i'm going coconuts!

Up until this point my “blog” has been a scarce spattering of musings and activity updates about my life as a peace corps volunteer here in Jinotega. Well, I got bored and you got bored…yadda yadda yadda things are new and different here yadda yadda so rewarding and challenging yadda yadda look at this cute little Nicaraguan child in a third world setting yadda.

So when I was chatting with elyse last night and telling her that she just had to try conditioning her hair with coconut oil, she proposed I start putting some useful information like this on the interwebs.

So I’d like to share some of my beauty and cooking experiments and successes from my time here in Nicaragua. They should be useful to a whole lot of people on a budget and looking to improve their body (I’d say that just about describes, well, everyone).

Nicaragua has taught me many things, not the least of which is how to take care of myself on the cheap. I’ve lost about 10 pounds here and my skin and hair have never looked or felt better. I’ll attribute some of the success to Mother Nature and sunshine, but I’ve also managed to get creative with my diet and beauty regimens.

I’d like to start sharing my findings, none of which are avant-garde, but I’ll give my personal testimony from Nicaragua to the affordability, ease, and accessibility of the products and recipes....starting with:

COCONUT OIL

I’ve been on somewhat of a bender lately telling all of my girlfriends and family about the wonder that is coconut oil.

I was recently turned on to this beauty secret in a bottle by my friend Jill. We stopped into a small shop on the beach in San Juan del Sur where she picked up a recycled wine bottle full of virgin coconut oil, hand-pressed in the east coast of Nicaragua. After a day spent poolside, full of sun and cocktails (every so often we like to pretend not bound to our own reality of a ~$30/month discretionary spending budget) we were fully crisped and popped the cork on the coconut oil.

I’ve been hooked ever since. I went and bought my own bottle the very next day (my friend Kristen and I split a 800ml bottle that cost $25, more than I would spend normally on anything here in Nicaragua, but considering facial moisturizers cost about $15 for a tiny little tub here, it really was a reasonable price…especially since a little bit of oil goes much farther than the same amount of lotion). It has quickly become my very favorite beauty product. It is all natural, locally made, and smells delightfully of toasted coconut. Here are my recommendations for buying/using coconut oil:

- Buy virgin or extra virgin coconut oil. Coconut oil solidifies at a certain temp, so all of you not blessed to live in the tropics, you might find it for sale in its solid form. Just dip the container in some hot water to liquefy it for use.

- I use it as a body and facial moisturizer. It gets fully absorbed into your skin so just give it a minute or so and you will not be left feeling greasy at all. My skin tends to be on the oily side and I’m prone to breakouts, but the coconut oil has not irritated it at all. A lot of moisturizers have coconut oil as an ingredient, but why waste your money on all the extra ingredients and chemicals when the pure, all-natural oil does the trick.

- ***Hair Conditioning*** This is my favorite use for coconut oil. Comb a healthy amount into your hair at night before you go to bed. Put your hair up in a bun and let the oil soak in and work its magic overnight. After you wash your hair in the morning, you will find shinier, softer, more beautiful hair! I do this about twice a week now. My curls are less frizzy and can handle the Nicaraguan heat and humidity better than ever before.

I have about 3 months left (gracias a Dios) and am desperately trying to maintain a certain level of productivity, both professionally and personally, during this time. So I will try to post at least one tip/recipe a week now until I leave.

If you still find yourself interested in what life is like in Nicaragua and/or how my work here is going, email me and i'll give you an update, but after two years I honestly cant think of anything new or interesting worth posting. Life is life, lived in any country, with the same tumult you could imagine or see with your own eyes. I live it in a different language, under a blazing sun, but with you just the same.