oooh, it was so great.
it was pretty exhausting and sweaty and dirty and mosquito-y, just like i wanted! i ended up being totally useless as far as the actual hands-on engineering projects went, but i was super useful as a translator and left the country feeling pretty excited about my spanish skills.
first we flew into managua where we discovered that one of our expensive boxes of tools did not make it into the country (or at least onto the conveyor belt). then we went to the hotel where the power was out and it was hot hot hot and dark dark dark.
the next day we toured around some major city landmarks in managua and also went to check out the dump, where people live in shacks on trash heaps and spend all day sorting through the trash for recyclables to sell and other odds and ends. there is an AWESOME SCHOOL on the fringe of the dump that is run by some christian organization and teaches all the dump kids for free. see adorable pictures below.
the next day we left for granada, a touristy cute town where we spent a day on a long and pretty serious hike followed by a ridiculously cool CANOPY TOUR in which i zoomed around the cloud forest on a zip line. AWESOME.
at this point we were still in our unwieldy group of 22. then the next day the groups split and i ventured off with the engineering students (my favorites) to the TOTALLY GREAT town of jinotepe, not far from managua. there we stayed at a pretty ridiculously cool hotel that apparently used to be the toast of the town and a favorite party location for the somoza dynasty. the hotel has a big roof where we spent our nights drinking rum and looking over the town.
in jinotepe we got up every day at 7 am and headed off to the local old folks home, called a hogar, where various projects took place, such as water tank installation, roof tile fixing, seismic upgrading, and electrical rewiring. also some house painting.
at the hogar we met up with a group of local engineering students who quickly became our best friends and worked with us every day on the job site, actually making it so that there was too much work for the number of people there. so i wasn't able to do any actual work, which was too bad. i spent my days shuttling around helping with translations between the portland students, almost none of whom spoke spanish, and the nicaragua students, almost none of whom spoke english. i also led an exercise class at the hogar every day (see picture) and coordinated things like transportation, lunch delivery, goodbye party, etc. for the goodbye party i was the MC and i forgot to line up a translator for the event so i was also the translator. kind of extremely stressful because the mayor came and made a speech and everything. eek!
throughout this time all the engineering students adopted me and it was great. we formed a united front against keren, just like i had dreamed we would. they offered me support and most importantly pity and when keren would call and act like a psycho, i could look over my shoulder and receive thumbs up. so, that was pretty great.
things with keren not so great. what a jerk.
finally after 8 or so days in jinotepe we packed up, said our tearful goodbyes to our nicaraguan engineering counterparts.
back in managua we did this and that, but most importantly i invited the architect who is designing the expansion of the jinotepe hogar to dinner with us, and he came and he and i talked the whole time and "hit it off" if you will, and then i walked him back to his car where we told each other we liked each other and then had a sad hug and he said "i like you too much" and i felt warm and fuzzy and wanted.
carlos the architect is the one on the far right. keren, my boss, is pretending to dig the first hole on an expansion of the building that isn't actually beginning for a couple of months.
then i walked back to the hotel, where the students were in the process of getting extremely drunk. i caught up with them in no time and then we packed our bags drunkenly at 3 in the morning and got to the airport and 4:30 in the morning and were on a plane by 6:30, at which point corianne, my best student buddy, passed out and puked in first class.
she's alright, though.
after only a 5 and a half hour layover in houston, we were on our way to portland!
now i am in email correspondence with carlos the architect, who so far has not seemed any less cool than before. nice to have a crush. i think i forgot to mention he is married? very married. this is why the hug and no kiss and the sadness. but of course, all for the best.
that's all my friends! now i am back in clackamas and holding up reasonably well. haven't done all that much work yet. mostly thinking about nicaragua and catching up on personal matters. whoops.
