How one month turns into two.
When my travelpartner Ida had made up her mind about going back home and I realized that meant I would either go with her back to Sweden/Norway or I could continue the trip on my own. The choice was simple. I wasn’t ready to go, no estoy lista.
But the unexpected turn made me think of what I wanted to do, now when I was on my own. After two months of Ooooh and Aaaah-experiences I could feel I was getting tired. Not of travelling in itself but of all impressions everywhere. I wanted to continue but I needed a place where I could stay for a longer period of time. So my search began.
After travelling with Peter and Sarah, that had been volunteering their way down through centralamerica, I started with asking them. Where had they been? What country would be best? Which cities are good? Is it easy? Do you need to speak Spanish?
I got a lot of tips, and the one that really got stuck on my mind was the city Leon in Nicaragua. It was supposed to be a good city with the sea not too far away, some happenings and a cinema. Actually, it was the cinema that sold it to me. I wanted to volunteer in Leon, a city where I also could go see a movie.
How would I find a place? Thankfully nowadays, the search is not that hard. I went on Google and typed “Free volunteering Leon Nicaragua” and that's where I found it. Sonati, a non-profit organization where I needed to stay at least one month. Perfect. After an email and a skype interview it was decided. The 13th of January I would start in their reception. And those five weeks I was supposed to stay, somehow turned into seven.
During my first week I mostly hung-out by myself searching for a kickboxing or boxingclub. During my first beer out on the town I tried real chili which made me cry and my first Nica Libre – which made me never look on rum and coke the same way again. The night before I trained my first volunteer, Keely, Nica Libre took the best of me. It still had me in it’s grip during the training until the afternoon. I guess I made a pretty interesting first impression on the poor girl.
Three weeks later we’ve had some of the old volunteers going and new ones coming, making a new part of the Sonati family. I had started Spanish classes which didn’t only learn me more Spanish but also where I could find a boxing club. The cleaning lady Flor started a few salsa lessons with Selena in the speakers after lunch time. Making everyone ready for one or two salsa nights. It was all starting to fall into place.
Time really flies when you are having fun and soon I had to start preparing for a goodbye-dinner and moving on. The last weekend in Leon wasn’t even spent in Leon, but in San Juan del Sur and Playa Hermosa where we camped for a surf/music-festival. Together with my favorite people from Sonati we spent two nights in tents on the beach, with potato cooking by the open fire and emptying bottle after bottle of rum. Actually, a festival on the other side of the world isn't that much different from the ones I've been to in Sweden, just a lot warmer.
It was with a clouded mind and a heavy heart I left Sonati and Leon. I have hiked up volcanoes, shaked ass at clubs with beer for $1, floated through the mangroves, bargained at the open markets, been to poetry nights, went boxing with only locals, layed on the roof watching the full moon and stars and I have met some truly awesome people. If I was to do it all again, I wouldn't do anything different - even though I never got to visit that cinema.
