El Campo

So I am finally back in Managua after surviving 4 nights and days in the campo (countryside) of Nicaragua. They were not kidding when they said the campo and that we would be roughing it. We were split up into 3 different communities. I stayed in a house that had a dirt floor, walls of mud and sticks, and it was one room..."oven", bed, "sink", everything. It was like stepping back into time. There is no potable water in the area and all their water comes from the river so I also had a Filtron (a ceramic filter) in the house. The community is situated amongst the mountains and for me to get to other group members houses I literally had to hike up mountains for at least half an hour. On small foot trails. My house had no electricity (or running water) so at night once it got dark the we would sit outside staring at the millions and millions of clear stars, so clear and plentiful that finding Orions belt was difficult. I slept in a hammock which was not too bad but also not the most sleep condusive environment. Nor were the gabillion roosters that would crow at all hours of the morning night and day and the howler monkeys that really liked to be loud at about 3am. Suffice it to say I never got out of the hammock later than 5am. I ate tons of food even though I could rarely finish all they gave me which I felt bad about and I learned how to make corn tortillas (for every meal) including the grinding of the corn.

I lived with an older woman, Sra. Antonia, and a 50 yr old man, Esteban, who is somehow related. Around my house were 3 other little houses with their family members and grand children. Oh, and tons of chickens and roosters that wandered in and out of the house and pigs too...and sad looking dogs. I thought the hardest part was going to be battling the bugs (not so bad at all) but it turned out that communication was the most difficult. The women I encountered (this is all just my own experience and other people had different ones and similar ones...) rarely gave me long answers to questions I asked. The Spanish accent is also more difficult to understand. I did find out that the Sra. has lived in the same town her whole life and has never left to work. For her entire life she has been working the house, cooking, cleaning, washing clothes in the river on the stones, and bathing. For her entire life. We would sometimes sit in silence for long periods of time until I would ask a question and get a short answer or she would point to a plant or tree or fruit and tell me its name and how it can be used as medicine. We also cooked together. When Esteban would come home at night we would sit outside and talk. The campesinos were told that they were our teachers for the 4 days and he took his job very seriously. The first 2 nights we talked about the indigenous culture, poverty, agriculture, his situation. The last 2 nights he told me bible stories. Not trying to convert me, but just feeling the need to inform me of them. Even when I tried to steer the conversation elsewhere he went back to the bible which was frustrating. But he was very nice and enthusiastic. We were there during their "vacation" as they are unable to harvest or get their land ready yet so there was lots and lots of just sitting around. It was also an extremely eye opening experience...especially when they asked me where Canada was and what it was and questions that are so obvious to me but not to people without a TV or radio or newspapers and with an hour and a half walk to the closest "city". It was really relaxing and tranquil and the views were gorgeous. I have yet to figure out how to load up my pictures but I will do that sometime this week hopefully so wait for those.

I have so much more to say but neither the space nor the energy to be able to tell you all my experiences in a blog. You will all be able to hear more in person....or email me and ask me specific questions! This week we are in Managua but next week we leave for a 2 week trip to El Salvador and Honduras. Time is starting to go by much faster.

Poesia

Yesterday we went to Granada, a colonial town on Lake Nicaragua, for the day for the poetry festival. Granada is beautiful although very touristy...at least a lot more so than I am used to. Some of us ate lunch at this quasi italian place that had delicious calzones for only $2.50 that were pretty much the size of my head. Suffice it to say I couldnt even finish mine. We sat there for a while drinking cold beers (not many of the drinks here are very cold I have found...some superstition they have) and working on our calzones and then walked down to the beach of the lake. It was gorgeous and windy with a lone dude lying in the sun. After that we went up to see the parade against ignorance which was quite an ordeal. There were different bands playing one right after another in the parade which was comical. At every corner the parade would stop and a poet (many were from all around the world) would get up on the podium and recite a poem. It was a lot of fun, tons of people, tons of Nicaraguans dancing and singing and it went on for about 3 hours. The Nicaraguan girls competing for Miss Carnaval Nicaragua were there too...They were all quite scantily clad, especially the girl from Bluefields. We didn´t get home until about 1030 though and had to be up early for class today. Three hours of class in Spanish is a little overwhelming in the morning after not getting much sleep. I still have to get used to my brothers waking up at 4am to shower and the walls aren´t very thick and water makes a lot of noise.

