Wrapping up in Siuna

In a couple of days, just after the Nicaraguan presidential election, I will be leaving Siuna and heading to the town of Matagalpa, where I might live until Christmas. This represents a change of plans, as I had originally intended to spend all my time in Siuna. However, things rarely go as we expect them to, and in my case, the professors that I have been working with just don’t have enough time to commit to my classes. That should come as no surprise—they are just as busy as professors in our country. But for me, without that work, there is little point for me to remain in Siuna. In the past week, I wrote up a comprehensive document in regards to teaching English here, so when the next teacher comes, they’ll know what to expect and how to best carry out the classes.

Upon reflection, I have enjoyed a number of things during my time in Siuna. Here’s a few:
1. Throwing food scraps out the kitchen window
2. Riding in the back of pickups
3. Watching thunderstorms and listening to the rain hitting the tin roofs
4. Watching cowboys drive cattle past our house
5. Using the airstrip as a soccer field (when planes aren’t landing)
6. Nigaraguan beer
7. Laying in a hammock on a hot day

A couple of weeks ago, I went back to the United States for my sister’s wedding. It was a lot of fun, and I enjoyed seeing my relatives and my parents’ old friends. Also tremendously entertaining was my ten-year high school reunion. What made it especially exciting was that all my best friends came back for it, with the exception being Eiji, who lives in Japan. We had a good turnout overall, and it was neat to see how my classmates had changed over the past ten years. A delightful surprise was that all the old social cliques had disappeared, and all of us were able to talk to each other with mutual respect and admiration. Unfortunately, many of the more socially marginalized students from the high school days did not come back. Too bad, because I’m sure they would have been some of the most interesting people to talk to.

One incident of culture shock that I did not expect was in seeing Memphis girls again. My high school classmates had all married girls that looked like models, and when we went out for drinks in a trendy part of town, I thought we had stepped into a professional photo shoot. Perhaps I have simply been living in Berkeley for too long, but it still struck me as odd. Why do girls try so hard to be sexy?

On the flip side, one might ask, Why do guys spend so much time watching sports? I can’t believe how many baseball playoff games I watched in October, both in Nicaragua and in Memphis. At one point, I think I saw seven games in three days here in Siuna. Now to be fair, my beloved Cardinals were in the playoffs, and I had to watch all the other games in order to see who the Cardinals might be playing in the next round. So I watched the Tigers vs. Yankees, the A’s vs. Twins, the Mets vs. Dodgers, and the Cardinals vs. Padres. Once the Cardinals advanced to the next round, I was glued to the television as they played seven games against the Mets. Watching Adam Wainright strike out Carlos Beltran to advance to the World Series was an unforgettable moment.

Against the Tigers in the World Series, the Cardinals were probably the biggest underdogs in decades. Many people wondered if the Cardinals were even going to win one game. That made it even sweeter to watch them demolish the Tigers, taking four of five. It was sweet vindication for getting swept by the Red Sox in 2004. Also, I had been waiting for the Cardinals to win the World Series championship since 1985, the year I began collecting baseball cards. To be honest, I still don’t really believe they won, so I’m going to watch tapes of the World Series over Christmas break, just to make sure.

Now that I’m back in Nicaragua, what am I up to for the next six weeks? I’ll be living in the town of Matagalpa, which is a trendy town nestled in some beautiful mountains. The weather is cool, and the outdoor possibilities are endless. If any of you want to visit between now and December 20, I’d love to see you! It’s super cheap to live here (I spend about seven dollars a day for food and housing), the only significant cost would be an airplane ticket (i.e. $550 roundtrip from San Francisco to Managua). Let me know if you are interested in coming, and we’ll make it happen!

In the meantime, I’m going to be helping develop local tourism in Matagalpa. You know when I wrote to you with my idea about starting a mountain bike company down here? Well, I found a group that did! They’re called Matagalpa Tours, and you can check them out on their website, http://www.matagalpatours.com This is a very unexplored part of Nicaragua, so it’s perfect for the adventurous types.
That’s all for now. I miss you guys!