A Change of Scenery

VWP: gallo pinto (n.)--a traditional Nicaraguan and Costa Rican dish consisting of rice and beans (in large portions).  Tip: always be ready to eat more rice and beans.

Town of San Ramon

Before setting off for a twelve hour journey back to Costa Rica, I sat down in a wooden rocking chair on the garden-surrounded patio of our hotel (called La Posada del Doctor--The Inn of the Doctor) for yet another breakfast of gallo pinto. This traditional dish of rice and beans historically has helped Nicaraguan and Costa Rican farmers get the quick energy they needed to labor for many hours in the fields.  However, this cushy patio breakfast, surrounded by a neatly kept garden and modern statues,
was not typical of our week-long visit to Nicaragua; for half of the visit we lived with Nicaraguan families from either Matagalpa, one of the big cities, or San Ramon, a small and humble town heavily populated with horses and mostly absent of cars.  Waking up at 6:30 am for most of the trip, we accomplished and learned many things, so I'll make a list of the top 10 events, take aways, and instances from the trip that were memorable for either their significance, beauty, or startling effect:

1. My Nicaraguan host family certainly added a whole new layer of enjoyment to my trip, consisting of an elderly, strong grandmother who is caring for her four-year-old granddaughter, Debbra, a Disney-princess obsessed bundle of energy and joy.  Directly adjacent (I mean, I could hear their dinner conversations), lived Debbra's 19-year-old cousin Wayner (not pronounced the American way, but instead like "whiner"), Wayner's mother, and Wayner's older brother.  Daily Debbra and I played at the children's park in San Ramon, pretending she was Ariel trying to find her beloved Prince Eric, then we would return back to our small government-produced and donated house for dinner.  Her grandmother was handy with oil; Most of the time my dinner consisted of fried cheese, french fries, fried tortilla with refried beans, and rice.  A green plate? I totally agree.  Nevertheless, Debbra and I were always viciously hungry for any kind of food after our playground run-around--I knew Debbra started to warm up to me when during dinner she asked to be moved to the chair next to me instead of being one whole chair away.  Her grandmother would often join us, keeping Debbra focused on eating her food instead of playing with an extensively used Barbie doll, while informing me about much more serious subjects, such as the old Samosa dictatorship in Nicaragua and education reform.  Then once Debbra was put to bed (she dutifully complied) and Grandma began to cue the snoring, Wayner and I would begin our cultural exchange--since he didn't know much English besides "good morning" and "hello," it was up to me to really focus on my Spanish.  We talked about everything, including music, gay marriage, abortion, politics, gender roles, education, drivers' licenses, last names (most people in Nicaragua have both their parents' last names), fashion (he didn't have much to say on that subject), and his wishes for Debbra as she grows up in this slowly reforming Nicaraguan society.

Sledding down the volcano

2. So I've hiked a few mountains in North Carolina, right?  Well on Friday we hiked an active volcano (I promise it wasn't due to spew any magma while we were there, mom)! The volcano is called Cerro Negro ("black hill") and usually gives off some ash, steam, and magma every seven to eight years! The entire thing is a massive, black, sulfurous mound that at some parts is made up of pumas-textured clumps of congealed ash, and otherwise is a kind of sandy black ash. My eyes may have widened a tad when I saw the constant flow of steam drifting away from the center of the crater as we hiked around the very tall edge of the volcano.  The hike up took about 45 minutes, very do-able for a volcano, but the way down only took about 5 minutes.  How curious, right?  You don't walk down the volcano--you can either do a kind of ski running as the malleable ash mound slides around with each step you take, or you can rent a sled to slide down the side.  With one step, I moved 6 feet further down the steep side of the volcano, and my poor understanding of physics didn't comfort me as I felt susceptible to simply falling straight off the volcano if I were to lean too far forward.  Almost like a spider or snake, it appeared that the volcano

When Cerro Negro gets fiesty

 could tell when I was timid about taking a step, so I learned to just do a small little jog down the mountain and keep my mouth closed (nobody wants ingested ash, am I right?).  2,388 feet down a volcano may seem like a long way to go, and it certainly resulted in a few tumbles (some nice ash scrapes to commemorate the event) and some very dirty ICADS students, most of us with a decent layer of ash all over our bodies.        




3. La Base Organization spoke to our small group on Saturday morning to explain what their growing micro-finance organization is doing for local Nicaraguan cooperatives to help them receive loans, succeed in their projects, and get rid of the debt from the loan.  La Base initially grew out of the economic crisis in Argentina during the late 1990s and early 2000s, as factory workers wanted to get back to work, but lacked the capital needed to jumpstart the factories again and wished to work as a cooperative, without the boss-employee relationship.  La Base continues to support these kind of democratic cooperatives today on an international level just as it did in Argentina in 2002 by giving these cooperatives initial loans (at maximum $10,000) at a small interest rate (usually 10%), instead of the bank interest rates which tend to be around 30%.  Furthermore, La Base never asks for a guarantee from these cooperatives, like a car or house; therefore, La Base has even more incentive to make sure the investment in the cooperative and project succeeds.  These cooperatives range in the kinds of services they offer: from pig farms to family-owned cereal companies and an all-natural medicine shop.  What is similar, though, among these La Base-assisted cooperatives is their commitment to a truly democratic and cooperative mentality: the profits don't all go to one person, the power or presidency of a company is rotated and shared, and everyone involved in the group has a say.  Many of those cooperatives benefitting from La Base's investment in their projects would be unable to either get a loan from a bank in the first place, or be unable to pay back the loan from a bank because of the extreme interest rate.  La Base has seen many success stories and maintains a long-term relationship with those they have sponsored, often giving numerous loans to the same cooperative once the previous loans have been paid off.  

