Matagalpa

3-14-2012
I made it to Matagalpa and got signed up for Spanish class. I think my profs from college would be impressed. Not just because of what I remember but by the fact that I was never very good at Spanish in the first place.

Being here is very much a wow, holy Spanish experience. Especially in the northern part of the country where thee are fewer tourist and fewer people who speak Spanish.

Other than Spanish and studying Spanish, I have met some very inspiring people. An American woman who is between med school and her residency. She is WOOFFing on a new farmer near a village called San Antonio. She lives in a shed with another American. They have a dirt floor and they cook most of their meals over a fire. She is roughing it for sure. This is her huge adventure, at least for the next three years while she is doing her residency. Then, we met another man in Spanish school and he is a civil engineer from the UK. He had some time off from so he partnered with an NGO and he is working on a foot bridge on the south end of Matagalpa. Right now the workers from the not so great areas was to walk across stepping stones when the river is dry and when it is wet they have to walk 2k out of their way so they can make it to work at the coffee plantations. The foot bridge he is working on will save them time and hopefully they can make it work more during the wet season. He is here for a month on his own dime and had never studied Spanish before he got here. I just think that is so generous.
It's people like those mentioned above who inspire me. They are willing to give up their own time and money to do something for someone else. Of course they have an amazing experience themselves but I still think it is pretty incredible.

 On a totally different note. Yesterday I was able to visit the EOS International office. It was amazing to meet Alvaro and his wife. They are SO nice. Because my Spanish is not good and his Spanish is hard to understand we had a hard time talking but we were able to accomplish a few things. Hopefully after this week at Spanish class I will be able to understand and communicate a bit more. It was just so cool to see all of our technologies in one room. It felt like I was finally living my dream. Next week I think there will be an installation of a water chlorinator on the campo (farm). I talked to him about observing the install. All is said what get ready for an adventure and not to worry. And with that I was sold. I am hoping that next week I will go to San Isidro for the week. There are definitely no tourists there so it will be very different. I will have to really use what Spanish I have. It will be just like Georgia again. I guess that is the only way to really learn.

No matter the challenges I think I am ready for a few days of adventure.