Back to Nicaragua

So I leave for 12 days and Nicaragua’s iconic Momotombo Volcano erupts, complete with a glowing lava flow, for the first time in 110 years! I can’t believe I missed it. By the day I was flying home the eruption had already ended and we couldn’t see anything from the airplane. All that was left was a fine layer of ash on all of my cooking pots and pans in the house.

Getting back to Nicaragua from Puerto Rico turned out to be a cinch. There are no direct flights, but I was in Managua before noon and through customs with my bags within ten minutes of getting off the plane. I thought that my taxi driver would have to wait for me, but I wound up waiting for him. On the flight from Miami I had just enough time to watch a Czech New Wave film from 1967 called Marketa Lazarová. The movies is long but excellent and very strongly reminded me of Game of Thrones. It was about warring medieval tribes in the deep of winter, each with different religions, taking hostages, exacting revenge, and jockeying for power. I wouldn’t be surprised if G.R.R. Martin considers the movie one of his inspirations.

I felt a little bittersweet about coming back to Nicaragua. I wanted to come back. I wanted to keep working with my clients. I wanted to see León and be there for all of the events in December. But I also enjoyed my time away and was not looking forward to the difficult parts about being here. Nevertheless I am here and happy to be back, although not fully adjusted.

I came back on December 6 because the Entrepreneurial Education Volunteers had an end-of-year get together scheduled for December 7. I stayed in Managua the night of the 6th. I didn’t bother to go home to León to drop my stuff off and then head back to Managua the next day. December 8 is the “Purísima” – the celebration of the Conception of Mary by her parents, Saint Anne and Saint Joaquin. The night of the 7th is the Gritería. I was disappointed that I was going to have to miss it (the Volunteers would be staying overnight for the get-together), and I didn’t want to get grief from everyone in León for having to miss it. It seems to me that the celebration of the Purísima is the second largest religious holiday in León, only beaten out by Semana Santa leading up to Easter.

Our meeting was held at Apoyo Resort at Laguna de Apoyo. The location was excellent. I was blown away by how nice the resort is. I absolutely love Laguna de Apoyo. It is one of those captivating bodies of water with super-nice waters that just feel like they have healing properties. Nicaraguans have all sorts of myths about it. It does get deep very quickly, and many people do drown. My favorite myth is that there is a witch that comes up out of the water on full moons and glows green. They also say that the lake is a funnel and will suck you down to the bottom. I can neither confirm or deny either myth.

After our night at the lagoon I couldn’t put off the inevitable any longer: I made my way back to León. My house was filled with the remnants of a celebration: an altar to the Virgin Mary, leftover food stuffed into the fridge, and excess grandchildren. Everyone was happy to see me though and glad that I had a nice trip and sad that I couldn’t join them the night before.

Today I went out into the city and found a city very ready for the end of the year. The gigantic Gigantona and Cabezon are up in the park, the Cathedral still has a big neon Purísima sign on it, and all of the shops and homes have Christmas decorations up. I even saw some “viejos” for sale for New Years. The city also opened up the renovated Parque de las Poetas. It is very nicely done. The teachers are still at the schools, but classes are over. This weekend are all of the high school graduations. I have to go to four of them at the same time. I am going to look into cloning myself for the day.

December is going to be slow. After graduation there is no work to be done in schools until early to mid January. I will celebrate little Evelyn’s birthday and my birthday here in the house, probably spend Christmas in León (if Star Wars gets good reviews I may try to see it on Christmas Day). Right before New Years I will make a two night trip to Jiquilillo (it’s on the Occidente Bucket List) with some other Volunteers. And after the first week of January I will take a one week vacation trip inside vacation to hit up the Caribbean Coast, which is one of the parts of the country that I have still not been to. In the meantime I will simply be working with my business clients. I also need to work out how I am going to conclude my teacher trainings and provide continuity, but not create dependent teachers, once I leave the country in late May/early June.

Have a wonderful end to the year everyone!