So, I decided to post my Dad´s impressions of Nicaragua from his visit a few weeks ago. For me, it´s interesting to read his thoughts about the experience because the comings-and-goings here have become regular day-to-day life.
Hi,
I visited Lauren in July and spent 4-5 days in her site, La Concordia, Jinotega, followed by a weekend trip to colonial Leon. It was fun. It was tiring. It was very interesting to see the reality after the pictures and emails. It seems more appropriate to share impressions rather than a long sequential narrative. So, in something approaching the order of the week I'll note some of the snapshot impressions and try not to go on too long on any one.
The Start
Hi,
I visited Lauren in July and spent 4-5 days in her site, La Concordia, Jinotega, followed by a weekend trip to colonial Leon. It was fun. It was tiring. It was very interesting to see the reality after the pictures and emails. It seems more appropriate to share impressions rather than a long sequential narrative. So, in something approaching the order of the week I'll note some of the snapshot impressions and try not to go on too long on any one.
The Start
Spirit Air: The flights to Ft. Lauderdale and Managua were timely and relatively quick. I missed the sign that said nobody over 5'6' was allowed on the flight. No matter how new and efficient the plane is they can structure the seats any way they want.
Managua Airport: It was rainy and humid. The summer weather. It made me appreciate Washington. Arriving at midnight I cleared customs, which meant I smiled and walked through, and Lauren steered me out another door to avoid an incident. Something had happened, guys were holding a guy, and a couple cops were standing around.
Out of Managua: The next day we caught a bus along the road to Jinotega, the Capital of the Department where Lauren lives. Did you ever wonder where your old school bus is? Probably not. It is in Nicaragua. One of the small pleasures was reading the name of the old school districts. No surprise, school buses were designed for kids. So for me it was Spirit Bus. Most buses were decorated up front with colored plastic wrap streamers, a portrait of a former bishop and other religious attachment. Every driver had a guy to collect the money, throw the boxes, bags and produce (not goats or chickens--live ones that is) on top, up front or in back. Ayudante was the name a long time ago.
Know the Bus Drivers: Buses are the lifeline to getting around, getting information around and finding things out evidently. Lauren has made a point of getting to know them. She knows where they park in the neighborhood in the capital so she doesn't have to fight the crowd to get her boxes and produce onto the bus when it pulls in empty in the mudpit of the temporary marketplace. Knowing them allows you to get a 49.99 pound bag of children's used shoes onto the back of the bus out of the regular rain.
Approaching La Concordia: The rainy season produces green. Deep green. The gentle descent to La Concordia is a beautiful view and makes one understand better how town sites got picked hundreds of years ago.
The Town
The Plaza: The Plaza is in the center of town. Sometimes it is not so much what is in the Plaza but what is around it. On the high edge of the Plaza is the Church taking up one quarter of the boundary. Across the Plaza on the corner is the Health Center which is a fairly busy place. Up on the corner is the party headquarters of the Sandanista Party, the Party in control (President Daniel Ortega) including at the local level. On the adjacent corner is the half constructed community center. Next to the community center is the house of the gringa (Lauren). Three doors down is the Cybercafe with 4 old computers.
Arrival and The Word Spreads: The bus delivered us, my carry-on and the 49.99 pound bag of children's used shoes. Lauren's counterpart in the organization that was going to distribute the shoes to small and handicapped kids came by to revew the shoes, sizes and styles and make initial plans for distribution. It wasn't 15 minutes before she received a cell phone call from another woman asking about the shoes that Lauren was selling. She came by in 5 minutes with her granddaughter to look them over. Once it was clearly explained she understood. She was relatively well off. Such is how 'news' spreads. Rapidly and not quite right. Close, but really very wide of the mark fundamentally.
Managua Airport: It was rainy and humid. The summer weather. It made me appreciate Washington. Arriving at midnight I cleared customs, which meant I smiled and walked through, and Lauren steered me out another door to avoid an incident. Something had happened, guys were holding a guy, and a couple cops were standing around.
Out of Managua: The next day we caught a bus along the road to Jinotega, the Capital of the Department where Lauren lives. Did you ever wonder where your old school bus is? Probably not. It is in Nicaragua. One of the small pleasures was reading the name of the old school districts. No surprise, school buses were designed for kids. So for me it was Spirit Bus. Most buses were decorated up front with colored plastic wrap streamers, a portrait of a former bishop and other religious attachment. Every driver had a guy to collect the money, throw the boxes, bags and produce (not goats or chickens--live ones that is) on top, up front or in back. Ayudante was the name a long time ago.
