Keep me in the Mountains, Please.

Last weekend I got out of town and up into the mountains of Matagalpa, where I belong. The climate is quite cooler and cloudier, and in this season, rains on and off all day. Ok, it’s a LOT cooler. I actually walked to the grocery store, during the DAY, and I didn’t break a sweat! It was a miracle. When I got home after my trip, I sat down without a fan pointing at me, and I was profusely sweating How quickly I forget how horribly hot it is where I live…

I spent the long weekend with some other volunteers, hiking to a waterfall, going to the gym (yes, this city has a REAL gym that could very well be in America), and eating good food (variety? Say what?). I watched cable tv for the first time in awhile and boy was that weird. Sounds like we’re all broke, overweight, and downright dumb by the looks of it. And that was just from CNN. I don’t THINK that’s the case. But seriously, after seeing MTV, I don’t blame other countries for hating us. Did I continue watching that trash? Absolutely. I fought through feeling embarrassed of my country and our values, and found the programs absolutely riveting.

The day the other volunteers left, I stayed an extra day to go on a long hike. I went for “cerro apante”, but I ended up passing by it (perhaps an accident, but I didn’t want to pay the 30 cordobas anyway) and trucking on through to the next mountain range. On the way up I was accompanied by a young man who lived at the top, and makes that trek every day! He asked me if I was bored walking alone. But the majority of the time we walked side by side in silence. I don’t see much of a difference. I said I don’t get bored walking by myself. Ahh the cultural differences. As Americans we do SO much alone, but here, I suppose because the entire family lives together and is always around, no one ever does anything alone. Towards the top, I thanked him for accompanying me and said I’d see him at the top. He looked at me really weird that I was stopping and planned on continuing alone. But honestly, I had to pee, and I didn’t want to tell him that, or have him wait for me. I’m a lady for goodness sake! So after a few hours after I realized I’d overshot my mark, I decided to turn around since I was running low on food and water, and at that point, I was just bumbling into the campo where few whites have gone before. Instead of kids smiling and waving at me because I look different, they looked downright frightened. It was a gorgeous scenery, all rolling green hills of coffee plants, streams, and even some sprinkles of rain. It was amazing to be out, even towards the middle of the day, and have the sun hiding behind dark clouds and not feel like my skin was being burned off. Amen.