Life in Nicaragua

Ok. I am sorry that it has been so long since my last post. A lot has happened, so I have a lot to catch up on haha. I will start with my trip to Nicaragua. My trip was an amazing. I can’t say that it was all very pleasant, but it was a good and necessary experience. The trip started in Managua, which is the capital of Nicaragua. Managua was an interesting place. I was able to learn a decent amount about the history and political situation of Nicaragua. It was actually quite interesting. We also had to read about the history and politics of Nicaragua before going. It was great to know some of the political and historical context of the country before visiting its capital. Having that information also helped to explain some of the things I saw while in Managua. After Managua we went to an organic farm that we worked on for about 6 days. While there we worked from 6 in the morning to about 5 in the evening most every day we were there. This began as one of the most difficult experiences of my life haha. No one spoke English. Everything, including my instructions, was in Spanish. Plus they didn’t really understand the concept of having to slow down for me to understand them. I felt so incapable and incompetent. Even the most simple of tasks I wasn’t able to understand because of the language barrier. Plus I hardly knew any “farm” Spanish. Although my jobs were easy, they had to show us how to do most things because of the barrier. My jobs included cleaning out the goat pens, feeding the goats, trimming their hooves, tossing pales of pig manure and water on compost, picking and shelling peas, and shoveling goat manure into a bucket, adding water, and mixing it and churning the mixture with my bare hands to also throw on the compost. It was interesting to say the least haha. 

Also while working on the farm we were staying with a host family. These host families did not speak any English. It was at this point that I hit wall number 2. It turns out that Nicaraguan Spanish and pronunciation is very different from Costa Rican Spanish and pronunciation. It was terribly difficult for me to understand my family. On top of that, the first night with my family was just plain awkward. For supper the first night they took me to an isolated room and served me supper alone. They also left me in the room alone for most of the night. I wasn’t really sure what to do. I also didn’t know anything about Nicaraguan culture and I was trying not to be rude or offend anyone. Once again I just felt so incapable and incompetent. Luckily things improved on both the farm and with my host family. They introduced me to their teenage female cousins, who ended up being the ones to keep me company half the time haha. I was able to really practice speaking and comprehending Spanish with the cousins, and we talked about a whole host of topics including: politics in Nicaragua, ourselves, what it is like in the United States because they were curious, and many other things. One interesting thing that I noticed was that I was still technically eating my suppers alone. I mean the cousins would be there keeping my company while I ate, but I noticed they would each disappear one by one for about 20 or 25 minutes and come back. I assumed they were eating while they were gone. Well on the last day I decided to go ahead and take my dishes back to the kitchen area that was separate from the rest of the house and came upon them in the kitchen eating these small bowls of this porridge type substance. Now I will go ahead and tell you that they cooked these large elaborate meals, by Nicaraguan standards, for me each night that I was there while they ate their small bowls of porridge in the back. I am fairly certain this was probably the reason I ate separate every night because they didn’t want me to feel awkward eating my nice meal while they ate theirs. Needless to say I felt terrible about it. I didn’t want to be treated any differently. I wanted to be treated like any other normal Nicaraguan. But instead people gave up their room so that I could have my own private room, with my own light in it, and also my own oscillating fan. I was really sure how to feel about my whole experience there, but it invoked some pretty powerful feelings. It has also changed what I think about poverty, politics, foreign policy, and a number of other aspects.  It was an intense changing experience. I wish I could discuss in detail every aspect, but I am sure that would get boring to you and my hands would probably fall off haha.

 
Anyway, after we left the farm we went to Granada. This is a very tourist oriented place. I was actually surprised to see so many tourists in Nicaragua. It was a beautiful place, and it was nice to be able to just relax and not have anything to really worry about anything. Anyway, that was my trip in a nutshell. If there is anything specific you would like to know about the trip feel free to ask. It was quite an experience. I know I have said this to a number of people, but if you ever have the chance to go abroad, especially for an extended period of time you should really take it. It is a wonderful experience.