The Art of Surfing Couches during the El Negrito Feria

The joys of owning a couch are innumerable.  Not only does it make the house look more like a home, give your guests a soft place to sit their bottoms down after a long day, or serve as a midday napping spot, it also allows you to be part of the CouchSurfing program!  Well, okay, so you don't necessarily need to own a couch to participate, but it doesn't hurt :)  I owe so much to that website.  I've hosted 8 people so far, met up with a group of guys I was supposed to host in La Ceiba during Carnaval, and helped another person with planning his trip down here.  My experiences with everyone have been nothing short of inspirational.  I've already written about a couple from earlier this year, I believe.  In July I received 3 different groups of people: one guy from Germany who was living and traveling around Central/South America, one guy from Japan who had decided to travel the world starting with Central America, and 4 guys from Argentina who were doing the whole South/Central American run.  They all came at the perfect time - during our annual feria!  

We had tons of events going on in the park, in the Club, and in the Centro Social.  Every town's feria, or annual fair, is done in honor of some religious figure or Saint.  In El Negrito's case, our feria honored La Virgen del Carmen.  It lasted from July 2nd to 23rd and is really one of the rare times of the year when the central park area is completely teeming with people.  We inaugurated the fair with a float parade, horses, marching band, and firecrackers, then gave out prizes to the best floats at our large bullring.  

Global Warming Float

Another event during the feria was the Carrera de Cintas, a contest in which men ride horseback at full speed towards a rope hung across the road that has small loops hanging from it that the men have to spear with a small stick.  The guy that has the most wins.

There were bull-riding competitions in the smaller bullrings,

Small fair rides and various vendors and game booths scattered around the park, plus fireworks,

Pic by Fede

Music concerts of popular music, ranchera music, merengue, bachata, punta, and a Miss Yoro pageant,

Pic by Fede

Pic by Fede

Oh yeah. And a band that passed by every morning at 4 am playing very loud music.

My site-mate had mentioned to me that El Negrito had a small swimming hole that was a small hike away, so the first CSer I hosted in July and I went with my site-mate to see it, since he knew where it was.  The hike was about 40 minutes down a dirt road and a small trail in the woods and we had to cross several small creeks but we finally reached it.  There was a small waterfall, a big boulder, and the swimming hole actually was super tiny, but very refreshing after walking in the sun for so long!  

My second guest stayed a few days and was a big hit with my friends because he brought his guitar and played and sang for us on several occasions.  Even though he was Japanese, he knew several songs in Spanish and we sat for probably an hour in my house enjoying our own private little concert.  

The other guests I had were from Argentina.  Two guys stayed with me for a while, waiting for their other two friends to get here from Nicaragua and we all became fast friends.  We somehow managed to get into most of the feria events for free, which I attribute to their luck.  One guy was a maker of beautiful threaded bracelets of all sorts of designs and colors, another was a professional salsa dancer, there was a juggler, and then a guy who played the guitar and sang and was just generally high in spirits and fun.  We actually ended up meeting in Utila (one of the Bay Islands) after they left to continue the adventures!  There was one day that we went to a World Vision event at the pool for Dia del Niño and we met this kid who has the most beautiful eyes and perfect smile!  We were all saying that he could be a model someday :)  

Pic by Alan

In Utila

Before the other two joined us, the first two guys (on either side of me in the photo) and I tried to find the swimming hole that I went to before but without my site-mate as our guide, we got lost and ended up walking for hours up the mountain past the point we were supposed to turn off.  I'm kind of glad we did honestly because the places we walked by were absolutely stunning.  It then started to rain super hard but we found shelter in an abandoned building and waited out the storm before heading back.

We did finally make it to the swimming hole another day after asking around, and it ended up being super easy to get to!  I've gone back two or three times after to show other people, and every time it's been an adventure.

Every person I meet has touched me in some way and it's incredibly motivating to see what others are doing with their lives when it comes to traveling.  The last guys are traveling without a schedule, taking the time to stay in a place for however long they want to if they like it, and that way they are able to form meaningful friendships with people and get to know cultures and smaller, non-touristy sites better than your average traveler.  For me, that's the ideal way to travel and know the world.  Because of all these people, I may just have to pack up my bags and go around Central and South America after I finish with Peace Corps.  If I head straight into work and grad school, I feel like I'll miss out on the opportunity to do so forever!