Tuesday, January 6, 2009

06 Enero 2009

A new year! How time flys. Since my last post, I've been back to the states for a few weeks, home in site for almost a month, and now on my way back from a week and a half mission trip where I translated for a group of vet students.
The states were better than expected and the tranquility and lack of noise was enough to want to make me stay. But the second I got off the bus in front of my house (after 2 days of travelling!) and a neighbor kid was ripping my bag out of my hands to carry it to the door, I was happy to be back. Two full days of catching up with people and realizing how many good friends I have here in Nicaragua that were happy to see me and me just as happy to see them, makes me realize how special this is. No one was at my mom's door waiting to carry my bag in! Except my mom, of course, who is wonderful and supportive.
Nicaragua is it's same old self....rude, machisto, dirty, hot....and wonderful.....smiling faces, community, sharing, beautiful mountains, rivers, and waterfalls.
Over the last week and a half on this mission trip, I had the opportunity to see a new area of nicaragua that no tourists ever see-Ayapal, Jinotega. It's remote, required 2 days of travel to get there (three for me), and then a 2 hour boat ride each morning to arrive at the actual community we worked in. Ayapal, located on the river, has this exhilirating movement of people, coming in on boat (more like canoes with motors) and horse to do their shopping and trading. The river ride down to the even smaller community where we worked, was lined with jungle like trees, small children in underwear swimming, and men pushing boats with large sticks. Every day, coming home up stream, we were forced to get out of the boat and push, wading up to our knees in strong currents. And the day that my new friend, John Andrew, lost his footing while pushing, and almost floated away down stream, filled us with uncontrollable laughter. Many days, tired and irritable, our laughter carried us through. Thank goodness for my new friends during the trip and their humor.
Our group, the vet students, had the best time out of all the groups, hiking through the mountains to fincas that were supposedly "10 minute" walks, but ended up 40 minute hikes. We treated horses, cows, and pigs. Rode horses one day, hiked over rocks and rivers everyday, and did a postmortem exam on the following nights dinner chancho (pig) another day.
After all that, Dr Rick and I saw the group off to the airport and got some much needed rest in one of the most tranquil spots in Nicaragua....no chickens, pigs, dogs, road noise...just soft breeze and hammocks.
Now I'm on my way back home and have lots of grant writing work to do.
Happy holidays to all! Enjoy the cold and snow!

3 comments:

Wesley said...

I am from Alabama and I went to Ayapal Nicaragua Jan 13-16 to preach a youth camp. We left Managua at 3AM on 13th in a 4 wheel drive and arrived in Ayapal at 4 PM. Had a very wonderful time and felt very safe!!!

KevinCromley said...

Hey I am an RPCV from Esteli 95-95. I will be down there in April and was wondering if you knew of any good hotels???

KevinCromley said...

Hey I am an RPCV from Esteli 95-95. I will be down there in April and was wondering if you knew of any good hotels???