Just back from the Campo...
(I started writing this about a week ago (9.11) so the dates are a bit confusing... but, that´s okay... it´ll just add a bit more spice...and confusion)
Life had finally gotten into a somewhat structured and scheduled routine... though it didn't last for long. Although all last week was filled with the same Spanish in the morning and seminar in the afternoon routine ... things are going to get crazy from here on out. On the 13th we are all off to the campo... to work side by side with campesinos and learn what life is for them. I am very excited to be going off to the countryside of Nicaragua ... and away from the dirt, noise and danger of Managua (...my host mom was robbed just last week ...in our house). It is going to be a totally different week ... a week where we are all in different villages, rising with the sun, working in the fields, preparing the meals, and communicating and striving to understand the best that we can. After we return from the countryside we have one week more of structured classes and then we are off to the Carribean Coast, an area of Nicaragua that is totally different than all that is experienced here because it was colonized by the British and the people who live there are descendents of slaves who came freed.
One subject that constantly comes up here is machismo. While walking down the streets everyday here we all are shouted at with piropos, or catcalls. Men call at you with any words they know in English... and then then words telling us of our beauty in Spanish. It is a constant occurence that happens to me every day, and I find myself getting more and more and more disgusted. The women here get it too, and many of them accept it, and like it. I am trying to understand this aspect of the culture ... why it's done ... and why people actually take those men seriously. There is a huge problem with machismo here as men often just run around having kids here and there and then leaving their families. 84 percent of households in Nicaragua are run by single mothers. I feel that although economics and the war of the 80s as well as today's world of neoliberalism has a huge affect on the psyche of men here ... it's just so hard to then see women complain and then, right then, buy into machismo.
Another subject that has been pulling at me like crazy is that of the garbage in the city of Managua. THe streets are always filled with litter ... litter like one can't imagine unless you've lived through it. You literally have to not walk on the side/walk sometimes because there is so much garbage there. In the states I always get upset if someone doesn't recycle, not understanding why they dont since there is such an incredibly easy system to do so. However, here it's just getting the trash INTO the can. The people of the city don't have that respect for their land. You would think that it may be kids running around or uneducated people, but yesterday I actually saw a middle aged, well dressed and assumingly well educated woman just throw her can right out the bus window. It makes me wonder how this can change. How was the dont litter campaign so successful in the US? How can we do that here.
(This is the stuff that I just started writing today...9.18)
Last weekend I headed down to the colonial town of Granada with one of my friends here, Sarah. It was our first adventure off on our own - and not within the comforts of SIT. It was an awesome experience with many lessons and lots of well'needed out of Managua time. Saturday morning we got up and took the public bus (rickety buses that we take almost everyday to the UCA... and suprisingly don´t fall apart or get into an accident on every trip...but the odds are quite high). We then caught an expreso bus into Granada. Expreso buses are my new favourite thing because it costs about $1, they don´t look like they are going to fall apart - and go straight to the destination FAST. Once we arrived in Granada we walked around for quite the while to get ourselves situated and placed in a hostel. We ended up staying at a place called the Bearded Monkey. It was a cool place that was opened a number of years ago by a German and British couple. It was a new and totally strange atmosphere for us because once we walked in the doors all we saw was essentially us - lots and lots of whites not speaking Spanish. It was a pretty cool atmosphere though, filled with lots of 20-something bohemian types that backpack through central america...through the world...without destination. After getting settled in we set out on the adventure to find Laguna de Apoya - a lagoon nearby. It took us about 16 circles around the city and 5 times of asking directions - but we finally found the bus we thought would bring us to the lagoon. However, 20 minutes later we were dropped off in another town, Masaya, with few people around and definitely no sign of the lagoon. We ended up taking a taxi from there to the lagoon - a 20 minute ride that was quite sketchy (I cant believe I just used that word - but it´s perfect to describe the situation). We had no idea where we were and it´s all we could do. After our ride... which included lots of backroads, empty streets, and a scary looking driver... we arrived alive. We then found a secluded spot where we just sat in the peace of nature for over 2 hours - taking in the beauty around us. After another quite interesting ride back into Granada... we headed back to the hostel, hung out for a bit, and went to bed. Sunday was filled with a wonderful walk along Lake Nicaragua for a couple hours... a great chat with a young boy who was trying to get us on his family´s boat tour of Granada... and travel back to Managua.
