We wander for distraction, but we travel for fulfillment.
– Hilaire Belloc
Monday, July 9, 2012 (DAYS 127 - 129)
Acquiring a job at The Surfing Donkey Hostel has become my 22nd place to call home and also has the added bonus of free accommodations as well as a small monthly income to possibly stop the hemorrhaging of the spending I have been doing in SJDS. Since the small Pacific beach town is known, according to backpackers, as being the most expensive tourist destinations in Nicaragua, the laidback job is a welcomed opportunity indeed. As one of the newer and less established hostels in San Juan, the refurbished school is painted a light mustard color with blue trim, but the predominant color that tends to draw your eye immediately is the Pepto colored pink paint that covers most of the two dorm rooms and is prevalent from the outside that faces the street. While I was hoping to begin working with Marc at a local orphanage, we’ve realized that there is a series of red tape and an approval process before we can begin, so for now I am staying busy with entertaining guests, as always with my debonair ways. I also pause to think how ironic it is that as I am now a staff member of the Donkey, which growing up as a Denver Broncos fan, this was the negative demeaning name thrust upon them in times of turmoil, but as a proud lifelong member of Broncos Country, I have high hopes with the new acquisition of number 18 running our offense.
Acquiring a job at The Surfing Donkey Hostel has become my 22nd place to call home and also has the added bonus of free accommodations as well as a small monthly income to possibly stop the hemorrhaging of the spending I have been doing in SJDS. Since the small Pacific beach town is known, according to backpackers, as being the most expensive tourist destinations in Nicaragua, the laidback job is a welcomed opportunity indeed. As one of the newer and less established hostels in San Juan, the refurbished school is painted a light mustard color with blue trim, but the predominant color that tends to draw your eye immediately is the Pepto colored pink paint that covers most of the two dorm rooms and is prevalent from the outside that faces the street. While I was hoping to begin working with Marc at a local orphanage, we’ve realized that there is a series of red tape and an approval process before we can begin, so for now I am staying busy with entertaining guests, as always with my debonair ways. I also pause to think how ironic it is that as I am now a staff member of the Donkey, which growing up as a Denver Broncos fan, this was the negative demeaning name thrust upon them in times of turmoil, but as a proud lifelong member of Broncos Country, I have high hopes with the new acquisition of number 18 running our offense.
Over the course of the next few days the hostel begins to come to life with the addition of more guests–an invasion of Aussies, Panamanians, Chileans, Americans, Brazilians, and as I would hear it ringing in my ears from Char, even THE Dutch have arrived. Since my shift begins at 3pm and ends at 11pm, I have a regular flow of varying conversations with people from around the world. Sharing my love for George Bush has made me the most popular person at the Donkey, even while wearing my American flag button that reads WE ARE BETTER THAN YOU. In spite of my political conversations that I could not escape even while organizing a twenty-two person snowboarding trip with friends from all over the States, I can still hear the lengthy debates Jesse and I would have about the atrocities of our current status of our economic foreign policies and how they were a complete joke. A complete joke, people.
The continued common occurrence of a power outage brings with it a spontaneous bonfire after Chad and Ollie wrestle down a bamboo chair to pieces, thereby providing us with a source of light as the ten of us sit around telling ghost stories, each one more horrifying than the last. It amazes me how quickly friendships are made when we are broken down to the fabric of simple conversations, free of technology and the distractions that often separate us into our safe zones of being unchallenged either by choice or social default. Just sitting and listening to how others grew up, experiences they have had, the incredible things they have witnessed, this, is what draws me to the conclusion that in spite of our differences in our nationalities, that the underlying factor to be willing to learn from one another even among humorous discussions, we all have dreams to be lived out and finding that tends to be a lifelong journey.
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