Weekend Trip: Laguna de Apoyo

Last weekend, we went to Laguna de Apoyo, a half hour shuttle ride away from Granada. Somehow a lake formed inside of a volcano crater, a lake with warm, clear turquoise water. The hostel we stayed at was called Paradiso, or Paradise, and the place was about as true to name as it could be. 

It was a weekend of reading on the beach or in a hammock, floating in inter tubes, pool and ping pong, and kayaking on some surprisingly rough water. I don't understand where the waves in the lake of a crater even came from, but the canoe bounced enough to remind me a bit of the panga ride between the Corn Islands. Looking back at the shore from the lake, it was amazing to see how lush the forest was, and at night there were only a few small lights on the entire hillside. We even saw some small squirrel-like animal that I thought was a lemur, but we couldn't figure out what it was. One of my favorite parts was the cats though! There were three adorable kittens, and since for some reason I could not sleep, I spent a lot of time with them at midnight. Which may not seem so late, but in Nicaragua the sun sets at a quarter after 6 and the roosters crow at 5, so the nightlife begins by 7:30. 

As I have also befriended the cat, Julio, at our hostel, I am finding that I may be a cat person despite some mild allergies... I never knew what it was to cuddle with a cat but I'm obsessed now. TC and I sneak him some yogurt when he jumps on the dinner table until one of the workers scold him and drag him away. 

(Not Julio, the tiny adorable kitten I had to leave behind :'( 

In other news, we're back at it at school. This week we reviewed the body parts we'd taught last week, then introduced some clothing items. We usually introduce a list of basic vocabulary in both Spanish and English and let the children take notes in their notebooks (which are often mysteriously missing, along with their pencils, making doing work impossible. But not really, they just don't feel like taking them out). One of the girls makes me check her notes every time and asks if they are good. When I say yes, she asks me, "Can you write 100%?". So I do, and she asks "And write, 'good job'? And draw a heart or a flower or something?" While I am glad that she takes such meticulous notes and cares about doing well, I don't know if I want to encourage working for the teacher's praise...

Then we try to do a game or activity to get them involved. The past couple of days (since we repeat lessons at two schools) we played a game that I'd played in Spanish class, Matamoscas. The teacher describes one of the vocab words, or in this case, gives it in Spanish, and two children from opposite teams race to find the word from the scattered words written on the board. As always, it works differently in every class. The older children especially, sit uninterested in their chairs. We literally had to drag the students of some classes out of their chairs to play a game, while in others we struggled to keep the children from running up to the board out of turn.

I realized that given the way the streets and traffic are, with cars, bikes, and pedestrians jamming themselves in whenever and wherever they can (if you are walking they will. not. slow. down. They will just honk as they speed toward you while you run, praying that you don't trip before you reach the sidewalk. Or at least I do) and people on the streets will constantly yell out for you to buy things, waving products in your face, it's no wonder that the concept of waiting in a line and sitting quietly until their turn is so foreign.

I have definitely had my frustrations. I have never had students so blatantly ignore me. When I tell students it's their turn, even the middle school girls will just shake their heads and purse their lips at me, and the boys will put their heads down and not even look at me as I stand in front of them. I'm trying not to be offended, but it's exhausting to face an entire class with this attitude. I am also disappointed that some of the volunteers, when I give suggestions for involving the class more, have told me that "Some of them just don't care, we'll never get them all to care." Nonetheless, I'm sad that most of our team of volunteers is leaving soon, and it may be TC and I with the French guys who speak neither English nor Spanish well. That will be a new challenge, but at least the children are starting to get a little more familiar with us! One of the older boys who sits alone in the back corner (classroom organization does not exist, ahh. Desks are scattered everywhere) at the end of the day gave me a smile and a high five, and I started to feel like hopefully, maybe there is someone who appreciates me coming school.

School in Granada

Today we woke up to the sound of rain beating down on the roof, thunder, and departing high school students saying their tearful goodbyes to each other. We're looking forward to a few days of peace before the next crew moves in. Just as we were about to make the journey to school today, praying that the rain would start again, our wish was granted. The heavy rains here mean that school is canceled, so we walked home relishing the rain dripping down our faces and soaking through our clothes. I feel somewhat guilty to be so happy to not have school, and it's not that I haven't enjoyed my time working with the children...but it's pretty exhausting.

