¡Saludos desde Matagalpa! This first week was a whirlwind tour of Nicaragua, doing the tourist thing before AMIGOS officially begins. But before I talk about the adventures, a quick history lesson:
See, the USA has this bad habit of invading Nicaragua. Tennessean William Walker declared himself President of Nicaragua in the mid-1800s in an attempt to turn the country into a slave-holding Southern state. There was a much bigger invasion in the 20s and 30s, until ragtag rebels led by a scrawny man with one really nice hat (named Augusto Sandino) pushed the USA out. Then, the Somoza family took over and ruled rather conservatively and oppressively as a dynastic dictatorship until the 70s. By then, the socialist Sandinista rebels—inspired by Marx, Fidel, and Augusto himself—finally won a devastating civil war and began ruling. Daniel Ortega was (and is!) the head of the Frente Sandinista Liberación Nacional, the socialist “FSLN” party that took over in 1979. Not to be undone, the USA-supported rebel Contras fought unsuccessfully to overthrow the Sandinistas (Google “Oliver North” for more details). Ortega was voted out, and three Presidents served afterwards. Now, though, Ortega is back as President once more, more ideologically moderate but still drawing on the Sandinista lore.
Sorry to go into textbook mode there, but I think that background knowledge of the country I just left and the one I just got to will make this blog more fun. Enjoy the highlights so far!
HUMIDITY: walking out of the tiny Managua airport is kind of like jumping into a pot of boiling water. Caitlin, Doug, and I were dripping with sweat by the time we piled into an overpriced taxi to our cute little “Backpackers Inn” hostel. As it turns out, there’s very little to do in the capital of Nicaragua, which was leveled in a 1972 earthquake, and—in the midst of a civil war between Sandinista rebels and an oppressive Somoza dictatorship—never really seems to have recovered. So, most of the first night was spent finding an ATM and (what I thought was a very fun) dimly lit comedor with decorative chicken cages and Christmas lights for a little bit of comida típica. We passed the next morning talking to ex-Peace Corps volunteers, gringas who came to visit Nicaragua and never left, and a few other hostel-dwellers who were preparing for a night of revelry sponsored by the famous Flor de Caña rum. Then, it was on to legendary Granada.
HUMILITY: the gorgeous colonial town of Granada is defined by its enormous Catholic cathedrals whose elaborate architecture defies the humility that their priests preach…and this city is impossible not to love. Brightly colored walls line narrow streets with raised tiled sidewalks, blocking off lush inner patios in almost every single house, hostel, and restaurant. Instead of Starbucks, there are cathedrals on just about every block: most of them have small signs out front explaining that William Walker burnt them down in his short-lived antebellum “filibustering” conquest, but that the citizens of Granada proudly restored them about a decade later. We had fun making our own chocolate from bean to bar, and we took a boat tour of the isletas (“little islands”) of Lake Nicaragua. Hundreds of these isletas are scattered around the lake off the coast of Granada, just about evenly divided between local fishing communities and elaborate private mansions of the ricos. Fish jumped out of the water along shallow shores in search of bugs, colorful birds scattered at every island we passed, and waves lapped gently at meticulously layered stone walls that dipped down into the water, lining the edges of the islands.
One good-bye to the cute girls who had helped our confused tour group find our way at the Granada hostel and one short 90 mph bus ride later, we picked up our last fellow traveler (Emily) in Managua. (Megan is the last remaining P-Sup—we miss you Megan!) From there, it was on to León, a similar but smaller colonial town farther to the North of Nicaragua. During the bus ride there, we entered into much more fervently Sandinista territory: the red and black of the FSLN flag was etched onto almost every Jersey barrier, signpost, and billboard we passed. Once here, we saw the FSLN flag flying proudly alongside the Nicaraguan one in the central plaza.
And finally, ABSURDITY: the much-await excursion in León was…volcano boarding! For $23, we hopped into the back of a giant neon orange truck that took us to the Cerro Negro volcano for an hour-long hike up pitch black volcanic rock to the summit, where we cruised down a ridiculously steep slope of volcanic sand on polished 2-by-4s. I hit 59 kilometers per hour, far away from the record of 87. But, it was still a blast, and I managed to not scrape deep gashes into my forehead like one of our fellow volcanists did when she bailed out off of her board. I did, however, sustain a bee sting at the top of the volcano, which has now swollen to the size of a small tennis ball on my right arm.
The rest of our time in León was just as exciting, but maybe not as much fun: three of my fellow travelers came down with some nasty food poisoning that grounded them for a day. I was, however, lucky enough to still be able to see the house where the national hero Ruben Darío grew up, along with some fantastic art (including half a dozen Picassos!) at the local gallery. Mostly, though, we picked up Gatorade and Ritz crackers at the Supermercado down the street and nursed everybody back to health. From there, we were able to hike around the Selva Negra nature preserve (which is where this post is coming from) and see some howler monkeys and gorgeous enormous Matapalo trees! Tomorrow, we report for official AMIGOS duty; P-Sup activities and photos are coming soon.
This week was an amazing way to get a lot closer with the P-Sups who will be my family this summer, see more of the country I’ll be living in for the next two months, and have some relaxing time to adjust to Nicaragua before AMIGOS starts for real. But now, on to what we’ve actually been dying to do since we got off the plane: AMIGOSing. Hasta luego,
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