Wednesday Night Sunset Sessions

It's not often that I have friends pass through the Villa on a weekday...especially with a car, so we made the best out of it, and jammed down to Masachapa to do a little muelle jumping, enjoy the sunset, and maybe share a Tona or two.

 Scott, Matty, Graham, you're welcome back at any time!

Just launching off Somoza's now dilapidated private Dock!

Graham throwing a big tyme gainer

Not a bad way to end the day

Running an Ultra in a Third World Kountry

50 kilometers, or 31 miles, is about how long I used to be willingly to drive to get that oh-so-special-sandwich I was craving. And I would think nothing of it because, hey I was in a car and no matter how long it took, I could sit comfortably and listen to my comfort music. It is only now, after training for and running in my first ultra marathon, the Fuego y Agua Ultra and Survival Run, that I realized just how far 31 miles is, and makes me question my old habits to drive so far on a whim. Would I have been willing to drive that far knowing just how much effort it would take to go by foot? I doubt it.

The view at dawn's first light, of the volcano I would eventuality climb

 As I learned, running an ultra marathon is not something you just get up and do; the actual race starts months in advance with your training schedule, lifestyle habits, and nutrition. In other words it requires a strict fitness regiment and a huge daily intake of food…neither of which I could do, living as a peace corps volunteer in Nicaragua. In the months leading up to the race, I didn’t have what one calls a “fixed work schedule”, and my meager budget didn’t provide enough food for what my stomach was now demanding as payment for more frequent and longer runs. So, you do what you have to do when living in a third world country, and adapt. Not packing as many carbs and protein as you want in order to bulk up? Remember those who give you free food and make a point to always walk around their house and strike up conversation around mealtimes. Want to keep your ipod? Leave it at home. Don’t want to burn as many calories? Well, then wake up at 4am and run before the sun comes up. While this also helps you beat the constant 90 degree heat, it also causes a whole new set of problems: avoiding stray dogs. Teddy Roosevelt famously said, “Talk carefully, and always carry a big stick.” Well when it comes to not getting bitten by street dogs, I say, “Walk quietly, and always carry a big rock”. After all, a rock is a lot more comfortable in your hand that a stick. By following these tips, I wasn’t in peak condition, but as the Nicas say I was “mas or menos”. 

Santa Domingo, the last leg before Maderas

 The race itself was on the volcanic island of Ometepe, situated in the middle of the Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake of Central America and home to one of the only populations of fresh water sharks in the world. It is only accessible by ferry, and the approach is breathtakingly beautiful, with the islands two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas, towering over you, with the former still being active. Despite being a big tourist destination, the island is remarkably undeveloped, and away from the islands two ports, the island is largely wild and untouched by external influence, covered with jungle, natural springs, waterfalls, and local coffee, banana, and tobacco farms, all of which turned into natural obstacles along the run.

The hike out of the crater, with my running partner Jake

Because the run also included a 70 km survival run, and a 100 km ultra run, the race began at 4am, underneath a beautifully clear, starry sky. It was so light, that during the few stretches of running along the road, it wasn’t necessary to run with your head lamp on, although most chose to keep theirs illuminated. From an outsider’s point of view, it must’ve been quite the sight to see, with hundreds of little islands of light, cruising along through the darkness towards an unknown goal. It wasn’t until the sun showed its head almost two hours into the run, that we realized just how beautiful the surrounding landscape was, being dominated by untouched volcanic beaches, banana farms, monkeys, and the ever looming presence of either volcano. The constant view of the volcano was a non-stop reminder of the challenge that lay ahead, the last obstacle. 

For the 50 km race, the ascent of Volcan Maderas started 32km from where we started. Or 40km if you made my mistake of turning the wrong way. It was during the couple of kilometers before the base of the volcano, as it grew bigger and bigger in front of me, that I began to question myself. Can I make it another 20km, with an ascent and descent of 1400 meters? Even in ideal conditions with a fresh pair of legs that can be a daunting task. But it was in asking that question that I realized what makes these types of races so appealing to a lot of people, including myself: You are constantly challenging yourself to see just how far your body can go, pushing your limits physically and mentally. There is no one else to rely on but yourself, and it’s up to you to keep putting one foot in front of the other. You could be cursing to yourself along the entire run, but the second you cross the finish line, the realization of what you accomplished kicks in, and you’re already thinking of what your next race will be.

