Today being my birthday (for those of you who managed to forget - shame on you!) I'm taking time out from catching up on my adventures in this blog to give you a picture of my lovely today here. Although reading all your birthday messages has been really nice, it does make me miss you all, so thank goodness I've managed to make lots of good friends here already.
As usual I woke up horribly early with the heat and light, plus construction noise from next door, but I decided to put that behind me and go to the gym (yes, I have managed to find some trainers and join a gym even here) for a short workout on the exercise bike, etc. It was hot and sweaty, but lifted my tired mood... Then I got back home around 9am to find that we had two sets of visitors: firstly a strange little old man and a boy, clearing out all the grass and weeds from our patch of inside patio garden (I later found out this was to remove the risk of snakes breeding there!), and even more excitingly Jose, our lovely handyman, who had come to finally install ceiling fans in our rooms (the best birthday present I could ask for right now, as the breeze is dropping and the temperature rising with the onset of summer). And I opened my fantastic birthday card and present from Mike and Kate (thanks a million guys!) brought over from England in my rucksack and carefully not opened until today.
The water was off again this morning, so I had a quick outdoor shower in the garden from our emergency rainwater tank (actually a lovely experience, so I hope the water holds out for a while) before heading down into town to the office. About an hour later and dustier, another volunteer Erin and I had more or less finished boxing up packs of missing schools materials from the office supplies/donations for the four schools we work with. Then Erin took me off for a birthday drink - my choice, so I opted for a clementine refesco (fresh juice drink) at one of the stalls in the parque central (main square/park). Erin had made me the most amazing collage birthday card with a full story told inside about my last weekend's adventures. And a couple of other volunteer friends here passed by and said hi. Then it was off to the market to buy tape, pencil sharpeners, balls and crochet hooks (how I love bargaining!) for the kits and women's group.
After lunch I had a meeting with the other women's working group volunteers, Fiona and Johanna, at a very nice house where the English parents of a long-term volunteer here are staying. They wanted to talk to us about a couple of possible handicrafts projects, and also to invite us to use their wonderful refreshing pool. I should mention that all pools here are plunge pools, rather than for swimming, but in this heat it's divine no matter how small. And as they'd heard it was my birthday, they had bought in some cakes and lit a candle in my honour - plus they plied me with a very English tanqueray gin and tonic for good measure too. It was absolutely a lovely afternoon (the perfect mix of work and pleasure). Now it's back home, after a quick stop off at the second hand clothes shop for a new (sort of) T-shirt and sundress (who says you can't buy your own presents!), and then here at the internet cafe to let you all know about my day.
For tonight I've arranged a caballo bayo (a sort of Nicaraguan mixed feast) cooked by Erin's host mother here, who runs a comedor (local in-house dining room). She insisted I taste various dishes before committing to the dinner, and the food was spectacular in a home-cooking way. So I've invited all the volunteers I know well and anyone else I've become friendly with here to come over, and I think we may be about 30 people in the house. Then probably we'll head off to Cafe Nuit afterwards for more celebrations...
I have to say that despite today being a day when I miss my friends and family back home, I'm actually having a beautiful day in Nicaragua and I can sincerely say that I feel loved here too.
Well, as my dinner is arriving at the house in just 50 mins, I'd better sign off now and go home to have a shower and get changed. Have a great evening, everyone!
Wednesday, January 31, 2007
Tuesday, January 30, 2007
Weekend fun at the lake and in Diriamba
Today is a quiet day for me, since the high school preparation sessions are over and so, apart from my work with the women's group, my other jobs haven't really got started yet. Therefore, I'm finally able to catch up with what I've been up to in recent days/weeks.
I think I have to go back to the weekend before last which was a good one for getting out and about, and also for socialising. On the Friday night we had a party at our volunteer house, inviting all the other volunteers around, plus any Nicaraguan friends we had made, and any other random people passing through. Granada being a small town, with quite a large proportion of travellers stopping off for a few days' rest here (plus a lot of longer-term visitors and volunteers on various projects) it's very easy to keep bumping into the same people time and time again. In the town itself there aren't really any discotecas as such, just a handful of bars, a couple of which also have music and possibility of dancing. Which means that everyone in town - locals and visitors alike - ends up in Cafe Nuit (with live salsa/merengue/bachata band and piped in reggaeton music - extremely annoyng for me stuck in my hiking boots and unable to dance properly because of my ankle!) But it's a great place to meet new travellers or other people and we all went there both Wednesday and Thursday night before our party to try and gather together enough men to invite to the party to make up for the great proportion of women volunteers here at the moment!
The party was a grand success, and went on until the early hours. That weekend (in fact until this most recent Sunday) we were just six girls living together in our volunteer house, which is by far the nicer, bigger and better party venue than the other volunteer house, so I lucked out there. Chris (from Germany) and Fiona (from Ireland) have been here the longest. Becca and Jo (from Washington DC) arrived the week before me. And Torey (from Montana) arrived the same day as me, as I think I've mentioned in a previous post. Chris and Fiona are good friends with a local Dutch bar owner who provided with ice and mint for us for the occasion. There are really only two things to drink in Nicaragua - local Toña or Victoria beer, or the Flor de Caña rum. So as long as you provide ice, limes and maybe some mint and sugar, everyone's happy!
