This past weekend we went volcano boarding on a volcano named Cerro Negro. Volcano boarding is kind of like sled riding or snow boarding, except instead of snow, you ride down on volcanic ash. Cerro Negro is an active volcano that last erupted in 1999. It's about a 45 minute hike up the side of the volcano before you ride down (for about 30 seconds!). It was really fun, but very very hot and tiring.
After the volcano boarding, we made a pit stop at a place that keeps iguanas. I think they said for eating (?), but I was unsure.
It has been very hot the past couple days due to the lack of rain. The mosquitoes have been driving me nuts. The rain here is very cold, so it cools everything down when it happens. Right now it feels like the city is going to burst with all the humidity and anticipation for rain.
This city is very loud, despite its small size. Trucks ride around all day long blasting advertisements for promotions and such. There are also trucks that blare political propaganda. It reminds me of something I've seen in a movie about Nazi Germany because the trucks play this strange music along with whatever they're saying. It's honestly pretty creepy. This morning I was awoken by dogs fighting in the street. There are a lot of stray dogs here, but they're usually pretty docile. Today, though, there were like 10 dogs gang raping each other and fighting and just being loud.
We saw two movies last week at the movie theatre. The theatre was surprisingly nice. It was air conditioned (the only two times I've been in air conditioning since I've been here!). On Wednesdays girls get in for free for ladies night. I think that will become a weekly thing...cuz why not?!
We went to a bar over the weekend with a live band. It was so fun and nice. They played a lot of songs in English, as well as local favorites. They started to play "Yo No Sé Mañana" by Luis Enrique when the sound cut out. I kept singing and got a round of applause from the tables next to me! Ha. Who would have thought that my singing in Spanish, let alone in English, would warrant any applause?
Work is good. It is hard to work here since it is so incredibly hot all the time, and I'm using this piece of crap PC (I miss my MacBook Pro so much!). Today I was reading about the effectiveness of human rights treaties. They are just not very effective, whatsoever. It's difficult to do this kind of work in a country where you cannot trust the judicial system. I think the only way we will find an end to Chronic Kidney Disease (CKD) in the community is by pushing a social awareness campaign (think: KONY2012 except without the naked breakdown in the middle of the street or the hypocrisy).
Last week I visited the community. It is small, isolated, and poor. To get there, we had to take public transportation to a gas station, call a taxi driver who knew the way, get out of the taxi and ford a small river on foot, then walk a little ways more until we were there. I met a 19 year old girl who is a cane cutter. She started when she was 14. She was carrying a machete. It was an intense but incredible day. We followed the community's nurse around while she gave flu vaccines to the very young and old. It is very hard to call attention to a community like that because it is so distant from the rest of the world. Why should we care about them? Well, I care at least. Hopefully one day the rest of the world will care, too.
Today is our friend's birthday. Do you know what Nicaraguans do to you on your birthday? They smash eggs over your head and then throw flour on you. What a mean tradition! But we did it. We tricked her into thinking she had to go into a meeting, while we were all holding eggs at our desks. It was kind of funny, but I was afraid we were going to hurt her! Eggs are not soft! She does not know this, but tonight we have a piñata for her!
Tomorrow is Mother's Day here. We have a half day at work for it. It's a much larger holiday here than in the States. There have been Mother's Day decorations up at bars and restaurants since I got here two weeks ago.
Well, that was a long post to make up for my lack of posts. I hope you enjoyed. I'll post again after I do something fun!
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