Jeans from the Mercado!

I guess I have to start by admitting the reason I needed to buy new jeans: I have never in my life gotten too fat for my jeans...until now.  I guess all the awesome food I was getting when I lived with my host family was just too tastey for me to ask for smaller portions. (We all know I never turn down good food.) So, I wore through my favorite pair of “everyday jeans” in the inner thigh area – which I realized when I got up from my seat on the bus and felt air entering through a hole the size of a golf ball! I'm telling myself that because of it's placement, no one noticed as I walked up the entire isle at my stop.

This unfortunate event left me with two options...1 head to an overpriced clothing store to use American money to buy jeans, or 2 head to the mercado and see what I could find on the carts of the street vendors. (Option 3 – repair my jeans – was actually not an option, because they really don't fit me anymore.) Of course I opted for numero dos and headed out to the market!

There I was, strolling down my usual path in “the city” of Rivas, through the marketplace towards the park. I had already passed the blocks of fruits, veggies, rice, beans and corn, and I was coming up on the clothes, hair clips, earrings, shoes etc when I saw her. A woman had a whole table of really cute skinny jeans just waiting to be worn. So naturally, I asked if I would be able to try some on because jeans never fit me right. “Claro que si!” she told me as she asked me what size I thought I might need. Well since I had just worn through my size 7s, I opted for a 9/10. She then led me back down the block where I came from and walked me into the back of one of the market stalls. Since these stalls are set up on a normal street, the backs of them open into the sidewalk in front of people's houses. The door to the house (her house?) was open because here in Nicaragua, if people are home, the door is always open. She quickly pointed me towards the bathroom and went back out to her table of jeans. So, I walked into this house, explained to the people working in the kitchen that I was just trying on jeans, and they didn't even look at me twice. I found the bathroom and tried on the jeans only to find out they were too small!! WHAT?! 9/10 jeans?! I headed back outside and up the block again to her table and told her to my dismay, that they were too small. (All clothes and shoes run very small here it seems.) I then took the 11/12s back to the fitting room – oops I mean stranger's bathroom – to try again, this time entering without saying anything at all, just throwing a smile and wave to the kitchen as I passed it. Success!

So I bought my first pair of mercado jeans – which are super cute skinny jeans with pretty silver designs on the pockets...very Nica. I'm wearing them right now, and I love them! I paid my 170 cords (about $7.75) and was bid a very good day, filled with God's blessings. Yeah...have I mentioned I love it here?

Semana Santa

Call it "holy week," "spring break," "Easter vacation," or whatever you want...but here in Central America, the week before Easter is Semana Santa.  Of course there's no school, but what's even better is that from Wednesday until Sunday, the whole country pretty much shuts down!  Ok, I might be exaggerating a little, but the grand majority of businesses, stores etc. are closed, which means everyone gets a few days to completely relax and forget about life for a while!

I started off my week "arreglando" or straightening up my house.  Then on Tuesday, I got invited to head out to San Jorge, one of the beaches on Lake Nicaragua.  I almost declined because I was invited by a group of guys my age - which has the potential for causing some serious "chisme" (gossip) since girls and guys don't generally hang out together here - but I'm so glad I went.  Two of the guys in the group are really good friends of mine, so I knew it would be a fun day.  It was absolutely gorgeous with the view of the island of Ometepe out in the water, and we played beach volleyball and swam all day long.  Lunch was amazing too since we all brought along different goodies.  I think all together we had avocados, watermelon, pineapple, sandwiches, soda, mangoes, and thanks to my grandma, GOLDFISH!  So have I heard any gossip about it yet?? No, but I'm sure word has made it around town that I piled into a taxi with 5 guys, plus the male driver to head out to the beach. Eh...if I let gossip run my life here, I'd never leave the house - haha which would lead to gossip about me being proud and anti-social. I just need to give credit to these guys and say that not once did I feel uncomfortable around them, and that not one of them even considered hitting on me!  It was such a chill day. =)

The rest of the week, I spent in my training town with my old host family. <3 On Wednesday, we baked literally all day long.  This is a typical tradition here in Nicaragua during Semana Santa - because after Wednesday, everything is closed, so people need to have their bread and pastries to eat!  Since my family has an oven and owns the "molino" or place where they grind corn into "masa" for baking, basically the whole town came over with their ingredients to bake.  We literally baked from 8 o'clock that morning (they started heating the oven at 6) until after 11 at night!! We made rosquillas (a ring shaped pastry), tortilla dulce (basically homemade sweet cornbread), and bread.  Let me just say that bread is a LOT of work!! Like literally a work out!!

So, after all our hard work, we spent the rest of the week hanging out in hammocks, listening to music, talking, playing, and just generally relaxing and enjoying life.

Since it was "holy week" there were also processions everyday in every single town here.  Palm Sunday was awesome because someone dressed up as Jesus and rode into the church on a donkey while we all laid palms on the street in front of him!! I'm so mad I didn't have my camera! On Friday, the procession was very sad, complete with depressing music and the people of the church carrying around the Jesus from the crucifix on one of those beds they carry queens around town on - aka a funeral march.  We walked for more than 2 hours all around town, and ended in the church for a quick blessing.

Easter Sunday's procession was much happier, complete with firecrackers and a band "making a joyful noise" to celebrate the resurrection.

All in all, I have to say Semana Santa was pretty awesome.  I got to experience some really cool Nica traditions and got to just chill and relax.  Of course we went out to dance on Saturday too. =P

Happy Spring everyone!! =) Speaking of your spring...my summer has gotten to the point where after showering and reaching for a shirt to put on the other day, I pulled my hand back in disgust at the realization that my shirt felt like it had just been taken out of a drier.  Never felt heat like this before in my life.  Maybe I'll break down and buy that fan...