Today I wanted to write a little bit about what the schools are like. This school is actually the nicer, or at least the better behaved, of the two. It is crazy how much of a difference there is between them! On Tuesday, we did a review of the test they had just taken, then began a lesson on the human body, teaching them some basic vocabulary such as head, mouth, nose, eyes, etc. We then practiced by playing "Simon says, touch your..." and showing them the "Head, Shoulders, Knees and Toes" song. It was such a challenge even getting the children to hear us and pay any attention that we were only able to do either the song or the game with some classes. Then yesterday, at the other school Nueva Esperanza, the children finished so quickly we didn't even know what to do with the last five minutes! Many of the children at this school were also able to name the body parts in English even before we taught them. I wonder where they got this extra exposure to English, and what makes such a big difference in their behavior...

Both of the schools have these bars that make us take back our words for ever saying our schools look like prisons. It also means that the classroom is no relief from the heat outside, and we have to yell over not only the students talking, but the noise of the construction work outside.

The playground is nothing more than a few swings and this dirt courtyard, but the boys play soccer here with imaginary goals when they're lucky enough that somebody brings a ball to school. The girls mostly sit around and talk, or go on the swings. One of the girls, Karla, invited us to play "Tiburón", which literally translated means 'shark', but is just tag.

We've started to get to know a few of the children, and while we don't pick favorites...there are a few who we're especially excited to see. I was totally swept off my feet yesterday when a little boy walked into the class late, wearing a purple dress shirt tucked into slacks. He started to take the chair next to me at the very back of the class, so I asked him he wanted to move the desk forward. He nodded, so I got up to help him. He looked at me and waved his hand, "Siéntate....por favor" he said with a smile. ("Sit down, please"). Probably the biggest gentleman I have encountered in Nicaragua so far.
Yet, he is a sweet goofball with an adorable giggle.

It is hard to say how much of a difference we're making here, and I'm not sure what kind of changes would be allowed to improve the system. While I see the benefit of knowing English here, I know that just being exposed to so much vocabulary without it being incorporated and reinforced over time into their curriculum isn't conducive to much retention or meaning for the students. When students decide that they don't want to do the work or don't even want to go to school, there isn't much that anyone can do. I just hope that for 45 minutes a day, we can make some positive experiences with the children and help them to see in a positive light.

Weekend trip: León and Las Peñitas

This weekend, TC, Angela (one of the volunteers) and I, made a trip to Leon, one of the less touristy cities where the biggest draw was being close to Cerro Negro, one of the only places in the world where it is possible to go volcano boarding. It took an hour from Granada to Managua, two hours from Managua to Leon, and a twenty minute bike carriage to get to our hostel in Leon. Thankfully, each bus was only one or two dollars as gas here is still around 85 cents. One of the first things we did was go up to the top of an old church, the Basilica Cathedral de la Asunción. They had repainted the church white and it immediately became a huge tourist attraction, so that while the view itself is not actually exceptional, the blinding white domes of the roof were stunning. The stormy weather also made for a pretty amazing backdrop!

We stayed at Bigfoot Hostel and met our other newly made volunteer friends Matthew and Brianna. This hostel was a huge party hostel. We slept in dorm beds with about twelve people to a room, and most of those people came in drunk around 2 in the morning. I was not a fan of this. But this hostel is also the one known for beginning volcano boarding and having the fastest boards, and at less than ten dollars a night, I guess I can't complain.

At 9am (rough for our poor dorm mates), we got into a huge orange truck and drove about an hour past fields, stopping for cattle to cross and ducking beneath tree branches, until we reached the base of Cerro Negro, the volcano. We each had to carry our wooden boards with us, which the guide warned us would quickly become heavy, so we were offered the option of having a local carry the board for us for $5. As my cash is quickly running low and my arms could use some toning, I carried the board up myself.

The climb was steep and windy, and took about an hour, but we stopped frequently when there were prime photo-ops. All of the pictures that I have from trip were taken by our tour guide. My phone charger is breaking, so my phone was pretty much out of commission. Phone, keys, wallet (i.e., everything my dad taught me about being prepared)  is quickly becoming irrelevant as my phone is dead, I have little money, and our door doesn't lock.
But anyways, volcano boarding:

Volcano boarding is essentially sledding down a super steep volcano made of pebbly stone and ash, and the record speed for going down is 92 km/hr! I didn't go anywhere near that fast, I had read a few stories about people falling off and landing face first and was not willing to take that risk. With pebbles flying and filling up my goggles while trying to steer straight, knowing that the number one rule was YOU CANNOT STOP I was focusing on survival more than speed. It was a quick couple minutes down, but I actually enjoyed the hike up more. The views were spectacular and our guide shared some interesting stories about the volcanoes and how volcano boarding was founded.

