Nicaragua with ICDS

At 3:00 in the morning on Halloween, ICDS picked each of us up and took us on a bus to Nicaragua. Our first stop was in Granada, one of the top tourist destinations in Nicaragua. Granada is a colonial town in Nicaragua ready to handle large amounts of tourists at any time, but because it was the low season, we were one of the few tourists actually there! It was amazing. Granada is really beautiful and our hotel was so luxurious (It had air conditioning and a pool!). Those are two things that never come hand in hand when traveling on a budget in Latin America. We spent the day touring Granada and visiting museums. At night we were given free reign to do what we wanted (Almost). I have to admit, I took full advantage of that... maybe a little too much. Oh and the food in Granada was so delicious. The bar scene in Granada was great and walking around the town center was so fun. There are plenty of corner stands selling cheap souvenirs so it was a good time for all of us. The next day we left our hotel and went to Malaysa, which is a volcano outside of Granada. It had awesome views and we were all happy to be there. After our day trip we took a bus and a ferry to another part of Nicaragua, Isla Ometepe. Ometepe is an island in the middle of Central America's biggest freshwater lake. It was so cool! The lake was so huge that it created waves along the shore. We stayed at an eco-lodge along the shore and we had a great time getting to know the place that night (great food once again). The amount of bugs that swarmed the lights after dark was unreal. It may have been the scariest and most hilarious scene I have ever witnessed. Everyone was freaking out, but we managed to hangout in our rooms and get to know each other, and our teacher a bit more. On the third day, we volunteered at a local primary school and taught English to little kids who knew none at all. It was a very difficult task, but we had a lot of fun. It was great to really get to know the culture and see how these children lived their lives, day to day. The school was small and it didn't seem stocked with supplies. The teacher told us the school is basically funded by the surrounding community and its businesses. The people of Ometepe want to fund the school in order to provide for their children's future and therefore secure their culture. It was great to see the community (and even the hotels in the area) taking responsibility for the education of the citizens. After we volunteered, we went to a natural mineral pool. Of course that was beautiful. Later that night, we hung out at the eco-lodge and got to know our teachers and tour guides. The next day we took the bus home. It took about 12 hours because of traffic and our stops for food and such. Honestly, it wasn't bad though because we all had each other to talk to between our naps. I really do love the other students in my program. I couldn't have asked for a better group of people to get to know. What was most difficult to deal with in Nicaragua was the poverty. In Granada, there were constantly people coming up to us begging for food or money and even in Ometepe it was clear that the families were on the verge of poverty. It was obvious because of the lack of infrastructure as well. It is upsetting to watch and realize there is little you can do at this point in time. Its important to always be prepared to see unexpected and not always desired things when visiting other countries. All in all, Nicaragua was my favorite trip so far. It was a perfect weekend and I can't thank ICDS enough for organizing it for all of us. The crazy memories I've made this weekend will rest with me for a lifetime.
I will forever miss Nicaragua