Semana Santa

Holy Week in Nicaragua

las rosquillas- baked rings of corn and cheese, "The Cheese Its of Nicaragua"
el almibar- a very sweet dessert made with honey and seasonal fruits, such as mango, coconut, jocote and such
el recado- a sugar and cheese mixture, put inside baked goods, like sweet bread and corn empanadas. Not to be confused with pescado, fish.
el garrobo- I've heard lots of debates over this one. Some claim it is used to describe male iguanas, while others maintain its only for darker iguanas. I don't really know if either of these is scientifically correct, but I do know that Lent is reptile season. For eating,that is.
el salto- waterfall
el Viacruz- The Way of the Cross

Holy Week, much like Fiestas Patronales celebrations, provides excellent juxtaposition of the sacred and the hot mess-y. It's one of the most important weeks in the Nicaraguan Catholic calendar, but its also high season for decadent beach parties, since pretty much everybody who can afford to goes to the beach, or some other water source. Since Peace Corps is turning me into a crowds-hating grump, I didn't really feel like getting involved in that whole scene, hence why I jumped on going on a trip down the Rio San Juan early in holy week, and then coming back home to relax.

After getting back from my trip, I spent a while being minimally productive. Then on Wednesday, I finally got around to doing my taxes, which was taxing (eh eh) but worth it because I'm pretty excited about my $178 tax return. That's pretty close to a month's salary here, so probably gonna go wild with that. Probably, I'll just buy a lot of veggies, since they're nearly twice the cost of produce everywhere else in Nicaragua. After I finally got the online IRS tax thingamajig to work, which was no easy task given my slower than molasses internet connection, I went outside to see how my host family's rosquilla making was going. It was quite the production. There were trays and trays and trays of rosquillas and a roaring fire in my family's wood burning oven. Incidentally, there was also an iguana carcass drying by the fire, which was rather jarring. I eventually tried my hand at making empanadas, sort of like corn dough turnovers with sugary cheesy recado inside. Everyone commented I was really good at it, which might have been a lie or was just a reflection of a process that wasn't too difficult.

On Thursday, we did not eat the iguana, because a neighborhood dog carried it off.
On Good Friday, I felt ill, my hypochrondical monthly "This time I really have dengue fever!" scare. As usual, I did not actually have dengue. I lay in bed all day and read two books, reviews forthcoming. I tried to read sitting up in a chair, but this proved too difficult, so I went back to laying in bed. Since I couldn't really even deal with sitting up, going to follow the Viacruz around town in the sun for 3 hours was out of the question. Probably just as well, because I probably would have fainted even in good condition because being in the sun for extended periods of time here usually spells disaster.

On Saturday, I went to the saltos in the nearbyish town of El Almendro with my host family to go swimming. I probably should have stayed home, because I soon developed a pounding headache. The saltos were very nice, but the water was freezing and there were ridiculous crowds of people everywhere, their noise compounded by speakers blaring music. I'm all for nature, but I don't particularly like sharing it with a lot of other people simultaneously. On top of everything, in Nicaragua's "live at your own risk" culture, there were plenty of kids jumping off of trees and the ledge overlooking the swimming hole and doing other dangerous things that had this former lifeguard in a tizzy. "OMG EVERYONE IS GOING TO GET HEAD, NECK OR BACK INJURIES AND THERE ISN'T A BACKBOARD IN SIGHT!!!!!!!!!" More cringe- worthy than the bullriding, almost.

On Sunday, I dressed up and went to mass with the family and then went back to bed because I was still sickish. But I got bett-eh!

All this vacation stuff was nice, but by the end, I really missed working. Typical workaholic American, I know, I know, but seriously. After two weeks of not doing school, my book pile is running dangerously low. I'm excited for things to start up again and I'm optimistic that will have a lot of school without interruptions. I mean that mostly sincerely.