I'm Pathetic

So, sorry for the layoff, what it really comes down to is that I am pathetic. Well that and we have not been able to have full use of the internet for some time. So I finally decided to buckle down and send a post without any pictures, so hopefully you can imagine them in your heads.

For the last month Cass and I have been volunteering in Cuidad Sandino, a refugee town outside of Managua that houses people displaced by disasters in Nicaragua. It started out as a temporary placement for families until their houses and communities were restored, but more disasters kept happening and eventually this became a city. Well...kinda. It is now one of the largest in Nicaragua, it is the most densly populated, and it is the most impoverished, which might make it one of the poorest communities in the Western Hemisphere.

Cass and I continue to be amazed and humbled by the spirit of the people of Nicaragua. We have traveled to various regions here and seen and heard the stories of a people who continue to fight for a dignified existence. The myth that the impoverished are lazy is lie that allows those in power to continue on in their dominant ways. And we, Cass and I, continue to see that these people do not want our charity but rather be given the opportunity to provide for themselves, as there is an 80 percent unemployment rate. So it isn't that people will not work, it is that there is no work for them to do.

The organization that we have been working with (Click here for Jubilee House info) has been down in Cuidad Sandino for the last 15 years, working alongside the people of this community to provide sustainable ways to develop (agriculture, technology, health, education, business, etc.). The work that this community does it utterly jaw-dropping. They have started the world's first free-trade zoned fair-trade sewing factory that is owned by the workers themselves, which if you understand what a free trade zone is, it's unheard of. Usually these zones are set up so that multi-national corporations can come in here and basically use slave labor to produce their products. So just one of many things Jubilee House does is organize community members into cooperatives that can start their own businesses, so that they can keep the tax breaks and other perks of working in the free trade zone and therefore reinvest in their own community.

So Cass and I have been working alongside another worker owned cooperative called Genesis, to help build a factory where they will be spinning organic yarn. The people who are building this factory are the same people who will work in it when it is completed. Cass has also been working in the health clinic and has learned to drive a manual transmission car, which she holds over me since I am lost when it comes to shifting a car.

Know that I will be posting a few more things on this work and some other insights we have gained in our month and a half when I did not write. But if you have any questions feel free to leave a comment, and I will respond as best I can.

Esteli

A depliction of Esteli by a local famous artist

We traveled north into Esteli about 2 weeks ago now and the weather up in this mountainous area was more than welcoming. Esteli was one of the places that experienced a majority of the brutality and devastation during the civil war in the 1980’s, meaning that we would be able to see and experience a part that was vastly different not only in temperate zones, but also in people and heritage, than San Juan Del Sur and Managua. The area of the North is known for it’s fertile land, growing much of the coffee that makes it into the cafes of the United States. There was also a concerted effort after the war to create community co-operatives for farming and ecological development. This land is rich with farmers, cowboys, and Sandinistas.

Speaking of Sandinistas, Cass and I were able to hear the President speak on Worker Day in Esteli. It might be the only time in our lives that we get to hear live the head of an actual state, so we had to jump at the chance. However, if that was our only chance it wasn’t all that we romanticized about. The crowd, from what we were told later, was obviously full of Esteli’s people, who are quite reserved and shy. What we expected to happen was that the revolutionary figurehead of Daniel Ortega was going to be serving a dish of powerful rhetoric that made the people believe that what he was doing for his people, the workers, the backbone of the country. In actuality, what we saw did not attest to this certainty. In fact, most of the people were still walking about the grounds and stopping for casual conversation whenever they saw a familiar face. Apparently Daniel Ortega does not have that verbal persuasive power with him at all times. ...Buying hotdogs at the rally:


Esteli did not disappoint. We felt that we got to see and experience first hand another rich side of Nicaragua. We were able to listen to our teachers speak of the Sandinistas in ways that were truly inspiring. Although these people are ardent supporters of this political and revolutionary party, they are also not without criticism. The promises of the past have not been lived up to and the people have become almost expectant that the necessary changes might never come. But still there is hope.

Last but not least, Cass and I have a bone to pick with the writers of the Lonely Planet. We read that it was a nice relaxing hour hike to an amazing waterfall called Salto Estanzuela. However, 2 and ½ hours in, sweaty from the uphill terrain, and with little water we finally had to hitch a ride for what would have been at least another hour walk. Needless to say we hitched a ride back as well. We also heard a rumor, after the fact that this edition of Lonely Planet might have been written in a nice loft in San Francisco, very far away from the land of Nicaragua. I guess he made some quick fact checking telephone calls and never returned to Nicaragua to find new information since the last edition. Oh, well. We had an adventure.

A Series of Fortunate and Unfortunate Events (Part 1)

We just arrived back to where we have a regular source of internet access and so for the next few days we will be filling you all in on what we have been up to.


This is Cassie helping to make nacatamales (the Nica version of a tamal)

In our last few weeks in San Juan Del Sur we experienced some rather sobering realities. We were told by our professors at school that we should go and check out Pelican Eyes Hotel which sits atop the lush hills of San Juan Del Sur’s southern parts. One night another American student wanted to go and visit their famous happy hour. We asked our 19 year old friend Carlos, whose family we are staying with, if he also wanted to come. When we headed out for the hotel we saw that Miguelito, Carlos’ 7 year old brother, was also making his way with us. Cass and I love this kid so we were happy that they were coming along. The other American student was explicit with his instructions to Carlos that his brother “better know how to behave himself.” Really? Sure the little guy can be pretty rambunctious, but this guy was being an over-concerned ass.

