First visit from the states

So I have been bad about updating this blog lately but it is because I have been busy. I just got done with a wonderful weeklong visit with my family. My mom, dad and sister Laura came to Nicaragua last Wednesday and gave me my first chance to be a tour guide, be a translator and really tour Nicaragua. The tour was whirlwind but great! I´ll cover some of the highlights.

We first went to Selva Negra, an eco-friendly coffee farm in the mountains. This is a self sufficient farm that groes coffee, livestock and makes cheeses. It also has difference cottages and rooms for rent for a nice rustic getaway in the leafy green mountains of Matagalpa. It is a very peaceful spot to chill for a couple of days and thats exactly what we did. We ate our meals at their outdoor restaurant overlooking a lake and the mountains with ducks waddling by our table and howler monkeys sreaming in the distance. We spent a little less than 2 days there and we all agreed that it was the type of place you could just stay and relax for a week. (sidenote: Selva Negra, which employs over 200 Nicaraguans, just got a contract with Whole Foods to sell their coffee. The coffee is great and the cause is good, try to support it)

After the relaxing and cool mountain air we moved into the high gear and hot portion of our trip. We headed to Granada, the colonial Nicaraguan city on the lake that U.S. newspaper travel sections love to write about. The city itself is beautiful and the most prepared place in the country for tourists. It has fancy restaurants, hotels and a beautiful central park. A huge volcano looms in the distance and off the edge of the lake are over 100 tiny islands that you can boat through. My favorite part was the food (surprise surprise). I earned my reputation as a two plate eater by gladly finishing my mom and sisters half eaten plates. I´m not going to say that I only eat rice in beans in Corinto, but I dont really eat any delicacies such as Spanish style seafood pasta or french fries. Needless to say I thought it all was delicious.

While in Granada we visited the Volcano Mombacho which is in a cloud forest. It had a great view of Granada and great vegetation because of the almost constant moisture in the air. We also visited a lake that was formed on the inside of a crater of a volcano. It was a beautiful spot to swim and relax at an outdoor restaurant until a huge storm came in a blew over all of the tables and chairs. We also did the boat tour of the small islands where rich people build pretty houses. I couldn´t help but think how I was going to get myself invited to a Granada island party sometime during my 2 years here.

After the first 4 days of tourist Nicaragua, my family was ready for real Nicaragua. On Sunday morning we set out for one of the longest but most rewarding days of the trip. We left for Santa Teresa, my training town so that my real family could meet my Nicaraguan family. I imagined much awkwardness because of the language barrier between my family and my nica family. But in reality, both my families got along great and had no problem talking through me as translator.

We continued on and met up with a group of Peace Corps Volunteers I am friends with and my parents took them out to pizza. We proved our love/lack of pizza by consuming 4.5 pizzas and two orders of breadsticks between 10 people. From there we drove (stuffed) to Corinto and immediately after arriving went to dinner at one of my Nica friend´s house.

I spent the rest of their time in Corinto showing them what its like to live and work there. They had a good chance to see some of the interesting challenges I face. For example, for about 38 our of the 48 hours that they were in Corinto there was no running water. Also my interesting neighbor situation where our walls inbetween us are made out of plywood and dont quite reach the floor leaving a 3 inch gap between the wall and the tile floor. While we were sitting and talking in my living room, my neighbor, who was in his house, says to me through the wall, ¨Paul, my girlfriend is pregnant.¨ Myself, not thinking that this was a ¨through the wall¨ conversation topic, was unsure how to react so I just said, ¨Really? Congratulations.¨ Privacy is fairly nonexistent at my house because sometimes they participate through the wall in conversations that are going on in my house. Also, we have many through the wall conversations that would probably be more appropriate face to face. But anyways, my family got to see the places I work, live and hang out in Corinto.

I´m very glad that my family got to know Nicaragua and Corinto. There are certain things that you just have to experience to fully understand and I´m glad that my family now understands. My family got generally the same impression that I first got. The scenery and vegetation are beautiful, the people are great, and its not as poor as you would think the second poorest nation in the western hemispere would be.

But more than anything else, I was just happy to spend time with my family. Growing up my whole life in Glen Ellyn, always living/being close to my family and maintaining the same friendships since I was young, it made me take for granted the importance of having people around that just know you. One big thing I miss here in Nicaragua is having people around that know everything about me and having family and friends that know where you come from, your goals, your personality and your quirks. My family visiting me for a week was a chance for me to be around the people that know me best and I enjoyed that break. I love meeting new and different people here but sometimes its nice to have those people around that know what you´re going to say before you say it.

Anyways, now that I have tour guide and translating experience I will charge my next visitors a higher fee (read: more leftovers at fancy dinners). And I hope I have more visitors here because I really enjoyed sharing my experience here.

I´ll try to write more often now that I´m back from vacation. Write me updates, I always like hearing whats going on back home. Take care everyone!