Happy 15th of September!

Doesn’t quite have the ring of 4^th of July but it does have the same significance.  Readers, please indulge me in a quick history lesson about something that irks me (but not nearly as much as it bothers our neighbors to the South).  The 15^th of September (1821) is the Independence Day of Central America.  Central America, of course, includes Mexico.  Therefore, Cinco de Mayo is NOT the Mexican Independence Day.  Besides being a great excuse to don goofy mustaches and acting like “the most interesting man in the world”, it commemorates the battle of Pueblo, Mexico.

Moving on, the 14^th of September is similar to Cinco de Mayo (but for Nicaragua) in that it honors the victory over William Walker at San Jacinto (a city just north of Managua) in 1853.  Needless to say, all of Nicaragua has both of these days off and I, as an educator, have the 16^th and 19^th off as well.  What to do with all of these days off?  Actos and parades of course!  Fotos:

Marchando

Festive huh?

My students!

Strange dress but good tunes

Muchas personas!

The acto

For country, for life, take care and conserve the environment

Indoctrination or just plain adorable?

Additionally, this weekend I’m going up to a city called Jalapa for “Corn Fest”.  I’m not sure what I’ll be doing, besides the obvious consuming of dozens of corn products that is.  I’ll let you know how it is!

*Update: now having attended “Corn Fest” I can tell you exactly what it.  I’m pretty sure I accidentally stepped into a time warp and ended up in Iowa.  There was a parade of floats made out of corn, bands signing songs about corn, a Miss Corn Pageant which includes women dressed in corn answering question about their favorite corn products.  Additionally, some of the corn things I ate:

Guailla – a large thick corn tortilla baked on banana leaves served with cheese.  Less than $0.50.

Nantuca – mashed up corn into a small loaf with a hunk of chicken in the center all baked in the husk of the corn.  Less than $1.

Mystery word – deep fried corn balls with a powered cheese on top.  Practically free.

Chicha bruja – fermented corn beverage.  Less than $0.50 for 8oz.

Afterwards, we went to a “dicoteca” which really just was a pool with a bar and a stage.  People just danced around the pool deck (and threw empty cans into the pool).  As a recovering lifeguard, I’m shocked that throughout the night, no one fell in.

Back to work Tuesday!

El once de septiembre

*Completely unrelated comment before the actual post begins.  The Ethernet port on my laptop broke so that’s why I’ve been out of contact for so long.  I’m currently looking into options and I’ll let you know when I have reliable internet again!

After reading an article in the NY Times about different countries remembering 9-11, I thought I would write a little about Nica.  First, I think it’s important to understand Nica’s opinion of the United States in general.  I can say that for 99% of my journeys have been well received.  Besides being referred to as gringo or chele (“whitey”), I can only remember one or two encounters where a drunk has said something insulting after I ignore him.  Additionally, Nicaragua is VERY politically charged and aware.  For my readers who are approximately my age, you may or may not know (I sure didn’t) that in the early 1980s, the United States directly funded a counterrevolution against the ruling party, which as it so happens, is currently governing today.  The CIA spent millions of dollars supplying and training anyone willing to fight.  So if there are some ill feelings between our countries it’s not exactly without a reason.

That being said, the Nicaraguans that I talked to were overwhelmingly supportive.  During my conversations, words like horrible, terrible, and my personal favorite que barbaridad! (“Oh the barbarity!”) were used regularly  There was also a lot of media coverage.  News shows actually took breaks from reporting on futbol and baseball to show the images that have forever been seared into our memories.  Another touching moment was that one of the buses that I boarded had a small American flag on the dashboard.  Not a big deal, but with Nicaragua about to celebrate their own independence day and with the turbulent history between our countries, I thought it was a great gesture of solidarity.

So as a former member of the Emergency Medical Service community and now as a sworn defender of the Constitution and People of the United States of America, I extend a heartfelt thank you to all of those, past, present and future who serve our great country.

Religion

By request, Tim Stephan would like to know what religions are influential and the roles that they play.

