day 25: independence and celebrations thereof
laguna de apoyo is one of the most beautiful places in nicaragua. it’s a crater lake that is formed on a collapsed volcano. not unlike a hot springs, the lake is naturally heated and supplied with fresh minerals, apparently really good for “skin and hair,” whatever that means. anyway, we left for the lake at around 9:30 and got there around 11ish? quien sabe… we took a few minutes to soak in the beauty and then swim out to the floating dock. we hung out there until lunch time, reflecting and talking about the past month. it’s crazy to think how fast the time has gone.
lunch was super interesting: beans, beets, fried yellow things (not bananas or plantains), and some weird nica cheese, salsa and guac. i think i said “for a meal that doesn’t have meat and that isn’t a salad, this is pretty good.” and that basically sums it up. because they ran out of rice and meat, our meal was as good as it could have been, but still wasn’t top of the line.
we spent the rest of the 4th of july hanging out, reading, swimming, and kayaking. me and lindsay kayaked for a bit, and then lisa and lauren took the two ocean kayaks after us. i really miss kayaking so it was a blast.
before we left the lake, we talked for a bit about what needs to improve and what needs to continue within manna project, and then we hit the road. on the way out of the crater, we found two people who needed a ride. they looked european, so we picked them up. speaking broken spanish, we assumed they were swiss or something. frustrated by a language barrier, he started speaking english… it turns out they were american. we think he asked us “where we went” as opposed to “where are you going” but w/e… it was funny. we made it back for the big fourth of july party just in time.
the celebration consisted of all sorts of amazing american food: hamburgers, seven layer dip, chips, cake… bah, so good. we made some sort of punch that contained a lot of juices and some rum— i’ve never had any sort of rum drink before, despite flor de cana being an insanely popular nican drink. it was good, but it separated from the juice too fast, so you got all sorts of strong alcohol tastes when you least expected it. possibly one of the funniest and most fun meals. it was one part american patriotism, one part american memories and heritage and tradition, and 20 parts manna people being awesome. we all wore red, white, and blue to add to the already decked out pool house.
we came back in and started the two days worth of closing activities- mostly “warm fuzzies,” where you leave notes for each person. on top of all that, we sat around and bonded some more, reflecting on what we’ve enjoyed and laughed about so much over the past month.
many of us have realized that this month (or in laura’s case, two months) has been one of the greatest of our lives. for sure one of the best summer months ever. with working hard during the day and relaxing and bonding at night, loving the kids and volunteers nonstop, manna breeds an environment that is like summer camp mixed with the peace corps. you serve and get served and love and get love, several times over every day. we are not wholly selfless we have a pool, a house mom, and electricity despite our third world conditions. we are not selfish, either- we don’t have a tv set (to the disgust of many nicas who watch telenovelas nightly) or air conditioning or a dishwasher. but what we’ve learned down here, among many other things, is that life is so much more than what you have (or what you don’t). and on the fourth of july, a day where we wonder why americans are so blessed (even the poor and hungry) and so fortunate, we can take a step back and just be thankful for it all. our elections, while political and emotionally involved, are free from bloodshed or assassination. our job market, while unsteady and chaotic, is at least able to provide for the majority of americans and continues to provide a life above the world poverty line—unlike the workers in chureca who live on less than $1 a day (called extreme poverty, and half of the world lives in that label). our faith, while seemingly divided more and more each year with the onset of religions from scientology to kaballah to the church of people like fred phelps, at least allows the peaceful coexistence, unlike israeli/palesitne judaic/muslim conflict.
all in all, an amazing day. none of us want to leave, but unfortunately, day 27 is approaching way too fast. nicaragua, take off your coat and stay a while… we have a lot of talking to do.
paz,
