Almost Hawaii and almost gone

Almost didn´t notice this part of the mural across the street from my hospedaje

My shirt from CEDEHCA and the birth'papers campaign

Autonomy is...

I feel like my current travel adventure really began with Hawaii. I´ve been thinking about this for a while, especially after I received a comment on the blog from James, Ty & Amy. I spent two amazing weeks in Hawaii over the summer, spending time with Steve, James, Ty & Amy and house/dog/chameleon/eel/rockfish/chocolate plant-sitting during the time that my hawaii family left to visit the mainland. I essentially lived there, met people, adapted to the flow of life there, and was constantly mistaken for a local because of how I look.

Steve and I had many great adventures, but they weren´t really typical visiting-hawaii activities. We helped with church fundraisers, picked coffee, went to local art get togethers, poetry slams with men singing jewel tributes, met local celebs, was invited out of the blue to a beach clean up effort, nearly died in the ocean a couple times, caught shrimp to feed the rockfish, learned how to use an airbrush, the list could go on and on. I really love that we lived there for 2 weeks, rather than visited there for 2 weeks. I like that feeling, I think that is part of my philosophy for travel...if I ever fully develop one. In Hawaii I was able to experience the process of learning a new environment with another person, which has both benefits and drawbacks. The major benefit being that I had a smooth transition into solo travel because I built up confidence and a myriad of instances when I wanted to do what I wanted to do and realized that during these 8 months that won´t be an issue.

Nicaragua reminds me of Hawaii in that this is basically the same humidity, weather, fruits and flowers, but also in that I had similar opportunities to meet great people, learn about local/regional political, environmental and social justice issues, and experience everthing in a very unplanned and incredibly coincidental way. At one point while I was here I thought to myself what it would have been like if I stuck to the tour-Nicaragua-trinity and only visited Grenada, Ometepe, and Corn Island. I was especially wondering what it would be like if I went to white sand beaches, spent my days in the water. I love the beach, marine life, and am really excited for the parts of my trip that will allow me to take a day for myself in the sun. What I think about though, is that I have already had the opportunity to have many days on the beach while I was in Hawaii thanks to James Amy & Ty, and my time here in Nicaragua was meant for entirely different experiences. The unexpected was a very pleasant surprise.

A less pleasant surprise: the godzilla of all cockroaches that was crawling on something I picked up while I was packing this morning. I am soo thankful that it didn´t actually crawl on me for more than a second and that I discovered this unwanted roommate while I was moving out of my room rather than moving in. I had my share of interesting bug-bedfellows here in Bludfields. Gecko lizards, tiny tiny ants, bigger ants, slugs, mosquitos. My first reaction to all this was to sleep entirely inside of my sleepsack, cinch off the clasp and spend eight hours in my cocoon each night. I thought my hospedaje was, well, gross. I switched rooms once, I think out of overall shock at the living conditions. I was very confused about the lack of shower water, and wondered if I really was supposed to wash with the giant bucket-tub thing of water that had both mysterious floaties and mosquito larvae swimming laps. I got a good squat workout from the lack of a toilet seat, and dreaded my first couple minutes in my room while I could still notice the muggy and mildew smell. After a couple days though, I relaxed. I saw other peoples homes and realized many of the little things that I thought were bad about my hospedaje were really just standard living conditions. I realized I was being a snob, and I really am not that picky of a person, I like roughing it, but still this situation brought me out of my comfort zone. I think my comfort zone has now permanently shifted. I curl up plenty comfortable in the questionable sheets and sleep without the usual personal towel barrier between my face and the pillow. I get excited about finding slugs and geckos and only mildly annoyed at the tiny ants crawling all over me. Atleast they don´t bite right?

Ofcourse now that I am more adjusted and can understand creole much better, I am leaving. I have a one last regional food that I HAVE to try before I leave and I want to go the small museum at BICU. Today is the rainiest day thusfar, downpour after downpour. Which is kind of nice because I feel less pressure to run around and do everything I can with my last couple hours. I came into this internet cafe to be out of the rain, and may not even make it to BICU. Next time, I´ll go check it out. I really think there might be a next time, I would like to come back to the autonomous regions of Nicaragua and be here long enough to meet more people and be involved in one of CEDEHCA´s projects, or help in some way. I would go back and see Oaxaca again, especially if I could travel there with my mom, but Bluefields, this coastal region, I would come back here for a few months or years. I don´t even know if I can explain all the reasons why, I really haven´t even done a thorough job of sharing all my experiences here. It´s hard to come here and see the difference that could be made if the $20,000 check came here for social programs/projects rather than to me for travel.

The rain has let up, I am off to lunch to eat a dish that may or may not be made of hog´s head. Then at 4pm I´ll be flying back to Managua where I greatly look forward to a shower and to uploading pictures to beautify these blogs.