Saturday October 16, 2010
Its incredible how often we take our health for grated, yet at some points its can make it or break it our experiences and momentarily shatter the world around us. I'm constantly floored by the complexities on human emotions that tag along to our physical state, often worsening our condition. At least all this is what i recently experienced the past two weeks when i fell victim to some dengue-like sickness. Things had being going along pretty smoothly, just getting into the rhythm of work, in the process of negotiating a car, and perhaps most exciting was the arrival of my wonderful sunshine nature goddess friend Gillian who i had the good fortune of meeting this summer in Israel on my Birthright trip. She came in the middle of the week and stayed a few days in Managua with me. Then on the weekend a group of us drove here about 30 mins from here to a small pueblo called La Concha where she is staying with a host family for the month taking spanish classes and working on an organic farm.
So after dropping her off that sunday night i came home and started to feel just a little under the weather. The next day at work it only got progressively worse but i assumed it was just a cold. That was of course until I started having fevers for the next three days, headaches, chills, the whole nine yards. I got tested for dengue twice but the results came back negative. But seeing that tests dont always catch it and i had pretty much all the symptoms i assume it was something similar, some kind of horrible tropical virus that is. The weird part is that after the painful ended, I was left the next 5 days or so with the strangest sensations. Aside from the dizziness, nausea, and fatigue, I felt totally drugged and although i was in the alternate state. It was totally bizarre and frustrating as i couldn't really think properly or interact normally with the world around me. Granted, maybe people opt for and actively seek out this state of mind, but i suppose it's really only fun for a few hours, then you are ready to come back to normal.
So with that said, the worst part of it all was being alone the whole time in my house. When you are sick, especially in a different country, the only thing you really want is the comfort of family and someone to take care of you. Not finding that here I started to get really down, and thinking way to much, which we all know can be a very dangerous thing. Cuz what's a woman with time? A time-bomb, correcto.
However, in light of everything, my own reflections did give me some interesting perspective on my time here, what I am doing, and the changes I need/want to be making in my life here. First and foremost was my living situation. I realized the fact that I pretty much live alone (my housemate and I are rarely home at the same time) does not do me good. One, because I thrive off interpersonal relationships and am very family oriented. Two, I feel like I was becoming quite disillusioned with being here. Originally I came back because i feel in love with the country, the people, the culture in my brief visit here in May. Yet since I've been back, it seems i haven't had any contact with Nicaragua life here, feeling relegated to the gringo-expat community, which is pretty self-isolating in my own opinion, and not having a community sense at my job that really is just a work/office environment. As luck would have it, beginning monday night there was a great change of events.
My father has a close friend here named Arturo, a doctor who works half the week in Leon (about an hour away) and half the week here in Managua with his family: a lovely woman named Rosa and their 6 year old son Diego. As Arturo has had the pleasure of getting dengue 3 times, they all came over that night to see how I was fairing and to bring me gatorade and food. Upon my less than optimistic telling of my condition they told me that i needed to get out of my house and be with people, that i should come over the next day for lunch, for the afternoon, for however long i wanted.. literally.. as in moving in with them. So the next day, totally drugged out, in my own world, and hardly able to hold i conversation, I was picked up and taking to their house for lunch afterwhich i passed out in Rosa's bed for a good 3 hours. I then spent the rest of the afternoon in a rocking chair on the porch watching the little cousins play together and having half-sensible conversations with Rosa and her other 19 year old son Gerald who is beyond sweet. Long story short, I went over there every day until thursday when i finally returned to normalcy, and by wednesday was decided that I was going to move in with them. It's a lovely humble house in Barrio La Luz, a working class neighborhood with people always hanging out in the street, families spanning the whole block, and the community looking after the children. They have a large extra room separated from the house that they have offered me as my own and are doing more than their fair share of making me feel like part of the family. With all that said, I've spent tonight packing up for the third time, all my belongings and getting ready to move out tomorrow.
That is of course after I get back from a day full of salsa dancing. This weekend there is a Salsa Congress here in Managua, today being the first day. From 9 to 5 the group of maybe 100 participants spent the day taking hour long lessons back to back with different dance instructors from here, costa rica, guatemala, holland, and canada. While i can follow relatively well and catch the rhythm, I have never taking an actual Salsa class, so the whole experience is a bit overwhelming. But I am doing it with my friend David who is an amazing dancer, which makes the whole thing much more enjoyable. Unfortunately, I find a lot of dance communities tend be exclusive and adopt an air of self-importance that doesn't make new comers feel too invited. All that aside, I'm going to learn, dance, move my hips, and get flung about by the multitude of sweaty men whose scarcity in number makes them a preciously sought after commodity among the eager female dancers. In light of my recent escape from death, Im trying to take it easy this evening, just packing things up and going to get a good nights rest from some more good dancing tomorrow and moving to my new home afterwards!
buenas noches
some random assortment of photos over the past few weeks...
(Rosario, Me, Miryam) My wonderful Nica and Spanish friends, that latter who has recently left us and is dearly missed.
(Catarina Lookout, a lake created in a volcano crater)
(Nacatamales. Traditional Nicaraguan food, typically eaten on the Sunday's. A large tamale-type made from corn masa and filled with rice, tomato, potato, and pork... sorry jews.. i said it.)
(Me, Gillian, and Cristiana at the Colombian Festival put on by the embassy. A day of good people, food, music, and dancing!)
(Pretty landscape filled with Pineapple fields)
(Pacific beach from my friend Rosario's beach house.. weekend get away so I could get some fresh air for healing. Although honestly I was so delirious I can scarcely remember it. Luckily here are photos for proof)
(Searching for shells for mama...)
