- Nicaragua was very pretty. Being on the move meant I was lucky to see a nice swath of the country. Even though I missed out on the famed beaches, the more off-the-tourist-trail highlands were gorgeous themselves. The tourism industry has not quite developed as much as neighboring Costa Rica (and the prices reflect that!), but I would suggest you run, not walk, to visit the country... and the food's delicious! Granada is more developed, but it is in the range of charming and still worth visiting.
- My pitiful Spanish couldn't hold up. Since my level is such that I need to actively listen to the person talking, my ability to concentrate pretty much petered out after about 2-3 hours. Combined with the difference in word choice (Castellano vs. Nicaragüense... think British vs. American English) and the accent (Central Americans swallow "s", for instance), I imagine there was a lot I missed. The gap in technical language was also significant. After all, in a general Spanish class, you might be lucky to learn words like "leaf" or "plant." Not so much "tillage" (i.e. "plowing" to civilians) or "scouting" (i.e. fancy word for looking for stuff in an organized manner).
- Radio stations that played music in English were amusing to listen to with early to mid-90's hits on heavy rotation. It was disturbing though how my memory - rendered so worthless in Spanish - was able to recall perfectly so many of these little lyrical nuggets. Gin Blossoms, anyone?
Finally, despite some of the ups (Someone else made their own yellow sticky trap! Woohoo!) and downs (the whole pesticide safety nightmare), I still continue to be impressed with what USAID is accomplishing with Farmer-to-Farmer programs. If I get another opportunity to volunteer, I will do it again! ... if Rich would let me :p
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