TL;DR: A week where something exciting happened every day; a normal week; a trip to Bavaria-in-Nica
3rd week of August:
On Monday we went to visit two of the communities we work in, El Hatillo and Rincon Largo. They were about two hours east of us, through windy mountain passes and past coffee farms. Our Nicaragua operation is the smallest of any of our countries. We only have two programs: Medical/Dental and Public Health. Many brigades do hybrids, where they do a three day clinic followed by three days of a PH brigade. PH brigades consist of laying cement floors and constructing sanitary stations, which include a toilet, shower, sink, and water collection area. El Hatillo and Rincon Largo are our only two Public Health communities in Nicaragua, so we went there for the day to check out the projects and meet with community members. On the way home we stopped to buy authentic tasty recently-roasted coffee. I haven't drunk mine yet since we get coffee every day in the office, but I'll make it soon.
On Tuesday it was back to work, but at night we went to a Real Esteli-Sporting KC (Kansas City) soccer game. We were wearing KC shirts because Phill's cousin works for them and he hooked us up with gear. Needless to say everyone in the stadium HATED us, but it was a fun game nevertheless! Then on Wednesday night I got to go to the compound where brigaders stay at night, since one of my schools was in-country. Thursday night brought more excitement as we had a big office get-together to say goodbye to Megan (former SoCal advisor) and Brett (former Advisor manager) who went back to the US. But it was no ordinary work dinner...it was a delicious pig roast! The week was rounded out with a Friday night trip to see "Hercules" at the local theater.
On Saturday several of us volunteered to help out at the pharmacy, run by Dr. Kathleen, where we sorted medications brigaders had brought down as extras. We then got to spend the afternoon by the pool (!!) at the compound, where the pharmacy is located. On Saturday night I finally experienced the questionable joy of CigarZone, the (only?) club in town. And that was the end of the 3rd week of August!
4th week of August:
On Sunday and Monday night we watched "Insidious" and "Insidious 2." Was this a good idea? Yes. Horror movies make for great fun/heart attacks. The movies are about a little kid whose body gets possessed while his soul wanders around in creepy darkness. Then in the second movie, his dad gets possessed. Scary Movie Sunday may become a thing now (except we were too tired last night, so Scary Movie Monday it shall be).
Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary happened during the week except THE DROUGHT ENDED! Come to think of it, this is actually a big deal. We are in the rainy season but, much like California, the country has been in a drought for months. Last week we (luckily?) had several powerful downpours that hopefully signaled the end of the drought.
Much of the week was spent planning, in small doses, for our weekend away. 11 of 14 of the group decided to go to Leon, the second-largest city in the country and home to a hostel that specializes in taking people volcano boarding. Renee, Mary and I were in the mood for a quieter weekend (even though volcano boarding sounded awesome) so we booked a room at Selva Negra, a mountain resort in a cloud forest in the highest elevation zone in the country.
Selva Negra
We rented a car and a GB driver on Friday afternoon and headed to our weekend away. Darkness fell and a storm crept up as we were making the hour and a half-long drive up into the mountains. We arrived to cold rain, cool mountain air, and very good hamburgers and German beer (this was most exciting). We went to bed early and woke up for our first hike. We headed up trails like Romantico, Cody, Atajo, Tarzan, Canal, and finally, LA MOSQUITA. Our hike had started with gentle uphills on quite slippery and muddy forest floor, but Mosquita was both filled with mosquitoes (durr) and also also incredibly steep, narrow, and often dropping off down the sheer side of the jungle-mountain. After about an hour and a half we summited and got a misty view of the nearby city Matagalpa. After a lunch break, we descended down "Peter and Helen," a trail named for two of its first climbers, who got lost on it in the dark decades ago. It was impossible to descend gracefully and Renee took a particularly nasty fall when we were trying to slide down a muddy patch that was un-walkable. I decided that I loved Selva Negra but might want to visit again in the dry season.
On the way down we got to experience the howler monkeys that we'd been warned about. There were probably dozens hiding in the trees out of sight, doing their creepy devil-possession howling that accompanied us all the way down the mountain. Needless to say we were all channelling our inner Katniss-in-the-arena. That part of the map was even labelled "Monkey territory."
We got back in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the restaurant on the pond, reading, eating cheese, etc. We had a rainstorm that night and watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Swedish version, in bed. Always a good pre-bed movie. The next morning Mary and I went on a short hike through only the lower-elevation flatter trails, and we all spent the afternoon doing exactly what we had the day before. We got picked up at 4 and headed home, very relaxed and ready to go back again!