Monday we headed to the large markets of Managua to buy supplies for the campo... and then headed out Tuesday morning. Over that past week I was having a rough time here - Granada helped a bit, being out of Managua - but Managua just was getting to me. My family situation is great - but not wonderful - it´s comfortable... but only to a point. Then I started to miss home. Miss people. Miss people REAL bad. It all culminated into a very miserable Monday afternoon when I had to let the lonliness take me over - delve into the emotion, wash myself with it. It was terrible... but, afterward, I felt wonderful. I think that it was really good to jump in ... and then step away and re-energize myself - and become me again. Anyway, Tuesday morning we left to the campo - and what an experience it was. One incredibly beautiful experience.
We drove to San Ramon, our base community about 1-hour´s drive outside of Matagalpa, a city about 2 hours from Managua. From there we were split off into three groups, driving to 3 different communities to live there for the week. My community´s name was Montechristo, a small community of only a few hundred who live on a hacienda high in the moutains. We rode up in a pickup to Montechristo - about an hour´s drive from San Ramon. When we got off the truck the whole community was there to greet us - we were split off into our individual homes, and trekked off with our homestay family. This was the first time that they had experienced such an occassion. Although it was not the first time they saw whites - it was a very rare occassion - and I believe the only other foreign visitors before were an NGO from Spain.
My family consisted of a father, Saturdino, mother, Hacel, and two children, Maciel and David (7 and 6). We lived in a house that consisted of one main room - where there was a table, 2 chairs, and a bed. Also a part of that room, though a bit separated, was the kitchen - which consisted of a clay area for the fire for cooking, and a long wooden slighted slanted board which drained to the outside for washing dishing and preparing food. Attached to the front room was a tiny little back room with another bed. The floor was dirt - but the walls were solid. The parents slept in with the kids so I could have the main bed.
My stay was incredible. The kids and I immediately fell in love and we spent all the days together all the time. In the mornings the men would sometimes bring us out to the fields to show us around the hacienda - to explain to us the land they work on and the plants there - from maize and chiltoma, to lots of coffee and plantains. Otherwise, I spent much of my time with Hacel in the kitchen, preparing each meal, and with the kids - reading lots and lots because they absolutely loved it - and I was so happy to accomodate. In the kitchen I not only learned how to make all sorts of food from scratch - from tortillas to gallo-pinto and so much in between - but I also learned lots about campesino life. The wonders of it and the difficulties. Although all there live in absolute poverty, Hacel was adament that city poverty would be so much worse. In the country it is extremly hard to access things - from needed wares to medicine - but there is always food growing. In the city there is incredible unemployment - and although everything is here - few have the money to purchase even food. Also, the experience was quite a bit different than my last experience in the moutains of Nicaragua. The first time my village had no electricity, and people were dying of hunger. Here, although life was hard, they were surviving - and many were very happy. There was a school, there was a medical clinic a ways down the road, and there was a strong community bond.
Campo life was so wonderful - and I was happier there than I have been in over 3 weeks. My family there was a family - I felt totally comfortable. I was always smiling and they were always smiling. I felt that in just that week my Spanish grew incredibly fast. I enjoyed not being with my group. I loved being in the middle of the jungle with only Spanish to rely on. I loved not talking English for days. At the end of our stay we prepared a thank-you for our community because of the incredible care they put into our stay. We sang songs and then read a beautiful letter of thanks, appreciation, and solidarity. They then, had a surprise for us - they , as a community, prepared our last meal together - and we ate as a community. It was such a wonderful night - I helped the women in the kitchem prepare tamales and other such delicious foods... and then we all ate in thanks - as one huge family. Later that night I headed to my house with my family - Maciel and David sang and danced for me - we took lots of pictures, and it was off to bed. Yesterday morning was another early morn´(actually, Im not sure how early - probably about 4 or 5... but during the whole experience I didnt have a clock - which I enjoyed immensley), breakfast, and good byes. Hacel and the kids were crying, Saturdino was incredibly thankful, and I was crying. I miss them incredibly already - they are a family I really connected to - and those kids and I for those days were always attached at the hip - they always were holding my hand, carrying my things - and we were ALWAYS practising reading together. I am going to try and head back up there in a month or so for a weekend - I will never ever ever forget them or that incredible experience.
I feel like there is so much to say about it - and the words aren´t quite coming to me (and my English is starting to get shakier and shakier)... but I wanted to give you all a taste of my awesome, awesome, awesome experience.
I just arrived back in Managua a few hours ago. I am going to try and remain on the high I have been on for the past week - I don´t want Managua to come crashing down on me again. This week is a busy one - filled with lots of work, papers, tests, excursions, and preparation for the coast. Another adventure out of Managua - to a place unlike I have ever visited before - I am so excited.
