Nicaragua and getting older

Well, it has been over two weeks since my last post - I can't believe that. The time has gone by so fast! And that's a good thing in some ways, but in a lot of ways I wish time would slow down! I'm so grateful for the time I do have here though, and just for this experience in general. It's a crazy idea to start building a life in a new place that you know can't last for long - but at the same time, what is "long" in this life? I'm determined to make the most of my moments here.

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These past two weeks have been filled with school work, tests, lots of Spanish, and this past weekend, Nicaragua! I went on a long weekend trip with my friends Meagan, Margie, and Sho. Although the bus ride was ridiculously long and the trip wasn't as long as I would have liked it to be, we enjoyed our time there and it was a relatively cheap trip! We went dancing one night, which was kind of a fail due to the amount of gringos and creepy older men there, but walking around Granada and Masaya was beautiful - the city of Granada was a city during the colonial days of the conquests of Spain, and the churches and streets there are antique and beautiful. Masaya has a volcano and some beautiful nature, but we didn't have time to do everything so we went to "mercado viejo" which is a marketplace inside these really old walls. It was a very unique place and I liked it a lot - there is so much poverty there though, and it is so dirty - there is trash everywhere walking along the streets, and it made me sad to see such a beautiful country in that condition. It was also hard to think that I was in a third world country and I couldn't do much more than give people money or water when they asked. I've never been asked so many times before.

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The people in Nicaragua are beautiful! And I may never have seen so many one-person bicycles with two (sometimes more) people on them. Also, there were a ridiculous amount of horse-driven carriages.

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Paul, William, and Margie

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Nicaragua has one of the world's best baseball teams. They are amazing. Meagan doesn't play, but she makes a great model for the uniform!

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View from a church in Granada... we climbed up the church tower to watch the sunset!

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Debating directions in Granada

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Typical foods in a Nicaraguan breakfast

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These aprons were everywhere!! All the vendors had them. I would like one.

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Hey guess what.... I'm 20!!! :) It was strange not being home for my birthday, but it ended up being a really fun day!

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That's all for now, I promise I'll be better about blogging!

love,

Courtney

(World Traveler in Training)