Happenings

When I got to site, a volunteer friend of mine told me that in the last year he had done a tally of classes missed or canceled for some reason. Apparently, in his case class is held about 75-80% of the time. This is often due to teachers meeting with parents, “trimming” the trees around the schools, village parties, the list goes on. While it might sound nice to have the day off, usually you find out after traveling about an hour by bus to get there.. or better yet by bike. Luckily, this time I was informed that there would be no class.

With my day off, I decided to go ahead and check off one of the places on my list to visit- Finca Magdelena. This coffee cooperative is made up of 24 families and located about a 1.5 kilometer hike up from the town of Balgue. From the property you can take off to hike Volcan Maderas, a nearby waterfall or go on to see the petroglyphs.

One of the views from Finca Magdelena

I’ve often caught myself thinking that I am in a whole different world on this island. On top of this mountain, even more so.  I realize Peace Corps service can be a pretty challenging experience at times. It has the tendency to tug on every thread you have got left. We are faced with so much poverty, unwanted attention, and awkward situations tend to fill the majority of our days. Sitting in an old farmhouse drinking a cup of strong Nicaraguan coffee grown in the land behind me and looking at a volcano, lake and butterfly farm simultaneously, I can’t help but look around myself and realize I am a pretty lucky girl.

For instance, the hospitality of the people continues to surprise me. Coming from South Carolina, we brag of the hospitality of our people and pineapples (the symbol of hospitality) adorn everything. However, the warmness of this community is something else. Every single person that you meet tells you their name and where they live. Then, they invite you over for coffee or lunch whenever you want. The thing is, you better go or else you will probably offend them. For example, a couple of weekends ago, we were in Rivas. We stopped by a house to ask about a good and cheap place to eat breakfast. (I love how in Nicaragua you can add -cito to the end of any word to add an endearing “little” to any word.) In this case she asked if we wanted gallo pincito, pancito, huevito, quesito, y cafecito... rice and beans, bread, eggs, and coffee (a typical Nica breakfast). We told her, sure that sounds great, where do we go? She said, adelante.. or come on in and proceeded to make us breakfast.

Speaking of breakfast, this is a picture of my amigos “helping” me to make pancakes. After talking them up all day.. I failed. And I failed miserably. I am still trying to figure out how I got into the Peace Corps if I can’t even follow directions from a box. We’ll blame it on the fact that they don’t use non-stick pans here. Anyways, I fed the leftovers to the pig in the back yard. By the sound of his grunts, I think he at least enjoyed them.

Most of you probably know Bunny or Buns, just to let you know he's doing all right in Nicaragua and has made some good friends. Also, he sleeps under the mosquito net at night so he's not too itchy.

Here are also some links to photos that I have posted on Facebook. You should be able to access them even if you don’t have an account, but please let me know if you have any problems.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.856243244724.2323828.21312865&l=578c69e6c4&type=1

 

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.843145048614.2318807.21312865&l=93141e4852&type=1

 

I´m Here

I arrived on the island Sunday late afternoon without a phone and without a place to live. Looking back over the last four days, I can’t believe how much has happened. I am so fortunate that I am here even though I am a little overwhelmed for the amount of work that has to be done. As of today, I successfully made it through my first week of class. Also, don’t you worry I am no longer homeless. I am still working on getting my phone back from Managua though..

While on the island, I’ll be working in the local, public high schools training teachers in the Entrepreneurship course. It is pretty exciting that the business course started by the Peace Corps under the name “La Empresa Creativa” was adopted last year as part of the national curriculum by the Ministry of Education. Arriving in Nicaragua, I was hesitant about the job description considering that I’d never even taken an Entrepreneurship class, and I was suddenly considered a “Professora” to the community. Not to mention.. I am apparently the “Economista” that has come to help the pueblo.

In Nicaragua, I’ve realized how different the concept of business is here in comparison to the United States. For example, a week or two ago I was reading the newspaper here, La Prensa. In the business section, there was an article about Bimbo, the snack food company, who is coming out with two new snacks.. one is a cake filled with pineapple filling and dipped with chocolate. I mean, really think about it. What if Little Debbie’s new Zebra snack made it to the top of the business headlines in the States? There are really only a handful of large companies in Nicaragua. In my curriculum, the example of Tang is used as a successful business. Almost all of the businesses are run out of a spare room in people’s homes (micro businesses). Pulperias are little variety stores selling things like rice, beans, and soap and they are what you hear of most when talking of Nicaraguan businesses. It is common for neighbors to both have Pulperias and sell the exact same things.

This semester I am working with three different high schools. In my town I have 6 classes at the Instituto Chawlbinsky, 1 in the community of Urbaite, and 3 in the rural community of Balgüe. Balgüe turns out to be absolutely beautiful even though it is an uncomfortable hour bus ride each way down an unpaved, rocky road. I make the trek twice a week which I don’t mind in that the trip passes through the coast of Santo Domingo and past a stretch where you can see both volcanoes, one on each side. However, the bus often decides not to run or show up two hours late since many roads turn into rivers during the rainy season. On Tuesday I made the hour walk home from Urbaite and was thankful I had a touch of luck when after walking an hour and a half (also half way) on the way back from Balgüe the bus showed up.

I’m glad to have some structure to my schedule but am at the same time sad to be turning down interesting opportunities left and right simply due to a lack of time. Right now I’m just trying to meet as many people as possible including the woman that sells amazing cornbread on the school bus, the fritanga owner that has ceviche twice a week, and the women that wash clothes down by the shore of the beach that I’ve been running to in the mornings. While I know it is not Usher’s “Yeah”, I did dance the Zampopo the other night. It is the dance of the ant. You walk around lifting a branch into the air to symbolize a pack of ants. The town is very Catholic and so they were celebrating that years ago during an earthquake (and I think volcanic eruption) Saint San Diego appeared in the clouds. During fiestas patronales and during the months of October and November, the dance is done around the entire town every single night and often have a parade of drums at 4 o’clock in the morning. I think I’ll start saving up my sleep now. I have also tried my first guayaba and pitaya and have started to get used to the fact that we haven’t had water in the mornings since I’ve gotten here.