Nicaragua

It´s been far too long since I´ve given an update about my life here! Where to even start… A couple weeks ago, my group took a 12 plus hour bus ride to the country directly north of Costa Rica—Nicaragua. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western hemisphere (after Haiti) so it was quite interesting to be able to compare this country with Costa Rica, which is one of the more wealthy countries. We spent the first few days together in the capital, Managua, exploring the area, visiting several interesting places, and hearing a variety of people talk. We went to the famous park that´s on a hill overlooking Managua, where a silhouette of Sandinista sits. We visited a church that is covered with artwork on the inside that portrays some of Nicaragua´s history, we drove through a garbage dump right by Lake Nicaragua where lots of families live and work, and we talked with protestors outside the national assembly. Compared to San José, Managua seemed much calmer, friendlier, and a whole lot hotter.
After Managua, everyone in our group split up and we went to live alone with Nicaraguan families for 5 days. I ended up going to Masaya (just south of Managua) with the other students that are in the international business concentration (there are 9 of us in total). We all lived with families that are associated with Alternativa, an organization that provides microloans. The house that I stayed in was out of Masaya and up into the more rural part of the city. The house had a wood stove, a latrine about 30 feet away from the house, an outside area to have bucket showers, and had just one bedroom with one bed—which I slept on during my stay. My host mom and three host sisters slept in the same room as me, but were on the floor. My host dad slept out in the living room, which was open-air, in a hammock. I spent most of my five days just sitting in a rocking chair (all Nicaraguans own lots of rocking chairs) and chatting with my host family or simply observing and being quiet.
My host family, well actually my host mother, received a loan from Alternativa so that she could open up her own store that is run out of her house and sells things to the other families in her community. She sells the essentials like bread, rice, beans, plantains, as well as other random things like light bulbs and cold medicine. I went to the big market in Masaya with my host mom and sister twice, where I got to not only see one of the biggest markets in Central America, but also had the opportunity to observe the process of my mom buying everything for her store. It was a pretty crazy market, especially when it was pouring down rain one day! My family also took me to a few places around Masaya, including Catarina, a viewpoint that overlooks a lake and Granada. I had a great time experiencing what life is like in Nicaragua, and it has been interesting to see how my Costa Rican family is different.

After the host stays, our group met up in Granada, which is a beautiful and historic city. We were only there for one night though, then headed back to Managua to take the long bus ride back to San José. (I didn´t post many pictures here because I have a lot more on facebook...)