I’m covered in sweat right now and loving it. One, because this means that the mosquitos won’t be able to get at me as easily. Two, because it means that I’ve been busy today. Then again, it’s hot enough here on this volcanic island to make anyone sweat buckets after only a few minutes in the sun. 

Today, we woke up a bit earlier to help the mujeres with their clean up campaign at 8. Like all Nicaraguan things however, this campaign, which was supposed to start at 8 only began at 8:30. We were given the menial task of picking up garbage on the side of the road, since we had to leave at 9 and couldn’t do anything else useful. We were given rubber gloves to wear, but they were tiny and fit only me and another girl. The poor guys tried to shove their hands into the gloves, often either breaking them or ending up with hands so tightly squeezed together it looked they had horrible arthritis and webbed fingers at the same time. I was shocked at the amount of trash hidden amidst the grass on the side of the road. There really is no social norm for throwing your trash in a trash basket especially when traveling. At bus stations, there are squares of plastic waste when the bus leaves because people will throw trash out of the bus windows while waiting and when the bus leaves only an outline made of trash remains. Degrading plastic bags and wrappers littered the side of the road. Only after about 30 meters of road, we had collected an entire sack of garbage. I can only imagine what cleaning up the entire town would require.

Afterwards, we went to the house of a home stay mother who had graciously offered her house up for us to work in due to the fact that the only internet cafe here is not working (hence the lack of posts recently). She had set up a wonderful table underneath this huge tree which shielded us from the sun. Every hour or so she would come over with a new fruity surprise, such as freshly cut coconut which we slurped up and then cracked open to eat the flesh. The coconut here is much tangier than the coconuts we had on the isletas in Granada and their flesh much, much harder. She also brought out fresh mangos from their mango tree; there is no fruit as messy to eat as a mango when you don’t have a knife. One ends up with fibers stuck in all the cracks between your teeth, but the mango is totally worth the mess and discomfort because I guarantee it will be delicious. Mangos and papayas and guayavas are among my favorite fruits here so far. 

The playground next to my house, with a less than ordinary view.

We’re currently preparing a workshop for Barrio La Planta, a non profit which provides completely free education in one of the poorest barrios in San Juan del Sur, where a severe case of gentrification is occurring. I’ve already explained the mission of Barrio La Planta extensively, but I’ll summarize here again very quickly. Decrying the traditional methods of strict, rote memorization and the half day provided by Nicaraguan schools here, Barrio La Planta offers creative, Montesori-based teaching and also teaches English, among other skills that are aimed at instilling the confidence and skills necessary for local Nicaraguans to start their own businesses and capture the gains made in tourism in San Juan del Sur. We’re going to be essentially motivational speakers. The four deliverables we’re aiming at achieving are social entrepreneurship, the power of ideas, FODA analysis (it’s essentially cost-benefit analysis) and goal making and achievement. The other group will take up our mantle next week and deliver a workshop on leadership and confidence and the like. The work is at once fun and difficult, because there’s not much structure that has been given to us. We were essentially given four words and told to make a two hour long workshop in Spanish based on delivering these four lessons. We’ll more than manage however. 

Carolina is wonderful. She’s our home stay mother and makes the best gallo pinto I’ve ever had. Every meal has been delicious, albeit simple. This morning was fried eggs and gallo pinto, along with a vividly hued juice made from dragon fruit. For lunch it was tender BBQ beef, rice and tostones. And for dinner we had more gallo pinto and cheese (guajara, my favorite - not sure if I spelled it correctly). While we eat the chickens try to escape the courtyard and eat the food in the kitchen. No matter how many times I chase them back, they try to break in like clockwork.

Carolina!

The mosquitos are vicious here. I woke up last night intermittently because my legs were so itchy. I thought it was the sheets and the dirt that mysteriously appears on my sheets all the time. The dirt I figured out comes from the ceiling and collects at the end of my bed everyday. The itchiness was from the forty or so small bug bites that I accumulated on my legs. To my knowledge, I’m the only person who has gotten bitten so many times and I’ve negotiated a mosquito net to be put over my bed. 

Hola como esta?

- Dayanara  Guadamus

That message was from the small girl who lives with Carolina; she’s the absolute cutest and extremely vivacious and outgoing. She ran up to us to greet us with a huge hug and run even though she’s only known us for a day. We spent the evening in the central park which is conveniently located right next to our house and played basketball, football (soccer), tag, and other games. Jade and I, the other girl who is staying with us, even played some pick up basketball with some of the local people. Later, the four guys also joined in and kicked us girls out. We made out by playing our own games. It’s amazing how kind and open people here are to foreigners. I’m working on creating a short profile for Carolina and her family so that we can include them in homestay websites to attract more people to stay here and thus earn them some extra income. Dayanara wants to say that we enjoyed ourselves a lot in the park. I’m going to miss her when we leave. On a happier note, only one more day until my birthday!!!!

Tomorrow we’re going to take a tour of the river and also of the Ojo de Agua, a wonderful pool like thing on the main part of Ometepe. That also means waking up a bit earlier, around six. Goodnight!