nica vida

Hola de Nicaragua! That's a demonstration of the level of spanish that I can speak, apparently. I know I like to brag about having my minor in spanish at BU, but apparently I've forgotten most everything that I learned. Oh well. It's coming back to me little by little, but I'm sure people are getting sick of my usual response of a blank stare when they speak to me. I can get my words out relatively well (meaning, in broken spanish) but when it comes to understanding, it's not so easy. I knew I should have litsened more to those spanish podcasts before I left! Dammit!

But alas, here we are, and I'm writing after having just finished our first class of photography. How it works is that Anita and I will be teaching a group of nine kids on the weekends. We went into it without knowing too much, so it came as a sort of surprise when we found out we would be the actual teachers, doing it by ourselves (considering my lack of teaching experience and my hesitation towards actually liking children), but it was actually really fun, I have to say. I'm growing up! The kids are so sweet, they learned to speak slowly with me, and we had a nice adventure out into the barrio where we all took portraits of each other. The kids are really into it, which is great for us. Makes our lives easier. And the people are so friendly and warm towards everyone.

Anyways, backing up a bit...we arrived on Sunday to hot hot weather. It's not as horrible and humid as I had prepared myself for (which is my tactic - always prepare for the worst and you will never be disappointed. And yes, I do realize that makes me a negative person. Oh well.) but it is definitely very very hot. We met with the lady in charge of the organization, she brought us into the city where we had a nice dinner outdoors with some of her friends here, and got a taste of what it's like. Granada a lovely little city (more like a big town really) with colorful one-story buildings and lots of happy people. Everyone is out and about, not dying of the heat, apparently. We will have to learn their secrets.

We spent the week orienting ourselves, having coffee and meals at the cafes, wandering the town, and we took a quick one day trip to Laguna de Apoyo (which is what this photo shows - it's a crater of a volcano that has become a lake. Or something like that). It's a beautiful spot known as the place people go to have a break from the city and escape the heat and it was definitely that. Until, that is, we took the ascending 3 hour hike, that took way longer than that (I am not in shape I guess?), in a forest of trees that blocked ALL wind, creating a cocoon of heat and mugginess, if you will. It was an uphill battle to the top, and I found out that there is someone in this world who sweats more than me, and that person is Anita. And she is proud to admit it. Although not happy about it, as we both ended up with wet clothes and lots of dirty sweat once we reached the top (you're welcome for the visual). But oh well. I am actually quite proud of us and our adaptation to the constant sweat and heat. Or rather, we haven't adapted, we just try to ignore it. Therefore I will stop talking about it to forget about it right now, as I am sweating profusely and I stink terribly. But moving along...

Anyways, much to catch up on and I think I will write in small doses so I will be back in a bit with more anecdotes. As always with traveling there are some funny things to report. So get excited and stay tuned. Well, not that exciting. But will be worthwhile to read, I think. Ahhh so much pressure now.