After one of our Peace Corps brethren was told he could not be sworn in as a volunteer next week, a group of us went to a beautiful vista overlooking the Laguna de Apoyo and Granada. The Mirador and the view we´ve come to know clouded over as we watched a storm approach. The black stillness of Lake Nicaragua was replaced by an undulating dark grey. The twinkling lights of Granada went next as the clouds consumed whatever they passed. We sat in the drizzle watching the lagoon disappear before ducking under someone´s house or restaurant, we couldn´t tell. I couldn´t help but connect with this pathetic fallacy. I am even leaving the small list of things I have become comfortable with here for the mountains of the north woods.

Currently reading ¨Into the Wild¨ makes me feel comparatively sane. I am still nervous.

After getting back last night I decided to call the old Deuce, my former employer. I felt like I was back there, and maybe that´s what I wanted. When I woke up, slightly hungover, I realized familiarity is a crutch. Its alright to miss it sometimes.

Well this is my town. It is as charming as it is secluded, although for the first couple of weeks there´s a British gal in my host family´s home. I guess she got there first, so its more her family than anyone elses. She´s really cool, though and so is my site-mate. We ended up back at our training sites after almost a week of being in-site and i felt like there was ready to move on. We still have to complete our youth group project which theoretically will be going to a local orphanage and at least spending some time with the kids. But I have not been compelled to work on it. As a matter of fact all I can think about is what I´m going to be doing in my site for the next two years. I know I shouldn´t rush this process but I can´t help myself... I´m excited!

I have another week and a half here and then we have our swearing in and I´m released into the wild. My site is spectacularly beautiful as you can all see from my video below. I met with a youth group I´ll be working with and afterwards they walked me up to a mountain just outside of town (with my extreme suggetion). They were really cool and really nice. My counterparts all seem very similar in this light, and because I am the first business volunteer in the site they are also really excited.

I will be teaching classes in the institute in town as well as to the youth group. I will also be teaching a refined and distilled form of the business class to a group of fifteen local coffee producers. My counterpart and I will be working closely to make sure they follow our business development models and become certified for broader exportation. As excited as I am, it can be upwards of an 8 hour commute from Managua, and 3 hours from the nearest supermarket. Hope you all enjoy this little nugget of Jinotega beauty.