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Futbol y frijoles

I am here on a cloudy Friday morning in Esteli. I needed to run an errand (get money from the bank) which means taking a 2 hour bus ride across the mountains. On the plus side, the landscape is beautiful because it has been raining a lot, and there´s no dust to inhale during the journey. I just have a couple of things to do so I´m returning to Lagartillo this afternoon. It´s been a week since I arrived in Nicaragua but feels longer than that because it´s been easy to slide back into the routine of life in Lagartillo. It´s a little different this time of year though since sometimes it rains for a few hours and the rains are heavy so everything comes to a stop for a while. Earlier this week it rained a lot, but the rains haven´t been as hard the last couple of days, so things have dried out a bit, which is good because all of my stuff was getting damp.




Limpiando frijoles
As some of you may remember from earlier posts, agriculture is a big focus of my experience here. Last January I spent a few mornings harvesting beans and corn. This time of year, the crops are growing with the help of the rain (though the heavy rains can damage the beans especially), and it´s hard work keeping up with the weeding. Agriculture here is very much done by hand, usually with the aid of a machete. I spent three mornings this week weeding the bean plants with a machete. Most people here use an herbicide to stem the heavy growth of weeds, but Alcides, my Spanish teacher and an avid farmer, grows his organically. This means more weeds to cut with machetes. Some have a lot of spines, which have left their mark on my hands.







Futbol has become an important part of life for the chavalos in Lagartillo. Every afternoon when it´s not raining, folks head to the small dirt soccer field behind the cultural center. The field is not so big, has a slight slope and more than a few rocks. We break into teams of five and play a tournament of sorts. At least half the time is spent chasing the ball when it goes down the thickly vegetated hill behind one of the goals. Having real athletic shoes has given me a great advantage, since many people play barefoot or in the rubber boots that are a necessity for travel along the muddy paths in the countryside. Yesterday our team had great success, and I´m looking forward to a few more afternoon games before I leave Lagartillo.



Lagartillo is blessed with splendid surroundings, including two waterfalls. In December, I spent a lot of time swimming. This time, it´s not so easy to get to the waterfalls due to the heavy mud, and the water is much strongers. No one was jumping into the pool below the falls this time. The waterfall and the canyon into which it plunges were more spectacular than ever due to the lush greenery on all sides.
I feel very lucky to have the opportunity to be down here in Nicaragua again. I am reminded again of the importance of savoring life, whether it´s working in the frijolera, playing soccer or eating beans with tortillas and cuajada cheese.
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