A Morning in the Field

This morning, our office had a field outing. Our mission: to plant trees around rural schools. Our group was helped by the school's environmental group (enthusiastic teenagers, mostly girls), plus several local kids (from the surrounding houses) who were curious and eager enough to lend a hand.

Mural painted on the side of the school

One of the school buildings

A classroom

Planting trees

Helping out. The little boy then proceeded to help me collect

trash around the school.

A house - pretty typical for the rural areas

Skinny dog. As I have said multiple times already, they are everywhere.

The horse in front proceeded to yawn a few minutes after I took this picture

If you click on the picture to see a larger version you will note that the boy in the back has the boy in the front tied to a rope and appears to be carrying a "gun". They asked me to take another photo, but my colleagues were rushing to leave, so unfortunately I didn't get the chance. They were very cute though and waved several times as we left.

Noise, Noise, Noise

One thing I have noticed about Leon and Nicaragua in general is all the noise. I didn´t really mind it in the beginning, but now it is starting to bother me somewhat.

Horn blowing in the streets – done for different reasons: 1) to signal to other cars, bicycles, pedestrians to get out of your way, 2) to signal that your taxi is unoccupied. They don´t use the horns so much when stuck in traffic behind a garbage truck, for example (as they would in Bulgaria). People just wait patiently then.

The daily morning siren. I don´t know how you can have a pleasant day after being awoken by that horrible sound.

Some mornings, at 5 or 6 am, I am awoken by the sound of pyrotechnic explosions. The first time this happened I had no idea what the hell was going on. Then, I was told that sometimes they do this on saint days and sometimes the local municipality feels like celebrating something. That´s all good, but I really don´t understand why they have to “celebrate” at 5 am!

The people are also generally pretty loud and really really like to talk. I find this is great on some days and not so great on others. My housemates spend most evenings before going to bed chatting and listening to music. All this is done at a pretty high volume. The next morning they wake up around 6 am and continue. They must have lots to talk about, while I am barely capable of holding a conversation at 6:30 am. Guess it´s just the differences in culture. I am sure that growing up with at least 4 siblings around you (as is the case here) is quite a different ballgame from growing up with just one. You grow up constantly surrounded by people and chatter.

At work, the noise continues. I share a long desk with one other guy. Next to us is another long desk with two more people. Behind the cubicle-like wall in front of us are three more people. And then more people down the hall. Phones ring all the time (and some cell phones have pretty interesting ring-tones and are set to the maximum volume; surely, if it´s on your desk or in the bag next to you, you could hear it ring even at a lower volume). I don´t think anyone ever uses the silent option here. During the first week, I noticed that people take calls during meetings, and they don´t have their phones set to silent.

One thing I am happy about is that when my colleagues carry on lengthy conversations I can just tune out, since they speak fast and I don´t understand everything. So I don´t inadvertently catch myself listening to what they are talking about. Although I complain about not being able to speak better Spanish, sometimes this is a blessing in disguise.

All the talking is surpassed only by their curiosity. There is no sense of privacy here. And although I generally don´t need much “personal space” or privacy, even I find this a bit too much. All your actions are tracked and inquired into. Why are you drinking coffee? Is that because you are tired? Why are you tired? Why are you quiet today? Did you like the [insert name of food or drink here]? The questions never end. At lunch, they even turn to things like: How many boyfriends have you had? Are you in love? You get the picture. And this during my second week here. I wonder what will happen during week 10.

Don´t get me wrong. I can take noise. But I guess I am not used to constant noise. Hopefully I will get used to it. But, for now, my favorite time of the day is late at night when everyone in my house has gone to sleep and the streets are quiet. The time before the early-morning pyrotechnics and sirens. Then, I can actually rest.

