So last weekend we all went to San Juan for a volunteer weekend. Since we have two descanso groups on alternating weekends, the two halves of the group aren't together all that often. So this weekend was a chance for us to all hang out together. It was my normal descanso weekend, so a bunch of the people from my descanso group went on Friday, but I stayed here to save money. I figured in San Juan I would just be reading and hanging out, and I could do that here, plus there's free internet and free food and free lodging here. There is a beach at San Juan, but it's been too hot lately to sit on the beach. Even if you put your towel down, it's too hot to sit. It's ridiculous. So there was nothing really I would do at San Juan that I couldn't do here for cheaper.

So Saturday I left with the other volunteers that were still here and we got to San Juan in time to get a late breakfast/ early lunch with the people already there. That was really nice because we had planned to eat dinner together Saturday night, but we figured it wouldn't be possible to get so many people together to eat other meals together. We talked during breakfast about why we all came to NPH and what we wanted to get out of the year. Then we had our own time until 3, when we met on the beach to play some games. We were going to play volleyball, but the sand was too hot and the net wasn't up, so we ended up throwing the ball around in the shallow water. Then we sat around together, and some people tried to do some yoga, but it was too hard for me. They were doing splits and standing on their heads and crazy stuff like that. Saturday night we met to go out to dinner, and we talked some more at dinner. After dinner we went out to a bar. First we went to a nice quiet bar where we could actually talk, but then some people wanted to go somewhere else and it was too loud to talk (loud music) so I went back with some other people who were tired.

Sunday we slept in and then all went to breakfast together again. We were all surprised that we ate so many meals together. With 11 people, it was neat that we managed to get together at the same time. Then we hung out for a while, and I headed back with the group that went that afternoon, for the same reason that I stayed here on Friday.

Our group dynamics have been changing slightly since two volunteers just left. Now we're 2 from the US, one from Lebanon, one from the Netherlands, and 7 from Germany, so we're a little heavy on the Germans (the two that left were from the Netherlands and Norway, so not Germans). I like all the Germans just fine, they're really nice people, but they tend to speak German a lot (which is very understandable. I also speak English a lot). But it gets a little frustrating when they speak German when there are people around who don't speak English. If you ask, they'll usually switch to English or Spanish, but I feel rude asking them all the time. Sometimes at the volunteer house they'll be sitting around chatting in German, and I'll want to join them, but I don't want to ask them to switch languages, 'cause maybe one of them really had a bad day and so just wants to speak what's easiest. So it sometimes makes it hard to hang out with the. Anyway, so this weekend in San Juan, the Germans started charging the other Germans 5 cordoba (about 25 cents) whenever the spoke German. It was kinda nice, because they spoke a lot more English and Spanish, but I understood why some of them said it wasn't fair because we 4 who didn't speak German never had to pay. I stayed out of it, because I wasn't going to charge someone for speaking their language when I could speak mine. We offered to speak just Spanish, so that no one could speak their native language, but English is easier for some of the Germans, so they prefer English. I don't think they're going to continue the paying thing now that we're back at the house, but hopefully it made them a little more aware. It's just nice when they speak a language that we all understand when we're all together.

Monday I had a nice relaxing day here, and when the others got back, I was especially glad that I had come back because a big transportation strike started here in NIcaragua on Monday. So right now there are no public busses going, very few taxis, and I think some other transportation services (that transport stuff) aren't going either. Gas here is about $1.25 a liter, which transfers to about $5 a gallon, so it's super expensive. The drivers are claiming they can't make a living at current rates (and I believe them, with a full taxi, they make $6-$7 going from Rivas to San Juan, and they've got to use more than a gallon of gas). From the news I've found on the internet (which isn't a lot, you can search transportation strike in Nicaragua, or if you read Spanish, huelga de transporte en Nicaragua) they want the government to subsidize gas so they have to pay $2 a gallon. That seems a little extreme, but maybe they're leaving themselves som bargaining room. I don't know if the government has any money to pay for that kind of thing, but it said that they're talking, so we'll see. Right now it's not affecting us too much, 'cause we don't go anywhere normally, but on Sunday Birgit needs to get to Managua 'cause she has a friend coming. On Wednesday next week I need to get to Managua 'cause I fly out on Thursday. And on Friday next week Sana and Ann need to get to Managua, Sana to fly to the States for a graduation and Ann to get her parents. So it would be helpful if there was transportation. If not, NPH will probably give us transport, but right now that wouln't do us a whole lot of good because the strikers are blocking highways and city streets. So no one can go anywhere. It doesn't seem like they can do that for too long though, because if no one can go anywhere for days or weeks, it'd be a problem. So we'll see. Hopefully the situation clears up and no one has any problems getting where they need to go.