General Update

The last two weeks have flown by, so much so that now sitting down to write its somewhat of a blur.

A highlight was certainly the goodbye party two weeks ago of Jan and Eva a Belgan couple who had been here 6 months or so. They lived slightly away from Granada in the community of Las Camelias and had thoroughly integrated themselves within the community. What made this party better that most was that a good majority of the guests were Nicaraguan: teachers, students, villagers and it was a welcome change to get to socialise with them rather than just work with them.

I am in the picture above (Left) lunging for the piňata whilst party guests (Right) look on amused. More to follow on piňatas in later blogs.


There was no school last Friday as the teachers had a training day so a group of us took advatage of the long weekend to go to Ometepe. Ometepe is an island located in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, formed by two large volcanoes and their overspill (one of which is still active). If you have not yet done so have a look on google earth to see where I and Ometepe are (there is a link below). Life on Ometepe is a million miles away from city life in Granada, very laid back and highly atmospheric. Out on a walk on our last day I met Esperanza and her two sons Domingo and Leo and after about an hour walking together they kindly asked me back to their house for a drink. It's really nice to now be at the level of Spanish where I can meet people in such circumstances.

It's not all been about partying and relaxing, plenty of work has gone on. I think I will save the "what I do" for an other time but I do have to tell you about last Monday. Every Monday we hold a orientation for the new volunteers, which as Coordinator I am responsible for. Part of the orientation process is to take them to see all the projects we work with. Normally one of the directors drives us but she was busy so 5 minutes before going she jangles her keys a me saying "can you drive?" and off we go with me at the wheel of a clapped out 4x4 driving for the first time the pothole ridden streets of Nicaragua. This might have been just about enough for the new volunteers to handle but then half way into the trip we are waved over at a police checkpoint and that where the fun started. This was all a bit deja vu as a similar thing happened the first time I was here but when asked for passports this time I was pleased to have mine with me as did all the others, so I thought we would be on our way. Passports however weren't enough. Car documentation was then requested, err nope, there wasn't any. Then getting as bit more serious, my driving license was requested, err nope aswell. Now very serious faces and discussions of serious illegality and the need to pay an outrageous fine. Uncle Nacho however was able to talk his was out it explaining with an overly smiley face that we were a voluntary group working here in Nicaragu and they might like to show us some slack in this instance. They did finally let us go (I think I might have heard a collective exhale of air from the voluneers in the back!) but only on the condition that the only volunteer in the car who had his license with him drove. Poor guy, just arrived in Nicaragua, nearly arrested and then made to drive. It certainly made for an interesting day!