Wild Weekend in El Jocote

Last weekend we spent three nights in the community of El Jocote where we work.  It is always an adventure going to these communities, with unexpected new experiences.  I thought I would share our highlights and low points to give you a taste of what we experience when we are in the campo

Highlights

1. Restful sleep!  We had three solid nights of sleep on a hard full bed.  Let’s just say we were fortunate to have a full size bed for the two of us and not a twin cot!  Mattresses are thin and pillows are hard, but one adjusts the best they can!  We had about nine hours of sleep every night and it was great!

Nate working on the porch with a view.

2. Laughter!  Our gracious host, Marta, gave us coffee and a piece of sweet bread (baked locally) for breakfast on their porch with an amazing view.  I sat my bread down on the bench for a second to adjust my cup of coffee in my hand and their small cat saw the opportunity and took the whole piece of bread in it’s mouth and ran!  Nate yelled and I turned to grab my bread out of the cat’s mouth before it got away. Only an edge was chomped on, so I ripped it off and fed it to the defeated cat, while I enjoyed my sweet bread and coffee!  It was quite the comical act!
   

   

   Lineth seeing how heavy the turkey weighted.

3. New connections!  We had the opportunity to visit many new families as we were working on collecting data through surveys on reforestation.  So we talked with new people, and learned more about their families and their passions.  It was great, and we met some real characters!
   

   

   Joselyn interviewing Asunción who was quite the talker at 78.

4. The best pinolillo I’ve ever had!  Note:  Pinolillo is a typical Nicaraguan drink, made from toasted, ground corn; ground spices:  cinnamon, cloves, black pepper; and ground cacao (where chocolate comes from).

One woman who I had met before and talked with is such a fiery one at age 78.  I made it my goal to visit her!  I had heard from another AsoFénix intern, that Angela’s pinolillo was the best in El Jocote, so I wanted to see for myself.  I went to visit her with my journalist, Joselyn, and we interviewed her for one of our surveys.  She was a bit sick, yet still as animated as ever.  Seeing her and hearing her talk puts such a smile on my face.  We were getting ready to go and I was disappointed that she hadn’t offered her famous pinolillo yet.  So we said goodbye, and I walked outside to admire a huge guanacaste tree that is simply beautiful behind her house.  She talked about the tree for a while and then she did the drinking motion with her hand to her mouth (a Nicaraguan thing) and asked if I would have something to drink.  I accepted and can confirm that she does have the best pinolillo in El Jocote and probably the best I have ever had in my time here in Nicaragua.  It was great and we chatted more in her house and she wouldn’t let me leave until she refilled my glass once more. 

The HUGE guanacaste tree under Angela's home.

5. Cooler temperatures!  I thought it was still pretty hot, but Nate thought it was nice.  Nights cooled off and that was refreshing.  There was one brief rain that also cooled us off in the afternoon.

 

Low Points

1. Too much food!!  Nicaraguans just don’t understand that we Americans don’t eat as much as they do!  It is a constant struggle when we go to the campo.  I wrote a blog post about this back in November.  Read it, if you haven’t already!   http://transitiontimes.blogspot.com/2011/11/too-much-food.html

2. Latrines.  I will say no more, but if you want a story, ask us!

3. Sad news.  The previous Sunday (17^th) there was at least 7 hours of rain.  It was a torrential downpour in Teustepe and the surrounding area.  Rivers rise quickly and can be really dangerous, and people are swept away every year during the rainy season.  On Monday 18^th we learned that the bus driver’s father from El Espino had died in the river that night.  El Espino is a community about 1.5 hours from Teustepe.  We have to take the bus to El Espino and then walk 40 minutes to get to El Jocote.  We arrived to El Jocote on a Friday (22^nd) and therefore this was the main news buzzing around the community.  We heard several versions and police are investigating the cause of death.  One version:  the man in his mid-fifties was on his horse at night.  He had been drinking and crossed the river not realizing how high it was.  The river washed him downstream and his horse made it out and returned home without the man.  The next morning community members found the man dead, his head badly bruised.  The second version (which was more speculation) was that he was beaten, robbed, and left to die in the river.  No matter which version was really true, it’s a sad story! 

4. Corre de Gallos (running of the roosters).  So we worked a very long day on Saturday and were looking forward to a quiet Sunday in El Jocote.  The natural beauty is abundant and peaceful moments in nature can be found.  Sunday morning came and we learned that the 24^th of July is Día de San Juan (the day of Saint John).  It is celebrated with the Corre de Gallos.  One would think, okay, it’s a chicken race of some kind, this should be fun to watch, right?  No, not the case at all! 

