First Weekend in Nicaragua

Our first weekend in Nicaragua was mostly alright. Saturday was a somewhat lazy day, which was much appreciated since we were relatively busy during the week. We slept in and then read and wrote for a while before heading downstairs for a swim in the pool. After swimming, we went out for dinner at a pizza place (I ate 5 slices, don't judge me, I've been deprived) before going back to the hotel and watching Anger Management (also on VHS). I went downstairs during the movie and Skyped with my boyfriend, then came back upstairs and took a shower. Luckily, no lizards or ants were encountered last night, making it a relatively calm night. Today, however, started off on the wrong foot. The power went out sometime around 3am, causing it to get rather warm in our room by 6:15am, when my sister woke me up to tell me why it was so hot our room. This is basically how it went:

"Eesa?" she said. 

"Oh, god, it's 6 in the morning, what? Why is it so hot in here?!" 

"That's what I wanna tell you," she said, "the power went out."

"WHY IS THIS HAPPENING RIGHT NOW" (slams head back into pillow)

After unsuccessfully trying to sleep for another three hours, I finally gave up and got out of bed around 9. Between the hours 0f 6 and 9am on a Sunday you'd think that people would be aware of the fact that some people might still be trying to sleep and kinda keep it down when they're in a place like a hotel, but this was not the case. Some ladies downstairs were eating breakfast and cackling and talking extremely loudly, so in addition to the fact that it was freaking hot in our room, it was too loud to sleep as well. Anyways, the power still hadn't come back yet, so I went downstairs, dazed and half-asleep, and asked if it was a problem with the breaker or if the power was out everywhere. A guy told me that he would fix it in five minutes, so I went back upstairs expecting the power to come back on in five minutes or so. When the power still hadn't come back after almost 20 minutes, I went back downstairs and happened to run into the guy who must be a part-time owner of this place. He's American and obviously speaks English, so I told him what was going on. He told me he'd fix it for me right then, so he went and fixed it. Meanwhile, I started talking to a guy who was coming into the hotel while I was waiting in the lobby. I found out that he lives here in Nicaragua and rotates between the hotel that we were staying at last week and the one we're in now. He was a nice old guy from Michigan and it was kinda nice to properly meet a fellow American who we'll be seeing around. Anyways, throughout the day the power has been going off and randomly coming back on, causing the wifi to be very unstable, hence the reason why I'm typing this in the notes app again and not in an actual post. We tried to take a nap earlier in the afternoon today, but there were some screaming kids at the pool and Nicaraguans really like to party so there was loud music coming from the streets. I gave up after having two weird half awake-half sleeping dreams that I thought were real, and decided to do my homework from Spanish school instead. There was a brief period of maybe an hour or so during which the wifi decided to work, so I used that time to talk to my parents a bit and reply to Facebook messages. I thought it would continue working, but sure enough, after the power went out another couple times, it stopped working again, so here I am now. First world problems, I know, but when I have to rely so heavily on wifi to talk to people, it's super obnoxious when it keeps disappearing. 

About an hour ago, the music that has been blaring all day sounded like it was getting closer. We heard people yelling and these little firework like things (they really only make smoke and a super loud boom) going off, so we decided to go downstairs and check it out. Upon reaching the outside world, we were greeted by probably 200+ horses being ridden by people dressed in jeans, long-sleeved shirts, and cowboy hats. I have no idea where all these horses came from, but they were beautiful horses, not the scrawny under-fed kind that we've seen around town. Music was playing and being played (earlier when I said there were at least 2 trombone players and at least 4 trumpet players…scratch that and make it at least several of each, plus a euphonium player and lots of percussionists) and people were dancing and talking and those on horses were prancing around majestically on their horses. After a short while, a huge thing with a big plastic bull on the front of it (it was like a parade float except the kind that's on the ground and has wheels) and scantily clad dancing girls on the back of it drove by very slowly. It was basically a beer float, because it said the name of a local beer brand all over it, and the few items of clothing worn by the girls were the colors of this company. It was almost like being in America--we had the beer and mostly naked women, all that was missing was the football. Anyways, this whole horses and people and music charade went on for a while and there wasn't really an end in sight, so we went back up to our room and went about our business after taking some pictures and videos. 

Now we're gonna do a couple loads of laundry and eat dinner, and probably watch another movie before going to bed. If anyone reading this plays viola or tenor sax, please get your instrument out and practice it on my behalf. I miss my instruments so much. And, to my amazing fabulous parents who I know will read this, I miss and love you guys so freaking much, and to my incredible boyfriend who will also most likely read this, I miss and love you tons as well. To all my friends, I guess if we made it through a year in India, we'll be fine with just a month, right? I miss you guys, too. 

Everyone else, thank you for reading, more will come later, that's for sure. 

Aneesa