learning, living and loving in nicaragua

guate-buena

It’s no secret that my English language speaking and writing abilities have greatly diminished over the past year, the Spanish speaking part of my brain having robbed these English functions.  Why am I telling you this?  Because I feel totally incapable of describing how beautiful and amazing Guatemala is!  I mean really, I can only use the words ‘amazing’ and ‘wonderful’ so many times before I sound like a broken record, but I’ll give it a whirl…

Antigua – this town is SO charming, please go there immediately.  Clean cobblestone streets, brightly colored buildings, innumerable restaurants, cafes and shops, multiple churchs and ancient church ruins, incredible people watching, a busy and beautiful central park, COOL fresh air, and mountains and volcanos on all sides.  While Josh rested in bed fighting a slight stomach bug for most of the time, Emily and I explored the streets, stores and sights.  A major highlight was Casa Santo Domingo, an old restored monastery and church turned into multiple museums, a hotel, restaurant and general cultural and events center.  It’s a shame our backpackers budget didn’t allow for us to stay or eat at this world renowned hotel.  When Josh was feeling up to it we ventured over to the local market.  Amazingly enough the market still had merchandise to sell after we finished with it – we splurged a bit and bought gifts and treats that we have somehow managed to squeeze into our bursting-at-the-seams backpacks.  Between the hundreds of handicraft and food stalls, the market was bursting with color, life and energy.  Highlight – I bought a huge bag of fresh, juicy strawberries for about 60 cents, amazing!  I could go on and on about this town but I’ll wrap it up with another fun surprise.  The whole trip I’ve been telling Josh and Emily and that we are going to run into someone we know and sure enough, my prophecy came true.  My friend Joe Kidd (we led YoungLife together at Monticello) and his wife Julie just got married a few weeks ago and are travelling in Central America for a few months.  They just happened to be in Antigua staying in a hostel a few blocks away, what a small world!  We were able to meet up with them for a few minutes and chat in the central park, so fun!

The next 1.5 days we went to one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen – Lake Atitlan.  We stayed in a cute hotel perched on the mountain side looking over the lake with hot showers and delicious meals, enough to please us for sure!  My time in the internet cafe is running out so I can’t go on, but I can’t wait to go back- Google search for some images of this lake, it was simply breathtaking.  Tomorrow we move on to Tikal, Mayan ruins in the northern region of Guatemala.  Only a few more days of travel remain, see you back in the states soon!

inspiration: wilson the volleyball

The past two days we were transported to another world: the San Blas islands off of the northern Caribbean coast of Panama.  These minuscule, white sand, palm tree laden islands are scattered along the shore of Panama and are absolutely breathtaking! The food was nothin to write home about (rice, whole fish, chicken) but the crystal clear sparkling water well enough made up for it.  Daily activities included napping, reading, swimming, snorkling, and walking around the island (it only took but 10 minutes).   Sleeping in tiny grass and bamboo huts, we were surrounded by the native Kuna indians and a few dozen travelers from all over the world; talk about a mixing bowl of cultures.  Somehow we happened to pick the island that was chock full of Israelis, their whole country must have decided on an exodus round 2 to ‘Island Robinson’.  All of the young Israelis that we met were witty, intelligent, easy going and spoke wonderful English, we learned a lot about their fascinating culture (I’ve been convinced my next international trip must be to Israel).  Other fellow adventurers had home bases that varied from Australia, England, USA, all over Europe… the list goes on and on.  During the drive from Panama City on the way to the islands I was laughing thinking about our then present company: Josh was up front with the crazy Panamanian driver, I was squished in the middle between a tall, black Ugandan/British man and a small Slovenian man, and Emily was cozied up in the back seat with a hilarious Israeli couple.  The islands were especially unique and beautiful due to the looming mountains of lush, green Panama in the background.  It was a wonderful restful two days but incredibly rustic as well.  Today we flew from Panama City (we saw the canal, ‘an engineering marvel!!’ in the words of Emily) to Guatemala City and taxied to Antigua, a cute cobblestone colonial town resting at the base of 3 volcanoes.   I know we’ve just arrived but Guat seems to be my favorite already… More stories to come later!

mucho amor,

Christina, Emily and Josh

san blas - a little piece of heaven.

