Stop, this is the police! (i.e. we want your $$!)
We got stopped twice by two different police men. The first tried to convince my dad that he had made an error on filling out the papers. We put the name of the city we were staying in, and then we were driving to another city. According to him (liar) we were supposed to put "Nicaragua" so that we could go anywhere in Nicaragua. He claimed there was a way he could fix it for a small fee, but my Dad's not a push over and he said we'd go back if we weren't supposed to be where we were. He let us go and said, 'Next time, put Nicaragua,' and he said we didn't have to go back.
The next guy told us we had to have a fire-extinguisher and a triangle in our car (he couldn't find anything wrong with the paperwork). When my dad said he didn't have those things the guy wrote us a ticket and told my dad he would take his license and he would have to go to the bank, pay the ticket, and come back for the license. So my dad asked when the guy was leaving and it turned out there wasn't enough time to get to the bank and back before the policeman was off work. The guy said how much it would cost my dad if he went to the bank, insinuating: bribe me and it will cost you less, but my dad played dumb saying, 'Honestly, I don't have that much money.' (In Spanish). So, he let us off, and my dad thanked him and we decided not to drive anywhere else after that.
There were quite a few police men with shotguns around the street. The police scared me. We got pulled over by Costa Rican police before, and one had a sawed-off shotgun (that's what my dad said anyways, I don't even know how that's significant), but that didn't scare me, because they were smiling.
Ocean View
I did like Catarina--the city that we were stopped on our way to and from by the police men. It was a really beautiful city. It's known for it's plants. So there were these pretty flowers and gardens around the homes. It was definitely the nicest place we saw in Nicaragua. There was this shop where a lady made hand-sewn dresses and "blusas." I got a dress and blouse. I wish I had more time to look, but my family was anxious to leave, so I just pointed out the two that I'd liked and were on display. The dress has embroidered dragonflies/birds (I'm not sure, I think they're dragonflies) that she made with a tiny sewing machine (i.e. she didn't have a computer program to sew the embroidery for her). I was really impressed with her work. Hopefully I can find a shirt to wear with the blouse and dress (they're really low in the back).
The ocean view was beautiful. The place kindof reminded me of what I think Greece might look like. It was UNBEARABLY hot though! I like hot weather, but there's hot weather, and then there's suffocating, melts-you-where-you-stand-weather, and I don't like that so much. No sirree.
Rickshaw Fella
We got a ride in these rickshaws. I find I don't handle being around people who are less fortunate than I am. I feel wrong. Like I shouldn't be there--not that I think I'm better than them, but like I don't deserve to be around people who know what poverty and being hungry and desperate is--when I'm not hungry...
We walked down the streets to see the stores, and even down this shady (as in dark, not shady as in "scary") alley that was full of shops. I thought we were going into one store, but it kept going farther and farther back and there were people's homes (shop owner's homes) behind the stores too, so we heard a little girl crying loudly about something. We saw a Catholic Church too, which I'll put pictures up for later. All the saints were covered in purple fabric so that people would focus on Christ (for the Easter holiday).
Anyways, there are tons of guys who drive around rickshaw bikes to take people places. My dad got a father and two brothers to drive us. Elly, Mom, Hannah, and Dad climbed in, and when a guy driving a rickshaw saw them climbing into the rickshaws, he drove up to me and Matthew and opened the "door" (metal bar) to the seat hopefully, but we had already arranged to go with the other brother from the same family, so I said, "Lo siento," awkwardly and climbed into the brother's rickshaw.
"AI, MALO!" the shafted rickshaw driver hollered. ("Malo" means "bad.") Really loudly, actually. Latinos (generally, I'm not trying to be racist here) are loud people. A lot of them talk really loud--it's kindof funny. My mom thought he was really angry, but I think, even though he was REALLY shouting, he was just kindof like, "Aw, dang it I missed driving rich gringos! I haven't gotten anybody today!"
Can't say much about the ride. It was fun, but I felt bad for the driver who wasn't in the shade of his seat. Nicaragua is HOT.
However different people are, there are lots of things that are always the same. I saw a little girl (probably four) singing crazy nonsense while her mom/guardian was telling her something. She was hanging around a pole fence in the same way I've seen tons of little girls do. There was also two boys who were walking down the street--one scowling until his friend threw his arms around him and hugged him in that same way that I always hug people. The scowling boy grinned.
We saw a cone volcano spewing smoke from it's mouth. We heard that was unusual, and we'd been thinking about going out on a ferry to it, but Hannah and I were adamant that we did NOT go out to the volcano while it was spewing like that. We drove to the beach to see it better and saw people building scrap wood and metal buildings (that I really hope weren't going to be their homes) and these buses were parked out and people (all fully dressed) were going out in hundreds into the water.
Pelicans--they might not be dead after all--and don't eat them, please.
Do you remember how I mentioned a dead pelican on the beach? It was still there the next day we went to the beach and started swimming around in the water (littered with trash). A while later I came back on the beach and boys were playing soccer nearby it. I was talking with my mom, and then we saw the pelican GET UP and start walking around. That was disturbing. I really think it was the same pelican that we saw laying there the night before--could it have been a different pelican laying on the ground? And why would it do that?
After our boat trip (described in Part II), we saw men fishing with lines wrapped around cardboard (no fishing poles!). They threw their hooks, with regular-sized fish (that were alive) attached to the hooks. The pelicans seemed to think the men were doing them a favor and nipped and tried to eat the fish. One guy had particular trouble, and a pelican gobbled up his fish--and then got caught on his line. The guy didn't seem the least bit phased or upset or surprised. He just reeled the pelican in, unattached it from the hook while holding it's beak shut so it wouldn't bite him--and then it flew off.
One man caught a fish and was observing it in a not-too-please manner. It was a big fish so I guess: big bait amounts to a big catch. There you go. You can search and meditate on that for deeper meaning if you want. I'm full of that kind of nonsense.
Monkeys
We saw howler monkeys on our drive. That was the highlight of the trip for most of us. They make a truly terrifying sound though. I was scared they were going to attack us, but they didn't. I'll put up some of their pictures soon. There was a little baby--tiny thing that looked skeletally skinny.
Pura Vida. I think that's all most of what there is for me to say.
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