Don't tell me it's not worth fighting for...

OBAMA/BIDEN!

our election party was a great success and filled with lots of American junk food...just the way we like it. The rest of the week consisted of well..nothing. Wednesday classes were canceled so that UCA could have some meeting regarding elections. Thursday Kristen's fam was already here so we left for Ome Tepe because we only have one class anyway. Friday and Monday (today) classes were canceled too because of elections, but we had to come home Saturday night in case it got too violent for traveling so the extra days off didn't do much good other than give me some more quality time in my sauna of a room. Another fun fact, from Saturday evening to Monday evening no alcohol was allowed to be served at all in Managua (maybe all of Nica, not sure), also due to elections. I could go on and on about elections but I'll save that for when there are more offical results...if there ever are any. Lots of manipulation, fraud and violence going on right now. Hopefully it calms down by tomorrow so classes can start again, I might actually go crazy if I spend one more day in this room.

So now for Ome Tepe...definitely beautiful, but after all the hype - not quite what we expected. We kept hearing "oh it should be one of the 7 wonders of the world" and "what you're only going for 2 nights? you need at least 5" and now granted we didn't climb any volcanoes which take a day in themselves but I don't really feel like we missed anything and we were kind of ready to go when it was time. Kristen's family was a blast - it was her Dad, Uncle Kathy, Uncle Scott, and her cousin Van. On the ferry from San Jorge to Moyagalpa, Ome Tepe, they showed a vianica video about different places to visit in Nica. Not only did we recognize just about every place from having visited, but our very own friend Don Yaro was in the Rio San Juan section...coooool! After our long journey to Ome Tepe (successfully avoiding the chicken buses!) we were greeted at the port by many cab drivers/tour agencies anxious to gain business from the gringos. We soon settled on Rodolfo who attacked Kristen's dad and won us over by speaking English. He's one of my favorite people I've met in Nica. He totally hooked us up all weekend with rides everywhere and we totally hooked him up by probably paying for him to take a week off. He was so sweet and modest. He drove to go kayaking and just waited while we did that and ate and wouldn't even get anything to eat when we offered it to him. Then he recommeded this cute swimming hole / natural spring with cold-ish water and it was greattt. He also took us back in 2 different waves when we wanted to go home on Saturday since her fam had to leave earlier than us. The hotel was excellent by Nica standards, but not quite what KVV's fam was looking for. The food was great though and they had (almost) enough booze to last her fam the whole weekend so I think they dealt with it just fine. I was randomly pretty sick again most of the weekend so I was kind of a bum at night and just sat in my room, but I still had a good time during the day.

Saturday morning after KVV and her family left, the other FU people went kayaking. I had already gone the day before with her fam so I just decided to watch. I ended up writing a ton in my journal and doing some of my best reflection (not related to being unhappy) yet on this trip. I'm not gonna get that into it here, but basically it was very calming and humbling experience to be sitting on the edge of Lake Nicaragua and feeling completely peaceful, relaxed and satisfied. I didn't want anything, I didn't need anything, I didn't have 1000 things racing through my head that I knew I should be doing. I was just being. And then I was thinking about what one really needs, and our discussion in Sustainable Development where things like a cell phone were included on our list of basic needs...in Nicaragua, a developing country when I always though that list only included food, water, shelter and arguably clothing. I recently added something else to my list and this all connects I promise, but it's just way too much for this blog, especially because every day I find out more people are reading my blog that I had no idea about..hint hint..say hi?

I picked the lyrics for this title because that song randomly played everytime we were in Rodolfo's car/van...also because there's a lot worth fighting for recently, and a lot of people who are fighting recently, and I'm just trying to make sense of it all.

I'd love to hear from people...even though I'll be home before you know it!

(side note: my "host mom" hasn't been home in over 48 hours...she never told us she was leaving and the slave/her aunt says she "doesn't know when alba will be home"...alba also works for the government...coincidence??)