Men from the community tie a rope across the main road, from which they hang a live rooster by its feet at the height of 8-10 feet off the ground.  The goal of this traditional activity is to have your horse at a gallop as you run by the rooster hanging in the road.  The object is to grab the rooster’s head and pull it off.  This takes a long time to do.  Many men on horses have to gallop by and grab this poor rooster’s head before it actually falls off and bleeds to death.  They first did this with a large duck and then a rooster!  It was a terrible scene to see.  Not to mention, the house we were at had a perfect view of this whole scene and they put on the loudest music to accompany the activity.  Nate and I could not take much of this scene, nor tolerate the deafening music.  We went on a walk and found rocks to sit on for two hours while we waited out their game. 

Note:  This has been a tradition in communities in Nicaragua for as long as people can remember.  In older days, they used to bury the live rooster and just have the neck and head sticking out of the ground.  They would then blindfold the player and give them a machete, and with music playing, they would have to dance around and try to find the rooster’s head by swinging around their machete.  You can imagine the injuries that occurred, plus add a little alcohol into the game and it becomes a dangerous tradition.  They stopped doing this in most places and now do it as described above.  

Stone wall and pathway where we walked.

View of Catholic church from Toño's porch, where we stayed.

Little puppy sleeping in the sun.

12 piglets and 12 teets.

Elberto, Liz & Nate checking out the inside of the water tank.

One full bus in a small world

Yesterday we had a full day in the AsoFénix office in Managua.  We left our house at 6:05 am to catch a taxi in town to take us to the highway.  That was about a half-hour wait and then waiting for the bus did not take long at all.  We hopped on and it was empty!!  What a nice surprise for once!  We found seats in the front and were able to work on the bus as we commuted into the capital. 

We got off at the airport and bought latte’s to jump-start our day, which is a rare treat!  Later we walked to the office, just ten minutes away.  We met in our outdoors “conference area” which has a tin roof in full sun.  From 8:30 am to 12:30 pm we were sweating like crazy in the humid heat in our meeting with three others.  The day went well and we were able to accomplish a lot, so that felt really good!  To be honest, we cannot usually say our office visits are that great, so it was refreshing to have a positive and productive day there! 

We left the office to catch a bus home in front of the airport at 4:30 pm.  It was taking forever to catch a bus and we were standing in the beating, hot sun with our heavy backpacks filled with clean laundry and laptops!  Finally a Boaco bus stops for us, but only sees us at the last minute and goes way beyond where we were standing.  We thought, "well, got passed again by a bus," but then he stopped.  We ran the equivalent of a block to catch the bus as it was waiting on us!  Have in mind that this is an old school bus from the states, so the back emergency door is used as a normal entrance to the bus. We climbed up into the back of the bus and it starts rolling before our feet even left the pavement.  The ayudante (bus helper) began yelling and shoving us into the people in front of us as we could hardly fit.  It was horrible and I told the ayudante that this was ridiculous and I wanted to get off because it was so full, and Nate still had his butt hanging out the back door as we were going.  So they keep yelling at people to move to the front (even though it's full throughout) and keep shoving us further into the bus.  It was a headache!  So we make our way through to the middle with our two big backpacks on our shoulders.  We find a little area to stand and I see a clearing in the luggage rack above but several people down.  Sine I couldn’t reach from where I was standing, I beg the young guy with headphones to help me get our backpacks up on the rack.  He did and we breathed a sigh of relief.  It was so hot and we were packed in the metal bus like a can of sardines.  All windows were open, yet everyone was sweating profusely.

I try to make a little more room for myself and note the woman on the seat below me is on the edge of her seat taking up precious inches of isle room where I could stand.  I was annoyed by her, and thought, why is she trying to take up even more space when she has a seat!  I commented to Nate in English how she was pushing into my legs and kept inching off the seat in my direction.  As I continued to access why she was being that way, I realized there was something (sticky, perhaps?) on the middle of her seat and she was avoiding sitting in it.  Okay, more reason to not be annoyed with her. 

The ride continues, and then the five-gallon buckets lying on their side near Nate start dripping oil onto the woman below us.  Mystery solved as to what was on her seat, but now it was slowly dripping on her face and clothes.  The leaking buckets were not claimed by anyone, nor did anyone pitch in to help out when she asked for a rag.  My backpack was too far to reach to get some tissues.  Nate, the woman and I all felt helpless in the situation.  Finally the man beside me left and I could move a little closer to my bags to reach the handy wet ones I keep there in case of random instances as such.  So I passed wet ones out to the woman and Nate as they were cleaning up the mess. 

As soon as the woman wiped up herself and her seat, she offered me the edge of her seat to share with her and her daughter.  I kindly accepted and thought back to how I was annoyed with this woman just twenty minutes earlier and now she was offering me an edge of her seat on the bus.  It goes to show how a small act of kindness can go a long way!

