Few words have but one definition. To wrap up our week in Matagalpa, talent reared its many heads in our desolibri Spanish School. To start us off, Easten and Ryan demonstrated the power of teamwork by being the respective arms of Amelia and Damian. Essentially making a really terrific, talented mess. Next up was Nattie, who resourcefully glued cordabas to the bottom of some toms to perform some tap dancing for us. The glue didnt hold and some coins flew off, but her 8 years of tap training definately showed. A lifelong soccer player, Jordan showed off some juggeling tricks, followed by a rendiditon of Anna Kendrick’s “Cup Song” by Drew and yours truly (because trust me, plastic cups are totally respectable musical instruments). Just when our spanish professors that we were sane, they got to spend the next minutes watching Jordan and Jeremy toss peanuts into eachothers’ mouths from across the room. Their precise throws and daring catches put all other snackers to shame. Then, Drew filled the room with his deep, resonating baritone, singing a selection from a German opera. We knew he couinally, Brooke and Jeremy , our wise and sage leaders, took the stage. Part 1 was an impressive impromptu bit of acro yoga. Part 2 was later described as “rediculous”, “frightening”, “absolutely absurd”, and “not all together surprising”. I don’t know how else to describe what happened there. Those two truly took the definition talent into their own hands. We ended the show case with a song that Brooke had first taught us at our women’s circle in Ometepe. The Micmac tribe of the Northeastern US sing this as a song of welcoming, and acknowledging one’s inner child. All in all, it was a grand finale to our time in Matagalpa.
And now, a shout out to my girl Amelia, who hit the two decade mark this past Sunday. A few weeks back, Jeremy described her spirit animal as a ” fierce warrior dragon bunny” and while I haven’t seen many of those in the wild, I still think it’s accurate. Her clear blue eyes burn bright with fire and intelligence, and her wicked muscles have served her well wielding machetes and trekking up mountains. Most of all, though, she shows genuine love and care for our whole group and everyone in her life. She’s the whole deal in one little package, and this trip would not be the same without her. In celebration of her cumpleaños, we went out to dinner in Grenada, a beautiful and colorful colonial town en route to Costa Rica. After dinner we went out on the town, landing in a vaccant disco tecca. We went in, sat down, ordered nothing, and then danced like the sacred 6 didn’t apply to us (which it does, I’m trying to paint a picture for you), until the DJ politely but pointedly turned off the music, and we took our leave. Shouts to you Mielz!! Hope your 20th was memorable.
Thus ended our time in Nicaragua. Pausing in a moment in Liberia on Sunday we reflected as a group on the past month, remembering it all; the smell of gallo pinto frying on street corners while cars drove honking by in Masaya; Playa Gigante’s warm, sinkissed sand and the laughing faces of our first homstay families; crimson sunsets burning behind the volcanoes of Ometepe after a full day of work at Finca Boña Fide; and the soft sound of two purring kittens in the cool Matagalpa mornings. We have been pushed out of our comfort zones, stared homesickness, bed bugs, palm-sized spiders, and composting toilets. We’ve answered questions, like what is permaculture? How does tourism effect native communities? Is that a stick or a bug? We have tasted new fruits, spoken a new langauge, and experienced new cultures.
This trip wuld’t be the same for lack of a single person. Together we’ve bounded, climbed volcanoes, hacked open coconuts, told stories, dug deep into moral dilemmas, discussed personal and social issues, and still found time to laugh at fart jokes. We are a mature group that isalso deeply in touch with our inner child. With 6 weeks and two countries to go, I can’t wait to experience the rest of this trip with ten of the most incredible people I’ve met in my life.
Now, seven buses, three taxis, two hostals, and not a lot of personal space later, we are on the Pacific coast of Costa Rica volunteering with Camoranal Wildlife Reserve. One of the main focuses here is sea turtle conservation and research. Coming here, I did’t think we were going to see much in the way of live turtles. The peak season for turtle laying and hatching is July-January, during the rainy season. I have never been happier to be wrong. At around 7:30pm on our first night, we walked down to the hatchery, where nests are transplanted to be monitored and protected. We shined our red lights in and there they were: almost 100 baby olive ridley turtles, fresh out of the sand, just minutes old. Tinier than the palms of our hands, these strong little new borns were already trying to pull themselves up the wire nets surrounding their nests, determined to get to sea. We donned latex gloves and got to collect the babies from their protected nests, we measured and weighed them and then, at last, release them into the ocean. The moonlit waves seemed to remember them, the way they enfolded them like a frothy blanket and swept them gently out to the great big world. Standing with my toes in the sand, I couldn’t help but think how lucky we were to witness and be a part of this event. All week we will get to work digging a new hatchery, cleaning up the beach, clearing paths. While on night patrols (beginning at midnight!) we will continue to work with baby turtles and their mothers who come up on the beach to lay. On a back drop of water color sunrises, this is sure to be a memorable week.
Meanwhile, keep the whole group in your thoughts as we cope with the loss of Jeremy’s blonde curls, which were taken from us suddenly at a bus stop barber shop. They are gone for now, but never forgotten.
Always,
Lucy
PS Hi Mom!!!!!!