An overdue farewell

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)
WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education
WHERE: Nicaragua
WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07
WHY: La vida es un carnaval

I've been negligent to my blog...sorry. I've been home for almost two months now, and have been so visiting friends all over Arizona and California that I haven't had a chance to write my last blog entry. So, now that Christmas is over and everyone is comatose fromm too much food, I'll take this opportunity to wrap this thing up...

The last few months were busy finishing up projects with the kids, final youth group meetings and a pump test that the local water utility was very generous to donate for my thesis work...here are the guys who did two and a half days of work for me...



And the exciting part of a pump test...which you can see is about as fun as watching water flow out of a pipe all day:


So, turning to more interesting things - here are some photos from some of my despedidas - or farewell parties:

We arranged a trip to the zoo with the school kids for one final hurrah while I was there...here are the kids and moms piled into the truck to take us there:



Kids from the group I helped lead on a trip through the zoo...and the monkeys hoping for a cheeto from the kids:



After the education tour, there were several dancing numbers by some of the kids, speeches, and a little gift exchange.



A final shot of the kids and moms I worked with:



I made it to the opening season game for the Chicas Lakers - they awarded me the trophy we had one at a recent tournament:



And my good friend, and teammate, Ada planned a farewell party for me after the game:



This is my mixed origin group of friends - Nicaraguan, US, Swedish, and Finnish at one of our last get togethers:



So, that's about it. Guense and I left the country without any hang ups on November 2nd, as was lucky enough to have some good Peace Corps friends see me off at the airport. I have talked to a number of my friends back in Nicaragua...they are as gracious as ever and are really looking forward to my return (Spring break 2008)...

as am I.

2 months to go...

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)
WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education
WHERE: Nicaragua
WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07
WHY: La vida es un carnaval

I finally got to put together the video footage I took on the chemical volcano building day at the school last March...

Click To Play

Here are some pictures I took from Environment Week we celebrated at the school - we collected lots of trash, had a clean yard contest with members of the community, and learned about proper waste management and personal hygiene with some support from the government ministries of the environement and health.











Here's the whole school in front of the banner we made. It says, "We're responsible - we throw trash in it's place - do you?"



Peace Corps volunteer wedding fever

To date, 5 of the 14 elegible bacholorette Peace Corps Volunteers in my group have either married or are to be married soon to Nicaraguans. Could be a new record. Here's Lindsay and Luis after taking their vows...fun dancing followed!





Santa Lucia

A small group of my friends decided to take a weekend trip to a nearby beautiful town to take in the sites. There is some spectacular - and strenuous - hiking around the area. Most of the towns people have their plots of land they use to grow beans and corn, but we could see that they are using plenty of good farming techniques - erosion barriers, polyculture, and alternatives to burning fields.



Here's Fatima, Sarah (PCV), two of our many children guides), and Henry. Sarah came down from up north to my site to visit for a very busy weekend. Fatima and Henry are some of my best friends here in Nicaragua - Fatima is Nicaraguan and has finished her master's in sociology in Managua, and Henry is from Sweden, but has lived here for 6 years or so. He is finshing his degree on-line in permaculture. They have bought some land a few hours from the city and are currently having a house built. As their farm grows - using the farming techniques that Henry is learning about now - they would like to open it as a training center for other small farmers - focusing on more sustainable and lower impact farming. Currently, until Henry finishes up, they are starting a small scale jam business here in town.



Cactus along the way.



Henry told me these, in English, are called Ice Cream Beans. You don't actually eat the beans, but instead suck off the slightly sweet cotton candy like fuzz surrounding each one.



Some of the great views from above.





Noemi in our prison cell-like room for the night.



Hiking Volcan Telica

A tour operator in Leon offers a moonlight hike up one of Nicaragua's volcanoes - called Volcan Telica. It is still active, and it's last eruption was in 2000...I think? A bunch of us decided to go up it - here we are before starting out at about midnight. There were about 35 people in the group. It took us about 4 hours to get to the top, but really it's about 3 hours over almost flat land just to get to the base, and then one hour or so up.



Here's the same group at about 5 am. The big draw of the hike is to see the lava in the crater - it shows up really well in the dark. Unfortunatley, there was too much smoke coming out for us to get a glimpse down the crater. One of the benefits of hiking a volcano in Nicaragua is there are no safety restrictions - you could easily sacrifice yourself, or someone else, if you wanted to.



As the sun came up, we got a better view of the crater...it's very peaceful and quiet up there.



Crossing through one of the bean fields.



Finally, looking back towards the volcano.



Tisey

Alberto Gutierrez is an old timer practicing a forgotten art. He carves figures into rock walls near his home. Many show Nicaragaun historical figures, but there are also lots of wild animals and some religious alter type art as well. He's really a character - and he loves his work - he dedicates 4 hours every day to carving and has done so since the earlly 70s. He explained nearly every piece he's done, and after each explanation, would finish with a little self-depreciatory giggle.











