volcanic activity and vacation with my family

So this post was going to be about vaction with my family (and it still is) but we had some excitment last night that I should probably share with you first. Early in the evening we heard (what we thought was) thunder. It wasn't raining, but it's very normal to have thunder here before it ever decides to rain. But then Michelle came hurrying back to the volunteer house and told us the volcano was spitting ash. (The volcano is hidden behind trees from the volunteer house). So we hurried up to take a look. We missed the actual spitting (but I have pictures from another volunteer). But there were quite a lot of not-normal clouds. The kids and tios reassured us that it was nothing to be worried about. It's supposedly actually a good thing 'cause then the volcano is releasing some pressure, so then it doesn't get super pressurized (or whatever volcanoes do) and have a big scary explosion. So we decided to do what everyone else was doing and admire the pretty sunset with the unnatural clouds. So as far as I know, everything's still ok. The directors were actually here yesterday (just by chance) and they didn't seem at all worried, and they're the ones responsible for the 200 kids living by an active volcano, so I guess we should worry either. But if the pictures make you worried, please donate money to NPH Nicaragua for the building project!! :-) Then we can all move off the island and won't have to worry about if it's a dangerous erruption or a good erruption. Ok, so now back to vacation.

July 17 I left the island and headed to Managua to meet my family. Their plane didn't get in until 7:45, so was there quite early. I got to the hotel, but they had lost my reservations (even thought THEY had called ME a few weeks before to confirm... I don't get it). But they found me another hotel within walking distance, so I headed over there. It seemed nice, so I stayed. First I have to convince the hotel that we did NOT need 4 beds for four people. There was already a double bed and a bigger than single bed but not quite double bed in the room, and they wanted to put TWO more single beds. I told them one was plenty. I called my host brother and sister, Ariel and Aminta, from Salinas because they're studying in Managua. They told me a fair taxi price from where I was to where they were and I headed over to see their university because I never had been there before. So they showed me around and I hung out with Aminta. We visited Ariel, but he was studying because he still had some exams to take. After a while I headed back to the hotel and showered (in hot water!) and waited for the taxi to come and take me to the airport. Then I waited for the plane to come. I could wave at my family once they got their passports stamped, but we had to wait (AND WAIT) for their bags, which had apparently been first off, and so last off. Finally they showed up and they could get all the way out to where I was waiting. We headed back to the hotel and after some talking went to bed.

Friday was SUPER rainy. Someone from NPH came to get the donated books we wanted to leave in Managua and then we waited for my host family. My host dad and the driver showed up (in the crazy rain) and we loaded up our stuff. We went to the university to get Aminta (she came with us, but Ariel had to stay for tests). We let my mom sit up front so she wouldn't get sick, and squished 4 in the back of the pickup. Poor Orlando (my host dad) had to ride in the back in the rain, but he had a full rainsuit (pants and jacket) so at least he was prepared. We took the long way to Salinas because the roads were better. The rain had apparently made the shorter road pretty messy. We eventually made it, and Pabla (my host mom) had a nice lunch waiting for us (she's wonderful). We stayed in Salinas until Sunday. It was a really nice visit. I had to do quite a bit of translating. Emily did quite well on her own, but my parents, esp my dad, needed some help. But it was fine, and everyone had a nice time.

Saturday it finally stopped raining and we went to the beach with a bunch of people that I knew from previous trips. Saturday night we went to church with them and my dad sang some songs and my mom played piano for him. I think they liked it, although it was quite a different music style than they are used to. I know my family enjoyed going to church. Orlando preached slow with lots of stops for me so I could whisper the traslation to my parents. (Em again did fine on her own. She said she got 90% of what he said.)

Sunday we left to head to the island. We stopped in Rivas to buy some groceries. We found a place to eat lunch while we waited for the ferry. Luckily I went up early to check on it, because the ferry was broken, so just the lanchas were running, and they weren't on the normal schedule. BUt we made it to a boat, and luckily the water was nice and calm so no one got sick. We had a bit of trouble on the other side with the NPH transport. It wasn't there when we got there, even though I had called to say we were getting on the boat. The boat ride is an hour, and it's only 15 mins from NPH to Moyogalpa (where the ferry docks). So after waited 20-30 mins I called and he said he was almost there. But when he got there he said we had to wait for the next boat because there were people coming. He said it was almost there, but we ended up having to wait more than an hour. It wasn't that big of a deal, but we had hoped to get some wash done, and that didn't happen. But we got settled in. We went up to visit the kids, but they were going to eat at 8 or 9 after a movie, so we went back to make our own food because we were hungry.

