To the North

During our 5th week of training we got to visit a current SB volunteer to see exactly what we are getting ourselves into. I ventured up north to Somoto, Madriz to see Katie, a volunteer just finishing up her first year here in Nicaragua. She was just a wonderful host and I had an amazing time and I cannot wait to be done with training and get on to real volunteer life.
Here’s a short recap of my trip:
It takes about 1.5 hours to get to Managua from my training site, a taxi ride to another bus station, a 3 hour bus ride from Managua to the bus stop in Madriz, another 20 minute bus ride into Somoto. But I wasn’t exactly there yet. Katie works with an NGO up in a town called Cusmapa, another 3 hour bus ride up a mountain on an unpaved road. But wait, the journey didn’t end there, there was some rock throwing, some police calling, some bus sliding in the mud and getting stuck in a ditch. So tack on another hour and a half. When we finally got to breathe, Cusmapa totally won me over. It is tiny, on the border of Honduras, we stayed in a volunteer house with another volunteer from the NGO. Katie taught me how to make bread and we had delicious veggie lasagna and I was soooo eternally grateful to not be eating anything deep fried. I tagged along to her work, we walked to a lookout called la mano del diablo, it was cloudy, but I’m pretty sure we could see Honduras. The air was pretty thin up there, but it was cool enough for pine trees and blackberries to grow. We ventured back to Somoto, stayed in the house of a volunteer couple who was on vacation in the states at the time. It was lovely. Met many of Katie’s students and coworkers. Helped her with an advising project she is working on with a local business owner. Did some more cooking. As much as I love my training family, I cannot wait to be on my own. Last day we ventured into the city of Estelí, where there is this great natural foods restaurant (pictures below). The trip certainly rejuvenated whatever enthusiasm had started to wane as training gets a tad redundant and a ton exhausting. Thanks to Katie for keeping it real.


mmmm...hummus.



water pump made from a bicycle