In the land of sun, salt, and sand

“Home is where the heart is, and my heart is wherever I am at the moment.” 

Instead of doing my PADI (diving certification), visiting the corn islands, and going to Honduras, I decided to spend the rest of my time at my beach home in Nicaragua. From my first day there I loved it, and I had no desire to be hopping from place to place for my last few weeks. Though there were many parts of the culture I liked there, I know I could never live there permanently. 
The good- The open door culture, everyone knows everyone, and you literally can't walk down the street alone because you always find a friend to walk with. Being outside all the time. People here don't live indoors, ever. In all houses, the "kitchen" (which is a few pots and pans and an open flame) is outside, as well as the bathroom (often not a flushing toilet, just a hole in the backyard), the shower, and basically everything else besides the bed. Everyone lives simply, family and friends are more important, and status, money, and material things mean nothing.

The not so good- People don't have anything to do here, so from an early age, a lot of the kids spend all their time drinking and doing drugs (not only the kids either, it's not unusual to find old men passed out on the side walk). It is also a macho culture. The girls stay in the house (normally from the age of 16-17, taking care of their kids) while the boys either work, or go out and drink and hunt for other girls. It was a joke that it was always me and my beach boys hanging out, because there was literally never another girl with us (at least not one from there). Another prolem is that there is nothing motivating the youth there. Many kids don't finish school, and even for the ones that finish high school, more school or starting some kind of career is not even thought about since no one does it. It's sad, because the kids here are so smart, street smart, and grow up so fast, but yet then they don't make anything out of it. I worked with some local kids, and they were some of the smartest kids I have met, they can fish, climb trees to reach coconuts, take the bus and do the shopping for the family at the age of five... But when they are older, they will just sit around, watch tv, and let each day pass by without doing anything. Tied onto that is the fact tha planning ahead is not a concept. People live from day to day, which is good in some ways, but bad in other such as bank accounts (don't exhist) or planning for the future if their kids. It was interesting for me to see and live this way for a while since I'm usually always doing something. I think that in a perfect world, it would be a mix. In North America, people focus too much on work and doing too much everyday, so mixing a little of the Nicaraguan culture would do them all some good. Now, after living this way, I'm going to try and mix a bit more of that into my life too.

Now, I am in Honduras, and sadly my trip is finishing tomorrow as I take the plane back to Eugene. Though I am not looking forward to this trip being over, I know it won't be my last.