My jumpsuit was at least three times too big for me. We wore our t-shirts around our mouths to keep ash from flying into our mouths, but I was still shaking rocks out of my clothes hours later. Thankfully our whole group made it down the hill unharmed, although there were a few minor tumbles. We were rewarded at the bottom of the hill with a cookie and a cold beer.

Immediately upon arriving at the hostel, we took the shuttle from Leon to the other Bigfoot hostel located on the beach in Las Peñitas. I was feeling pretty dizzy at this point, so we walked down the street until we found a small market manned by a little girl who sold us soap and shampoo (I should have known hostels don't provided those, and we were in greeeeaaat need of a shower) and found a restaurant by the beach. We got some breakfast food for dinner (I don't think we've eaten out yet without at least one of us eating eggs and gallo pinto) then walked down to the beach in the middle of the storm.

Standing up on some rocks overlooking the water, huge waves crashed down into the rocks, sending up spray at least 15 feet up. We had never seen the ocean so powerful to this. With the cross on top of the rocks being washed over by vast amounts of grey ocean, lightning cracking in the distance, and thunder rumbling ominously, it looked like a dramatic biblical scene. I was amazed to see that there was somebody surfing in the middle of this and was slightly worried about our surf lessons the next morning.

Thankfully, the sky cleared and at 10:30 the next morning, we went out with one other couple for our lesson. We practiced on the sand first of how to push up and stand, then went into the water to wait for a wave and try it. Not easy. I expected that the hard part would be standing up, or balancing on the board, or something related to surfing. Instead, I struggled just trying make it out into the water, staying in place as waves crashed into me, and hold up my board high enough so that it made it over the wave instead of going under, dragging me along the sandy bottom with it. I swallowed more ocean water than I ever wanted to. I did manage to stand up on my third try, but in the hour and a half stood for the combined period of maybe 30 seconds. Surfing is not nearly as laid-back and easy as its people are. We came out of it with a few bruises, a free shirt, some intense tan lines, and one less thing on my bucket list.

Four hours of buses and taxis later, we were relieved to be back "home" in Granada. We missed it already! Ready for school tomorrow after we grade some tests :)

La Comida y Las Bebidas (Food and Drink)

A post dedicated just to the food.

One of the volunteers, Angela, described cooking here as "similar to college, but honestly, more limited". I am grateful that ramen is universal.
At first, I wondered where people even bought their food, as there didn't seem to be many grocery stores, although there are some pulperias around whose food selection I would compare to that of a gas station market (limited packaged snack-type foods). Luckily we happen to be staying only two streets up from Pali, one of the major supermarkets. The other is La Union, which is air-conditioned, has more American selection, and is slightly more expensive. But it seems like most people shop in the outdoor market which is just one street down from us, and covers a couple blocks. It is always packed and crammed with people and stands with fruit and vegetables, cheese and eggs, electronics, shoes and clothes, and really anything you might need from knives to tupperware to toilet paper and soap. The market is not necessarily cheaper, especially for us tourists who sometimes are given a higher price. However, the difference of a couple of cordobas is pretty minimal (26 cordobas to the U.S. dollar). I was pretty excited to have bought a pineapple and three fat mangoes for one dollar! And not only that, but the fruit here is extraordinarily sweet and flavorful.

The selection is pretty much limited to bananas, mangoes, pineapple, onions, potatoes, avocados, tomatoes, cucumbers, and carrots. Other fruits and vegetables (berries, broccoli, cauliflower, lettuce, etc., are both rare and very expensive, at least in comparison) I love the fruit for snacking, but have been trying to get creative in terms of what to make with these ingredients. Suggestions? 

Besides the limitations of ingredients, the kitchen is somewhat limiting as well. The knives are the dullest I've used, even the new one I bought after getting frustrated with the one here. They are also shaped like mini machetes, curved and pointy at the end, which is not ideal for dicing or mincing or bread-cutting. We can't seem to find scissors either, so we put our keys to work to pierce open the bags of salt and spices, rice and beans, and oatmeal. Even the milk comes unrefrigerated in rectangular boxes that require scissors (the dairy's not great here) so I had to use a very dull knife to stab a hole into the top. I suppose I just have to be thankful that there is a fully-equipped kitchen here for us to use. Along with the other twenty-somewhat people living here...

