¿Y Entonces...?

My colega told me that we were going to give a charla to the homosexual/transgender population of Jalapa with CEPS about HIV, STDs and overall well-being. I was beyond excited since Nueva Segovia is a rather conservative department and I have not encountered many openly-homosexual people up here. Jalapa, especially, is known for it's machismo and though I was happy to participate in the presentation, I was skeptical of the turnout.

We had about 15 people show up to the presentation (that we held at a bar that doesn't open till later in the night); they were all very friendly and knew they were among friends and could be open, honest and trusted in our environment. The presentation started with a CEPS member going over the basics of STDs. I then started my presentation of different kinds of STDs while the CEPS rep showed pretty graphic photos of what I was talking about. I also discussed HIV, and during all of our presentation, we had representatives from MINSA giving free HIV testing. Of the 15 that participated, only 4 got tested, and they were all, luckily, negative for the illness.


After my part of the presentation, CEPS went on to talk about the importance of condom use, while referring back to what I had previously mentioned. After that brief session, we went on to talk about the difference between "sex" and "gender"..."sex" referring to what separates men and women biologically and "gender" referring to what we are perceived as in society. Given that, we had about 8 volunteers get up and give us a "fashion" show in which they had to walk down the runway three times: the first: as masculine as possible, the second: as feminine as possible, the third: as themselves.



We had a lot of laughter and a ton of fun, and I'm happy to say I gained confianza within the small group that showed and I'm looking forward to working with them more in the future. It was about a 3-hour long presentation, and while the rain was pouring hard outside, the sun was shining and the rainbows were certainly bright in that bar that day!

Whew. After 10 long, productive and fun days out of site, I'm glad to be back with the Jalapeños. After the first 3 months of service, the majority of our group went to a language workshop to better our Spanish skills for a week. More on that later...

On Friday, I went to a town called Quilalí, where there are three volunteers. We all went up there for a despedida (going away party) of some Agriculture and Business volunteers that are finishing their service and returning to the US.

Quilalí is BEAUTIFUL, but SO FAR away! I took a 45-minute bus ride from Jalapa to the empalme (road fork) and meeting up with some friends, took another bus to Quilalí. After reaching the town of Susucayan, the road becomes dirt for the next 3 hours. If the views weren't so beautiful and I didn't have the company of my friends on the bus, I might have gone a little crazy! It's only 25km from the empalme but because of all the hills the bus has to climb to get there, we had to take a break here and there for the engine to cool. I definitely have a lot more respect for the volunteers who live there and travel out of site to get to Ocotal or Managua.


Upon arrival, we went to our friend's host-family's house where we met up with 9 other volunteers. We all hung out, played guitars, listened to some original songs by the dubbed "Segovian Mountain Ramblers" (all members of which are returning to the states...how sad!) and enjoyed a nice home cooked meal by the doña of the house. I got to talk to some volunteers I don't see too often and met some new people, too. Overall it was a great night spent with great company.




On Saturday, a group of us took the bus out of Quilalí. I was en route to Ocotal for the Independence Day party that is put on by the Ocotal volunteers. After another long bus ride out of Quilalí, we got to Ocotal and had a great time. The restaurant that we frequent was kind enough to clear an area just for us and decorated some empty bottles with American flags. I met more volunteers, reunited with some people from my group, ate some great fritanga and had a wonderful time.




On Sunday, two of my friends from my group and I made the pilgrimage to Managua from Ocotal for our language workshop. In Managua, we checked into our hotel, enjoyed HOT showers, met up with people from our group and four of us went to get Korean food, upon recommendation from a volunteer who was about to return to the states.

Long story short--bad decision. I spent all week regretting my decision of going to that restaurant.

On Monday morning, we all headed out to the department of Masaya. Me, my two friends from Dolores and our friend from the Diriamba training group in Carazo were all in the city of Masatepe. The current aspirantes (trainees from Nica 59) were off doing their site visit, so we stayed with their families. We weren't sure what bus to take from what bus terminal (there's a few in Managua, and they're not all that close to each other), so after roughing it and paying probably more than we should have, we all made it to class about 45 minutes late. Hey, we had the excuse that were growing accustomed to "Nica time" in that no one is ever on time!

It was a very productive and busy week. We obtained a lot of new information during the classes, which lasted from Monday-Thursday from 8-4 every day. THAT is a lot of Spanish class! We did get a chance to look around the department a little after class a few days and went to the mirador (lookout point) of the famous Laguna de Apoyo and Laguna de Masaya. The aspirantes in Masaya are very lucky to have such a beautiful area to be in. Don't get me wrong, Carazo was a great experience, too, but these guys are spoiled! The aspirante in my house has her own guest house! There is even an aspirante whose family has a pool!



On Friday, we returned to Managua for a reconnect with the entire group. I found out that one person in my group is in the states on medical leave because he has a severe case of Mono. Luckily, we've been in touch and he's recovering well and should be back within the next week and a half or so. Another person from my group is engaged! Her boyfriend came to visit from the states and popped the question. Very exciting! Another close friend was in Managua for the previous two weeks with a pretty bad staff infection in her leg due to a bug bite, but after several rounds of antibiotics and close medical attention, she is back in her site today and I'm sure she's loving being home.

As am I! I got a little homesick while being away from Jalapa so long! Well, 10 days...but it did feel like a significant amount of time! When I got home, I came back to an empty house. Profe is gone for a day or two because the schools are on semester vacation for 2 weeks....and the doctora moved out! The vibes in the casa are a lot more tranquila (calm, relaxed), and though she didn't clean up after herself (she left old food that had been sitting in her fridge since she moved in in a corner of the living room...I'm lucky I didn't find a mouse! She also failed to sweep or mop anything before leaving...) and I went straight to work after I got home from traveling a long journey on the bus, I'm happy that I live in a stress-free house again. Granted, yes, I will have to eventually buy my own stove, cooking/kitchen supplies and mini-fridge...but for now I'm going to be sharing with the Profe which is totally okay with her. 

Home is where the Jalapeños are. Home sweet home.