On Mortal Coils and the Refusal to Shuffle off of Them

It has certainly been an odd week. From volcano boarding to rooster fighting to everything that could possibly fit between those two, it has been interesting to say the least. The oddest thing of all however, is that I´m still here. Not that I would flee at the first sign of the terribly bland white cheese they serve at breakfast, nor at the insistance of taxi drivers to play a live version of Mario Kart through their city streets. The odd thing is that I´m still alive. This in and of itself doesn´t come as a surprise to me but I know of a great many people who predicted my untimely demise here in Nicaragua. How they envisioned that occurring is a mystery, but I´m hoping it wasn´t too grotesque. These are friends and family after all. Yet despite their obvious concern for my safety it is their belief that misery awaited me that can´t help but infuriate me. My experiences here have been nothing but pleasurable. Intense, certainly. Scary, a bit. Sweaty, oh God yes. But I have never once feared for my safety. It has become apparent to me that Americans tend to latch onto a single instance, a soundbite, a passing story on the news and use that as their basis for judging an entire country and their people and this is resoundingly unfair. There hasn´t been a revolution in Nicaragua since 1990, yet I was assured by trusted individuals that I would be captured by Marxist Communist Socialist Revolutionaries and I had better take out a larger life insurance package. First of all I have no idea what a MCSR is and even if I believed they once roamed the countryside, their existence has definitively gone the way of the dodo. Nicaraguans have been nothing if not a kind, respectable and generous people. Even the guy walking down the street wearing nothing but a garbage bag around his loins. At least he had his dignity. I implore anyone reading this to take the time to learn and to educate themselves before drawing conclusions, especially when it involves the judging of an entire country and its populace. Well that was entertaining. Next up, Rooster Fighting: Awkward, Fun or Totally Awesome?