Week One Wrap-Up

(I'm having some issues with the html editor and formatting the photos. Please excuse the awkward paragraph breaks if there are any.)

So much has happened recently that I can’t decide what to write about, but I don’t want to get behind so today’s post won’t be as structured as I would have hoped.

First, some fun facts: Me encanta la piña fresca con la desayuno! Fresh pineapple is my new favourite thing about Nicaragua. Apparently the volcanic soil makes them especially delicious. That marching band never really stops. And I love going into grocery stores in new places! 

Yesterday, as part of the “cultural do’s and don’ts” orientation, we took a couple of minibuses (more on those later) to a beach called La Boquita where there were very few tourists. In fact, there are very few tourists in most of the area – when we were at the Masaya Market, Brianne actually exclaimed “Hey, white people!” Anyway, the beach wasn’t very busy so we had a nice little area to ourselves where we could relax in hammocks, order drinks (Brianne and I split a Nicaraguan beer) and leave our things. I’m not very used to the ocean and I’m kind of a wimp when it comes to salt in my eyes, but it was fun to jump around in the waves. The girls and I built – and smushed – a sandcastle and we were all home in time to get Eskimo ice cream before it closed.

Today was the last day of orientation, so we were given an Amazing Race challenge. After Brianne and John went on their walking tour, José gave us a list of tasks to accomplish within an hour – buy a papaya, mail a postcard, ride in a tuk-tuk, go to Diriamba, take a picture with a national police officer… We took a long time trying to find the alboroto that we’re now convinced doesn’t actually exist, so we were only able to finish about half of the tasks. I’ve been feeling more and more confident in my Spanish after this week’s lessons, but I was suddenly unable to come up with any useful sentences when we were talking to people on the street. I’ll practice hard this weekend and see what Monday brings. In any case, we failed miserably and think we might try again next week just to prove to ourselves that we’re competent.

Tomorrow, we’re going to go to Ometepe Island for our first weekend trip. We have plans to enjoy a delicious breakfast at a hostel, hike around, hang out on a beach and hear some stories about the area. Expect pictures – and in the meantime, check out the album from my first week here!