Colorful bliss

I started my volunteering journey approximately 20 days ago. It’s the first time in my life that I am actually fully immersed in volunteering work, but I love it so much that it feels like I’ve been doing it forever. 

As soon as I drove into town and saw “El Reloj” (Diriamba’s trademark by excellence) I called Ronald (APANS’ coordinator) and he brought me to my host family’s house. The house is small in size but huge in warmth, and it has Royal Blue walls (my favorite color, destiny!).

I googled “Diriamba” several times before I actually arrived (I was and continue to be as excited as can be) and read that one of the trademarks of the city was that the houses didn’t have a specific number, instead they used the colors of the houses as a reference for addresses and orientation. And as soon as I got here I realized that it’s not just the houses… Everything in this town is more colorful, the cars, the parks, the clothes, the festivities, and even the sunsets!

I was aware of the fact that I was going to be living in a place where the conditions were going to be totally different from what I was used to back at home. To be perfectly honest, before I got here I really wasn’t 100% sure about whether I was going to be able to endure it or not; but since the very first day that I spent with my host family, the first starry night that I stared into (this place has one of the most gorgeous skies I have ever seen) and the first smile that I saw drawn on a little kid’s face I knew that I was not only going to be “fine”, i was going to be “GREAT”.

Every single day here is packed with a bunch of teaching, laughing, playing, learning, walking and appreciating the beauty in the tiniest of things. By the time each mealtime comes I am so hungry that all the food tastes incredibly delicious (my stomach had some tiny issues on the first days but now it has gone into full Nicaraguan mode) and by the time the day comes to an end I am so tired that my pillows feel like goose down, my sheets like Egyptian 400thread sheets and my bed like the single most comfortable piece of furniture in the world.

I still have approximately 5 months to go as I am the new Volunteer Coordinator of the organization and so far I am as happy as can be! I will continue to keep all of you posted on my teaching experiences, adventures, life lessons learned, and a little bit of everything else that is worthy of sharing!

Cheers and good vibes to you all!

Maru J