At the beginning of the week, I made a big pot of rice (without a rice cooker??!) and we have been eating a lot of fried rice since there is no microwave to heat it. Today we had the rice with a salad of lettuce, bell peppers, tomatoes, and onions with some lime juice (we're too cheap for olive oil or vinegar :/) along with some pan-fried...tiburón! Aka, shark. It is best described as chicken-y fish in both taste and texture. They sell it commonly at the stores here, so we had to try it. Not bad at all!

We're still reminiscing about he first meal that we ate here, when we sat outdoors at Parque Central and were blown away by the gallo pinto and eggs. Gallo pinto is very popular here for breakfast, and like this one, can be fried until crispy. The eggs are also crackly and crispy at the edges, and every single egg we've had here has a deep orange yolk that makes the sad yellow ones at home pale in comparison. Literally.

 Even when cooked through, they were some of the most flavorful eggs. But when the yolk is drippy and runny, mhmmmmmmmmm
We've been so good and have only ate out twice in Granada with the meals costing about $5, and done the rest of the cooking ourselves to save money, but I would love to try some more of the local food here! Especially the street food, although there are some risks with doing so...

I also get to talk about the drinks here. The drinking age is 18, but I doubt that that law is often enforced. Nobody has ever asked our age, and the luxury of a casual beer, the local Toña or Victoria Frost/Classic for just over a dollar, will be missed. The national drink here is the Nica Libre, rum and coke with lime, and most happy hours will offer these 2-for-1 for 3 dollars.
Every Wednesday at 7:30 la Esperanza Granada hosts pub quiz, and in a team we compete to answer trivia. It gets dark here by a quarter after 6, so the night life is already thriving by then, and 9:30 seems late. We sat with two French girls, a Spanish girl, and an American, and attempted to cheat our way to the grand prize, a bottle of rum.

I loved the night life here! The pouring rain stopped just in time, and the night was warm enough for us to not need a jacket but finally stop soaking through our shirts in sweat (tmi, tmi). On La Calzada, or "Gringo Street", since it is frequented by White tourists, people sat outside the bars and restaurants eating and drinking, laughing, smoking cigarettes, and talking. A small mariachi band performed for the table behind me. A group of young boys did a breakdancing routine which I found highly impressive although TC laughed at me for being easily impressed. The scene was all so sweet and pretty and I enjoyed it a lot. When all of the vendors clear out and the park is lit up at night and you don't have to worry about being hit by a car, Granada is a beautiful place.

First Test

            Now that I have been to both schools, I have seen that the other children are indeed somewhat more of a challenge to organize and teach. The teacher seems unconcerned when the children come and go as they please, when they yell, and even when one of the boys climbed onto a desk. I am finding that the school culture is simply much different from what I grew up with in the States, and especially in Bellevue I'm sure. For example, today we gave the children an English test. (We made the test ourselves with my rudimentary drawing skills) We were warned that the children would try to cheat, and to be strict about monitoring them based on the test they took a few weeks ago. However, telling the children beforehand that cheating would not be allowed,and that there would be no talking during the test greatly reduced the problems we had. Almost every child asked me for answers, and I had to tell them that I couldn't say, to do their best. A couple girls took out their notebooks (which were empty), but I had to remind them to put everything else away. All of these are basic testing rules drilled into us from Kindergarten, and I wondered if this was the first time the children were given a test, or if their ideas about testing were in fact so different. This also makes me wonder how students are placed into their grade level. Since they differ so much in age, are students being held back? Are the younger ones moved forward every year based on their education level or some unknown factor? There are many questions I have in regards to the Nicaraguan education system, but I expect that it differs greatly across the nation.

This is the test we made, by a girl who did quite well!

          Disparity has been a common theme during my stay here. This was especially striking as I stood overlooking the balcony of a resort (the Chocolate Museum, which is also a hotel) down into the clear blue water and reclining pool chairs, while on the other side of the balcony, only a wall away, I looked down on grey concrete and rusted metal roofs interspersed with discolored clothing hanging on a line (dryers seem to be rare and are thus SO expensive). I realized that on this stay I have seen the most impoverished places I have ever seen, while also entering more posh and luxurious resorts than ever in my life.

This is one of the ducks that were swimming around the pool with us. I had mixed feelings about that.

In other news, I had not expected my race to be such a significant factor in how people treated me. Men yell "chinita" at me wherever I go (little Asian girl. Which I guess I get in the U.S. as well, but not blatantly yelled at me) They will just yell it at me so suddenly it's like they're just excited to be able to know what I am. While few of the volunteers are American (mostly European) there are almost no people of other races. I am also surprised that so few people know that America has a fair amount of diversity. Both the children, and even an older Swiss couple, were surprised to hear that we were American and said things like "But you don't look American!" As Matt says, that's why education is important.

