Turkey Day and Laguna de Apoyo

From the competition, I just rolled into a mini vacation and a week of work/play (the topic of the next post). The competition was on a Wednesday this year, and the following day was Thanksgiving. Most volunteers got invitations to stay with an embassy families. For some weird twist of fate, I was not one of those volunteers. So I made other, less conventional plans.

Thanksgiving for me is one of those times of year where I most miss home, because it’s a mix of everything great that I miss. The night before Turkey Day is one of the biggest reunions of the year for New Canaan grads, and an opportunity to see people I hadn’t seen in years. It’s also about the only fun night to go out at home, where everyone heads out to Tequila Mockingbird’s. Things typically get weird, but in a good way. Than there is the day itself, where your family comes together, and enjoys each others company. At least for my family, 4 or 5 of my mothers siblings come to the house with all of their kids, and we do what my mothers family, The Petersens (or Eatersens as we like to refer to ourselves) does best, we cook, eat, and enjoy fine drink. After living on such a basic diet for more than a year and a half, thinking about all that delicious food sitting on the table makes my mouth water. So as you can see, there are plenty of reasons to go home.

Not wanting to be devoid of my Turkey Day feast, I headed down to Masachapa, where I spent what I in my eyes was a non-conventional Thanksgiving, with three ex-pat friends I have down there on the beach. What made it so unconventional may you ask? Well, the day started with any early morning surf session, for starters, this isn’t really possible at home this time of year. Instead of sporting a thick coat and wool hat, I was walking around most of the day in board shorts. Next up, it was a Cajun themed T-Day, as the primary cook was born and raised in New Orleans, which meant spicy mashed potatoes, stuffing, gravy, and even the turkey. While different, it was delicious, and I felt like I had to undo my belt after finishing. So to Shiloh and Becky, thanks for a great Thanksgiving feast, and making me feel like I was temporarily back in the states.

And from there, I just rolled right into the weekend, where the majority of my Peace Corps class rented a house at Laguna de Apoyo, to celebrate our year and a half anniversary. We rented out this beautiful, secluded compound right on the lake front, which we had all to ourselves. Oh yeah, the Laguna de Apoyo is this crystal clear lake in the crater of a dormant volcano, the same one I used to hike down to in training every week or so.

Its really tough to describe what makes trips like this so great, because its not really the big parties at night that ring out in my memory, but it’s the smaller moments. You know, those kind of moments where you’re just small talking about similar experiences with a friend, or side by side cooking with a friend. Although we see each other relatively infrequently, it feels like I have known all these guys my entire life. No matter how much I try to describe my experience down here to all of you, I’ll never really be able to do it justice. We all share this bond, this shared experience full of hardships that only we know and really understand. It never really gets brought up at these reunions, but its there, and we all seem to take comfort knowing that our friends are going through the same thing, and that there in the moment, we’re there for each other. Whether its “diving for treasure” in the laguna, or watching Ace Ventura together, it’s comforting to have each other. I hope that makes sense.