Day 1

I am finally here after planning for almost a year. 

The ride from LA to Nicaragua was an interesting one. So many stops and starts. I went to three places before I finally got to Nica. When I did get to Nica it was about 130 in the morning and I still needed to go through customs. I had no clue that I was going to have to pay to get into the country, 10$, but it is ok.

 When I got out of customs and got my bag I went to look for a bathroom to put my money belt on, instead when I walked out I was bombarded by taxi drivers. After telling a few drivers no, and not seeing any bathrooms, I finally started talking to this one very persistent driver. He wanted $20 to get to Managua proper, but I was able to talk him down to $15, which is the price listed in my tour book. I told him the hotel I was going to and he tells me that it is a dirty place and that I would be better off going to this other hotel, hotel Morgut. I tell him no and that I have reservations at the other one. He finally baks down and we go to mine. When we get to my original hotel it looks very empty and closed. We knock on the door and whistle for someone to come out. After waiting a few moments, finally a lady in her pajamas came out to greet us at the gate, the lady clearly had just woken from her sleep. The woman did recognize that I had a reservation but stated that it was not for now, that she had me down for later that day. It was clear that I was not getting a room there so I broke down and told my taxi driver to take me to hotel Morgut. Hotel Morgut is four times more expensive than the other place, but I got a private bath and free Wi-Fi there. I got there around 3am and probably did not get to sleep until 4. They offered free breakfast starting at 8 so promptly at 8 I got woken up by the voices of people eating and talking at breakfast. I stay in bed tossing and turning until about 9, enjoying the free Wi-Fi while I have it. I even get to chat with Hannah for a few minutes which was really nice.

Then the real crisis started, I was supposed to get picked up by the school to get to Granada. Th school had the address of the other hotel i was staying. I had sent them an email in the morning when I got to the hotel that said that my address had changed but I had not gotten a response by the time I got up for breakfast. After I ate breakfast I tried to contact the school by phone but i was getting no luck. The hotel manager even tried to help me, but he also had no success. After we could not contact the school the hotel manager started trying to convince me to take a taxi to Granada, I stuck to my guns though, and told him I would wait for the other transport. Later when I got back into my room to wait I found that there was an email from the school saying that they would pick me up at the new location. Few.
I had a few hours before I was supposed to get picked up so I enjoyed the wifi while it lasted. I even tried to watch one of my favorite tv shows. Did you know that if you are in another country you cannot stream shows on ABC? But i have my ways around the system, unfortuanly the taxi driver came right in the middle of my show. Who knows the next time I will be able to watch it…

When I got into the taxi I was told that we would be picking up two more people, little did either of us know, the two turned into five! Two adults and three small children. Two girls and one boy, the oldest only being 6 years old. They were very nice and we spoke a little in the car. The adults had been coming to Nicaragua since before their children were born.

The ride down to Granada was nothing special. If you have driven in Central America you have pretty much seen it all, the poverty, the trash, the stray dogs, the starved horses, and the venders on the side of the road. Don’t get me wrong though, I was very excited to see everything! And, did you know that gas is only a dollar a liter here?

We dropped off the family first at this really nice looking house in the middle of the city. After we dropped them off, myself and the driven then went on a crazy tour of the city, I did get to see some of the places named in my tour book, which was good, but after a little while I was wondering if my driver was just trying to get me lost… The house I was brought to did not look like very much from the front. There is a vacant plot to the right of it and an old dilapidated house for sale to the left.  An older woman with salt and pepper hair was standing at the door. She invited me in through the front gates already speaking Spanish to me and me not understand a single word. I bumped my way into the house and followed her as she led me to my room. I was a little worried for a second because I thought I had heard her say that I would be sharing the room with another person, after all the room did have two beds in it. After some confusion, greetings and introductions went around. My host mother’s name is Gloria, she has two sons, Philip (18) and (I can’t remember the other’s son’s name right now) (27), there are also two dogs that live in the house, paco and candy. Paco is a very large mutt with some pit bull or something in him and candy is a tiny dog that looks like a cross between a chiwawa, dashethound, and a mountain dog. They are both very nice.  I was told that Philip is recovering from a sickness and has to stay in the house and his brother is working in communications.

After we had settled we ate lunch which was meat, rice and beans, and plantains. I found it really good as I had not eaten anything since breakfast. After we ate lunch, Gloria and I went for a very long walk down the beach, we walked all the way to the bars that my tour book says you should only take a taxi to at night. I really enjoyed walking along the beach, there was a great breeze and it even rained on us for a short period of time. I was told that the rain at this time of year is very rare, I said that it was global warming. 

It is very hard not being able to speak the language. For a little while today I was very lonely for that very reason. I wanted to speak to the family and ask them all sorts of questions and talk and talk and talk, but I just can’t, communication between us is almost nonexistent. Because I was lonely for a little while yesterday I started questioning my whole trip. What if I can’t find anyone who can speak English, what if I have a horrible time, what if, what if, what if. It would have helped if I had the internet, then I could have surfed the net and occupied myself while I was lonely, find some things to read or watch in English and maybe talk to someone. But I had to remind myself that this was just a phase, and it would get better. To preoccupy myself I did a lot of journaling, something I have not done in over a month and I sat outside and enjoyed the slow pace of life, watching children run around in the streets. And later there was a party and a short parade on the street. (wish I had taken pictures) My host mother said that it was for a woman’s birthday. I couldn’t believe the racket put up for just someone’s birthday. It made me think of how my birthday is only in three and a half weeks! I wonder if I will even do anything for my birthday…  

At the end of the night the family and a family friend just sat around and watched the tv. When Gloria went to bed her son Philip came into the room and asked me if I was bored. Hehe. I said that I was not sure, we sat there and watched more tv until I decided that it was time for me to go to bed. After all I had not gotten that much sleep the day before. I slept like a rock!