Most days here in Esteli have settled into a routine – awake, work, lunch, work, Crossfit, dinner, movie/group fun time, rinse and repeat. I get up at around 7:15, walk to work at 7:45, and then after work a bunch of us will go to Crossfit. In the evenings we may watch movies, read, play Cards Against Humanity or Bananagrams, make very elaborate dinners that up a good chunk of time, or all get dinner from Janina, our great cook/cleaner who comes twice a week. But on the weekends, all bets are off! The past two weekends have been full of fun activities and trips.
Last weekend all of the chapter advisors and Clare, one of the senior advisors, went to San Juan del Sur. We had Monday and Tuesday off for Nicaraguan Independence Day, so we took advantage of the long weekend to rent a van to go down on Friday night and come back on Monday, still giving us a full day to recover before work would start up again. Before going to San Juan del Sur I described it as “the Cancun of Nicaragua.” I don’t know where I came up with that description…in the end, SJDS, which is one of the surf capitals of the world, proved itself to be much more of a beach bum (but very fit and athletic) scene, full of surfers and partiers alike.
We spent the weekend at Yajure Surf Hostel, run by the Venezuelan surfer Chely. We had a few large crabs and toads for company in the very tropical climate, and had two big hostel rooms to share for sleeping. We spent all of Saturday at a beach a 20-minute drive away in the bouncing back of Chely’s truck. We had a great time body surfing in the very strong and sometimes scary waves, photo posing, and observing a wedding calendar photo shoot, with two very attractive blonde dreadlocked people walking along the beach in a tuxedo and white mermaid dress.
On Sunday, half the group did the Sunday Funday pool-hop: $30 all-day party (literally 1 pm to 2 am) where a group of 500 moved from hostel to hostel. The less adventurous/excited about day drinking among us stayed at the beach for the day, where I tried to surf (read: got up on the board once, mostly ate a lot of sand) and eventually retired to reading by the pool. Monday was more of the same (a good thing!) except I foolishly decided I was sun-invincible and ended up with a lovely bright red burn that is just now peeling off in huge amounts.
In addition to days spent in warm water and soft sand under a strong sun, San Juan del Sur’s other perk was the food. There was everything our group could want and more: gourmet burgers at Nacho Libre, hummus plates galore at Republika, gelato on gelato on gelato, bags of mango (to be fair, you can find these anywhere), and the unique pleasures of El Gato Negro, a bookstore and café that would not have been out of place in Central Square or JP and where we loaded up on things like iced mochas, deluxe bagel breakfast sandwiches, yogurt and granola and nuts, cinnamon buns, and all other sorts of the organic café delights that we all know and love from the good old Estados Unidos. Also, the books! I managed to convince Clare to buy one of my favorite books, The Clan of the Cave Bear, and tried to talk others into buying another favorite, The Pillars of the Earth. I almost bought huge tomes of Native American history, Greek mythology…and Tucker Max…but I had to restrain myself, because the prices would rival a Barnes & Noble and I’m used to buying my books for 25 cents at Boomerangs on half-off Thursdays. So, no $10-20 books for me, but lots and lots of real bagels, so I wasn’t complaining. And true to its name, the café was decorated with dozens of statues, pillows, and pictures of black cats. Meow.
So that was San Juan del Sur. Beach and sunburn and food and parties (for some, but not me, because I have to live up to my reputation as a 40-year-old trapped in a 22-year-old’s body). Also, I got two excellent tank tops. A successful weekend was had by all. We piled back into our van, returned the 4 ½ hours to Esteli, and proceeded to spend all of Tuesday in sleep coma recovery mode. When we got home one of the baby crabs had found its way into Phill’s backpack. He christened it Steve Atamian (after GB’s CEO…) and has been caring for it ever since. One night at the hostel, I kicked the toad in the face when I was walking into our room in the dark. San Juan del Sur, folks.
Last weekend all of the chapter advisors and Clare, one of the senior advisors, went to San Juan del Sur. We had Monday and Tuesday off for Nicaraguan Independence Day, so we took advantage of the long weekend to rent a van to go down on Friday night and come back on Monday, still giving us a full day to recover before work would start up again. Before going to San Juan del Sur I described it as “the Cancun of Nicaragua.” I don’t know where I came up with that description…in the end, SJDS, which is one of the surf capitals of the world, proved itself to be much more of a beach bum (but very fit and athletic) scene, full of surfers and partiers alike.
