First day in Managua

After an uncomfortable flight having been sat next to a hulk of man who could have easily taken up a seat and a half on his own, a three hour layover in Huston, and an even longer sleepless flight, I finally made it to Managua. As soon as I walked out of the plane into the airport I could feel the humidity creeping in from outside. I was immediately drenched in sweat. This would be my state for the rest of the day. I got my luggage and found the taxi driver that was waiting to take me to the host family that was assigned to me by the Spanish school that I will be attending for two weeks. I hopped in his cab, which luckily had no seat belt, because I was about to be taken on one of the most nerve racking cab rides of my life. The traffic in Managua is a controlled chaos where everyone is tacitly playing a game of chicken with everyone else. The soothing sounds of car horns fills the air and semi trucks come so close to you that you can practically give the driver a high five. I chatted with the taxi driver to take my mind off of his (and the entire city’s) driving habits. He asked me how I was doing, and I told him that I was tired and a bit depressed. I explained to him that I had to end a relationship before coming to Nicaragua. He told me not to worry because there were plenty of beautiful women in Nicaragua, and that I would soon forget about this other girl. I replied that I wasn’t really looking for finding a beautiful woman in Nicaragua and that I didn’t want to forget her. Him and his girlfriend who was in the front seat just laughed. He then told me about the importance of learning the obscenities in Spanish, and going to discotheques.

Upon arriving at my host family’s house, I was fed immediately. The food was decent: some fish, some avocado, and some rice with peas. I finished my plate and accepted seconds, because that’s how I was raised. After a while of relaxing, playing banjo, and contacting people to let them know that I was safe, they drove me to the Spanish school. I talked to the Spanish school’s director and was put though various tests. He said that I was some kind of anomaly who has advanced Spanish understanding and conversational skills, but a very poor basic foundation. I will have an 8:00am-12:00pm intensive Spanish course daily for two weeks. The rest of the day was spent running errands with my host family, having beans and rice for dinner, and watching Nicaraguan wheel of fortune.

As I’m sitting here writing this blog there are a variety of wild noises outside my room ranging from something clawing at my roof, to that thing that was clawing at my roof falling off the roof with a loud screech and thud, to howling, to stomping, to the continuous revving of car engines. There are also perpetual random downpours which strike hard and fast. They happen more at night, but I experienced this earlier as I was walking back home from the Spanish school and had gotten lost for a bit (there are no street signs, and everything looks the same) sometime in the afternoon. Just as I was getting really flustered and annoyed at my self, the sky suddenly opened up and I was drenched; but, instead of making things worse, in this humidity it was welcome. Although, because there are parts of the street that are full of trash, the rain can make it smell like a dump, which as you can imagine is not very pleasant

As of right now I’m feeling lonesome, sleep deprived, and disheartened. I have left the country three times prior to this, but never before had I been more reluctant to leave than this time. Being forced to prematurely end my relationship has indeed crushed some of my ambition for my project, especially when it was at the cost of something so precious to me. It was extremely difficult for me to tear myself away from her to walk through the doors of the SFO airport a lonely dejected mess, not knowing how long it would be before I would be able to see her again, or how communication would continue. I am hopeful that I will soon be able to muster up some drive and fight the apathy that has overcome me. I have decided the best thing to do is to focus completely on my tasks at hand, making sure that my social networking project doesn’t fall through (something that has been a constant worry of mine), and also doing well in my intensive Spanish course. Overall, given the circumstances I consider today to have been a very good day, and there is definitely a part of me that is excited to see how the rest of this trip pans out, especially when I begin working on my main project with the UCA San Ramon Coffee Cooperative in Matagalpa.

I know Kerry wanted the interns to write down some expectations, but I’d rather just keep an open mind to whatever comes at me. However, the definite expectation that I had about not being able to have a warm shower has been confirmed.

p.s. I apologize if this entry has been very disorganized, I’ve never written a blog before and I haven’t slept in a day.

-Levi Sharpe