A lot has happened in the past three weeks. In no particular order:
- I went to the hipica in San Marcos a couple weeks back. This is basically a giant party in the streets where all the people who own horses in what seemed like the entire department ride their horses through the streets. Everyone else who doesn't own horses dances in the streets, trying to avoid the horses, with a rum drink. It was pretty interesting. This is traditionally done one week before the city's Patron Saint's Feast Day. This hipica was for all of Nicaragua, though.
- I had my first Nicaraguan barber shop experience a few days ago. The barber, Roger, did an excellent job and it only cost me a buck and a few cents. He was a little confused though when I told him to buzz my entire head and not just the sides. I am much cooler now.
- I am continuing to try all sorts of new fruits and refrescos (fruit juices) and they all seem to be delicious.
- Yesterday I was finally able to help make and try Sopa de Mondongo (The last time I tried the grocery store was out of cow stomach). Ever since arriving in Nicaragua I had heard a lot about Mondongo, which is simply tripe soup, and that the city I live in is pretty famous for its style and preparation of it.
- First, you have to marinate the tripe, along with the four cow feet, a few bones, and a lot of tendons, overnight in sour orange juice (not normal oranges, but sour oranges - there are a billion types of citruses down here) and other herbs and spices.
- After everything has marinated, you bring it to a boil in a large pot over an open fire, adding firewood often.
- After it has boiled for a while, you add a ridiculous quantity of vegetables: cabbage, two types of squash, yucca, onions, peppers, plantains, and more. This all simmers for a few hours and then you are ready to go.
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| Doña Cleo working her magic |
The taste is pretty smoky because of the fire, but is really pretty delicious. The texture of the mondongo itself is pretty chewy, as well as the tendons, but with a dabble of chiles, onions, and lemon juice, is not bad at all. You will also have plenty of leftovers to feed on for several days (I'm going on 3 days of different preparations of leftover mondongo and I'm not complaining)
- In other news, I visited a volunteer in Ciudad Dario, Matagalpa, last week. It was a nice break from the normal training schedule and gave me the opportunity to see some projects in action and get a glimpse of the mountains of northern Nicaragua, which were beautiful.
- Finally, only 9 more days until I find out exactly what site I will be at for the next two years!
adios until the next post (hopefully I will own a Nicaraguan guitar by that point too)
