We hung out in Managua a bit at this amazing cultural center that has ties with people who brought me the magic suitcase back in June. It was beautiful and we saw a bunch of girls practicing some traditional dances. We stayed with a very nice family across the street. That´s where Dad´s Spanish practicing started. He´s been studying all year so he could communicate with people and, it worked! I was very impressed with his progress.
The next day we hopped on a bus to Rio San Juan (the river that makes the border with Costa Rica)...it only took us 7 hours to arrive! That´s right people. 7 hours in a bus. We were lucky though because the government recently paved almost the entire road (it used to take 9-10 hours) and we were in a charter bus instead of a school bus. We hung out in San Carlos (the capital of that department) for the night and caught the early morning boat downriver. I didn´t really know what to expect with the boat, but it turns out that it´s just like a bus. People were standing on the shores waving the boat down and it would pull over and pick them up...or people on the boat would stand up when they neared their "stop" and the boat would pull over. Weird.
Three and a half hours later we were at the Reserva Bartola that borders the biggest nature reserve in the country = Indio Maiz. It´s massive. We stayed there for almost an entire week. In the mornings we would go on a hike in the jungle of Indio Maiz with our machete armed guide Paul. We saw howler monkeys, spider monkeys, a toucan, TONS of fingernail sized red frogs that have enough venom to kill 10 people, one bright green and black poisonous tree frog, this one animal that´s like a rat and a dog and an ant-eater combined, and the pawprint of a jaguar! I really wanted to see a jaguar sleeping up in a distant tree, but no such luck. Back at Bartola we played a lot of 500 Rummy, napped in hammocks, read some books, and ate the most delicious food I´ve eaten in this country. Just the memory of the food is mouth-watering. Seriously, since I´ve been back in my site I haven´t eaten much because it doesn´t compare. I can´t wait to come home and eat delicious food!
After a week we headed back to civilization. We arrived back in San Carlos around 5PM and a man was there to meet the boat yelling "Managua! Managua! Managua!" He was selling bus tickets. Dad and I had already discussed that we would be taking the 10PM night bus back. It would be awful but we didn´t want to waste another entire day traveling. This man was selling tickets for the 8PM and told us that the 10PM was all sold out. I bought the tickets. Dad thought I was crazy, and maybe he was right. I mean, why would I trust this man wearing a mesh jersey with my 300 cordobas ($15)? How did I know he wasn´t a fake.
Truth be told, while I was pretty certain he was legit (I don´t think he would have been allowed in the marina if he wasn´t a real bus ticket salesman), I wasn´t 100% sure. I acted like I was though because I didn´t want to make Dad nervous. We went and had dinner and sat around in the park. Around 7PM we hailed a taxi which took us through the poorest neighborhoods down the worst mud road of all time. 15 minutes later we arrived at the bus "terminal" (aka the mud road where the buses park). An hour later we were leaving.
It was hell. They played music the whole night. The horn blared at random intervals. Awful. I slept on and off. Dad couldn´t. He was a trooper though. We arrived in Managua at 2:45AM. People started to hunker down in their seats to sleep. We got in a taxi and went to my friend´s house to sleep for a few hours. When we woke, we headed two hours on bus to the beach. It was nice. I´m not much of a beach person; I prefer lakes and rivers, but it sure it beautiful. We were in a fishing town and it was interesting to see the people swarm the boats, buying before the boat had even officially landed.
Back to Managua for a Sunday evening Mass at that cultural center. Back to that family´s house to spend the night. Dad´s Spanish had improved a TON in the time we were away. Everyone was impressed :) I was so proud.
The next day we went to the...MALL! That´s right people, I dragged my dad to the mall for lunch and a movie. We needed to vacate the family´s house because they had stuff to do but my friend wasn´t home from work yet so we couldn´t yet go to her house. So, we saw Transformers 3 (unfortunately Harry Potter wasn´t out yet) and I loved it. Dad liked it too.
Tuesday morning, bright and early at the airport. I was sad to see him go, but not too sad because we´ll be reunited in FOUR MONTHS! That´s right people! Four months. The first day we´re technically finished is November 15th. What do you think about that?! I´m excited and nervous. Mainly just excited though. I´m living with the parents through the holidays and then I´ll be moving in with Mice come January. I don´t know what I´ll be doing longterm or anything like that but I would like a job using Spanish and helping people. Any suggestions?
Love you all and see you soon!
Oh, check out the new picture link for pics of my sitemate´s birthday party and my dad´s visit.
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