Best Friends and Fallen Revolutionaries

So I guess it’s time for another blog entry. Sorry it’s been a while since I wrote a real entry…I could offer some half-hearted (or half-ass as my dad would say) excuses but the reality is, I just haven’t felt much like sitting down to write a blog and then the past week I have been showing around my friend Jessica. If you are reading this, it means you didn’t give up on me…thanks for that. Today I’m feeling blogish though and long-winded…so here goes.

So one of my best friends, Jessica Wendt, came to visit me for the past week. She rode 3 days worth of busses down from Mexico, where she is living right now, and so for a whole week I got to show someone I love about the place I am growing to love so much. It was so nice to have someone here for a week that really knows me. The other volunteers and my Nicaraguan family and co-workers are all so much cooler than I could have ever hoped for…but the place in my heart that best friends fill just can’t be replaced…it was sweet. So, I convinced the JHC people that I had a lot of errands to run this week so I got to spend a good chunk of time showing Jessica around Managua and she was such a good sport. On her second night here a bum approached our car with a threatening chunk of rock in his hand and she told me “I hate this country, I always feel scared.”…but then last night after only a week she said “I can’t believe I only have one more day left, I’m really going to miss Nicaragua.” That’s how it is here…it looks rough on the inside but once you try to understand it a little, you realize that this is a beautiful place and that the people are amazing. I’m glad Jessica is awesome enough to have given it that chance…and now she’s one more cool person who likes Nicaragua. If you want to read the entries she added on her blog about her time here in Nicaragua, it might offer a cool fresh perspective…her blog is www.jessicawendttomexico.blogspot.com

I took a couple days off from work last week so we took a long weekend and went to the northern mountain town of Esteli. In Esteli we toured the city a bit and enjoyed an outdoor folk concert and the local Heroes and Martyrs Museum. The museum is run by a network of over 300 mother’s who lost children in the revolution so it is full of old photographs, memorabilia, letters, uniforms, the works. After a day in Esteli we took a bus for an hour up into the mountains to stay for a few days on a biological reserve. The place was amazing…our little wooden cabin was so quaint and the weather was very cool. At night we had on sweatshirts and were wrapped up in blankets enjoying hot coffee and tea. I can’t explain how much I needed that cool weather… I felt like I relived a thousand Kentucky fall evenings on that mountain. Anyway, so we hiked around and saw some of the most amazing views I’ve ever seen. I made the comment to Jess that I felt like I was in The Sound of Music or on Macchu Picchu…she said she thought it was definitely better than either of those. Anyway, we did some yoga up there…some of which is hilariously documented in the photo page. So for the rest of the weekend we walked across babbling brooks and watched oxen and cows and horses, wild birds, farmers working their land, and children carrying water. I’ll try to post the pictures later today because they are so nice. If any of you come visit…I will probably take you to Esteli.

A Change of Pace: Election News:
So I know I talk about the elections a lot on here…that’s because I’m obsessed with them. I’m obsessed with the elections because it is unbelievable how I am learning so much about what democracy looks like for many developing nations. And also I really want you all to be experiencing this with me. Anyway, democracy…whatever the hell that even means. Anyway, so Jeb Bush is apparently obsessed with Nicaraguan elections too. Last week Jeb Bush took out a full page ad in the newspaper here reminding Nicaraguans that he is the governor of Florida, and that he is watching. Here is an excerpt of the ad…“Florida is also home of hundreds of thousands of Nicaraguans that love liberty. Many of whom arrived in Florida during the bloody decade of the Sandinista government, not only to escape totalitarianism, but also in search of better economic opportunities for their families. On the 5th of November, the Nicaraguan people have to make a great decision, whether to make a tragic step towards the past, or a step into the future. I hope that en these elections the people will use this opportunity to break the suffering of the past.” Unbelievable really….a full page in the newspaper, with his signature on the bottom, printed on official letterhead from the office of the government. That is so blatant…it’s just wrong, and a gross abuse of power. Shame on you Jeb Bush. I am putting a picture of the article with my pictures. Last night on the news, a US republican representative from California, Dana Rohrabacher, was interviewed and he threatened once again, that if Daniel Ortega is elected, then the millions of dollars sent home by Nicaraguans working in the US will be cut off. Why? Because it could be funneled to terrorists. That’s right…terrorists. As we were watching the news Jessica told Gloria (my host-mom) “don’t you worry, that senator is a nobody….I’ve never even heard of him, it doesn’t matter what he said.” Gloria explained to us about how it didn’t matter who he was…all anyone has to say is that they are a US republican congressman and people get scared…because they know that is the party that is in power right now in the US and therefore is equivalent to the whole government for them. But it goes further, you don’t even have to be a current politician…..you could even be an ex-politician muddled by scandal like Oliver North, who was here last week supporting one of the candidates. It never stops. People are scared of the eagle. (Here is where you should picture and evil eagle in your mind…one with beaty red eyes…maybe fangs too…oh my!)

