The Life of a Chosen Few (Leon, Nicaragua)

So, it has been officially over two weeks now. I am still adjusting to many things. First off, living out of a backpack with only 4 tanktops, 4 t-shirts, a few shorts, and 7 pairs of underwear is tough. I washed a bunch of my laundry yesterday, as I was down to my last pair of underwear, when I returned to the hostel at 5pm they were all still very wet because of a huge downpour that occured, they are still drying as we speak. I am wearing the same underwear I wore yesterday. Manually washing your clothes is not an easy job, it was a bit of a spectacle for one of the cleaning ladies at the hostel. She was so kind to me and taught me the most efficient way to do things, however I wasnt able to understand half of what she was saying in Spanish. I stare, smile, nod, and then carry on. She then corrects me again, until I get it right. I tell her in my broken language and shabby grammar that she has a hard job! This is similar to everything else I do here, a fish out of water, as I would normally say in my cultural diversity workshops. I dont understand the language, the culture, the bus systems, the traffic, the way of living.

The humid heat sometimes is unbearable, it slows me down, makes me tired, makes me lazy, and it makes me sweaty and eventually dehydrated.

Living in dorm rooms with shared washrooms is also a challenge, not knowing who you will be sleeping with, not knowing how disgusting and damp the showers and toilets will be, having people disturb you in the middle of the night (although, I am normally the only that snores), not knowing if you will wake up with bed bug bites all over your body, and the list goes on.

As well, living life on a tight budget can be difficult as well. Manuela and I have only been eating full meals in restaurants once a day and then just having street food or simple breakfasts in the meantime. Thank god for Manuela, she speaks almost fluent spanish, plans everything, and bargains like a stubborn bull. She has saved a load of cash thus far!

So.... the other day on the beach there was a sign at this one hotel that said something like "You are living the life of a chosen few". Hmmm... it makes me think and ponder about things. It is so easy for me to sit here and complain about this lifestyle, that I have chosen to do on my own will by the way. And then I look around and see where I am and who I am surrounded by. Back in Granada I met this one guy (Kenny) who was only on a 2 week vacation, he was from the states and working at a bank. He told me that Nicaragua was so eye-opening for him and he now know why people travel so much. He said he used to roll his eyes when he would meet the cliche "travelling has changed my life" kind of person. It is so true though, travelling is a privalege for me as so many others never get the chance. I was chatting with this Nicaraguan guy last night from the Atlantic coast of Nica, he is black and a minority over here on the mainland, going to school to become a pharmacist. He told me all these beautiful things about his culture and how he hopes one day to explore the world as well. Two days ago, a young child with a disfigured face came to me begging for coins, and I suddenly had flashbacks of my travels through other impoverished countries, like India and Cambodia, that have made me want to become a social worker in the first place. I am blessed to have had a mother who struggled as an immigrant in Canada to raise her three children and still support her family back in the Philippines. I will never forget this.

So, despite all my moaning about wet damp clothes, irritable skin, and dodgy dorms, I am so glad to be doing what I love to do. Living on a "tight budget" put into perspective is ironic. Kenny pays $75 per month to go to university here. And dorms, by the way, are the best ways to meet other people from around the globe. I have been hanging out with this guy Greg, or G for short, who grew up in the ghettos of Philly, telling me his stories in life, telling me his perspectives on politics, and his aha moments here in Nicaragua. Just yesterday he said, "Can you imagine if people in the states had to hand wash their clothes? Shit, they´d go ballistic!"