The Aid Station and Lagoon in Maderas

The view from of volcano Concepcion and the rest of the Island of Ometepe from atop Maderas

 And by deciding to keep putting one foot in front of the other, I was rewarded with some awesome scenery. The gods were happy that day, giving us a cloudless sky, which offered beautiful views of the whole island. And who would’ve guessed there are some secret gems hidden in the crater of Maderas: a scenic crater lake and a natural “jungle gym” that blocked our path down. The trees in this section along the rim of the crater grew so close that their branches intertwined to form a natural climbing barrier. What made the jungle gym so entertaining for me, was the thick mud on the ground that would steal your shoe if you weren’t careful. In this scenario, I was brought right back to childhood, playing “Don’t touch the lava”, trying to keep my feet as far from the mud as possible by shimmying through the trees. Momentarily, I was no longer the weary twenty four year old struggling to finish a run, but an eight year old boy, swinging on the monkey bars.  

Peace corps 50km Runners: Jake, Aly, Maggie, Jake, Myself

Some very happy volunteers, who ran the 25 and 50km raes

9 hours and 37 minutes after starting, I crossed the finish line, with my good friend Jake. I was weary and dirty, but nothing could’ve stopped the excitement I felt. Do I think I’ll ever step up and do 100km? That remains to be seen. But you can bet that this certainly wasn’t the last ultra I’ll be running. 

El Campamento de Liderazgo

Since my UR buddies left a few weeks ago, life has been pretty simple, without much going on. The exceptions being an In-Service Training (yawn) and an adventure through Managua, helping some other buddies Scott and Matty – these two from San Francisco – search for and buy a car in Managua. That in itself is an entry in its own, but they beat me to the punch and did a great job chronicling that adventure on their blog: lobstapot.com. So while they took off for a surfing safari up and down the Pacific Coast of Nicaragua, I headed back to the Villa, after almost three weeks of being out of site, to hang out with my neighbors and “prepare” for the upcoming school year. The problem is, that in January, there just isn’t much going on work wise, and running and exercising takes up only so much of the day. So needless to say, I was really looking forward to a multi-sector project that took place this past week: the National Youth Leadership Camp. 

            The Youth Leadership Camp (YLC) is an annual Peace Corps event where youth from all over the country meet for a three day retreat to interact and discuss different topics of leadership. Two volunteers are chosen from each sector (Small Business, Agriculture, Health, Environment, and English) to plan and run the camp, and this year I had the privilege of being one of the two from Small Business.

            At home in the states, leaving your home and family for a few days isn’t a big deal. Most kids have their first night away from home without family at eight or nine years old. But here it is, especially when most people don’t have the interest, or more importantly, the means to travel for pleasure and explore other parts of the country. I brought five students in between the ages of 15 and 17 from the Villa, and none of them had ever in their lives spent more than a night, if that, away from their home and families. So for me it was particularly interesting to see the how they reacted to being away from home, and the interactions that came with bunking with 50 other kids from different cultures from all over the country*.

            Because the logistics of managing 50 kids can be quite difficult, we separated the kids into groups. The kids were separated to interact with those from other areas and backgrounds, and volunteer was put in charge of a group of 5 – 7 kids.  The prospect of leading a group of kids both excited me and made me nervous. Nervous because as a leader, I was to guide them through each activity and lead an in-depth discussion about how they felt and what they learned. Now lets be honest...for those of you who know me, I’m not the most articulate person in English, and on the spot it takes me awhile to form my opinions and ask the correct questions. Now toss Spanish into the mix, and things become a little more difficult. So this week was as much of a test of my own Spanish as much as my leadership skills. And it was big relief as the days past by to see that I didn’t struggle with my “new” found language skills, and that there was no language barrier. 

