A bag full of mens' gifts in a country full of women.

This weekend I experienced my first real trip to the Nicaraguan countryside. Although my heart has been content during my travels and in the Nicaraguan towns, this weekend confirmed what I have always known deep down: My soul lives in 'el campo'.

Yesterday was  Mothers' Day here in NIC and the holiday is wildly important to the Nicaraguan people (as it should be). In every household, this is a full day-long event full of festivities, quality time passed with the women you love and paying respects to the ones that have passed. I have learned to appreciate and embrace  most rituals and daily activities here in my new country but the love and attention given to every Mom on this day has been my favorite cultural aspect of life in Nicaragua so far.

We left my house at around 5am yesterday to visit family in Leon, about three hours from Diriamba. The drive was beautiful, mile after mile of emerald green farmland and forest scattered with houses and corner stores. We pulled in to the city of Leon and my dad, Romiro, gave me the grand tour. We stopped first at one of the larger mercados in the city to buy flowers for his deceased mother. After buying three boquets, we headed over to the main Cathedral in downtown.

The cathedral is huge; It fills up an entire city block. My host family are Catholic, as is most of the country, so they were able to explain every piece of artwork and fill me in on the importance of every architectural feature. Inside the cathedral were the remains of the famous Nicaraguan poet, Ruben Dario. His body is protected by a large, marble Lion.  We walked outside and bought a shaved ice from one of the vendors in the park. My dad and i snacked on ours while we walked around Leon, admiring the memorials and murals of past revolutions and the people that lived and died for Nicaragua.

We loaded back into the truck with my mom and sisters and began our journey into the campo. On the way, we stopped as another house for a post-Baptism lunch for a nephew/cousin. I had the chance to meet and speak with twenty or so family members, all curious about the gringo that came to lunch with the Granera family. The one that i spent the most time with though, was my dad's 89 year old father. We sat and ate for over two hours while we talked, he sat with his legs crossed into his chair, blue shirt unbuttoned and his well-weathered face protected by the brim of a big, black cowboy hat. We talked about life in rural NIC, traditional foods of our home countries and life before and after the revolution. Oh, and we had a nice, long talk about venemous snakes too. A little bit of everything.

After lunch. we continued into the countryside, about another 20 km. We stopped at a small Catholic church where my dad and oldest sister were both born and raised. We walked down to a small, brighly colored cemetary where we sat to pay our respects to my host grandmother. We tied our flowers to her headstone. The ranchhouse wasnt oo much further. Protected by fields of bright green Yucca and sugarcane, cattle, horses, wild dogs and more chickens than I cared to count, this open-air, wood-beamed house was my heaven. Very modest and perfect in every way.  I met more family and walked to the edge of the property to look out into the expanses of rolling green. The only sounds came from insects, hungry birds and an approaching storm, pushing black clouds from inland. In this moment, I was home.

At sunset, I walked with a small army of women, sisters and little girls, through the fields to a small shop to buy treats. The darkness and heat lightening chased us home and with the acception of a few major tragedies (spilled chips and candies) we made it home safely. By 8pm, the sun had been gone for almost two hours and replaced with lightning bugs. The sky opened up to one of the most intense and consistant lightening storms I've ever seen. I watched the storm that night from my hammock strung in the center of the open living area, surrounded by around twenty other bodies. The barking dogs, roosters (which I've grown to passionately hate), cows and crying babies kept me from too much sleep. But I rested.

I rolled out of bed around 430 and by five, the sun was up. A cousin asked me if I could ride a horse and he seemed genuinely happy when i responded "Yes, sir." We saddles up two horses, opened a few gates and chutes and drove a head of about thirty cattle through the countryside, up to another pasture to graze for the day. The ride was gorgeous, every shade of green imaginable. Vibrant birds sat in every tree and five volcanos filled the horizon. My companion was very interested in wooing the local girls in English so i gave him a handful of pickup lines and we laughed together while I explained to him in Spanish what they meant. The rain opened back up on our ride home.

After lunch, a group of us drove to Cerro Negro, one of the more famous volcanoes in the area. We hiked to the top. The black volcanic soil made it a hot one but we made it without any problem. We looked down from the top and collectively decided that it would take too long to hike the trails back down. Running down the sheer face was a much better option. I felt like I was back home playing with my brother and friends, running full speed down the volcano. We jumped and fell at full speed. We laughed at eachother and yelled all the way down. Tumbling down that hill, we werent different people from unknown cultures and places. There was no language barrier. We were just kids having fun.

We headed home exhausted and got home around 7, ate dinner and gave my mom her gifts. I got her a set of six lotions and made her a card. I spent a day last week panicked because I couldnt find her a proper gift. All I knew was: She likes smelly things and enjoys little decorations for the house. An appropriate gift was near impossible to find in Dririamba. I was lucky enough to stumble into and unmarked perfume shop in town. I brought an entire bag of gifts from home but had failed to notice until i got here that they were ALL gifts for men.

