Wednesday, April 15, 2009

Life in Victoria









Top-the street that I live off of and walk down everyday. Above-this is what I see when I walk out of my house-a horse and a cantina. Then the police office and my aunt's house.








Pictures of Victoria-the left is on a road going towards the municipalidad and the central park.





























Thursday, April 2, 2009

Oh, Nicaragua


I took my first official vacation in February with my two friends Sara and Melissa. We decided to backpack across the border and go to León, Granada, and the island of Ometepe. With a general sense of where we wanted to go, we met so many awesome people and got to know the backpacking culture a little bit. We met people from England, Canada, Germany, the States, Beligum, other parts of Europe, and tons of people from Israel. We even got to know the PC volunteer on the island of Ometepe (man, did he luck out to get to live on an island). We met some wonderful people that for me have made an impression that will last a lifetime.
In León we did what I consider the best part of the trip. We went volcano boarding on the volcano Cierro Negro. The volcano had last erupted in 1992 and was still very much active. Historically it had erupted every 10 years, so it is definitely due for some action. Like the name says, it´s completely covered in black rock, lava rock-which makes it one of the most beautiful things in nature I have ever seen. It was also one of the hardest things I have ever climbed (which isn´t saying TOO much coming from a Kansas girl), but none the less it wasn´t easy trying to haul a wooden board up a volcano with small rocks that sank with each step. Of course it was gorgeous by the time we got to the top—we could see for miles and miles. However, my previous balsy decision to take a “fast board” was regretted when I saw where we were supposed to slide down. No one wanted to switch with me either. So, after watching one guy go down the volcano standing on his board, I decided that I´d just have to suck it up going down on my butt. After the explanation on how to sit on the board, where to put my hands, and how to break, I decided that I wanted to start out breaking. The guide looked at me funny, but it´s a good thing I did because I think I had the fastest of the fast boards. Before I knew it I was going so fast that my breaks weren´t working anymore! I had to really dig into the rock (throwing it in my eyes and mouth) to slow down so that I wouldn´t die (maybe not really die, but that´s what I was thinking). Turns out that I made it alive and was totally ready to do it again-maybe some day. Melissa made it alright, as well as our newly-made friends, and then we were all watching my friend Sara go down. She was going so fast that we were cheering like crazy for her—until she wiped out. Everything was going fine until her board went sideways and she went rolling down the volcano. Complete silence--I was sure that we were going to be going to the hospital--and then she stood up and started laughing. None of us could stop laughing after that, and I will never let her live that down.
Granada was a completely different atmosphere than León. There were a lot more tourists and a lot more opportunities to spend your money. We decided to spend our money on a hike on another volcano and a zip-lining tour. We got to see quite a bit of beautiful flowers (including the 2nd largest orchid in the world), some little critters, and even the gas holes in the side of the volcano. I´ve been zip-lining before in Costa Rica, so it wasn´t completely new, but I had never done the monkey or the superman while strapped to a cable hundreds of yards above the ground. It definitely was a rush and what better than to do with my friends. I got to try salsa dancing that night too-that´s one dance here in Honduras that I don´t have down yet (not many people in my town dance salsa). It was a great night, normally gringas don´t have a hard time finding a willing Latino to teach them how to dance, so I picked up some moves.
The island of Ometepe was a totally different experience as well. It was a lot more tranquil and relaxing. It is also where I think I got the 2nd to worst burn in my life. What joy that was-and I still think that I am recuperating from it. Don´t worry, I had SPF 45, I´m just very white and didn´t reapply it enough—not to mention that I forgot I was taking medication that makes my skin more sensitive to sunlight (also forgot I was so close to the equator…opps).
In all, the trip went very well. We made it back alright and in one piece. We even survived the guys that jump on you at the border (people love to try and take advantage of foreigners who don´t know exactly what they are doing). It was a great experience that I couldn´t ever forget.

January Feria




This month was full of crazy experiences-it was the month of my town´s fair. I still haven´t quite decided whether it was a good idea, but in December I volunteered to be part of the fair committee. I went to multiple meetings during the weeks prior to the fair, and indured many cat fights and lively discussions. Even though it was tiring at times, it was totally worth it when the fair came. I got a cool shirt to wear around and a badge that got me in free to all major events (my sitemate Joe was a little bitter about not having one for himself—but when I offered to let him use mine for some reason he didn´t think people would buy it…weird). People from all around Victoria-people who lived hours away—came to Victoria. The main road was completely filled with stores and tiny restaurants, and people never started leaving until the wee hours of the night. There were banners strung everywhere and there was always music being played (usually “te aaaamo, te aaaaamo, te aaaaaammmmoooo”). We held children´s games (maybe not quite as cool as pig riding at the Johnson County fair—btw my sister Shelley won that once), soccer games, a cow competition, a horse parade, jaripeo (bull-riding), karaoke nights, a Miss. Victoria pageant, and tons of fiestas. The children´s games were one of my responsibilities, and they always turned out pretty well, it was just hard when 60 kids would want to play at the same time. The soccer games were pretty popular, not that anyone should be surprised since I am living in a Latin American country, but they were great because we had teams travel to play against our own team. Due to my extensive amount of dancing, I wasn´t able to get up in the morning to see the cow show and horse parade, but I heard they were pretty cool too. Jaripeo was definitely a little more mellow than what we are used to in the States, but nonetheless it was worth watching. I think my favorite part of this event was when one of the bulls, which they had been working so hard to piss off, broke out of the pen and ran at a big group of us. I´m not sure I´ve ever had an adrenaline rush like that—but I feel like I had a taste of what it might be like to run with the bulls in Spain. Well, maybe.
It was always a treat when it was karaoke night. The typical singer was a drunk guy that took a break from his card game-they usually had a hard time standing none the less trying to pronounce words in a comprehensive sentence. However once in a while our ears would get a break and a person with some talent took the microphone. The pageant was a lot of work. It took us all day to decorate for it, and the rest of the day to walk through the program with the girls. Totally worth it though. I was very happy about the results—my good friend Sindy won, and that was after my lessons on how to walk down a runway. Which, as I should give credit where credit is due, was not because of my extensive experience modeling, but the Victoria Secret modeling shows that I saw once or twice on TV. Worked though!
I have to say that I think my favorite part of the feria were the fiestas or dances that they had at night. There was a dance every night from Tuesday till Saturday 9-3am, and you bet that I went to every single one. Now, by the time I got to Friday I was switching between my heels and flats, and on Saturday I didn´t even try it. Even though my feet were completely dead by the end of the week, I don’t regret any of it. This is also how I gained my nickname, la bailadora, or the dancer. On Wednesday, which was the big dance of the fair, the committee had a band come in from San Pedro Sula and so we had live music all night. I had so much fun that night and was twirled around so much that I lost my two favorite rings and even my earrings! I was pretty sad about it the next day but it was totally worth it, hands up.