Nica home!

I’ve finally moved into my Nicaraguan one-man bungalow. Well “moved-in” is a very loose term. At the moment, all I have is a bookshelf and a fan (I’m borrowing a cot to sleep on). And when I say that’s all I have, I’m not kidding. There is no stove, refrigerator, nada. But there is good news! A volunteer will be finishing his service in July so I’m buying stove top, propane tank, pots, pans, kitchen utensils, Crockpot, spices and a couple chairs for around $75. Cross your fingers, I found a lead of someone who may be willing to lend me an armoire and a bed. Unfortunately, I’m still on the search for anything that resembles a table or refrigerator…

My 'bed'room

Kitchen?  Or soon to be kitchen

Not so living room

I think in the next couple of weeks I’ll make a Peace Corps “Cribs” episode to show you what my house looks like all gussied up!

Robbed!

So bad news, my streak of poor luck continues. Last week, my house was robbed. My long absence can easily be explained because they stole my laptop. Therefore, all future blog posts are being written on my iPod, then find a wireless signal and finally uploaded here. What a pain, right? Besides the obvious, life has been peachy! I'm house sitting for another volunteer so cooking has been my major adventure recently. Successes in the kitchen include: pan fried burgers, stir fry and a bomb guacamole. Permanent house searching continues. The super nice house that I'd like to live in is unfortunately non-negotiable on price -- $100/month. Therefore, back to square one. Monday, I plan to hang up posters and offer my students a $5 reward to anyone who can find me the best and affordable house. A little shameless but it beats having to sleep in the park. In other news, I've officially reached my halfway point of service -- 13.5 months of the 27! Crazy how time flies by. Oh and my parents have officially bit the bullet and purchased airfare to come visit in the end of August! I'm making sure to save up all my good karma for a wonderful trip with them! Dale pues, -Pedro the Explorer

House Hunters 2

Welcome back to House Hunters Peace Corps Nicaragua.  Today’s home is an upscale 3 room set up WITH indoor plumbing!  There’s ample space for one messy volunteer and it’s within walking distance to the bus stations and school.  Photos (note it’s completely unfurnished, everything there belongs to the 2 current occupants)!

Front door

Toilet and shower INSIDE the master bedroom

Patio sala principal (left), kitchen (center) bedroom (right)

Kitchen with cooking space

Living room

Of course amenities like indoor plumbing comes with a price tag…$100/month.  Clearly out of my price range but with any luck I can negotiate that down under $90.

Cooking for 1 in the 3rd World

Life update: I’m officially out in the big, wide world on my own!  I’m temporarily living in my friend’s house while she’s vacationing in the USA for 2 weeks.  This means that I’m now required to cook for myself (I still refuse to do my laundry – I’m paying a nice lady to do that).  Therefore, I thought you dear followers would be interested in what I purchased and made in my first 24 hours.

Tomato

Potato

Onion

Carrot

Cucumber

Green pepper

6 eggs

Pancake mix

Macaroni and cheese

American cheese

Wheat bread

Ham

Bologna

Peanut butter

Ketchup

Hot sauce

Tortilla chips

2 Tortillas

Hotdogs

Peas

Instant tomato soup

Pringles

Cornflakes

Yogurt

3 small bananas

Ranch dressing

3% Milk

All for the amazing 3^rd world price of $31.13!  Anyways for lunch I made a double decker peanut butter and passion fruit jelly sandwich (stole the jelly from the fridge) and some Pringles.  Dinner was sautéed tomatoes, onions and peppers with scrambled eggs and ketchup wrapped up inside the two tortillas.  Breakfast was a simple bananas and cornflakes in yogurt.  Not too shabby, huh?

Well Project

So it looks like my well project is beginning to take shape!  I’ve been working with a friend from the mayor’s office to write the 13 page proposal while seeking out price estimates.  Last Friday, I went to meet the people in the community and make sure they exist and are not just going to steal your hard-earned tax dollars.  It was a very humbling experience.  These 13 families live without access to water and only one house has electricity.  They told me they have to walk an hour each way to get clean drinking water.  Sometimes they just walk to the river and drink from there.  Many other organizations have tried to get projects underway but all have failed for a variety of reasons (low demand, poor planning etc.).  But where they were unsuccessful we will overcome!  The people were so excited, hopeful and gracious that it's contagious.  I will hopefully submit the proposal this week and schedule the presentation to the decision panel.

Hopefully the "before" of the future before and after photo!

 Sunday I'm seeing another house for my critically acclaimed "House Hunting" series, stay tuned!

House Hunters Nica

Welcome to today’s episode of House Hunters!  On the program, I’m going to show you all of my potential new homes and, with any luck, seal the deal on one of them.  Let’s begin shall we?

House #1 is a good location—near the central park but on a busy street.  A 5 minute walking commute to one of my schools.  It’s a great 3 room Nica hideaway perfect for a small family or one gringo!

Interesting 2 door design

The main room

Bedroom

Office?  Kitchen?

Rustic shower (left) and latrine (right)

View from back door

 This bungalow could be mine for $70/month + water and electricity.  What do you think??