I am excited for the weekend to see what my family does. I was going to go to the beach but because we are leaving on Tuesday for the campo I want to spend some time with my family. My next free weekend though I will probably go to the beach or to the volcano of Concepcion. One of the best parts about being here though compared to New York is that I can buy lunch for $2 or under and water is barely 50 cents. It´s a really nice feeling although I can forsee coming back to the states being very difficult!

Thanks for the emails and comments...they make me very happy!

It has only been one week

It is hard for me to grasp the fact that it really has been only one week since I left snowy (kind of) New York. To me it feels like months have gone by because so much has been happening. The other night I sat at my kitchen table doing homework in silence until I realized that silence is not possible here. I could hear the cats walking on the roof, the dogs in the neighborhood erupting in howls, the refrigerator humming, the mixing of different tv shows the neighbors had on too loud and the different birds squawking and the kids screaming and whistling right outside my front gate/door. That is only what I heard...the smells being indescribable right now. That is all I will say for now as I have to get ready to go to Granada for a day of poetry.

Mi familia nicaraguense

Buenas! I am writing from my families laptop as our dog junior barks and my 16 yr old sister watches tv. My family is fantastic, 2 brothers and one sister. My brother Fernando is 18 going on 19 (a may baby like me) and swims for the Nicaraguan national swimming team and has been to the olympics for swimming. He is also studying to be an engineer. My 17 year old brother Kevin is also known in la Colonia Maximo Jerez as Baby Shaq. He is HUGE and plays basketball and is the jokster of the family and an overall hilarious human being. My sister Josefine is 16 and kind of shy but really nice and loves to dance so hopefully she will take me out dancing. My mom is youngish and works for an NGO that promotes the rights of children who do not have families. My father I met for a total of 1 minute as he is only here in Managua on weekends adn is in Leon for the rest of the time. I don{t know what he does...Last night I watched the superbowl with my brothers and mom and some random people who were here at the house. I was going for the bears and they were all about the colts which was cause for some fun arguments and conversation as it can be a bit awkward. They are also Red Sox fans...so there is that difference too. All of Nicaragua prefers the Red Sox though bc they are the underdogs. My house is great except we only have running water here in Maximo from 2am to 7am so if I don{t want to bucket shower it I have to wake up early like my two brothers who despise bucket showers. I really dont mind all that much.


Today was the first day of spanish classes which was fun but really tiring. I have a feeling one of these days I will get lost walking to the UCA (university) but I think I will be fine if I have someone with me and my mini map. It is fun speaking a lot of spanish all the time and I really hope my construction of sentences improves. We have some students from teh university who come chat with us for an hour 2 days a week over lunch which is really nice. The girl I have as my paid friend as we call them is really sweet and engaging. This week is the week of poetry in Nicaragua and on Thursday we are going to Granada to listen to some poets and wander around and I think we will get to meet some of hte famous poets as well. Nicaragua is a country full of poets.

Anyway, I need to get bakc to reading poetry for class and waiting for my mom to get home to figure out dinner. Hope everyone is fantastic and having fun in the cold!

First Days

I cant write much at the moment but I am writing for all of you to know that I am safe and well and happy. Orientation is almost over and tomorrow we are going to meet our host families and get the ball rolling. Yesterday we went to Leon to wander around and talk to people on the street. It is a beautiful colonial pueblo, very pedestrian, north east of Managua. I would like to go back to spend more time there. For now though I am getting excited to settle into my family and have a home base as in a week and a half we are going to the campo for a week..Matagalpa, a northern town that I have been to and loved. I must go get my contact dislodged from my eye because it is awfully windy and dry and hot here but much love. There will be a much longer entry soon.