I don't what it is about the 1st weekend in December, but so far here in Nicaragua, it has meant LOTS of adventure. A year ago this week I was enjoying the Rio Tuma, high in the mountains of Matagalpa, and getting horseback riding lessons (the hard way!). This year I was in another brisk autumn-like climate, only much closer to home--in the hills of Carazo, just southwest of Managua. (How further south = more cold is a mystery for the climatologists--not me.)The reason for the trip? My new Nica friend Wendy (for whom I am writing part of this post in Spanish) was celebrating her birthday and invited me to her hometown for the weekend. Nos reunimos en Jinotepe, y pasabamos una hora buscando comida y otros preparativos for the fiesta that night. La parte mas chistosa fue cuando fuimos a la casa de la senora que iba a preparar el queque, y ni habia recordado que tenia que hacerlo! ("Es un show completo," dice Wendy.) After struggling through the crowds in the market, we took the bus from Jinotepe down the road to Santa Teresa. Wendy's house is just off the carretera, and it a cute little green bungalow that her step-dad designed and constructed all by himself! Estaba muy impresionada con todas las plantas y flores que tenian--de veras es como un paraiso alli! Wendy's parents were just adorable, and they welcomed me with open arms-and told me lots of stories about their community history (the whole area apparently used to be a coffee producing region). After a delicious lunch we went back to Jinotepe to pick up the bendito cake that almost didn't get made for the occasion and searched in vain for an icechest because there was no light (apparently the transformer had blown out a few days earlier, and since friday was a holiday, well...). That night a small group of Wendy's friends and I celebrated by eating Wendy's favorite dish (a Nica version of chop suey), singing, and telling stories. I was really excited at bed time because I got to wear long sleeves and pants!
La manana seguiente es donde realmente empieza la aventura completa. The next morning Wendy wanted to take me to visit her abuela, who lives a rural area about 45 minutes away. So we boarded a bus and headed into the middle of the campo, where most of Wendy's mom's family lives. After a round of introductions and some soda (Nica etique rule #1: never show up empty-handed at someone's house. Rule #2: whenever possible, bring Coca-cola.), Wendy and I headed out with some of the cousins down to the river. It should have taken about an hour, but when we got there, the muchachos told us that the water looked too low and we should follow them to another much more fun place with more water to play in. "Siganos!" decian...2 horas despues...todavia estuvimos caminando a traves de palos, piedras, agua, y quien sabe que mas...
Just when I was completely without hope that we would ever arrive, we did. We ate our ham sandwiches and the little bit of Coke that remained, and then it was playtime. We had a great time sitting in the waterfalls, navigating the slippery rocks, and enjoying the cool air. and Wendy and I took a ton of photos...
Eventually, we headed back up the hill and through the fields and forests through which we had come--thankfully though it was long, the return trip was not nearly as long as the viaje to arrive. Wendy's abuela had made us a delicious chicken and yucca soup, rice, and platanos, which we wolfed down, only to realize we had missed the last bus of the day, and would have to wait for a taxi to pass. Esperamos el taxi por un rato, llego un muchacho con raspados, que comimos con mucho animo, y aunque no queriamos caminar ni una vara mas, fuimos caminando hasta que llego un taxi que nos llevo a la Teresa, the closest town. We got a microbus from where the taxi left us to the entrance where the highway is, then another micro 2 km until we were 4 blocks from the house. Midway through this last stage, it started to pour. Wendy and I were both laughing, it was so comical. All this walking, all this way, rendidas estabamos, y comenzo a llover...que clase de dia tuvimos, hasta el fin!
We took shelter under a bus stop landing until it stopped, reached the house, where we showered, dried off, and chatted into the night. Then, at 5am this morning, I awoke to make the return trip to Managua in order to be at the office by 8am!
Whew! I am exhausted just thinking about it. Tanta diversion, tanta actividad, tanta platica...pero todo lo disfrute, y doy gracias a wendy y su familia por hospedarme, por compartir sus vidas conmigo, y por ayudarme a sentir muy en casa! Decimos en ingles, "la amistad es como un arbol de refugio, y me senti eso mucho este fin de semana. Hasta la proxima!
What a wonderful thing it is to have new friends to make special memories with.
p.s. the link to the photo album is below. ;-)
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