Palm Sunday

My training town is very Catholic. There are two Catholic Churches in my small town. And all the families that have PC aspirantes in this town are Catholic.  My family is religious and goes to church every Sunday and Palm Sunday I joined them.  They told me that mass would start at 7am but it took everyone quite a while to get ready so we ended up leaving the house at 7:20am. We all piled into the pickup truck and drove to the old church. Everyone was already outside getting ready for the procession to the new church. As we were turning around to drive to the new church, a group of guys approached the truck with stacks of palms and threw them in the truck and we drove them to the new church. As a result, we had great seats in the third row.  The procession arrived at the new church around 7:45am and it seemed like the whole town was there. It was very crowded.

The priest and altar boys & girls were wearing red and white. They processed into the church with a group of men in white with white caps carrying a mannequin. I had to ask who he represented; my host family told me he represented Jesus. I had seen the same statue in Masaya the day before and also in Niquinohomo while driving through on the bus. Everyone must buy them from the same manufacturer. They are all wearing a pretty flashy outfit and have a red hat on, like a short top hat. It was a typical mass except for the procession and the different clothes. The priest said an emotion filled sermon about how Semana Santa is starting and it’s a chance for everyone to reaffirm their faith and that the palms help to do that.

After mass we checked out the food that was available for purchase outside the church and my family didn’t find anything they wanted so we drove to the next town, Niquinohomo to buy some snacks. They bought me a piece of cake, which had icing with a strange consistency, a sprinkling of cinnamon and some raisins. It was pretty tasty. One of my host sisters bought something that resembled a quesadilla, with tortilla and cheese.

Volcán Masaya

Two days last week were filled with the volcano near here. On Thursday night, I was sitting in my room
reading and I heard them call my name, which is Maria here.  They called it twice so I came out of my room and they were all were pretty excited speaking quickly about the volcano nearby. They kept saying “incendio” and I wasn’t sure what that really meant in terms of a volcano so I decided to just join them and ask no questions. I threw on pants and real shoes and minutes later we were in the pick-up trip. On the way there I realized what we were actually doing. We were driving to Masatepe, a nearby small city, where there are views of the Volcano. One of my host sisters was called by her friend that the volcano was on fire. We went to the church in the center and climbed the steps to see it better. At this point, all of us were unsure if it was a manmade fire or volcanic activity.  We then drove to a better look out point to see the volcano. Along the way, we asked around and people had mixed opinions about what was happening. Then we saw someone with binoculars and he said it was just on fire. It still was pretty amazing to see. These towns are pretty small. On our small trip, my host family saw their uncle and also many coworkers. Everyone was out in the street, I thought I might see another aspirante but I didn’t.

On Saturday, we had classes at the Volcán Masaya tourist area and then we had some time afterwards to drive up to the crater. Unfortunately, since they just were able to put the fires out Saturday morning, some of the paths were not opened. But we still got to drive up to the crater and see what everyone talks about.  The picture below is from the visitor center.

To give you some background from the guidebook, “The Spaniards said this was the gate to hell… Volcán Masaya is the most heavily venting volcano in Nicaragua, and in a more litigious nation there is no way you would ever be able to drive up to the lip of a volcanic cone as volatile as the Santiago crater. There is always lava bubbling at the bottom and a column of sulfurous gases… in 2001 an eruption hurled heated rocks 500m into the air, damaging cars and narrowly missing people.” – Lonely Planet

They do suggest that you park your car in the direction the exit in case you need to exit quickly.

We did not get to see any bubbling lava due to sulfurous gases but we were able to see the incredible views both into the crater and the surrounding area. It was our first time really seeing tourists too. A lot of them go see the Volcano since it’s close to many towns that tourists visit, such as Masaya and Granada.

Gallo Pinto everyday

Gallo pinto is the most common food here. I eat it almost every day, sometimes two or three times in one day. Luckily, I like it. It is rice and red beans cooked separately and then fried together. It is sometimes served with eggs, sometimes with a white cheese, sometimes with a baked banana, sometimes with meat, sometimes with a small salad with either iceberg lettuce and tomato or cabbage and tomato and when I’m lucky with maduros (sweet, fried plantains). We also eat rice and red beans separately when we’re not eating gallo pinto. I am very happy with my food so far. My host mother is a good cook and she pays attention to what I do and don’t like (like: tomatoes; don’t like: raw onions and the white cheese). Below is a picture of my first time having gallo pinto at my host family’shouse. It was my second day here. 

San Marcos

On Saturday the 16^th we had class in San Marcos. According to the guide books, it’s a town of about 19,000 people and is thought to be the oldest human settlement in Nicaragua. To get there we took the bus that we had practiced taking two days before. This time, however, it was rush hour. The buses here are old yellow school buses that are completely decked out with stickers, plastic streamers, lights, and music. We got on the bus and there were about 120 people on the bus. About another 30 people got on during our trip. It is honestly impressive how many people they can fit on the bus. They have a helper that calls out the stops, collects the money and tells people to move toward the back of the bus. It was quite an experience to be that close together to so many people. We ended up three across in the aisle. At one point I couldn’t get both feet completely on the ground.

We had classes on Survey Design and Community Banks. Both were pretty interesting. PC has done a great job of using current volunteers to give many of the sessions. It is great for us because they tell us about their actual successes and failures. It’s also great to hear about the different things volunteers have done and some of the obstacles they have faced. We started a community bank within the small business volunteers. We have to each put in 30 cordobas a week, which is about $1.20. The maximum loan allowed is $15, which is more than we make per week here as trainees.

After the lessons, we went out for lunch in San Marcos. We broke up into two groups. I went to a biker bar/restaurant, which just seemed like southern bar with a nice inner patio. It was the most expensive menu I have seen here. A deluxe hamburger cost about 150 cordobas, or $6.  I had Tacos Nicas, which were fried meat filled tacos topped with cabbage for 56 cordobas. It was fun to eat out with everyone and enjoy a meal I haven’t had here yet. I asked my family later why the restaurant was so expensive and it’s because the Ave Maria College is there, which is a private bilingual school.