We began talking and she asked me which state I was from.  I said, Colorado and she was so surprised.  She lived in Westminster, Colorado for nine years (a fifteen-minute drive from Boulder).  She was working in a McDonald's on Federal for nine years and living with her husband and daughter.  She was back in Nicaragua for two months to visit her family. She grew up in a small community called San Diego (about 20 minutes from us in Teustepe), but has lived in the states for 14 years.  I work with several women in San Diego and we discovered one woman was her neighbor and she went to high school with her.  Such a small world!  We were both floored as we shared these details and talked for over a half hour, sharing a seat in a very full bus. 

Thank you, Selmira for sharing your seat with me on the bus.  It was great to hear your stories and share experiences with you.  Sometimes it is these chance encounters that make our lives richer and help us to realize how interconnected we are in this small world. 

Celebrating one year and nine months in Nicaragua!!

It's been awhile since we've updated our blog, but Liz tries to keep our photo blog up-to-date every few months!  

They say, a photo is worth a thousand words...  

well, here's a million words for you!

 

http://transitiontimes.shutterfly.com/

Malacatoya

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!

Nate and Ronald hanging out!

The calf we woke up to every morning!

Ronald and Orlando catching tilapia to see the sizes.

Nate and Liz posing at sunset in a bean field.

A wheel and a stick = a good time!

Donald, Lionel, Liz relaxing in the shade. 

Oranges on the tree!

Black-headed trogan!

MIT students measuring water temps.

Donald, Ronald, Liz and Nate at a waterfall!

Halfway Mark!

Liz & Nate enjoying the waterfall and beauty in Malacatoya.

On the 22^nd of March, we hit our halfway mark for our time here in Nicaragua with MCC!!  It’s hard to believe that we have been here in Nicaragua for 1 year and 6 months!  In some ways it feels like we’ve been here forever and this is just our life now, and in other ways I feel like the time has gone by so fast!  It’s weird how time can go so slow in the moment sometimes, yet feel so fast overall!

We have in many ways become accustomed to our lives here in Nicaragua and things feel generally normal but mundane would never describe it!  We live with no daily routines (expect maybe for making coffee every morning).  Our travels keep us moving—from visits to communities and trips to Managua, our weeks and months are filled.  It’s exhausting sometimes, packing, unpacking, repacking and repeat.  I guess we find some kind of routine in all of this, at least we know what we need to take where and what we can do without.     

It has been quite the journey indeed, and family and friends keep reminding me of this!  What was once our norms in the states, feels so foreign and far away to me now.  The norms that we have been accustomed to in Nicaragua probably seem so unnatural and foreign to our family and friends in the states.  All the things or foods we once needed and couldn’t live without are now rarely thought of as we prepare our meals.  It is interesting to see how this process has evolved from foreign to familiar. 

Additionally, it’s been interesting to observe how we have changed our expectations, ideas and ideals, and our outlook over the last year and a half.  There are stages and seasons to the process as we became accustomed to our lives in Nicaragua.  Adjusting to daily frustrations (big and small), finding patience when the timing is not what you expected, going to plan b, c, or d when plans are not working out, encountering the little joys that daily life can unveil if you look for it, sitting and chatting with the unexpected visitors that appear at our door as we are trying to leave, seeing the genuine smiles of individuals as you pass, and listening to people’s life stories as they open up to you.

All of these things we have experienced here have impacted us in some small or large way.  It is these experiences that we draw from as we try to make sense of the absurdity, chaos, and challenges that we are presented with.  At times, it seems impossible to make sense of situations, specifically relating to poverty.  I see signs of poverty all around me, yet I don’t know how to change any of it.  It becomes numbing in ways because there is no sense to it.  Yet we try to draw on the positive experiences and interactions we’ve had with individuals in the communities where we work.  We try to see change not in drastic numbers and sweeping line graphs, but rather in small steps—steps that are being taken in the right direction towards positive change.  Yes, there are setbacks; yes, we sometimes feel like we’re not moving at all; but if the general direction is moving forward, then that is all we can ask for:  small, positive steps towards growth and change.