The obvious one is Catholicism.  EVERY municipal capital in Nicaragua has a Catholic church centrally located (always across from the central park).  This of course symbolizes the church’s popularity and influence.  The vast majority (90%?) of Nicas are Catholic.  But to be judgmental, I’d say the number of devout practicing Catholics is merely a fraction of that population.  Regardless, full weeks are given off of work for Christmas and Semana Santa (Easter) and baptisms and confirmations generally held as big to-dos with large parties.  Additionally, the fiestas patronales that I mentioned last week are in honor of the city’s patron saint.  This means that twice a year, every city in Nicaragua has a large party that’s catholically themed and FUNDED by the local government.  In fact, separation of church and state is so nonexistent that the current president, Daniel Ortega, is running for reelection under the slogan “Socialist and Catholic”.  In addition, the last Friday of every month for teachers is called TEPCE (it obviously stands for something but I dunno what).  Anyway, it’s a teacher in-service day.  I’ve only attended two but both were started with not the National Anthem or the Anthem of Education (which would make sense) but with a prayer.

Other Christian religions exist too.  All Protestant sects are generally lumped into the category called Evangelical.  By practice they are definitely more conservative than Catholicism; Evangelicals frown on drinking, dancing and whatnot.  Maybe that’s a reason that it’s not a popular faith here, less than 9%.  They are so devout that many times they are referred to as cultos or “cults”.

And the other religions—few and far between.  I’ve heard from a Jewish volunteer than many Nicas don’t even understand the concept of Judaism.  In the past there have also been a couple Mormon volunteers so I know that there’s a Mormon church somewhere but I haven’t seenit.

Hygine

Dear old Dad has recommended that I take requests what to write blog posts about since the absurdities of Nica have become to become routine.  So, if anyone of you have any questions about life in the Land of Lakes and Volcanos, lemme know!

But let’s start with hygiene.  It exists which is nice.  Let’s break it down to the basics:

Showering: socially acceptable to be done once a day but is more common to be on the every other day schedule.  I shower practically every day because the heat is suffocating.  Taking a shower after dinner allows me to cool down enough that I can sleep, sometimes even without a fan.

Tooth brushing: it exists.  Not sure how often the Nicas do it but I know it’s not three times a day.  Flossing, I can nearly guarantee is completely absent.  Nothing noteworthy about me with this one except it’s a heck of a lost easier to do with indoor plumbing (as opposed to the manual cup rinse I devised where I lived sans running water).

Shaving: I hate it.  I don’t know how the Nicas (or fellow volunteers for that matter) do it.  First, there’s no hot water which makes things difficult.  Secondly, we only have a kitchen sink which I feel awkward enough brushing my teeth at much less shaving.  I have NEVER seen either of my homestay dads shave so I’m in the dark on this one.  All I know is that men are generally well shaven (minus some ridiculous mustaches) so maybe they all go to the barber?  I, on the other hand, shave in the shower.  Again, not sure if that’s a Nica faux pas but that’s how I operate.  I bring a tiny mirror and grit my teeth till it’s done.  No major accidents thus far, but it’s not comfortable.

In general, I’ve have to say I’m oblivious to women.  I’ve yet to see any raging armpit or leg hair so they’re pretty well groomed too.  I’ve only gotten one hair cut in the past four months.  It was performed by my host cousin during training and he did a pretty good job.  For $1.34, who am I to complain?

Smells: yeah there are some pretty rancid body odors from time to time.  I have bought deodorant here so I know it exists but I’m not sure if people use it.  Along those lines: toilet paper.  I’m not exactly new to developing nations (this is my forth stint in Central America and I spent several days in Morocco) so I understand that toilet usage is different.  First, you don’t flush TP, ever.  If you have a latrine you can dump it there but otherwise, there’s a trashcan in every bathroom where you have to dispose of it.  Issue one is that the trashcan is not always emptied regularly (maybe once a week) so use your imagination for that ever-so-pleasant odor.  Second, TP is not always available.  I’ve heard numerous conversations among my female volunteers who rant that TP is not adequately stocked in public (or is some cases, private) restrooms.

Soap: here’s a strange one.  Of course there’s soap, but not in the form that you’re probably used to.  All soap is in bar form, liquid soap only exists in high end public bathrooms.  So that means that there’s a separate bar for washing body parts, clothes and dishes.  The issue is, as far as I know, bar soaps aren’t exactly anti-bacterial (and I wonder why I have on-again, off-again severe bacterial infections…).  Luckily, I brought down a gallon of hand sanitizer which has been infinitely helpful thus far.

