a taste of matagalpa

last week was the best week i have had yet as a peace corps trainee! it was our tech week.. five other aspirantes and i went to see how a volunteer in san isidro, matagalpa lives.. in our time there we learned how to build an oven, stove and biodigester with simple, available resources.. it was great to see how laid back life will be here in another month.. we were lucky enough to be in the mountains for the week.. the community had at least 300 people spread out along the dirt road leading up the mountian.. the culture is different there as compared to the city, even the small pueblo that i am in now offers many more opportunitites.. not meaning to imply that the people in the city are happier.. for a homework assignment we were sent off in the community to practice our spanish by talking with anyone we encounter and inquiring about a typical day for a person living in the campo.. i met a farmer named antonio.. hell of a nice guy.. as i walked by his house i greeted him and stumbled through asking whether or not he had time to talk with me about his lifestyle.. before i could finish the sentence he was on his way to grabbing a plastic chair stacked behind him.. (everyone has atleast 3 or 4 plastic chairs on thier porches for opportunities to talk with anyone willing).. he invited me to come in and sit.. we talked about his days and how they revolve around his farming; he owns 15 manzanas.. which is a great amount for a poor farmer ( a manzana is 100 paces by 100 paces) and primarily works with corn and beans.. i played with his 3 year old also named antonio and helped him peel his mango, i talked with his daughter, who has 9 years as she sat in the hammock across the room.. as we continued to make conversation more and more children began to gather in the doorstep because it isnt everyday a gringo is in their villiage.. upon leaving antonio insisted i take a mango with me for the walk back to the house i was staying in.. i politely accepted his gift and before it was said and done i had a sack filled with every type of fruit he had in his back yard.. on the way back i encountered a kid named laker.. only to later find out that he is named laker because his dad likes the los angelos lakers--

the last night of tech week all of the trainees met up in the city of esteli for a few lectures and more importantly to start our site selections and get an update on our language progress.. so far i have moved up 2 sublevels and only need to move up one more in order to swear in here in another month.. so that is great news!  as for the possible sites i went back on my gut feeling and told them to place me as rural as possible.. one of my choices has just 25 families living up in the mountains and i know i would be able to see the honduras border from there .. another site is amongst a bunch of different coffee farms .. also in the mountains.. to sum all my selections up i wouldnt be surprised if i do not have access to the internet, dont have running water, and have very poor, if any cell phone range.. and candles may be the closest thing to electricity i can get... however it is a very rare find to have all of these things missing..  i will know my site on july 5th!

i spent all day on saturday reading a book and talking with the family becuase it downpoured the entire day.. it was the perfect relaxing day i needed after tech days.. yesterday, after mass of course, we headed to the beach and i got to swim in the pacific all afternoon! it was incredible.. although it would be nice to be posted up along the coast and able to surf any day.. im pretty sure that ill be headed to the mountains.. today i started week seven of training meaning i had a new spanish teacher as well! Nidia is great.. I will be learning much over the next few weeks! hope all is well for everyone reading this!

much love,

maclaine