Thanks for all the love left. Keep it coming - as well as questions, thoughts...
warm hugs,
meg
Life had finally gotten into a somewhat structured and scheduled routine... though it didn't last for long. Although all last week was filled with the same Spanish in the morning and seminar in the afternoon routine ... things are going to get crazy from here on out. On the 13th we are all off to the campo... to work side by side with campesinos and learn what life is for them. I am very excited to be going off to the countryside of Nicaragua ... and away from the dirt, noise and danger of Managua (...my host mom was robbed just last week ...in our house). It is going to be a totally different week ... a week where we are all in different villages, rising with the sun, working in the fields, preparing the meals, and communicating and striving to understand the best that we can. After we return from the countryside we have one week more of structured classes and then we are off to the Carribean Coast, an area of Nicaragua that is totally different than all that is experienced here because it was colonized by the British and the people who live there are descendents of slaves who came freed.
One subject that constantly comes up here is machismo. While walking down the streets everyday here we all are shouted at with piropos, or catcalls. Men call at you with any words they know in English... and then then words telling us of our beauty in Spanish. It is a constant occurence that happens to me every day, and I find myself getting more and more and more disgusted. The women here get it too, and many of them accept it, and like it. I am trying to understand this aspect of the culture ... why it's done ... and why people actually take those men seriously. There is a huge problem with machismo here as men often just run around having kids here and there and then leaving their families. 84 percent of households in Nicaragua are run by single mothers. I feel that although economics and the war of the 80s as well as today's world of neoliberalism has a huge affect on the psyche of men here ... it's just so hard to then see women complain and then, right then, buy into machismo.
Another subject that has been pulling at me like crazy is that of the garbage in the city of Managua. THe streets are always filled with litter ... litter like one can't imagine unless you've lived through it. You literally have to not walk on the side/walk sometimes because there is so much garbage there. In the states I always get upset if someone doesn't recycle, not understanding why they dont since there is such an incredibly easy system to do so. However, here it's just getting the trash INTO the can. The people of the city don't have that respect for their land. You would think that it may be kids running around or uneducated people, but yesterday I actually saw a middle aged, well dressed and assumingly well educated woman just throw her can right out the bus window. It makes me wonder how this can change. How was the dont litter campaign so successful in the US? How can we do that here.
(This is the stuff that I just started writing today...9.18)
Last weekend I headed down to the colonial town of Granada with one of my friends here, Sarah. It was our first adventure off on our own - and not within the comforts of SIT. It was an awesome experience with many lessons and lots of well'needed out of Managua time. Saturday morning we got up and took the public bus (rickety buses that we take almost everyday to the UCA... and suprisingly don´t fall apart or get into an accident on every trip...but the odds are quite high). We then caught an expreso bus into Granada. Expreso buses are my new favourite thing because it costs about $1, they don´t look like they are going to fall apart - and go straight to the destination FAST. Once we arrived in Granada we walked around for quite the while to get ourselves situated and placed in a hostel. We ended up staying at a place called the Bearded Monkey. It was a cool place that was opened a number of years ago by a German and British couple. It was a new and totally strange atmosphere for us because once we walked in the doors all we saw was essentially us - lots and lots of whites not speaking Spanish. It was a pretty cool atmosphere though, filled with lots of 20-something bohemian types that backpack through central america...through the world...without destination. After getting settled in we set out on the adventure to find Laguna de Apoya - a lagoon nearby. It took us about 16 circles around the city and 5 times of asking directions - but we finally found the bus we thought would bring us to the lagoon. However, 20 minutes later we were dropped off in another town, Masaya, with few people around and definitely no sign of the lagoon. We ended up taking a taxi from there to the lagoon - a 20 minute ride that was quite sketchy (I cant believe I just used that word - but it´s perfect to describe the situation). We had no idea where we were and it´s all we could do. After our ride... which included lots of backroads, empty streets, and a scary looking driver... we arrived alive. We then found a secluded spot where we just sat in the peace of nature for over 2 hours - taking in the beauty around us. After another quite interesting ride back into Granada... we headed back to the hostel, hung out for a bit, and went to bed. Sunday was filled with a wonderful walk along Lake Nicaragua for a couple hours... a great chat with a young boy who was trying to get us on his family´s boat tour of Granada... and travel back to Managua.