Kuna women in their traditional garb that they still wear on the islands!

a river runs through it

We’ve found a new favorite corner of the world in the form of Boquete, a quaint, little town nestled at the bottom of Volcan Baru (the tallest mountain/volcano in Panama with a view of the Atlantic AND Pacific from the top).  Yesterday I felt like a modern day Panamanian Huck Finn and Jim, not in the running away from home sense, but in the ‘extreme river adventure’ sense. Along with a German girl we met at our hostel, Josh, Emily and I embarked on a white water rafting expedition organized through a local company here in Boquete.  This rafting tour was apparently one of the best in Latin America as it spanned 26km with 91 rapids ranging from class 1 to class 4+!!!!  The owner informed us that a good rafting trip contains between 12-20 rapids, so this was some intense stuff.  Not only that but the river was extremely rocky, which made for a more fun, but possibly dangerous, ride.  Our guide was a young, local guy named Freddy who had rafted this particular stretch of the Chiriqui River thousands of times.  Freddy was wiry, little and strong (and quite mischievous as we found out later).   Emily and Josh started out in front because they had rafted before; this was my first time ever!!  There wasn’t much of a warm up to this adventure – the first half of our 4 hour boat ride contained the more challenging and higher class rapids.  The river rushed and roared through a jungle-esque setting, narrow gorges, and beautiful views of the nearby mountains.  Freddy expertly steered us down the raging rapids, giving us the proper commands the whole time — all forward!  stop!  backwards!  After 1.5 hours we stopped for lunch on the river bank.  Chef Freddy laid out a spread of sandwich fixins, fruit and cookies, and topped it off by ringing a little bell to call us to eat!  The second half of the trip I was up front with our German friend, and Freddy decided to get tricky.  He sent us in circles, tried to tip the boat a number of times, and was SO good he was able to maneuver the boat in such a way to throw a certain person out.  Victim one was yours truly.  Dominating the currents with his paddle, he angled the boat in such a way to send me flying overboard and within seconds was able to pull me back into the boat as well!  This was only the beginning of his shenanigans.  He would silently get into the water during a lull in the rapids, swim towards the front and yank someone into the water!   It was the most fun that I’ve had in a long time.  We didn’t spot much wildlife but the rich, lush foliage was more than an eyeful.  Lesson of the day – a helmet and lifejacket can be your best friend, and incredibly stylish at that.

I am now an expert bus rider.

Next stop, Panama.  Crossing the border from Costa Rica into Panama was a pain staking multi step process but we got through unscathed and fairly quickly.  Today was another long travel day full of possibly vomit-inducing windy roads and long bus trips.  Most buses were blasting reggaeton or bachata music, a regional favorite, so needless to say I’ve had my fair share of that musical genre, at least for now.  After winding up a misty mountain we reached the top and BAM – the most magical, breath taking view appeared.  Green, blue and purple mountains.  Valleys and rolling hills with fog and clouds creeping over the ridges.  Puffy clouds and a sky that exhausted the spectrum of blues and greys.  Cute little houses perched into the mountain sides.  The view redeemed the long ride for sure!  We just arrived at our next hostel in Boquete, a hard to reach mountain town in the middle of Panama.  We’ll be at this hostel for three nights, it feels like a large home turned hotel with a rushing creek going past our window.  Plans for the next few days include a tour of a coffee plantation, white water rafting, and possibly exploring some nearby hot springs.  Fun fact- the town we’re in, Boquete, is the producer of one the world’s most luxurious upper end coffees, but can be found super cheap here.  Another plus- Panama is MUCH cheaper than costa rica in general, my bank account is much happier.

Love from Panama,

Christina

the 3 muskateers, chapter 1– costa rica!!