Thankfully, in general people have been very kind, helpful, and honest. While I would guess that my grammar is rarely correct, people usually understand what I am trying to say. Gesturing has helped, and sometimes I simply say the word of what I want or am looking for, and people understand to give me directions, bring me what I need, etc. The vocabulary is quickly coming back and is easy to pick up, it is just forming the sentences that can be a challenge! The accent here can be difficult because people tend to cut their words short and drop the "s". We've noticed that Spanish must be a more efficient language, because people speak it at least twice as fast. But in general, the thirteen years of studying have not been completely in vain :)

Here's a cute clip that will hopefully upload.

First Day of School

To begin with, here's an update on the housing situation: we are now settled into a hostel, Amigos de La Casa Roja, where a group of around 20 volunteers with a different organization are also staying. Many of the houses and hostels here have these beautiful courtyards inside while our room is little more than a bed and dresser. It's about as nice as I could ask for for $100 a month. As a bonus, the mosquitoes are not as bad here. However, the number of small red dots covering my legs may suggest bedbugs. This hostel is further (just under 15 minutes) from La Esperanza Granada's office and most of the other volunteer houses, but we are just down the street from the outdoor market and two blocks from Pali, the grocery store here. The fruit stalls here sell mangoes and bananas for just 1 cordoba, which is less than 4 cents! I wish I could take a picture of these bustling streets but pulling out my phone in these crowds seems unwise. Although it is easy to find meals here for $4-5 dollars, I'm excited that we've started cooking again and unsurprisingly, that is even much, much cheaper. I am thankful to have a new home base where we can settle in some!   

          

Today TC and I went into La Esperanza Granada headquarters for an orientation where they told us some of the expectations of us as volunteers and some of what to expect from the volunteering experience. We met some of the other volunteers and found that we are on a team with six other people, two of whom are French and speak little English, and the other two of whom are American. We then found out that we would start working in the schools starting today. So with less than an hour, we had time only to grab a smoothie for lunch before embarking on the 45 minute walk to the schools. Although the walk felt quite long, it was amazing how quickly the colorful, busy streets became less populated, the roads deteriorated, and within half an hour walking we were on a dirt road passing grazing horses and goats.

When we got to the school, we found that we would be rotating teaching the same lesson, each about 45 minutes, to four different classes. There are around 25 students in each class, but the ages range anywhere from 8 to 13 years old. This week we are helping the students to review for the test which we will give them in a couple days on foods. We broke the students up into teams and they made a list of however many English words of the category (fruits, vegetables, drinks, etc.) that they could come up with. Although they were allowed to use their notes from the previous lesson, many of the students had not taken notes, said that they did not have a notebook, or simply did not have interest in participating. The volunteers walked around the classroom trying to encourage them to come up with ideas, but it was constant work to try to engage them. However, I was told by Matt, one of the volunteers in my group, that these classes are angels compared to the classes we will teach tomorrow at another school. We rotate between two schools every other day, while Friday is for planning.

The children, while easily distracted, seem very sweet. Already, some of the girls were clinging to my arm and stroking my hair while the boys seemed eager to catch my attention as well. As always, the students vary greatly and some excitedly wrote down answers to compete for points while others did not bother to get out their books. It is difficult as a new foreign teacher to come into a classroom and expect that students will want to learn from me, but I am excited to start to get to know them and for them to become familiar with me. I'm also excited to get to know the other volunteers! Everyone I have met so far seems really nice, friendly, and interesting. Many are European and there are also some Americans, but I have yet to meet anyone else from Seattle.

I have also yet to meet any other Asians. I've seen maybe three. Today, the children made jokes about me being from China and one bowed to me. But I'd rather hear it from a ten-year-old than the twenty-something man who said "Sayonara" as we passed by, or just all of the men who stare at me. Being female may have something to do with that, but I do not get as many catcalls as the other White volunteers. TC may have something to do with that.

Big Corn Island to Granada

Today was yet another adventure. We woke up at 5:30 to catch the 6:30 panga (boat) from Little Corn to Big Corn. Dragging our luggage through mud and leaves, we ran to catch the boat as each person we passed told us to hurry. The boat ride this time was less choppy and less wet, but I still got off the boat ready to throw up while TC got off ready to pass out. Fun, fun. A taxi driver offered to take us to the breakfast spot below until 11:00, when we would check in for our flight to Managua.

