alright so... i think i promised an update before going to managua... which was last weekend. woops... things have been a little hectic for me here, sorry...

let´s start with what happened in managua... it was a huge manifestation of lefties... which is what the government is... being a white person was interesting at the demonstration, i was just really glad to be speaking spanish and be with a NICA. monika got handed a sandanista flag by some guy who made her take it, saying that she needed it more than him. it was pretty interesting watching all of this taking place. i get lucky because of the two of us, monika is called american more than me... since i have gotten a bit of a tan here, and because i have darker features in some ways than her, its assumed to a certain extent that i´m european and not american. which is interesting....

anyway.... we got called yankees a lot, which is what americans are called apparently by leftist governments... i heard daniel ortega speak (leslie you would have found that very interesting) and what he had to say was very interesting, to say the least.

one of the things he said, was that the american government had helped to plan/precipitate the coup that happened in honduras right before i got here, with president zelaya being forced out of the country and into costa rica... it was pretty interesting hearing that, but i was told that prett much all of the leftish latin american countries are saying that at the moment.... so i guess maybe i shouldn´t have been so surprised.

there was chavez´s right-hand man there... as well as rigoberta menchu, the nobel peace prize winning guatemalteca... we weren´t quite to managua yet when she was speaking, but i got to hear her on the radio, and she was phenomenal... instead of being negative, she talked about all of the positive things that the revolution has brought nicaragua and what positive things revolution has brought latin america and talked about the youth and how she was so happy to see so many young people there that day (there was definitely a lot of them). i really liked hearing her speak though, it was uplifting and inspiring.

so... what else... getting called a yankee all day was pretty interesting to say the least.... since then i have played a lot of monopoly with friends at canal once... have helped put some advertisements into the banner thingie so that when they play movies and stuff the banners go across, i typed on in last night : ) i have just hung out in ocotal, and gotten to know the city better, and i have an adventure planned for tomorrow that i´ll recount once it´s over.... we went to a pool the other day and just hung out there all day, which was really nice, it was really nice and green and there was just monika and pedro and i so it was just really quiet and we all relaxed and talked and listened to the michael jackson that was on the radio for like 2 hours.

what else.... not much else really to say about my adventures here for the moment... got locked out of the house last night with monika so we slept at the tv station which was pretty fun, we stayed up talking for a really long time about a lot of stuff.

i feel really happy today, which is prett surprising to me... but i don´t know why it should be. i am in beautiful nicaragua, it is a little cloudy and will probably start raining soon, so i should get back to the house... dinner will be on the table in the next hour or so too.

hope everyone is doing really well, there is like a mini party going on in the street out in front of the cyber cafe... kinda weird. OH and i think we are going dancing tomorrow yayyyy!!!! monika and i are sooooooo excited!!!! it´s gonna be amazing, the other time when we danced in tipilto it was more like an event, this will be going to a club and dancing. and i brought the PERFECT dress. wooty wooooo!

love you all and see you soon. and eliot if you read this, again... happy birthday, love you bro!

ps. i forgot to mention that yesterday we drove up into the mountains to a small town and climbed to the top of a mini mountain and what a view! i wish i had taken my camera with me... there was an abandoned church up there, and it was just so quiet! it was great, and we just hung out there and all had our own moments for a couple hours... i just sat staring at the mountains and listening to the wind it was wonderful. now i´m ready to see the ocean!