#40 Leon Reunion

For weeks now, the small business group had been planning a trip to Leon – a big city about 5 hours north from me here in the southern area for a reunion and celebration of Ben’s birthday. I originally couldn’t make it because we had been planning to have class this Friday, making it my first class at one school and second at another, but then I received notice on Thursday evening that class was cancelled the next day so my plans changed for the better immediately. 

After our meeting Friday morning, Noelle and I were on our way to Leon to reconnect with all our close friends who we hadn’t seen since training ended 2 months ago. After 7 hours of various busses, boats, and taxis, we arrived at our hostel in Leon. Everyone was in such great spirits and so happy to see each other again, making us completely forget about the uncomfortable journey. It was wonderful to be with the other volunteers again and when we finally were able to reconnect, I was reminded how close we really have become in just a few months.

The night continued with watching a parade in the central square in front of the largest cathedral in Central America for Leon’s Fiesta Patronales (yearly religious party/holiday of the town – same thing as the fiesta in my training town with the bull penis fighting if you remember that), followed by a huge dinner, and concluded with some fun and dancing discotecas.

A hungover Saturday morning breakfast burrito, Julian arriving from Masaya to a surprise Frost at 9am, and an 11am shuttle to the beach. Hot weather, big waves, cheap everything. Spent the day relaxing on the beach, tossing back some Toñas, beach football (Americano), etc…

Matt Wood  

Do you see that character on the far right on the bottom on his knees? That is 23 year old Matt Wood. This picture is absolutely hilarious and essentially summarizes Matt Wood to the tee. Over the past few weeks, our business group has been secretly photoshopping this photo of Matt into awkward situations.

That night, we finally shared with Matt what we had been doing. All of a sudden, Chalin surprises everyone and brings out a piñata he had made of Matt’s pose. 

We all absolutely died of laughter. Tears streaming from our faces. I can’t describe how absolutely hilarious these were.

Mateo has now lost more than 30 pounds and isn’t the only one. The Peace Corps seems to be a great way to lose those unwanted pounds or get in shape. Several volunteers have lost over 20 pounds for both the better and, unfortunately, one for the worse. Poor Pedro has spent the majority of the last 5 months fighting parasite after parasite making him join this weight loss group. He remains in good spirits and has my props for being quite tough, never once complaining. I too came in quite scrawny after months of taking the gym lightly and now have been going to the gym routinely and have noticed huge improvements. Goes to show you how much the Peace Corps really helps everyone (except Pedro, sorry bud).