I came, I saw...and it conquered. I went to Jinotega to volunteer for a bike race and to participate in a half marathon, but that's not what the department had in mind for me.
I left early on Friday morning (4am to be exact) to make sure I had plenty of time
that afternoon to scope out Jinotega city and still have time to relax before
volunteering for Saturday’s bike race. My friend and I made good time, making the trip in about 7 hours, and
having not eaten anything for breakfast since we were travelling, we were ready
to eat. I had popped two Dramamine during the rides because of all the curvy
and rocky roads, so I was not only hungry, but a little tired. Lunch was good
and then we went to a coffee shop to hang out with other volunteers native of
the Jinotega department and others showing up to either volunteer for the bike
race and/or run on Sunday.
A few hours went by and we all decided to hit up a local
Nicaraguan cuisine restaurant for dinner. I wasn’t completely hungry and
thought I was still full from lunch, but I decided to have a quesillo (aka
cheese in a tortilla with onion sauce) for dinner. The rest of my night my
stomach just wasn’t feeling hot and I was feeling bloated. Food? Dramamine?
Lack of sleep? Normal reaction to my diet here (seriously, I feel like I have
some kind of nausea reaction to food every other week here)?
On Saturday morning, we all woke up to be at the bike race by
6:30 am. My stomach was still bloated/full/nauseated from Friday’s meals, but I
put that annoyance aside because I was amongst cyclists getting ready for an
80km race. It was so exciting to be amongst avid cyclists (Nicaraguan cyclists,
even!) and I was definitely jealous that I didn’t have my jersey on or my bike
with me to go ride with them. The group of volunteers I was with were adamant
about getting breakfast, but I just wanted to watch the racers take off; but,
nothing in Nicaragua is on time. So, an hour and a half AFTER the racers were
supposed to go (and still hadn’t gone), we went to go get some food.
I still wasn’t hungry and my stomach was making noises…and (TMI), I hadn’t passed anything for a good 36 hours (another annoyance I have come to terms with while living here). We had a “típico” breakfast (eggs, avocado, tortilla and cheese) and though I ate what was on my plate, my stomach still wasn’t happy. By the time we got back to the park, the racers had gone and I thought I should have just stayed and watch the takeoff, rather than upsetting my stomach. Well, there’s always next year, and who knows? Maybe I’ll be doing THAT race.
With some girlfriends from my group, representing Nueva Segovia, Jinotega and Matagalpa
I wanna play!
Oh hey there, USPS jersey!
In the pit, cyclists getting ready to go
Volunteers volunteering
I WANT THOSE JERSEYS
Before getting on stage and dancing
We were supposed to be helping out local tours by
translating for the guides; however, no one signed up. So we were let off the
hook. Seeing as it was my first time in Jinotega and Nueva Segovia has no great
water areas, I was interested in going to the lake and putting my feet in the
water. A few friends and I went and spent our afternoon there; we
even got to ride on TOP of the bus for about 7 kilometers. Scary? Yes. Fun? Oh
yeah.
With our Nica guide/spunky new friend, Sarita
On top of the bus; holding on so tight while the "cobrador" is sitting casually in the background having a phone conversation.
After taking a motor boat out to a little island and dipping
our toes in, we returned to the mainland and had a fish lunch. By this time, it
was about 2pm and I still wasn’t hungry. Really, stomach? I mean…what’s
happening? I had been burping a lot, tasting what I thought were the eggs from the
morning’s breakfast…but I had the fish and fixins and made it back to San
Rafael del Norte in time for the opening meeting for the foot race the next
day.
Lago de Apanás
Our guide, Don Orlando
The little isla where a few people got out and swam around
While others got wet, I decided to tan.
Hey sicky, looking quite alright!
On the way back to the mainland
After registering, all of us volunteers (about 18 of us in
total) went to where we were spending the night: the local clinic. There were
two rooms set up for the guys and girls, and we all had the pleasure of
sleeping on hospital beds; you know, the kind you sleep in when you’re a sick
patient…but the Nicaraguan version of the beds you’re probably thinking of.
Sweet digs
The majority of the group went back up to the race meeting
area for dinner (which was going to be “típico”: rice, beans, tortillas, eggs
and cheese), but I went with a smaller group to a local restaurant. My stomach
was still not right, or maybe just still full from the lunch we had. Since I
was preparing to run a half marathon the next day, I thought I would put some
carbs in my system and ordered a cheeseburger with a cup of coffee to hopefully
digest whatever was living in my system.