So, I'm ending my day the happiest Ive been in a month. Laying in bed tired and sunburnt, relieved that I finally found a gift for my wonderful mom and wondering how I came with a bag full of mens' gifts to a country run by women.

If cramming a lot of crap into a small space was an Olympic event...

I'd be a gold metal contender. 

This will probably be my last blog post before I get on a plane.  I'll be in DC on Monday afternoon and plan on checking into my hotel, dumping my stuff and exploring until I can't explo no mo. Tuesday I'll be attending my staging event to get a brief introduction to the PC, meet some other volunteers that will be leaving around the same time and making sure all of my paperwork and passports are in order.  Before staging, I plan on waking up early to go check out the Smithsonian. I've never been to DC before so I'm hoping to walk down and see as much as I can in the little time that I have. Im up 15th St, about 5 or 6 blocks north of the White House so I couldn't have asked for a better central location. I will be checking out of my hotel around 2 on Wednesday morning, be at the airport ready to rock at 3:30 am and flying down to my new home at 6:05. So crazy.

I'll be bounced around from location to location once I get to Nicaragua but if you would like to contact me, my training address will be:

Ryan Hubbard, PCT

Voluntario del Cuerpo de Paz

Apartado Postal 3256

Managua, Nicaragua

Central America

I guess relative to most host countries, Nicaragua's mail system is fairly dependable. It usually take 2 weeks for airmail to arrive in NIC, although it does get broken in to a lot. If you send anything valuable or more than 2 lbs down there, you can pretty much guarantee that it will be 'investigated'. 

I hope to update you again soon. Thank you for your interest in my travels. I love you all. See you on the other side! 

Peacin' out.

Well… as most of you know, I am leaving on Monday, May 9^th to start a new chapter. After completing staging events in Washington DC, I will be loading myself and a backpack onto a plane and departing to my new home; Nicaragua. As an agriculture volunteer, I will be working mostly in the fields of sustainable agricultural practices and improved food security and preservation. I will be devoting the next two and a half years of my life to serve my country as a Peace Corps volunteer and attempt to improve the quality of life for citizens of rural Nicaragua.

I have experienced the entire spectrum of emotions over the past few months but now that the time has come to go abroad, I am feeling cool, collected and prepared. After attending a ‘Bon Voyage’ party on Sunday and speaking with past volunteers (one of which just so happened to have served in Nicaragua!) there is no doubt in my mind that this is what I was born to do. I know how difficult the next two and a half years will be both physically and emotionally but for the first time in my life, I truly feel like I am doing what I was meant to do. It’s a wonderful and liberating feeling.

Most everyone that will read this blog has been with me through the application process and are aware of my passion and excitement to finally be serving as a Peace Corps volunteer. Below, I have included a very small section of my first PC application essay to better explain why I am leaving home. Thank you all so much for your love and support. I truly feel so blessed to have you all in my life.

                All humans have an innate desire to help others.  I truly believe that deep down, every person wishes they could make a difference in the world and improve the quality of life for their fellow man and woman.  Carrying through with this aspiration to an extent that will truly make a long-term difference takes time, commitment and a readiness to use the skills that you possess.  As a recent college graduate, I am in a unique point in my life where I am able and willing to undertake all three. Since the age of eleven, it has been an ongoing goal of mine to serve as a Peace Corps volunteer. Now the time has come, and I am ready to commit.  

I understand that to truly make a difference in the world with the Peace Corps, I must view my time abroad as a 24 hour position, conducting myself as a representative for the United States in a manner that my family and fellow Americans would find admirable.  I expect to live and breathe for my cause, focusing all of my time and effort into fulfilling my goals within the Peace Corps, improving the quality of life for the people of my host community. With my tenacity and the skills that I posses, I intend to acclimate well and make a positive impact within my host country.

Both of my grandfathers and several of my uncles have served in the military, dedicating their time and lives to the country that they love.  I too feel it is important to explore other regions, serve my country and act as a representative of the United States. Given some of my personal and political beliefs, I know that the armed forces are not for me.  I am aware that, like the military, it is common to be placed in to situations that are strange and unglamorous by western perception. Having spent much of my time living and working in very secluded locations, I have become accustomed to living without the amenities that some may find essential to every day life. No matter how sparse my environment may be, I intend to adapt quickly and make do with what few resources I am given.

My name is Ryan Hubbard. I am a proud American with a strong sense of community. When I arrive in my host country, it will be my new home; the local people my fellow men.  I will not lose focus of my mission and will work with determination towards the ultimate goal of improving the quality of life for the people of Nicaragua. I will make a difference.