So my Christmas here wasn´t really ¨Christmas,¨ but more of a really wonderful vacation with friends and my first host family! It couldn´t possibly be Christmas anyways without snow, family and a Christmas tree!
First, I met up with other volunteers that I hadn´t seen in about a month at a laguana for swimming. The laguana is basically a large volcanic crater filled with water...and it is gorgeous!
The Laguna!
Here is Emily and I standing in front of the laguana from the cabana that we rented for the night....
....and here is the amazing view from the hammock I got to know quite well!
For the second half of my trip, I went to visit my first host family. It was really nice to see them again and I realized really how much I miss them. It was also really nice to be able to hold a conversation with them without having to stop every two seconds because I didn´t know a word. I can even kinda joke around in Spanish too!
I did want to bring a little American Christmas tradition to Nicaragua. Well, it ended up being a major task to try and find Christmas stockings in Nicaragua (guess I should have thought about that first), but after about 15 stores I found them. I wrote their names with glitter glue (surprisingly easy to find) and stuffed them with goodies. I shared with them the story of Santa Clause and they joked around saying that I was Santa Clause this year!
Carlos (host brother), Yadira (host mom) and Nestor (friend of the family)
For my going away present last time, I bought things to make French toast and they absolutely loved it! So this time, I found stuff to make s´mores, and we cooked marshmellows over the fire on Christmas day! They had a blast with it and it was extra messy cause my graham crackers kinda crumbled in the 4 different buses I had to take to visit them.
Of course, I really missed Christmas in the states, but it was really nice to be with my family and friends here in Nicaragua too! I hope everyone had a Feliz Navidad and wish everyone a Prospero Ano Nuevo!
This is a typical street on the other side of town from where I live. You can see how the entire town is surronded by moutains.
In the center of town is a gigantic Catholic church (the main religion in Nicaragua) and a basketball court.
Other streets near the park. Only the streets inside the town are paved like this. All other streets leading out of the town to other communities are dirt.
Caramela was one of 6 puppies. Here is her (left), her sister, and two brothers. Aren´t they adorable!