We have arrived to Costa Rica from Nica safe and sound, wahoo!  The first day of travel we spent more time than I´d like to admit on a bus (about 12 hours!)  The border crossing was predictably inefficient and frustrating but what can ya do, you pay for what you get! Upon arriving in San Jose, a taxi driver straight up lied to us, saying there was a bus strik e and he could take us instead to our next destination.  After some investigating at the bus station, we found this to be false and bought a super cheap ticket.  Lesson 1– don´t trust cab drivers.  What we saw of San Jose was lovely, it was just nice to be in a real city again!  (Yes, Managua doesn´t count).  It looked like the latin love child of Nica and the USA.  Moving on…

After travel in taxi, bus and boat we arrived to Tortugero National Park, a hidden jewel in the rainforest only accessible by boat.  As our boat snaked through the muddy river, I couldn´t help but feel like we were in the movie Anaconda or Jurasic Park, it was so savage and wild.  The whole day it rained, and ´costa rica in rainy season rain´doesn´t mess around, I´m talking torrential downpour for nearly the whole day!  We settled in our hostel, napped, and ventured in the rain to find a delicious lunch of carribean chicken and rice cooked in coconut milk, delicious! That night we took a turtle tour on the beach.  Led by a guide, we saw massive turtles crawl from the ocean to the beach, lay hundreds of eggs, and then slowly struggle back to the ocean.  These turtles miraculously come back to the same beach where they were born to lay eggs.  The turtle watching was awesome, except for when my feet got attacked my fire ants.   Lesson 2– never travel in costa rica without a rain jacket and bug spray.  Moving on…

The next morning we took a relatively un eventful canoe tour through the canals in the hopes of seeing wildlife.  Formula– Three hours in a canoe plus 4 spanish women plus one nica guide plus drizzling rain minus animal sightings equals kind of a bust, but its okay, it was still really neat to canoe through such incredible wildlife!  The jungle was so fresh and wild, I wish I could bottle up that scent and take it with me.  The clean, crisp cool air was a much welcome change from Nicaragua which constantly smells like burning.  We then left Tortugero and took a 4 hour boat ride to the next town through the canals.  This trip totally redeemed the canoe trip from the morning as we saw tons of wildlife amidst breath taking scenery– crocodiles, monkeys, birds, sloths, bats, otters and lizards!  The boat ride was far superior to taking another bus although we did get pretty wet.  One taxi ride later we arrived to our garden-esque hippie hostel in Puerto Viejo, a cute little beach town full of bikes, other travelers and surfers.  Side note –We´ve met other fun travelers along the way, a majority of whom are Spanish.  Josh says there must be no one else in Spain because they´re all in costa rica, and I believe him.  Today was wonderful and sunny which was apparently a miracle, they haven´t had sun in months!  We rented bikes and cruised around to explore various beaches.   The sun was a much welcome change from the rain we´ve been experiencing and we all got a little burnt.  Lesson 3 — renting bikes is always a good idea, although braking is sometimes tricky (Emily crashed into a ditch).  Tomorrow we´re moving onto Panama, adios!

bittersweet goodbye

I think I’ve cried more in the past few days than in my whole life combined.  The new volunteers must think I’m emotionally unstable for shedding so many tears, but the truth of the matter is that I’ve fallen in love with this place and these people, and I’ve fallen hard. Knowing that I may never see some of my nica friends again has been a very harsh reality to stomach.  I’ve been overwhelmed by the generosity of our friends the past few days; so many have gone above and beyond their means to give us gifts to show their appreciation.  A sweet, young mom in Chureca (who obviously doesn’t have much disposable income) bought me a skirt, shirt and several beautiful bracelets.  Countless children have written me notes, given me handmade crafts or drawings, and not to mention the death-lock hugs that are SO strong it’s impossible to breath!  My homestay family and their relatives threw us a ‘surprise’ party (the kids accidentally spilled the beans before the fiesta); they bought us little crafts and provided us with sandwiches and soda.  Finally, our students and friends in Chureca planned a surprise party complete with confetti, balloons, streamers, pin the tail on the donkey, refreshments, music, a piñata and beautiful hand painted vases for the departing teachers and friends.  What has been most striking to me haven’t been the gifts or cards themselves, but the intention and motivation behind them.  Most of our friends don’t have extra cash lying around; in fact, many families struggle to put food on the table everyday.  To know that they gathered and saved just to give us a little something is the most precious gift of all.

at the chureca party with the homemade sign that reads "thank you for being our best friends!"

