Despedidas

Despedida is another word in Spanish that I prefer to its translation in English, which is a farewell or going away pary. My despedidas have officially begun in my site, on Friday I said goodbye to the English teachers from the municipality at our monthly planning workshop. Most volunteers hate these workshops and many don't even go but I hate missing them because I just love hanging out with this group of teachers. After the workshop was over they took me out for lunch and gave me a couple recuerdos (memories, presents). Not everyone was able to come but here's the group:



After that I went to CEDRU, my friendly neighborhood NGO, and had cake and coke and they gave me a really nice ring as a going away gift which miraculously fits me (they often don't). I also presented the ones who participated in my English class with their certificates for 18 months of participation. Wow.

My seriously awesome cake:


With my class plus one of the German volunteers who's still around:


Handing out certificates:


I spent Saturday and Sunday at a beach near the city of Leon with the English and Business volunteers for our Nica 47 despedida. It was a pretty chill weekend, which is normal for our group. I think the high points of Saturday night were a couple games of Twister played on a homemade board and when the hostel randomly put the instrumental of the national anthem on the stereo and we all stopped what we were doing, saluted, and sang the whole song, much to the shock of the staff and other patrons!

The high point of Sunday was definitely the lobster lunch a few of us indulged in. I've never really eaten lobster and here it cost less than $15 for this:



Everyone was veeeeery happy after that meal:


These several days of despedidas were bookended by celebrations for Teacher's Day, which is actually June 29th but the mayor's office threw a big party for the teachers last Thursday, Monday we celebrated at school, and Tuesday we had the day off again for the actual day. Some photos from Thursday's celebration:

With some teachers from the instituto:


With Joe, the volunteer who lives closest to me & apparently looks like we're related:


And with my friend Blanca who teaches preschool:


On Thursday both of my schools told me I had to be at their Teacher's Day celebrations on Monday, when I really wasn't planning on going to class because I'd still be at the beach. But whatevs, I got up early and made my way down. I actually ended up missing the majority of the festivities at both schools because one started literally three hours late and the other an hour and a half. Sad news. Hopefully I'll have a despedida still at my instituto but I'm getting a sneaking suspicion that they're gonna schedule it for my very last week in-country when I will be living far away and won't be able to make it. I guess we'll see.

The time I milked a cow....

I spent the weekend running around the countryside like I tend to do. Friday I went to Granada and helped my friends paint their house:



Saturday I got up early to go up to Managua and meet up with some friends for a trip to a farm in the central region of Chontales. The trip out took a lot longer than we were expecting but the drive through the mountains was gorgeous:



Even on the main highway it's common to see cows being herded to pasture:



Chontales, along with the rest of the central region, is basically known as cowboy country and a place to get really good cuajada which is white cheese that I can't figure out how to best explain but they make it fresh on the farm everyday and I just couldn't get enough.

Although it ended up being a short weekend, I think we all loved it. We got to ride horses, milk cows, swim in a little lagoon that was seriously amazing, and just chill out.



With my friend Coco:




A little boy who lives on the farm:


Handmade tortillas cooking on the fire:


The lagoon:


My friend Vera & me:

Happy Nicaraguan Mother’s Day!

The power outage of last week lasted about 50 odd hours, it came back on Friday morning while I was at a workshop with the teachers and a little cry of joy went up when the lights came on :) The sun even came out on Friday so life is pretty much back to normal with clean clothes, cold water, and 3am serenades for Mothers Day….. wait, what??

Sunday was Mother’s Day here in Nicaragua, and it is a BIG deal. The stores all offer sales (which aren’t that common), everyone buys a cake, there are signs all over the place thanking all the Nicaraguan moms, and apparently it is not rude or poor form to wake up your mother (and half the neighborhood) by hiring a mariachi band to play for her at 3:00 in the morning!!!! I heard two such serenades before 4am at which point I put in my earplugs and went back to sleep.

*****

Since the rains started up this year my house has become infested with mosquitoes like never before. Now I do work on my bed (inside my mosquito net) to avoid being bitten and every time I look up I feel like I’m in a mosquito horror movie because I can see them perched on the net and buzzing around trying to find a way inside. It’s really creepy.

*****

The week before last I was invited to the birthday party for my friend’s nephew’s 4th birthday, and also the 1 month birthday of her very brand new niece. So I put some toys in a bag and walked over at the appointed time expecting to see a piñata and kids running around. Instead I found a bunch of adults and children seated in the yard and a bunch of speakers and a band! Strange, I thought to myself, but as I got closer I realized what it was: an evangelical church service. If I was four and my birthday party was actually church, I would be pretty disappointed but Sebastian didn’t seem to mind.

