"I dee kara tum wah"..read on for the translation...

Back from the caribbean coast! (actually, for those of you who care...and you should, it's called the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region). It's true, it's Monday, and I'm just coming off of a four-day weekend thanks to Nicaraguan independence day. In case you haven't been keeping up, here's a recap of the plans....Eric (the other volunteer) and I headed to the Caribbean coast to the Southern Autonomous Region for the weekend. We flew for logistical reasons (see previous entry) and spent 3 nights and 3 days hopping around islands and trying to take in the culture...which I will go ahead and mention, was way different, and way cooler than I could have imagined.

First things first though, let me explain a little something about the plane that took us to the coast. We knew it would be a small plane because it's a domestic trip. I've been on small planes...no problem...or so I thought. We got to the check-in desk, I presented my ID, did the routine, and placed my bag on the scale..like normal. Then, the desk lady said "and you too." "Me too what?" "Get on the scale with the bag." "You want me on the scale with the bag?" "Yeah, we have to know how to distribute the weight in the plane." "Riiiiiight."

So, I got on the scales, already suspecting this would be a bit smaller of a plane than I had anticipated. The trip in numbers: 20 ft. long...that' how long the plane was. 14 people...that was its capacticy (including pilots) I could have sneezed on the pilots back, he was right in front of me. As we were taking our seats, I figured this was the one flight in my life where I was going to read the emergency instruction card and check under the seat for the flotation device. I reached under the seat to see if the flotation device was there the same time that the Nicaraguan man next to me reached for his. Neither of the devices were there and he turned to me and said "oh well, someone must have stolen them." Riiiiiight.

Anyway, so the flight was pretty easy and I occupied myself by trying not to throw up or have an anxiety attack...but I did get a little nervous when the pilot whipped out a map of "The Nicaraguan East Coast" about 10 minutes before landing. He was orienting himself and turning the map while he looked out the window. I thought, "are you kidding me, do you need directions...I'm outta here (if only I had a flotation device)?!" But that's enough of that...on to the good stuff.

So the Southern Atlantic Autonomous Region is autonomous for a few reasons, one being it's physical geographical separation from the rest of the country, another reason being because of its distinct cultural differences (there are other reasons too...I'm no Nicaraguan expert though.) They people are mostly of African decent, mestizos, or indigenous groups. They speak english creole, spanish, and indigenous languages...all of which you'll hear in the streets. When we first got off the plane in the main city (Bluefields), the first thing we noticed were the bright colors. The houses were all painted bright pastels and they were on stilts. The housing looked like a scene out of Jamaica or the Bahamas...not stereotypical Nicaragua. The village is right on the coast and has a distinct beachside culture. We spent the day walking around and taking it in...we watched a domino tournament, ate fish, and were the awkward white people sitting in the corner of the reggae club.

The next day, we set off in a "panga" (motorboat canoe) to a small island called Pearl Lagoon where we set out on foot to follow the road (the only road) to wherever it would lead. We walked for a bit and met a man who was also walking, he was a Miskito indian and invited us to come to his village for some coconuts. We walked with him and chatted about the life of his people, politics, and his future plans. When we got to the village (called Awas), our friend ran into his house, grabbed a little rope, came out and then shimmied up a tree (with a mechete)...and then two little coconuts fell from the tree....and then he shimmied down. Have you ever seen someone shimmie up a tree?! I had not....did I mention this guy was like 60? So to make a much more interesting story short, we decided to return the next day and spend the day in the Miskito village of Awas to learn about the people.

So we returned bright and early the next day to a breakfast that awaited us of coconut bread, fried fish and coffee. We toured the village, which took about 15 minutes because it was so small. The Miskitos in Awas live on the water and there are about 30 families in all. They all have one or two room houses made of wood planks and the houses are lifted on stilts. We then set out with our friend to visit the farm where the Miskitos work. Once we were ready to head to the farm, all the children had gathered around and so a few lucky ones got to come in the canoe with us to the farm (oh yeah...it was like a 30 minute canoe ride). So we set off in a wooden canoe, with a sail made of tied together Hefty bags...and a crew was nine people total....Eric and I, our guide, and 6 kids...ranging from lik 4-10 years old. There were kids stuck in both corners and under the seats...well not really, but you get the point.

So on the farm we got to eat avocado, banana, yuca, guava, and lots of new fruits that I pretended like I understood the names of. The people don't farm for a living, they just use the food to feed their families...they say they don't have anywhere to sell the fruits....but they do fish for money. All of the people are fishers and farmers by trade.