We spent the weekend at Yajure Surf Hostel, run by the Venezuelan surfer Chely. We had a few large crabs and toads for company in the very tropical climate, and had two big hostel rooms to share for sleeping. We spent all of Saturday at a beach a 20-minute drive away in the bouncing back of Chely’s truck. We had a great time body surfing in the very strong and sometimes scary waves, photo posing, and observing a wedding calendar photo shoot, with two very attractive blonde dreadlocked people walking along the beach in a tuxedo and white mermaid dress.
On Sunday, half the group did the Sunday Funday pool-hop: $30 all-day party (literally 1 pm to 2 am) where a group of 500 moved from hostel to hostel. The less adventurous/excited about day drinking among us stayed at the beach for the day, where I tried to surf (read: got up on the board once, mostly ate a lot of sand) and eventually retired to reading by the pool. Monday was more of the same (a good thing!) except I foolishly decided I was sun-invincible and ended up with a lovely bright red burn that is just now peeling off in huge amounts.
In addition to days spent in warm water and soft sand under a strong sun, San Juan del Sur’s other perk was the food. There was everything our group could want and more: gourmet burgers at Nacho Libre, hummus plates galore at Republika, gelato on gelato on gelato, bags of mango (to be fair, you can find these anywhere), and the unique pleasures of El Gato Negro, a bookstore and café that would not have been out of place in Central Square or JP and where we loaded up on things like iced mochas, deluxe bagel breakfast sandwiches, yogurt and granola and nuts, cinnamon buns, and all other sorts of the organic café delights that we all know and love from the good old Estados Unidos. Also, the books! I managed to convince Clare to buy one of my favorite books, The Clan of the Cave Bear, and tried to talk others into buying another favorite, The Pillars of the Earth. I almost bought huge tomes of Native American history, Greek mythology…and Tucker Max…but I had to restrain myself, because the prices would rival a Barnes & Noble and I’m used to buying my books for 25 cents at Boomerangs on half-off Thursdays. So, no $10-20 books for me, but lots and lots of real bagels, so I wasn’t complaining. And true to its name, the café was decorated with dozens of statues, pillows, and pictures of black cats. Meow.
So that was San Juan del Sur. Beach and sunburn and food and parties (for some, but not me, because I have to live up to my reputation as a 40-year-old trapped in a 22-year-old’s body). Also, I got two excellent tank tops. A successful weekend was had by all. We piled back into our van, returned the 4 ½ hours to Esteli, and proceeded to spend all of Tuesday in sleep coma recovery mode. When we got home one of the baby crabs had found its way into Phill’s backpack. He christened it Steve Atamian (after GB’s CEO…) and has been caring for it ever since. One night at the hostel, I kicked the toad in the face when I was walking into our room in the dark. San Juan del Sur, folks.
Today we took a secondary but no less exciting trip to the capital city, Managua. This was a smaller group: me, Katie, both Sarahs, Ben Claxton, and Renee. Were we there to see the old colonial ruins or take in some cultural experience? No, we were not. We left at 7 am with one purpose and one purpose alone: to see “The Maze Runner,” located in the city’s newest and nicest mall. Also, to eat McDonald’s. After two hours on the morning express bus, we ended up in the parking lots of the mall’s complex. Unfortunately we then found out that the mall did not open until 11 am. We had an hour and a half to kill – whatever would we do?
Luckily, a 24-hour Burger King beckoned in the middle of the parking lot. How convenient. After many a coffee and cheesy fried ball thing (I don’t know this fast food lingo, plz halp), we saw a huge La Colonia – our local grocery store, but this one was clearly a superstore. Like the difference between the baby Whole Foods in JP and the Whole Foods megaplex in Tribeca. We were in awe, and I bought face cream. Mission accomplished. Then it was time to enter the mall.