Here he is with his mom and sister:


And the band:

Good times with cross-cultural communication and owls

On Saturday I went to visit my friend Maria for some Gringa Time as I like to call it. Shortly after I got to her place, which sits behind her landlady’s house in kind of a closed-in compound area, the landlady’s boyfriend and his friend started hacking down a perfectly good avocado tree with machetes. We asked them why they were cutting it down and so, as men of few words, they put it very eloquently: “Because.”

After a few more minutes we discovered it was in order to build a wall. A wall for what?? For a house. Huh??? So thankfully the landlady, explained that it’s a wall that will initially be used to hide the grossness of the backyard for her impending wedding to said boyfriend, or I guess, fiancée. Then they’ll add onto it and make a little covered spot for sitting, which we call a ranchón and I can’t think of a good translation in English. It took most of the morning to figure that out.

The other fun part of this whole tree cutting process was that the tree was also the home to a little family of owls who were thusly made homeless. I don’t think I’d ever seen an owl in person before, they’re funny looking little guys:

This is just after this baby owl freed himself from being stuck under the fallen branches:


And now he’s got his head completely turned around backward:


Yes, they cut the tree down with the cars right next to it, dropping at least one large branch on the white one:


To get the little guy out of harm’s way, the friend picked him up in a saco and found him a new home away from falling objects:


Later, when the action had quieted down a bit, the mother and father owls, who had taken refuge in a tree that the babies could fly up to, took to dive-bombing the guy who was hacking the tree into smaller pieces. Quite the Saturday!

100 Days Remaining

A while back when I was bored I counted back 100 days from my Close of Service (COS) date of July 16th and that day is today! To make it even extra special, today is my final language exam. We had three of these exams when I first got to country to measure our proficiency and then to measure our improvement throughout training. This last one is to give us a final measure so that I can put on my resume “XX-level Spanish oral proficiency.” Tomorrow all of us Nica 47 volunteers from English and Small Business will head off to a two-day COS conference where I guess we’ll get lots of information and be given a long list of stuff to do in our remaining three months.

The rest of my Semana Santa (Holy Week) last week was pretty chill, but only in my state of being because the weather itself was unbelievable hot. Like laying-in-my-hammock-in-the-shade-and-still-sweating-and-somehow-getting-sunburnt­-as-well hot.

Wednesday I went to the river with my favorite NGO people:


The ladies made soup with these “chotes” we got out of the river:


Seriously beautiful, and we had it all to ourselves:


Friday I trucked over to Diriamba to go to a beach there with Maria. Since it was Good Friday, on the way I saw little processions in each town commemorating the crucifixion. This one went right past Maria’s house:




People decorating their house:


Then we went to La Boquita, as did many other people:


I went to a fiesta that night but I hate carrying my camera to those things so there are no pictures. I hope everyone had a happy Easter!! And I finally got some mail that I think was waiting for a long time at the post office, so thanks for the birthday mail, just a little late but that’s my fault :)

Atlantic Coast Recap Part I: Bluefields

I decided to split the trip into two posts partly because one would just be really long and partly because it just makes sense. So I start with Bluefields itself, which I don’t think I can convey perfectly just how much I learned but here goes. First of all, it was made particularly meaningful and also educational thanks to the three boys I knew from the English Summer Camp back in January who live in Bluefields: Jonathan & Abraham (brothers) and Kiefer. Jonathan and his father, Jaime, were kind enough to pick up my travel buddy, Dianne, and me from the airport in Bluefields.

I think the plane could fit like 12 people:




Then Jonathan showed us around town a little bit on foot:

Jonathan at the boys’ high school (Jonathan graduated last year but Abraham & Kiefer still go there):


The Moravian Church:


One of the oldest houses in Bluefields:


Later Jaime picked us up again & he showed us around some more and gave us more of a rundown on race politics in Bluefields. He told us that before the revolution in the 80s there were 8 neighborhoods that were mostly all black, now there are 16 and the other 8 are populated by mestizos (mixed Spanish and indigenous origin, aka people from the Pacific side). The city is very segregated and the indigenous and afro-descendant communities are now very much in the minority. Jaime told us that most of the downtown businesses are owned by mestizos and it has become very difficult for blacks to find work in Bluefields.

A street downtown, not all that different from many towns on the Pacific side:


This statue in the central park depicts 6 men representing the 6 ethnic groups in the area - the Creoles, Garifuna, Miskito, Suma/Mayagna, Rama, and mestizos:


We also went to visit the boys’ mothers who work together in a government office focused on the Creole community – I didn’t catch the exact name. They gave us an even more detailed explanation about the challenges facing the black community. In particular, at the moment they are fighting for the demarcation of communal lands for the Creole community. A law was recently passed and communal lands were given to the other four indigenous groups but so far there has been a battle over whether the Creoles deserve communal lands as well.

