08 de Noviembre 2007

Just a quick update. I was lucky enough to go on a field trip to La Reserva Miraflor on Tuesday with some Peace Corps people.
A beautiful, large piece of protected land northeast of Esteli, communities live in this area and work the land, as they´ve done for years, except now they have certain limitations, as the land is protected.
Upon arriving, we had the chance to talk with a group of cooperative members, who happened to be Sandinistas. They told us their story of the war, as we sat inside the same brick building that these men had hidden out in years ago as contras threw grenades at them, and stared up at the grenade driven hole in the wall.
On a lighter note, we got to hike through mountains, touring and tasting organic fair trade coffee they grow and export.
A later hike through orchid filled forests, a few of us climbed up the center of the trunk of a 30meter strangler fig. A challenging experience for me (especially coming down), it was a lot like what I would imagine rock climbing to be.
And of course the day included lots of bouncing around dirt roads and coming within inches of buses sliding down mud filled roads in the PC land cruisers. Our tech trainer is kind of a crazy driver and likes to drive fast and aggressively, as were all packed into the back of those land cruisers, falling on top of each other, and hitting our heads on the roof. What fun....way better than the cube!
Today we had our last spanish class at our favorite restaurant, La Casita, owned by an english guy who serves homebaked whole grain bread, hummus, homeade yogurt and muesli, and hot chocolate (so yummy). I was even able to buy some garam masala to cook with when I finally get my own kitchen.
Tomorrow is our family despididas as we say goodbye to our training towns and host families.
Saturday a group of us are hiking to a waterfall for a last swim and jumps off a cliff and Monday its off to Managua.