The next day a British TV producer from the Discovery Channel who'd been at our party invited the whole house out for a huge, hangover-reducing breakfast at Kathy's Waffle House (one of two big breakfast locations in town). Later that afternoon I took a taxi down to the shore of Lake Nicaragua with a couple of new volunteer friends (you can walk down to the lake from town, but it's not really nice for swimming in the water there, as you need to go further along). And that evening Torey and I had dinner with another survivor from the party, an American guy who runs a boat doing tourist trips along the Pacfic coast and who invited us to go to the beach (Pacific coast) one weekend and that he would give us a boat ride.
I had previously read that that weekend was when the San Sebastian festival was on in the town of Diriamba, and so on Sunday three of us went on a crazy bus trip to visit it for the day. Getting there was easy enough, with just two and half hours by "chicken bus" and a single change. However the return journey was altogether more complicated (more later). The festival itself on the Sunday took the form of a "hipica" or horse show, Nicaraguan style. It was quite a crazy party in the streets, with spectators lining the streets and hundreds (literally) or horses riding and dancing around the course, interspersed with brass bands playing for the horses to dance to. It was probably a little dangerous with street vendors weaving amongst the horses and no barriers seperating us from the mass of animals, but in usual Latino style we all just went along with enjoying the day... You could tell that this festival was also celebrated by the richest levels of Nicaraguan society (just check out the photos to see what I mean in terms of well-kept and well-fed horses and humans!)
For our return trip we had been informed that our best bet was to take a taxi (hard enough given the traffic, crowds and mayhem for the festival) to the next along bigger town of Jinotepe and from there catch the last bus at 5.30pm to take us back to Granada. Alas, we got to the Jinotepe bus station to find that we'd been misinformed and that actually the last bus had left at 4pm. But we saw there was another bus leaving for Masaya (a biggish town halfway between Granada and the capital Managua) which probably gave us our best bet of another way home. We jumped on that and managed to get seats, which turned out to be a huge relief, because this bus then took us directly back through Diriamba, except that now the traffic was so jammed up that we had no hope of actually getting through. The bus filled up to bursting point and beyond (there were even chidren passengers sitting with the driver on his seat!) as well as people hanging out of windows and sitting on the roof. Then we had to make a detour through some local villages (down mud streets not wide enough or made for a bus) being directed by a local man sitting up on the front bonnet of the bus (yes, in front of the windscreen) as it got dark. There were branches coming in thorugh the windows and everyone lurching around as we battled up and down potholed hills, not really sure where we were going. Eventually about an hour and a half later we made it to the main (i.e. paved) road but coudln't get onto it correctly at the angle we joined it, so actually we turned onto the wrong lane and drove for another 5 mins backwards the wrong way down the road until we could turn around. I was actually very impressed with the driver's skills! From then on the bus journey to Masaya and then shared taxi back to Granada was a mere nothing... And so ended the weekend.
P.S. My next post will be about Becca's birthday on Monday and then last weekend's cigar launch party excesses with the crazy Canadian posse. But my camera batteries have just died, so I can't upload any more photos right now. However, before I sign off, for anyone reading this today I would very much appreciate a nice birthday email tomorrow, please!
I think I have to go back to the weekend before last which was a good one for getting out and about, and also for socialising. On the Friday night we had a party at our volunteer house, inviting all the other volunteers around, plus any Nicaraguan friends we had made, and any other random people passing through. Granada being a small town, with quite a large proportion of travellers stopping off for a few days' rest here (plus a lot of longer-term visitors and volunteers on various projects) it's very easy to keep bumping into the same people time and time again. In the town itself there aren't really any discotecas as such, just a handful of bars, a couple of which also have music and possibility of dancing. Which means that everyone in town - locals and visitors alike - ends up in Cafe Nuit (with live salsa/merengue/bachata band and piped in reggaeton music - extremely annoyng for me stuck in my hiking boots and unable to dance properly because of my ankle!) But it's a great place to meet new travellers or other people and we all went there both Wednesday and Thursday night before our party to try and gather together enough men to invite to the party to make up for the great proportion of women volunteers here at the moment!
The party was a grand success, and went on until the early hours. That weekend (in fact until this most recent Sunday) we were just six girls living together in our volunteer house, which is by far the nicer, bigger and better party venue than the other volunteer house, so I lucked out there. Chris (from Germany) and Fiona (from Ireland) have been here the longest. Becca and Jo (from Washington DC) arrived the week before me. And Torey (from Montana) arrived the same day as me, as I think I've mentioned in a previous post. Chris and Fiona are good friends with a local Dutch bar owner who provided with ice and mint for us for the occasion. There are really only two things to drink in Nicaragua - local Toña or Victoria beer, or the Flor de Caña rum. So as long as you provide ice, limes and maybe some mint and sugar, everyone's happy!
The next day a British TV producer from the Discovery Channel who'd been at our party invited the whole house out for a huge, hangover-reducing breakfast at Kathy's Waffle House (one of two big breakfast locations in town). Later that afternoon I took a taxi down to the shore of Lake Nicaragua with a couple of new volunteer friends (you can walk down to the lake from town, but it's not really nice for swimming in the water there, as you need to go further along). And that evening Torey and I had dinner with another survivor from the party, an American guy who runs a boat doing tourist trips along the Pacfic coast and who invited us to go to the beach (Pacific coast) one weekend and that he would give us a boat ride.
