Nica Time

Upon arrival in Nicaragua, I expected to learn more about “Nica Time”. I anticipated this to mean that often people would show up to meetings 30 minutes late. Yes, this is sort of true? After splurging our miniscule Peace Corps budget to buy oreos and Fanta for our first youth group meeting, we found ourselves twiddling our thumbs for an hour waiting for someone, anyone to show up. And thinking we’d gotten ourselves out of our first meeting we felt completely unprepared for, sure enough everyone floated in an hour late.

I’ve never been one to arrive on time myself, and I’m usually okay with a late start. But, apparently, “Nica Time” also means that your Spanish classes run over an hour and a half almost every day?

Nicas do have a unique sense of time as I came to realize this past week. I have been amazed at how much Nicaraguans accomplish in a single day, especially in terms of the role women play. For example, my mother has the most beautiful orno (or wood fired oven) in the backyard. I had heard her say that she would be making bread the next morning, but I woke up to the table covered in mounds of all sorts of fresh bread which she had made before six o’clock in the morning!

My Mom's Bread

 

Another example, Nicaraguans are known for their frescos which are basically fresh fruit juices. I learn of a new fruit almost every day.. that is always used in a fresco with way too much sugar as opposed to eaten. You almost always have a different fresco with lunch if not for breakfast also.  As I stated before, my family has so many mangoes that they don’t know what to do with them, and the town is dripping with mangoes so no one can sell them. Por eso, we make lots of mango frescos and I learned how to make it this last week. To make a fresco we picked 28 mangoes from the ground, peeled and chopped them all. Many of you know that cutting a mango is not the easiest thing but by this point I’ve pretty much learned the art, and my mother has no problem correcting the way I cut mangoes. Then, after cutting the mangoes you cook them for an hour and hand strain the fruit through a sieve that has a big tear in it. Now, after all of this work you have fresco for two meals worth for the family.

The drinks are amazing in Nicaragua. Another great one my family introduced me to is Espinollio which is milk with cocoa and corn. It’s kind of like a gritty but tasty hot chocolate. First, my mother picked all of the seeds and roasted the corn and cocoa enough to fill a 5 gallon bucket. Then, my host brother, sister and I carried into town to a mill where by hand it was run through the machine 4 times to get the perfect grind. I was amazed that just the grinding took about 45 minutes, and then we carried it home.

It’s refreshing to see that it is important for Nicas to spend the time making these things, and it’s obvious they take a lot of pride in the quality of their products. While many perceive Latin Americans as having a slower pace of life. I feel it is not that they are doing less, it seems that more time is given to these daily tasks. However, as I start to work with businesses I’m sure I’ll see what by US standards as “inefficient” and may be singing a different tune when I realize how long it will take to implement change.

On another note of time, Nicas love, I mean love fireworks. Apparently, I learned the other day that someone shoots off fireworks to signify the morning, afternoon, and evening each day. In Nandasmo, fireworks might as well serve as the clock tower. All week I was excited to go to Rosario on Sunday evening, my only day off, and had been looking forward to exploring the town over with my family. Unfortunately, I later found that my Spanish had once again failed me and we were heading to the neighbor’s house to some sort of Catholic ceremony. Whoops. Speaking of time again, the priest shot off fireworks in the middle of the front patio to proclaim the start and end of the ceremony. I never thought fireworks would also come to mean “Nica Time”.  On a side note, I had no idea why there were so many kids at the service- I mean 4-5 kids to one adult. Apparently, they all got barbie dolls, other toys, and cups of candy for showing up. Nandasmo, such a special place, is particularly religious so there are lots of fireworks all the time.
 

Our trip to "Rosario"

Notice the Fresco con cocoa typically consumed out of a plastic bag that you bite into. These were our presents for going to church.

Funniest thing I ate this past week:
I asked to eat just fruit for breakfast, because they have so much in the backyard including the loveliest mini bananas and rarely just eat the fruit. So, my mom decided to cut up fresh mangoes and served the bananas cut up and mixed with mayonnaise to be eaten on white bread. No wonder they just consume the fruit in frescos.

Buenas

Buenas.

I meant to post on Sunday, my day off, but the town’s power went out and the cyber is about a twenty minute walk from my house. So, I haven’t really been able to post this until today.

So I arrived in Nicaragua on Wednesday, and I really can’t believe how much has happened in the past four days. I am slowly realizing how hard it is going to be for this blog to give justice to this experience. Nicaragua is very real. While I wasn’t necessarily prepared for this experience, I am not really sure there is anything I could have done to be ready. Each day brings new surprises. Even if I did know how to use a latrine, the first time I was bound to be scared out of my mind...especially in the middle of the night.  While the country of Nicaragua is gorgeous and people incredible, Nicaragua is poor. It’s amazing to see how nice things started to look in one day including cement floors and ceilings. However, the cement is offset by the local crafts including exquisite rocking chairs. (I’ll have to post pictures of these soon).

Many of you know how intimidated I was to come to Nicaragua with (what I thought) very little Spanish. However, I was pleasantly surprised to know that I am so much more prepared than I initially thought and slowly but surely my vocabulary is coming back. It’s comforting that while I may nod and smile awkwardly during most of my conversations with my host family, I can grasp what they are saying and occasionally offer my two cents (or insert two elementary level sentences)...we are working on it, and we will see what I am saying in a week when I have to start teaching classes..