We made use of the wifi here for a couple of hours until we were recovered enough to eat something. As we finished eating, the clouds cleared somewhat and we saw the first blue sky of our trip. In the sun, the water became a light turquoise and clue, the sand shone white, and swimming in the ocean was truly the stuff of travel magazines and Pinterest. 

We flew into Granada around 2:30 and a driver from the volunteer organization, La Esperanza Granada, was waiting to pick us up. However, we quickly realized that there had been a misunderstanding. I had received an email that the driver would have the key to our room in the volunteer housing. He was told that we would know which house we were supposed to stay in and he would drop us off there. Then when we called the director of La Esperanza Granada, she told us that she had sent an email that housing was full until mid-August, and we would have to stay in a hostel until we could rent a place. 

Our driver was very kind and drove with us from hostel to hostel until we found one with availability for a decent price. We ended up at Hostal Hamacas, in a two bed room in the center of the city.

Although these eggs and gallo pinto, or rice and beans, were absolutely delicious (seriously, I don't know what magic they did), it was a pretty somber meal. I would have appreciated the beautiful churches and vibrantly colored buildings, with the streets lined with shops and restaurants were it not for the uncertainty of not having a place to stay and of having to pay hundreds of dollars more than we'd anticipated. We ate this meal in the Parque Central (Central park) where we stood out as the obvious tourists, "the chinos", with everyone from vendors to children to stray dogs begging for our attention, food, money. I offered a piece of my tortilla to an eager little boy, but the dog was less interested.

The iconic church of Granada. 

After a walk through the neighborhood, we returned to the hostel where we can get wifi. And received the wonderful news that there had been a mistake. The director told me that there was in fact a room reserved for us, she had just mistaken me for another volunteer. We will be going to La Casa Roja tomorrow morning, where we will stay for the rest of our trip. And we get our orientation Monday morning so that we can start working in the schools! 

I should have known that things always work out :)

Little Corn Island

 The view over Managua.                                                                                                                      

               After a flight from Seattle to Miami, Miami to Managua, and Managua to Big Corn Island, we took an open panga to get to Little Corn Island. The panga is essentially a large canoe with a motorboat. Riding over four-foot waves, the boat would ride up, drop, and drench us in salty ocean water. A half hour later, we arrived to the dock pictured below. A man immediately offered to show us to our hotel, Dobedos, and carried our luggage the entire 30 minute uphill walk through narrow muddy paths as I struggled to keep up. The town and all of the homes, shops, and restaurants are all near the dock, but there is a nice resort next door where we go for wifi. There are no cars and most of the path is dirt. Our own hotel runs out of power during the night, has cold outdoor showers, and tin roofs that make the wind and rain sound like we are in the middle of the ocean. Thankfully, it hasn't rained much during the day, it's just overcast and windy...a relief for our sticky selves. 

 The mosquitoes here are abundant, to say the least. You could draw constellations on my legs and arms between all of the bites. Conversely, the stars at night have been one of my favorite parts of the trip. I've never seen so many stars, shine so brightly! We saw at least five shooting stars in the ten minutes we stood outside.

The ocean views are my other favorite part, of course. It's too windy for snorkeling unfortunately, but the water feels so warm it could be pool water. We spent a day building a sandcastle with a moat that was a true marvel of engineering. I also love that everyone waves as we walk by, that free-range organic chickens roam everywhere as well as stray dogs, cats, and children (not stray).

Surprisingly, we've met hardly any other Americans! Unsurprisingly, we are the only Asians on the island. We got to the island with the help of an Australian lady who lives on Little Corn and a Swiss couple, and we've met people from the UK, France, and many others. The locals here speak a large amount of English, as well as Spanish, but they also speak a language(dialect?) that is completely incomprehensible to me.

For my parents' sake, the food we've eaten so far has been quite good. Coconut bread, a soft and fluffy, slightly sweet loaf of bread similar to brioche, is served with everything. They also use coconut oil in everything, and seafood is abundant. We've taken advantage of happy hour and the $1.50 beers! (Toña is our favorite) But we already have a list of things we will be glad to appreciate again in Seattle (i.e., the air! Hot showers, less bug bites, blue skies!). And our families of course :)

We leave on the panga again tomorrow morning at 6:30 am...and then fly to Managua so we can take a taxi to Granada, where we will be staying for the rest of the trip! I'm excited to see what comes next.