I had previously read that that weekend was when the San Sebastian festival was on in the town of Diriamba, and so on Sunday three of us went on a crazy bus trip to visit it for the day. Getting there was easy enough, with just two and half hours by "chicken bus" and a single change. However the return journey was altogether more complicated (more later). The festival itself on the Sunday took the form of a "hipica" or horse show, Nicaraguan style. It was quite a crazy party in the streets, with spectators lining the streets and hundreds (literally) or horses riding and dancing around the course, interspersed with brass bands playing for the horses to dance to. It was probably a little dangerous with street vendors weaving amongst the horses and no barriers seperating us from the mass of animals, but in usual Latino style we all just went along with enjoying the day... You could tell that this festival was also celebrated by the richest levels of Nicaraguan society (just check out the photos to see what I mean in terms of well-kept and well-fed horses and humans!)
For our return trip we had been informed that our best bet was to take a taxi (hard enough given the traffic, crowds and mayhem for the festival) to the next along bigger town of Jinotepe and from there catch the last bus at 5.30pm to take us back to Granada. Alas, we got to the Jinotepe bus station to find that we'd been misinformed and that actually the last bus had left at 4pm. But we saw there was another bus leaving for Masaya (a biggish town halfway between Granada and the capital Managua) which probably gave us our best bet of another way home. We jumped on that and managed to get seats, which turned out to be a huge relief, because this bus then took us directly back through Diriamba, except that now the traffic was so jammed up that we had no hope of actually getting through. The bus filled up to bursting point and beyond (there were even chidren passengers sitting with the driver on his seat!) as well as people hanging out of windows and sitting on the roof. Then we had to make a detour through some local villages (down mud streets not wide enough or made for a bus) being directed by a local man sitting up on the front bonnet of the bus (yes, in front of the windscreen) as it got dark. There were branches coming in thorugh the windows and everyone lurching around as we battled up and down potholed hills, not really sure where we were going. Eventually about an hour and a half later we made it to the main (i.e. paved) road but coudln't get onto it correctly at the angle we joined it, so actually we turned onto the wrong lane and drove for another 5 mins backwards the wrong way down the road until we could turn around. I was actually very impressed with the driver's skills! From then on the bus journey to Masaya and then shared taxi back to Granada was a mere nothing... And so ended the weekend.
P.S. My next post will be about Becca's birthday on Monday and then last weekend's cigar launch party excesses with the crazy Canadian posse. But my camera batteries have just died, so I can't upload any more photos right now. However, before I sign off, for anyone reading this today I would very much appreciate a nice birthday email tomorrow, please!
Sunday, January 28, 2007
another La Esperanza newsletter
Sorry for the lack of recent posts, guys. I keep meaning to come to the internet cafe and write up all that's been going on, but then so much is going on that I keep having no time left over for actually catching up with myself! Anyway, I absolutely PROMISE to write several posts this coming week. And in the meantime, here's this week's La Esperanza newsletter:
Dear All,
Firstly welcome to all the new volunteers who are joining us this week, Jason Wofsey, Lauri Tamayo, Norm and Lulu Green, Mike Kent Smith, Lois Koenig and Margaux Vulloid, and Linda Yu.
I'’m sure that you are all aware that this week is the start of the school year, so it may be a little chaotic this week, the first week of school normally is, but next week you will find things settling, and hopefully all of us enjoying our roles.
On Monday there were to have been two official openings. One at La Epifania at 10am, the other at La Prusia at 3pm. I was notified last night that there has been a time change for these, so please check with the office before going to either of these – if I get the new times this afternoon I will send another email.
For the new arrivals who have not yet had an orientation and introduction to the schools this will start at 9.30 am in the office tomorrow. For all volunteers who will be working in the schools there will also be a special tutoring and introduction to Nicaraguan education on Tuesday at 1.30pm.
Charlotte and Stefan have had some problems on their travels so will not be able to return until approx. 17th February. Because of this Judith and Chris will organize things for those volunteers working with the secondary school children, and Lynette will organize the English classes in the primary schools.
We had news of a wonderful donation today from the village of Adstock in Buckinghamshire, U.K. Roger Simmons visited Granada last year and went up to the villages on a tour. As a result of the impression the children and the people made on Roger he decided to have a fundraising night in his local village to make people aware of the needs of a Nicaraguan village. Today we received a paypal donation from the people Adstock for $1020. Thanks too to Lauri Tamayo and her friend for bringing lots of school supplies, especially for arts and crafts, to Armando Sotero for bringing vitamin tablets, to Jason Wofsey for bringing beads and cord for the womens working group. (and if I have missed anyone or anything, which I think I may have – please let me know).
Next Sunday we will be making a trip to the Isletas for Sunday afternoon – leaving at 11.30 returning at 4pm – which is a great chance to all get together and relax.
So see you all through the week, let’s make it a good one. Regards, Pauline.
