Monday I went to the library for the first time. The road getting to the library is super rough, and we take a moto taxi that does some amazing driving to get there. Last post was photos from the library, so you can see the beautiful view and the lovely building and kids. I read Curious George in Spanish to a group of students, and I got to talk with Karla and Miguel who work at the library about some of their challenges.
Tuesday I stayed around the language school doing grant research.
Wednesday Sally picked me up and we went up to the library. We met with a lady who is working on a project to organize rural tourism in the area. It was interesting because she had such a long view of the process and it sounded like there would be a lot more talking than actually doing. Sally suggested a couple of ideas for the area, and emphasized the importance of fixing the road as a precursor to any possible development of tourism. Sally shared some of her perspectives about Nicaragua over lunch, and we went to see the farm house which does indeed have a working gas stove! We returned to Sally´s house outside of Masaya where I will be staying part of the time. It´s the house where her whole family lived when they lived in Nicaragua, and it is big and rambling and very pretty. There are two lovely dogs and several people who work there who have been employed by my aunt and uncle for over 20 years. Claudia cleans in the morning and Chamba is the guard at night. Sally and I talked some more about her organization over a beer and dinner, and later her neighbor Blanca came over. Blanca is about my age and we were apparently pen pals when we were little! She works at a NGO that makes soap operas with social messages for women. She seems really nice and I hope we´ll be friends.
Thursday Sally and I went to the Mariposa Spanish school for a meeting with the owner Paulette and the intern Alex. We discussed possible ways that the Mariposa students could enjoy Sally´s farm and possibly contribute to the library, and we even picked a date of next Sunday for the first trip on horseback to the farm! Then Sally and I drove in crazy traffic to a coffee roaster in Managua who bought 70 pounds of Sally´s coffee harvest from last year. I got to see the roaster and bought some freshly roasted coffee. Next we went to a big mall which Sally said is owned by Salvadoreans to go to the bank and make some photocopies. We also went to a large modern supermarket. Then we met two of Sally´s friends at a tapas restaurant and Jazz bar. Her friend Kevin is a forrester who teaches at an English language university in Managua and invited me to her house for a hike on Saturday. Abby is the head of the Psychology department at the public university and invited me to her house for latkes in December. By coincidence, a friend of Kent´s named Edwin who was visiting from Bluefields was also coming to the bar to listen to a jam session. Sally and I couldn´t stay for the music, but I got to meet Edwin and it turns out that he and Abby had worked on a documentary film together or something. Sally finished telling me about the house and then said goodbye, since she had to leave very early.
Friday (today) I got stuck in traffic on my way to meet the Mariposa intern Alex to go up to the library. The Mariposa owner Paulette and her right hand man Ismael met us up there, and we went down to see the farm house and hiked on the trails for about an hour and half. I had no idea how beautiful the trails are on Sally´s farm slash nature preserve! There are huge trees, ferns, springs, coffee plants, and cliffs everywhere you look. We sat and watched a group of howler monkeys for about 20 minutes, including several baby monkeys. It really is a special place. I´m at an internet cafe right now since the internet isn´t working yet at the house in Masaya. This weekend I hope to check out the Masaya market and maybe go the Laguna de Apoyo.
I´ve definitely felt up and down this week, but I´m excited about the work that I´m going to do here and I think once I write it up for Sally it will feel like something that I can actually accomplish. I´m also excited to see some more of the beautiful sights in Nicaragua. I´ll try to post some more photos soon. I hope everyone has a great weekend!
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