Mango Season

On Wednesday, Cassie, Kevin (MCC friends) and I collected 168 mangoes from the MCC roof and yard!!  It was crazy!!  Cassie was up on the roof throwing them down to Kevin, and Kevin was throwing them to me to take inside.  It was quite the exciting scene!  I made granola, mango muffins, and mango sauce.  For the mango sauce, I boiled down 40 mangoes (without the peel) with two cups of water and it cooked for close to three hours.  Then I squeezed all the good juice off of the mango pits, I felt like I was "milking mangoes," which resulted in a thick mango concentrate!  No sugar added!   All natural and so delicious!!  Now we can eat it on pancakes, fruit slushies, mango lassies, and add it to curries...  The options are endless!  When we stay in the MCC office, we can hear them falling on the zinc roof all night long, it's sometimes quite loud and startling!  Every morning I wake up and go the back yard to see how many mangoes I will discover.  It's like easter egg hunting!  These particular mangoes are called Mango Rosas, which are one of my favorite varieties.  I never knew how many varieties of mangoes existed, and my goal is try them all!  I love mango season!!

Five Days in the Highlands!

Last week we finally got away from "our norm" for some adventures in Matagalpa - the highlands!  It started on Saturday morning at 6 am with a phone call from a friend, Irene.  She lives in Potreritos, one of the communities we work in.  She wanted to travel with us to Matagalpa, since she had never been, to visit some friends for an overnight.  So Irene got us going and on the road earlier then we would have on a Saturday morning, but I appreciated the the travel time with her!   

We had Saturday and Sunday to ourselves - to walk around the city, sit in the central park and people-watch, we found some new cafés, and eat delicious food (handmade pizzas and ravioli from our favorite Italian restaurant in town)!  It was great to relax and take it easy! 

On Monday, three other MCC'ers (David a Nicaraguan from our team, Miriam a Canadian from the Mexico team, and Patrocinio a Bolivian on the Bolivian team) all met up with us for a learning tour.  We went further north to communities outside of San Ramon to see agriculture projects of one MCC's partner.  It was interesting to hear what worked and didn't work for people, and what people were experimenting with on their own.  Bunny projects didn't go so well, but goats were thriving!  The scenery and drive was gorgeous!  Mountains and hills, green and lush, a stark comparison to dry Teustepe right now! 

Drinking coffee in El Tuma.

Tuesday we drove even further to communities outside of El Tuma.  There we visited a site run by a NGO, Christian Medical Action (AMC).  Our friend, Beth, used to work for AMC but finished her term in January.  They have been working with land banks in where the organization buys an area of land and parcels it off into smaller plots to then sell to individuals without land.  They have 10 years (interest-free) to pay off their debt of $1500 for 3 manzanas~5.5 acres of land.  There are strings attached, they can't be owners of other land (in the beginning), they aren't allowed to burn the land or cut down trees (no slash and burn, which is what most do), they are not allowed to use chemicals (or only in small amounts in the beginning), they need to grow a diverse array of crops, and they need to live on the land.  It was really fascinating to meet with the 17 partners that are apart of this particular land bank.  Some had paid off their debt in five years and bought additional land, others where working to pay off their 
debt in the eighth year of the project.  These people were so inspirational to me!  They talked about how it was really challenging in the beginning to not use lots of chemicals, and that the soil wasn't good, and their neighbors would make fun of them and ask why they weren't burning their fields.  These individuals had perseverance to carry on and learn new techniques that in the end resulted in good yields and was environmentally friendly.  To see the transformation in these people's lives was incredible and so encouraging!  It was a great day talking with them, having dialogue, and walking around and seeing their parcels of land!  We saw many shade-grown coffee trees flowering, cacao pods on the tree (where chocolate comes from), chomped on some fresh sugarcane (very juicy, my hands were all sticky afterwards), slid around on some muddy paths, saw 70 boxes of beehives that they were learning to care for, and learned so much in the process!  Definitely my highlight, visiting this project!    

Beans growing in Malacatoya.

Wednesday we were in a community, Malacatoya, where our organization, AsoFénix, is working.  There has been more rain up north then usual, so it rained a good bit in the morning when we arrived.  We took the time to talk to one community leader, Orlando, for a bit and drank a cup of his coffee from the December harvest.  We geared up (in rubber roots), and hiked to the hydro-electric water turbine that powers the community of 40 houses with electricity.  It was SO MUDDY and I was sliding all over the place, it was quite comical to everyone around.  One of my community journalists, Elicelda, accompanied us throughout the day.  She was amused by my inability to walk in mud as she easily hopped over areas and avoided deep areas.  We learned more about the system, saw a beautiful waterfall and were quite muddy by the end!  Later we toured Orlando's fields of passion fruit on trellises, red beans, and coffee.  It was so beautiful and the landscape was hilly and green!


We returned home on Wednesday evening and were completely exhausted, plus I was started to get a cold from the climate change from cold to hot!  It was a great experience and we learned a lot.  I really appreciated getting to know Miriam and Patrocinio more.  They are great people and we had some wonderful exchanges of experiences.  We hope to pass on some of this knowledge in our work with community members.  

Patrocinio, David, Miriam, Liz & Nate