Feliz Ano Nuevo!

I’m a little late, but happy new year from Nicaragua! It has been too long since I last posted anything on this blog, so I’ll try and catch up a little from the last few weeks.

Life here in Nica is quickly settling down and it’s beginning to feel more comfortable for me. This was the first Christmas I’ve spent away from family, so that was a little tough to get used to. Besides not being around family, it has been hot (at least 80 degrees or so) and sunny pretty much every day, so it really felt different from most of my Christmases at home. Nevertheless, I spent it with the seven other JVs here in Nicaragua and that ended up being a great experience. We had a big Christmas Eve dinner together, did a simple gift exchange, and had a great Christmas morning brunch as well. Christmas Eve is the big celebration here in Nicaragua, so we all went outside at midnight to here fireworks going off nonstop all over the city.

Immediately after Christmas, Thomas (one of my housemates) and I took a trip to go explore a remote peninsula of Nicaragua and climb a volcano. We went to Cosiguina, in the extreme northwest of the country. After a torturous day of eight hours on crowded buses we found ourselves in a tiny little fishing village. After getting our bearings from some of the locals, we walked out onto a deserted black sand beach facing the open Pacific-the perfect location to set up camp! From the beach we were able to see not only the volcano we would climb the following day, but also an island that is part of El Salvador and a Honduran volcano. We spent the evening swimming in the ocean, chatting with some of the friendly campesinos who came by, enjoying sitting around a driftwood bonfire and stargazing. The next morning we headed up the Cosiguina volcano, a hike which took about three hours through hot dry forest. It was well worth the view on the top; the crater came to an abrupt edge and dropped nearly straight down 2000 feet to a blue lake. It looked like it would have been a refreshing swim if only we had some climbing equipment…or a helicopter!

Some of the second year volunteers here have had families visiting, so after getting back from our little excursion we were able to spend time with them. We had a relaxing New Years (Catchphrase and more fireworks!), and spent New Years Day having a barbeque with the visiting families.

Right now I’m enjoying my last few days of really free time before work kicks in. I’ll be starting on January 11^th, so I’m excited to get that aspect of my time here going and settle in to a bit of a routine. In other news, community living has been a wonderful experience so far. I love getting to know my community mates and I think we all have high hopes for the coming year. I’ve only cooked a few times so far, but I had a great success this week: a crusty Mexican bean bake with rice and a simple salad, and pineapple for dessert! I’m hopeful I’ll be able to master a couple simple dishes here to expend my limited cooking repertoire.

I think that’s about it for now! Thanks for checking in, and I’ll hope to have some thoughts to share after work begins next week. All the best!