When we were leaving Gutierrez's home, I sighted this strange "phenomena" in the sky...no one I've shown it to knows what it is...if you do, please write me!




Ramona's 19th birthday

My neighbor Ramona celebrated her 19th birthday and invited me to eat with them. She's on the far left, her husband is next to her. To my right and left are my landlady, Chilo, and Ramona's 15-year old sister, Elda. The husband usually only comes on the weekends, and Ramona and Elda and I share a backyard, so we've gotten close. That happens when you accidently walk in on someone in the latrine. It is good to have them near me because they always seem to be happy. I always hear peals of high-pitched Elda laughs coming through my walls.



Close of Service Conference

At the end of every group's service, Peace Corps holds a conference at the swankiest beach resort in Nicaragua for the soon to be RPCVs (return peace corps volunteers). All you can eat food and drink, and very very cold conference rooms. Logistics on how to get out of the peace corps is carefully explained ad nauseam. Everyone just wanted to get out to the gigantic pool with their Nica libres in hand.



Time is winding down for us here. Among our group, talk has turned from Peace Corps projects and living overseas challenges to what's coming next...

RSJ and UNAN

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)

WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education
WHERE: Nicaragua
WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07
WHY: La vida es un carnaval

El Castillo and the Rio San Juan

My friend Jose Luis came to visit from Arizona and we decided to brave the 15 hour boat ride across Lake Nicaragua to get a glimpse of the Rio San Juan. The river is a disputed border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica...in the past Costa Rica has treid to capture the area, no doubt for development. Nica is not having any of that and maintians control. The area is quite remote now, but was hopping at the turn of the centuary when it was a major thouroghfare for north americans traveling from the Atlantic to the Pacific. There is about a 20km track of land that kept Nicaragua from stealing Panama's fate. There were big plans for developing the waterway, but investors finally opted to put the canal further south. Since then, they say the Rio San Juan is better conserved now than 100 years ago.

Here's Jose Luis and I with two chavalos in the town of El Castillo. We played a little two-on-two until Jose Luis called it off claiming I had broken his toe. (it wasn't, but it was badly bruised).



El Castillo, a Spanish fort, was built to protect Nicaragua (which was under Spanish rule at the time), from, literally, the pirates of the Carribean. This river drains Lake Nicaragua, and the important colonial city of Granada sits on its shores.

Here's the Rio San Juan. I was a little disapointed in the lack of fauna...we only saw one monkey and one toucan. But I imagine those motor boats, which are equivalent to the fleets of old yellow school buses that transport people, chickens, and bags of beans from one town to the another have frightened them all away.

The flora was another thing altogether, as very dense rainforest flanks the banks of the river. Now these are impressive leaves (gringa for scale).

The only little sidewalk road in El Castillo, a town of about 3,000, I think. There are no cars, and we didn't even see any horses or cows, people just pulled their own little carts.

A Rio San Juan version of the family minivan.

University field trip

My counterpart and I arranged a trip to a local university, Universidad Autonomo de Nicaragua (UNAN), for the students of the rural school I work at. 19 kids from the community and one mother attended the trip.It was a great success, mostly because the university president loved the idea. He accompanied the children to and from the school in the private university bus, as well as on the tour of the university. Here they are in a question answer session.

They were all given a class on computers and the internet. I was impressed - they're all flat screen computers...we dont' even have those at my university!

Yassel, Fabiola, and Leisi, two are recent 6th grade graduates who are attending high school on Sundays. During the week Yassel works at her family's store, and Fabiola is caring for her sick mother. Leisi is still in 6th grade.

The president gave the kids a tour of his office, in which he has lots of Latin American articfacts and art that he has collected in his travels.

We got to watch a girls team practice Judo, and a couple of guys practice Tae Kwon Do. He talked about the university athletic teams they could join at length.

All in all it was a great visit...my counterpart and I are just hoping it serves to show the kids (and parents) that the university is not a far away, unatainable goal. It's only 7 km from their rural community.

Samana Santa and Chinandega

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)

WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education
WHERE: Nicaragua
WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07
WHY: La vida es un carnaval

Sanana Santa is an important week long festival in Latin American countries. There are usually lots of processions and parades, stations of the cross, and the church encourages people to reflect on Jesus's suffering. But one of my friends said at a church service, the priest was hoppin' mad at all the folks (the majority of the population) who use the week to get out of town, vacation, visit the beach, drink and make merry. I ended up working much of the week anyway, but did manage to visit a family that have a small ranch a few hours from town. When I got off the bus, the dad was waiting with a horse for me and we hoofed it about an hour to the farm.

What did we do at the farm?

