21 años!

It´s not everyday one celebrates a sober 21st birthday in a country where the legal drinking age is 18... but then again, its not every day that one gets to party with the best project staff ever in Matagalpa!

Basically, the b-day was a blast, from the cards made from nutella crepes at breakfast, to charla supplies and semi-anti-climactic baloons, to the virgin margaritas and bomb.com ice cream cookies cake, complements of the amazing in house chefs. I wouldn´t have wanted it any other way.

Thanks everyone!

Survey

Just a quick update, since I have to do budget and type up my community profiles before our staff meeting...

Route was an inredible experience. The fact that complete strangers welcome me into their home for a night alone is enough, but that they then accept volunteers for 5 weeks, free of charge is a testament to the hospitality of Latin America. All in all, the experience was a fantastic one, lots of challenging moments... but incredibly rewarding.

Look out for pictures.. coming soon!

The Whirlwind

Palabra del dia: Matagalpa: indigenous, various meanings; the most common ¨to the rocks¨

It´s day 3 in Nica and it has been crazy loco...

After flying upside down on a canopy tour, climbing Nicaragua´s most active volcano and sledding down it, and going to the beach, I have arrived in Matagalpa, which is amazingly beautiful.

Now the real work begins. The volunteers arrive June 24th, so we have just a few short days to get our bearings, survey the host communities, and plan briefing.

TO THE ROCKS!

On cramming one's posessions into a large backpack...

Packing.
That's what I'm doing. In reality, I've been packed all year, incessantly flitting between 5 countries in the past 365 days. Yet, every time its a new struggle. Whether its the sheer monotony of packing 3oz bottles of shampoo inside plastic baggies, or the fantasies of my location the next time I don my 'hug a tree' underwear, packing for me seems to be an interminable task.