Rubber Boots & Barbed Wire: April 2012

Last week we spent four nights and five days in the community of Malacatoya, in the county of San Jose de los Remates, about 1.5 hours north of Teustepe. It was an amazing week after the stress and unknowns leading up to it the week before. We were asked about a week earlier by our boss to lead a group of three MIT students and their leader for the week in Malacatoya. We were not super excited about the idea because we usually don’t lead groups, and we had very short notice to plan all the logistics on their limited budget. In perfect AsoFénix style, we pulled it all together and the week went very smoothly with my attention to detail, Nate’s calm presence and the efforts of individuals in the community that helped me organize logistics with the group.

The engineering students were looking into future projects of machines that they could build to help people with their work in the community. AsoFénix has various projects in Malacatoya, including three tilapia ponds used to grow and produce fish for the community, with potential to sell as a small business. Unfortunately, for various reasons the fish were not growing to size (one pound) to sell. So the students focused on this project to investigate the reasons why the tilapia weren’t growing. They tested water temperature at various depths over the course of 24 hours in two ponds. Additionally, they took water samples in all three ponds to see various levels of oxygen, nitrates, etc. They will read the data upon their return home and give us their full report of their findings. They also installed two bottle lights in a dark kitchen. (For more info, read here link.) Overall, it went well with the group and they were relaxed and fun.

Highlights:

The family we stayed with was wonderful! It was the home of one of my journalists, Elicelda. Her whole family had a great sense of humor and we were constantly joking around with them all. Her parents Aniberto and Claudia were super sweet and spunky, and her brothers Ronald and Donald accompanied us to various places within the community.
They actually had a real bathroom with a flush toilet, a sink and shower with a concrete floor. The first I have ever seen in the campo!!
Malacatoya was so green and lush on all the mountainous hills surrounded us, a huge contrast to dry Teustepe! We wondered through the family’s 10 acres of organic coffee trees, citrus trees and passion fruit arbors. It was amazing and I felt like I was living in the jungle!
Had several sightings of howler monkeys hanging out in the trees in the afternoons.
The MIT group leader was an avid birder and with his keen eye, we saw so many wonderful birds: one dozen keel-billed toucans, one black-headed trogon, scissor-tailed kites and broad-tailed hawks gliding in the thermals and various hummingbirds.
It was cool in the evenings (low 60’s) and the days were in the 80’s, a refreshing change from the rising temperatures (90’s) of Teustepe and Managua.
We hiked to the micro-hydro turbine that AsoFénix installed to provide electricity for the community of about 40 houses. The group learned about this project and nearby we visited a beautiful waterfall and went for a swim.
Every night we went to a neighbor’s house and watched their favorite tele novela (soap opera) with about 10 others in their small, dark living room with dirt floors and a parakeet.

Challenges:

We ate many heaping platefuls of rice and beans with cuajada and tortillas. I was never hungry the whole week we there!
We slept on hard, uncomfortable beds for four nights and have sore hips and backs from it still.
We woke up to howler monkeys “singing” or a baby calf crying for its mother at 5 am every day!!
Working with individuals who are outside of their context to be culturally sensitive to others.
Working with individuals who act privileged and are demanding of others within their host country. Trying to accommodate others while being sensitive to community members needs.

We are thankful for the friendships we made in Malacatoya and the wonderfully hospitable people that not only put up with, but welcome foreigners into their homes. It always feels good when we are leaving a place and people ask us when we will come back! We are planning ways to get back to Malacatoya again soon!