Firsts in Leon

This past weekend I was introduced to several things in Leon:

1. My first local concert—On Friday, after much internal debate, I decided I should venture out of my comfort zone and go meet some people. Leon could be a very lonely place otherwise. Just going up to someone and starting a conversation is not an easy thing for me (especially when most foreigners here are in groups of 2-3 or more and already know each other because they stay in the same hostel or volunteer together, and the case is even more so with the locals). But I knew it would be good to force myself. Apparently, there are weekly Friday concerts at Via Via (a hostel/bar/café and concert venue, I guess). The place was pretty crowded when I got there, but it was a good mix of foreigners and locals. The band was playing covers of rock classics so I immediately liked them. After the first set, Quetzaltrekkers—a local NGO that organizes hikes to the many volcanoes in the vicinity to help street kids in Leon and which is mostly run by foreign volunteers—announced they were organizing a beach party the following day at Las Peñitas (see previous post). Since I had been planning to return to the beaches one weekend, I thought this would be the perfect opportunity. I managed to strike up a conversation with some of the guides; later, one of my colleagues also showed up, and the concert continued. So, all in all, it was a fun night and a great introduction to Leon’s nightlife. I imagine I will be at Via Via almost every Friday.

2. My first local bus ride—Staying true to my initiative to meet more people, I decided to go to the beach party on Saturday and spend the night at one of the hostels there. Getting to Las Peñitas involved taking a taxi to one of the local bus stations and then getting on a super crowded school bus (yes, most buses used for public transportation here are old US school buses). The bus didn’t leave for another 40 minutes, so we were all sweating our butts off in the meantime. I saw some of the people from the previous night and started talking to them, so at least I wasn’t bored. What really impressed me though was when a woman and her daughter squeezed together on their seat to make space for me to sit next to them. That’s what’s amazing about people here. They are just so nice. The little girl looked at me with curiosity. After all, I was one of only two white women on the bus and resembled a giant, since most people here (men and women) usually reach only up to my shoulder. The bus continued to crowd. It was definitely nice to have a seat, but as you can imagine, given that this was a school bus, the space between the seats was quite insufficient for my legs. Well, somehow, with one knee pressed up against the seat in front of me and the other pointing into the aisle I managed to survive the ride (which by the way took over an hour, although the distance was only 20 kms). At least, once we got on our way, the breeze coming in from the open windows alleviated the heat.

3. My first local party—The party turned out not to be much of a party. The speakers weren´t big enough to blast music and people pretty much just sat around the tables at the bar of the hostel that was hosting us. However, we were right on the beach, had some live music, and the beach bonfire added to the atmosphere. There was night swimming (I didn´t participate since I am a little bit cautious to venture into the ocean´s strong waves in the dark when I don´t know the beach), eating, drinking, and plenty of conversation. I met almost all of the guides from Quetzaltrekkers, and they kept trying to convince me (although they really didn´t need to, since I was convinced already) to go on one of the volcano hikes. It was interesting (but I guess not surprising) to note the division between “cheles” (Nica slang for whites/foreigners) and locals. There was some intermixing but for the most part each group stuck to themselves. I think some people lasted till morning but I grew really tired at 2 am and went to bed (yeah, I can definitely tell the difference between myself and the 20- to 24-year olds—they have loads more energy). The next day involved swimming, hanging out on the beach, and watching the Spain-Italy Euro2008 quarterfinal. By the time I got home at 4:30pm, I was super beat. I think the sun, strong waves, and uncomfortable sleep (I am not used to sleeping in dorms of 6 people anymore) had its toll on me. But I felt happy.

Beaches, Farms, and People

(Before I launch into this post, just want to say that I feel a lot better today :) )

Nicaragua is a land of pristine beaches, and it’s amazing that, despite this, very few people go to the beach except during Semana Santa (the week of Easter). [When I commented on how beautiful the beaches are and how much I love the sea, people gave me somewhat strange looks.] On Tuesday evening, I joined the group of MCC DC staff who were visiting for the week to go to Poneloya and Las Peñitas – the beaches closest to Leon (approximately 20 kms away). The road leading to Poneloya is one whose rehabilitation will be funded by the MCC, and the repairs are badly needed (although I have seen roads in similar and worse condition in Bulgaria) – huge potholes, low bridges, which get flooded easily during the rainy season, and missing gravel in the final stretch. But the beaches are definitely worth the bumpy ride (see photos below), and although to me the surrounding area seemed quite underdeveloped (a small village and a couple of small hotels), I was told that this is about as developed as it gets on the northern Pacific coast. So, can’t wait to see more of the coastline.