However, when we arrived at Pelican Eyes, Miguelito, who had never been there before, became startlingly shy and uncomfortable. We began to realize that this Hotel was full of only white people. There were about 150 people there and Carlos and Miguelito were the only Nicaraguans who were not working. We kept thinking that this kid was getting an early lesson about the disparities in life—that he will never have the opportunities or privilege of these people. He sat there taking it all in, but maybe he was just thinking about the 2 huge orange-Fanta’s he had taken down in record time.

We wanted some explanations on how Carlos was feeling but all he told us was that this Hotel was “good, man” because it only employed Nicaraguans and that nearly 500 people were able to support their families on the great wage they received here.

This is just one of the contradictory facts of life in Nicaragua that Cass and I face on a continuous basis. We are aware that this town is loosing its indigenous Nicaraguan roots as tourism is pushing the once vast fishing trade to near extinction. Sure tourism is great now, but soon the Nicaraguans are not going to be able to afford the price of property in the city as expatriates come and sweep up all the land. Westerners with hopes of striking it rich are making tons of investments along the coasts of Nicaragua with the expectation that Nicaragua is going to become the next Costa Rica. I guess we’ll see in the coming years.

Cass and I can’t help but recognize these injustices, and yet we are also part of it. We are here to learn their culture and hopefully provide income to those who need it. But we are perpetuating the business of tourism that might eventually push all the Nicaraguans with homes to move to the outskirts of the town.

All this to say, we have decided to try our hardest to support Nicaraguan businesses and frequent places that are popular amongst the people of Nicaragua. Consequently, our next visit was to a place called Lago Azul on Saturday Karaoke night, a favorite we are told by Nicaraguans, especially the Granja family, who joined us that night. Here is a video.

Hello from Nicaragua

So here it is. Finally. After 6 weeks of being in Nicaragua this is our first update. Sorry for the delay but we have finally been able to catch our breath and put together the first, of what we hope to be many, updates.

When we arrived in Managua we were rescued, and I do mean that in every sense of the word, by a friend of a friend named Richard (Ricardo...in the photo w/us), who has now become so much more than that brief introduction. Don Ricardo is a professor of Latin American History at Greenville College in St. Louis, and is here on the Fulbright Scholarship studying Nicaraguan history from the late 19th c. I tell you this as Ricardo is the hero of our first story. He has stood by Cass and I when we must have looked like complete children. He has done everything from cooking for us and offering up his house as a place to relax when we needed some away time from school, to being our tour guide when we have not known what the hell we were doing in Managua.

Granted, Cass and I have been humbled completely from not knowing the language. Yet, we have been picking up Spanish little by little and I am extremely proud that we are progressing. We are being attentive to the stories of the Nicaraguans and desire to hear about their lives, their hopes, and their history. Nicaraguans are very willing to offer more than a few words on their government and political past, as well as where they think they should be headed in the future.

After having stayed a couple of nights in Managua, we had decided earlier that we would travel for the first ten days and get a quick feel for some of the major cities of Nicaragua. But as we started to travel from town to town we realized that we were completely lost without knowing the language. I don’t mean lost in the sense that we could not get by. Surely Lonely Planet can get anybody with half a brain by, but we wanted to thrive, and get to know the ins and outs of this rich culture and the wonderful people that belong to it.


After our brief tour, we settled upon the fishing village of San Juan Del Sur (in this photo we took), in the South-Western coner if Nicaragua. Here, Cass and I have been taking Spanish classes and have been living with the Granja family for the five weeks. The family is amazing, plain and simple. They have a strong nucleus led by the Abuelos, Don Miguel y Dona Lucia. Don Miguel is still trying to figure out what to do with his time now that he has retired. Cass thinks that Don Miguel considers me a surrogate son, as he calls me Josy. Dona Lucia, well she is a legend in our minds. Cass often spends time looking over her sholder trying to learn anything she can. We can’t think of a better cook or a harder working, gentler, loving woman. She is on her feet and working from Sunrise to midnight. They also have six children, who have children of their own. But everyone is at the house at some point during the day, if they do not already live there. In total there is 16 people and 1 on the way that Dona Lucia feeds each meal, and these are amazing meals.

Right: Dona Lucia and her grandson Carlos, Left: Josh and Cecilia (Lucia's nina, and Carlos's mama).

We were in San Juan Del Sur during he craziest time of the year, Semana Santa (Easter). The town quadruples in size and there are massive parties for 5 straight days. It seems like the Nicaraguan version of MTV spring break. The family asked me to be involved in their Semana Santa celebrations. I even got to carry the Christ across town with 4 other people through town. They said that it was going to be easy, but oh no. It was like we were taking baby steps for 1 mile, and it was heavy. But still, it was almost surreal.



Cass and I also have been to wonderful places in the metropolis parts of Nicaragua. We went to visit an extraordinary orphanage, we have seen just a few of the many volcanoes, 5 or 6 remote beaches, and stunning artisan markets which are as full of culture as they are with practical goods for Nicaraguans. Cass and I also celebrated our birthdays here and got the traditional baby powder on the head. It’s a privilege I think…

All in all, we are having an amazing experience that we hope to share with you all when we return in 4 months…damn we still got a ways to go. Feel free to drop us a comment, as it makes us a little less homesick. Blessings all.

Also, we are setting up a flicker account where you can go to view pictures of our journey. (Here)