GIVING IT A SPIN

Today I have been reflecting on what it is that I want out of Nicaragua. I have been brainstorming some really crazy ideas. I want to challenge myself and proof to myself that I can achieve what is nearly the impossible. I accompanied TayTay today on an interview with a Catholic Sister of Ines. In my short stay in Nicaragua I have been in Managua the capital and also my homestay. I have been to el Eden in Matagalpa which is in the campo up in the mountains north east of Lake Managua. I have been to Orinoco on the Atlantic Coast by Pearl Lagoon where the greatest population is Garifuna. I have even been in the Caribbean on a private island. I have met Campesinos, Mestizos, Garifunas, Politicians, Revolutionaries, Professors, Sandinistas, Danielistas, Catholics, Evangelicals, Humanitarians, etc. But I yet feel like I have not seen Nicaragua. I have not touched the soil that needs to be seen. Something is missing and I have the opportunity to investigate what that missing puzzle piece is.

I was told today of a place where there is no electricity. I was told today of a place where children are born without shoes and die without shoes. I was told today about a place where paper money does not circulate, where mothers and soon to be mothers walk six hours to a place where medicine and medical attention is being provided at no cost for a few days. I was told of a place where the roads end and time seems to go back and the government has nothing to do with it. I was told of a place that makes up part of Nicaragua whether the government wants to recognize it or not.

Do I dare go where neither Spanish nor English is spoken? Do I dare go where the dirt road ends? Do I dare go and ask about things that are nonexistent?