First Week Back on the Island

I know the posts are bouncing around chronologically but in trying to get things caught up, it's easiest for me to write about things as it pleases me.  Yes, it is all about me and my whims.

Quick review:
We're back on Isla de Ometepe, in Merida.  Decided to return to teach English in the community for a full school year, so we'll be here til December.  We've covered our trip back north from Costa Rica, shopping in Rivas and our travels back to the village.

Here we go!!

As we unloaded our bags into our room at Hacienda Merida, it wasn't long before we were welcomed back… by a scorpion.  Kill Numero Uno in the books.  Hooray.  Got one the next day, too.  Double hooray.  It seems the wildlife of Ometepe was welcoming us back as much as the people were!  

We received a heartfelt welcome from our friends as we were asked many times if we were really staying for the entire year.  I guess they wanted to make sure we were serious about it!  There was a teacher who came last year and had said he would stay for the year but he bailed after 5-6 weeks, so they had been let down before.  Heck, we still get raised eyebrows when we talk with people here, locals and tourists alike, and tell thm we're here for the school year.  We've received a lot of support and love, from the village and from back home, which makes being away from family and friends palatable.  Barely.

Hacienda Merida had a much different vibe to it this time of year.  On our first stint here in the fall, the hotel was a ghost town, a handful of tourists and occasional groups of backpackers staying a night or three.  Lots of space in the common area for us to spread out and plan lessons.  Plenty of seating during meals.  You could introduce yourself to new folks - or not, depending on your mood.  This is when we met Aaron, Jackie and their boys, from Montana.  Great people - miss them!  Plenty of hammocks available, too.  Oh, there were spikes when the place got busy.  Mostly, it was pretty quiet.

But in February, start of the 'high season'?  Damn!  The hotel was packed almost every night.  In fact, at times they turned people away and sent them to other hotels/hostels in the area.  Business was good!  It was hard to concentrate on lesson planning when we were surrounded by travelers from all over the world, with many different languages being spoken, often all at the same time.  There were a lot of interesting people and we made the acquaintance of many of them.  It's one of the highlights of this journey.  

I've spoken of the road to Merida and how bad it is.  And here I am telling you that tourists were filling the place every night.  Both are true.  During the high season, there are more people visiting the island and so there is more likelihood there will be travelers who are willing to come to Merida, San Ramon, Tichana, even though it takes some time on a crappy road to get here.  The high season is short, however, and when tourism slows and the road gets worse with the rain, tourists stay on the north side of Ometepe where it's easier to get around.  That is what the road project will do for the people who live and work on the Maderas side of the island:  easier access means more year-round business.  
Anyhoo...

We spent the first week planning out our schedule and piecing together a curriculum for each class we wanted to teach.  Like I said, the wife loves spreadsheets.  We also had some time to reacquaint ourselves with the area.  A good part of this time was spent on or in the lake.  We kayaked over to Monkey Island to say 'Hola' to the capuchins that reside there.  It was pretty easy paddling out of the bay but when we got around the point where the little islands are located the wind was blowing hard.  Good sized waves ahead!  We kept going, keeping the bow into the waves as best we could.  We got to the island and were greeted by a bunch of primates!  It was tough keeping the kayaks from blowing into the rocks, so holding a good safe position occupied us and made getting pictures difficult.  The technique I used was to paddle into the wind, drop the paddle, grab the camera and snap pics as the wind pushed me past the island, all while trying (hoping) not to swamp my craft.  I made two passes and this is the best shot I got!

"You didn't bring any food!??  What the hell?!"

We decided to head back, rather than tempt fate.  Smart decision - the wind had picked up, even in the bay, so the paddle back toward the hotel was arduous.  We made it safe and sound - no 'out of boat experience'.  And by the time we got back, lo and behold, the wind had died down a little so we decided to go house hunting.

No, we weren't looking for a place to buy (at least not yet).  We were looking for the house we had arranged to rent for the year.  We knew only that it was a short distance from the hotel, it was being remodeled and it was on the lake.  We knew the general direction to go and figured it couldn't be too hard to spot - we were correct!

Casa de Profesores at Playa Gringo

The house had recently been purchased by a lady from New Mexico, USA.  She had contractors working on it to get it 'gringo-fied' - screened windows, indoor water, bathroom, etc.  It was fortuitous that we found this house, as having our own place to live was one of the criteria that HAD to be met for us to return.  Living at a hotel for a year wasn't gonna cut it.  

We paddled to shore and introduced ourselves to the contractor, Hamilton, and his crew.  He gave us the quick tour and told us the house would be ready in a couple of weeks.  Exciting times for us!  The place was much larger than we thought it would be.  A couple of bedrooms, a kitchen with a two-burner cookstove and a refrigerator (a real luxury for this part of the country, to be sure), a bathroom with sink, toilet and shower, and a small room next to the kitchen, as well.   

A real honest-to-goodness bathroom!!  Will be all tiled when finished.

Special note about the shower:  I'm 6'4" and it is a truly awesome when I find a shower that has the shower head placed high enough for me to stand under the water flow.  Hell, I've experienced hotels and houses in the US where the shower spray hits me in the chest!  I think all my tall family members and friends have dealt with the same thing.  I'm not sure what the original placement was going to be but I am happy to report that, after sizing me up, Hamilton made sure the shower was plenty high enough.  Spectacular!!

