My Adeventures in San Ramón Begin

It's been some time since my last post. This is the result of three main factors: 1. I've been busy 2. I'm having too much fun to take time and share with others 3. Internet connections have been notoriously inconsistent/non-existent these first two weeks in San Ramón. I'll do the best I can to re-hash the events leading up to this wireless café I managed to find in Matagalpa, which is my savior, as I will explain.
I felt a great weight lifted from my shoulders driving away from Estelí, replaced by an infectious excitement for my true calling in this country: bees! As I drove down the Pan-American towards Matagalpa, Juan Miguel and I discussed agriculture, Nicaraguan life, and most importantly, country living. We made a brief stop in Matagalpa, which gives off a very San Franciscan vibe (the hilly streets are partially to blame for this feeling), ate lunch, and made our way towards my new home and family. The road quickly became almost undrivable, all potholes and cattle. Suddenly, San Ramón unfolded before me, nestled comfortably in a valley surrounded by breathtaking mountains. It was love at first sight, the quaint tranquility of the pueblo inviting me to explore the roads beyond heading East into the mountains. My cooperative, La Pita, lies 3 Km outside San Ramón, a beautiful walk I have the pleasure of taking just about everyday. In these first two weeks I've met some extremely valuable contacts with a wealth of information about Central American beekeeping projects, including a wonderful and boisterous Honduran woman named Rosemary, who emailed me close to 40 pages of beekeeping project info I've slowly been translating. As an added bonus, she's taken the unnoficial role of maestra de Español, teaching me various phrases, some wildly innappropriate, so that I can communicate in a less university trained dialect with my coworkers. Today was my first time journeying into Matagalpa. I would be happy spending every weekend with my amazing family in San Ramón, but due to some torrential storms these last few days, our house has been without electricity since Thursday, and won't have power again until Tuesday. As a result, my computer has been dead since Friday, and many of my documents are on here since I don't want to waste paper, a principle that may need to change if these outages become commonplace.
Lack of power aside, my days have been full of good people and lots of learning. I arrived not knowing much about beekeeping, and I still have a mountain to learn, but my project is coming together wonderfully, and I look forward to meeting the neighboring cooperatives this coming week. Luckily for me, the president of the Beekeeping coop lives next door to me in La Pita, a jolly man named Pedro Torres.
The coffee is out of this world, the pace of life out here couldn't be better. What a way to receive school credit! The other day, I visited the cooperative's fruit orchard with mi hermano and picked fresh mangoes and cacao fruits. It was my first taste of raw cacao, an experience I will never forget. I don't know when, but I do know that I'll be returning to this wonderful community sometime in the future, it has already built an irrisistable place in my heart.

Con amor,
Taylor

P.S. Apologies for the lack of photos, the server I'm using might kill me if I tried to upload anything. Curse the finicky internet down here! We're far too spoiled up in the states.