Nicarauga 2016 Day 4: Now Watch me Nae Nae in Nicaragua

3 mosquito bites today :-/ That scares me. As soon as we walked down to breakfast Katia pulled me aside and said to make sure we use bug spray because the mosquitos were out today. I wondered what the difference was from today to the other days because this Nicaraguan Heat feels equally intense every day to me. Katia said that the weather was a bit more breezy and cool so the mosquitos would be more out in the open because they like it prefer that? Okay… it doesn’t take much of an explanation for me… just say mosquito…

Enmanuel and Jordy Aléman
"The brothers Aléman"

just say it once and before you know it we will both be in a cloud of bug spray. Initially, when we arrived to camp I felt a bit uncomfortable putting my pants on over my bug sprayed legs over and over again (we have to wear pants for the devotionals) but now I love those pants, they are like a coat of armor to me… invincible! We are sprayed down and throughout the day I only got a couple of bites. When I asked Enmanuel if he had gotten bit by any mosquitos he said that he got 25 bites last night! I can’ t believe that the living arrangements could get much more uncomfortable from what we have but apparently the boys are really uncomfortable since they are all in one big room and people make noise and some are in cots and others are on mats on the floor. So Enmanuel just left the dorms and opted to sleep outside on his mat… Loco. Anyways, I asked Enmanuel if he was scared of his bites and he said that he thinks he’ll be fine. I asked him to put a number behind it… we American’s like facts and statistics… “What percentage chance do you think you have contracting Chikungunya?” Enmanuel said 10%. So the girls and I figure if we get bit a few times that still makes it less than a 1% chance we will get it…….. according to our extensive Nicaraguan research.

After breakfast we wrote in our journals and I put up the blog from yesterday. Sitting around talking about the answers to

FaceTime with bestie :-)

the questions and hearing everyone’s different perspectives has been a really interesting and fun part of the trip. Everyone views the world with a different lens and with different experiences and its very enjoyable to hear the perspectives of the girls and Kara each day. After a little Wi-Fi indulgence (catching up on things at home and face-timing with friends) it was already time for lunch! Rice and beans again…. actually, just because I’ve bean going rice and beans crazy doesn’t mean that I have to start making everyone at home go rice and beans crazy. I am not going to write about it anymore… just assume that is all we are eating. In fact, we are probably eating it right now while you are reading this.

The soccer tournament started off great today. We finished all of the regular bracket games and tomorrow we start with the semi-finals and the championship round! We could see a huge change in demeanor in all of the players from yesterday. They seemed to understand the rules better, respect the referees (just a little but more), and have more fun. The mood was intense but a little lighter than yesterday. On the boys field we just lost shoe after shoe after shoe. Somoene would kick a ball as hard as they could and the shoe would go flying off of their foot. I even got hit with a shoe on the side lol. Everyone here seems to like the slip-in style shoe. They actually work well for soccer aside from the “flying of the foot” part.

Once we wrapped up with the tournament, Kara, Ariel, and I went to get a little work out in. Maya was busy getting ready for the King and Queen of camp competition. We had a huge crowd of Nicaraguans surrounding us during the workout. I can’t tell if it was fun for them to watch or they wanted to join. Enmanuel and his brother, Jordy, joined our workout! 

Afterwards, we showered up and

then began the king and queen of camp ceremony, talent show, and FIESTA!

Maya competed in the King and Queen competition representing the

town of Carosa. She did such a great job and looked beautiful! Ariel was able to pass her crown from last year onto the next queen of camp which was super cute. While Maya was occupied with the King and Queen of camp event, we performed for the talent show (everyone participates in some way) and we did “Watch Me” (Nae Nae?). It was fun and so funny. We had some of the Nicaraguans come up and do the dance with us, I messed up the beginning by not turning at the correct time and then somewhere midway through Kara just started making weird and hilarious stuff up to go with the song and the Nicaraguans just followed along. When she started with it it caught me so off guard that I just could not stop laughing mid-song. haha. Check it out… but for the record, we have no idea how to Nae Nae. The closest thing I got was when one of my players, Chris Volley, tried to teach it to me at soccer practice this summer!

Did she hide her face well?

I have to show the Nicaraguans every year that I have a Latina side… and where I show that is in my Latina hips on the dance floor. After the talent show was over, the party began along with A LOT of dancing. Kara was a little surprised at how the Nicaraguans danced which is kind of like Grinding at home but

with no contact- like an inch between dance partners. Ariel and Maya were hot commodities for dance partners. Kara and I were next, dancing around the floor and having fun. After a while we decided to turn in for the night but the girls are having so much fun dancing that I could not pry them away, nor did I want to. In fact, they are probably dancing right now as I type this blog haha.

If you want to eat what you like,
you have to get creative. 

Today was a fantastic day from start to finish. We are continuing to work on league logistics on the side and hope to have everything prepared for the final meeting with Katia on Thursday. It will be sad to wrap up camp tomorrow and have to say goodbye to so many of the youth until we meet them again next year. 

Quote of the day: “The beans really get to you! I thought I had to go but then it turned out to be just a toot…ish.” 

(Okay I know that sounds gross and I’m not going to say WHO said it but it was SO funny in the moment. BTW- We are all doing fine digestively but the change in diet is definitely a challenge). 

Thanks for reading along! Good night from Nicaragua!