The view from our 'office' (porch) doesn't suck

Having found the house by kayak, we weren't exactly sure where the access to the house was from the main road.  As nice as it would be to go everywhere via kayak, we knew we would be on foot most of the time.  Knowing the route would be important, so we set out up the trail to find the road.  

The very first walk up the trail from our house!

There are a few houses that share the trail access.  Homes made of everything from brick to palm thatching, some a combination of several building materials.  We said ¡Hola! to our new vecinos (neighbors) as they eyeballed us.  Several knew who we were already.  Small town = news travels fast.  A couple of hundred meters later, we found the road!

"Head down the trail, last house on the left.  If your feet get wet, you went too far."

Excellent!  Seeing the house made this adventure seem even more real than the scorpions did.  It reinvigorated us and was another reminder of how everything fell into place to allow us to come back.  Seeing our new home and knowing more about the layout of the house was… comforting.  We walked back to the house, said goodbye to Hamilton and Co. and kayaked back to the hotel with big ol' smiles on our mugs.  

When we weren't kayaking and planning, we swam  - every day, enjoying the cool water during the heat of the afternoon.  When we were dry, we continued school planning and meeting new people and spreading the word about classes.  The response from potential students was positive enough that we decided to start classes the very next week.  
Yoinks!™  (Yoinks! is a trademarked term and may only be used with express written permission from Judy Taylor, Inc.)

Life here in paradise was pretty excellent.  And after long days of swimming, kayaking, working on teaching stuff, reacquainting ourselves with Toña and mingling in the community, we enjoyed spectacular sunsets in the village that would be our new home for the coming year.

Back to Nicaragua!!

So, let's see…  

You now know we came back to Nicaragua to volunteer for the year in Merida…
And you know why we decided to do this… (see 'Fast Forward' blog post)
You know we have had the privilege of working with some great volunteers already… ( see 'All-Star Volunteers')
We've shared a bit of the cultural we experienced at the rodeo… (see 'The Rodeo is in Town!')
We've mentioned we have our own place.. (Casa de Profesors, Playa Gringo)
You've heard mention of the kids at the Ometepe Bilingual School as well as the adults we're teaching… (my little buddy, Kenneth, for example)

Let's go back to the end of January, shall we?  Do a little catch up work in this post.

Friday 24 January 2014 - Escazu, Costa Rica:
Our cab-drivin' buddy, Alvaro, picked us up bright and early to get us to downtown San Jose and the Tica Bus station.  Even though we had pre-purchased our tickets, we stood in line to make sure we were good to go, then checked our enormous number of suitcases and bags.  We were seated in the very first row, which was nice.  It's the perk you have when you buy your tickets in advance!  We were sitting right behind the driver so we entertained ourselves looking over his shoulder and shouting 'LOOK OUT!' every now and then.  Just kidding.

We were prepared for this trip, with much snackage at hand - granola bars, mostly.  It's a five hour trip, so having food was important, especially since Bex! gets 'hangry' (hungry + angry) and, similar to the Incredible Hulk, you won't like her when she's hangry.  We passed the time talking about our 'plan', napping, taking in the countryside.  I think we were both feeling excited and nervous about this decision.  Was it too late to head back to the relative comfort of San Jose and gringo-fied grocery stores?!?  Nah, we knew where we wanted to be.

Merida.

After many hours, we reached Peñas Blancas, the veritable No Man's Land of a border crossing between Costa Rica and Nicaragua.  As I mentioned in our post 'Collecting Stamps' there is an ongoing debate over which country's vendors have priority here, who controls it, etc.  Meh - we're just passing through.  

Back in December when we went south to CR, it was a fairly orderly and official process:  As we approached the border the Tica Bus guy came down the aisle, collected passports and exit fees; we got off the bus, he brought our docs into the Nicaragua  immigration office, stamp, stamp, stamp; reload, drive the 100 meters or so to the Costa Rica office and unload again, claiming all of our luggage off the bus; queue up, wait in line for more stamps; run all the baggage through an airport-like security X-ray machine thingy; reload and back on the road.

Coming back into Nicaragua on this trip:
Hit the border, unload, stand in line to get stamped out of Costa Rica, back on the bus; drive the 100 meters to the parking area, handed over passports and entry fees (they get you coming and going!), unload all baggage… then it got different.  Nicaragua has no fancy scanners or uniformed immigration officers or official roped off lines.  They have makeshift tables, constructed of plywood and 2x4's that are, inconveniently, up on a loading dock.  So all the bags were hefted up onto the dock, then we climbed up the stairs and put our bags on the plywood tables; everyone unzips their luggage so it can be inspected.  

Heads up - that big black suitcase on the right is going home with our first visitors!

We waited a while, then the Immigration and Customs guy came by, looked at us, waved us on without even looking in our suitcases full of exotic birds, snakes, monkeys and the drugs we were smuggling stuff.  As soon as we were 'approved', there appeared out of the crowd several guys wanting to help with our bags, all hustling for a tip.

We picked a likely looking guy and he helped us schlep our bags down off the dock and back to the bus.  Since we were on the Nicaragua side of the border crossing, we tipped him in cordobas.  He looked at the bills, frowned and asked if we had Costa Rican colones instead!  Ha!  Nope, we had spent them all.

