Okay, so it is about time for an update. Below are some photos and descriptions of my housing situation here in Nicaragua and then a few other odds and ends. Enjoy! (Also if there is anything you are curious about let me know and I’ll try to include information in my next blog!)

This is a photo of my kitchen taken from the door. In this photo it is much cleaner that it normally is, but I hope that changes when I have my big cleaning spree later today.



This is a photo of the table I had someone built for me. I wanted him to make it countertop height for me so that I wouldn’t have to bend over so much, like I do when I wash my clothes, but it ended up being just a little to high. The good thing about that though is that the kids can’t reach the stove which is helpful because they are always very curious about what I am cooking and this helps ensure that they won’t get hurt. Inside the small open containers on the table are seeds that I am soaking to dry out so that I can plant them.



Here is a view of my table and out the window. Those are my clothes hanging on the laundry line and you can’t see it from this spot but there is also a nice view of the outhouse from my window. Also the stack of magazines sitting on the left hand side of the table has grown extensively and I am trying to figure out what to do with. Surely I can use them for some sort of art project. If anyone has any good ideas, let me know.



Here is my little Frigidaire. A fridge is one of the things that I really wanted to have in my house so I had to use my own money to buy it. I know I could live without a fridge for two years, but I didn’t want to. So that did away with my whole plan of trying to live all two years on a Peace Corps budget. What can I say, I am weak.



This is the other side of the kitchen which is not too exciting. But soon I plan to have that blue and white hammock strung up so I can lazily swing on my hammock and read on a sweltering hot afternoon where just a twitch of your finger can cause you to break out in sweat. (Yes, it has hit full on summer/dry season here which I am not overly fond of – but if nothing else the volcanoes have been cloud free every afternoon and they are spectacular to look at.)



This is a shot of my bedroom taken from the door. The fan there quit working last week and after two or three nights of not being able to sleep for the heat my host brother took pity on me and lent me his for a night. The next day I went to town and bought a new one.




Here is a photo of my table and the tablecloth that I bought and had cut too small. I obviously wasn’t thinking straight when I bought it. Also take note of the floor. It is some sort of concrete mixture that they obviously used from the dirt around the house, as there are pieces of garbage and string and other random stuff stuck in the floor. It is my least favorite part of the house as walking on it causes dust to form and sweeping the dust out of my room creates a small dust storm that sort of defeats the purpose of sweeping in the first place. If I want to do a good job sweeping I have to put water down on the floor first, but often times I am too lazy for that.



My dresser. Not much interesting to say about it.



This is a photo of my mosquito net. The white patches are pieces of tape that I put on it to cover some of the holes that I can’t fix so that hopefully nothing will get in. My favorite part of the mosquito net is that it protects me from the gecko poop that is constantly falling from the ceiling. Even as I was writing this blog I felt something land on my head and thought it was a moth until I realized that nope… it’s gecko poo. Lovely. Also sometimes the geckos themselves fall from the ceiling while trying to catch a moth or other sort of large, random, flying insect that has found its way into my room. I knew it was bound to happen and last week one of them fell and landed on my back. I did a momentary freak-out dance around the room before I realized what it was. Last week a huge, bright green, grasshopper-looking bug found its way into my room. After staring at it wearily for a while I decided that I didn’t like it. So I opened up my door to shoo it out with a broom. Of course the giant bug went in a different direction and landed on my mosquito net against the wall. I tried again to shoo it out and of course it came flying right toward my head. I had another momentary freak-out dance and ended up hitting myself on the head with the broom handle. The bug ended up under my bed. I decided to leave it be for the moment and went about whatever I was doing. Later it landed on my dresser. I considered trying to shoo it out again, but decided that I would leave it be as it couldn’t get in my mosquito net. The next morning the bug was nowhere to be found in my room. Of course when I went into my kitchen to make breakfast one of its legs just happened to be laying on my table. I guess the geckos got a hold of it. It should have let me shoo it outside.



Here is a last view of my room looking out my window. I’m hoping to get some sort of shelves put up on this side of the wall. I have less and less room in my dresser.




So now that you have seen the inside of my “casita” or little house, here is the outside. I’m considering having it painted so that it is a little more lively.



Here is my host family’s house next door. Note the volcano in the background.



Here is the place where I wash all my clothes (and my dishes). I don’t mind washing my clothes by hand. I stick on some earphones and scrub away. Once in a while I rub my knuckles over the concrete and scratch them up a bit which isn’t pleasant, but in general it is not that bad. Often-times the kids come and talk to me and most of them have asked me more than once about how I wash clothes back home. I’m not really sure they understand how a washing machine works, but they are all impressed with the idea. At least washing your clothes by hands saves a lot of electricity and it is good exercise for the arms.



This little building here is the bathroom and shower. I am lucky that my family has a shower. Unlike most of the other PCVs in my group, I have not yet had to take a bucket bath. I’m sure the day will come, but I am thankful that it hasn’t yet.



Here is a random shot of Lucia and Ernesto playing with a board and a tire swing.



Here is a photo of the three kittens that the cat gave birth too. Unfortunately the black one didn’t make it. I’m not sure how she died, but she is no longer here. The other two have just started venturing from the main house. Lately I have started feeding the mama cat a little bit and so she is now expectantly waiting at my kitchen door every morning. Yesterday morning she was there with one of the kittens who learned quickly that it could fit underneath my door. So all day yesterday I had to be careful when opening my door so as not to accidentally take out a kitten hiding behind it. The kittens are very thin and I tried to give one of them some milk, but she wouldn’t take it. Hopefully soon.



So I took this photo because this chicken laid 18 eggs. One of the eggs broke before hatching, so there where only 17 babies, and somehow one more was killed. But here is this chicken with all 16 chicks getting ready to take cover under her wings for the night. It is right on the other side of my kitchen wall and I just think it is funny to watch them randomly stick their heads out from behind feathers. How she has room for all 16 of them is beyond me.



The next few photos are of some petroglyphs and museum pieces I saw on the island when my advisor came to visit. The island is rich in petroplyphs and pottery shards and other tools that give a presence to the past here.



These are actually just casts of the original petroglyphs, but I liked them anyways. I also thought it was great that my camera picked up the faces and after I took the picture it kindly mentioned that one or more of the subjects may have closed their eyes.



Some funeral bowls. There were a few different shapes for these funeral bowls. These are called the shoe-shaped bowls. When someone died their ashes or bones were placed in these bowls.



Another carved face that may have shut their eyes when the photo was taking.



This a bowl from one of the later periods. It is beautifully decorated. The museum had a bunch of pieces from different periods that started out very basic and eventually turned into this.



Monkey!