Praktiking their Interview Skills

            The purpose of the camp was to teach these future community leaders new skills and knowledge to bring back to their communities. Within their small groups, the youth attended charlas on Types of Leadership, Life Skills, Life Goals, Job Skills, the difference between Sex and Gender, and Sexual Health, as well as team building and team work exercises. Being the business volunteer of the group, I was assigned the Job Skills charla. You’d be surprised how many volunteers don’t know about job skills, and I was constantly complimented for my business like appearance…wearing khakis and a tucked in, long sleeve button down shirt. A better name for the charla would’ve been Job Preparation, as we focused on how to shake hands correctly (yes, I did say shake hands), and how to prepare for a job interview. Shaking hands is something we take for granted back at home, that we learn from a young age. I personally have distinct memories of my father teaching me how to properly shake hands, and aggressively shaking the hands of my friends who didn’t. It usually involved him shaking their whole arms, asking them if they were nervous. But here, that isn’t commonplace, and most people offer a “dead fish” handshake. By that I mean, most hold their hand out, but don’t grasp your hand. So you often grab their whole hand, and have this weird grasp of their hand, thumb included. It’s weird. So the first activity was shaking the hand of each kid, evaluating their handshake, and splitting them into groups. From there we explained what was wrong, and made them practice for 5 minutes. Up next was how to prepare for job interviews, which included what to wear, how to present yourself, and how to answer difficult questions. This normally is a pretty boring topic to be honest, so to make it more entertaining, my partner and I did a mock interview, where I as the applicant did absolutely everything wrong. I walked in late, answered my cell phone, put my feet up on the desk, dressed inappropriately, and was outrageously inappropriate with interviewer. I looked like a bum from the streets, which was especially exaggerated by my beard of two months. So alongside a few laughs, the kids walked away with some new knowledge.

Be Firm, but don't Break their Hand!

Working on Teamwork Skills

I also was able to sit on the Sexual Health charla and was shocked to hear about the misconception most kids had about sex and sexual health. The myths about how you can contract STD’s and birth control were eye opening. Some kids truly thought certain birth control put you at risk of cancer. And heck, I’d be lying to if I didn’t learn something new as well. 

Pledging What they Will Bring  and Teah to their Communities

             Leaving the camp a few things dawned on me. First was how cold it is up north, relatively speaking of course. The camp was set up in the northern department of Jinotega, up in the mountains. As I found out, I not only have grown accustom to the 90 degree heat, I have full on embraced it. Up in the mountains, it was probably 50 degrees and cloudy, and the water was ice cold; it gave me a headache to shower. So guess what? I didn’t shower too often. The other more important realization was seeing the potential of the generation to come. Amongst the group charlas, I had 90% – 95% participation, compared to the 5% - 10% participation I usually have in classes. Here were kids, strangers really, from different backgrounds, exchanging ideas and trying to better and improve their lives. As unfortunate as it is to say, the majority of youth in Nicaragua, don’t really care what lies ahead, let alone prepare for it. It was really a once in a life time experience for the kids to make friends and exchange ideas, and surely one they’re not likely to forget. I won’t. 

My Group

My Kids from the Villa

             So what comes next may you ask. Well school supposedly starts on Monday the 11^th. I say supposedly because most institutes still haven’t set their schedules, and kids haven’t registered yet. So for me, what really comes next is the Fuego y Agua Ultra marathon next Saturday. The prep for this run, which includes hiking up and down a dormant volcano, has dominated my life the past month. My schedule has been based around running times, especially since I decided to run the 50km instead of the 25km run sort of last minute. Considering I’ve never run a race more than 10k, things should be interesting, ehh? For more info, check out fuegoyagua.com.

*Despite being the size of New York, in terms of culture, Nicaragua is very diverse. The East Coast is largely an indigenous population that speaks predominantly English Creole and local languages. Due to the different climates landscape of the West Coast and Central Region, life and culture varies as well. And on top of that, the difference between city kids and kids from the campo (rural areas) is very visible. Because of this cultural variety, we devoted one session to exchanging cultures of the different regions, and de-bunking the myths and stereotypes of each