Ultimo Dia

My roommies, Noah and Marian. Cool 19 year old couple from Seattle. They are going to work on a farm in Mexico now! They are BEYOND creative.

Joselyn. She lay in my lap asking me why I had to leave and telling me not to go...UH! So hard.

He looks sweet here. But don´t be fooled, Wilmer is a PUNK. But I kind of loved him.....

Good Ole Jerry. My morning commute here in Esteli.

Yesterday was my last day at school and my last day with GVI. Awake at 5:30 this morning(that pesky body alarm again). Wide-eyed and filled with anxious butterflies, there was no returning to sleep. I can´t believe it´s April and it´s all over.

My friend Karla, whom I met in Guatemala, just emailed me after a two months stint on the project there and a few weeks traveling with her boyfriend, ¨Leigh, just got home to Jersey last night. I thought I dreamt the past months when I woke up this morning...Missing Central America deeply...¨

I am positive I will feel similarly when finally home, but there are a few things I won´t mind leaving behind...

• The DUST! (my lungs are at capacity)
• The creative and constant cat calls of the Esteli men: ¨Hey lady! I like you cause you big laaaaady.¨
• The Carb Feasts: Forking through pasta only to find rice hiding underneath. And pulling it all together, a massive tortilla. This was a favorite dish of Honduras AND Nicaragua...lucky me ;) Needless to say, I am feeling a bit...swollen.
• The relentless flies! And other pests I feared would invade the crevices of my face while sleeping.
• The ¨hum¨of the Chicken buses and millions of motorcyles puffing out clouds of healthy black air.
• The dodgy modes of transportation. Old, jam-packed school buses discarded from the U.S. for not meeting appropriate safety standards. Riding up a steep and swervy mountain in the back of a pick up truck with a man that was driving STICK shift with one arm...the other was in a cast.
• Cold showers.
• NO showers.
• The slow fickle internet and worthless phone booths, and with that ineffectively communicating (sending my mother into a 3-month frenzy)
• Central American Time. The time committment thing here is rarely respected.
• Toilet paper in the bin NEXT to the toilet....not IN please.
• Toilets without seats.
• The invasion of personal space. I will be SO happy to get that back....

But with those few little complaints, the things I will surely miss outweigh them all.

• Children´s laughter.
• The children themselves.
• Little hands all over me.
• The AMAZING endless supply of fruit! Best I´ve ever had.
• The weather.
• Chocositas and Chokies (my favorite cookies).
• Three homecooked meals daily.
• The Batidos, Liquados, Bebidas (basically fruit smoothies).
• The simplicity of life here.
• Never needing or wanting.
• The beauty. Especially the gorgeous city of Antigua and the lush landscape of Honduras.
• Seeing stars....every night.
• The freedom.
• Getting CUSTOM-made cowboy boots in 4 days and paying hardly anything for them.
• Life sans anxiety.
• Never rushing.
• Feeling well-rested and exhausted at the same time.

I leave Esteli in 3 hours and head to Managua for the night. I fly out at 6:30AM to meet mi novio in Belize. I have so much to do before heading out, that my final post (well maybe one more, reflecting) will end here (though there is SO much more to write!) I must give my house mother a gift, buy cigars, take more pictures, meet Marian for one last Frozen Mocha, and try TRY to zip my bag.

Adios!!