Beautiful Things About Nicaraguan Culture

Leaving everything you know for everything you don’t is very difficult but totally worth it. Four months ago, I arrived in Nicaragua not knowing what to expect, except for heat and beans. Both of which I get plenty of and love most of the time. Having never been to a Latin American country before and speaking unbearably poor Spanish, I was a mix of complete fear and overwhelming excitement! Fear for not fitting in, doing something offensive culturally and excitement for seeing, learning about, and living in an entirely new place and culture. Obviously, as I am currently writing this under the strong Nicaraguan sun, excitement prevailed. Thankfully, I have had the privilege to live among families in Nicaragua to learn more about their culture, food, traditions, and customs. As a result, I would like to share some of the beautiful things about Nicaraguan culture that have warmed my heart and opened my eyes to a new way of life, my new way of life in Nicaragua.

-Open door policy: If people are awake, their doors are open.  Everyone here keeps their doors wide open for two reasons I’ve observed, to let cool air in and invite visitors. Here strangers, acquaintances, even vendors are welcomed into the house or at the very least offered a chair on the front porch, chatted up, and often times offered coffee or a refreshment.  It is very kind and no one seems to be annoyed or bothered by the presence of door to door vendors or friends/family stopping by daily to chat.

-Free food, coffee, and frescos (delicious freshly made juice with lots of sugar): Nicaragua is the 2^nd poorest country (1^st is Haiti) in the western hemisphere, and yet no matter how poor the people are if you enter their house, you are welcomed like family and offered free food, frescos, and always coffee.  Also, you can’t feel bad or like a burden if you accept, because it is taken as an insult if you deny these offerings.  In training we were taught to tell long excuses in Spanish in case we are offered something we don’t want or eat. For example, I can’t drink a lot of caffeine because it makes me nauseous, therefore when offered, I say I can only drink a little because of caffeine makes me sick and usually people understand and pour me a little bit or offer me fresco instead. It is for this reason, that I am no longer vegetarian because when offered half of a chicken and beef (beef is very expensive and hence a really special treat when offered) I ate it out of respect and a desire to make a good first impression.  I consider this a small to price to pay for building strong relationships in my site. Also, these animals were not tortured than slaughtered in a factory farm like USA meat.

-Family style: Family comes first here, period. Work, friends, personal ambition, wealth, all are secondary concerns. Also, extended families mostly live together on a compound where multiple smaller houses will be on the same plot of land and communal spaces like outdoor bathrooms and kitchens are shared by all.  

Honestly, I feel very lucky to have been sent to such a gorgeous country filled with generous people. However, I have to admit that there are times when I feel confused, dumbfounded, and even frustrated by cultural clashes. In these moments, keeping an open mind and open heart serve me well. Despite the challenges of adapting to a new culture, there is no denying the unique and life-changing impact from this experience.

Training Highs and Lows

Last week, a lifelong goal of mine came true, I swore in as an official Peace Corps volunteer!  After 3 months of training which included 6 days of classes per week mostly 8 hour day Spanish classes, I am finally an official volunteer and have moved into my site. I feel very fortunate to have a site that was my first choice and even more spoiled to have a kitchen with gas stove and OVEN!!! No more cooking on the wood stove for me! Btw, I’ve found all essential pie ingredients, however if you would like to send me nutmeg, chocolate, green tea, chai tea, or any kind of tea, please feel free to do so! 

Upon crossing over into volunteer-hood, I feel the need to reminisce on training highs and lows for those of you interested in joining the Peace Corps or just curious about the process. 

Highs:

-Homestay family: really helps with language and learning about local culture

-Spanish classes: absolutely essential for learning Spanish as well as local vocabulary and accent

-Some technical classes (classes about health, development, and Nica society): not all were highs

-Volcano Masaya trip! I suggest you go; you can drive straight up to the crater and take an edgy hike around the brim of the craters

-Practicum week (a week where we observe volunteers in their work): super busy but we went to the BEACH in Corrinto so that made up for all the stress!

-Site Placement: I got the site I wanted so it would be ridiculous not to include this as a major HIGH!

-Site visit: I was beyond excited to see my new home, spent the week with an old friend, and met a lot of counterparts and potential collaborators for work like local NGOs, the casa materna, and health posts in the surrounding communities.

-Hiking up a local Somoto peak with some youth! Got to see a gorgeous semi-ariel view of the city that will be my home away from home for the next 2 years!

-Swearing In weekend in Managua: a few friends and I danced ALL night in a Managua night club, than lazed around by a pool the next day only to have sushi and sangria for dinner the following night… a Posh Corps weekend indeed that will only be repeated on rare occasions seeing as that our salaries are low low low.