It was hot and humid, so we sat in the shade watching life at the border and the chaos of the vendors, buses, travelers.  Eventually, the Tica Bus guy came back with all the passports.  Everyone crowded around waiting for their name to be called to retrieve passports and reboard the bus.  It was official:  we were back in  Nicaragua!

A short time later, we were unloading at the Tica Bus station on the Pan American Highway in Rivas.  There was a taxi waiting for the bus to arrive (smart driver) and we snagged him immediately.  Again, perks of being up front!  He got us and our numerous bags in his small four-door sedan and off we went to Hotel La Mision.  We love love love this hotel.  No website - the link above takes you to their Trip Advisor page.  The rooms are clean and comfortable, with AC and cable, they have wifi, the food is good (breakfast is included in room price) and the staff are wonderful and friendly.  Excellent place to stay, should anyone be passing through Central America.

Rivas is not a 'destination' at all.  Travelers getting to Rivas are almost always immediately going west to San Juan del Sur and the beaches of the Pacific Ocean or to Isla de Ometepe.  Or they are on the Pan American going north/south in Central America.  I would guess that most travelers just pass through.  Unfortunate for said travelers because we found Rivas to be quite charming, if not a little rough around the edges.  It is a really neat town and once you get off the main road with gas stations, the (WalMart owned) MaxiPali, a few hotels and restaurants, Rivas is pure Nica.  

Rivas is much larger than what you see from the highway.  It's a lot like my home town of Moses Lake, WA and what you see of it if you just drive I-90 - glimpses of the businesses located near the freeway but there is so much more if you drive into town.  Rivas offers two gorgeous old churches, a nice parque central, some really great restaurants and a street market scene that will make your head spin.  In contrast, Moses Lake offers Chico's Pizza, the Sportsman Tavern, Ripple chicken and Harry's Taco Shop.  In fact, I think Rivas and Moses Lake should be sister cities.   Speaking of pizza, taverns, chicken and tacos, after checking into the hotel and relaxing for a bit, it was time to find some food.  The proprietor at the hotel, Allain, suggested we go to a place called Mango's for dinner.  

Speaking perfect English (having grown up in Miami), he gave us rough directions - "I think it's 3 or 4 blocks that way (pointing), then go left and it's 2-3 blocks that way (again, pointing left of where he originally pointed), I think".  Being the adventurous types we figured we'd find it.  And we did!  No website but they have a lot of "me gusta's" on their Facebook page.  I'd link to that but I can't get it to work, so you'll just have to trust me.  The food was really good and the atmosphere was… lonely.  We were the only ones in the place.  And it's a big space.  The Latin music that was playing was great and would have been just fine.  But because we were obviously from out of town, they turned the TV on to the British CNN feed, turned the volume up (because apparently all tourists are hard of hearing), then  also turned the volume for the music up.  We enjoyed our meals, talking loudly to one another.  The best part was that we had Toña again.  Beers in Costa Rica were okay but we really like Toña.  Ahhhh.

After dinner we walked back to the hotel, showered and turned on the AC.  We watched some TV and were soon fast asleep, our long travel day over!  

Saturday 25 January 2014 - Rivas, Nicaragua:
Shopping day!!  We would be in Rivas for two days and had a lot of items to pick up - a detailed list of supplies for teaching and another list for household goods we would need once our place in Merida was ready.  The list had been reviewed and revised many times, so we were confident we had it down to a manageable agenda for the weekend.  Our results proved that to be correct!  Much success as we wandered Rivas looking for a printer, printer paper, markers, whiteboards, scissors, etc.  The big purchase was the printer.  We shopped that around at several locations, finally buying from a store that specialized in office equipment and gadgetry.  

Hell, by lunch time we had a large chunk of our list crossed off.  Time for food!  Marta at the hotel suggested we try Chop Suey.  As you can guess by the name, it was a Chinese food joint and a very good one at that.  Bex! had pork fried rice and I had chicken chow mein.  Delish.  After lunch, we hit the stores and the street market again.  

One thing we had trouble finding was a power strip surge protector.  Man, the way the electricity comes and goes down here, it's a necessity, almost.  Back home we know where to go to find a power strip.  Down here items aren't always categorized in the same way.  We eventually found one at a ferreteria (hardware store, basically).  While good ol' Ace Hardware is a place we'd look back home, ferreteria's here are typically more metal and fasteners, concrete and brick, hand and power tool oriented.  After asking at a few places, we were directed to a nearby ferreteria in the mercado (market) district.

Between the two of us we know enough Spanish to handle most situations.  Bex! certainly speaks the language better than I do and we both know a lot of vocabulary.  'Power strip' is not in the repertoire for either of us, however.  In fact, a lot of the specialty items we had been looking for took a mixture of some Spanish, gestures, pointing, etc. to gain the understanding of the ever-patient Nica's we encountered.  So, we walked up to the counter and, in pretty broken Spanish, described as best we could what we were looking for.  It took a bit and the guy waited patiently for us to finish.  When we had exhausted every word and hand gesture we could conjure to explain 'power strip', he looked at us then pointed right over our heads.  Had we looked two feet above us, they had three styles and he asked (in Spanish) which one we wanted.  Yep, patience.  Humbled, we crossed 'power strip' off the list. 

