Holy Week-Semana Santa-is one of the most anticipated holidays of the year in Nicaragua. It’s also infamously the hottest, as it typically falls in April, at the height of summer here in Nica. I was fortunate enough to have the entire week off from work, and it turned out to be a week full of adventures and great memories. I spent the first few days up in a rural community in Matagalpa, the northern highlands about 3 hours from Managua. I stayed with a friend’s family I have gotten to know there who were hospitable enough to put me up and feed me typical Semana Santa food.
One of the highlights of my trip to Matagalpa was a mid-night journey I took with Don Valentin, the father of the family. Valentin had to be in another community to work on Monday morning, and it was about a 4 hour walk away. There are also buses that go between the communities that would be much quicker, but he had to be there before 7 am and the buses didn’t early enough to get there on time. So that meant making the walk, and starting at 3 am to get there on time! I was really wanting some time out of the house and wanted to have a chance to talk more with Valentin, so I asked him if I could accompany him for the trip, work in the other community and then come back on the bus that afternoon. He seemed a little confused that I would want to do that but was more than willing to have company on the journey.
We got up at 2:30 in the morning to a huge and bright full moon, prepared quickly for the trek, and said goodbye to his wife Manuela who had gotten up to send us off. We brought flashlights but with the shine of the moon we only needed them when we passed under the shadows of trees. I couldn’t help feeling some of that adrenaline I’ve felt climbing mountains in the Cascades you get when you’re up hours before sunrise with a strenuous physical task ahead of you.
Don Valentin is about 60 and not a big guy-probably about 5 foot 6-but I was pushing myself and breathing hard to keep up! We walked some parts on the highway and the majority crossing cow pastures, squeezing through barb wire fences between each field. When we found ourselves on a more open section of the road or trail, we walked side by side and talked about everything from his family and the years before the Sandinista Revolution when Somoza’s National Guard used to be the rule of law in the community to mountain climbing in the Northwest and farming strategies. Several hours into the walk the moon began to slowly set and a glow grew in the east. We enjoyed a beautiful clear sunrise as we made the final descent into the community where we would be working and showed up with plenty of time before the 7 am deadline. I didn’t realize how exhausted I was until I laid down for a quick rest before starting work and passed out for a half hour power nap. I woke up to Don Valentin cooking fresh eggs, beans, tortillas and coffee, had breakfast and was ready to go for the rest of the day!
Following the adventures up in Matagalpa, I came home to Managua and had a wonderful rest of Semana Santa. We had Jesuit Volunteers visiting from Belize so we spent the next few days hanging out at the Laguna de Apoyo-a swimmable volcanic lake about an hour away-and here in and around Managua. We’re getting back to the daily routine here, but I’m already getting ready for my next round of visitors later in May with college friends and friends from home coming into town.
Thank you all for following along, even if I only seem to get an update on this thing once every couple months now! Be assured that I am healthy and well and thoroughly enjoying my second year as a JV in Nicaragua. Time continues to fly by though, so I’m trying to take in every experience and appreciate it for what it is, knowing that soon enough I will be counting down my “last times” (at least as a JV) visiting favorite places and people here.
