After spending a relaxing weekend in the colonial town of Leon (formally the liberal capital of Nicaragua) and attending a very sweaty mass in the largest cathedral in Central America, we traveled on a repossessed yellow school bus to the cleanest city in Nicaragua: Nagarote.  Nationally known for its quesillos, of which we were culinarily underwhelmed, Nagarote is a pleasantly walkable city where people sit on their porches and enjoy the cool night breeze.  It’s a place where, as people pass each other on the street, instead of saying “hello” they say “goodbye” (You say goodbye, I say hello).  The people we met there seem immensely proud of their city.  Jose Angel, the local librarian and notorious chatterbox, detained us for 30 minutes describing the important sites in Nagarote and showing us the programs and resources of the library itself.  He neglected to mention the permanent sidewalk art, which immortalizes the images of Mickey Mouse, Porky Pig, and the Chrysler symbol in front of the city’s largest church.

The organizations and people we met were very inspiring.  Ramon, from Norwalk-Nagarote Sister City Project took us under his wing showing us the ropes of Sister City’s youth programs.   We were introduced to Javier and his organic farming initiative as well as an unidentified, very friendly marsupial.  We had a rousing discussion about social movements, gender roles and the power of student voices with Yeroslavi and Evelyn from Inti-Pachamama.  Over pasta and a Nica chicken tamale we debated feminism and double standards with Roberto Jr, the owner of the hostel where we stayed.  And we learned about the scope of MinSa’s (Ministerio de Salud) health structure in Nagarote from Angelica Blanco and Silvia at the local clinica.

We beat the heat by playing our harmonicas late into the night — much to the chagrin of the hostel dogs (see video here).  We were sad to return to Managua, but are excited for this week´s meetings and next week’s trip to La RAAN.

Abrazote!