Hola mi amigos! It’s day three in Matagalpa. Today was Culture Day! After a delicious breakfast of pancakes with syrup, bananas and papaya, we had a short academic seminar on the meaning of culture and perceptions of Latin American and US culture. Then we headed out to the neighboring town of San Ramon. First, we visited a small shop run by Maritza Mujeres del Plomo. She and her team of young community members make jewelry out of local seeds. In exchange for helping Maritza, the children receive school supplies. Then we went outside their shop, gathering other local children for an impromptu game of soccer, and celebrated the birthday of Trudy’s mother (who passed away several years ago) by blowing bubbles with the kids as a token of remembrance. After this, we were back on the bus and off to Dona Adalila’s home to make and eat Nacatamales, which is basically a normal Mexican tamales, but cooked in a banana leaf with potatoes, rice, pork/chicken/or beef, and cornmeal added. While we were at Dona Adalila’s home we had our first experience with Nicaraguan coffee, which is amazing to say the least!
On the bus home I increased my Spanish vocabulary by saying hello to everyone we passed, and learned some compliments in Spanish, which made my day and hopefully the day of the random strangers as the “white-boy” (me) told the beautiful people of Nicaragua “Hola amigo,” “Como se llama” and “Adios mi amor!” at them from a bus with Jesus on the back!
When we got back home we quickly got ready and left to the dance studio and learned how to salsa. Among the great dancers, Tajah and Ricky dazzled the group with their amazing dance skills! On the way home from a hot dance class, we stopped at the store to make our first purchases of the trip.
Thus concluding our third day of this amazing, life changing, adventure in Nicaragua.
~Bobby Tilney
At Mujeres del Plomo
Maritza explaining how to make jewelry out of local seeds at Mujeres del Plomo
Salsa and Cumbia at the Arabesco Dance Studio