Dolene, Kiefer’s mom, and Nora, Jonathan & Abraham’s mom:


There are also still disputes over treaties between the Atlantic Coast peoples and the central government in Managua. What the ladies told us, and what I think is obvious to anyway flying over the terrain, is that the Atlantic Coast is very rich in terms of natural resources and has huge tourist potential. However, it is often misrepresented or not represented at all in terms of increasing development and encouraging tourism. Much of what I read about the area before arriving was negative - that Bluefields is really dirty and dangerous when I found it to be at about the same level of both (or possibly better) than many cities on the Pacific side (and not anywhere as bad on either measure as Managua), and even what I mentioned in my previous post about being hit by hurricanes isn’t true! A sentiment that I’ve heard before that was echoed on this trip is that the Atlantic Coast provides resources without receiving any of the benefits (investment is truly lacking in the area, they don’t even have a movie theater and despite having the major advantage of a large and potentially larger English-speaking population, call centers that pay a decent wage are all located in Managua).

Kiefer & me – Kiefer is definitely more badass in Bluefields than he was at summer camp, but he´s still a good boy:


Clearly the city as a whole and the black community in particular have many obstacles ahead of them, however I still saw many positives in Bluefields. For one thing our hostel was extremely comfortable, quite frankly air conditioning and cable TV is a vacation in itself. We also thoroughly enjoyed lounging around the park in the late afternoon and watching a group of boys practice break dancing moves there in the evenings. There were generally people out in the streets till about 9pm so I didn’t feel unsafe walking around the streets and cabs cost 10 cordobas anywhere in the city so there’s no haggling! We ate some good seafood and even a pretty decent pizza. Since it lacks a beach right near town, Bluefields may never be much more than a stopover point to other destinations in the area, but the travel forums I read literally said it was no place anyone should want to go and I totally disagree.

One of the incredibly old and huge trees in the park:


The other cool thing we did in Bluefields was to visit an NGO called Blue Energy that builds wind turbines in and around Bluefields. Back in January when I was staying in a hostel in Managua I met a guy who had just arrived to volunteer at this NGO and since I knew I wanted to visit Bluefields I got his email address and we were able to meet up. The staff is made up of about 20 international volunteers (American, Australian, Argentinean, Israeli, more I can’t remember I’m sure) and about 20 local paid staff. Dianne and I stopped by the office on Friday and then that evening we were invited to eat pizza and hang out with some of the volunteers. It was interesting chatting with them, they live together in several houses and have most of their housing and food costs covered in exchange for their work. Some are techs who work on the turbines but the guy I knew is actually an accountant and works on the financial administration of the organization.

Thus ends part one. Part two is the more vacationy part of the trip to Pearl Lagoon and surrounding environs.

The Other Coast of Nicaragua

On Thursday I’m going to visit Bluefields on the east coast of Nicaragua! The Caribbean or Atlantic coast is largely cut off from the rest of the country and has a culture and history apart from the Pacific side. It was actually first settled by the British, not the Spanish, who landed from their other colonies in the Caribbean. They brought African slaves as well, and so the population today includes many people of African descent (in fact, Nicas often assume that the African American girl in our group is from the coast) and although most people speak Spanish, Creole is also spoken. The area is also home to some of the only remaining indigenous communities in Nicaragua the largest of which are the Miskito. I’ve even read about an ancient cannibalistic tribe called the Kukra that lived near Bluefields long ago.

Most of the history I know about the Atlantic coast comes from my Moon Handbook for Nicaragua from 2005. Basically, the region was occupied by the British for many years until it was integrated into the rest of Nicaragua in 1894. Prior to its forced integration and for a while afterwards, Bluefields was a capital of commerce for American timber and banana companies. However, the area’s resources were depleted and the companies left, leaving poverty and corruption in their wake.

The coast was largely left alone until the Sandinista revolution in 1979. Indigenous leaders formed a political group with the intention of working with the new government but ended up fighting against them for increased autonomy and supported the Contra resistance. In 1981, the Sandinista government relocated entire communities to refugee camps and burned their villages, particularly in the north near the border with Honduras where the Contras were operating from. In 1985, the Miskito people agreed to put down their arms in exchange for returning to their villages.

Today the Atlantic region is divided into two parts: the North Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAN) and the South Atlantic Autonomous Region (RAAS). They enjoy a certain degree of autonomy and self-reign that I’m not entirely clear on. I’ll be visiting Bluefields, the capital of RAAS. There are few roads in either RAAN or RAAS and Bluefields is only accessible by boat or plane (we will be flying). The area is constantly hit by hurricanes (don’t worry, it’s not hurricane season) and is generally considered off the beaten track in terms of tourists destinations. More popular are the Corn Islands just off the coast where you can scuba dive and snorkel around coral reefs and spend long days on the classic, white sand beaches staring out at the turquoise blue waters of the Caribbean. I wish I had time to do both but that is not looking like it’s the case.

