Nicaragua, Part Two – the best part. Part one of my trip involved studying in a Spanish immersion program in San Juan for two weeks. Part two involved meeting up with my niece, Christine, who has been in the Peace Corps for two years, and living in the rural village of Tonala’ in northern Nicaragua. This would give me an opportunity to see my darling niece again, learn about what her life has been like in Nicaragua and experience that first hand, garner an understanding of what Peace Corps work entails, and have an opportunity to practice my new Spanish skills. As I imagined what it would be like to first see Christine after two long years and how excited and happy we would be, I sometimes saw it in my head as one of those moments in the movies where the two people run towards each other in slow motion, arms outstretched, smiling broadly, as the music builds. Here’s how it actually played out: I was to meet Christine on the first floor of a mall at a coffee shop. The Mariposa driver was going to the airport and agreed to take me to meet Christine and then drop us both at the bus terminal. When we got to the mall, we were cutting it close for Luis, the driver, to make his airport connection and Christine was nowhere in sight. I texted her and she wrote back “oh no! b there soon”. A few more minutes passed and still no Christine. I decided to go into the mall to look for her and realized then that we were on the SECOND floor. As I went down the escalator, of course I see Christine coming up the escalator. I yelled her name and then, turned and ran UP the down escalator, nearly stumbling as I scrambled upstream on the moving staircase. Christine sees me and says “Ceil?” We still had our big moment of joy and greeting each other, but it certainly was not a Kodak moment. I have to say though, as funny as I may have looked, it was worth it. It was so wonderful to see Christine again and I felt like I had come home once I was able to give her a big hug.
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