Here in Nicaragua, 5 days before the election there is an electoral silence, which means the politicians cannot speak about political issues or distribute propoganda. So, since the election is the 5th, lastnight was the official last day of the election and so there were huge rallies allover the country to close the campaigns of the different political parties. The party that my Nicaraguan family is voting for (the Movement for the Renovation of Sandinismo) had their rally in downtown Managua. Jessica and I dressed up in our bright orange campaign shirts (fitting since it was halloween) and marched downtown…it was awesome. We also went through the parade for Daniel Ortega’s party too. There were dump trucks outfitted with flashing Christmas lights, dogs wearing campaign banners, families riding on bicycles (to clarify, that means one family on one bicycle), and plenty of black and red banners waving to the spanish version of the Beatles’ “Give Peace a Chance.” I was standing there and thinking, no one other than Jessica will ever understand how exhilarating this is…the whole town was out, people were celebrating and going crazy. My heart was beating fast and I almost cried from so much emotion and then the thought crossed my mind “I’m never leaving Nicaragua.” (don’t worry mom, that was a heat of the moment thought….im coming home). This Sunday is the election and so I am going to stick around here and help prepare food and stuff with my family here. One of my host sisters is working to patrol some voting booths. We are going to make traditional food and celebrate (nervously) all weekend. Today is also Day of the Dead, which means we are working a half day and then people will flood the cemeteries to bring flowers to the graves of loved ones and make sure the graves look nice. I am going to try to take some pictures without looking like a weird morbid tourist…but that’s probably a lost cause.


So since it’s been so long since I wrote a blog, I have some stories from the last month that I want to share…most of these are straight from my journal. Some are pretty old but thanks for waiting.

October 15th. I went to this outdoor folk music festival yesterday. It was a memorial concert for the death of Che Guevara. They were remembering and honoring Che and also Carlos Fonseca who is the Nicaraguan revolutionary equivalent of Che. Carlos Fonseca died right before the revolution started in 1979 but he was the philosopher and leader. Anyway, so the concert was really nice and there was a lot of good displays…representatives from the Zapatista’s in Mexico and different citizen groups from the area. I couldn’t help but think how strange it was for me to be there though, and how different a Che memorial concert is for me than it is for the people of Nicaragua. Che Guevara is probably the most famous international t-shirt character of all time. Why t-shirts love Che so much, I don’t really know. I think it must be because there is something inside all of us that glorifies a revolution, glorifies that kind of strength that rises from the oppressed. But revolution has a much different sentiment here in Nicaragua. Here they are proud of their revolution, but it was a very painful time too….so so so many people died here and in the end the revolution did not succeed. It was strange to be at the Che concert singing about revolution amongst a group of people who actually fought one. It was strange because I knew I was the odd one out, the one that didn’t get it… but the one most likely to buy the t-shirt. (which I did not by the way…buy a t-shirt that is)

October 18th One of my neighbors had a birthday party…she turned 13. It was the typical boys on one side, girls on the other, and blasting reggaeton (latino rap) to drown out the awkward adolescent tension in the air. Anyway, so for some reason, the gringas (2 other volunteers who live nearby and myself) were designated to be the party starters and the mothers insisted that we get people dancing. So we each got paired up with a 4 foot tall 12 year old boy, and we danced. With their heads hitting the height of our breasts and their clammy hands on our wastes, we awkwardly tried to find the right mix of booty shaking and self-constraint. It was a sight but I can say we officially got the party started, and broke a few hearts in the process.

October 20th I’ve been learning about natural medicines from my host-mother Gloria. She has slowly introduced me to how mystical she is. It started when I got a cold and she fixed me an herbal tea of chamomile, lemon, honey, and homemade rum. My mind kept flashing back to a month or so ago when people were dying from moonshine rum contaminated with methanol. Anyway, I’m alive and cold and methanol free. In the weeks that have followed since the cold incident, I have seen her fix a natural concoction involving aloe for a neighbor that has cancer. She also shared with me that one time she cured a friend with hepatitis, and another time she cured a child with measles. She even shared with me once this ritual she does each night with a bucket of water that blesses and guards the house overnight. So, as I learn more about remedies, magic, and spirits and such, I’ll keep you updated.

October 22nd Gloria also sells used clothes out of our house. There is a sign on the outside of the house that reads “We sell USA clothes.” Every few weeks, Gloria shows up with a load of clothes to sell and she hangs them up in the living room for display. She gets the used clothes from the nearby market and people from the neigborhood come by and buy things from her. Well, yesterday we got 100lb. of US women’s lingerie to sell. So, lastnight we passed the night giggling and trying on lingerie…the favorite of which was a thong pair of panties with a rat on the front and a furry tail on the back. Some of the neighbor women came over and Gloria has two grown daughters so there were 6 women in the house and once the power went out, we continued on in the candlelight. I learned quite a bit of new Spanish vocab lastnight…none of which is appropriate to share on public internet domain.

So this is all the stories for now….there are many more to tell but there is a general understanding that a blog should only be so long. Other stories I’ll one day tell you include how I got an oversized vehicle stuck in the mud in the barrio and how I bribed a cop out of giving a ticket. There is a volunteer coming down in a few weeks and if you have things you want to send me, the best way to do that is to send stuff to her in the states and then she’ll bring it down with her. If you’re interested let me know and I’ll give you more info. Thanks to all of you who are writing me emails and commenting on here and letting me know how things are going. Thanks also for your patience, as I can’t always write back so quickly. Alright, until next time, love you all,
Peace
Bree

PS thanks also for not judging me for my excessive comma use