A taste of our daily life, Central American style…
1. Drinking soda out of a can with a straw.
Apparently it’s not sanitary to drink straight out of the can around here. I don’t think I will ever go back to drinking straight out of the can, sipping through a straw is just way more fun.
2. Making friends with small rodents while doing the dishes.
Sometimes mice run across the counter in front of you while you’re doing dishes late at night, and you may make a strange yelpish screech, but the dishes must go on.
3. Cramming twenty-six humans into a fifteen passenger van.
Yes, that happened. In Guatemala. Twice. We have learned to be space efficient humans.
4. Eating cow’s stomach.
I wouldn’t recommend smelling mondongo before taking a munch. It has this interestingly chewy smooth texture, but tastes like chicken. I recommend you try at least a nibble.
5. Swimming in bodies of water that could also pass as sewage plants and contain fresh water sharks. #lakenicaragua
There must have been a reason we were the only non-locals splashing our way into the water across the mucky mess of a beach. I’m not the kind of human who can live down the street from a body of water and not jump in at least once, so when the Gringo Loco as we affectionately refer to missionary man, Nathan, announced that we were jumping in the lake in twenty minutes, we readily agreed. It’s not every lake where you can play the treasure hunt game. I challenged everyone to dash into the water, stick their hand down into the mirk and grab the first thing their hand touched off the bottom of the lake. We laughed our way home telling the heritage and history of everything from a tire to a mango with plastic forks sticking out of it. Fortunately, none of us came back with any freshwater sharks for show and tell.
6. Watching a monkey cross the road in front of me.
A black fluff ball dashed across the street in front of us. “Is that a cat?” I asked Kathryn, “No, a dog?” pause, “It’s a MONKEY!” A monkey just crossed the road in front of us. Is this real life?
7. Eating beans erryday.
No explanation needed. I love me some frijoles revueltos.
8. Saying goodbye to new friends all too soon.
On a more serious note, this is one of the most challenging aspects of this journey for me, investing in new friendships and having to leave them after a short thirty days.
9. Is that dirt or a tan?
We may never know. We have started singing, “I just can’t wait to be CLEAAAAN,” in our best Simba voices.
10. Bug spray is the new body spray.
True story.
There you have it amigos, así es la vida!
