Today I ran faster than a moving truck . . . a dumptruck, that is, a dumptruck filled with rocks driving uphill through the mountains. Still, quite a feat if you ask me. I typically pass people on horseback and old ladies carrying bags on their heads but the truck is all new to me.

I returned to San Jose feeling dehydrated and beat up after seven hours of off and on travel from the Pacific Ocean beaches of Vista Mar in Masachapa, Managua to the mountains of San Jose de los Remates, Boaco, where I hang my hat. From Tuesday to Friday, I participated in a Project Design & Management (PDM) Workshop for volunteers and counterparts. I went in large part to observe the format and see if perhaps I could be a facilitator in the future. I was also taking a look at the materials used by the facilitators to see if I’d be able to create a couple of sets that could be used permanently by staff and borrowed by volunteers. Of course, I had to participate in the workshop to get the full benefit—and this was a three-day, all-Spanish workshop. We broke into groups during the workshop—two volunteer-counterpart pairs who talked over the projects they had in mind and then selected one to work on for the duration of the workshop. We went step-by-step beginning with “The Vision” and ending with plans for monitoring and evaluating the project. Projects can be scary like any monstrous beast, but when broken down into sizeable, workable chunks, they seem possible and even exciting! I hope to have some new sets of materials created by August when the next training takes place.

Moments before being hustled out of Vista Mar (more about that later) I was bitten by something. I thought it was an ant but now I see it was a bee. I’m allergic to bees and two days later I’m still having an allergic reaction. I was bitten on the underside of my left bicep—not unlike that time I was bitten by a llama at a drive-thru petting zoo in Missouri. Anyone in my immediate family can corroborate this story. At any rate, I was feeling super drained and had a headache when I got home on Friday evening. I figured it was due to the travel and heat. However, when I woke Saturday morning my eyes were also swollen and my arm presented a swollen, red, itchy welt. I hit the Benadryl knowing that I’d likely pass out while hand-washing clothes but I had to take some steps to control the reaction. Hours later I did have to lie down and take a nap. My eyes are less puffy today though the welt on my arm seems bigger.

As I was saying, we were hustled out of Vista Mar because the roads were already being blocked off in Managua for the Labor Day celebration here in Nicaragua. The president was planning to speak in the afternoon and many workers were going to be released at 3PM from work. It is not uncommon for disturbances, sometimes violent, to occur after presidential addresses. Peace Corps is really on top of this stuff so we were knew at 7AM that the schedule would have to be modified and participants at the workshop would be divided into groups by bus station. At 11:30 the first “microbus” departed the beach and arrived two hours later at Mercado Mayoreo where the vast majority of us made our way to buses headed north (Somoto, Jinotega, Matagalpa) and east (Boaco, Juigalpa.)

In hindsight, I really enjoyed the three-day PDM conference. It’s a great opportunity to learn something new, practice Spanish, make new Nica and American friends, trade music with other volunteers (or episodes of GLEE!), and get inspired.