This entry is long overdue.

I’m aware of this. I could make up excuses and say that I thought it would be cute to wait a while month before updating my blog just to see how full a month can be here, but that was not my intention, however true it might be. I’ve just been busy. and lazy. I am definitely always one of the two.

But it IS true. This month has been incredibly full! I honestly cannot believe that it was only a month ago that we were in El Salvador. I don’t really know how I can begin to catch up… I will try to do it as rapidly and succinctly as possible!

A couple days after we returned from El Sal, I left for Colombia! Colombia was full of: family, arepas, chocolate, memories, mojitos, cable cars, avocados, and beautiful culture. It was quite a whirlwind. I’m incredibly glad I went, but I never really had the time to reflect on it. Because the day after I got back, I left for:

The coast! The RAAS specifically, to Bluefields and to Pearl Lagoon. The week there was… magical. that is really the best word for it. Coco bread and gingerbread were HUGe highlights, as was a day spent on a PRIVATE ISLAND in the PEARL CAYS. en serio. We stayed in a wonderful guest house owned by mister wesley, and were spoiled with everyone speaking english and with tvs and free time and an ocean to swim in. one day we walked down to a local miskito community and skinny dipped at sunset, and it started to rain and the rain was cooler than the water, which was as warm as bathwater. It was so wonderful and spiritual, one of those moments I know I will be daydreaming about for years to come.

Besides all the adventuring, the week there was enlightening, too. The coast is the poorest region in Nicaragua, and full of complex cultural issues that affect them separately from the rest of the country. In fact, it practically IS a different country, with an entirely different population and history, only without enough autonomy to protect and fight for their own needs. The history of oppression and discrimination against costeñas is not something that is going to change overnight, and even though there are changes that are being made, development is slow, and there is just as much fighting against it, like environmental issues and immigration from the mestizos from the pacific. The more mestizos move to the coast, the smaller the proportion of indigenous or afro-caribbean, and therefore there is less representation for minority needs. Sigh! It’s way complicated.

We got back from the coast and had one last, long week in Managua. I went to Masaya for a day trip with my friend Emily to check out the market there and escape a little of the heat, and we had a good time looking at all the local crafts. I even finally bought myself something, a blanket for my new bed in my new house in walla walla, which will be a good, useful recuerdo. I completely fell in love with it – it’s so beautiful and colorful!

That last week in Managua was SO hot, and we had a lot of work to finish up with, so it was slightly miserable. I spent a lot of time staring at the computer screen, not getting much done. The heat really blocks up your ability to think! I’ve come to have an extremely high respect for ice cream and popsicles.

Last week also was semana santa, the biggest celebration of the year in Nicaragua. Almost everyone gets the whole week off and goes to the beach to get drunk – honestly, that is really what the holiday is about. Save for the last few days, which for the catholic church are huge. True to form, Good Friday, the day jesus dies, is the biggest. Each day, starting with Maundy Thursday, there is a huge procession that acts out what happened on that day of the easter story, so thursday, a giant jesus figure who is blindfolded is carried down the street (ours was wearing a sparkly wizard cape), Friday morning there is a giant jesus holding a cross, Friday night there is a huge coffin, etc.).

My friend Emily and I went to Matagalpa for the weekend, hoping that in the mountains we would avoid the huge crowds. It worked, matagalpa was nearly entirely deserted, which meant all of the wonderful restaurants were closed, which was disappointing. But this was the ONLY disappointing part of the weekend. Everything else worked out beautifully and smoothly. We missed the last bus, and had to take a bus for esteli and then get off and run to catch a connection for matagalpa, which was a fun adventure. Our hotel was owned by the sweetest family and felt more like a homestay. The first day, we went up to visit Emily’s campo homestay family, which was such a great experience for me since I missed that trip because of my awful strep (I’m not sure if I mentioned that earlier on this blog…). It was quite a hike to get up to Cerro Grande, but it was beautiful. The area had been stripped for farming, and so there were this huge, rolling, grassy hills we could climb to the top of and see all of the mountains and valleys. I felt so overcome with kindness by the family. They hardly have anything, like a life of such simplicity and poverty, but welcomed our visit and made us a wonderful lunch. They also taught me how to make the tortillas, even though I guess during semana santa they aren’t supposed to cook them. Something to do with jesus being in the earth and not wanting to eat from the ground while he was below it. They only explained this after we had made them, and we felt so awful! But they really didn’t seem to mind. It was an interesting cultural confrontation.

Also staying in our hotel was a group of really fun guys from the states who are down in Nicaragua filming a documentary about their adventures. On Saturday we went hiking with them up in selva negra, a “black forest” german-style eco-friendly resort up in the mountains. The hike was BEAUTIFUL, and reminded me how out of shape I’ve gotten down here! I’m hoping to start exercising a but more now that I’ve got free time. We had a great day, romping around the woods, and afterwards they treated us to a fantastic dinner at the restaurant up there. They had delicious homemade cheese and tomato soup and hot chocolate, which was just what we needed. They are going to pass through Bilwi in a few weeks, so I will get to see them again!

On Sunday, I went back to Managua for the night to pack up my room, and then left on Monday for Bilwi! The plane ride was RIDICULOUS, I wish I had gotten pictures – I’ll have to get some on the return trip. The plane was by far the tiniest I’ve ever been it, it only sat 12 people, 4 rows of 3 each, with no separation between the cockpit and the body of the plane. I’m not sure whether I thought it was a fun roller coaster, a near death experience, or both. Either way, it was the most gorgeous view I’ve ever had from a plane.
Now I’m writing from my room in Casa Museo Judith Cunningham, the perfect, tranquila hotel where I’m staying in Bilwi for my ISP period. It is made up of a large house, where I’m staying, and a bunch of cabañas, all surrounded by wonderful gardens and peaceful places to sit. The house itself is a museum for the local culture and for the art of Judith, who I think was Myrna, my advisor’s, mother or grandmother. Myrna’s family owns it, and she is an INCREDIBLE woman who has done many things with her life, but which she, of course, has still told me nothing about. nicaraguans are usually so humble about their own accomplishments. Despite the fact that she is world-renown (she’s flying tomorrow to Bolivia to present at a conference, and I think she’s like the VP of the UN council on indigenous rights or something like that), she’s already taken the time to take me around personally and introduce me to a bunch of people, so I already have about 6 or 7 interviews lined up for this week. Incredible!

I’ve just barely been able to explore Bilwi itself, but I love it so far – it’s right on the ocean, and the unpaved roads are that raw, red earth color. It is pretty impoverished – the only renovated-looking building I’ve seen is the bank. I was worried that I would lose a lot of my Spanish here, but it seems like most people rely on Spanish much more than English (although Miskitu is the birth tongue for many).

Okay, this entry is already a full novel, so I will wait to write about my ISP project when I’ve actually got it more solidified… for a teaser, it’s looking like it will be about women’s empowerment, identity, and culture, hopefully focusing some on traditional medicine. Man I hope I can pull this off…

Okay! I’ll see if I can get the internet working long enough to post this! I miss everyone dearly. my brain can’t quite come to terms with the fact that I’m leaving this country in exactly one month! I hope these last 4 weeks are as incredible as they are looking like they’ll be.

Besos a todos.