While walking around Rivas, we were approached by this group of people, students from the English school in Rivas.  They were excited to see some actual non-Nicas on which to try their new language skills.  We had a great conversation with them and when they found out we were heading to Ometepe to teach English, they asked if we could come to Rivas once a week to teach.  In fact, Allain asked the same thing, even offering up a space in which we could hold classes.  Like I said, people here want to learn!  These students were awesome and we wish them the best of luck!!

A little English + a little Spanish = new friends

One thing we noticed when walking through the market district - they obviously don't get a lot of gringos there.  As I said, most tourists don't venture this far into Rivas.  We got a lot of curious looks as we made out way through the various stalls, tiendas and shops.  Everyone was very helpful, always very patient and willing to help us out.  If a shop didn't have something, we were always pointed in a direction that might have what we were looking for.  Rivas has a certain diamond-in-the-rough vibe that we found to be very charming.  Like most Latin American markets, the street market is sensory overload!  A constant buzz of noise from vendors and customers; horse drawn carts; pedicabs; people on foot; tuktuks; taxis; vendors selling everything from spices to beans and rice to grains of all types; produce - the freshest fruits and vegetables; chicken, pork and beef; cheap crap from China; shoes, shoes and more shoes; clothes… you name it, you can probably find it here.  At the very least someone will know someone who knows someone who has a cousin that knows someone who can get it for you.

We also hit the farmacia (pharmacy) for cheap drugs.  Seriously, when you see how much meds cost here, it's no mystery why health care costs in the US are so effed up.  I got my blood pressure medicine for about 28¢ per pill.  Back home the same exact pill runs over $3.  Ridiculous.  Bex! takes Prilosec daily and we found this pill for super cheap, too.  She said something like 'I got more than a three month supply for what I would have paid for a month's supply back home.'  Indeed, it's a hard pill to swallow.  Sorry - couldn't resist. 

By the end of the day, we were able to find everything we needed and finished up Saturday with dinner at Vila's Rosti Pizza.  I liked this place; Bex! thought it was passable.  To me, pizza is like sex - even when it's bad, it's still pretty great.  Hahaha!  (ahem)  Anyway, I liked it and we had a nice time, sitting street side right across from the parque central, watching Saturday night go by.  Allain, from the hotel, happened by and sat with us for a bit.  We talked more about what we were doing in Nicaragua.  He was impressed and made it clear that if we ever needed anything while on the island, to just let him know and he would arrange to get it on the ferry.  Amazing the network one can build when doing good things.

Saturday was mission accomplished!

Sunday 26 January 2014 - Rivas to Isla de Ometepe:
This was the day we returned to the island!  I was excited and also distracted, as it was also my son's 30th birthday.  I miss him so much and think of him every day - especially on this special day.  I could only hope he was proud of what I was embarking upon, and that got me through the day.   Happy birthday, son!!

We arranged for a taxi to pick us up at the hotel to bring us to Puerto San Jorge, which is basically Rivas.  This time we were heading across the lake to Puerto San José del Sur, not the larger port of Moyogalpa we had traveled through on our other trips.  Our driver even arranged a ride for us on the island, with a friend of his who could meet us in San José del Sur.  Awesome!  As it turned out, it actually was un-awesome.  Silly us.  More on that later.  

Considering all the stuff we bought, we managed to pack it into our bags with only the printer in its box as an extra piece of luggage.

We celebrated this major achievement by having beers at 9:30 in the morning on the ferry ride to the island.  It seemed appropriate.

Victoria's slogan:  "When You Can't Get Toña… Drink Victoria"

The ferry ride was good - e.g. the boat stayed above the water and there was no excitement.  Those are things I look for in a successful trip.  The ferry wasn't that crowded - we had plenty of room, us and our pile o' crap.  There were a couple of empty trucks heading over to reload with platanos (plantains), a major crop from the island.  

This is a light load; usually the deck is crammed full!

The ride our mainland guy had arranged was there waiting when the ferry docked.  Problem was it wasn't the direct ride we had been told but rather a collectivo - a big van with multiple passengers going to different locations.  Oy.  We were beat from our long weekend of travel and shopping, and just wanted to get to Merida.  We got in the van and were a little confused when another couple got in.  Nice folks from Canada.  As we chatted with them, they told us they were just on a day trip and were getting a lightning tour of the sights on Ometepe.  It dawned on our tired brains that we were stuck in the van with them and that the driver was going to stop at every tourist attraction between the port and Merida.  No bueno.

We eventually worked it out with the driver and his partner.  It held us up for an hour and a half or so.  The first stop we made was at Charco Verde.  (I'm pretty sure the English you'll see on the link is a direct result of unedited Google Translate.  Enjoy!)  The delay wasn't too bad and, heck, it's Central America, so ya go with the flow.  Or we tried, anyway.  We waited at the gate while the driver took the Canadians on a whirlwind tour of the nature preserve.  

Bex! napped…

"That cloud looks like a gringo laying on a bench."

…and I took pictures of some very cool, very old stone carvings on site…

The monkey was waiting for a taxi, too

My, what big teeth you have!

After the Charco Verde delay, we decided that our go-with-the-flow was gone and we really wanted to get to Merida.  We convinced the driver to drop the Canadians and the drivers' buddy at El Ojo de Agua and bring us to Merida.  He was already committed to making the drive for us anyway and he would be back in about the time they'd finish getting a glimpse of this attraction.  He agreed and so a short, bumpy time later  - we were home.

