PICS

On my way back from the Atlantic Coast. Four hours by land and another two by water.



We spend a day in a private island in the Caribbean Sea.



This bird is alive! Here I was visiting a home in Orinoco to learn about the Garifuna culture, Identity and way of living in Orinoco.

One night in Orinoco watching the stars and moon come out.

Invited to the open ceremony of Festival de Cine Independiente USA by the American Ambassador of Nicaragua at Gallerias.

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?

PACKING

ONCE again I have to pack my things. Tomorrow I will be leaving early in the morning to the coast. First stop will be in Bluefields. As part of this study abroad course I will be working on an independent study project during the my last month in Nicaragua and I am still brainstorming on what it is that I will concentrate on. I know that I will be writing my research essay in Spanish but the topic I am a bit loose on. After the coast I hope to have a better grasp on what my main ideas are and which I will pursue.

Today I met with Philip Montalban. He spoke on peace and love. He spoke of the forgotten past and about our connection to nature. He even sang some songs and asked us to join in on the last one. I wished we could of sat down and talked a bit more about this secret past that he know about. It was fun meeting Philip Montalban he is from Pearl Lagoons which is the second stop I will be making!

 http://www.miamiherald.com/multimedia/news/afrolatin/part1/index.html

WHEN YOU CANT FIND ONE THING YOU IMPROVISE

YESTERDAY I accompanied my Nica-Managua Dad and Nica-Man Brother to the market Oriental. I have been telling my Managua family that I would make a Mexican dish for them sometime and I thought that day had come. To my surprise I couldn't find Chile Serrano or hitomate Verde. It was also a bit difficult to find some lightly salted cheese. My experience was just like a roller coaster. We catch the bus close to home but the driver was anxious to catch up to the bus ahead that all the passengers were literally holding on for their dear lives. It was really a sight to see because I could not stop laughing at how fast the bus driver was going. My dad then told me that the government only subsidizes a portion of the bus' fuel expense but that the earnings comes from how many passengers a bus gets. Since many routes overlap the bus drivers compete with one another because they want to get the first patch of passengers waiting on the road. In the market it was a similar experience as in the bus except it was more like we were all bus drivers trying to get through the sales persons. There was pushing, touching, yelling, stopping, speed walking, dodging, getting left behind, getting thirsty, sweating, bargaining and so on. There are so many fruits being sold there! Some fruits are giants, like the papaya, avocado, and cilantro. The ride back was just like the one there. Except this time I believe my knee hit the side of a seat and started bleeding. I didn’t realize that I had a bleeding knee until I was at a friend’s house eating cake. Since I was missing some key ingredients for the enchiladas I had to improvise. Instead of the Chile Serrano we used jalapenos and this really tiny chile that I can’t recall the name of but it is super spicy. The combination of the two made a perfectly spiced salsa for the enchiladas. Since the microwave wasn't functioning we heated the tortillas by putting them over boiling water so that the steam would help soften them in a bag. At the end the meal was delicious. The mixture of the two chiles gave the enchiladas a spicy yet tolerable taste. Even though my Nica family doesn't really eat spicy they did enjoy the meal. The rest of the day I was tired and when I am tired I laugh a lot AND complain about the small stuff like walking.

BOTAS DE HULE

WHENEVER I stay with a host family I am considered to be the daughter of the host parents. Here I am with one of my baby brothers. I truely enjoyed spending time with him. We would draw with coloring pencils, play marbles, draw with rocks, cut fruit from nearby trees, and even work on the field cutting chiltomas together. One thing I will always remember is his laughter and how he would pretend to go to work carring a farming tool to pick the soil in one hand and a machete in the other with his botitas de hule.  

ATTN MAMI y FAMILIA ROSAS: Como pueden ver ya estoy un poco más morena!!! Y es cierto que creo que me veo más como usted (mami) cuando me veo en el espejo! Los quiero mucho! En las fotos de arriba ando con un niño de tres años. El fue mi hermanito en el campo! Luego jugabamos y hasta trabajamos juntos cortando chiltomas en el campo.

POEMAS

Cortando

Perdí el tiempo
Perdí el camino
Perdí la luz
Y me perdí a mi mismo.

Encontré el viento
Encontré el rio
Encontré las estrellas
Y te encontré sin vicio.

Manzana

Tierra de Dios.
Te cuidan, te cosechan, y te siembran
Escusas la risa del niño
Y el llanto de cansancio.
Lástima que en papel no
Le pertenezcas al mundo
Sino a un técnico.

EDEN

I have been terrible in updating my blog. I would like to think that the reason I have been shying away from writing is to really soak in the experience I am having during my stay here, but I know that it is important to keep some sort of record. I am also glad to know that some of you are anxious to see what I write next. I now promise to write as often as I can... no more than three times a week though.

