A Coastal Good Time
Hey Friends!
I´m back in Managua, nasty hot Managua, but I´m glad to be home.
I had an amazing time in Orinoco! The vibrant culture and warm, loving people made it a great experience. I´m now planning to come back and live there when I graduate. I would love to raise some creole-speaking toe-heads.
We stayed with the community nurse and midwife, who are sisters, so it was the perfect situation for me. I would love to go back their to do my research but I really think I need to go somewhere where they speak Spanish.
I let one of the my friends here cut my hair off. It´s shorter than ever before, like a buzz basically. Everyone keeps saying it looks great but I don´t think it´s me. I´ve also stopped shaving my legs and armpits, so I´m all screwed up as far as hair goes.
Some key moments from my trip to the coast:
In Orinoco we learned to dance like Garifunas, but failed at the rapid butt wiggling component.
We gave each other Garifuna names. Mine is Uremu, which means song.
We paid some kids to pick us "culture caps" in "the bush" which make us look like oompa-loompas.
I saw an endangered giant sea turtle dying under someones porch. The Miskito indians eat them, legally because it´s part of their traditional culture. I cried the whole trip back. I´m not sure whether I was crying for the amazing animal or for the people who couldn´t eat otherwise. As usual, it boiled down to: I fucking hate the US.
I got dark enough to pass as Nicaraguan. A weekend on a caribbean island is apparently all it takes. Random drunks on the street have stopped trying to talk to me in English and my buddies, Jorge and Luis, now talk about Gringos and Cheles without including me in the category; it´s fucking awesome!
That´s all I can think of for right now. Registration has been a pain in the ass. I hope you have all had an easier time of it.
Much love!
I´m back in Managua, nasty hot Managua, but I´m glad to be home.
I had an amazing time in Orinoco! The vibrant culture and warm, loving people made it a great experience. I´m now planning to come back and live there when I graduate. I would love to raise some creole-speaking toe-heads.
We stayed with the community nurse and midwife, who are sisters, so it was the perfect situation for me. I would love to go back their to do my research but I really think I need to go somewhere where they speak Spanish.
I let one of the my friends here cut my hair off. It´s shorter than ever before, like a buzz basically. Everyone keeps saying it looks great but I don´t think it´s me. I´ve also stopped shaving my legs and armpits, so I´m all screwed up as far as hair goes.
Some key moments from my trip to the coast:
In Orinoco we learned to dance like Garifunas, but failed at the rapid butt wiggling component.
We gave each other Garifuna names. Mine is Uremu, which means song.
We paid some kids to pick us "culture caps" in "the bush" which make us look like oompa-loompas.
I saw an endangered giant sea turtle dying under someones porch. The Miskito indians eat them, legally because it´s part of their traditional culture. I cried the whole trip back. I´m not sure whether I was crying for the amazing animal or for the people who couldn´t eat otherwise. As usual, it boiled down to: I fucking hate the US.
I got dark enough to pass as Nicaraguan. A weekend on a caribbean island is apparently all it takes. Random drunks on the street have stopped trying to talk to me in English and my buddies, Jorge and Luis, now talk about Gringos and Cheles without including me in the category; it´s fucking awesome!
That´s all I can think of for right now. Registration has been a pain in the ass. I hope you have all had an easier time of it.
Much love!