Lows:

-Feeling like a child again in your host family because they cook and clean for you and you are a 25 year old with a curfew again

-some technical sessions that were repeated or on just on Saturday mornings lol

-Fishbowl feeling in my tiny training town which will hopefully be alleviated by living in a city now

-Always being around the same people, classes all day with the same group of people gets old 


Thankfully, I have more highs than lows for training and am optimisitc that my service will produce the same results. 

Somoto Lovin'

Last week, I visited my site, Somoto, Madriz (the place where I will be living and working for the next 2 years) and fell in love with it! When we received our site list, there were 9 options and after reviewing Somoto’s description I knew I wanted it, then after reviewing the rest, I wanted it even more. I wanted Somoto, not only for its location (mountains, department capital, easy access to highway for traveling, and a sweet canyon nearby for swimming and hiking) but also for the focus of the work there, more sexual and reproductive health and an opportunity to work with at risk youth in poorer neighborhoods of the city. That being said, I waited anxiously for 2 weeks to find out my site since Peace Corps Nicaragua chooses it for you. And when I opened my neatly wrapped site packet and saw SOMOTO!!! I cheered and actually cried tears of joy!

This photo is of Somoto from the top of a local peak that we hiked up with some of the local youth.  

To make the story even sweeter, I am actually replacing a friend of mine.  Five years ago, I studied abroad in Nairobi, Kenya and befriended another American girl in my program.  She came to Nicaragua in 2010 and was placed in Somoto.  After 2 years, her Peace Corps service is up and she will be leaving Somoto in April, when I begin my 2 year service there. Not sure, how often friends replace friends in the Peace Corps but I have a hunch that this is rare. Last week during my site visit, she was an excellent guide and introduced me to a lot of great NGOs I can work with, the casa materna, the city Mayor, and the health centers where I will working as well as friends and some of the youth that I will working with also.

First day, we met with a local NGO that took us out to rural communities including all indigenous community to see some of the work and possible options for further work.  This community was formed after all of their houses and belongings were destroyed by a flood. Therefor this Nicaraguan organization built new homes for the people as well as a craft center where the women can create pottery and other crafts for selling to bring in income for their families. An Irish NGO, which I will be working with, built their first and only school. One of the most striking moments of my visit was my trip to the neighborhood where over half the families are missing latrines therefore they just go outside and people are living in houses made from sticks, plastic sheeting, and cardboard.  I’ve seen these living conditions before in the slums of Kenya but was still shaken by seeing this on the outskirts of a small, tranquil city like Somoto.  However, I am very excited to work with the youth there since some attend an afterschool center called Los Quinchos where they learn trades that will help them earn more money as adults and hopefully break out of the cycle of poverty.  I also visited a couple other NGOs in Somoto and a couple health posts in the outlying communities.  One thing is for sure, I will be busy, busy and I’m happy about that. There is definitely no shortage of work or need there.  Some of the plastic and cardboard houses that need latrines.
 We did it!

This photo is of Somoto from the top of a local peak that we hiked up with some of the local youth. 

Everyone including my new family were very welcoming, kind, and all asked “Are you Nicaraguan or latina?” because of my sun tanned skin.  Funny considering how pale I am when I live in cloudy Seattle versus here.  My new home is adorable! I have a one room casita (small house) with a covered porch and a teeny kitchen that has a mini fridge and gas stove/oven!!! So excited about this since I will be cooking for myself. The shower and bathroom is outside but it is an actual showerhead so when the water is on, I will not be taking a bucket bath. I am so spoiled and so thankful about it.

I move to Somoto for good on April 1^st and will keep you updated on my work and life there. Until then, I highly suggest that you google Somoto, Madriz, Nicaragua or even the Somoto Canyon so you can see for yourself how beautiful it is here. 

