Do they have Starbucks here?
No, they do not. But that was one of the many questions that I was asked this weekend. I think it was my favorite. But I´m getting ahead of myself.
The first exciting part of orientation was actually arriving at the hotel in Managua. Students have been protesting this week due to increased prices of buses. And let me clarify that by protesting I mean that they burned two buses on Wednesday. So we went to Managua on Thursday for orientation, and after a mixed up way of getting there, we were dropped off at the mall...close to where the hotel was. I was still a bit turned around, being that I´ve never really been to Managua so we walked to the mall to get some directions. However, on our short little walk we pass by about thirty policemen in full riot gear. Rifles and all. And the scary looking riot police all look at the silly gringas who are clearly lost. And they kept calling us to come over. Now, at this point I wasn´t sure if they were calling us to come over because they wanted to hit on us, in which case I wanted to ignore them, or if they were calling us to come over because they needed to tell us not to keep going the way we were going, in which case I thought maybe they should be spoken to. So, I bravely walked up to this man, who I will call Goliath, because he is the biggest man I´ve ever seen. Seriously. Standing next to me I think he was almost a full foot taller. Maybe thats an exaggeration, but I think whenever anyone is holding a gun it makes them look taller. I asked him for directions, and he told me that I should go another way to the hotel, because they were throwing ¨bombas¨ ahead on the road I was walking on. Now, bombas are actually tear gas...not real exploding bombs. And I looked down the road, and saw the smoke. So then, I decided that taking a taxi would be a better choice than walking to the hotel. But not to worry, I took a picture with Goliath...it will be posted soon.
So, after the exciting arrival scenario, we got to the hotel, which has air conditioning and HBO in English (amazing). Maria and I gave the orientation to the students who arrived...it was interesting to hear what they thought about what they were seeing, as well as to be on the other side of the coin. Very different perspective, but I am getting used to being in that role. I got to listen to the history of Nicaragua, which was also quite illuminating. I am such a nerd, but really, it was good to hear the story.
We also went on a tour around Managua, the most interesting part for me was the Plaza de la Paz, which means Peace Plaza. In 1998 (I think) the President of Nicaragua called for everyone who had fought in the 10 year civil war to turn in their arms. So all the guns were placed in the plaza, and then they poured concrete over everything. Its pretty cool actually.
Today I returned to Masaya, very happy to be home and have my own room and some time to not be in charge of people. But tonight I will be going back to the airport to pick up another late arrival. I´m getting to know the airport very well...
Thats all the updates for now, I will post the picture of me and the policeman soon. Until then...
The first exciting part of orientation was actually arriving at the hotel in Managua. Students have been protesting this week due to increased prices of buses. And let me clarify that by protesting I mean that they burned two buses on Wednesday. So we went to Managua on Thursday for orientation, and after a mixed up way of getting there, we were dropped off at the mall...close to where the hotel was. I was still a bit turned around, being that I´ve never really been to Managua so we walked to the mall to get some directions. However, on our short little walk we pass by about thirty policemen in full riot gear. Rifles and all. And the scary looking riot police all look at the silly gringas who are clearly lost. And they kept calling us to come over. Now, at this point I wasn´t sure if they were calling us to come over because they wanted to hit on us, in which case I wanted to ignore them, or if they were calling us to come over because they needed to tell us not to keep going the way we were going, in which case I thought maybe they should be spoken to. So, I bravely walked up to this man, who I will call Goliath, because he is the biggest man I´ve ever seen. Seriously. Standing next to me I think he was almost a full foot taller. Maybe thats an exaggeration, but I think whenever anyone is holding a gun it makes them look taller. I asked him for directions, and he told me that I should go another way to the hotel, because they were throwing ¨bombas¨ ahead on the road I was walking on. Now, bombas are actually tear gas...not real exploding bombs. And I looked down the road, and saw the smoke. So then, I decided that taking a taxi would be a better choice than walking to the hotel. But not to worry, I took a picture with Goliath...it will be posted soon.
So, after the exciting arrival scenario, we got to the hotel, which has air conditioning and HBO in English (amazing). Maria and I gave the orientation to the students who arrived...it was interesting to hear what they thought about what they were seeing, as well as to be on the other side of the coin. Very different perspective, but I am getting used to being in that role. I got to listen to the history of Nicaragua, which was also quite illuminating. I am such a nerd, but really, it was good to hear the story.
We also went on a tour around Managua, the most interesting part for me was the Plaza de la Paz, which means Peace Plaza. In 1998 (I think) the President of Nicaragua called for everyone who had fought in the 10 year civil war to turn in their arms. So all the guns were placed in the plaza, and then they poured concrete over everything. Its pretty cool actually.
Today I returned to Masaya, very happy to be home and have my own room and some time to not be in charge of people. But tonight I will be going back to the airport to pick up another late arrival. I´m getting to know the airport very well...
Thats all the updates for now, I will post the picture of me and the policeman soon. Until then...
posted by Jessie at 4:20 PM
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