This past week I was able to live with a small family in the community of Eden in Matagalpa, Nica. Originally I was going to spend my week with a family of five or six but I ended up in a family of three.I had a 24 yr old Eden Dad, a 23 yr old Eden Mom and a 3 yr old Eden brother. I had to switch families because of social norms. The husband of the young women hadn't arrived from work and didnt arrive until the following afternoon. The student that I switch with was Diego. Diego being a man and my Eden Mom being 23 made it a bit of an issue so I switched. My first night I slept in a matress on the floor with a mosquito net over me. The house itself was made out of pavement/dirt bricks, branches, wood, and metal/tin panels. There was a limit amount of electricity basicly two light blulbs and an outlet. The family owned a battery powered sony radio, the same batteries would be used for their only flashlight which ended up dieing out during my stay. The radio was in the kitchen it was also used as the time teller when it was on. The kitchen had a small cooking area which had to be fired up with wood and a bended medal rod would allow a cooking pan to be placed over the fire. There was an area for cutting and prepping dishes by the wall which also had a corn grinner. The place to wash dishes/clothes/hands and so on was outside. There was a latrine a bit into the garden. The place to take a shower was right next to the place to wash dishes/clothes/hands and so on. The house itself had three rooms which include the kitchen, the living room and the bedroom. What was most amazing was that my Eden Dad and Mom built the house themselfs. The house was surrounded by a gorgeous garden. There was a lot of flowers, cafe plants, banana trees, tangeriene trees and other plants. There were about twenty hens and roosters and a dog that would spend the nights at the house and days at my Eden Mom's grandma's house.Ah, and in the kitchen my Eden Mom had a parakeet in a wooden small cage.

I did speak with my Eden Mom more then I did with my Eden Dad. I honestly think that he was starting to open up to me a bit more during the last two days. The first actual day that I spend at the house I woke up around five o'clock in the morning and pretty much relaxed. I had a small visitor who wanted to play and I was able to play with my Eden brother most of the time. My chore was to sweep the house since the floors are made out of dirt and sweep the rocky dirt street next to the house. Eventhough my Eden Mom is only incharge of keeping half of the street clean she likes to clean the whole portion of the street because it prevents snakes and other creatures to come down to her house. Eden is in a mountain area so there is alot of vegetation, cool temperatures, and the life of el campesino is here. Water is controled in Eden just like in Managua. At the house there was running water during the morming which came in through a hose.

Chiltoma plants

Cafe

On thursday I worked on the field with my Eden parents. Once again I woke up around five in the morming, had a cup of coffee and got ready with my brown boots. (The sole of my boots ended up detaching and I was lucky enough to get the sewn by the neighbor for 25 Cordobas!!) My Eden brother and I carried water bottles and headed out with my Eden Dad. My Eden Mom stayed home to prepare breakfast and later joined us. I over heard my Eden Dad mention that there was an order placed for friday but was actually placed for pickup that day and there had been some mix up which ment that they were coming for the Chiltomas at one in the afternoon. Knowing this I knew we were going to be out in the feild for some time. I ended up working in the field for about seven hours. My task was to cut Chiltomas with a pair of kids zissors. Once my basket was full I would dump the Chiltomas on a sack and keep piling them until I would be told that there were enough for the order. Thanks to my Managua parents I had a sombrero which helped me work in the sun. This work was tiresome. I would sit next to the Chiltomas to get a bit of rest. There were some rotten Chiltomas laying around but I did not find it discusting at all. My Eden brother would help me carry the Chiltomas to the basket when I was too tired to pull the basket with me. Since Chiltomas grow on low plants I had to bend down in order to cut the matured Chiltomas. We finished around one in the afternoon. My Eden Dad stayed on the field to pack the Chiltomas and send them off for pickup. My Eden mom, brother and I headed back to the house to freshen up and get ready to go to a Evangelical cult. We walked for at least an hour to get to Yucul the closest town. The service was very different to what I expected. I did have a good experience but this was my first time going to a cult. It was held in a building with empty walls. There was a microphone and an electric guitar being played. The service started with a song. There was a lot of singing and clapping and some shout out to the Lord. I did here a testimonial and it wasn't until the second hour that the Pastor come up to speak. There was mention of the end coming, about signs that God gives through nature (There was a fire rainbow cloud over Managua that week) and about the right way to live ones life.

On Friday I went to school! The walk was about fourty five minutes long and we had to pass two streams to get there. The class had thirty nine students on a regular day and consisted of grades 1-6. The professor was twenty seven years old and had been teaching for ten years. Students would split into groups and work on assignments. I was able to work with a group of six graders on fractions and I have to say I felt right at home. After about five minutes I asked about their progress and came to find out that some were struggling with finding a way to solve and form the equation. I enjoyed working with the group of students.All of the students seemed glad to be in class. Some would come in late but it seemed to me that the professor was very understanding of why. Many students if not all have to walk a long while to get to class. During recess we played a few games with the professor.  We left right after recess with a few students because they had an activity back at their towns. I later found out that they had a presentation on taking care of ones body.

Living with the community for a week was not enough to really get a feel of el campo and be able to really talk to los campesinos. I would of loved to stay longer at least for a few more days. It was sometimes hard to keep conversations flowing because I feel like I had to allow certain people to get used to me being there. Over all I loved the stay. We did have a good bye reunion on Saturday which was celebrated with  a band which was made up of people from the community, a small ceremony, evaluations of our stay and a small gift was given to each one of us.


I would like to think that this is a small overview of my stay in Eden.