Sandinistas and Volcanoes

The past few weeks have been interesting. This is my first experience in C. America besides Cancun which techinically I think is N. America. We arrived in Nicaragua the day of their elections and since that day calls of fraud, recounts and oppositional demonstrations have escalated this event into the national news. Most of the election demonstrations are happening in Managua and Leon, the larger cities. The closest town to our school, La Concha has held rallies and parades which involve mortar launching, fireworks, tire burning and gunfire. The thing though is that none of it seems or feels violent, its more like thats just how they react to this sort of political turmoil. We haven't felt unsafe here and just avoid going out at night. The Sandinistas won originally but the Liberals called for a recount based on voter fraud and since then its just been a back and forth- now with international intervention. Last night was the scariest for some reason, though it may just be me and my heightened level of anxiety that naturally comes with traveling to foreign places. I woke up in the middle of the night to what sounded like shouting in chants and I thought there must be riots. And then I of course started thinking that they were getting closer. I must have eventually fallen back asleep and of course nothing happened but I guess you just never know. Luckily we are very well protected and have awesome night watchmen that help us with everything from large bugs we have dubbed crab spiders to cats jumping in our window at night. The people here are absolutely fantastic.

Yesterday we went early to do a day hike of Volcan Mombacho. It was amazing. It was a 5km hike around the second tallest volcano in Nicaragua in a cloud forest. It was green and lucious with gorgeous expansive views. It was super windy yesterday and we were blown all around whenever we came out of the forest at points along the trail that served as lookouts to take pictures. Our guide said that at the top, the winds were registering at 42 mph, we sure could feel it! The hike was basically straight ups and downs climbing wooden tree stumps cut into steps. It was cool being in all of that wind without snow or rain or extreme cold as it usually is. The best part was we got back to the school and the cooks made us the most delicious pineapple cake for dessert. So perfect after a long day of hiking.