If I missed anything or you have a question of your own, leave a comment or shoot me an email.  Next post is dedicated to religion; tune in in a couple days!

Personal Space

This will be a three part post.  Let’s begin with game four of the Nica World Series shall we?

CROWDED!  I’m not sure if they were trying to sell out the stadium or just make sure that it was over-capacity but it was unreal.  First, there were NO seats.  There weren’t even aluminum bleachers.  Just slabs of concrete in a very impressionistic form of bleachers.  Needless to say, I stood for the entire 3.5 hour game.  That being said, it was really fun.  The game the day before was postponed due to rain (why you have your finals during rainy season is beyond me).  So it was a double header of sorts; caught the 8^th inning of what should have been yesterday’s game and all of today’s game.  Esteli (my team or at least the team that I associate myself with because my department, Madriz, doesn’t have a team) won both and became champions of Nicaragua!  There was more than one beer induced shower thanks to the over-served aficionados of Esteli along with much more standard cheering and celebrating.

I decided to stick around do some shopping (wheat bread, chunky peanut butter, hot sauce and cornflakes = my staples) and get to know the city of Esteli.  After grabbing a beer and using the internet, I caught the last bus that headed north towards my site.  The closest analogy that I can give this decommissioned school bus was vying for a seat on the last bus leaving East Germany as the Berlin Wall was being erected.  It was 3 or 4 to a seat and I wasn’t even lucky enough to nab one of those.  So continuing with the theme of lacking personal space, I grinded on strangers for my hour and half ride home.

And to conclude, Sunday wrapped up our fiestas patronales with nothing less than an hipico.  My devoted readers already know that an hipico is by a word, a horse parade.  But by context, it’s a huge gathering of anyone and everyone to hangout.  I brought my camera this time (and managed not to get pickpocked.  See, I’m learning!) so here's some fotos.

See, crowded

Drinkin' beer, ridin' horses

Drive-by karaoke

In short, personal space is a rare commodity here in Nica and one that I’m beginning to miss!

Play Ball!

For you, my beloved followers (my blog has reached 2500 page views!), who are not experts on Nicaraguan diversions, baseball is huge here.  Ever since the US Marines introduced it decades ago, baseball may be the most popular sport (and much to my chagrin may I add.  Seriously, how do I get sent to the one Central American country that isn’t infatuated with futbol?).  Of course this won’t stop me from attending a culture experience.  This weekend marks the continuation of Nicaragua’s version of the World Series.  Esteli (one of Nica’s largest cities) is playing against the Caribbean Coast.  As luck would have it, Esteli just so happens to be located an hour south of where I live.  Therefore, I’m attending game 4 of the Nica World Series!  If you’re a regular reader, by now you most have noticed that 99% of all things are cheaper here in Nica and baseball tickets are no exception.  So, you may be pondering, how much does World Series Nica style cost?  Unbelievably cheap, $2.22.  And that’s for the nice shaded seats behind home plate and the third base line where I’ll be sitting.  If you want your run-of-the-mill seats in the sun, those will run you $0.89 a pop.  Of course there is no assigned seating even when you do buy the tickets in advance; it’s on a first-come first-served basis.  So you better believe that for the 11am game, I’ll be throwing elbows with all the other Nicas when the stadium opens at 7am (I may have an unfair advantage being 6 inches taller but that’s natural selection for ya.).

Anyway, September 1^st marked the successful completion of one month in-site and nearly FOUR months in Nica.  Overall although some days drag on at a snail’s pace, it really does feel like yesterday that I stepped off the plane with my life’s belonging into the sauna-esque heat and humidity of Nica.  Thank you for all of your support, you’ve made the experience much more enjoyable than I imagined.  Of notable importance is the Monterrubio clan with special thanks to Amy for spearheading an AMAZING care package.  Opening that flat-rate USPS box was like Christmas morning (with 90 degree heat and 99% humidity of course), thanks a million!  In addition, my parents have passed on compliments from dozens of dedicated followers so thanks for reading!