Mountains...

The last week has been jam packed with activities. I hope I can remember an adequate amount of detail about the best events. Should have brought my Journal along with me to the Internet Cafe.
The First event was an excursion to the countryside, facilitated by one of the INPRHU employees who we´re familiar with. He wanted to show us some of the Petroglyphs which can be found in the mountains outside of Somoto. The event turned out to be focussed less on the Petroglyphs and more on the journey to the location. We drove to the base of a mountain nearby Somoto, and he lead us up to the top. Beautiful view. I snapped some photographs, but they never quite do the landscape justice. The Petroglyphs consisted of a number of bowl shape indents in rocks on top of the mountain. They were used for storing food/water, and bathing. I have a good picture of Josue lying back in one of the bath shaped indentations. The climb down was the most exciting part of the excursion. The guide decided that instead of backtracking along the well used trail, it would be a better idea to bushwhack down the side of the mountain. The trip down the mountain added just enough adventure to make the excursion a complete success. I ended up being covered by big nasty ants which stung like hornets and left marks which still remain, more than a week later.

Earlier in this blog I posted a picture of Somoto, the backdrop being a large mountain. Since the beginning of our stay in Somoto it has been our objective to climb to the top of the mountain. I´m happy to say that this Saturday we were able to do just that. Two of our Somoto contacts were able to get us a guide.For the past couple of weeks the weather has been quite ugly in Somoto. Rainy and Cold. Saturday was not an exception.
We set off at 6:00AM, walking all the way to the base of the mountain and it quickly started to sprinkle as we arrived. We climbed for a couple of hours, and quickly the sprinkle turned into a downpour. Soon we were all soaked to the core along with our backpacks, everything they contained, and our shoes. However, we had waited too long to achieve our goal. We persevered. Soon the path disappeared and we found ourselves climbing up a very steep and muddy incline. We made it within a couple hundred feet of the summet and the muddy path literally began to fall away under our feet. A couple of us chose to continue, and a couple to stay behind. I stayed behind. The entire time the mountain had been enveloped in fog, only clearing for a couple of minutes while we waited for the rest of the group. The view of Somoto was fantastic, everything antlike. The elevation of the mountain is something around 5000 feet. Our climb back down was extremely muddy and wet (constant rain). Upon our return to Somoto we were soaked and dirty, but we accomplished the feat! Easily one of the most extreme activities which we´ve attempted during our stay in Nicaragua.

Tomorrow is the 47th anniversary of the creation of our province, Madriz. Somoto, being the capital of Madriz, is also the centre of celebrations. For the past week or so there have been celebrations at the Central Park, including music and food. Although the celebrations last throughout the month, the big days are tomorrow and the Carnaval on the 28th. Tomorrow we hope to view a Rodeo, go to the little fair that they have set up, and enjoy some of the food which is sold via vendors on the street. Anyway, I´m being rushed to leave. Meeting in a matter of minutes at INPRHU. I´ll post after Montelimar (this sunday) with details about the festivities, and our trip to Granada and Leon. Ahhh! No time to read over what I wrote here.