Skipping town

Back in Canada on Christmas day most people are indoors due to the extreme cold. Stores close and you don't see many people around. I had never been in Nicaragua to see what the customs here are, but as we got closer to December 25th I started to see some differences. 

For one kids suddenly seem to have an unlimited arsenal of fireworks, which they set off continuously all week. Secondly everyone is drunk and roaming the streets. Although on the plus side the weather is absolutely gorgeous. When it rains its only for a few minutes, otherwise its sunny all day with a nice breeze coming off the lagoon to keep things from getting too hot.

Apparently the congregation here has made it their custom to skip town on Christmas day in order to avoid the chaos. On Christmas eve it seemed like every house was blasting reggae versions of every Christmas song at maximum volume all day. It even carried on all night, until 4:30 in the morning when I got up to go and catch the bus. 

We were taking the bus that goes to Rama, however we were getting off part way. Our destination was Rocky point, at a bible student's farm in the middle of the jungle. Away from all the drunks and fireworks. Since we weren't going the whole way the charge was only 10 Cordobas (40 cents). A short hike away from the road took us through a field of coconut trees, and then to the students farm house.

Coconut trees

Edward's Farm house

We spent the day doing not much of anything. A few of us did hike through the bush to the cow pen to see them being milked the old fashioned way, and also pasteurized the Nicaraguan way (not at all). Also we saw a monkey. We also got to see the family making coconut oil from scratch. One gallon requires about 40 coconuts, which need to be chopped open and grated by hand.

On the way to the cows

Monkey

 After lunch, at around 2:30 or 3 we felt it was time to leave. Mainly due to the reason that there was no bus to take us back and we needed to be in town before dark. So we decided to walk back to pearl lagoon. This was perhaps the longest distance I have ever walked, and this with a backpack full of fresh oranges. The walk took us through Haulover where most of the group lived, so seeing as we had plenty of daylight left by the time we arrived there, we went for a swim just outside of Haulover. It wasn't a lake, it wasn't a pond and it wasn't a river, I don't know what to call it, but it was a small body of clear inviting water and we were all hot and sweaty from walking for 3 hours in the mid afternoon sun. I made it home around 7:00 pm, and it looked like things were quieting down. I did get hit by some stray fireworks, but luckily my clothes were wet from the swimming so I didn't catch fire.