P.S. - just one other thing for anyone new who may not know - though it says in the printed Orientation that meetings are on Thursday evenings (we need to re-print them) volunteer meetings are now on a Tuesday evening at 7.30pm in the office.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
weekly La Esperanza charity bulletins
I've decided that it would be nice to show you all what happens at La Esperanza (the charity I'm working for here) so I'm going to copy in our weekly emails so you can what's going on for the charity as a whole. It will hopefully put my blog posts in context too so you can better understand what goes on with life here and what it's like working as a volunteer... Following here is this week's one:
Dear All,
It’s been a great week this week and a very productive one. The books in the library have been inventoried, and all the new books listed, covered, and taken up to the Library. The tutoring kits are all up to date ready for the new year. The high school children are just about complete with all the many things that they need to start the school year, not to mention the fact that the High School Prep team has been continuing classes with those starting 1st year. It is an enormous job with each child having to be enrolled, and last years re-enrolled, collecting letters for sponsors, copies of report cards etc. Even such things as sizes of shoes, socks, shirts and many other things. The supplies for their backpacks, notebooks etc. have been delivered to the office and this week we will have the backpacks ready to fill.
Childrens activity group have been having fun – and will continue this week for the last week before the start of school.
I am adding the notes of last weeks meeting to this email. Since then we have another four new volunteers who have joined us. Lynette Fairclough from the U.K. who is a TEFL teacher and will be teaching English, Colin Williamson from Ireland, Laura Manganello from Italy, and due to arrive today Liz Gage from Switzerland. These four will all have orientation on Monday.
On Tuesday we will have a meeting at 2pm which Erin will lead just to give some preparation to those of you who are already here who will be working in the primary schools. Erin will give you each a tutoring kit as well because we will have so many more new volunteers by the following Tuesday it will be good to get some organizing done in a advance.
We had some great donations this week. Lizzie Dipple who arrived last week brought some lovely childrens books in Spanish, plus skipping ropes and toys, Becca Alban had sent down from the U.S. some books/booklets in Spanish pertaining to Mental Health which should be useful in the community. Laura Mangenello brough a cash donation from her family of $250, and we had a paypal donation today from Celias Cottage in Antrim, Norther Ireland of $500. We also received the news that Iain Smy, a friend from Canada has obtained 40,000 childrens vitamin tablets for us and will be bringing them down with him in March.
On Friday we found that the school at Las Camelias has changed their class times with grades one two and three in the afternoon this year, though pre school will be in the morning. Christy will talk to those of you who will be at Las Camelias at the next meeting on Tuesday.
We had a visitor this week David who works with the Discovery Channel, he spent lots of time with La Esperanza Granada during his stay and we are very hopeful that we may be shown when they do the filming of their Granada segment of Passport to Latin America from 16th to 20th February.
THE OFFICE HAS TO MOVE !!! We will only be moving next door but in order for the new hostel to open behind the office they have to dig up the floor of where we are currently to install grey water pipes. The office next door is larger, has a bathroom and has been freshly painted. So we will plan the move for Wednesday – any helpers appreciated.
Be prepared to see lots of new faces arriving during this week and next weekend – Jodi Winemiller, Michael Kent Smith, Norm and Lulu Green, Armando Sotero, Lily Laban, Margaux Vulloid, Louis Koenig, Jason Wofsey, and Linda Yu will all be starting the new school year with us.
See you all through the week,
Regards, Pauline.
Notes from Wednesday 17th Meeting – Present, Fenna, Judith, Christy, Torey, Erin, Becc, Lizzie, Johanna, Carolyn, Jesse, Mark, Pauline, Mara, Karolien, Carolyn, Chris and Fiona.
Posters for the schools incentive prizes will be done by Johanna, Karolien and Jesse.
The Obra was cancelled for Thursday 18th, and will now be on 29th in both La Prusia and La Epifania.
Materials in the office to be sorted out to take to the various schools will be done by Erin and Lizzie.
Tutoring session will be in the office on Tuesday at 2pm for all those who will be teaching/tutoring in the primary schools.
Womens working group will change from Tuesday and Thursday afternoon to Monday afternoon.
Team leaders in each school will organize the placement of volunteers in that school e.g. first grade, second grade, pre school.
Team leaders/volunteer meetings will be on Tuesday from now on to see how that works. We will have the team leaders meeting in the office at 6.30 – any other volunteer who wishes to attend for any reason can just ask their team leader to bring them along, then we will have the volunteer meeting the same night at 7.30 at the Central which will now be next door to our office.
P.S. for new volunteers who don't know we will be making a trip to the isletas on Sunday 4th February - this is optional, on a Sunday afteroon - the boat is paid for and it is a great chance to get out of town and relax together for the afternoon.
Dear All,
It’s been a great week this week and a very productive one. The books in the library have been inventoried, and all the new books listed, covered, and taken up to the Library. The tutoring kits are all up to date ready for the new year. The high school children are just about complete with all the many things that they need to start the school year, not to mention the fact that the High School Prep team has been continuing classes with those starting 1st year. It is an enormous job with each child having to be enrolled, and last years re-enrolled, collecting letters for sponsors, copies of report cards etc. Even such things as sizes of shoes, socks, shirts and many other things. The supplies for their backpacks, notebooks etc. have been delivered to the office and this week we will have the backpacks ready to fill.
