Approaching 1 yr. in country and 9 months in site!

I had a revitalizing 19 day vacation in Minneapolis, MN with my parents and friends. Now, I feel ready to resume my Peace Corps service. The transition from vacation back to Nicaragua has been a “sprinting, off to the races" kind of start because I have actually been quite busy since returning to the Augusto C. Sandino International Airport in Managua, Nicaragua at 9 PM on Thursday, January 7. This past Friday, I went to Rio Blanco, Matagalpa for two reasons: a billiards tournament to help raise awareness in the male population on HIV/AIDS and for the quarterly VAC – Volunteer Action Committee meeting (all the departments in Peace Corps Nicaragua have a reunion about 3 to 4 times a year to welcome and get to know the newest group of volunteers as well as talk about Peace Corps cross-sectoral general issues or problems). I took a few pictures of the beautiful terrain and foliage that can be found in Rio Blanco, Matagalpa. Photos

Rio Blanco is the site where the VAC coordinator, a health 46 volunteer who will terminate his 2 year service in March is finishing his service. Rio Blanco is a site considerably larger in population than San Isidro, perhaps having 20,000 people and it has a Bancentro Bank! If you are a volunteer that has a bank in your site, that usually means you are in a medium to large site that has supermarkets and all the necessities that one would need right in your backyard, including the means to easily withdraw money from the Peace Corps bank account.

Like I said, the volunteer in Rio Blanco is a community health volunteer like me and on Friday night before the Saturday reunion I along with about 12 other PCVs from the department of Matagalpa helped and gave moral support to Mike as he conducted his billiards tournament. Unfortunately I did not take any pictures of this experience but it was a success and the Nicaraguan men who played in the tournament seemed to have a lot of fun, while at the same time learning about HIV and how to protect themselves and others from this terrible disease. I helped Mike with the tournament by asking pre-scripted questions to the pool players after the player made a ball on the table on HIV/AIDS. The way the tournament works is Mike or whoever is organizing the tourney will present a small lesson on HIV/AIDS before each round of pool play. The HIV/AIDS lessons begin with simple facts and move on to more complex processes of the disease. In the end, the first, second and third place players (out of 24 players or however many players you start with) win a cash prize, with first place getting the most and third the lesser amount. In addition to asking questions and giving lessons on HIV we handed out free condoms as well as giving and observing condom demonstrations.

On Tuesday, I woke up at 5 AM to catch the 6 AM bus to Managua for the mandatory one year in country medical examinations (physical and dental cleaning/prophylaxis). Fortunately, I am very healthy with no problems with my body or teeth for that matter. I am now ready to charge on and finish my service.