Un poqutito de todo

After a lovely 2 week Christmas visit with the parents (mildly complicated by a nasty bout with Giardia...) and after getting the rest of board liscensing exams out of the way I am back in the land of lakes and volconoes.  And boy is it a good time to be here in El Sauce.  First and foremost, the climate right now is tan fresco.  Every morning there is a slight chill in the air, there is almost a constant and refreshing breeze and every evening has been incredibly pleasant.  Add to that the fiestas patronales of El Sauce, or the patron saint festival and the place is downright amazing.  I am not entirely sure about the origens of the festival, but there is a black Christ figure here in Sauce that people make pilgrimages from all over Nicaragua and even from places as far as El Salvador and Honduras.  There are street vendors that have set up shop on the main streets, constructing little stores so that you can barely ride a bike down the street, let alone drive.

But first, there was a little visitor to the hospital: the ever present drug rep!  Turns out Nicaragua isn't immune either and she was very happen to see each and every doctor and give out medications to anyone who was in the vicinity or had a question.   Quite interesting.  Also gave me an excuse to play with my new camera...

I have arrived back in El Sauce amidst a sea of gringos.  There are several students from SUNY Gennesseo as well as a group from Rochester involved with a program called 4 walls or here, cuatro paredes.  This is a cool project that was begun about 5 years through the joint efforts of a Rochesterian and a peace corps volunteer.  What they do is raise money to help families who live in plastic houses or possibly worse build four brick walls of an improved house with the added goal of moving the wood burning cooking surface out of the living space.  They have projects going on throughout the year but send down brigades every so often to help build and experience Sauce.  If you're interested you can see more here.

Beautiful day to build.

The 4 walls group.  Enjoying some cold Toñas and typical fritanga food.

As I mentioned, the fiestas patronales are in full swing and there are goodies for sale in all the streets.  Some of the things that seem to be quite popular are these brightly colored sugar creations.  I didn't try any of these, but there are loads of other, less ornate and very tasty offerings!

A big part of the festival are the cabellitos or the little ferris wheels and spinning saucer rides.  Turns out that on one of the ferris wheels the individual cars also spin around.  Nothing like spending a good 50 cents to thoroughly scare and enjoy yourself!

 Each night during the weekend, there is a rodeo.  Apparently the bulls are the best of Friday and Saturday night, but when we went on Sunday night they were ok.  They would buck around for a few seconds but then seemed to realize it wasn't worth their time.  But it was still cool and my first rodeo ever!

On the Friday of the first weekend there is a procession of the peregrinos or the pilgrims who come in ox-drawn cart from all over to Sauce.  There were probably upwards of 20 or 25 carts and there was a speech by the pastor, the mayor and then each and every pilgrim received a plaque.  Pretty interesting.  The best part is that for the next week, the carts, the oxen and their drivers were camped out in any open and shady space that they could find.  There were people sleeping any and everywhere!

Lots more adventures to come I hope, with the accompanying pictures to document it all.  Stay tuned!