The Rodeo is in Town!!

What do you do for fun in a small, rural village?  Oh, sure, there's swimming and kayaking and volcanoes and petroglyphs and waterfalls and Toña.  But beyond all that, there isn't much.  No movie theater, no mall, no people watching at WalMart.  Don't get me wrong - it's gorgeous and peaceful here.  But exciting - no.  At least not often, anyway.  Yep - it's pretty much perfect in Merida.  All that tranquility goes out the screened-in window every weekend in February.

One of the big events in town each year is the rodeo.  Held on weekends during the month of February, this party is a big deal.  People come from all over the island, even some from the mainland.  In the middle of our small, quiet village there appears, out of nowhere, this mini-village.  The men in Merida build an arena in a big empty field.  This is where the bull riding takes place.  By the way, this rodeo is ALL bull riding.  Connected to the arena is a corral in which the bulls are held until such time as they need one to 'volunteer' to be ridden.  There is a gate that connects the two. 

A true 'caballero'

The restaurants in the area erect makeshift stalls, fill them with plastic patio furniture and sell their Nica food to the spectators.  Toña drops off branded beer fridges to each stall, along with what seems to be an infinite supply of beer and the drinking commences!  Seriously, there is a lot of beer consumed on these rodeo weekends.  The riding is held during daylight hours because there are no lights in the arena.  (Note to Jim Volke:  possible business opportunity for Impact Lighting Systems - this lead's a freebie, bro.)  

After the sun sets and the riding is finished, it's drinking, music and dancing.  We are convinced that Nicaragua does not allow sound engineers into the country because they play the music at the highest possible volume without any regard for sound quality or how it actually sounds.  You can hear it throughout the entire village.  Mike Sakarias - if you don't want any issues at immigration, do NOT tell them what you do for a living!

We went to the rodeo on Sunday of the first weekend it was held.  We had spent the weekend on the mainland, shopping for school supplies and household items for Casa de Profesors at Playa Gringo.  It's a big deal in town so even though we were a little worn out from the travel day, we didn't want to miss out on this cultural experience.  And what an experience it was!

The arena itself had been constructed from what appeared to be scrap lumber.  It was maybe 25 square meters with a viewing platform about four feet off the ground that went most of the way around, except for the corner where the corral was located.  There was one set of stairs that led up to the platform.  We paid the entry fee ($1.50, I think) and jostled our way through the crowd to an area where we could see the festivities.  We had to watch where we were stepping because there were height variations and gaps in the boards.  There was netting hung along the backside but nothing in front, so if you tripped or got nudged you could end up in the arena.  But with fencing around the inside, it would be an easy climb back up.  See below.

"Now where did we put that bull?"

The arena itself was a big square and in the corner opposite the corral there was a big post (i.e. former tree) about a ten inches in diameter and ~10-12 feet tall.  The top of the post had been left in a Y shaped notch.  As it turned out, this notch was an integral part of the bull riding process.  This was the first weekend, so it was mostly amateur riders, locals and such.  Here is how it worked:
1)  Cowboy rides into the corral and ropes a bull.
2)  Cowboy pulls/drags bull into arena.  If the bull was particularly stubborn one or more cowboys joined in with their ropes and horses until they convinced the bull this was going to be fun.
3)  To gain leverage, the cowboys ride around the post and flip their ropes up into the Y notch at the top, then ride along pulling the bull toward the post.

This guy was stubborn - took three ropes!

4)  With the bull's head firmly against the post due to the rope(s) and the notch, a brave soul (see picture, above - guy in white shirt/green hat) approaches the scared and/or pissed off animal, throws a rope around its neck and the post, tying a slip knot to hold the bull in place.  This is tricky in itself.  Most of the victims put up a struggle when the guy gets close.  Eventually, though, the bull loses out and the slip knot is in place.  The cowboys' ropes are then removed.
5)  Next, the emcee starts to cajole the crowd, trying to convince someone to ride.  In every case, it happened to be someone who had consumed enough Toña to make it seem like a dandy idea.  Usually these guys were propped up by their equally inebriated friends.  Much back slapping and advice is given.  Spurs are tied (!) onto the riders' feet.  While this is going on, the brave guy who tied the slip knot is also securing a rope around the bulls chest and another around its' 'junk', the latter to make the bull buck.
6)  When both rider and bull are ready, the rider chugs the last of his beer, takes a leg up and attempts to hop on.  Yes, the bull is held to the post by the ropes but he can still move in a circle around the post.  If he sees the drunk trying to get on him, he puts up a fight!  Alas, eventually the rider succeeds and the bull does not.  As soon as the guy is on, the brave dude pulls the slip knot, releasing the animal.  Hoo boy!

This guy got thrown and stomped on early in the day but kept riding.  He was limping around but got on and rode several times with no hands!

7)  Most of the bulls buck a few times, then make a beeline for the corral gate.  Sadly, a person is stationed there with a cattle prod so the bull gets zapped to force him back out into the arena.  
8)  Toña marketing and advertising commences as spectators throw beer cans at the bull and a couple of folks armed with red Toña banners taunt the bull.  

In the US, bull riders dress like NFL players - pads, mouth pieces, helmets - and are required to stay on for only 8 seconds.  When the 8 second horn sounds, he jumps off and the clowns take over while the rider makes his escape and does a promo for Bud Light.  In Merida, the riders wear whatever they wore to the rodeo that day, plus the spurs tied to the feet with twine and then they stay on for as long as they can.

