The Stinky Girl Travels

On Sunday, the whole family and I took a bus trip to Managua!  The bus ride was probably the most fun part of the trip. I got to goof around with their cousins and had fun taking photos with everyone.  Doña Chilo la Monga (nun)   We spend time in Puerto Salvador Allende, a port filled with random restaurants and eateries, overlooking a fairly well-polluted lake. It had the appearance of an amusement park at the entrance, but then you enter and realize there are no rollercoasters, just a lot of food.  It's like an amusement park, but without rollercoasters and with a lake instead!  All those tiny specks are pieces of garbage.... Yes, the park is named after the Chilean president who was assassinated during the revolution! Why is that exciting? Because I did my history term paper on the Chilean Revolution!  (My family didn't quite understand why I was so excited about the name of the park. IB friends, you get what I mean.)  I took some nice photos o...

We spent all morning painting posters and preparing flyers for the march at la casa de Doña Nancy.  At 3:00pm, we met in Parque Sutiaba,  gathered under the shade of a large, leafy mango tree. The stilt walkers in their fluorescent outfits and capes, a boy juggling pins, the dance group dressed in flowy traditional skirts of blue and white,  all the kids and their families from our project, everyone standing around and waiting in anticipation for the march to begin.  Then Felix arrives and begins to lead the group in a few exercises to kickstart our energy and excitement. We formed a circle and twirled strips of colorful crêpe paper like the ribbons that circus performers use, dancing to the beat of drums. Everyone was shy at first, giggling and half-heartedly twirling the ribbon.  Then all of a sudden, a drunk man stumbles into the center of the circle, dancing with such gusto that everyone begins to laugh hysterically.  We passed out the posters that were...

With one month left, the realization that I will have to leave this beautiful place has finally begun to hit me. My host family, my friends from Xuchialt, going to the beach, painting the mural, my blue-green casa next to "doble ele" (LL), evenings filled with the smell of fried food wafting from neighborhood fritangas, buying bolsitas of delicious frescos for less than a dollar, the potholed streets filled with horse carts, bikes, taxis and camionetas, the sudden thunderstorms, the constant presence of music and noise, hanging out in the central park, salsa dancing, greeting people with kisses on the cheek... There are an infinite number of things I will miss about living in León, Nicaragua. Most of all, though, it's the people I've grown to love that I will miss most dearly.    The little rascals at la casa de Doña Nancy With my host sister Karelia  Sitting outside during mosquito fumigation  Restoración del mural con mis amigos de Xuchialt  With that being sa...

The workshop with Felix and Flor was awesome! They started out with some fun icebreakers, like limbo, games with balloons, etc.  Everyone got to pick a colored sash to wear to enter "the party", then had to limbo in order to gain entrance. Some kids were embarrassed at first, but eventually everyone did it! Then they broke off into groups - Flor with the girls and Felix with the boys.  The girls wrote down phrases they have heard when being harassed in the street, as well as messages they would want to tell their harassers. This was really effective because it gave everyone a way to express their frustration - most of the time, girls don't react to verbal harassment on the street out of fear and/or embarrassment (or because it's easier and less time consuming to just keep walking than to confront someone), so this was an opportunity to raise their voice and express their sentiments!  The boys talked about things they have heard on the street as well, but also things t...