Estudio de Topografia

The surveyors started work last week (they are creating a contour map of all construction areas to at the 1 meter detail level). It’s so nice to finally have someone out there actually accomplishing something! Not just us working here in the office laying the groundwork.

Another company was supposed to start digging the well yesterday, but they put us off again. I haven’t had to be too pushy yet, but I embarked on it today in an email (Ok, I’ve been a little pushy all the way along, but this was the first obvious time).

I’m really unsure what results I’ll get, however. I know exactly what would happen in the US, but here there’s a possibility it will completely backfire. There’s a reason why so many people here are good at talking all the way around a subject and then back again in very pretty language, because often that is how you get people to do stuff for you. I’m definitely not that good at it.


I think some of it comes from so much of the population trying to get things done from a place outside of power. In the US, generally we use the power that we have over someone (a contract, fear of being fired, etc) if nothing else will work. Here, because contracts are hard to enforce (the legal system is incredibly slow and unpredictable if you aren't one of the 'in' crowd) and people have their jobs in the first place because they're family, that just doesn't happen. Those are broad generalizations, but they have truth to them.

Refresco

The name says it all. Frequently the ‘Re’ is dropped and it’s just called ‘fresco’, which appropriately changes the translation in English to ‘fresh’.

Living in a tropical climate has taken some adjustment, not the least of which is my idea of what kind of sweet things I want. I’ve tried baking (Ugh! Hot!) and frying (Ugh! Really hot!) to satisfy my sweet tooth, but by the time it’s complete, I’m so tired and sweaty I don’t even want it anymore! And that’s not like me!

Cookies, cakes, pies, pastries, you name it, I wanted to bake it. But now I can’t think of anything I’d like more than a cool drink. As I found out, though, this comes with some heat too.

Sister Phyllis and I headed off to the market on Saturday afternoon to see what we could find. She’s lived here for years, but willingly obliged my desire to try to experiment with some of the unknown produce I’d never seen before.

There is a fair amount of produce that is totally familiar since we’re very good at shipping things to ourselves in the US from Central America. Mangoes, Papayas, bananas and pineapple all grow in abundance here. When I would point and ask someone what I could do with an item I was unfamiliar with in their stock, many of the times I would get the answer ‘refresco’.

So I picked out some collitos to bring home and the recommended spices (cinnamon sticks and anise) in little plastic baggies. Sister and I plunked them into a pot of water and set it on the stove to boil. About an hour later (after much checking) we strained the juice and mashed the last bits of flavor out of the berries (which have a huge pit inside so we decided mashing them had actually been just about worthless).

After dropping the ice in to cool it down, we sampled our experiment. And we liked it, we liked it quite a bit because it was almost exactly the same as….. cranberry juice! Really refreshing, time consuming cranberry juice!

To complete the effect, I put some in a plastic baggie. If there is one thing that says tropical Central American country to me, it is drinking juice out of a baggie. Because soda still comes in glass bottles here, if you want something to drink to go, it comes in a plastic baggie. Just bite off the corner and drink responsibly!

And I almost forgot! This is my submission for SHF #33, hosted by http://alpineberry.blogspot.com/!

La Cocina En La Isla

As I've lived here longer I think in Spanish more and more frequently so when I see this picture I don't think 'the kitchen on the island at the main home for the kids', I just think 'la concina en la isla!' It's definitely a relief to get to this point in my language development.

What's not a relief, however, would be working in this kitchen! While I love this photo, I wouldn't love working here. The Nicaraguan women amaze me with their long hours of work in incredible heat and humidity (when you're outside you think it can't get any hotter, but you're wrong!), all in flip flops or low heels!

Concepcion

Here's the view from the San Jorge ferry dock to start your weekend.

Some Things Are Just Silly

Sometimes it is surprising what is different here compared to in the States.

For example, I don’t have a phone in my office. I bugged the IT staff here for about two months and eventually got a phone line. But no phone. Finally when Gunther arrived, it really became a necessity for us to have a phone (because I have a cell from NPH, I’d just been using that).

So on their last trip to Managua, a two hour drive one way, one of the staff looked for a digital phone that would network with the rest of the phones the office already has. But apparently there isn't a digital phone in the country anymore. At least not one they could find for sale, so we’ll have to special order one.

So yeah, you think, Nicaragua isn’t a rich country, they probably just don’t have a lot of easily available technology, and that’s true, but there’s more.

I went looking for a table for my room made out of wood. Call me a snob, I really didn't want a white circular plastic tables for a desk. So we went to the market, but apparently there are no wood tables for sale in Rivas. And Rivas isn’t a tiny village, it’s a town. There are plenty of wood tables around in people’s houses and businesses, just, apparently, none are for sale.

My wood table (from a town an hour away) in my living room (little mattresses on the floor with pillows)

So yeah, you think, Nicaragua doesn’t have quite the consumption level that other countries do, so they don’t have lots of different choices, and that’s true, but there’s more.

Rivas (the big town next to the little suburb I live in) isn't exactly the busiest commercial center

Gunther went to go and open a bank account. He’s an official resident (his wife is Nicaraguan) and he wanted to deposit money. But they won’t let him open a bank account unless he has two letters of reference from other people. Not anyone special, just whoever you want.

The idea comes from the US War on Drugs so that if your account is being used to launder drug money, they can track it to people other than just you. But all the letter needs to be is your neighbor saying, yeah, he’s a nice guy. And if they catch you laundering money for drugs all your neighbor will say is, yeah, I sure thought he was a nice guy. You could deposit $20 and this would be a requirement.

So there are some things here that seem kind of silly. Not that Nicaragua is alone in that category, but it is definitely fits right in.

This Little Piggy Went to Market, Eventually

A little Nicaraguan Neighborhood Atmosphere - They’re everywhere. These pictures are within two blocks of home while I was walking down the road. And there’s a whole lot more where they came from.

This not so little pig (which I did not get a good shot of) is being raised at Casa Asis, the Babies House and will eventually feed the kids there and us at the office.

Everybody Loves Reymundo Video