Childrens activity group have been having fun – and will continue this week for the last week before the start of school.
I am adding the notes of last weeks meeting to this email. Since then we have another four new volunteers who have joined us. Lynette Fairclough from the U.K. who is a TEFL teacher and will be teaching English, Colin Williamson from Ireland, Laura Manganello from Italy, and due to arrive today Liz Gage from Switzerland. These four will all have orientation on Monday.
On Tuesday we will have a meeting at 2pm which Erin will lead just to give some preparation to those of you who are already here who will be working in the primary schools. Erin will give you each a tutoring kit as well because we will have so many more new volunteers by the following Tuesday it will be good to get some organizing done in a advance.
We had some great donations this week. Lizzie Dipple who arrived last week brought some lovely childrens books in Spanish, plus skipping ropes and toys, Becca Alban had sent down from the U.S. some books/booklets in Spanish pertaining to Mental Health which should be useful in the community. Laura Mangenello brough a cash donation from her family of $250, and we had a paypal donation today from Celias Cottage in Antrim, Norther Ireland of $500. We also received the news that Iain Smy, a friend from Canada has obtained 40,000 childrens vitamin tablets for us and will be bringing them down with him in March.
On Friday we found that the school at Las Camelias has changed their class times with grades one two and three in the afternoon this year, though pre school will be in the morning. Christy will talk to those of you who will be at Las Camelias at the next meeting on Tuesday.
We had a visitor this week David who works with the Discovery Channel, he spent lots of time with La Esperanza Granada during his stay and we are very hopeful that we may be shown when they do the filming of their Granada segment of Passport to Latin America from 16th to 20th February.
THE OFFICE HAS TO MOVE !!! We will only be moving next door but in order for the new hostel to open behind the office they have to dig up the floor of where we are currently to install grey water pipes. The office next door is larger, has a bathroom and has been freshly painted. So we will plan the move for Wednesday – any helpers appreciated.
Be prepared to see lots of new faces arriving during this week and next weekend – Jodi Winemiller, Michael Kent Smith, Norm and Lulu Green, Armando Sotero, Lily Laban, Margaux Vulloid, Louis Koenig, Jason Wofsey, and Linda Yu will all be starting the new school year with us.
See you all through the week,
Regards, Pauline.
Notes from Wednesday 17th Meeting – Present, Fenna, Judith, Christy, Torey, Erin, Becc, Lizzie, Johanna, Carolyn, Jesse, Mark, Pauline, Mara, Karolien, Carolyn, Chris and Fiona.
Posters for the schools incentive prizes will be done by Johanna, Karolien and Jesse.
The Obra was cancelled for Thursday 18th, and will now be on 29th in both La Prusia and La Epifania.
Materials in the office to be sorted out to take to the various schools will be done by Erin and Lizzie.
Tutoring session will be in the office on Tuesday at 2pm for all those who will be teaching/tutoring in the primary schools.
Womens working group will change from Tuesday and Thursday afternoon to Monday afternoon.
Team leaders in each school will organize the placement of volunteers in that school e.g. first grade, second grade, pre school.
Team leaders/volunteer meetings will be on Tuesday from now on to see how that works. We will have the team leaders meeting in the office at 6.30 – any other volunteer who wishes to attend for any reason can just ask their team leader to bring them along, then we will have the volunteer meeting the same night at 7.30 at the Central which will now be next door to our office.
P.S. for new volunteers who don't know we will be making a trip to the isletas on Sunday 4th February - this is optional, on a Sunday afteroon - the boat is paid for and it is a great chance to get out of town and relax together for the afternoon.
Tuesday, January 23, 2007
daily life
As usual, I am hot, tired and sticky by the end of another Nicaraguan volunteer day (and considering how best to put across the simple but extreme pleasure of washing your hands at a moment like this!). But happy because I got what I needed to buy at the market this afternoon.
Most days I wake up around 7am because that's when it gets hot and light, plus noisy from the workmen building things next door. To be honest it gets so hot in the day that actually it's good to get going by 8am before it's too much to take. Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays I walk up to one of our schools (called Las Camelias) which is just outside Granada. Then at 8.30am I help bring a group of kids preparing for high school back down into Granada for their 30 mins of computer "class" at the internet cafe. We're then taking them to the market to help buy the school uniforms (it was girls on yesterday's trip, so quite different again to the boys). As everything here is rather chaotic it's hard to describe what this can entail - for instance we only found out yesterday that the high school will only accept students wearing exactly one sort of uniform so some of the kit we've bought isn't right. And then you've got the kids wanting to swap the style of socks they've each got or running off to buy refrescos or something from other stalls, or us having to find and pay people to mind the kids' bicycles... Mayhem just isn't the word. But the children are nice, if quite lively! In fact it's interesting to see the difference between the "rougher" urban kids and the country ones from a village further out. Anyway, there's just two more sessions like that to go before school starts.