As the riding commenced, the bulls got bigger and badder, the riders more drunk and more entertaining.  Toward the end, they brought out this guy:

Not a happy camper

It took a loooong time before anyone was drunk enough stepped forward to ride this guy. Which was sad because, after the long wait, the rider lasted about 1.8 seconds, after which this bull went into beast mode.  He tore around the arena, throwing his horns at anyone who was stupid enough to have their legs dangling over the side.  He made several attempts at ramming the arena fencing, too.  Then to add some extra flare, he proceeded to attempt a 'cow jumped over the moon' maneuver up onto the platform about 15 feet from where we were!  And he almost made it, too.  This created a sudden panic as mothers grabbed their children and fathers grabbed their beers, all rushing to the ONE SET OF NARROW STAIRS.  Yeah, wow.  We stayed put as people pushed their way past us.  Once the excitement died down, we took our leave in a more orderly and dignified fashion.  That is to say, we hightailed it as soon as the crowd had thinned.  

The cowboys finally got the bull into the corral but being back with his bull buddies didn't calm him down, so they did the next logical thing.  They let him loose… in the village.  He took off running down the road and finally stopped to graze, chill and reflect on his day.  He was the star of the show!

As the month wore on, Mini-Merida grew, with more stalls, more Toña signs and more drinking.  The quality of the rodeo - riders and bulls - increased.  The music volume stayed the same only because they couldn't turn it up any louder even if they wanted to.  Bex! and I hit the fiesta one evening with Theresa and Chris, two of our volunteers from Switzerland.  We danced and had a good time.  A local tried to cull Theresa from us so he could 'get to know her better' and we're pretty sure Chris got engaged, maybe even married, to a local girl.  

We decided to go to the rodeo one more time, the very last night.  Huge crowd - all of Merida was there, it seemed, and then some.  We had a heckuva time getting up on the platform.  After Big Meanie made his try to jump out, they ran a chain link fence around the inside, which was nice to see.  We found a good spot and watched, as much better riders rode much larger animals.  These bulls were huge!  The process was the same except all of the bulls took multiple cowboys to get them into position.  Some of the riders were amazing, too, riding with no hands and staying on for just about as long as they wanted.  It was a lot of fun.  

Afterward, we had dinner and beers at Tia Margarita's stall (tia = aunt).  She runs a restaurant in town and makes super delicious Nica food.  And for cheap, too.  We were joined by new friends Tim and Sasha from the UK and our local amigo, Peter.  Great food, some laughs and many Toña's later, we headed to our own corral for the night.

"Peek-a-mooo!"

All-Star Volunteers

Nothing was ready on Day 1, including the sign.

After a week of planning and organizing, the first day and first week of school was upon us! Day One of classes brought… chaos at Ometepe Bilingual School.  Seems there was a teachers' meeting at the public school in the village, so Ruth (kindergarten), Julia (1st grade) and Bex! took off, leaving yours truly with twenty-someodd kids and six volunteers and no idea what was happening.  Granted, it wouldn't have been much better had there been no meeting - it's Nicaragua, remember.  NO ONE knew what was happening the first day.

It was great for Bex! and for our presence in the community.  She met the principal, who pulls double duty as the head administrator for all the Merida schools, as well as the schools in nearby San Ramon and Tichana.  She also met the secondary school English teacher.  For the first time since being in Central America, Bex! felt a chill in the air from the cool response she got from this guy.  He didn't seem thrilled that we were here.  We are certainly not competing with him.  We're here to back up what he's teaching the high schoolers in his twice weekly English sessions.  Methinks he wants nothing to do with that.  Oh well - we're teaching our own curriculum!  So there!

And - yeah! - I used 'methinks' in a sentence!  I'm a badass English teacher.

As it turned out, we had seven volunteers (!) to kick off the year.  Five were scheduled and two others were visiting Merida, liked what they saw and decided to help out.  It was truly fantastic, especially since things were a little chaotic to start!  The Ministry of Education was late, like every other year, publishing the school calendar.  No one knew for sure when school started, which is hard to believe and then again, not so much.  In the US, we know where and when the next six Super Bowls are being played but in Nicaragua, no one knew when the first day of school would be.  A cultural difference, to be sure.

Charter schools like the Ometepe Bilingual School depend on volunteers to make it work.  There is no full-time English instructor, at least not yet.  The teachers for the kindergarten and first grade are wonderful.  Ruth (K) and Julia (1st) teach the regular Nicaraguan school curriculum and it was up to us, sans volunteers, to keep English lessons rolling on a regular basis, this to fulfill the ‘bilingual’ part of the school’s mission.  As I said before, our primary goal is to teach the adults and high school students in the village and help coordinate the volunteers at OBS.  In between volunteer visits, however, we would cover English with the kiddies.  When volunteers are here it frees us up to work on our other objectives.  Less work for us!  Yes, selfishly, we like volunteers for our own personal reasons!!

