fun news

I know this is long overdue but it’s been a busy couple of weeks.  Last Friday I found out where I’ll be living for the next 2 years – Teustepe, Boaco!  (I’ll explain more in a bit..)  On Saturday, I went to La Boquita, a beach in Carazo, with the others in my training town.  It took about 1 hour to get there and it was absolutely beautiful.  There were horses and hammocks and other foreigners.  Pictures below…

While waiting for the bus to go back to Carazo, I saw the most shocking/disgusting thing so far here in Nicaragua.  We heard terrible squealing sounds in the distance for about 10 minutes so of course we knew a pig was being slaughtered.  What we weren’t prepared for was the small car that drove down from the campo to the main road with the dead (huge) pig in the bag, taking up the entire floor and going #2 at the same time.  And yes, he was already dead.  Pobrecito cerdo (translation: poor pig).

Saturday night I went to a quince anos for the cousin of a guy who lives in Santa Teresa.  Talk about Nica hospitality—we just met the guy that day at the beach and he immediately called up his cousin so see it was okay if we came to the party.  It was a great time with tons of loud music and delicious food.

Sunday was the Hipica in Santa Teresa so another eventful day.  Each town in Nicaragua has an Hipica once a year.  It’s when hundreds of people come to ride/watch horses and of course, listen to live music all day long.  Below is a picture of the queen of the Hipica.

At night, I went to a fiesta with my host sister and cousins at a club in town.  The Nica goup, Fusion 4, played for 5 hours which meant a ton of dancing and realling sore thighs the next day.

Ok, now to the exciting info… Tuesday my entire Nica 54 group, Environmental and TEFL, left for Managua and stayed there for the night at a hotel close to the Peace Corps office.  I went to the mall and ate a delicious turkey sandwich from Quiznos then saw a movie in a really nice theater.  That quick snap back to “American life” was a little bit of a shock.  At 6:30 Wednesday morning, I headed to one of the bus stops in Managua via taxi to take the 1 ½ hour bus ride to Teustepe for a 6 day site visit, soon to be my new home!!

My new host family is wonderful and welcomed me that night with a pinata even though they thought I wouldn’t be there until the next day.  

I can’t wait to live with them for 6 weeks.  (I’ll officially be moving in on November 23)  My host mom, Rosibel, is 64 and my host dad, Umberto, is 72 and they have 6 kids, ages 21-42  One daughter, Soreida, has a 6 year old boy who is adorable and loves telling my scary stories and playing soccer.  One son, Norman, also has a boy, Hector, who will be 1 yr old on Thanksgiving.  Norman asked me my religion and after saying Catholic, he said, “Oh, so you like the fiestas.”  Apprently Catholics are much more fun than Evangelicals, the other promiment religion in Nicaragua.  I knew I was confirmed for a reason.  Soreida, her son, Norman, his wife and their son all live in a house a half block from my host mom and also own a pulperia.  The 30 year old daugher, Noehlia, works at the pulperia and is a great conversationalist which means it will  be a great place to go to in my free afternoons.  The 21 year old, Danuyzca, will graduate this year with a degree in business administration.  The 42 year old daughter, Fatima, is a teacher at the high school and there other son lives next door and works at the health center in town.  It’s super fun having so many people around all the time because they are constantly talking and listening to music at full volume. 

To top it off, Teustepe is gorgeous.  Below is a pic from my tiny bedroom’s window.

Their backyard has coconut, banana, mango, lemon, and orange trees, and avocado trees were recently planted.  There are 5 parrots, 3 turtles, a rabbit, 6 or 7 chickens, a dog (Jerry), and a goat.  There’s also a frog, “Principe”, who isn’t exactly a pet but presents himself nicely in the house and zaps all the mosquitoes.  There’s an amazing hammock underneath one of the coconut trees which I layed in for 1 hour writing this post.

In Teustepe, there’s a beautiful park with a basketball court, an AC-ed internet café (!), four or five restaurants, and a baseball stadium.  

I already met with the mayor, the delegate of the Ministry of Education, my counterparts, and a ton of teachers.  One school I’ll be working in is one block from my host family’s house and it has about 300 students with 11 teachers.  There’s another basketball court at the school.  I’ll be working with 2 teachers there, one of whom I already met.  The other two schools are in 2 of the 60 communities surrounding Teustepe.  One is in El Crucero, about 2 km from town, called Hermandad Finladia.  There are 3 teachers and I’ll be working in one class of 3^rd and 4^th graders, and another of 5^th and 6^th graders.  To get to the school using the shortest route, I have to cross a river but because it’s the end of rainy season, the river is too high so I took a taxi (50 cents) to visit it.  The other school is in Aguas Calientes and is about a 5 km walk from Teustepe and a little trickier to get to.  I walked there with the sub-director and it took about 40 minutes from El Crucero.  We crossed 3 rivers which meant I was knee deep in water a few times to get to school.  Thank God for Chacos.  If the oxen in Oregon Trail can forge the river, so can I.  The great part is that the teachers and students are fantastic!  There are only 2 classes, one of 1^st-3^rd graders, and the other of 4^th-6^th graders, with about 20 kids in each.  I’ll only be going there one time per week so that 10 km walk won’t be too brutal.

I’m sure you can tell (if you’re still reading at this point.. sorry the post is incredibly long), that I’m so, so happy with my site placement.  The volunteer before me sold me all her things so I won’t have to go bed and stove searching.  She said there’s a strong interest in sports so I’m hoping to do a lot with that.  There’s also a small library in town and the librarian already has reading/writing/craft sessions every Tuesday and Thursday.

Here’s my new address:

Meghan Wischusen

Apartado Postal 23, Boaco

Boaco, Nicaragua

Central America

The post office is in the city of Boaco which is know as the city of two floors and is only 30 minutes away.  I visited on Monday with my host sister and nephw.  I’ve gotta say, it’s a real close competition between Italy and Boaco when it comes to beauty.  The streets are just like San Fran… very, very steep.  There are 5 other Environmental volunteers in the region of Boaco as well as two TEFLers and a couple Small Business.  So, if I need an English break, I’m only a bus ride away!

What I’m basically trying to say with all this rambling is that I’m living in a perfect location for visitors come February  J  I’m 1 ½ hours from Managua and about 2 from Masaya, Leon, and Granada.  Start booking your tickets!!  I can’t talk off from school but the beauty of being a teacher is holidays and weekends.

Can you even believe it’s already been 2 ½ months??