John Travolta Nica

Nicaraguans love John Travolta circa 1970. So much so that there was a competition this weekend in Managua to find the John Travolta Nica that I was just lucky enough to attend. One of my fellow-trainee´s host brothers, Onis, is a dance teacher and Travolta fanatic so there was a whole microbus of relatives going to support him and I was able to hitch a ride as well. We had signs and noise makers and lots of excitment. I really didn´t know what to expect in terms of a venue, I was thinking auditorium or small stadium or something with sitting, but what we got was one of the premier discos in Managua, El Rio, and 30 odd Nicaraguan dudes dressed in leisure suits and shiney shirts and slicked back hair.

They did 4 rounds of 3 people dancing at a time, each time the more ridiculous and un-Travolta like dancers were weeded out. They all gave it their best, that was clear, but there were also clearly some way more impressive Travoltas and that included Onis who made it into the top three. With our hopes riding on him winning the impressive motorcycle sitting outside, we were all standing on chairs and tables (ah, so not the U.S.) chanting "Siete! Siete!" (Onis´s number was seven) at the top of our lungs. In the end, Onis came in second with a prize of $2,000 cordobas which is about $100.

After the whole shabang was over, we stuck around to dance for about an hour and enjoy a little more freedom and excitement than can be found in our little pueblo. I think that I will definitely look back on this as an incredibly unique and fun experience during my time in Nicaragua. However, I would be ok with not hearing either Stayin Alive or Saturday Night Fever for a year or more.

At 4am on Sunday morning, I was woken up by a marching band and fireworks. I kid you not.

In other news, we had our first youth group meeting yesterday and we were incredibly happy to have 22 people show up. Overall it went well, they participated in all the activities we had planned and maybe even had a little fun. Today we met with our teacher again to plan our when we can all co-teach with him, so next Tuesday I´ll be in the classroom getting my feet wet!

In case you hadn´t noticed, I do actually have decent access to the internet here. We don´t have a phone to call internationally from but there is a Cyber Cafe that´s only 50 cents an hour, so send me an email with an update if you have a chance!!