After dinner we all went back to the clinic, put our one bed
sheet on the stained mattresses (which we didn’t want to think about), got race
gear ready and went to sleep. I should make a note that Jinotega is the coldest
department in Nicaragua, and the nights are nothing to mess with. Not only was
I freezing cold (with pajama pants, socks and a long sleeved shirt on), but my
stomach was not agreeing with me and the egg-burps were still happening; I
couldn’t even stretch out; I was essentially fetal all night long.
Alarms started going off at around 4 am and when I woke up,
I sprinted to the bathroom…at least 6 different times before we left for the
starting line. Whatever was in my body was NOT happy and wanted to get out. I
tried to put food in my stomach and managed to eat 2 small bananas, half of a
small muffin and 2 Clif shot blox. I also popped two immodium to prevent
anything from happening on the course.
Standing in the park,
waiting at least 45 minutes in the FREEZING cold for the bus that was supposed
to pick us up. We then saw an open air pick up truck and piled in to make the
21km journey to Jinotega city (the route was from Jinotega city to San Rafael
del Norte on the paved highway). Let’s not talk about how miserable and cold
that ride was. Even huddled all together, the wind and temperature were intense
and we were freezing cold by the time we got to the start.
On the way over, I had a few more burps escape and
apparently they wafted into my friend's face; he looked at me and said “Oh, wow.
You weren’t kidding about those burps…I think you really might be sick, are you sure you’re
ok to run?” I just said that we’ll see how I feel, but I was determined to
finish. We all hit the bathrooms one (or in my case, two) more time(s) before
the starting gun, and after popping two antacids, and hitting “play” on my
iPod, we were all off.
The first few miles were ridiculously fast (well, compared to my pace
lately) and I was feeling alright. I was chugging along, had some water and at about mile 5.5 I
hit a huge wall. I cramped over, dry heaved and when nothing happened, just
started to walk. By this time, the little group I was keeping pace with had
gone and I was walking by myself on the course. I ran into a police man and
told him that I couldn’t finish, I was too sick to go and way dehydrated. He
told me if I could make another 3km, there was a vehicle up there that could
take me to San Rafael del Norte.
I jogged/walked (heavily focused on the latter) until I saw
the fork in the road to go to the community from yesterday, where there was a
little corner store and a few police men on motorcycles. As a Peace Corps
Volunteer, it is prohibited to ride on a moto, so I told the officer my
situation and he made a few calls and told me a vehicle was on its way.
I waited for at least 45 minutes at the corner store with
fellow Nicaraguans, tired, sick and disappointed. Finally, a police truck came
by and picked me up; not before a nice gentleman bought me a bottle of water,
without asking for anything in return. Seriously, this country has the most
hospitable people; it may be poor economically, but so much more rich in its
other aspects.
It was a frustrating ride
back, riding along the course that I could have run. . I met up with the group of volunteers and
started crying. We walked back to the clinic where we took showers, got our
stuff packed up and took a taxi back to Jinotega city to go to Matagalpa
where we stayed for a couple days to relax and have a mini vacation before going back to our respective sites.
Overlooking Matagalpa city from a hill we hiked the day after the race
Yes, people live in those shacks
Oh, I guess I should mention what all this stomach fuss is
about. One word, starts with a “G” and rhymes with “LaGuardia”…I’m talking about
Giardia. I have no idea what I had eaten or drank. With
my symptoms, and being around volunteers who have already had this bug,
we’ve decided that’s what the Nica sickness gods decided to bless upon me. I went to the laboratory a few times, and they didn't find any parasites or bacteria. Granted, after my episodes on that Sunday, I immediately started taking raw garlic and ginger ale (nature's natural stomach bug cleaner). I took anti-parasite medicine for a few days and now I'm getting over a bout of an upper respiratory infection. When it rains, it pours, right?
I completed 7.6 miles, or about 12 km, of the entire half marathon (13.1mi/21km). I should be proud
of myself for that, and I am, especially since other volunteers said they
wouldn’t have even gotten out of bed if they had my symptoms.
There’s always next year
and a lot of other half marathons to come. Who knows, maybe I’ll be doing the
bike race instead? Either way, you can’t win them all, but wow, Jinotega. You know how to leave QUITE the first impression!