By noon you're tired and hungry and so we often stop off for a fantastic second breakfast. As Granada is a small town you very often bump into the other volunteers (or hangers on that we get to know from other projects or just passing through) several times a day at one of the many spots where people pass by, eat or watch the world go by. There are two particular breakfast spots that everyone goes to too. Then afternoons could involve tutoring training, inventory of schools materials, or my seemingly interminable search for the kind of room fans that are missing in two of the rooms in our house. On Monday and Thursday afternoons we have the women's group meetings (held at the community centre - a concrete hut up a hill out of Granada where mosquito repellent is essential and you either bus, walk or hitch a lift in the back of a truck back down afterwards), so Tuesday and Thursday mornings involve work for those sessions as well, checking inverntory, doing accounts and trying to expand things (like me talking to a Nica lady today who is interested in teaching the women to weave bags, but first we have to set up a meeting to see samples and work out the cost effectiveness plus whether the possible markets are there. But everything always takes a very long time compared to how long you think it might. The women often bring their children with them, so part of the job (which I leave to the other two volunteers) is to play with the little kids and keep them out of trouble. You could say we're keeping pretty busy.
Then there are house things and shopping and washing (you have to wash your clothes pretty much every day because they get sweaty and dusty so quickly, so it's a good job we have a decent washing machine at the house) and so on to fit in around the day as well. But it's so social at home and out and about that actually it's fun too. I normally take a (cold, becasue that's all there is, but actually it's fine) shower in the evening since that's when there's water pressure. And given that we haven't been getting the same number of power cuts as were happening last year you can do that too (showering in the dark might be a step too far!)
Wednesday, January 17, 2007
first impressions of Granada
OK. This morning´s power cut is now over and I´m in a better internet cafe than last time, so I can at least put down a few first impressions of Granada, where I´m now living.
I arrived late last Thursday evening at the Casa Santa Lucia, which I´m currently sharing with 5 other girls, although I believe a couple are joining us in a fortnight or so. I managed to wangle a room to myself, although I don´t know if you can call it "to myself" when I share it with more than 30 spiders! I have to say that there´s no way you could live here with a fear of spiders, but mainly I just let them be (even the ones in my shower). So yes, the house is quite basic but it´s also quite comfortable and the other girls are very friendly. I´ve taken a few photos and once I come back with my camera I´ll upload those here.
Since a group of volnteers who´d been here a while were heading off for the weekend to the beach, another new arrival and myself stayed in town to acclimatize to the heat (we arrived during a 32 degrees "cold spell" which sadly is now over) and get to know the town. Granada is chaotic, ramshackle and dilapidated, but actually also very pretty and relaxed. I have to admit I really like it - even the market which some people find intimidating. It´s clearly the richest and most developed town in Nicaragua, but then that´s not saying much!
So Torey and I spent Friday and Saturday shopping, wandering and generally hanging out. Oh, and we did manage a bit of a night out on Friday too. Granada is quite small so there´s really only a handful of bars to go out in, so I think you very quickly get to know everyone - particularly who´s local, who´s a volunteer/ex-pat and who´s just a traveller passing through. Then on Sunday we visited a nearby Lagoon created by water filling in the crater of a (hopefully) dormant volcano. It was really chilled out and beautiful. Great swimming too.
Monday was our orientation day at the office, when we got something of a tour of the town and the local poor villages we help in. I have to say the organisation is pretty chaotic, but hopefully it will calm down once more of the recent influx of voluteers find their way. It turns out that I will be working with the women´s group but also helping out with the schools too. I´m trying not to get annoyed about it (after my long email discussions with the volunteer organiser about precisely this subject) and just go with the flow. It is the Nicaraguan way, after all. In fact you can´t do anything here quickly at all, so everything involves going with the flow. Even just buying something at the market stall can involve 10 mins of conversation. Nothing happens "rapido" in this heat.
Yesterday was my first day with the women´s group getting to know some of them and seeing how the payments are made. We managed to sell quite a few items of jewellery to a local hotel to sell on, so that´s great. And today we bought materials at the market to make a couple of display boards too. Also this morning I helped take a group of 11 boys (aged between 12 and 14) to computer class - for which read 30 mins paid for at a local internet cafe with us 3 volunteers showing them how to change font, cut and paste, etc in Word - and then on to the market to buy them all shirts, trousers, shoes and socks for their school uniforms. Complete mayhem as you can imagine. But actually the boys are naughty but still friendly and wanting to learn...
I arrived late last Thursday evening at the Casa Santa Lucia, which I´m currently sharing with 5 other girls, although I believe a couple are joining us in a fortnight or so. I managed to wangle a room to myself, although I don´t know if you can call it "to myself" when I share it with more than 30 spiders! I have to say that there´s no way you could live here with a fear of spiders, but mainly I just let them be (even the ones in my shower). So yes, the house is quite basic but it´s also quite comfortable and the other girls are very friendly. I´ve taken a few photos and once I come back with my camera I´ll upload those here.
Since a group of volnteers who´d been here a while were heading off for the weekend to the beach, another new arrival and myself stayed in town to acclimatize to the heat (we arrived during a 32 degrees "cold spell" which sadly is now over) and get to know the town. Granada is chaotic, ramshackle and dilapidated, but actually also very pretty and relaxed. I have to admit I really like it - even the market which some people find intimidating. It´s clearly the richest and most developed town in Nicaragua, but then that´s not saying much!