Know the Bus Drivers: Buses are the lifeline to getting around, getting information around and finding things out evidently. Lauren has made a point of getting to know them. She knows where they park in the neighborhood in the capital so she doesn't have to fight the crowd to get her boxes and produce onto the bus when it pulls in empty in the mudpit of the temporary marketplace. Knowing them allows you to get a 49.99 pound bag of children's used shoes onto the back of the bus out of the regular rain.
Approaching La Concordia: The rainy season produces green. Deep green. The gentle descent to La Concordia is a beautiful view and makes one understand better how town sites got picked hundreds of years ago.
The Town
The Plaza: The Plaza is in the center of town. Sometimes it is not so much what is in the Plaza but what is around it. On the high edge of the Plaza is the Church taking up one quarter of the boundary. Across the Plaza on the corner is the Health Center which is a fairly busy place. Up on the corner is the party headquarters of the Sandanista Party, the Party in control (President Daniel Ortega) including at the local level. On the adjacent corner is the half constructed community center. Next to the community center is the house of the gringa (Lauren). Three doors down is the Cybercafe with 4 old computers.
Arrival and The Word Spreads: The bus delivered us, my carry-on and the 49.99 pound bag of children's used shoes. Lauren's counterpart in the organization that was going to distribute the shoes to small and handicapped kids came by to revew the shoes, sizes and styles and make initial plans for distribution. It wasn't 15 minutes before she received a cell phone call from another woman asking about the shoes that Lauren was selling. She came by in 5 minutes with her granddaughter to look them over. Once it was clearly explained she understood. She was relatively well off. Such is how 'news' spreads. Rapidly and not quite right. Close, but really very wide of the mark fundamentally.
La Casa: Lauren has a fair sized house that is partially finished. Here landlady is another story (see her past emails). The front door and two living room windows are usually open so the life, noise and ambiance of the Plaza doesn't stop at the edge of the Plaza. Late afternoon's were a brew of basketball bounces, construction shouting and persistent Sandanista music played loud on the corner. Real loud. Every day. Lauren's ipod and new portable speaker overroad a lot of it. Anyhow, one adapts quickly in a hammock with a good book. On the modern side the house has an indoor shower. Cold. Morning cold showers brought back memories of Colombia. It was invigorating in the warm climate. It was painful at 8600 feet.
Backyard of La Casa: I was warned before the trip about the rapidly growing greenery in the backyard...and the difficulty of getting to the latrine....over the ditch dug to divert the water around the house instead of down the middle of it....after you step on the wobbly stone step. After three days of promises someone loaned a machete and I took a few cuts after one of the construction guys next door leveled most of it in 5 minutes. He missed the cactus climbing in through the roof of the latrine. I missed the beautiful cactus flowers by two weeks.
EssKEYmo: Say it with accent on 'KEY.' Do you understand what you are saying? It took me a while. One of the small pleasures is that the barely surviving U.S. firm that produces Eskimo Pies is doing great in Nicaragua. You can find them everywhere.
Alvaro and Daisy: When you zig and zag along five blocks up toward a road out of town by the water facility, you get to a small tienda and patio with 4 or 5 tables for beer drinkers. Alvaro and Daisy own it. We went up there to meet them and I wound up having rice and beans (excellent), avocado slices (even better) and a side dish and a Tona beer (very good). We watched the home run derby that night and the All Star game the next. Bright charming people. Fun to talk with. Number one in his high school class, got a chance to go overseas for a summer and could be doing more if there were an open economic with some greater opportunities beside angling for a public works project. Alvaro knew every Nicaraguan playing in the Majors, AAA, AA, and A ball.It T
Takes Time: to get things done. Things don't always work right. On Tuesday Lauren typed and printed out invitations for the nutrition class scheduled for Friday morning. I walked with her and Amparo for about 2 hours to distribute some to one small rural area. We caught a dump truck on the way back and bounced around on the truck bed on the way back. Lauren went to the two copy places in town--the Mayor's Office and the Cybercafe--and both machines were out of order. So, more delay, the schedule for getting notice out slips and fewer people get notified. She scrambles to get some done and gives them to the bus drivers to deliver to the 'brigadista' , a designated woman in each of the communities who gets the word out.
