June 21, 2009
Hey everybody! Happy Father’s Day! It’s been a whole week, and things are going very well down here. I’m getting much more comfortable with my new Nicaraguan family, and I´ve had the chance to go on a few adventures since the last blog.
When Maria and I got back from Ocotal Friday night, Tim-and-Jim from UD had just gotten in from Managua, where they volunteer with Suni Solar. They’re here for the weekend to hang out with us fellow gringos, so of course we played UNO! It got pretty violent, but we’re all still friends haha.
Now it’s time for the Somoto Canyon Story. Yesterday morning, Maria, Maria, Dan, Nathan, Tim-and-Jim, and I took a bus to Somoto, a city about the size of Ocotal to the west of Sabana Grande. Nathan and Dan had been to the canyon a few weeks ago, before the rainy season had started and had a lot of fun swimming and hiking. Oh, halfway through the bus ride, we stopped at what turns out to be a police checkpoint. For this part of the story, I’d like to direct you to Nathan’s blog. Good stuff. So, we safely got to the Somoto bus station without being deported, and Dan hired a “taxi” – a pickup truck with a kind of frame installed in the back bed for us to hang on to. The ride to the canyon was gorgeous! It was all white knuckles through the countryside, but the view was really beautiful. I’m not sure why I wasn’t expecting mountains given the whole canyon thing, but they were breathtaking, covered in lush trees except where steep cliffs exposed the bedrock.
To get to the canyon itself, we hiked down a mountainside, noticing that the only other travelers all seemed to have things like water shoes water-tight containers. Not a good sign already, so when we got to the first river crossing and found out that we’d be crossing a raging river up to our waists, we weren’t too surprised. Apparently the rainy season had done its job. I was pretty scared, so I grabbed the hand of some random guy that was crossing with his friends who all thought I was hilarious holding my snacks above my head. Dan and Nathan just kept saying ¨This looked so much different before. The boats are just around the corner.¨
From there, we got semi-lost and I fell in cow poop while asking a farmer for directions. Figures. We finally make to a boat. Our guide was named Noel, and he had been taking people upstream into the canyon for five years, since he was 15. He was extremely patient with our steadily-improving Spanish. We disembarked and walked over a bridge that Noel warned us only supported one person at a time. EEEK. After that, we climbed rocks and jumped off cliffs and swam through remolinos (whirlpools). The cliffs were 200m high, and Noel told us that Hurricane Mitch completely filled it to the top with a wall of water. It was amazing to see the variety of plants and trees on the canyon walls, too. There were cacti as tall as trees! The two Marias took plenty of pictures.
Oh, almost forgot! We went a club called Sky Dancing last night and all learned how to do the bachata and merengue. I had a really good time, and it was great to dance to a few familiar songs.
Finally, there are a lot of animals in this country that I did not previously have phobias of, but now I do. For instance, last night there were 7 toads in my front yard, and they are not shy. The family was making fun of me until one of them jumped on Alexandra´s foot and she ran into my room and shut the door. Annnd, I killed a scorpion yesterday. With the really big stick that also doubles as my bedroom lock. It was really quite terrifying, but now Adelina thinks I am so brave.
Will write again next week. Thanks for the comments!
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4 Responses to “Feliz como una lombriz (Happy as an earthworm…)”
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Erin,
It sounds like you are having fun and experieincing a lot of adventures. Stay safe!
Missy
HI Erin,
Just reading your blog, your comrades blogs and enjoying all the stories! A few of my co-workers are interested in your project so I showed them, too. Sounds like you are on quite an adventure! Also sounds like life is very different where you are. I guess the closest I ever came was in a daytrip to ruins in Guatemala….we saw beautiful scenery, lots of livestock running around and lots of poverty. Then we went back to our luxurious cruise ship….I felt like a dirty American pig-Ha! What you are doing to help the people there is SO COOL…..I can’t help bragging a bit about you! AND you slayed a scorpion! Love, Your Aunt Carla
hi ernie. i always knew you could maybe someday be brave. anyways i love you and think about you all the time! take care of yourself and say hi to the fam
Hola Como esta de su tia me dijo todo sobre su proyecto en Nicaragua. Hope su viaje es una de compasion y el aprendizaje de la diversidad del las familias.