Why my job rocks:  our goodbye party for our literacy and math students consisted of renting a “Brinka-Brinka”, an 18-foot inflatable moon bounce slide.  I think the gringos almost had more fun than the kids.  Imagine children and gringos soaking wet and lathered up with soap (to slide faster, naturally) scrambling over one another to reach the top of the slide, only to throw themselves down, crashing and bouncing all over the place.  What would be a ‘lawsuit waiting to happen in the states’ was immense fun for the students and teachers involved!

the brinka brinka in our yard

the mad scramble up the stairs

the view from the top of the slide!

Today is my last day in Nicaragua, how the time has flown!  Tomorrow I embark on a 3 week adventure around Central America with two of my coworkers and roomates, Emily and Josh.  First Costa Rica, then Panama and finally Guatemala.  I’ll try to write updates here about our travels, see you all back in the USA so soon!!

milking it for what it’s worth

sad news: this week is our last milk day before we leave!! (milk day is when we hand out milk, vitamins and oatmeal to the 50 malnourished kids in our child sponsorship program in la chureca).  a look at some favorite pictures from past milk days…

rosa and ashley, wearing a very appropriate bib

snayder sporting a new hairstyle

maria antonia and blanca- they win the prize for 'best hugs'

tiny and precious estevan

beautiful ninoska and rosario

josh weighing and measuring jose manuel

jenny nailing the deer-in-headlights look once again

almost adios…

friends, sorry for slacking on sharing updates and news recently, life has been crazy busy here!  enjoy these brief blurbs about friends, work, events, and just life in general.  les quiero!

— if you know anything about my year in nica, you probably know that the cutest 6 year old on the planet, armando, has captured my heart.  a hilarious story recently emerged about his trip to swim in our pool a few months ago.  apparently when I told him we were going to my house to swim, he thought it meant my house in the USA.  when he returned from the swimming adventure he told his mom that the USA was a lot closer than he thought, and that all of the houses were big like in the soap operas and have lots of stuff in them!  bless his little heart, I’m gonna miss this guy!  equally as cute was the day we took our students to see the movie ‘planet earth’.  halfway through the movie, my coworker michael took all the little boys to the bathroom (small boys, small bladders).  armando was completely lost in a modern day, gleaming white bathroom with stalls.  michael placed him in a stall and went to help the others.  when he returned a minute later, armando was standing in the same position.  he looked up at michael quizzically and asked, “where do I do it?”.

armando learns to fly

what a handsome devil

— a few of our fabulous summer volunteers put on a (much needed) sexual education talk for about 15 teenage girls from the local community, all of whom are our students and friends.  despite the giggling and red cheeks, they listened attentively and thoroughly enjoyed a time talking with older women and each other about all the things you need to know to be a woman but perhaps never heard from your mom!  we cleared up many antiquated myths, answered their many questions, shared funny stories, and ate yummy food.  it was a rich time of fellowship with one another and, in our minds, was extremely successful to open a healthy dialogue about sexuality and their body.  one of the most frustrating issues I’ve encountered in nicaragua has been the issue of women’s rights and expectations pressed upon them by their culture.  women are the backbone of society and get no recognition for it.  it’s very common for a girl to drop out of school because she’s pregnant at age 16 (or younger!), and most girls don’t go to school when they have their periods — what an unfair disadvantage to miss 1/4 of your schooling!  women slave away raising children, cooking, cleaning, working other jobs and keeping steady homes, and all of the while (most) men run around having affairs and running out on their families.  the lack of responsibility and leadership amoung the male population is sad, but can you blame them?  they’re only following in their father’s footsteps.

one of my best friends, karen, and her cousin ariana

— the girls soccer team from la chureca challenged us to a game, but this time gringas vs. nicas!  tressa, the girls in our second group of summer vols and I headed to chureca one friday morning ready to play.  the tiny, dirt field was sloped on one end and covered in holes and bumps; it seemed more like a game of pinball at times, the ball would jump around in every direction!  at one point I ran into two girls from the other team and slightly sprained my ankle, not fun.  unfortunately we ended up in a tie 0-0.  most exciting was the crowd the game attracted!  many of the moms and kids we know meandered over to watch and ended up taunting + cheering the players on the field.

