¡San Rafael del Norte!

On Tuesday we got our site assignments and the verdict is….San Rafael del Norte! It is in the district of Jinotega, and my town is the highest elevation town in all of Nicaragua at 1,085 meters. Which means, it’s also the coldest, (mom, send sweaters!) The low temp is around 50 degrees but average is 70s or low 80s. Good news: tons of swimming, there are rivers and waterfalls close by and I’ll be surrounded by “fissured mountain peaks” and cloud forests. Great news: strawberries!!! An agriculture volunteer will be living about 20 minutes away from me on a strawberry farm...Peace Corps either read my blog or my mind! I’m a 4 hour bus ride away from Managua and 33km away (on rutted dirt roads) from both Esteli and Jinotega, which is where I’ll have to go to do my shopping. My town has a population of 5,000 and has tons of history; Sandino’s wife was from SRN and they were married in the cathedral in town. I’ll be leaving for my site visit on Monday for a week where I’ll be staying with my new host family and meeting all of my counterparts. When I get back, it will be a whirlwind two weeks full of deadlines and presentations and then we swear in on July 30th. Whew!