Mango Tree: In the open air...

Adolfo (my teacher) and I went to El Jardín Bontanica today. I´m not sure what I liked better, the garden or the trip to the garden. We traveled like Nicaraguans. I loved it. The garden was far enough that we couldn't have walked to it. It was on the outskirts of town so we hopped on common Nica transportation: essentially the back of a truck covered with a cloth tarp, a metal cage and benches on either side. It was great. The "rules" were scrawled in marker on the inside of the tarp. Not evenly, or anything. At first it looked like vandalism or something because it was just crookedly written on the tarp. It was pretty packed and the truck area was hectic and crazy, with trucks pulling up and old women and families rushing to the emptiest ones.

Everyone on the truck was looking at me oddly. I guess I didn't blend in with my shorts, sunglasses, water bottle and wide eyed look. Oh, and I was the palest person there. The ride was bumpy and all over the place. People also randomly exited and boarded. There was a set route and destination, but no official stops. Imagine being able to just flag down the city bus whenever you needed a ride. Every turn and speed bump caused everyone to slide down the bench and onto each other. Because of this, I got a faceful of sweaty, old man armpit.

When we finally got of the truck, my vision was clouded with vibrant, healthy green hues and a small hint of mountainside. El campo. Beautiful.
We had to walk about a quarter of a mile down a dusty, unpaved road to get to the garden. The road was open to the sky and sun was relentless. I enjoyed it, being in the open air. It's what I've been dying to do. We joked and laughed as we walked. It was nice. We got stopped by the police, too. At first, I thought maybe we were being hassled for the whole gringo/tourist deal but it turned out they wanted to tell us to watch out and be careful because some boys had been holding people up and robbing them. Came back in one piece, though.

The garden was beautiful. We had a little problem getting in at first because apprently, I reek of gringa and they wanted to charge me extra. The guy asked me my name is Spanish as a test, I think, because Adolfo told them I lived here. I am pretty sure the guy expected me to just look at him funny in response, but, alas, my years of Spanish classes are paying off. I answered promptly and passed, paying Nica price sin gringo tax. I forgot that most of Central and South America has rainforest, so a lot of the portions of the garden were cool because they were like mini rainforests. Probably the closest I'll get to a real one. I got some nice pictures, and, as usual, the sky came out unimaginably blue. I love the natural beauty here. It never ceases to awe me. There are so many types of flora here. It's incredible. Every two feet, there was a new tree, bush or flower to read about. They all have crazy names, too. There sprinklers everywhere. We had fun dodging them.
Great Nica experience today and beautiful scenery. Couldn't have asked for anything more.