When I get back it’ll be Semana Santa (Holy Week) which is when everyone goes to the beach and there are massive parties all over the country. The week after that I go to my Close of Service conference, which will mark 100 days left in my service. How the time does fly.

Random Pictures & Videos

Awhile back I finally got a bunch of videos uploaded to YouTube so I thought I would share. I think the only non-camp video I’ve uploaded so far is my friend’s dad playing his guitar and singing Nicaragua Nicaragüita which really should be the national anthem. This is quintessential Nicaraguan music.

The summer camp stuff includes the boys dancing to Soulja Boy and my little reggaeton ballet from the talent show (the only time I can remember falling during a performance is captured on that video, but I recovered so it’s all good). There are two videos from the digital scavenger hunt in Granada, one where the boys interview a guy and then sing him a song. In the other one they’re birds. There are also several from the advanced English class, which I didn’t take and actually don’t really know what’s on them! One. Two. Three. Four. Lastly, there are just a couple random ones, goofing around on the bus and singing one day before going to lunch.

And now, some pictures from the past couple weeks:

At the end of February I was official photographer for my friend Maria’s niece’s 7^th birthday party. Here’s Nataly, the birthday girl, swinging at the piñata:

And blowing out the candles on her cake:

Last weekend I went to watch my friend Lesbia dance folklore dance at the inauguration of a public works project. Here she is in her pretty dress:

This week the Ministry of Health (MINSA) came and fumigated my house. This is part of the work they do to prevent malaria & dengue, going house to house fumigating every so often. They also go house to house distributing this powder called abate (ah-bah-tay) to put in standing water to prevent mosquitoes from laying eggs. This is the first time they fumigated my house, it looked really creepy:

Since I’m talking about MINSA, I finally got the money for the HIV/AIDs project I’ve been planning with the health center since forever! Yay! We’re going to train 30 youth health promoters on the topics of HIV/AIDs and STDs in general, as well as self-esteem and gender issues and then they’ll go give little presentations at their schools. And we’re going to print some informational pamphlets on the same topics. I just bought a bunch of materials for the trainings which will be in April. I’m really glad this is finally coming together!

The Far Ranging Effects of SNOWPOCALYPSE & Bag of juice, anyone??

I used to live in DC and still have many friends there, so I was rather amused by the huge snowfall that hit the east coast a couple weeks ago. The Washington metro area cannot handle any weather out of the ordinary, it would rain and suddenly everyone forgot how to drive, they even preemptively delay school openings for even a forecast of snow. As a Minnesotan I always chided my friends and coworkers for not being able to function in an inch or two of snow. They always retorted that DC didn’t have a fleet of plows to deal with the snowfall to which I quickly told them that in many parts of Minnesota the plows don’t come out till there are up to four inches of snow on the ground.

Why am I publicly poking fun at DC’s snowphobia other than for my own personal entertainment?? Because that giant snowstorm even had effects down to Nicaragua, or at least Peace Corps Nicaragua & I imagine Peace Corps posts all around the world. For reasons I do not know, all the operating money we receive from Washington has to be physically sent in the form of a check through the mail. Therefore, when snowpocalypse hit and no one could get into their office for however long, those checks didn’t get sent out on time and we volunteers were alerted on Thursday that we would not be paid our monthly living stipend on Friday as scheduled! Luckily I live in a smaller site and have reserves every month but for the volunteers who live in larger sites or who spend all their money were left to work with our scrambling office to figure out how to get some money. We’ve been paid now apparently, but that’s my own snowpocalypse story, even if I don’t live in DC anymore :)

As mentioned last week, the art of drinking a beverage out of a plastic bag. I figure the bag option is popular here because it’s probably cheap. Compare the cost of paying for that plastic bottle or aluminum can with a little plastic bag. Therefore, my favorite Eskimo (eskeeeeeeemo) brand grape juice in a bag only costs 2 cordobas, or 10 cents:



The technique for drinking this little bundle of happiness (a cold bag of juice after a hot afternoon of teaching is oh so refreshing) is as follows:

Rip a corner off the bag with your teeth, being careful not to squeeze the bag too much while doing so or else the contents will spray out (this is of much more concern with the little 1 cordoba bags of water they sell at school and on the bus which are filled up good and full). Spit out the little piece of plastic for effect. Then enjoy your beverage, squeezing the contents up to the top as you go. Really it’s not all that tricky, just different.

This photo was actually taken after I got home from a long, hot walk, hence the shininess:


At many pulperias (little general stores) where they sell soda in returnable glass bottles (also a cheaper option) instead of waiting for the bottle to come back, they simply take a regular little baggie & pour the soda in, tie a knot, and the buyer just bites off a corner & enjoys their beverage. This might be one of those things I import back to the US with me. One technique I have yet to learn is how the refresco ladies are able to tie a straw into a regular old baggie which makes the whole deal much easier.

A couple of my 10th graders modeling the straw-in-bag option: