Bearing the Heat!

We hit our 7-month mark on April 22^nd.  Every month feels like an accomplishment, and in all reality the time has been going really fast.  Honestly though, we focus on one day at a time.  Largely, I think it’s learning how to deal with the heat here.  It is REALLY HOT here!!  It’s hard to explain and if you’ve never lived in a climate as such I’m not sure you’ll truly understand, but read on to get a sense! 

It’s in the upper 90’s every day with a “feels like” indicator of over 100 degrees Fahrenheit!  Plus, this last week the heat was taken to a new level—it now hardly cools off at night!  I would breathe a sweet sigh of relief when 4 pm would roll around because it would cool off and usually be pleasant enough to relax a little.  This is in Teustepe at least, Managua sometimes feels about 5-10 degrees hotter!  The heat subsides slightly through the night, but really there is no sweet relief anymore.  One Nicaraguan told me that the hotter it gets every day, the closer we are to the rainy season.  I’m thinking, seriously, how much hotter can it get?  Will I really be able to survive here? 

Here’s a feel examples of how hot it is here:

·     While riding the bus, my back and butt literally get soaked with sweat!  I sometimes sit forward in my seat so my back can dry off for a moment.  I rest my arms on the seat in front of me so they don’t touch my body and create more pools of sweat to run down my arms.  Then I get off the bus and walk a little and it all dries, until I hop into taxi and the process is repeated, sometimes several more times in one day.

·     This past week in the country I was so hot and sweaty that when the slightest breeze blew it felt as if an air conditioner was blowing cold air on me.  It seriously felt that cold!

·     At home when I am working on the computer, I sit about two feet from a fan, blowing on high.

·     I take about two showers per day, one in the morning and one before bed.

·     My freezer cannot keep up with my ice habits.  2-3 cubes per glass of water, iced tea, or iced coffee, which then proceeds to melt in 5 minutes!

·     I carry a fan into whatever room I am in.  Even if it’s for 15 minutes, air is better than no air, even if it’s blowing hot air!  I am so thankful for electricity!

·     Sweating has taken on a whole new dimension here!  Did I mention how much I sweat here?  It’s really quite disgusting, and so much for trying to wear my shirt the next day to save on laundry!  I can’t stand my own stench!  

·     The sun is so intense here!  Everywhere I walk, I am constantly trying to hop from one shady spot to another, no matter how crazy I may look.  It’s amazing how the shade of a telephone pole can provide enough shade and notable relief from the sun when waiting for a bus.

·     Native Nicaraguans talk about horrible the heat is all the time!!  How am I supposed to feel coming from Colorado?

·     The heat has a way of evaporating my brain juices and Spanish skills.  It slows down all of my motor skills, inhibits intelligent thoughts and sometimes gives me killer headaches.

·     Sometimes it’s so hot, all I want to do is take a nap, but then when I try it’s too hot to fall asleep.  

Well, that’s a taste of the heat here in Nicaragua.  Who wants to come and visit?  November through January is really quite pleasant, though.  It’s the dry and windy season.   Cold showers sometimes feel a little too cold!  All about finding the balance, right?  Currently we’re in search of sweet relief from the heat, however short that relief may be.  The rainy season will be upon us in the next month and then we will face our next obstacles:  humidity, swelling rivers and mud!!  Time to dust the big rubber boots!

Liz cooling off on our one hour hike to Corozo.

Nate chilling on a rock!

A Balanced Diet

In the last several months, I have been feeling the lack of variety in my diet and struggling with this a bit.  In Boulder, I loved to cook and bake.  It became a hobby, really— reading cookbooks, finding recipes, planning meals, experimenting in the kitchen with new ingredients, trying out new dishes and having people over for dinner.  Baked goods are in their own category because this is a great weakness of mine.  I love baking, especially breads and muffins!  Cooking is as much the process as it is the end result.  I enjoy savoring the textures, colors and flavors, which eventually fade away into a content feeling (leaving me with satisfied taste buds)!  With all the wonderful, gourmet restaurants around Boulder, I guess I would have to admit that I became a bit of a “foodie.”  For those who aren’t familiar with this term, it refers to someone who loves food, how it’s prepared and presented, and all the flavors, colors and pairings.  I grew up in a family who loves their food, and every family reunion tends to revolve around the menu.  Perhaps in part I can blame genetics, put I think geography played a role in my love for gourmet cuisine.  Simply put—people have money in Boulder, and therefore have developed a palate to healthy and delicious gourmet cuisine! 

I know I lived a good life in Boulder and had access to so many gourmet, all-natural and organic foods.  This allowed me to have a wide variety in my diet.  Since I moved here to Nicaragua, I struggle with cooking and my diet, especially since I am a vegetarian.  My two options for any lunch or dinner are rice or pasta—humm, let me think about that one for a while until the hunger subsides!  While I love beans and fresh corn tortillas, sometimes a little fruit and veggies are necessary!  I love food, I’m a foodie for sure and I realize that is a privilege I have.  I realize that people eat rice, beans and corn tortillas every day, three times a day, because that is the only option they have.  They eat to fill their bellies, not to savor all the flavors.  Economic and geographic factors limit variety and the ability to choose what they are able to eat.  Having choices in any realm of one’s life is really a privilege, not to mention an indicator of economic status.

In the end, I think what I’m trying to find most is balance.  A balance between the life I had in Boulder and the life I live now in Teustepe.  We shop at the local “pulperias” that sell the basics but since there are no supermarkets (let alone markets) in Teustepe, we find ourselves in Managua in search of more variety.  Crispy carrots, fresh peppers and broccoli are our splurges!  Seasonal fruit like mangos and avocados vary in availability in Teustepe, so we sometimes buy those in Managua as well.  We try to find a balance in our diets without being extravagant.  It is a process and a journey—mulling over all the emotions, thoughts and feelings that arise and fall, sometimes at the speed of a rollercoaster.  The awareness of all the choices I have is unfathomable when I compare my life to a rural Nicaraguan family.  The journey consists of little steps taken every day, and finding a balance is a constant challenge.