We made a beeline for the theatre, and were treated to two hours of wonderful entertainment with “The Maze Runner.” In the past few days we created an unofficial GB book club. It all started when Sarah Albinda said she wanted to see The Maze Runner on Thursday night. It turned out our local theater had a website glitch and the film was not actually playing in Esteli. So Sarah proposed we go to Managua to see it. Sarah was very enthusiastic about the film’s prospects because the star is on Teen Wolf. This made Carolyn also very excited. I love movies and most of all I love YA dystopian fiction, so I decided I’d have to read the book. I quickly found a PDF online, emailed it to all interested parties, and boom – the book club was born. I have since completed books 1 and 2 and am starting book 3. Katie took a big step by reading an entire book, which she assured us is a rare occurrence. All in all, we had a solid group of book fans, and the movie was everything we wanted. So go see it. We just found out that the sequel has been greenlit. It’s been a good day.
After the movie, we wandered around the very modern mall (there was a Lacoste and Tommy Hilfiger. We’re not in Esteli anymore). Then we got huge lunches in the food court. Food court = Sbarro, Subway, Cinnabon, and more. Such a cultural experience. We had to rush back to the bus station to catch the 4 pm bus home. The first cab group – Katie, Sarah D, Renee and I – arrived just in time to literally run into the open doors of a moving bus. The other three were left behind to find another bus, a-ha-ha. And now we are home, ready to begin another work week.
There’s not much left to report, except that we’ve recently watched Skyfall and Catching Fire in the senior advisors’ air-conditioned, leather lounger-filled TV room, and that I found a great Jimi Hendrix Hard Rock Café shirt at Megaboutique, a fun store to find everything from bath towels to cat shirts. Last week, my and Pat's Ghana internship supervisor Audrey came to visit, and she'll be back in a few days from exploring the country, before she goes back to her life at UC Santa Barbara. It was great to get to see her, and our visit's not yet over. Maybe someday I will write about work on this blog…but it is not that day. Until next time!
Luckily, a 24-hour Burger King beckoned in the middle of the parking lot. How convenient. After many a coffee and cheesy fried ball thing (I don’t know this fast food lingo, plz halp), we saw a huge La Colonia – our local grocery store, but this one was clearly a superstore. Like the difference between the baby Whole Foods in JP and the Whole Foods megaplex in Tribeca. We were in awe, and I bought face cream. Mission accomplished. Then it was time to enter the mall.
We made a beeline for the theatre, and were treated to two hours of wonderful entertainment with “The Maze Runner.” In the past few days we created an unofficial GB book club. It all started when Sarah Albinda said she wanted to see The Maze Runner on Thursday night. It turned out our local theater had a website glitch and the film was not actually playing in Esteli. So Sarah proposed we go to Managua to see it. Sarah was very enthusiastic about the film’s prospects because the star is on Teen Wolf. This made Carolyn also very excited. I love movies and most of all I love YA dystopian fiction, so I decided I’d have to read the book. I quickly found a PDF online, emailed it to all interested parties, and boom – the book club was born. I have since completed books 1 and 2 and am starting book 3. Katie took a big step by reading an entire book, which she assured us is a rare occurrence. All in all, we had a solid group of book fans, and the movie was everything we wanted. So go see it. We just found out that the sequel has been greenlit. It’s been a good day.
After the movie, we wandered around the very modern mall (there was a Lacoste and Tommy Hilfiger. We’re not in Esteli anymore). Then we got huge lunches in the food court. Food court = Sbarro, Subway, Cinnabon, and more. Such a cultural experience. We had to rush back to the bus station to catch the 4 pm bus home. The first cab group – Katie, Sarah D, Renee and I – arrived just in time to literally run into the open doors of a moving bus. The other three were left behind to find another bus, a-ha-ha. And now we are home, ready to begin another work week.
There’s not much left to report, except that we’ve recently watched Skyfall and Catching Fire in the senior advisors’ air-conditioned, leather lounger-filled TV room, and that I found a great Jimi Hendrix Hard Rock Café shirt at Megaboutique, a fun store to find everything from bath towels to cat shirts. Last week, my and Pat's Ghana internship supervisor Audrey came to visit, and she'll be back in a few days from exploring the country, before she goes back to her life at UC Santa Barbara. It was great to get to see her, and our visit's not yet over. Maybe someday I will write about work on this blog…but it is not that day. Until next time!