— the dozens upon dozens of volunteers that stayed at our house this year provided the fuel for a wonderful event: a clothing sale in la chureca with the proceeds benefiting the clinic.  with so many volunteers bringing donations, our house had turned into a packed thrift store.  kathy august, a local missionary, holds a clothing sale every few months in the nearby community of cedro galan so we modeled our sale on her past events.  a clothing sale had never been done in chureca (according to the families we know there) so it was wonderful to bless them in this way!  we brought in dozens of suitcases, arranged the clothing and let the madness begin.  we followed kathy’s rule of 15: 15 people inside the sale at a time, 15 minutes, 15 items of clothing each.  the clothing and shoes were in good condition and we priced them dirt cheap.  the line was out the door and we sold an insane amount of clothing!  funny moment:  a pregnant woman went to check out and tried to buy 30 items of clothing. we explained the 15 item rule and she promptly pointed to her swollen belly and explained that her unborn child counted as another person!

— the tears have begun to flow.  tuesday night we had a goodbye / welcome party for the community in our little schoolhouse: goodbye for the old group (myself included), and a welcome to the new group of volunteers who will spend the next year living la vida nica.  the room was absolutely packed by the time we started (about 120 people!).  we played a slide show of pictures from the year, said our goodbyes, welcomed the new group, and allowed nica friends to come up front and say a few words.  tears were shed, some friends recited poems and played us songs, it was a beautiful affair.  looking around the room I was overwhelmed by all of the nicaraguan friends we were surrounded by: students, neighbors, our new families.  they will be greatly missed but never forgotten!

the packed crowd at the goodbye party

dayana, yahoska + katy, las locas

jessenia, marcela, wilbur and belkin -- fiesty and fun english students

amira (my boss), josh (coworker), and lori (my other boss and co-founder of manna project)

old + new group after the party!

jaqueline, amy, lester and marcos

maycol + freddy, trouble makers despite the angelic faces

hanging out with norma at the goodbye party

one of our ferocious flea magnets, cola

beautiful scarleth

friends (all are my advanced english students) singing karaoke

thoughts from a friend

the following excerpt is from one of our incredible summer volunteers, chase blood.  more witty + insightful comments about life in nica can be found on his blog — www.chaseinnica.tumblr.com

“many of us have realized that this month (or in laura’s case, two months) has been one of the greatest of our lives. for sure one of the best summer months ever. with working hard during the day and relaxing and bonding at night, loving the kids and volunteers nonstop, manna breeds an environment that is like summer camp mixed with the peace corps. you serve and get served and love and get love, several times over every day. we are not wholly selfless- we have a pool, a house mom, and electricity despite our third world conditions. we are not selfish, either- we don’t have a tv set (to the disgust of many nicas who watch telenovelas nightly) or air conditioning or a dishwasher. but what we’ve learned down here, among many other things, is that life is so much more than what you have (or what you don’t). and on the fourth of july, a day where we wonder why americans are so blessed (even the poor and hungry) and so fortunate, we can take a step back and just be thankful for it all. our elections, while political and emotionally involved, are free from bloodshed or assassination. our job market, while unsteady and chaotic, is at least able to provide for the majority of americans and continues to provide a life above the world poverty line—unlike the workers in chureca who live on less than $1 a day (called extreme poverty, and half of the world lives in that label). our faith, while seemingly divided more and more each year with the onset of religions from scientology to kaballah to the church of people like fred phelps, at least allows the peaceful coexistence, unlike israeli/palestine judaic/muslim conflict.”

the countdown begins, one month left in nica… eeek!

love, tina

photo journal

a statue of the nica hero sandino overlooking managua

overlook of managua

ortega's propaganda - "following the government = following God"

rainy season sets in - view from the masaya volcano

pool party with the chureca english class - lorgia about to go swimming!

emily with some of her students

eric enjoying a cookie

field trip to the masaya volcano

volunteers and children pile out of the micro on top of the volcano

eduardo + cristian

idalia

emily + boys climb to the top

my love, armando

exploring the museum with cristian

gringos + kids at the volcano museum

a table of students during advanced english

boys lining up for kickball

mayqueline, dayana, maycol + eric

ulises, eric + armando reading in the library

dayana the super star

nikki + jolis (pronounced "holly")