Monday we spent at NPH. We did wash and delivered the rest of the donated books plus the soccer balls. The kids seemed really excited, so that was nice. We ate lunch with the kids and then relaxed and got ready for the special dinner that night. At 5 we headed up to the school to fetch the girls that we were going to cook with. We did a family event with a family, which was fun. The NPH family was three girls, Aracely, Mariluz, and Amy. We had prepared chicken and apple crisp ahead of time and they helped us make mashed potatoes and a salad. It was a very nice meal (and I think my family enjoyed the change from Nica food). The apple crisp was a super nice treat for the girls because apples are so rare in NIcaragua. We also invited Shirley, the woman who lives at the monastery to join us, since she let us use her oven for the chicken and apple crisp.

Tuesday we had to get up early because a ride was coming to get us to go see the island. We went first to Charco Verde, a beach and nature preserve pretty close to NPH. We did a nice hike there and our guide told us all sorts of legends from the island. Then we went to Finca el Porvenir, over by Maderas volcano. They have lots of petroglyphs, so we walked around and looked at them. Then we went to lunch at Playa Santo Domingo. We were going to go swimming afterwards at Ojo de Agua, but it was rainy, so we just looked around a bit (my mom waded) and then went back. (Just to clarify, we didn't swim 'cause it was pretty cool, not 'cause we didn't want to swim in the rain. I think it's silly when people don't want to go swim when it's raining 'cause htey don't want to get wet in the rain... no sense at all.) :-) So we went back and had some time to relax before we went up to hang out with the kids. We brought some of the new books and the kids got my mom and Emily to read them all about 5 times. I got a break! :-) I did have to clarify to a few kids that yes, my dad could read, he just couldn't read in SPANISH. We ate dinner with the kids also and then watched the dance group practice. Then we went back and finished packing.

Wednesday we left the island. NPH kindly provided us a ride from San Jorge to Granada, so that was a very easy trip. This hotel luckily had NOT lost our reservation, so everything worked out great. It was a really nice hotel with hot water and air conditioning and a pool. And it was very pretty. And it had breakfast, but sometimes the breakfast was a little too Nican for my family. Wednesday afternoon we wandered around Granada and took a horse and carriage tour. Most of Granada is very walkable, but there are a few places that it's much nicer to take some other form of transportation to visit. We ended up getting quite wet on the tour because it started to rain, but we had gelado afterwards anyway. I also had hot chocolate, 'cause I was cold. :-) That night we went out to eat at a really nice Spanish retaurant. I don't know how authentic the food was, but it was good. Emily said the paella was different from what she had in Spain, but we figured it could just be a different region.

Thursday we went to Mombacho volcano. In the morning we went on a canopy tour. But first we had to get there, which was crazy because the road was SUPER bad. Really it was way the worse road I've ever seen. Luckily my mom was in the front. I let Em sit with her, so I was feeling slightly sick when we got there. (She let me switch for the way back, thanks Em!) We had barely recovered from the ride when it was time for the canopy tour. For those who don't know, canopy tours involve lots of cables strung way up between to trees that you fly across while attached to a harness. It's lots of fun. I had done one before, so I didn't really have any problems, but I think the others were at least a little nervours at first. Which makes sense, because it really doesn't make any sense to jump out of a tree who know how high up in the air. But we had lots of fun and convinced the guys to slowly rappel us down at the end rather than let us drop in 2 seconds. We didn't go THAT slow, but at least it didn't re-upset my stomach. Afterwards we had to get back in the truck for the crazy ride back down. I did much better in the front. They dropped us off at a restaurant for lunch and then picked us back up afterwards for a hike higher up the volcano. It was super cloudy, so we didn't get to see any nice views, but we saw lots of rainforest plants and some monkeys. That night we went to eat at an Italian retaurant. Yay! I like Italian food!

Friday we went to Laguna de Apoyo, the volcano lake near Granada. It was very relaxing and nice. That was a slow day. And then we went out to a steak place for dinner and I had the first good beef I've had in Nicaragua. The beef usually tastes good, but is not good quality at all. But this was very good.

Saturday we went to an archeology museum in the morning and then to Masaya market in the afternoon. We all got some very nice things. And it was fun to wander around. That night we had Italian again 'cause I like Italian. And we relaxed and packed and all that sort of thing.

Sunday we had to leave REALLY early to go to the airport- 4AM. After I dropped my family off I got a taxi to the NPH house and got a ride with the NPH kids to San Jorge for another family day (where the kids' families come to visit). It was kinda a weird day again, but that's unavoidable I think. Then that night I had to go BACK to Managua and BACK to the airport to greet a couple from Germany who are new volunteers here at NPH. They seem really nice. They're in San Juan del Sur now learning Spanish, so that's good.

The last few days have actually been "normal" but normal from April or something 'cause things haven't been normal for a really long time. But I've had a full week and I've worked with all my students but one, and I'll work with her tomorrow. It's very strange. But good! So things are going well!

I'll try to get pictures up tomorrow, if the internet behaves. I'll put the volcano ones up first, 'cause I figure that's what people are most interested in. I MIGHT even get those up tonight... We'll see! Oh, and I didn't proof this 'cause otherwise I don't think I'd get it up 'til tomorrow afternoon. So hopefully it makes at least some sense!