So after we got back from the farm, we had a lunch of crab-soup and played with the kids all afternoon. We were pretty much hand-game missionaries....spreading the gospel of "rocks paper scissors" and "thumb war." The kids don't speak english or spanish, they only speak Miskito so the sounds of the afternoon were the kids singing "one two three four, I declare a thumb war"...but instead it came out more like "wah too tree fah, I dee kara tum wah"....precious

So....to make a four day weekend email friendly, I guess I will stop there...oh but one more thing, the people on the island play music all day, music is coming out of all the houses. The sounds were reggae, reggaeton, and classic country...that's right, classic country. As I lay in the hammock one night, I realized how small the world is when I rocked to the classic country refrain "kiss an angel good morning, but love her like the devil when you get back home." (Someone...anyone? anyone else know that song?...probably only George)

So more recently, we have gotten 4 new long-term volunteers this week. Besides being excited because they are all super cool, it is also fun for me to have more volunteers to coordinate, being that I am the "volunteer coordinator" and all. So here's the low-down....one girl just graduated from UNC and is here working in the clinic for the next year. Another girl graduated from school in Rhode Island and has been working for a union in DC for the past year and she will be volunteering with the women's sewing cooperative. One girl just graduated from Oxford (yes, a Brit) and is working as the office assistant. The other girl is working on her Master's in social work and recently finished up the Peace Corp in Honduras working with women's agricultural stuff. So...what does all this mean? I am surrounded by fabulous women..interesting, smart, motivated, and willing to split beer with me.


Just as a side note…Ben Abell (my boo…my boyfriend that is) was on the front page of the Kentucky Kernel (the UK newspaper) for some cool stuff his farm is doing. You should check it out…it was Monday's edition (the 18th) and the article is about farm fresh food. http://www.kykernel.com/

Alright....this is it for now...hope all is well with everyone...lots of crazy stuff going on out there. Today I read in the paper that Thailand had a coup, that someone tried to kill Somalia's president, and stuff is still heating up with the Pope doing his thing...yikes. From here, still more politics, the electicity company is robbing the people and they will likely kick it out of the country soon, there is a gas shortage too (but Hugo has vowed to help with that), and they are arresting the people in charge of the methanol moonshine rum. Other than that....I'm just playing with monkies, love you all
Bree

Lists, Runaway Horses, and Daniel Ortega

Greetings everyone, I hope that all is well wherever you are, wherever you call home. I put off writing another blog entry until now because I wanted to wait until I had something “interesting” to say. Then, as the days kept creeping by without feeling like I had lots to share, I decided that if I don’t write on this thing at least once a week, that people will quit looking at it altogether…so here’s an attempt to be interesting.

Week one in Nicaragua has now passed, and I have to say that I am overwhelmed by all that I have already learned, and all that I still have to learn. I have started keeping many running lists to help me keep things straight. The lists so far include a vocab list of new spanish words, a list of the multiple Nicaragua political parties (elections in November…yikes!), a list of things I miss about Kentucky and home in general, and a list of names of all of the peope I am meeting daily. Soon I will probably have to start a list of locations of the various lists that I have…ewww.

So, that being said, here’s what my week has been like. Everyday I continue to follow Eric, my guru job-trainer around, and we do odd jobs like sift cement (my arms are very sore), count medicine in the clinic, chase escaped horses back into the animal yard, answer emails from potential volunteers and volunteer delegations, visit families in the neighborhood, return coke and beer bottles for deposit money, go on tours of the city where I learn how to pretend like I can interpret murals and graffiti and statues…yadda yadda yadda. I am slowly starting to take over parts of the job without Eric’s direct oversight, which feels good, but I am relishing in the 2 more weeks I have before I am truly on my own. I have also started planning for the first group that is coming under my oversight…a group of doctors from Alaska. That should be a cool trip and we are heading up to the coffee plantation cooperative for several days to do some clinics and immunize some animals and stuff…yee haw.
Observations so far: Inheriting a new job is hard...inheriting a new family is harder.

I had my first driving lesson...and it went really really well. I was driving a ten passenger stick-shift van around the narrow dirt streets of our barrio as we ran errands. No horse-drawn carriages, cow herds, ladies with baskets on their heads, mo-ped riders, nor animals were harmed during this experience. I have to thank my parents for making me drive the dreaded vokswagon van as a teenager....it trained me to drive a stick in an oversized vehicle. Many Nicaraguan villagers thank you mom and dad.

It is rainy season here which means that almost every night it rains SO much, and about every other night is a torrential downpour that pours through the cracks in the ceilings, through the screen walls, drenches the “clean” clothes I have the clothes line, and washes away some chickens or small dogs around the property. Maybe it’s because the rain is truly stronger here, or maybe it is because the walls are screen and I don’t have the option of retiring to some indoor place to escape the storms, but I have a newfound appreciation for the power of rain.