We’re told to be prepared  for a brutal couple of months during training. Our Spanish classes are equivalent to taking 20 hours. Somehow after this we are supposed to fit in all those telenovelas (soap operas) with our families, integrate into our communities, read loads of books and teach a couple of classes. So, while I will try and keep up with emails, don’t take offense of my delayed response. I’d appreciate all the mail I can get in case anyone ever wanted a pen pal in Nicaragua.

My address for now is:
Noelle London, PCT
Cuerpo de Paz Nicaragua
Apartado Postal #3256
Managua, Nicaragua CentroAmerica

I got into Nandasmo, a small town outside of Masaya, on Saturday. Even still, my host family is about a 15-20 minute walk outside the town where I go each day for class. My host family and backyard are amazing. I am so fortunate. When I first met my host father, he was working in a field behind the house, and I asked him about his family. He said I have one daughter (18), and one son (20), and now you so I have three kids. First, they showed me around their backyard, it is gorgeous. My host sister, Angelica, pointed out cocoa trees, mango trees, coconut trees, plantain trees, avocado trees, lime trees, cashew bushes, the list goes on.. My mother then told me to sit in the hammock and tossed a mango my direction. My host father is excited that I want to learn more about agriculture and farming.

Most of you probably know that I was also worried about the food. My first days in Managua, I ate rice and beans for three days straight (breakfast, lunch and dinner). Actually, I didn’t mind it. But, my host mother is an amazing cook. She is also Mexican so there is always guacamole in the fridge from the avocados out back. She also has an “orno” or a huge wooden stove in the backyard where she makes fresh bread 4 times a month. While I haven’t tried it yet, this town is supposed to have great panaderias (bakeries), and I know it has got to be good if she is going to compete with them. She is going to teach me how to make tortillas, rice, and salsa this week. I’ll have to post a blog specifically for food soon.

Another thing, my neighbor has a monkey in their tree in the front yard. Her name is Estrellita or Star. She’s pretty sassy so how appropriate.

Initial Thoughts BEFORE Arriving in Nicaragua

As I try to catch everyone up, I found this one was a written awhile back.

I have to say I was put through the ringer during the Peace Corps application process, but then again, everyone is. That’s part of it and until recently I really didn’t understand why. It probably didn’t help that I started expecting an invitation to come in the mail last July since I was originally nominated to leave in October. Finally, on December 24 (yes, Christmas Eve),  I was told that there was a letter that was waiting on the counter for me. I knew exactly what this meant.. finally my invitation had arrived. Through the little plastic box in the invitation envelope, I saw Nicaragua in bold lettering. My first reaction was to say out loud, “oh no, this isn’t good.” Wait, wait.. keep reading. After officially making Peace Corps Wiki my most visited site and stalking it daily for new updates, I remembered that Nicaragua was leaving late January and thought.. there is no way I can prepare for this. As I pulled my Volunteer Description out of the packet, I became even more frustrated when I saw I was leaving in MAY 2011!  May was so far away, what was I going to do with all of this extra time?

Thank goodness I didn’t leave in October, I would have missed out on so many important opportunities. After getting over the initial feeling that this would never happen, I was offered the opportunity to start an internship with Charleston Waterkeeper, a local environmental non-profit, which proved to be an amazing experience. Besides working with motivated, super cool individuals, I was able to learn so much along the way about water quality issues and water policy.

Just as I was deflated, yet again, to hear that I wouldn’t be leaving according to my plan in February, I forced myself to start a website for my small jewelry venture and had my first jewelry show with three to subsequently follow. This proved to be my most valuable experience in the field given that I was assigned a job as an entrepreneurship teacher in public high schools. Also, I was able to see Matt’s new ice cream company (Roots) get off the ground which was incredibly exciting. Watching him struggle (but only at times) taught me a lot. While all of these experiences were great and prepared me for my future job, as I deepened myself in the Charleston community, it made it so much harder to leave.

So, Nicaragua. While I initially surprised by my assignment and it was the last place on my radar, I now realize that I couldn’t have asked for a better placement.

I hoped for Ecuador all along, but I know about South America. I understand it. Frankly, I didn’t know all that much about Central America. Or I’ll rephrase that, I didn’t pay nearly as much attention to Central America in my Latin American Studies classes. Most of my ideas relate to Costa Rica, which I now know is a whole different world. While thoughts of luxurious linens, yoga resorts and five star chefs sound fine and dandy, I’m not sure it’s entirely appropriate for my Peace Corps assignment. And don’t get me wrong, I love yoga as much as the next guy.

While most places in Latin America have suffered from political unrest, the more I read, the more I realized how Nicaragua has never quite been able to recover from its past. I was even more shocked to learn that Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere behind Haiti. However, Nicaragua is also a beautiful country and through all I have heard, populated with amazing people. In one country alone there are beaches, mountains, lakes, and volcanoes.

I’ve included a couple of links to Anthony Bourdain’s Nicaragua Episode. In addition to food, it offers an honest glance into Nicaraguan politics and poverty. I’d encourage you to watch...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhEIMNVmWgg
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I4eS52aWUks
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPDKGduC2DU