Cultural Tidbits from Central America

As I hope you all have heard, there was a coup last week in Honduras. The same day I flew into Nicaragua, the military took over the government in Honduras, installed a new president, and flew President Zelaya to Costa Rica and thus far have not allowed him to return to the country. This happened for a variety of reasons, foremost being that the Honduran constitution prohibits not only re-election, but any attempt at changing the constitution to allow it. So Zelaya was trying to find a way around this little hurdle, not unlike all the Alba buddies (Chavez, Morales, and Nicaragua’s own Daniel Ortega) who are all looking to find a way to remain in power. So far all Peace Corps volunteers in Honduras are staying in their sites since most of the action is in the capital and there have been no far flung effects into Nicaragua.

Closer to home, not to be outdone by Michael Jackson’s sudden death, the mayor of Managua unexpectedly shot himself in the chest (so they say) this past week. The mayor, Alexis Argüello, is well-known and loved in Nicaragua not for his politics but for being a three-time boxing champion who put Nicaragua on the sports world map I believe back in the 70s. Although he was the Sandinista candidate, he was apparently not strongly Sandinista and so the official story is that others were pushing him and trying to control him to implement more of the Sandinista ideals which pushed him to suicide (yeah, I dunno either). I’ve been told that he only got into politics because he’s got like 8 kids and no money after years of battling a drug problem & in Nicaragua you can make some serious money as a politician which is the reason most people want to be mayor, not a desire to improve anything.

I happened to be in Managua the day they processed through town which made my trip to Granada a whole lot slower. People lined the streets to say goodbye and lots of trucks full of supporters and fans followed behind the hearse. Here’s the hullabaloo as it passed:



When I did finally make it to Granada, I enjoyed a lovely weekend with my fellow-volunteers celebrating the 4th of July:

It helps to know expats with pools:


And of course, there was a dance party:


Oh yeah, speaking of pools, we also celebrated Dia del Maestro (Teacher’s Day) last Monday. Our mayor threw a big party for all the teachers down by the beach which was lovely, though it was also my first full day back in the country and I was a little overwhelmed in general.

Mariachi band by the pool:


Last week was kind of a slow start for me coming back, but a little volunteer bonding time has me back to normal and ready to work. Luckily this week we have school vacations before we start the new semester next week so I have some more time to regroup and get ready for the second half of the school year.