So Torey and I spent Friday and Saturday shopping, wandering and generally hanging out. Oh, and we did manage a bit of a night out on Friday too. Granada is quite small so there´s really only a handful of bars to go out in, so I think you very quickly get to know everyone - particularly who´s local, who´s a volunteer/ex-pat and who´s just a traveller passing through. Then on Sunday we visited a nearby Lagoon created by water filling in the crater of a (hopefully) dormant volcano. It was really chilled out and beautiful. Great swimming too.
Monday was our orientation day at the office, when we got something of a tour of the town and the local poor villages we help in. I have to say the organisation is pretty chaotic, but hopefully it will calm down once more of the recent influx of voluteers find their way. It turns out that I will be working with the women´s group but also helping out with the schools too. I´m trying not to get annoyed about it (after my long email discussions with the volunteer organiser about precisely this subject) and just go with the flow. It is the Nicaraguan way, after all. In fact you can´t do anything here quickly at all, so everything involves going with the flow. Even just buying something at the market stall can involve 10 mins of conversation. Nothing happens "rapido" in this heat.
Yesterday was my first day with the women´s group getting to know some of them and seeing how the payments are made. We managed to sell quite a few items of jewellery to a local hotel to sell on, so that´s great. And today we bought materials at the market to make a couple of display boards too. Also this morning I helped take a group of 11 boys (aged between 12 and 14) to computer class - for which read 30 mins paid for at a local internet cafe with us 3 volunteers showing them how to change font, cut and paste, etc in Word - and then on to the market to buy them all shirts, trousers, shoes and socks for their school uniforms. Complete mayhem as you can imagine. But actually the boys are naughty but still friendly and wanting to learn...
Monday, January 15, 2007
Nicaragua contact details
I´m at a terrible internet cafe with a very slow connection and a sticky keyboard, so I can´t write the interesting piece I was going to on my first impressions of Granada, or upload my first photos.
However, I will at least give you my postal address, in case anyone wants to send me a letter or card, or something:
Lizzie Dipple
La Esperanza Granada
Hostal Central
Calle La Calzada
3 Varas Oeste
Granada
Nicaragua
And I´ll write more next time from a better internet cafe.
However, I will at least give you my postal address, in case anyone wants to send me a letter or card, or something:
Lizzie Dipple
La Esperanza Granada
Hostal Central
Calle La Calzada
3 Varas Oeste
Granada
Nicaragua
And I´ll write more next time from a better internet cafe.
Friday, January 12, 2007
Nicaragua here I am
Last night I flew in to Nicaragua (to the capital Managua) and then came down here to Granada by taxi. Just as we were leaving the airport my taxi driver Felipe got a phone call to say that he had to pick someone else up at the airport, so we went to a nearby petrol station and stopped there while he invited me to a juice and a chat whilst we waited for the other person´s plane to land. Felipe was full of thoughts and discussions about the new president of Nicaragua (old-time Sandinista Daniel Ortega) who had been sworn into office the day before, and what he´s going to do to the country. I have to admit I was a little worried sitting there at the garage with all my travelling worldly goods on me, but actually it was pretty cool talking to Felipe.
So this morning I popped in on the charity´s office to say hello, and to find out where and when I have to get started (9am on Monday for an orientation session) and I´m spending the rest of today hanging out with another newly arrived volunteer, Torey from Montana, getting to know the town of Granada and getting used to the heat. We´ve already met a few US ex-pats over breakfast, who´ve given us some tips on cool places to go. The other girls at the house are off for the weekend to the beach for some surfing, but I think I´d like to spend at least 24 hours here in Granada finding my way around before I head off...!
So this morning I popped in on the charity´s office to say hello, and to find out where and when I have to get started (9am on Monday for an orientation session) and I´m spending the rest of today hanging out with another newly arrived volunteer, Torey from Montana, getting to know the town of Granada and getting used to the heat. We´ve already met a few US ex-pats over breakfast, who´ve given us some tips on cool places to go. The other girls at the house are off for the weekend to the beach for some surfing, but I think I´d like to spend at least 24 hours here in Granada finding my way around before I head off...!
Mexico City catch-up
I had a few problems with Blogger on my last two attempts to write an entry in Mexico City, so I´m afraid I´m now having to do a quick catch-up on what I was up to there...
The lovely Artus put me up in his flat very close to Coyocan metro station (for those of you reading this who know Mexico City), and I spent my first couple of days just hanging out, wandering around and remembering to speak Spanish. It was lovely to relax after all the craziness of packing up in London. Then on Friday night Artus organised a tradtional Fiesta de la Rosca and invited many of my old Mexico friends. This is a party where you cut and eat a traditional cake ring to celebrate the Dia de los Reyes Magos (6th Jan) when Mexican children receive their Christmas presents from the Wise Men. Of course our party involved more drinking wine and chatting than anything else, but even so... I´m having difficulties downloading photos from my camera, but if and when I manage it, I´ll put up a couple of fiesta photos here (click on the photo to see the rest of the album).
It was funny how my Spanish improved greatly as the evening (and the drinks) wore on! It was extremely nice to see many of the friends I´ve hardly been in touch with since my last visit to Mexico almost five years ago.
