Words can't even begin to express my experiences in latin america. this post/journal entries are long overdue but necessary in order to preserve my freshest recollections of my trip.
1130am hit and i knew it was finally over... 5 gruesome finals, 2 lab reports, and 1 presentation within a span of a week. it was an intense 10 weeks of the quarter but i was done. i got home, sleep deprived and exhausted, laid on my bed and closed my eyes. i had been so consumed with studying and tests that i had not prepared nor packed for my 8 hour plane flight yet. however, excitement began to flood my system as i began to realize that within 12 hours, i would be on a plane flying to a country i had little knowledge of. but with a spanish-english dictionary in my bag and my stethoscope in the other, i zipped up my overstuffed navy blue luggage half filled with medications, stickers, candy, and coloring books. at 1030pm, we picked up nina and onward we went.
we arrived at managua, the capitol, at around 1145am and was quickly confronted with the language barrier at the airport. luckily, we were able to find our gmt organizers there quickly alongside other trippers who were on similar flights. juan carlos (our trip doctor), dennia (the coordinator/translator), and karen (coordinator/dentist) were the ones to greet us and later on, continue to build relationships with them. using a shuttle, they took us to our first hotel within the city to wait for the other trippers to arrive. here, i meet edgard, another translator on the trip. nina and i decide to put our luggages in our hotel room and we all head towards the mall right across the street from us to have lunch. nina and i, alongside reece and rayad, share our first nicaraguan meal, consisting of fried plantains, rice, beans, and chicken. we then decide to grab some gelato since the weather was in the low 90's. since i've always been shy about speaking spanish, i've never felt so out of place before and uncomfortable. it was difficult to order food relying on edgard to order it for me and people kept staring, realizing that there were LOTS of foreigners surrounding them. i faced the harsh reality that i had to overcome my slight fear of speaking spanish the next couple of days. after lunch, nina and i decided to go back to the hotel and tan poolside while reading a book. we were so exhausted and decided to nap until dinner time.
Hotel Express had the best accommodations since there was air conditioning, a pool, small gym, and internet access. once everyone arrived, we all headed back to the mall to have dinner; again trying the nicaraguan food and this time trying eskimo, a popular ice cream brand. we all headed towards the local grocery story where a majority of the trippers decided to buy Flor de Cana, a very popular Nicaraguan beverage. we headed home and took shots with a couple of people in the room and then all headed out to the pool to get to know everyone. despite having to wake up at 8am, we all stayed up pretty late that night -- Will and I took a dip in the pool at midnight. it was such a great way to enjoy everybody's company and just relax before we had to work.
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