Monday we headed to the large markets of Managua to buy supplies for the campo... and then headed out Tuesday morning. Over that past week I was having a rough time here - Granada helped a bit, being out of Managua - but Managua just was getting to me. My family situation is great - but not wonderful - it´s comfortable... but only to a point. Then I started to miss home. Miss people. Miss people REAL bad. It all culminated into a very miserable Monday afternoon when I had to let the lonliness take me over - delve into the emotion, wash myself with it. It was terrible... but, afterward, I felt wonderful. I think that it was really good to jump in ... and then step away and re-energize myself - and become me again. Anyway, Tuesday morning we left to the campo - and what an experience it was. One incredibly beautiful experience.
We drove to San Ramon, our base community about 1-hour´s drive outside of Matagalpa, a city about 2 hours from Managua. From there we were split off into three groups, driving to 3 different communities to live there for the week. My community´s name was Montechristo, a small community of only a few hundred who live on a hacienda high in the moutains. We rode up in a pickup to Montechristo - about an hour´s drive from San Ramon. When we got off the truck the whole community was there to greet us - we were split off into our individual homes, and trekked off with our homestay family. This was the first time that they had experienced such an occassion. Although it was not the first time they saw whites - it was a very rare occassion - and I believe the only other foreign visitors before were an NGO from Spain.
My family consisted of a father, Saturdino, mother, Hacel, and two children, Maciel and David (7 and 6). We lived in a house that consisted of one main room - where there was a table, 2 chairs, and a bed. Also a part of that room, though a bit separated, was the kitchen - which consisted of a clay area for the fire for cooking, and a long wooden slighted slanted board which drained to the outside for washing dishing and preparing food. Attached to the front room was a tiny little back room with another bed. The floor was dirt - but the walls were solid. The parents slept in with the kids so I could have the main bed.
My stay was incredible. The kids and I immediately fell in love and we spent all the days together all the time. In the mornings the men would sometimes bring us out to the fields to show us around the hacienda - to explain to us the land they work on and the plants there - from maize and chiltoma, to lots of coffee and plantains. Otherwise, I spent much of my time with Hacel in the kitchen, preparing each meal, and with the kids - reading lots and lots because they absolutely loved it - and I was so happy to accomodate. In the kitchen I not only learned how to make all sorts of food from scratch - from tortillas to gallo-pinto and so much in between - but I also learned lots about campesino life. The wonders of it and the difficulties. Although all there live in absolute poverty, Hacel was adament that city poverty would be so much worse. In the country it is extremly hard to access things - from needed wares to medicine - but there is always food growing. In the city there is incredible unemployment - and although everything is here - few have the money to purchase even food. Also, the experience was quite a bit different than my last experience in the moutains of Nicaragua. The first time my village had no electricity, and people were dying of hunger. Here, although life was hard, they were surviving - and many were very happy. There was a school, there was a medical clinic a ways down the road, and there was a strong community bond.
Campo life was so wonderful - and I was happier there than I have been in over 3 weeks. My family there was a family - I felt totally comfortable. I was always smiling and they were always smiling. I felt that in just that week my Spanish grew incredibly fast. I enjoyed not being with my group. I loved being in the middle of the jungle with only Spanish to rely on. I loved not talking English for days. At the end of our stay we prepared a thank-you for our community because of the incredible care they put into our stay. We sang songs and then read a beautiful letter of thanks, appreciation, and solidarity. They then, had a surprise for us - they , as a community, prepared our last meal together - and we ate as a community. It was such a wonderful night - I helped the women in the kitchem prepare tamales and other such delicious foods... and then we all ate in thanks - as one huge family. Later that night I headed to my house with my family - Maciel and David sang and danced for me - we took lots of pictures, and it was off to bed. Yesterday morning was another early morn´(actually, Im not sure how early - probably about 4 or 5... but during the whole experience I didnt have a clock - which I enjoyed immensley), breakfast, and good byes. Hacel and the kids were crying, Saturdino was incredibly thankful, and I was crying. I miss them incredibly already - they are a family I really connected to - and those kids and I for those days were always attached at the hip - they always were holding my hand, carrying my things - and we were ALWAYS practising reading together. I am going to try and head back up there in a month or so for a weekend - I will never ever ever forget them or that incredible experience.
I feel like there is so much to say about it - and the words aren´t quite coming to me (and my English is starting to get shakier and shakier)... but I wanted to give you all a taste of my awesome, awesome, awesome experience.
I just arrived back in Managua a few hours ago. I am going to try and remain on the high I have been on for the past week - I don´t want Managua to come crashing down on me again. This week is a busy one - filled with lots of work, papers, tests, excursions, and preparation for the coast. Another adventure out of Managua - to a place unlike I have ever visited before - I am so excited.
Thanks for all the love left. Keep it coming - as well as questions, thoughts...
warm hugs,
meg