemen... Opt gemak opgestaan, taxi genomen richting de busterminal - effe ommekeer gemaakt naar de cajero automatico omdat we nog geen lokale centen hadden - en dan door naar Mercado Mayoreo. t Ging er allemaal wel een beetje chaotisch aan toe maar we zijn ondertussen al meer gewoon. Een uurtje nog moeten wachten en dan de bus op richting MariaChiara. Tegen 2u stapten we van de bus af, met pijn in de nek want zo gemakkelijk zaten de zetels niet, en werden we al opgewacht. Met de taxi naar haar "bescheiden" huisje gereden waar we de komende nachten mogen doorbrengen. Effe bijgebabbeld en dan middag: PASTA!!!! Na het eten hebben we een korte toer door het dorp gekregen en tot op de Mirador ... read more
Managua
Managua
Op de bus naar Somoto


So New Year´s has been and gone celebrated in San Pedro la Laguna in Guatemala. It was a night of rum and fireworks, and a scant regard for any kind of health and safety!!! San Pedro itself is another cool little village on Lake Atitlan, not much to do apart from enjoy the scenery and have a drink or 3, but that suiuted us fine. New year itself was a good laugh, we met up with some fellow travelling folk (one of whom was a hippie, Australian musician called Gu, who Ben found himself liking in spite of himself) and went to one of the bars in the town, after much rum ( for the both of us) and a few too many beers new year was ushered in with fireworks set off from a disturbingly ... read more
Ben and Gu
Street Art in Esteli


8 January 2009 8am Thursday Yesterday sucked. My hormones are all out of whack and I woke up crying, stayed in bed until the ungodly hour of 8:30 AM and when I emerged to go to the worst-latrine-in-all-of-Nicaragua my two younger Nica siblings were messing around outside and handed me a note from Eyebrows asking to borrow C100. Now, most of this is my fault because I loaned money once and that set a precedent. And she paid me back. But I was in a pissy mood. And she’d borrowed C100 in December and Angsty Fro borrowed C40. So I folded up the C100 in the note, passively aggressively wrote the balance of C240 and practically threw it at the kids on my way to the latrine and then shower. This morning, in a slightly saner ... read more




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