Semana Santa 2013

Thought I would catch you up on my eventful week that just passed.  Tuesday, I traveled to Managua (standing for 2 of the 3.5 hours because the buses were so crowded).  After treating myself to some Subway, I met with the training staff.  I was invited to give a presentation to the new group of business trainees that landed here in early March.  The training staff wanted me to introduce the entrepreneurship curriculum that we teach in the highschool.  The new crop of future volunteers looks solid but few (only 15 when there were 21 in my group).

Wednesday I traveled to Diriamba, Carazo (where some trainees live) to give the presentation.  It went well!  So well in fact that I think I’ll be returning to train them on market study lesson planning as early as next week.  After returning to Managua, I met up with my Nica friend Jadder at his aunt’s house nearby.  He made me dinner (scrambled eggs and toast) and afterwards we walked to a local establishment and had a couple litros.  At 9:30pm when my free taxi service was about to end, I went to T.G.I.FRIDAYS!  Yes, you read correctly.  A fellow volunteer named Nishant invited me meet up with him at the most American place humanly possible.  And let me tell you, it was HEAVEN.  I was expecting an empty and sad version with rice, beans and plantains.  Nope!  It is truly a franchise and was exactly the same in the States.  Since I had already eaten dinner, I went just pass the time with Nishant and his eclectic group of friends including diplomats, World Bank employees and other NGO workers.  After learning that it was my birthday in a few short hours (or maybe taking pity on our meager earnings), they invited me to share Buffalo wings, fajitas and mozzarella sticks for FREE!  Well maybe not free.  I did have to do a birthday dance while the Fridays’ employees sang but close enough.

Thursday, after taking my forth hot shower in 2 days, I made the long journey back to site standing on the bus again.  Once home, two PCVs and a Nica friend came to celebrate my birthday.  We made chili and played UNO.

Friday, we woke up early and went to my favorite place in Nicaragua (no, not the laboratory…), the Somoto Canyon.  Since it was Holy Friday, it was PACKED!  Luckily, it was also free instead of $1.  We spent a leisurely afternoon hiking, swimming, and eating Nica junk food.

But all good things must come to an end.  Yesterday classes resumed (although attendance was about 50%).  I’ll give you some updates on my other projects soon!

Is this real life?

People ask me "Pedro, why don't you blog as often?"  As a Peace Corps Volunteer, it's part of our job to assimilate into the culture of where we live.  I feel as though I've reached that stage and my days in Nicaragua seems more like everyday life than a grand adventure.  So much that even when crazy, weird, unbelievable things happen like this video, it's just another day in the life of a PCV.

Why did the chicken cross the road?  To come hang out in my bedroom apparently.

Happy Easter?

Easter is a surprising vague concept here in Nicaragua.  As a country that is overwhelmingly Christian (80+%), Easter frankly doesn’t seem to exist.  Instead, the emphasis of the holiday seems to be put on “Holy Friday”.  As I mentioned last year, it is a national holiday celebrated with parades.  The tone is much less somber than the USA’s Good Friday – people are happy that Jesus died for them.  Therefore, I guess it makes the celebration of Easter unnecessary?  I’ve said feliz Pascua and como paso su Pascua to people and have generally received blank stares leading me to believe that many people are completely unfamiliar with the concept.

Anywho, happy Easter!

Water quality results

So the fancy-pants laboratory finished the analysis of the water quality for the well that we’re digging.  And… it’s inconclusive.  The minerals, vitamins and other physical properties of the water are in great shape.  Unfortunately, they did detect trace amounts of bacteria like E coli.  So my new assignment in all of this is to become a scientist and figure out what our options are.  It looks like I going to have to meet with the national water provider (ENACAL) to see how they treat the water, the Ministry of Health to find out what the parameters are and an organization call SILAIS (no clue what they do).  In my not-quite-yet profession opinion, I believe we can chlorate the water at the source and then boil and/or filter it before human consumption.  While this does sound like a pain, I just need to remember that their current access to water is a contaminated river so this will be a noticeable improvement.

Anyway, Washington is sending me the check to continue the project!  I’m going to buy another thousand bricks and a couple bags of cement tomorrow.

PR Campaign

It being part of my job to educate Americans on life that I live in Nicaragua, I started spamming my story out to various interested parties.  Thanks to Editor Donna and PR wizard Michelle, a couple stories are beginning to stick!  Feel free to read it here!

Nica Trip 5

(Michelle) For those of you loyal readers of Pete’s blog, you’ll notice he’s been slacking. In an effort to make him put up his first post in almost a MONTH (tsk, tsk Pedro!!), here are our top highlights from Michelle’s Nica trip 5: 
·         (P) We made base camp in San Juan del Sur, the only place in Nicaragua that may have a higher population of “whiteys” than host country nationals.  Our hotel was OK.  It only had a pool, oceanside view and bath robes – typical amenities of the Peace Corps life.

·         (M) Ziplining! Thanks to my fear of heights, we were both pretty sure Pete was going to have to push me off the platform(s). Maybe it was the fact that the 7- and 9-year olds in our group went fearlessly before me, but I did a-ok (and even (sort of) enjoyed it!). The views were amazing; we saw howler monkeys and I didn’t cry on top of a mountain…success

Pete and Michelle about to fly through the forest

·         (P) AND THE FOOD!  I have traveled to San Juan del Sur before but unfortunately it was on my government stipend which meant I ate street tacos for all 6 meals.  Michelle and I ate chicken vegetable curry, supreme pizza, steak topped with gorgonzola cheese and burgers large enough to feed my entire community back home.

·         (M) On Saturday night we went to a massive beach party thrown by the local government. There was live music, dancing, starlight and 60 cent beers…yep, it was pretty much the best night of my life.

·         (P) St. Patty’s Day: After a morning by the pool Michelle and I wandered past “The Irish House” (real name look it up).  After nearly 2 years of drinking nothing but Tona and Victoria, it was wonderful to have a Guinness (or two) in the early afternoon.  The owner loved us and our apparel and bought us a round for being such festive patrons.

  
(M) In conclusion? It was a GREAT trip, and a fantastic way to end 1.5 years of traveling to see my cool novio. I head back tomorrow, though, so I guess it’s officially time to start counting down until his FINAL, FOR-GOOD return to the States…in (approximately) 130 days!!!!