It Takes Time (Part 2): On Wednesday we were in Jinotega to buy fruits and vegetables for the Friday nutrition class. It is tradition to give a lunch of some kind after the class. Boss Lady and Bag Man moved efficiently accumulating large papayas, pineapples, mangos, avocados (12 for $1), etc. (Side Note: I prevailed upon her to let me buy a green toilet seat for the latrine head...an expense that didn't find its way into her budget. All who visit will thank me in the future.) We loaded it on the back of the bus and road back to La Concordia. Lauren got the bus to stop at the edge of town in front of the Casa Materna (for pregnant women) to unload the produce. Lauren exited through the back of the bus and I through the front. A few minutes later Lauren reached for her cell phone. Gone. She stopped a passing pickup truck, got on the back and told him to catch up to the bus which had a fairly good head start. It was the one moment I would change in the whole trip-one could not conceive how one of the men or boys sitting across the aisle might give it up if they stole it. An hour later she returned. She had to take the bus back to Jinotega to reclaim her same phone number and buy a new phone (after visiting 3 different offices in the very tiny 'city.') One round trip bus ride to the capital was enough for me. I stayed behind, read and went to Alvaro's and Daisy's for rice and beans, avocado, side dish and Tona beer (for 30 cords or $1.50). So, for Lauren it was part of an afternoon, all evening and a bit of the morning lost.
Friday Nutrition: It was raining. The invitations mostly went out on Thursday. We walked down to the Casa Materna at 8 a.m. for the scheduled 9 a.m. start which Lauren said would begin sometime after 10 a.m. if anybody showed. We started cutting fruit and vegetables for the salads. A few showed up close to 10. At 10:15 the room was full. Twenty five and it was an hour walk in the rain for about half of them. Lauren's session was about 1 1/2 hours and blended lecture, questions, discussion and group exercises. There were the expected quiet ones but there were a lot who spoke out. There was a good tone to it. Good connection and communication. I spent most of the time slicing and dicing to try and get 25 times 2 salad bowls full of vegetables and fruit. It worked. (P.S. I was not designed to stand for long periods.)
Friday Bancomunal: After the morning session we walked a long ways down the road to Amparo's very modest but hospitable home to have lunch with her, her husband and blended family of 4 kids (plus 2 kids' friends and a cook. The 11 of us sat inside the one room house, wit
h the bedroom divided by cardboard, and had a hot lunch. Afterwards, we walked a short way to the scheduled biweekly 'bank' meeting of the 12 women who have pooled their money to form their own bank based on a model the Peace Corps generally uses. Simple, limited rules, self governance and transparency. Each person puts in 20 cords every two weeks. Five months later the capital has grown from 200 cords to 3000 or 4000 (don't remember). Each person's record is listed on the big table they tape on the wall to write the current transaction. The lock box with the money not borrowed has 3 locks with keys held by the President, VP and Treasurer. They decide who among them gets the loans. There is no link to a social objective like some microfinance operations that use the lending/saving to advocate education for the children, communicate health messages, etc.One small tool to give them something else to help them try to make a half step forward.With the meeting over, we caught the last bus out of town on the bad road to Esteli and on to Leon.Observations: It is hard work. The preparation to get something done is greater than you expect. The unexpected becomes the expected. Things get canceled. Meetings get moved unannounced. Things break down. Apathy catches up. Mis-communication and misinformation ('Lauren is selling shoes') interfere with getting things done. The poverty affects things in different ways; kids held out of school; people get sick more often and longer. The attitudes of dependence and entitlement crop up. Lauren early on developed extensive working relationships and personal ones as well which helps peal back the layers of what is going on and who relates to whom and how. Despite the extensive linkages and love-hate with the U.S. there remains misconceptions. The second-poorest country in the hemisphere doesn't work as well as it could. Congenial people make up for a lot of it. So do loud music in the open door music stores; EssKEYmo; superb coffee; fresh avocado and mangos; little kids laughing and saying 'hello meester'; cold showers; long muddy hikes (after they are over); and bus and microbus rides (after they are over). -Bob
