I can’t believe how many stories and wonderful memories there are to write about from my parent’s visit. Everything went the best it could have, and I’m so happy they had such a great experience here, and no one got sick, hurt, or robbed. Success!
I started out going to Managua to pick them up, and, naturally, I arrived about 7 hours early so I could just sit in the air conditioned hotel room skyping with my family and keeping in touch with friends. And then a hot shower came right after that. When my parents arrived that night, I walked across the street to the hotel, where I nervously looked for them in the long line of people coming in. I was a little worried, because of all things, there plane was 20 minutes EARLY. But eventually I saw them getting closer and closer to me in the exiting line. I was a little perturbed when they were shuffled into another line. I walked along the outside of the airport to see if I could see where they were being sent to. I stood in front of the window as my parent’s bags were being screened. I saw a lot of laughing on my parents end, and a lot of confused looks and polite smiles on the screeners end. The flax seed my mom brought for me provided quite a suspicious scene. They didn’t understand what it was, so she tried to clarify by spelling the word flax. In English. They did not speak English. Hence they didn’t understand. I just sat outside cracking up.
Our first stop was to my town. We took a hike to the nearby laguna, and on the way I introduced my parents to different modes of transportation. We started out with a mototaxi (sort of like a 3 wheeled golf cart with a bicycle style steering wheel) ride to the bus terminal. We realized the bus had already left, and was just ahead of us, so the mototaxi chased it down. The bus stopped for us, opened the back door, and we ran up and jumped in. The bus was standing room only, and we drove off road until we got to the road that leads to Momotombo. Luckily I have nimble parents, and we were all able to hold on tight. When we got off the bus, we started walking the 2 miles or so to the laguna, and I introduced them to the “owner” (his words, not mine. He charges people to enter because his house is right at the entrance) of the laguna. We spent some time at the laguna, just soaking it in. It’s basically untouched besides some beaten dirt paths. We were all alone there, in complete silence aside from some of the natural wildlife.
The rest of the time in my town we in school, Leon, German class, and youth group. For the latter, we had a party for the kids. The week prior I had practiced with them different ways to present themselves, and give and receive personal information. And such questions such as “Is that your natural hair color?” for comedic effect. Mom and I went out and bought a piñata. The kids went absolutely crazy for it! Also, some of the parents brought pottery presents for mom and dad. The whole party went great, the kids were so sweet, and I think my parents really loved it.
Later on in the week, we went to the Isla de Ometepe and stayed on a Finca (like a farm) with horses, cows, chickens, dogs, and cats running around. From one view from the hotel you could see the lake, and if you turned around you could see the very active volcano Concepcion. We went to a pristine swimming hole, had lunch on the beach, saw petroglyphs, and a gorgeous waterfall in a small, remote village called San Ramon.
The beautiful waterfall in San Ramon
On the way back to the mainland we had lunch in San Juan del Sur. Then quickly made our way up to my old training town of Santa Teresa to meet my former, beloved host family. I was translating a little bit, but my host mom and my mom were talking to each other directly, and just kind of understood each other even though they weren’t speaking the same language. It was so cool for my parents to meet the people that took such good care of me my first 3 months I didn’t think we’d have time to make it there, but I’m so glad we did. My host mom reassured my parents by saying that even when they leave, I still have family in Nicaragua.
Our last night we stayed at the Laguna de Apoyo in this really great hotel that I visited once many months ago. It’s a very rural setting, overlooking the beautiful laguna. We were literally the ONLY people at the hotel, and La Abuela (‘Grandma’:the name of the hotel) herself was tending to us. We had great food and enjoyed wonderful swimming before heading out to the airport.
My parents left me with a ton of goodies (hopefully I can ration them out, I won’t be home til Christmas!), teaching supplies from my Aunt Agatha, and a pretty strong dose of homesickness, which will hopefully subside pretty soon.
The same day my parents left, I was back in my town translating for the US Navy. Yes. That’s right. Confused? I was too. I just had one burning question for them: "WHAT are you doing in my little town of La Paz Centro all the way in central America??!!" They were here for 2 weeks in different towns offering free medical services and medications. It was so cool to be able to talk with them and share the experience. This is the type of story we need to hear about more in the news!
My new address is:
Julianna Ryan
De la Ferreteria Paiz, 2 cuadras arriba
La Paz Centro, Leon, Nicaragua
Central America
I’ve already successfully received my first test letter! Right to my door, even though we don’t have address numbers for the houses, nor street names…Magic. My address is literally ‘from the Paiz Hardware Store, 2 blocks east (but we call east “up”)’ And I THINK I can really trust the guys at this post office. But again, I can’t imagine how many people come in contact with a package on such a long journey, and the problem could lie with other people on the way.
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