Made 1000s of Nacatamales - almost like the tamales the northern Mexicans make, but folded in banana leaves instead of corn husks. The experience has made me go off meat when I saw a pig's eyeball - still in the socket - carried off by a diseased puppy. I didn't eat many Nacatamales after that.

We went to the river to swim.

They guys box - 3 minute rounds. Neighboring farm hands came from all around for the festivities.

Horseback ride.

Herd cattle.

Bronc ride - but these cowboys wear plastic flip flops.

There was also a dance - which the farm hands got all slickerd up for. There was no electricity, so the stereo was hooked up to car batteries and worked well for about an hour. So it was a short dance. In bed by 9.

Trip to the Northern Pacific coast

Noemí, Celine, and I, all volunteers from the central part of the country, made the trek up north to visit a couple of other long lost volunteers. They live in a department called Chinandega, which has a lot of volcanoes, dust, and heat. But they also have coastline. Here's the three of us with Sarah. Sarah lives in a small town only a stone's throw from the beach...but her trips there are limited because there is a major port not too far from there. Port means trucks and trucks mean truckers. They are some of the most anoying people in Nicaragua because of their endless piropos (catcalls) - the blond and blue eyed is so exotic that they can't contain themselves. It really gets on the nerves and I could write a whole volumes of books on how much many women volunteers hate it. However, one feels strengthened in groups, so we went together - got in some good swimming and good fish.

Who says there is no truth in advertising?

We went to the annual Food Festival in Corinto. Good fish and seafood, cold beer. Yum.

Some of the cultural figures and dances of Nicaragua:

The Gueguense character (and my dog's namesake).

They really like these traditional dances where the women balance things on their heads.

A few snapshots from the beach:

On our way back home, we stopped in and visited SandyKelly. (Although they are actually two people, they are married and people in their site actually refer to both of them individually as SandyKelly). This picture was taken from a newly constructed viewpoint in their town. In the background, the volcano Momotombo is visible.


SandyKelly have a Spanish version of Cranium - it was fun. But perhaps not quite as fun as Sandy is making it appear.

...but it's a dry heat??

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)
WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education

WHERE: Nicaragua

WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07

WHY: La vida es un carnaval

The water crisis in my city is brutal now. We have used all the water in the 900 gallon water tank we have and are now buying 55 gallon barrels at a time. I have to admit I wasn't too stressed about it before since everyone told me water was always available for sale during the summertime. But it appears that there are less and less private vendors these days - turns out that THEY are having a hard time finding water outside the city limits. The price has gone up 25% since last month when water stopped coming from our taps once a week like it usually did (severe water rationing by the water company). We still have a month more of this...that is if it rains May 1. The good news is that pretty much every day, although it is as hot as blazes, there are clouds - and not just high wispy ones. I think the rains may come early.

Water scarcity forced my neighbors Ramon and Elda and I to go to a public well in town to wash clothes. The well is hand dug – there were about 15 kids, practially naked, bearing buckets and pulling up water. All the washing stations were full (there were about 12 or so). The women there washed like the wind! I was so impressed. They were constantly yelling to their kid to stop picking on the little girl, go hang up the washed clothes, get more water, don’t drink the water, stop crying, go get more soap etc. All this while working as fast as the spin cycle on a washing machine. I was glad that they were working fast since we did have to wait about 45 minutes to get two free stations. Ramona and I washed while Elda, the younger sister, kept our water reservoir full. It cost us 3 Cordobas (about 17 cents) each. I think we will probably be doing that for the next month… Saturday afternoons.


4 hours later...


Ecological footprint

There is a neat website on line, Myfootprint.org, which you can go to to find out how many planet Earths it would take to support everyone in the world if they lived as you live. There is a 15 or so question quiz, and it gives you an idea of how much you really do consume - it takes into consideration size of house, electricity consumption, ground and air transportation, eating habits, etc.

When I lived in Houghton, MI, I did the quiz and came up with 2.9 Earths. Here in Nicaragua, if everyone were to live like me, we would need 1.8. My friend, Gisselle - a native Nica who works with an NGO I work with, however, did the quiz too and came up with 1. Seems like the developing world need to start sending volunteers to the industrialized world to start teaching us how walk softer.

Chicas Lakers

We are halfway through our season and our team (in the bottom photo those sitting and in the very back), are is 3-1 (don't even get me started on the loss).

Here we are with the Chicas Oro (gold girls - there is a lot of gold mining where they live)...
I'm not sure why they are smiling - we just kicked their traseros.


Ground water monitoring

My friend Antoinette, who works for a Dutch NGO (SNV), put together a workshop for regional rural water technicians to begin a groundwater monitoring program in the rural sector. I helped by explaining the logistics of the program, and showing them a cheap, easy way to check the water level in a well.

Here they are learning how to choose wells to monitor.

Retrofitting the well for monitoring access.

Taking water level measurments.