Artus has also had his Maltese boyfriend Chris staying with him, and we three had a touristy day on Sunday, first taking the new Turibus open-top bus tour all around the city (so much has changed it´s incredible - all new shiny skyscrapers being built in the Zona Rosa and around, and now La Condesa has moved on from hip to a bit passe). The centro area has also changed loads, as it´s lost its sketchy, edgy feel and now is (comparatively) much smarter and safer. I have to admit though that secretly I sort of miss the old cool too. Then later on we went to the Ballet Folkorico to see a show of traditional Mexican regional dances (along with a theatre full of gringo tourists). The following day we took a trip out to the state of Michoacan with Artus´s mother to see the Monarch butterflies which come through and spend winter here in their millions.
A couple of things I´d wanted to do in Mexico as part of the Latin American acclimatisation were to travel around by pesero/microbus and also to wander and eat in the markets, both of which I managed to fit in in between my photoshoot with Toño for Artus´s friends gallery of photos (and let me tell you this was quite an experience!) And then, horribly quickly it was my last day and night - I met up with an old friend Pancho for a traditional comida corrida lunch and then we had a dinner and drinks de despedida (goodbye) in the evening with everyone. Funnily enough all the lovely Mexicans were on British punctual time and I was the Mexicana arriving 20 mins late! We had a fantastic evening, and I felt very sad to be heading off the next morning... But I have made lots of promises to return to Mexico very soon.
The lovely Artus put me up in his flat very close to Coyocan metro station (for those of you reading this who know Mexico City), and I spent my first couple of days just hanging out, wandering around and remembering to speak Spanish. It was lovely to relax after all the craziness of packing up in London. Then on Friday night Artus organised a tradtional Fiesta de la Rosca and invited many of my old Mexico friends. This is a party where you cut and eat a traditional cake ring to celebrate the Dia de los Reyes Magos (6th Jan) when Mexican children receive their Christmas presents from the Wise Men. Of course our party involved more drinking wine and chatting than anything else, but even so... I´m having difficulties downloading photos from my camera, but if and when I manage it, I´ll put up a couple of fiesta photos here (click on the photo to see the rest of the album).
It was funny how my Spanish improved greatly as the evening (and the drinks) wore on! It was extremely nice to see many of the friends I´ve hardly been in touch with since my last visit to Mexico almost five years ago.
Artus has also had his Maltese boyfriend Chris staying with him, and we three had a touristy day on Sunday, first taking the new Turibus open-top bus tour all around the city (so much has changed it´s incredible - all new shiny skyscrapers being built in the Zona Rosa and around, and now La Condesa has moved on from hip to a bit passe). The centro area has also changed loads, as it´s lost its sketchy, edgy feel and now is (comparatively) much smarter and safer. I have to admit though that secretly I sort of miss the old cool too. Then later on we went to the Ballet Folkorico to see a show of traditional Mexican regional dances (along with a theatre full of gringo tourists). The following day we took a trip out to the state of Michoacan with Artus´s mother to see the Monarch butterflies which come through and spend winter here in their millions.
 |
| Mexican sightseers |
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| Las Mariposas Monarcas en Michoacan |
A couple of things I´d wanted to do in Mexico as part of the Latin American acclimatisation were to travel around by pesero/microbus and also to wander and eat in the markets, both of which I managed to fit in in between my photoshoot with Toño for Artus´s friends gallery of photos (and let me tell you this was quite an experience!) And then, horribly quickly it was my last day and night - I met up with an old friend Pancho for a traditional comida corrida lunch and then we had a dinner and drinks de despedida (goodbye) in the evening with everyone. Funnily enough all the lovely Mexicans were on British punctual time and I was the Mexicana arriving 20 mins late! We had a fantastic evening, and I felt very sad to be heading off the next morning... But I have made lots of promises to return to Mexico very soon.
 |
| Mexico City farewell dinner |
Thursday, January 4, 2007
Mexico City arrival
Despite all the craziness of finishing off packing up my flat, I did manage to get most of it done by the skin of my teeth, and then I packed up my rucksack (rather chaotically) and got on the plane yesterday. I arrived here in Mexico City last night, and my goodness was I glad to see my friend Artús waiting for me at the airport to take me home... I think I´d used up all my reserves of energy for the packing and sorting out and then the 11-hour flight on top of it all was just exhausting.
But today is a new day and I´m out and about re-acclimatising to the Latin American vibe. I´ve already eaten quesadillas and nopales (cactus) and I´m wandering around on a sunny afternoon not needing my fleece jacket at all. I think with all the frenetic activity of getting prepared for the off I had forgotten what going away for 5 months really means, so it´s only now that I´m pausing for breath that I have realised what I´m doing - scary stuff!
Now I have a few more days here before I head to Nicaragua for the real purpose of this trip. More to follow once I get there...
But today is a new day and I´m out and about re-acclimatising to the Latin American vibe. I´ve already eaten quesadillas and nopales (cactus) and I´m wandering around on a sunny afternoon not needing my fleece jacket at all. I think with all the frenetic activity of getting prepared for the off I had forgotten what going away for 5 months really means, so it´s only now that I´m pausing for breath that I have realised what I´m doing - scary stuff!
Now I have a few more days here before I head to Nicaragua for the real purpose of this trip. More to follow once I get there...
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