Fortunately for us, all seven of them were rock stars of the highest order.  Let’s start with our hometown faves – Liz and Evan.  They hail from beautiful Aurora, OR, USA – just a little south of our home town of Portland.  It was fun to get to talk to visitors from home!  Liz is a teacher at a small school in Aurora and her son, Evan, was entering high school.  They had taken a couple of months to travel in Central America – learn Spanish, soak up the culture, enjoy the experience.  They had taken lessons at a Spanish language school in Altagracia, one of the two ‘big’ towns on Isla de Ometepe.  They had decided to break up their scheduled time there so took some time in between their two weeks of Spanish school to visit our village and were staying at Hacienda Merida.  

Guests at the hotel typically end up talking to each other and this is how we met Liz and Evan.  Alvaro had told them about us and us about them, so it was simply a matter of picking them out of the crowd and introducing ourselves.  Liz was intrigued with the school, so agreed to lend her expertise to OBS and relieve us of some of the chaos.  Having worked for a law office in the past, Liz was able to help develop and refine many documents, providing the proper note of professionalism and many syllabled words to create some serious street creed, yo.  Word. 

Evan was a willing and able participant, as well – rolling with the punches and helping out wherever he was needed.  This young man definitely could be teacher material if he chooses that path.  We were extremely grateful for the calm approach Liz brought to the tasks she undertook.  The only bad part of her visit to Merida is that we never had a chance to delve deeper into her time working as a… private detective!!  Yeah, that’s right.  

Liz – You can be sure we are looking you up when we get back to Oregon!  We'll meet at the
White Rabbit Bakery for coffee and pastries!!  

Hey, most of the signs are pointed the right way.
Sports Illustrated swimsuit issue photographers don't have this much trouble

Next up for All-Star status is Kelly.  K-E-L-L-Y!  GooooOOOOO, Kelly!!  Visiting Merida all the way from Canada with her hubby and two children, she brought some serious skills to the beginning of the school year.  With her background as a counselor and children's social worker, she was able to work on many of the admin things that the school so desperately needed - documenting volunteer agreements, school philosophy, expectations for the volunteers, class schedules, etc.  Kelly and Liz worked on this major project and did some incredible work!  They were the Dynamic Duo!!

Last but certainly not least, we had four volunteers from Switzerland!  This group was sent to the school through P.I.E.C.E.S., a 'student-driven social initiative focusing on children's education in developing countries'.  The Swiss (as we affectionately called them even though two of them are German) are enrolled at the University of St. Gallen.  'Full of energy' is an understatement!  They added a serious amount of fun to the craziness of the first weeks.  Theresa, Ella, Théo and Chris were incredible!  They tirelessly worked with the kindergarten and first grade; Theresa single-handedly managed the 7-10 year olds' English enhancement classes; Chris and Theo even taught French to the adults; Ella spent her time trying to figure out a way to take a couple of the kids home with her.  These four were amazing and we had such a great time getting to know them.  Plus, Chris looks a LOT like Justin Bieber but I promised him I wouldn't mention that in this blog.  So, of course, I won't mention that Chris looks a LOT like Justin Bieber.  In fact, Justin Chris and I hit it off so well, there was a serious bromance happening.  It's probably best they left when they did.  (sigh)

Ella:  "I promise I'll only take one kid home!"

(l-r) Théo, Chris, Ruth, Fabiola partying fireside at Playa Gringo

Chris, Theresa, me, Bex! dancing at the fiesta after the bull riding competition

We had fun mentoring The Swiss and they were eager to learn from us, as well.  We were venerated, treated like wise professors, providing them with insights into life and learning.  Phhhppphhht!  Yeah - right.  Between the four of them and my wife, I was literally out-smarted.  Why, until we met these folks, I had never gotten drunk on Toña and Flor de Caña then gone swimming at 1 AM in my boxers.

Who is that big first grader?!

Fast Forward

We’re going to skip our travel day from Costa Rica to Nicaragua for now.  I’ll go back and catch y’all up on that later.  It was mostly uneventful but the border crossing into Nicaragua was uniquely different than the one entering Costa Rica.  More on that another time.

I’m also going to skip our weekend in Rivas, Nicaragua.  It was spent shopping, picking up supplies for teaching as well as some items for the house we would soon be renting.

This post is about our return ‘home’, to Merida.

Wait… what’s that?  You didn’t know we were returning to Merida, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua?!!?  Oh my.  Well, let me tell you a little about that.  Our stay here in the fall was long enough that we got a good feel for the people, the community and their desire to learn English.  People want to learn!  We were welcomed and accepted, and asked to stay!  But we had already made other plans - to spend Christmas in San Juan del Sur and then head south to Costa Rica.  Recall that our original plan was to move to Costa Rica and find work there.  All of the research leading to this whacky Central American adventure of ours had been focused in CR.

But, I’m telling ya, once you experience Merida and the island, there is something magical about it.  Isla de Ometepe has a certain mystery surrounding it.  When you see it from the mainland, you can’t help but be mesmerized.  Two volcanoes, one active.  Yes, there are two decent sized towns (pop. ~4,ooo) but mostly it’s small towns and villages.  On the Maderas end of the island, it’s all villages and it was this area we knew we wanted to be.  In fact, we shared later that we both wanted to return as soon as we left.  Yeah, we went to San Jose, explored, had a truly great time, really.  San Jose is a cool city and we enjoyed many of the amenities it offers.  But we never really looked for work because we knew in our hearts where we were meant to be – Merida.

