Hey there family and friends,
Hope all is well, wherever you are. As winter approaches, I prepare to experience my first in Canada in many moons. Yikes! I wonder if I will be able to handle it... I have been in the heat of Nicaragua too long.
Well, I mentioned in the last two updates this person Fabiola. Well, perhaps I should present her more formally, well, as formally as possible by email, in any case. Her photo is on my website, as mentioned in the last update, but perhaps some more details are in order for those wondering minds out there.
Fabiola is a psychologist who works in a violence prevention program in the Rural Women's Committee in Leon. She is very passionate and loves her work. Unfortunately she tends to work too much and not take care of herself, but I am campaigning for improvements on that front. She is full of life and fun! She likes to dance, go to movies... We actually haven't gone out much lately, we are mostly working on the relationship and it is going quite well, with hiccups sometimes, but... life is good.
Will we get married and have kids and all that kind of stuff? Everyone asks, but it is really too early to tell. We have been officially dating now for three months. Ask me again in a year...
Well, as I mentioned in the last update, we went to Brazil, unexpectedly. Fabiola had to go to a conference suddenly to replace someone whose mother got deathly ill (luckily she recovered although she is still not out of the woods yet) and so I decided to tag along at the last minute... In the end we were only there for 10 days and only 3 were we able to really hang out and travel together, but we had a great time.
In the end, the flights on the day Fabiola flew were full, so I left 2 days later and returned to Nicaragua 2 days late as well... By the time I arrived, Fabiola was already in the Feminist's Conference, in a fancy hotel complex about 2-3km outside of Serra Negra (3 hours out from Sao Paulo. I arrived late and got into a hostel which was not too expensive and coincidentally across the street from the fancy hotel where Fabiola had stayed in Sao Paulo...
The next day I hopped on a bus to Sao Paulo leaving my stuff in Sao Paulo in case I couldn't find a cheap hotel... In the end, I found one, checked in and proceeded to try and find Fabiola's hotel around 5pm. After getting somewhat lost (I blame the maps), I finally walked out of Serra Negra to the hotel, getting there at dusk and finding to my surprise a big gate locking the entrance... I asked if I could see Fabiola and they said no. I needed an appointment it appeared.... Oh well. So, I walked back to Serra Negra to call and make an appointment... Jerks.
The next day I arrived (walking again) punctually for my appointment and they informed me that they knew nothing about my appointment... Hmmm... Anyway, after some hornwaggling, managed to get in, but I was charged $0.50US for the honour. Jerks.
Anyway, finally saw Fabiola, it was the second last day of the conference, so we hung out for part of the morning and lunchtime then we made plans to join some other women from Nicaragua to go to Rio the next evening... So, I returned to Sao Paulo, stayed the night and returned the next evening, prepared for an all-night bus ride. We left at 9pm and arrived at 5am in Rio de Janeiro...
We arrived exhausted in Rio and proceeded to watch 17 Nicaraguans try to come to an agreement on where to stay in Rio... It took about an hour and finally it was decided to stay in a hotel for about $60US, but all of the women formed groups of 3, so it wasn't so bad, but for us, with Fabiola's limited budget, it was too much, so we tagged along, but went to check out the local hostels... In the end, for a private room, they were the same or more in price, so we returned to the first hotel... Well, at least we got to see a bit of Ipanema.
In Ipanema we spent time walking on the beach, which is definitely impressive and catching up on sleep... We also took a bus to Corcovado, about 1.5 hours from Ipanema to go up and see this Jesus guy up close. However, we were supposed to meet someone and well, never thought it would take 1.5 hours to get there... Turned out to be about $15US to go upon the train, so we decided to take fotos from the base and head back. The second night, we took the night bus back to Sao Paulo, mostly because Sao Paulo was much cheaper and had a nap again...
We shopped some, saw the Japanese neighbourhoods, rode the subway, etc. The next day Fabiola returned, so I spent the last 2 days shopping, going to movies, reading, etc. All in all, it was a good trip, just a bit too fast, next time we'll have to spend more time. My Portuguese, although rusty managed to keep us fed, next time maybe I could actually have more conversations with people...
Well, I finished my job with Dos Generaciones and decided to look for new horizons, however, turns out that CUSO wanted to keep me on, so they offered me an extension until January while we figure things out. In January I will likely spend a few months doing research on potential partners for CUSO in Nicaragua that are working with youth. After that, who knows, maybe the computer project will fall into place, or CUSO seems to want to contract me for another couple of years, so that is an option as well... In any case, it is all as clear as mud. If things continue to go well with Fabiola, I may need to consider my options in Leon and not Managua... Leon is a smaller town, really nice, colonial, but... very hot!
Well, I will be in Vancouver next week, Nov 24 until Dec 8 and then in Toronto from Dec 9 to the 27th. For the Canadian friends, send me your phone numbers again, in case they have changed and we'll see if we can catch up. Family, well, you have no choice but to see me, unfortunately for you...
Take care, un abrazo,
Rob