4. People in Nicaragua have a much different relationship with animals than most Americans or Europeans.  Almost every single family in Nicaragua has a gallo, or rooster, which means no need to buy an alarm clock since it makes a racket every single morning at 5 am without fail!  Most movies have led the American public to believe that roosters make pleasant and clear calls in the morning, almost like nature's best tune is thankful for the opportunity every day to be the first sound to kiss humans' ears.  However, that is a lie.  My first morning in Nicaragua, I awoke in a startled shock to what I thought was my elderly host grandmother yelping.  It's not a very good start to the morning when you spend a good fifteen minutes awake under the gauzy film of the mosquito net attempting to figure out whether you should call for help (if indeed that is your host grandmother who is screaming), or just plug your ears with your fingers and try to sleep again because it may be a rooster.  After much internal debate, plus the fact that I began to hear other odd screaming from the neighbor's house (unless their grandmother was screaming as well), I purposely did the opposite of what one is supposed to do when they hear a rooster and gladly went back to sleep.    

Sandino, began the revolution against
the Samoza family

5. Nicaragua's political history is mostly to blame for Nicaragua's place as the "second poorest country in the Western hemisphere."  From the 1930s to the 1970s, the Somoza family ruled Nicaragua as its playground--as Nicos attempted to find jobs, food, and education, the Somoza family instead used money to build a family palace and maintain a powerful national guard to keep opposition forces submerged.  In 1979, a Sandinista Revolution force fought back, and succeeded in more than just one
way.  They introduced a literacy campaign and Nicaragua's illiteracy rate shrunk from over 50% to less than 12%, women earned a place in society as fighters of the revolution (one of the symbols of the revolution was a mother with one arm carrying her baby, and the other arm holding a rifle--you go, girl!), and land reform was promised for all.  Even with these reforms from decades ago, Nicaragua still struggles to expand outside of its agricultural sector, enforce obligatory education, and minimize the size of its informal economy.

6.  The instant we crossed the border into Nicaragua, there's a change in the air.  Suddenly everything smells like wood and ash--and no, it's not because of the volcano Cerro Negro! Most Nicos continue to cook with wood, unlike their Costa Rican neighbors who cook with electricity or gas, simply because they cannot afford anything more advanced or safe.  Not only is the air affected by this cheap but easily accessible form of cooking material, but many Nicaraguans end up with permanent eye infections and diseases after years of cooking above the wood.  Furthermore, the Nicaraguan government and environment groups are attempting to convince rural Nicos to stop chopping down wood and using other natural resources (birds and iguanas are often captured and sold on the side of the road) in an unsustainable manner, by promising the economic rewards of ecotourism that can only be reaped by maintaining the luscious natural resources of Nicaragua.  

7.  Turns out, the most loved sport of Nicaragua is...(drum roll, please)...BASEBALL. I know, what a let down.  Unlike most other Latin American countries, who adore futbol/soccer, Nicaragua likes to be a  non-conformist and prefers a sport with hands instead of feet.  Even in Costa Rica, it isn't uncommon to see Nicaraguan immigrants gather for weekend baseball games in the park--and they're pretty good, too!

8. One of the biggest problems afflicting Nicaragua today is the emigration of many Nicos to Costa Rica in order to find work.  This is the case of the mother of Debbra, my adorable four-year-old host sister, who has left her daughter in the care of relatives so she can search for a decent living in Nicaragua's rich neighboring country.  This also creates animosity between citizens of both countries, which could be comparable in many ways to how some people view the relationship between Mexico and the United States in terms of immigration.

9.  Wayner, Debbra's 19-year-old cousin, told me that his grandma and mom taught him that "women are just as strong as men, and that's how it always should be."  This attitude can be very scarce among Nicaraguans (men and women), but also is very scarce among Latin America as a whole.  The term is "machismo," which can be described as the sense of being manly or macho (like not crying or showing sympathy), a pride in a supposedly higher value or status than a woman because he is a man, and believing in a man's role as the provider, protector, and ruler of his family.  But Machismo extends much farther than a man saying "I should be the breadwinner of this family!" In many cases, Machismo entitles men to be careless with women, often leaving women alone to care for the baby, either by running away or refusing to pay for child support.  There is a law that allows women to demand child support from the child's father, but that can only be used if the father has a permanent job, and with Nicaragua's shaky formal economy and growing informal economy, that's almost impossible to prove if you're the single mother.

10. I've never met such hospitable, kind, and loving people in all my life.  This is last but certainly not least in this list of 10.  Even with all these national and personal obstacles, Nicos welcome strangers into their homes, feed them plentifully, and love them like they were family.  I judged this country based on its economic situation, direly important environmental problems, and unfortunate political history.  That was so unjust of me.  You don't know a place until you know the people.  And these people, Debbra and her grandma and Wayner, they live with hope.  So I too have hope for Nicaragua.