Nicaragua – Week Three and Four
(Originally posted August, 2009)
Things have gotten busy and I’ve neglected my weekly updates. In Granada I’ve been busy with the preschoolers and workshops at Los Caracolitos. I’ve made two trips to Jinotega and spent a weekend in Costa Rica with Maria.
Around Granada we drove up to Catarina el mirador to see a beautiful overlook of Laguna de Apoyo, a crater formed by a volcano filled with rainwater. Another afternoon we boated around the isletas and awed at the houses built on private islands by wealthy Nicaraguans and foreigners. One island we passed had no house but rather a handful of abandoned monkeys living a cage-free sort of zoo life. Melony held out a peanut butter granola bar and the monkey jumped on board to snack and play. Nightlife in Granada continues to be fun. We usually start off for a beer on Calle Calzada enjoying the fire shows or the young break dance crews. Then we walk to Café Nuit, El Club, Mi Tierra or Cesar’s for dancing.
At the community center (Los caracolitos) morning have been busy as the regular teacher is MIA and the Ministry of Education hasn’t sent a replacement yet. Each morning eight to 16 kids ages two through six come to “school.” Aleyna and I attempt to create some structure so that kids can learn to play and share…(and a few letters and numbers if we’re lucky). Significant time is spent on herding children, placing screamers on time outs for hitting and reminding students not to pee directly in front of the building.
Afternoon workshops have been a hit in the neighborhood. My women’s group created a bulletin board (well, papers taped on the concrete wall) with information about domestic abuse. The adolescent group was very talkative during our workshop on sexual health. They had lots of good questions and had quality discussion between the boys and the girls. I think they learned a lot and are eager to learn more. A few caught me in the street to ask when we were meeting for the next installment. Hopefully the next volunteer will pick up where I left off.
Henry, the doctor I’m working with on family violence, and I made two trips north to Jinotega. The small town is located in a valley between mountains that keep the climate cool.
On the first trip we represented PATH and conducted a day workshop and a half day workshop on domestic violence, specifically related to pregnant women. We spoke with nurses, doctors, hospital administrators and government health officials. We traveled with a group of women from the Managua office that were very friendly and welcoming.
Two days later we were back again, this time working with Intervida on a baseline survey on violence in children’s lives. Over 800 children in Managua and Jinotega (the most violent areas of Nicaragua) were individually interviewed about domestic violence in their homes, violence and sexual abuse against themselves and their siblings, child labor and violence in school. Each interview was nine pages long and took about twenty minutes to complete. My main role as a non-native Nicaraguan Spanish speaker was to observe interviews for consistency and accuracy. The research process has been interesting and I look forward to seeing the results which will be used to develop violence prevention programs around Nicaragua.
This weekend I hopped on a bus to visit Maria in Costa Rica. The two bus trips totaled over 18 hours, a long journey but well worth it to be able to see my old friend. Honestly, Central America looks a lot smaller on the map and I foolishly believed the bus company when they told me it was only six hours to San Jose.
After spending much time on the US/Mexico border I was interested to see how other countries conducted land crossings. The border crossing (which occurs in three distinct stages) was unnecessarily long and poorly organized. Pretty much what I expected.
The journey continued into Costa Rica where we were stopped two times by the Fuerza Publica (remember, Costa Rica doesn’t have an army) so our passports could be checked for the border crossing stamp. Nicaraguans without papers are about as welcome in Costa Rica as Mexicans crossing into the United States. The reoccurring global condition of a wealthier country bordering a poorer one creates inequality and racism among people everywhere.
Further along we were all pleased that we were ahead of schedule until the bus turned into a mechanic pit stop along the highway. Here we were delayed for a few hours by a flat tire. The woman next to me explained that this was just God’s way of evening things out cause we were getting ahead of schedule. Heaven forbid we arrive on time in Latin America. Eventually we made it to San Jose, Costa Rica where Maria was waiting for me.
That afternoon and evening we wandered around downtown San Jose and took a bus to her house to see her family. Later we visited a few friends and went for late night hot dogs. I enjoyed a hot dog with pizza sauce, mozzarella cheese, oregano and potato chips on top.
In the morning Maria and I did tropical fruit tasting and I tried several new fruits that I’d never seen before (nor knew where to find the edible part). During the day, Maria took me all over her town, Heredia, on buses and on foot. We visited her university, ate cheese tortillas with crema at the market, wandered through many plazas with churches and ate ice cream. In the evening we went to the mega-mall, ordered pizza and went dancing at Rumba, a huge disco.
Unfortunately, I had to leave the next morning and Maria and her mom dropped me off at the bus terminal. On arrival I was handed a stack of five immigration forms to fill out (migration, customs, H1N1 for Costa Rica, H1N1 for Nicaragua etc.) Seemed a tad excessive to me. The forms are redundant and confusing. I was sitting next to two ladies that didn’t know how to read and ended up filling out over 15 pages of immigration forms. They returned the favor by sharing juice and letting me budge at the border lines and we chatted most of the way back to Granada.
My last two days in Granada passed quickly. I said my goodbyes at the community center, with my host family and around town. Now it’s a quick bus trip to Managua to catch the first of three flights back to Minneapolis.
Good-bye Nicaragua!