Many of the wells are also contaminated with fecal coliform. Well owners should clean their wells periodically by putting a bleach solution in the wells...but many times maintenence goes by the wayside. This technician bought his own pool kit to make sure the water was clean enough.


Learning about Volcanoes

In the school, when I did a quick survey to see which natural science subject most interested the 3rd-6th graders...earth science came in last. Having spent countless hours looking at rocks and soil in my life - and knowing how exciting it really is !! - I decided to (hopefully) change their attitude about rocks and do a unit on volcanoes. We learned about the interior of the earth, and parts of a volcano. Then, we broke up into teams of 4 and made chemical volcanoes. I think they might like rocks (or at least science experiments) a little more now...

Each team build up a volcano around a plastic pop bottle which served as the magma chamber.


I suggested they could put little sticks for trees and rocks on their volcano. They took it a step further and each decorated their volcano with bouganvilla flowers. We could barely see the volcanos for all the flowers.

One of the teams and their be-flowered volcano.

Mixing the "magma" - vinegar, water, dish soap and bicarbonate.




The kids had a great time making and watching them erupt. Stay tuned for a video showing all the action!

Projects for the year

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)
WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education

WHERE: Nicaragua

WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07

WHY: La vida es un carnaval

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Through the eyes of an 11-year-old

Joel, a neighbor kid of mine, knew I liked to go to the hot springs outside of town...so he and I planned an afternoon to go. However, he didn't know I liked to lounge around the water for a few hours like a cooked spaghetti noodle. He thought this was too boring (especially since the water was too hot for him to enjoy). So after 15 minutes of putting up with him whining, "Vamanos YA!" (Let's go already!), I finally gave him my camera, two sets of batteries and told him to take all the pictures he wanted. Here are some of his shots...

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Man on the street

One of many carpinters in my neighborhood, Julio, poses with a rifle he's putting toghether for a client. It was the first one I've seen him work on, as mostly he displays bedframes, chests of drawers, and tables in his front year. But he says he sells a number of these every year.

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What am I doing these days??

Back to school
School's back in session, so I've started back to the rural school as well. Here are some of the afterschool youth group kids all decked out in monster masks they made after we read, Donde Viven Los Monstros (Where the Wild Things Are).

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New neighborhood reading group

I've started a reading group for some kids in a barrio near mine. Reading is not a Nicaraguan pastime (in large part because a fun book to read is hard to find around here), and any and all activities that promote reading among the youth are encouraged. They love story time...

Louis eats up story hour...he's quiet and shy and doesn't go to school since he lives on farm far away from a school. But he plans on coming to group while he's in the city spending a few months with his grandparents.

Esmaralda is the daughter of one of my friends from the neighborhood. I vist with her mother, Mina, on my way back from walks with Gueguense in the campo. Mina has a quick wit scarce around these parts, which, when I can keep up, leaves my face hurting from laughing so much.

This is 5-year-old Insolent Israel - his older sister gave him the nickname when we were playing a name-remember game (more for me than for them). I can't really understand what he says when he talks to me, but luckily all the other kids interpret for me.

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Story hour at the library

I've also been working with the local library on trying to get a story hour going for primary age school kids in the city. So, the librarian and I visited about five different schools last week, and I read Clifford the Big Red Dog about 28 times to packed classrooms of 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. We are hoping for a lot of participation and have set up a little reading room (apart from the study area) in the library.

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The thesis

Finally, my evenings are filled with data processing as I've now got 3-months worth of well data from my thesis project. I'm trying to put together a presentation on my work so far for the local Dutch NGO that is supporting the work, the water utility (which has been drastically downsized since Ortega took power), the town hall, and the agricultural extension agency. Many thanks to my fellow Peace Corps Volunteers who are helping with the field work!

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While doing all these activities, I'm finally really enjoying my time in Nicaragua. The first year was pretty tough adjusting to the culture, finding friends, and a place to belong. But, I think I've finally found contentment with it all (well, most of it). And now as I look at the calendar, I can only hope these last eight and a half months move m-o-l-a-s-s-e-s s-l-o-w. . .

Dos mil siete

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)
WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education
WHERE: Nicaragua
WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07
WHY: La vida es un carnaval.

A smattering of pics from my gringo visitors in December and January. Happy new year!

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Banana boating...

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New Years in my town (my dad and little sister visiting)

Zip line canopy tour


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Convento San Francisco museum

No cityscape in Nicaragua is complete without the ice cream man.
A Nicaraguan artist's rendition of the stations of the cross at a local church...

Life before the conquistadors
And after
Ancient pottery
Pre-Colombian stone statues found on an island in Lake Nicaragua.
Evidently these are games the natives played. This is before the Spaniards brought them Boggle.

These are skeletal remains of someone that were discovered in the last renovation of the convent. His identity is still a mystery.

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Nicaraguan coffee harvest

Moonrise
My cousin Carol

The bus we decided not to take...