On Thursday, we took a field trip to visit several of our projects’ beneficiaries to the northeast of Leon and to check out several roads whose repairs MCC might fund, near the towns of El Sauce y Achuapa. The “might fund” depends on research and a final calculation of the economic return on the improved road; apparently, not all roads meet the minimum percentage requirement. A funny anecdote connected to this: one of my colleagues joked that you can make any road investment profitable by driving Bill Gates up and down that road several times. Simply the opportunity cost of his time is sufficient to hike up the return past the necessary threshold :).

I must say that as much as I liked the field trip, I couldn’t quite get used to the bumps and holes in the road and felt quite car-sick by the end of it. (Something that I must quickly get used to if I am to see more of this country on the weekends and once I am done with the internship). As I mentioned before, roads here are of varying condition, but the more rural ones haven’t been fixed in at least 10-20 yrs and, in some places, probably never were built with asphalt or concrete to begin with. Financing from the IADB or the Nicaraguan government sometimes lasts only to fund stretches of a road at a time, leaving you unpleasantly surprised once the smooth road suddenly ends. But, that aside, it was very interesting for me to see who our projects were helping – mostly agricultural producers, all of whom kept uttering their thanks to this “great organization” and for “the support they had received.” It was quite touching and a reminder for why projects like this, when implemented well, are worth the hardships sometimes involved in development work. As far as the landscape goes, we were surrounded by lush, green vegetation on either side of the road, volcano peaks in the distance, and cultivated farmland in a lot of places. Skinny dogs (to me now - a Nicaraguan trademark), cattle, horses, chickens, and pigs roam and graze freely in the fields (talk about free-range chicken!).

Now that I have been here a week, people at work often ask me whether I am liking Nicaragua and what I like most about it. My brief answers: the landscape and the people. Granted, I have only had limited glimpses of the landscape since I arrived in Leon, but I look forward to seeing more. I am always more drawn by nature and natural wonders than by cities (although I do like admiring architecture), Nicaragua being no exception.
The people amaze me every day. Everyone has been super friendly and helpful from Day 1 – from work colleagues offering to share their lunch with me when I hadn’t brought any to several people taking me out dancing on Day 2 to my housemates (students 18-20 yrs old) telling me that they are “at my disposal to answer any questions or help me with anything.” They are also very curious. I am already teaching my younger colleagues Bulgarian. The first phrases they requested were: “I love you”, “I hate you” and “Go away” :) Some of them are also trying to practice their English with me, although I refuse to answer in anything but Spanish, even if it’s bad Spanish (after all, I need to practice too).

Coming up next, the cultural and nightlife of Leon.

Las Peñitas Beaches:

Landscapes:

Leon:

Inner courtyard and common areas of the house where I'm staying

The Cathedral

Streets of Leon

Another street with Iglesia de el Calvario (one of the many churches) in the background

Iglesia de el Calvario

The Rollercoaster Dip

Inevitably, when I go somewhere for a longer period of time, the initial excitement wears off and I experience the slump of being in a foreign place and no-one to discuss and share my excitement or impressions with. Yes, I have the blog. Yes, I can always call and write someone. But it´s not the same. It´s not the same as being able to just call someone up and go out for a beer or coffee or a walk. And I don´t mean just anyone. I mean someone who knows me well. So, I guess as I start my second week here, I have come to the slump I am used to experiencing. Today, I am in a pensive and almost melancholy mood. I miss many people. I know by tomorrow I will feel better, and as I get to know more people, I know the feeling will disappear. But for now, there is no point denying it. And although all my colleagues are out celebrating the 2nd anniversary of the Millennium Challenge Account in Nicaragua (more on that in another post), I simply don´t feel like joining the fun. Yes, I can pretend. But then I am not really one for pretense.

Becoming Acquainted

First weekend in Leon. No stories yet, just impressions. I sit writing this in one of the hostels in town, Big Foot, which is bound to become my second home for three reasons: 1) It has wireless internet, 2) It offers super cold beer (not always the case here and something to be valued; as an aside, 1 liter costs less than $2, as I found out when ordering a “large” beer last night, thinking it would be 0.5 l at most), 3) Most foreigners who pass through Leon stay here, so it is a good place to strike up a conversation (for those times when I am tired of not being able to say all and exactly what I want to say in Spanish).

