I’m still alive! aka Day 1

I haven’t had access to my laptop for the last couple days, so apologies for getting you all interested in this blog and not even posting right away :P But, things have been just incredible and I am enjoying every minute of it. Here’s a little run down…

Day 1: Arrived in Managua/Masaya

“Woke up” around 5:45 AM to catch my 8:30 AM flight to Houston, TX. “Woke up” in quotes because I could not sleep a wink because of anxiousness of missing a flight and excitement (of course). My rommate Katie, in all her awesomeness (!), drove me to the airport at 6 AM, and off I was to begin the trip.

The plane ride to Houston was only about 3 hours, but the best part was exiting the plane, because there was Christy, my old Sacramento friend, waiting at the gate! She’s on the same flight with me to Managua, but her departure date is about a week (although that will be TBD, I’m sure). We had about an hour and a half layover, but before we knew it, we were boarding on the plane to Managua.

After we arrive and go through customs, we walk to the baggage claim. First thing I thought was, “look for Oliver”, but when I turn my head to look out the window, all I see are so many people pressed up against the window looking for their loved ones and/or friends who had just gotten off the plane. I wish I had taken a picture of it because it was quite overwhelming. (Later, Oliver said he laughed at Christy and I because of the expression on our faces, which was basically ‘Oh s—! Where are we?’). But by the time we walked outside, I see our friend Chris duck behind a wall, so I walked towards him and see Oliver and Joy standing there with wide grins on their faces. It was a relief to see such familiar faces in a completely new setting.

We hopped in their white Toyota truck and off we were to Masaya. Our hosts were gracious enough to welcome us with Toña, one of the Nicaraguan beers. First thing I learned about Nicaragua: there is structure, but not everyone follows the rules (this theme becomes more and more apparent). As we are driving along the main highway back to Masaya, Chris asks Christy and I if we could “name that smell”. I did notice something in the air, but couldn’t pinpoint it. Christy said it smelled like the Mission (in San Francisco): ‘pomade and trash’. I said ‘fish sauce’. But nope. It was the smell of burning trash. (How does fish sauce smell like burning trash? I don’t know. My sense of smell is not that great.)

We get back to Oliver and Chris’s apartment in Masaya. It’s right next to a school, which had a security guard walking around. It was night time, so we didn’t really get to see how the place looked, other than that there was a large room when we entered, a kitchen, a living room/entertainment room, an outdoor courtyard, 2 adjacent bedrooms, 2 adjacent toilet rooms, and one bathroom with a shower. (Pictures to follow.)

Oliver wanted to show us a night in town, so we rallied up several of his friends, Irené, Meiling, Rosa, and Ramón, and all made a drive to Granada to eat at Asia Latina. First night in Nicaragua and we eat Asian-fusion food (!). We met several of Chris and Oliver’s other friends at the restuarant as well. At that point, it was hard to tell where we were at…I didn’t feel like I was in Nicaragua yet because everything was just dark. After dinner, we went to a bar called Café Nuit. After a drink and some dancing, we were pretty tired afterwards, so we ended up just going to bed.