This was the name of our Peace Corps group, signifying the 30th volunteer group in Nicaragua, assigned to the agricultural sector. I just missed Mateo by a day when I was in Boston – he flew out to Oregon the night before but New baby+Medical Residency=Forgiven. I’ll try to catch him again later.Pedro and I were in the same training town of Mechapa during our introductory 2002 year. For three months, we learned and laughed and struggled together, attempting to teach at the elementary school, being frustrated, and ultimately, getting in trouble together. Or several times, if you include the rest of our volunteer service. That’s why we’re still friends.
Eight years later, he still lives and works in Nicaragua, except that right now he’s in DC visiting his mom with Gabi (fiancée) and Ella (daughter), and decides that since PA is “only” 3.5 hours away, he’d make the beautiful autumnal drive out to come see me. Research indicates that the flight out of DC to Managua is hundreds of dollars cheaper than flying out of State College, so I join him for the road trip back and spend the weekend in Bowie, Maryland, where his mom lives.
Weather is BEAUTIFUL right now, warm and breezy, the best autumn I could’ve hoped for in my attempts to avoid winter. And I finally got to meet Ella. Pedro’s been sending us pictures since she was born, but kids are always way cooler in person, and 3 ½ yr old Ella loves her princess dress, the color purple, is energetic, sassy, and loved taking pictures with my camera . “She’s pretty cute. I think we’ll keep her,” Pedro says.
Gabi wanted to go apple picking, so we went to Rock Hill Orchard in Mount Airy, where we decided the Stayman variety was our favorite. A tractor-pulled hay ride later and we were picking pumpkins. The next day we were on the red brick roads of historic Annapolis, a blend of quaint community and Naval Academy. At night, we went to Irish Times bar, where we drank pitchers of Yuengling beer, watched the Giants beat the Phillies to get to the World Series, and then turned my head to the other tv to watch the UH football team kill Utah St on ESPN. Sometimes life is real good to me.
In the northern
Nicaraguan city of Esteli, I stayed with Rodney and his
Emergency Response Services for Latin America (ERSLA), the non-profit developmental agency he founded in conjunction with the firefighters of Bend, Oregon. It’s funny, listening to him explain the difficulties of securing enough funds, writing grants, pitching projects, and the struggles of developmental work. As selfish as it is for me to say, I realized awhile back that I’m not meant to be non-profit. And as much as I believe in the good of development work, I can’t deal
Nicaraguan city of Esteli, I stayed with Rodney and his 
with the frustrations involved and personally would need a social venture with more accountability. But that doesn’t mean I don’t believe in the work of others, and if you want to get involved, check it out and contact him at rodney.mc@ersla.org.Nola was an environmental volunteer from 2001, and she just never left. She still lives in the same community, working with the same schools, and has the same live wire energy as always. She continues to work with deaf kids and Spanish sign language, which may soon be filmed for a documentary.
l video of reggaeton dance.Also, those of you who know us will be thrilled to learn that Trueno is still alive, as are my three cats. Pictures later (and you know I took many!) More on being back in Nicaragua in the next post. I'm starting my way down to Panama now...
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