El fin

Ivania and me.  This woman is amazing.  She built and runs
this hostal by herself and raised several children with a
husband who just sits around watching tv all the time.
She is a testament to what people can accomplish with
little to nothing when they are willing to work hard.
And she shows that it is possible to do so in your own
country.  I'm not trying to say anything against immigration,
I'm just trying to say that imagine how quickly developing
countries could become developed if they had more
people like THIS.

This will be my last post in Nicaragua.  It has been an interesting two weeks.  I've enjoyed it, despite the occasional bumpy ride.
First, I went to the Feria (fair/market) this morning with my teacher.  We got tamales, and some other food.  It was good.  We also bought some things for our secret friends, whom we were supposed to be discovering later that day.  Rosa had me help her pick out the gift for her secret friend.  We also went in to the cultural center where they had traditional costumes and props for dancing.  It was interesting.

Something other than avocados being sold in the morning.

Oh, I also got hit on by this guy (worse than the usual calling out to me, generally "chelita" - meaning whitey, which is a compliment here, "adios" - not sure why they say this, or "bye" - again not sure on that the reason for that one).  He started off by asking me if I was from Spain.  I didn't realize that I could pass for Spanish.  This was before I said anything, so it couldn't be by my accent.  Then when he found out I was a "gringa" he asked me what my name was.  I told him my name is really hard to pronounce.  He insisted, and since my teacher was looking at some things nearby, I didn't want to just walk away.  I figured, what harm would it do to tell him my first name when he wouldn't be able to say it or most likely remember it.  He couldn't pronounce it (who knew Rachel was such a hard name?) and asked me what nationality it was.  I told him it is from the Bible.  Then he wanted to know how old I was.  I told him old.  He said he was 37 (he looked older), so I said, I'm not THAT old.  By that time, my teacher was done, so we walked away.
Then when we got back to the school, my classroom was taken apart to get ready for the going away party, and for the big reveal of secret friends.

Me eating a tamale at the feria, with my teacher, Rosa.
Here is another of the amazing women I have met since
coming to Nicaragua.  She works as a Spanish teacher,
and as a preschool teacher.  She and her conjugal (more
than a boyfriend but not quite a husband) are both working
hard to improve their lives, paying off their debts, going
to be trying to get assistance to build their own house.

They had cake and snack food for us.  It was pretty nice.  Pretty much everyone had gotten their secret friend a final gift.  Mine turned out to be my teacher!  The little sneak had me pick out my own present.  But it was nice.
Then we had a short time in class before it was over.  We headed to the bus station with our stuff, I with my lunch that my house mom had brought to the school.  When we arrived, the others had purchased out tickets.  That was good because it meant we were all sitting together.
We had a short wait before we got on the bus.  It was actually a lot nicer than I was anticipating.  They didn't use air conditioning, but it started to rain as we were leaving, so it wasn't too hot.  Then the wind kept the heat down.
When we arrived in Managua, we split up.  Three of us got in a taxi to head to the Hilton (me included), the others got in a taxi to head to the Don Pantaleon (the hotel where I stayed the first two nights: nice, but without hot water).

Inside the cultural center.  The symbol in
the center of the waterfall is the symbol
of Esteli.

Our rooms are so nice.  I'm sharing, but that means it was only $50, the same price I would have paid at the Don Pantaleon.  Breakfast is NOT included here at the Hilton, but the fact that I have hot water more than makes up for that.  That was basically the first thing that I did when I got here, stepped into the hot shower.  Then the three of us went swimming, which was awesome.
After swimming and getting ready, we ran to the store, and then waited for our colleagues to show up so we could go to dinner.  We went to this pizza place nearby.  The pizza was good, but I stuffed myself.  I probably shouldn't have done that because of my whole possible wheat intolerance (which is looking more and more likely because the only time I've felt like crap this trip was after eating something with wheat), but it was good.  I had two pieces left over as leftovers, but as we were walking to the Hilton, this little girl kept pushing on my arm to get my attention.  She wanted the food.  She must have been really hungry because she followed me across the street.  So I gave it to her.  At least with giving her food, I know that it won't be used for some other purpose such as buying alcohol for the parents.

Traditional costumes in the Cultural Center (Casazul)

Well, that is nearly the end of my trip.  My this time tomorrow I will be in my apartment.  Now, I'm actually curious as to how many people really read my blog.  I'm not just talking about looking at the pictures, but how many people read through one of my blog entries.  So, if you have read up to this point and are going to read through to the end, comment on this blog in the affirmative (whatever word you choose: affirmative, yes, yay, or any version in another language, but if its a less common language that I wouldn't recognize, put the language name in parenthesis).  This way I can get a better feel for whether I should be writing less and putting more pictures, or if this is good.  I probably won't change how I do my blog, but I might! :)

Part of some of the traditional dances, women dance with
these pots on their heads.  They also dance with baskets.
I wish I could have seen a performance.  I guess I'll have
to come back to Nicaragua to be able to do that. :)

So, to kind of close I would like to make a list, or rather a couple of lists.

First, what I will NOT miss from Nicaragua:
1. The insects, everywhere and every kind, each day discovering a new one where you don't want them to be.
2. The heat bearing down on you even in the morning.
3. The humidity making you drip with sweat.
4. The cold showers dripping out with little water pressure.
5. The repetitive breakfast, fruit nearly everyday!
6. The sun rising so early in the morning and setting so early in the day.
7. The sounds early in the morning that pierce through earplugs.
8. The men calling out to me/hitting on me/staring at me.

The feria.  Lots of fresh produce, ready-made food, jewelry
and other such items.  It was pretty awesome.

9. Seeing how the women struggle while the men sit around doing nothing/treating the women horribly.

What I WILL miss from Nicaragua:
1. The people, generally kind and generous, willing to give even what they don't have.
2. The language.  Nothing beats being able to speak to someone in their native tongue.
3. The long walks, being able to walk everywhere.
4. The home cooked meals (with the exception of the tripe and the pork rinds, I liked everything that my host mother cooked.
5. The interesting murals, connected with so much of the history of Nicaragua.
6. The excursions to see more of Esteli and the near communities.
7. Being able to use the internet on my computer AND my iPod at the same time (but I just need to buy a router).

Some chips of all varieties: yuca, plantain,
potato, and probably others.

8. Being done with classes at noon.
9. The sounds of the streets: birds and people.
10. The sound of a gecko, even though it woke me up in the middle of the night several times.
11. The fruit, really fresh and really good, even though I don't want to eat just fruit for breakfast.
12. One on one instruction, totally focused on me.
There's probably more that I could list in each category, but that's it for the most part.  And really, I think the good definitely outweighs the not so good.  Just saying for those who may be thinking of traveling to Nicaragua in the future.

This was supposed to be ice cream (or at least
that's what I said I wanted) but it wasn't.  Oh
well.

Our party spread.

Getting food at the party.

The bus station.  Pretty nice, right?

The lunch Ivania made and brought to the school for me.

Here's an interesting thing, the different buses
are owned by different people.  Here you
can see who owns the bus you are taking.
If anything happens, you can hold the owner
responsible.

Our bus, the orange one that says EXPRESO.

Rice is really big around here.  Here is one of the many
rice farms along the way to Managua.

It is starting to get green now that the rain has started.

My awesome hotel room.

Good pizza, and pretty cheap, too, but beware, they'll
charge you for a to-go box!

Valenti's Pizza

Not sure who this boxer is, but its one
of the many statues in Managua.

Hilton Princess Managua