The city center is very small and quite walkable, although the heat really permits you to walk around only in the morning or late afternoon. Trees don’t seem to exist here (except in people’s courtyards) so finding shade is somewhat challenging, especially given the fact that all buildings are at most two storeys high. The city center consists of many small stores, bazaar-type places (which remind me of Bulgarian clothing bazaars in the 90s), and street vendors – selling everything from pirated CDs to cut-up mango and papaya.

Well, I have learned several things since my arrival in Leon:
1) People here never take hot showers; hence, the lack of hot water in the house where I am staying. With the heat, I am starting to understand why that is, but the cold water does take some getting used to. (An aside from this is the fact that the water pressure isn’t always what it should be so you can’t always count on being able to take a shower. But I guess, one also gets used to that as well. Plus, I do have some training from the good old water-rationing days back in Bulgaria.)

2) A siren sounds at 7am and noon every day throughout the town. I am glad my supervisor warned me about this ahead of time, because the siren sounds like something signaling a military attack, i.e., “Head for the bunker, NOW!” Well, looking on the bright side, I guess I don’t really need an alarm in the morning.

3) It gets dark around 6:30 pm - something I haven’t experienced in a while.

4) Leon is home to 16 churches and the biggest cathedral in Central America (which, stories claim, is only due to the fact that the architect mixed up the building plans on his way from Europe; the cathedral was supposed to be built in Lima).

5) Addresses don’t exist. Streets do have names or numbers (e.g., 1st St SE or 2nd St NE) but most houses don’t have numbers or these numbers are unclear. Therefore, directions and addresses are given by first referring to a landmark and then counting off the blocks or meters east, west, north, or south. For example, my address can be given as follows: “1.5 blocks west from the north side of the cathedral or 0.5 blocks west from the central park, across from Enitel" (that’s the Nicaraguan phone company).

6) Most people wear jeans. Which, given the heat (over 30 degrees Celsius), totally surprises me. I find that women rarely wear skirts or open-toed shoes, which I also find somewhat peculiar. No-one wears shorts.

7) All vehicles (even bicycles) carry a minimum of two people. For bicycles, this mostly means that a child or woman rides on the bar up front; for trucks, it means as many people as the truck can fit at the back and some hanging off the sides. Safety doesn’t really seem to be much of a concern, as I see couples seat their toddlers between them on motorbikes, and no-one wears a helmet.

8) The fact that, at 29, I am not married surprises everyone. This is also the second thing people usually ask, after inquiring about my age. I really should ask what the average “marrying” age here is.

9) For some unknown reason, my landlady has a framed picture of Nicole Kidman (a cut-out from a magazine), sitting next to pictures of a baby (her grandson maybe?). I have no idea why that is but I find it pretty interesting.

10) Ortega billboards still adorn highways and walls, despite the fact that the elections took place at the end of 2006. What I find strange though is that you can only spot old billboards of Ortega and none of his rival.

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua!

Last night, I arrived in Managua, Nicaragua - the beginning of my 11-week stay here. I will be doing my summer internship with the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) in Nicaragua, helping their Monitoring & Evaluation team. That will mostly include trying to make sense of lots of data, visiting agricultural producers in the field, and doing some data analysis - hopefully all to prove that MCC's projects in Nicaragua (which are focused in the areas of agriculture, infrastructure and property rights) have made a positive economic impact in the two regions in which they are implemented (Leon and Chinandega) in the north-western part of the country. I will be situated in Leon. But enough for the work-related introduction. Now, onto stories and first impressions.

For starters, you know that something is a little bit off, when upon picking up your luggage you are asked to show your luggage tag to make sure you are not taking someone else's suitcase instead. Also, upon entry everyone has to pay a $5 entry fee (and you basically get your visa, good for 90 days, right then and there). However, upon leaving the country, you have to pay a $32 exit fee (?!?) Guess they are happier to have you enter than leave. I had arranged for airport pick-up from the hotel in Managua (where I was spending one night). As we drove to the hotel, we passed by run-down buildings, old cars (including some Ladas), school buses (that serve as public transportation here), and groups of people hanging out at street corners in the dark. Managua is supposedly not a very pleasant city - it's sprawled out and doesn't really have a city center or much to offer in terms of sights (at least compared to other cities, like Granada and Leon). An earthquake destroyed most of the city center back in the 70s and they never quite reconstructed it since most of the aid that flowed in at the time was channeled through to President Somoza Debayle's bank account. Now, the landmarks that people mostly orient themselves by are the huge malls.

