So here in
Nicaragua we look for any reason to throw a party and have some fun. Thanksgiving
was no exception. We had been planning Thanksgiving for 2 weeks,
trying to find everything we needed to have a traditional American Thanksgiving,
while living in Nicaragua. So the morning of the big day had finally arrived. Two
very dedicated girls on our team got up at 5 in the morning to start cooking. When I
woke up the house smelled amazing! Somehow I was kind of put in charge of the
“pumpkin pie” which was made out of Akoyta (?) yep, I had never seen
it before, but it is kind of like a squash, but its from Nicaragua. I was
going to make a pie out of that, without a recipe, so I hoped for the best
and made it up. It seems like many Nica things were substituted that day, all
with a smile and a prayer.
At about
11 myself, Laura and Jessica all decided to go to Heather’s house to cook some
food, she had a free oven. Turns out this was the best decision we could have
made. Soon after we left the power at our house got cut (not turned off…cut).
So people are scrambling to find a new place for the turkey. Meanwhile, we are
enjoying the finer things of Thanksgiving over at Heather’s house, watching
movies, checking in on the latest football scores and taking delightful naps on
her couch.
At 2:30 all
our food was finally done. Because we had so many plates of food we had to take
a taxi. We sort of told the cab driver, in broken Spanish, about Thanksgiving
or Dia da Gracias. Even with a few minor set backs, at 4:15 we finally sat
down to eat. We had all the traditional Thanksgiving food: Turkey, potatoes,
stuffing, cranberry sauce, sweet potatoes, everything! We were having our
Thanksgiving at El Puente so I was very excited to see how our Nicaraguan
friends would like our food, or even the idea of Thanksgiving.
It was so
incredible, we had one table, and it sat all 22 of us. It was such a time of
joy. All the days work of cooking and planning and taxi rides and having our
food all over the city had finally come together in this perfect moment of
family. It was probably one of the best Thanksgivings I have had. We had only
known each other for a little less than three months, but I felt as though
these people were my family.
The day
ended well, most of the food was eaten, some random games played and definitely
Thanks given. Turns out that Nicaraguans think that American food is weird,
and we were still without electricity. A wonderful day…Oh! and my pie did turn out delicious.
Hope your
holidays were full of fun…see you all in 20 days!
Anita (we all have our Nicaraguan nick names…)