3rd week of August:
On Monday we went to visit two of the communities we work in, El Hatillo and Rincon Largo. They were about two hours east of us, through windy mountain passes and past coffee farms. Our Nicaragua operation is the smallest of any of our countries. We only have two programs: Medical/Dental and Public Health. Many brigades do hybrids, where they do a three day clinic followed by three days of a PH brigade. PH brigades consist of laying cement floors and constructing sanitary stations, which include a toilet, shower, sink, and water collection area. El Hatillo and Rincon Largo are our only two Public Health communities in Nicaragua, so we went there for the day to check out the projects and meet with community members. On the way home we stopped to buy authentic tasty recently-roasted coffee. I haven't drunk mine yet since we get coffee every day in the office, but I'll make it soon.
On Tuesday it was back to work, but at night we went to a Real Esteli-Sporting KC (Kansas City) soccer game. We were wearing KC shirts because Phill's cousin works for them and he hooked us up with gear. Needless to say everyone in the stadium HATED us, but it was a fun game nevertheless! Then on Wednesday night I got to go to the compound where brigaders stay at night, since one of my schools was in-country. Thursday night brought more excitement as we had a big office get-together to say goodbye to Megan (former SoCal advisor) and Brett (former Advisor manager) who went back to the US. But it was no ordinary work dinner...it was a delicious pig roast! The week was rounded out with a Friday night trip to see "Hercules" at the local theater.
On Saturday several of us volunteered to help out at the pharmacy, run by Dr. Kathleen, where we sorted medications brigaders had brought down as extras. We then got to spend the afternoon by the pool (!!) at the compound, where the pharmacy is located. On Saturday night I finally experienced the questionable joy of CigarZone, the (only?) club in town. And that was the end of the 3rd week of August!
4th week of August:
On Sunday and Monday night we watched "Insidious" and "Insidious 2." Was this a good idea? Yes. Horror movies make for great fun/heart attacks. The movies are about a little kid whose body gets possessed while his soul wanders around in creepy darkness. Then in the second movie, his dad gets possessed. Scary Movie Sunday may become a thing now (except we were too tired last night, so Scary Movie Monday it shall be).
Nothing too exciting or out of the ordinary happened during the week except THE DROUGHT ENDED! Come to think of it, this is actually a big deal. We are in the rainy season but, much like California, the country has been in a drought for months. Last week we (luckily?) had several powerful downpours that hopefully signaled the end of the drought.
Much of the week was spent planning, in small doses, for our weekend away. 11 of 14 of the group decided to go to Leon, the second-largest city in the country and home to a hostel that specializes in taking people volcano boarding. Renee, Mary and I were in the mood for a quieter weekend (even though volcano boarding sounded awesome) so we booked a room at Selva Negra, a mountain resort in a cloud forest in the highest elevation zone in the country.
Selva Negra
We rented a car and a GB driver on Friday afternoon and headed to our weekend away. Darkness fell and a storm crept up as we were making the hour and a half-long drive up into the mountains. We arrived to cold rain, cool mountain air, and very good hamburgers and German beer (this was most exciting). We went to bed early and woke up for our first hike. We headed up trails like Romantico, Cody, Atajo, Tarzan, Canal, and finally, LA MOSQUITA. Our hike had started with gentle uphills on quite slippery and muddy forest floor, but Mosquita was both filled with mosquitoes (durr) and also also incredibly steep, narrow, and often dropping off down the sheer side of the jungle-mountain. After about an hour and a half we summited and got a misty view of the nearby city Matagalpa. After a lunch break, we descended down "Peter and Helen," a trail named for two of its first climbers, who got lost on it in the dark decades ago. It was impossible to descend gracefully and Renee took a particularly nasty fall when we were trying to slide down a muddy patch that was un-walkable. I decided that I loved Selva Negra but might want to visit again in the dry season.
On the way down we got to experience the howler monkeys that we'd been warned about. There were probably dozens hiding in the trees out of sight, doing their creepy devil-possession howling that accompanied us all the way down the mountain. Needless to say we were all channelling our inner Katniss-in-the-arena. That part of the map was even labelled "Monkey territory."
We got back in the early afternoon and spent the rest of the day relaxing at the restaurant on the pond, reading, eating cheese, etc. We had a rainstorm that night and watched "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo," Swedish version, in bed. Always a good pre-bed movie. The next morning Mary and I went on a short hike through only the lower-elevation flatter trails, and we all spent the afternoon doing exactly what we had the day before. We got picked up at 4 and headed home, very relaxed and ready to go back again!