After spending the night in Managua, I was picked up early the next morning by the MCC shuttle minibus (which transports commuters from Managua to Leon and back every day). Driving up the "highway" (which consisted of one lane in each direction), we passed trucks with people crowded in the back, people on bicycles, and horses and cows roaming freely by the road. However, I was also struck by the landscape - lake Managua, the volcanoes in the distance, and the green vegetation. We passed several police checkpoints (at least two), and I also noticed that when cars/trucks stopped by the side of the road in places where they were not fully visible, their drivers would put a pile of branches a few meters ahead of their parked vehicle to alert other drivers to it (instead of the red triangle or flares normally used in the US or Bulgaria).

Upon entering Leon, I almost felt like I was entering another world. The colonial-style architecture in the city center is breathtaking, and upon entering one of the the houses I was even more pleasantly surprised. It's hard to describe the houses in words, but I guess it's enough to say that hidden behind a tiny, ordinary-looking door is usually a long, spacious, and immaculately furnished house with an inner courtyard/garden and the living room/common areas open towards this inner garden (basically all living rooms are the equivalent of verandas in other countries), while the bedrooms are windowless (mostly to keep them cool). As soon as I take some pictures, I will upload a few to give you a better idea, since I am definitely not doing it justice. So, I will be staying in a room in one of these colonial houses, rented out by an old lady who spent 24 years in the US but returned to retire in Nicaragua. The rest of the rooms are rented out to several students who are there mostly during the week, leaving for their homes on the weekends. I guess she took a liking to me because she offered to give me my own keys, even without my asking. (Usually students who rent rooms are not given keys for security reasons. Although Leon is generally quite safe, robberies do occur from time to time, and the fewer people that have free access to your house, the better.)

Upon deciding my place of residence, my supervisor and I got some lunch after which I told her that I needed to exchange some money. She told me that is best done in the street because banks give you worse exchange rates. I though "in the street" meant at a currency exchange bureau, but it turned out that she literally meant "in the street". We approached a man standing at a street corner with a big batch of cordobas (the local currency). My supervisor asked him for the exchange rate and upon determining it was good enough, she handed him my $100 and he counted off the cordobas (approximately 19 per USD). (One can also use USD here but it is easier to do everything in cordobas, 1) because you don't appear as much as a tourist and 2) because everyone will give you change in cordobas anyway.)

Well, now I am spending most of the afternoon acquainting myself with the projects I will be working on and waiting for my room to be readied. I can't wait to just lie down and do nothing! After all the travel from the past few days, it will just be nice to relax in one place. But more exploring will be done this weekend. I am glad this is a short week. And I will try to post more frequent updates.

Travel-Jaded

As I skip across three continents and several countries (Slovakia, Austria, Belgium, U.S., and Nicaragua) in the span of four days, I realized that I have become very jaded when it comes to travel. Gone is the excitement I used to experience as a child when we would set out on a trip with my parents and sister. The time when I couldn't wait to get to the airport and board the plane. I was probably more excited about the act of traveling than the actual destination. Today, as I flew from DC to Houston (en route to Managua), I was reminded of my first unaccompanied trip. I was 8 or 9 and my parents sent me to visit my aunt and uncle in Berlin (East Germany at the time). As my mom sent me off with a small handbag that contained my ticket, passport, and some money, she warned me to make sure I don't let the handbag out of my sight. I followed her instructions so meticulously that I even took it to the bathroom with me while on the plane. An airline staff member escorted me on the way to and from the plane. She communicated with me mostly through body language since I spoke nothing but Bulgarian at the time, drawing a rectangle with her hands to signal I had to hand her my passport for passport control. As I remember this, I smile, because I am reminded of how excited I was about the trip and all trips that followed.

Sometimes, for just a moment, I wish that traveling had not become so easy or ordinary. Then I remember all the hassle of waiting for visas, getting invitation letters, having no money to travel, etc. and I quickly discard that thought. However, I think we have started taking for granted the distances we are able to skip and the places we are able to see. Somehow, I feel that seeing a foreign place just doesn't mean as much as it used to. The novelty has worn off to an extent. Of course, I still love traveling and am always excited to see some place new, but I think it is a more "toned-down" sort of excitement and very different from what it used to be.