The Wrought Iron and Rain of Chinandega (or, Nicaragua, Day Fourteen)

When Lauren and I arrived back at the Amigos house at around 6am Wednesday morning, we went straight back to bed. I woke up around 8, and just relaxed and wrote until around 2pm when we went into Chinandega Centro all by ourselves.

Chinandega is beautiful. I have become completely obsessed with the wrought iron here in Nicaragua, and Chinandega has some wonderful examples. It is interesting: here in Nicaragua, I see wrought iron and ornamental cement block used in house construction all over the place, in both rural and urban areas. In Honduras, they use the same type of construction, but there is not as much decoration, i.e. no wrought iron or ornamental cement blocks.

We had been walking around for maybe a half hour when it started to rain, and we spent a good chunk of time waiting out the downpour under the eves of a building. I was amazed by the amount of water and trash that was on the street. Almost the entire road was under water when it was raining the hardest. And the trash: when it is just lying there on the side of the road, I don't notice it as much (or at least, it has become part of the scenery here). When it is being washed down the road in a river of dark brown water that swirls though drains and around corners, it is mind blowing how much trash there is in this city.

When the rain finally abated a tad, we decided to postpone our market and smoothie plan for tomorrow, before the rain starts. So, we caught a cab back to the house to take a nap before dinner at El Paraiso. Deb, Lauren and I shared a table with Roseanna, and had a wonderful time talking about our grandmothers and families and arts and crafts.

San Cristóbal after the rain

The past 48 hours have been a whirlwind of emotional ups and downs, but they have been really, really wonderful. Even though I am excited to see my friends and family, I am sad I only have a few more days here. Here's to making the best of it all!