so once again i haven´t kept my personal promise to write something down everyday but in the midst of being frustrated with myself i suppose that memory works this way anyways and perhaps an experience is better remembered by the things worthy of note rather than a tedious adherence to daily reflection, not to say that i haven´t been reflecting at all but perhaps not to the extent that such a packed and heavy reality sets infront of you. today however was a nice break from stinky ugly and at time unbearable managua as we went hiking in a nature reserve named after the greed birds that live in the rocks-chocoyero. driving to the entrance of the reserve we saw pinas growing on the bush, bananas, and a whole lot of other fruits that i can´t remember or spell at the moment. one word stuck in my mind as my eyes tried to take in the green and the rocks and the mountains and the sky-the vast beauty of a tropical paradise: increible. we hiked with luis and gaby to a waterfall and the rock surface spanned with little caves where the birds constantly landed and took off from. we heard the calls of monkeys but didn´t see them up close, i still have yet to fulfill that mission of seeign a live monkey not attached to rope or put somewhere for tourists. the other goal left is to do sutures at the clinic but i fear with one day left i´ll have to wait until medical school although i have done every other think in the emergency room that there is to do: IM shots in the nalga and arm, subcutaneous insulin shots, IV injection, retiro de puntos, nebulization, bp, temps, starting IV drips...really it´s not that beyond the scope of a nurse assitant in the states so i don´t feel underqualified but it´s fun to practice and i haven´t really messed anythign up!
as i was saying before perhaps the best memories are the ones that really stick and of my time here meeting don alberto was a highlight. Ry an i stayed an extra night at the eco-lodge on tisey mountain after the rest of the delegation from santa cruz left and we set out on a hike that ended in the discovery of an old man with tattered pants and a dirty shirt who smelled of the earth and spoke without taking a breath in his urgency to point out each and every flower and fruit an tree in his own personal paradise that he´d been creating for thirty one years, carefully carving the cliffs of stone into pictures of indigenous women makign tortillas, a tribute to the twin towers, baby jesus in his crib, sandino and reuben dario, long anocandas and the santa maria of Columbus, all carved and recorded in stone along with his name over and over again. we walked away from that enchanted place after sitting at the top and listening to his solitary poems and his genorocity and passion for life as changed people, more sensitive to the magic that still exists and overwhelms you when you stumble upon it on a lazy afternoon filled with adventure. so even if i´d come to nicaragua this summer and only had that afternoon it would have been worth it. perhaps it´s the gabriel garcia marquez i´ve been reading that´s speaking but it truly was a magical little adventure set apart for every in my memory with a hope and a tranquility all its own. i did reach the point a couple weeks ago of asking myself what the hell am i doing here but the epoca passed and now i don´t want to think about leaving...time plays tricks on you in the sense that it never seems regular always speeding up of slowing down at the most inopportune moments-perhaps that´s the miracle of tisey time stopped for us and yet it didn´t really exist either.