Confronting my biggest fear… while naked

Last Tuesday morning, the power was out again. My house is made of concrete and has no paint so despite having windows it is still very dark inside our house during the day. That being said, I got up, got a bucket of water from the well in the back, which my host mother complemented wonderfully with a small pot of boiling hot water so its not freezing, then headed to the bathroom to take a bucket bath like I do every morning. However, this morning a hopefully rare surprise awaited me. As usual I scoped the bathroom for spiders, scorpions, rats and cock roaches. Seeing none in the dark, I de-robed, hopped in and began to lather up.  I squat in the shower to prevent lot of splashing since the shower curtain has holes in it. It is important to mention the squatting since my delicate parts were close to the floor in this vulnerable position. So while naked, squatting, and soapy, I see something crawl quickly to my side, inches away from my right foot. I look over and see a TARANTULA bigger than my fist!!!!!  Without thinking, I screamed and jumped over the toilet, slipped on the floor since I’m soapy remember.  As I’m about to open and run out the door, I realize, “Holy shit, I’m naked!!!” So I have to grab my robe which is now eerily close to the tarantula that is crawling its way up the wall. That being said, I grab my robe, shake it vigorously (in case he has friends hanging out in there), and wrap it around me. Then I run to my room grab my super-size can of RAID and RAID bomb the shit out this monster.  Imagine a mushroom cloud of raid. There is no way, I’m not getting cancer because of this. Despite the Raid bomb, this damn thing still lives and slowly creeps its way out of the bathroom. It’s obviously struggling so I stomp on it. Then my host mom walks by and stomps on it again to make sure its dead.

The funny thing is I did not realize or did not want to admit that I had just bathed with my biggest fear, a fucking tarantula until my host mother said, “Pico caballo grande!” Finally, validation from the woman who constantly tells me that all the spiders in my room are small or skinny. Trust me, they’re neither. Furthermore, they call Tarantulas, Pico Caballos or horse biters here because when they bite horses, they paralyze them!  So yea, I had a dangerous tarantula in my bath, inches from my lady parts that could paralyze me with its venom. I can't think of worse place to bit by a tarantula than my lady bits. 

In other news, with the help of the sun, I accomplished an integration goal this weekend.  I got into a cab which happened to have 2 other Peace Corps volunteers in it that I do not know and they both thought I was Nicaraguan!!! That is of course until I opened my mouth and spoke Spanish in my distinctly American accent, lol. Oh Nicaragua, how I love you. 

First post from Nicaragua!

This is my frist post from Nicaragua and I will try my best to keep up with this thing but am making no promises. Last weekend I moved in with my first host family in the small town of Guisiquiliapa (whiskey-lee-a-pa) near Jinotepe in the Carazo department. My family is very kind and consists of a mom, a dad, and their 4 year old son, Nicolino  in their small house. I have my own room in their 2 bedroom house. For income, my host dad makes and sells organic highly fertilized dirt. They also have horses, roosters, hens, a dog, a cat, and unfortunately cockroaches. I promise to post pictures soon. Side note, mosquitoes love me and despite wearing repellant, I  have more than 12 bites already that itch like crazy. Good thing I´m on antimalarials! Fingers crossed, I don´t get dengue.

My days consist of 6 hours of spanish class 4 days a week. Two other days per week are classes on Nicaragua, safety, their status of health, and our jobs that we will be doing. Since I will be teaching nutrition at the casa maternas, my fellow Maternal and Child health volunteers and I will undergo gardening classes as well. My family is patient with my poor spanish and speaks slowly and repeats things for me when I don´t understand.  I am already surprised by how much spanish I remember and how well I am improving. My family and spanish teacher here speak NO english so I have no choice but to speak in spanish. Actually, right now I am having a hard time typing in english and not spanish because my mind is set to spanish. Also, this week I have to start a youth group with 2 other volunteers and teach them how to teach safe sex practices with others and other health information.

Nicaragua is a poor country but the people so far are very pleasant and it is beyond beautiful. I can´t wait to see more of the country especially the volcanoes and islands where are a plenty. Nicaragua´s tagline is, Land of Lakes and Volcanoes. 

That is all for now folks. Pictures to come!

Best News Ever!

After months of agony and anxiety over getting a Peace Corps placement and job assignment fitting to my interests and experience, I finally have one that is just perfect! NICARAGUA!!! That's right, as of January 2012, I will be moving Nicaragua to work on Maternal Child Health programs specifically on improved nutrition and hygeine practices. If you know me, then you probably agree on how perfect the assignment and placement country is. My educational background in Spanish, International Development and Global Health as well as volunteer/research experience in women's health education is going to be put to good use. I've got a lot of paperwork to get through in the next two weeks to solidify my January departure but come 2012, stay tuned for updates on my life in Nicaragua!


To give a glimpse of the loooong Peace Corps Application process, here's my timeline:


December 2010: Completed online Peace Corps Application
March 2011: Interview with Seattle office recruiter
May 2011: Nomination to serve in Latin America in Health programs
June 2011: Dental and Medical clearance received 
August 2011: Notice of departure deferment 
September 2011: Final interview with placement office
October 26, 2011: Official invitation to Nicaragua (apparently Peace Corps was kidding about the deferment) 
October 26, 2011: I officially accepted the invite, pretty much as soon as I got it!
January 10, 2012: Staging

January 11, 2012: Departure for NICARAGUA!