I have been reading so so much in the past week. I have been trying to read the newspaper every day, as well as a book I got on Nicaraguan economic policy in the 90’s, as well as the book “Life of Pi”….reserved for when I just can’t read anything else about Nicaragua. Here are some of the headlines down here: People in the nearby city of Leon are dying by the dozens because of guaron (moonshine rum) that was contaminated by methanol (like 80 people dead so far….hundreds in critical condition). The November presidential elections are attracting all kinds of attention….Daniel Ortega, who was the leader of the Sandinistas during the 80’s is running for president and it looks like he will probably win. They have about 4 other serious candidates (and a couple more that aren’t so serious) that are running too. Politics is on everybody’s lips…it’s quite the buzz.

Today is the last workday of this work week because of the Nicaraguan independence day. We have a four day weekend so Eric and I are heading to the east coast. Now, that may not sound too exciting, but it actually is, few people make it to the east coast. If you look at a map of Nicaragua, almost half of its geography is made up of these two autonomous regions on the east coast…they are separated from the rest of the country by some jungle and un-navigable land. We are flying there (the alternative was a 12 hour bus ride followed by a 7 hour boat ride…on a river that is frequented by pirates that want to take our digital cameras, passports, money, and lives….so we opted for the flight). Supposedly, they speak english there and are mostly of African descent, play reggae music, and have a much more caribbean culture. It should be fascinating and quite a kickoff for my second week in Nicaragua. We leave Thurs. and get back Sunday.

I was talking to one of the volunteers here who has been here for a year, but has had to return back to the states 3 times because of unexpected circumstances. He was saying that it kind of felt like he wasn’t truly “totally here” in some way….that keeping too close of ties with home could keep your mind in too many places at once. I thought about that for a bit and decided that I don’t really think that being “totally” somewhere is something that sounds all that appealing to me, nor all that feasible. I mean, for years now my heart has been a little bit in a lot of places…Mexico, Cambodia, Germany, Ohio, South Carolina, Kentucky…allover the world, wherever my loved-ones are. So, what’s the point of being “totally” somewhere in mind body or spirit….I think I will stick to being scattered, but trying to be totally at peace amongst the scatteredness (probably not a word).

Well, this is it for now…no more philosophical ramblings. I will try to put some pics up soon, I know that’s what you want. There aren’t too many computers here that can handle pictures and digital camera hookups and all that…but when I get my hands on one (soon) I promise to get some pics on here. I love you all and thing about you a lot…for serious,

Peace,

Bree

Day One...Nicaraguan style

So I made it...alive and well, going on my 24th hour in Nicaragua. I have had a few emails from people making sure I made it, so here is a quick post to update everyone. I got here lastnight, and was met at the airport by Eric, who is the current volunteer coordinator at CDCA. I will be taking over his job in three weeks, when he leaves. So, basically today I just followed Eric around as he explained to me everything he did...from telling me which keys go in which doors, which CDCA employees are quirky, and the best way to bribe a cop when you are pulled over for traffic violations...it was a lot to take in, but I am convinced I will someday know up from down and be competent in this job. The compound that I live on has many different buildings, the main house, which houses the permanent members, a volunteer dorm (where I live) a guest house, a women's sewing cooperative, and some permanently broken-down vehicles that have been turned into things like "the medicine warehouse." There are many pets...including two monkeys.
Today I ran some errands like going to the xerox store, I toured the medical clinic, and worked on some small construction projects. One thing that I wasn't nervous about before but now am, is driving. I guess I will have to do a fair amount of driving around town, and the streets are chaos here. If you aren't dodging a lady selling coconut water in the middle of the road, then you're dodging a dog with 2 (or less) legs, or 5-6 people all on the same mo-ped. I'm not really looking forward to that aspect of the job...I'm not even a good driver in the US. Oh well.
Today I did bust some bluegrass out on the other volunteers that are here now...overall it was a good reception.
I'll leave you with this comforting observance. Before coming down I was a little unclear about the role of the religious or Christian component of this organization. I knew they hosted a lot of churches, were a faith-based non-profit, and had some religious funding sources, but i also knew that they are not evangelical or prosteletizing (sp?). Anyway, so this morning at breakfast I enjoyed and was comforted by two magnets on the refrigerator. One said "Jesus called, he wants his religion back," and the other magnet had a man kneeling before Jesus and said "Jesus would slap the shit out of you." For whatever reason, I thought, hmm....I think I'm gonna fit in just fine. Love you all,
Bree