So while we were in San Jose, we plotted and planned our return to the island.  We contacted our former students in Merida and asked them to start spreading the news that we were coming back.  We contacted Alvaro and Esther at the bilingual school to let them know, we fundraised (thank you, donors), and we arranged housing and finances to make it all work.  The school year in Nicaragua runs from February to December, so the timing was perfect.  We could be there from start to finish, providing continuity and stability to the community.

Yep.  You can describe it as ‘a calling’, divine intervention, luck, fate or just a series of singular events that made the decision simple and logical.  The fact is everything worked out easily and perfectly for us to return to Merida.  We know this year will be a huge undertaking for us; in fact, it has already been a ton of work!  But I am happy to report that we’ve been back on the island five weeks, and already have four weeks of classes in the books.  Go, us! 

Upon our return, we arrived at Hacienda Merida and were greeted by big hugs and hearty handshakes.  The friends we had left behind were very happy that we decided to come back!  People who knew we were returning had been checking with the hotel throughout the day to see if we had made it yet.  Maybe they were nervous we would change our minds at the last minute?  If they only knew – we had longed to come back from the moment we boarded the ferry!  

Bex! noted two things about our first trip to Ometepe, last fall:  When we took the lancha to the island in the first week of November, the water was like glass.  No wind, no waves other than those created by the wake of the boat.  The island was greeting us, welcoming us with her beauty and serenity.  When we left in mid-December, we took the larger ferry.  The waters were rough, with big waves splashing over the sides.  So much so that the crew directed everyone inside so no one went overboard.  Ometepe was angry that we were leaving.  Now we were back!

Arriving - the island calmly welcomed us.

Departing - it's not a good idea to make a volcanic island mad.

They were just putting the finishing touches on our room – i.e. moving a bed in – so we waited a bit and relaxed in the familiar surroundings.  Soon enough, we had our key and schlepped our umpteen suitcases, bags, backpacks, musical instruments, etc. into our room.  Oy.  We confirmed our commitment to each other that the first visitors we have from home are being sent back with a suitcase full of clothes we’ll never need here!  This will be in exchange for bringing a few things down for us, as well.  Courier services to be paid in Toña's!!  Just a heads up, people!!

 To say it’s been challenging would be an understatement…

Week one:
We immediately began working out our schedule, going through many iterations to find a balance that worked for the students in the community and us.  Fortunately, my wife is a whiz with spreadsheets and such, whereas I am more of the ‘back of the napkin, brainstorm over a few beers’ type.  As we talked with our returning students and recruited new ones, we soon realized that our days would be back loaded – lots of afternoon and evening classes.  Adults work their jobs, tend to chores at home or work in the fields during the cool, early hours of the day; high schoolers usually help out at home or on the farm in the mornings and attend classes from noon to 5 PM – so morning classes were out.  Drats.

Working out class schedules and lesson plans

Our primary objectives for teaching were threefold:
1]  We had agreed early on that we want to target adults and the secondary school kids – the people who can put the language to use right away.  We’ve seen it in action:  if a guide, hotel employee or restaurant server speaks English, they engage more intimately with the tourists, thus increasing the opportunity for them to make money and network with people from all over the world.  As I’ve said before, English is the global language, so people who speak even a little have a huge advantage over those who don’t.  We would hold classes for absolute beginners from throughout the entire community, not just the handful at the hotel.  We would also have classes for the high school kids in Levels 7-11  (HS here runs 'levels'  not 'grades' and they graduate at Level 11).  This group in secondary school gets a few hours of English each week in their regular school, but more is better.  And finally, we would hold separate classes for the handful of intermediate/advanced speakers who have been studying English for a while.  

2]  We also want to hold classes for the parents of the children enrolled at the Ometepe Bilingual School (OBS), the charter school located at Hacienda Merida in which we first taught for six weeks last fall.  If we can teach the parents the same things their kids were learning, they can reinforce it at home.  Education doesn’t stop when a child leaves school for the day, so the ability for families to interact in English is important.  Besides, we wanted to put Kenneth at ease.

Kenneth is a First grader at OBS this year and was my favorite little kindergartener last year.  Well, second favorite behind my grandson, Judah.  I spent a lot of one-on-one time with Kenneth, teaching the alphabet, days of the week, months of the year, numbers, colors – in both Spanish and English.  His mother shared this wonderful story with us:  A couple of weeks before the new school year was to begin, Kenneth was like any kid anywhere in the world – nervous and excited for the first day.  He worriedly told his mother (in Spanish) “Mama, I can see a day when I only speak English and you only speak Spanish and when I ask for food, you won’t know what I’m saying.”  Food is very important to Kenneth, obviously.  Love this kid!!


3]  Our third goal for returning to Merida is to help coordinate the efforts and activities of the volunteers who come through OBS.  Our experience as volunteers last fall here was rewarding in so many ways – obviously, we came back - but it was a little chaotic and frustrating at times because of a lack of organization.  We felt the experience could be improved dramatically through better communication.  Our idea for this year is to give the volunteer a clear picture of what they will be doing, how things work and what their day will be like before they step foot on the island.  This way the volunteer can hit the ground running and can make an impact from Day One.  From what we experienced and have heard from others, a volunteer here usually spends 2-3 days figuring out what to do, where to be, who’s in charge, etc.  Volunteers are a valuable resource – one the school needs to be successful. 

Speaking of volunteers...