La ensalada

as time goes on and I get to know the people more, my experience is even better
there is this feeling that is so completely surreal about being here, everyday I wake up I have to tell myself again "I'm in Nicaragua" and a wave of happiness, an electric feel charges through my body

this weekend was great, one of my first adventures far outside of Managua

here in the country of Nicaragua there is much natural beauty, beaches, rain forests, and islands
this weekend my friend Gretchen and I made pilgrimage to the beach of Pochomil

my Spanish teacher here that prepped me before classes with everyone began, gave me simple directions: walk to the bus stop across from UCA (Universidad Centroamericana) Take the 120 bus to Mercado Israel, walk to the back of the market, look for the bus that says Pochomil

These seemed like simple directions but our trip proved to be much more complicated. The first difficulty was finding the 120 bus. Here the term bus stop is used loosely. It's more like you stand on the side of the road, buses drive by at random times, the driver's assistant hangs out the car yelling the destination, and you hop on, mostly while the bus is moving. It sounds crazy but it is completely normal here. After finally finding the bus we were dropped in a the center of Mercado Israel.

My teacher described the market as fairly easy to navigate. This of course was not true. The market was huge. Not as large as Mercado Oriental but just as jam packed with people. The two of us stuck out like sore thumbs, thus the amount of people running towards us to sell us goods was certainly far greater than the average traveler. We wandered around, asking various people for directions which they gave willing, but in Spanish of course, making the process a little harder. We finally found a sign that said Pochomil. After waiting 20 minutes the bus arrived. However a lot of people apparently were trying to go to Pochomil on that Saturday. After barely making it on the bus even though we were the first ones there we began a two hour journey out of Managua.

The journey would not have been so bad if we were not standing basically the whole time. That however, I didn't mind as much as the fact we were traveling on a winding single lane road through the wilderness. The school bus, painted with the colors of the Nicaraguan flag somehow managed to navigate the rocky roads. At times literally you could look out of the bus window and see a drop off, nothing but cavernous land.

It was there, as I passed by empty fields, that I saw the lives of those who do not live in the city, the raw world of the countryside. It was the strangest thing you could imagine. Ever so often there were houses with no running water, clothes hanging on lines, old women walking with baskets on their heads full of goods, but then you would see a booth for Moviestar (one of the two-cell phone companies here) where cell phones were being sold. I wasn't sure how these two ideas co-exist out in the country, was this the influence of capitalism? In time I will fully understand.

As we rode along, people got off at different points, seemingly into the middle of no where. When we arrived at Pochomil we were the last people on the bus and were more than happy to have finally arrived.

As soon as we stepped off the bus and set foot on the beach, it all became worth it. The beach was beautiful. The huge waves of the ocean were like music. Their were people riding horses, music of the Caribbean, and delicious local foods.

But nothing here is commercial. No matter where you go you will see the real world as it exists. I think that's what makes this experience invaluable. Gretchen and I ate tostones con queso as a snack at the beach. The tostones (a sort of re-friend planton) came with a little cabbage salad as a decoration on the plate. As we prepared to leave we thought nothing of the salad and picked up our bags and towels. An old woman of a least seventy years pointed to the dish and said "Por favor muchacha, la ensalada, la ensalada" When I realized she was asking for the little pile of cabbage, I handed it to her. She took it in her hands and placed it in a little plastic bag. She pointed to the sky and said "El Senor es con ellos"

"Y contigo" I said to her. She smiled and walked away, towards the other side of the beach. "And with you" I couldn't help repeating under my breath, as I watched her disappear in the distance.