Discovering Masaya

Now that I have had over a week or so to settle in to my small pueblo I have had the chance to explore the surrounding pueblos and cities.  Nica is divided up into departments much like the U.S. states.  Masaya is the department that I live in and the city of Masaya, which is about 20 mins away by bus, serves as the department capital.  There are no other departments in Nica where you can find the massive amount of arts and crafts that are produced from the cities of Masaya.  The arts produced such as hammocks, furniture, pottery and the art of bread-making (panaderias) make this department a top destination in Nica.  Masaya is famous for its Mercado Artesenia (artisan market), which houses the arts all the while reflecting the ancient architecture of the Spanish that colonized this city in 1524. 

The pueblos outside the capital of Masaya are called the Pueblos Blancos (Nandasmo is one) and are known to supply Masaya with the arts for the large amount of tourists that visit the artisan market. 

I don’t think I mentioned this in my previous post about my town of Nandasmo, but it is known for its furniture making, specifically rocking chairs and its bread!  I don’t mean just bread, but bread with sugar and cheese or apple filling.  Fresh bread pops up everywhere in the tiny houses around me and I do indulge when I see a Panadera (breadmaker) taking out a fresh batch as I walk through town.

The Nandasmo Mirador is also a beautiful attraction here.  A mirador is a look out point usually over a body of water, which isn’t hard to come by here.  My Mirador looks out over Lake Massaya and is currently under construction.  Apparently the Nicas of Nandasmo partied so hard over Samana Santa they trashed the pool to the point it had to close.  Seems as though they are taking advantage of the closing to add a restaurant and will be reopening to the public soon.  You’ll know where to find me when it does.

Masaya Mirador

My Mirador in Nandasmo

My first weekend was rather eventful.  We typically have training on Saturdays and this Saturday we met at a nice restaurant to go over our goals and objectives as Small Business Volunteers for the next two years once training is finished.  It was comforting to have a clear cut view of what is expected of me and project some numbers around our impact.  I guess I haven’t completely lost my finance side and need for numbers.  See the Projects tab for a further description of my goals.  One project that has me extremely excited is the creation of multiple community banks.  The model Peace Corps uses mirrors Muhammed Yunus’ Grameen Bank model, which I am very passionate about.  I’ll post some articles that outline the importance of Micro-finance in developing countries just to help those who are doubtful of its impact J.  Saturday night a large group of us volunteers gathered in another neighboring Pueblo Blanco Catarina to enjoy some cervezas and the famous Mirador over Lake Apollo, which gives this town its reputation. 

Yoga continues to be a huge part of my day-to-day life here.  Sunday I ventured to my friend Leslie’s house in Juan de Oriente(one of the Pueblos Blancos) where his parents hold up the town’s reputation for producing massive amounts of gorgeous pottery which is exported to the U.S.  Its great to be surrounded by yogis here in the Peace Corps, who would have thought! Ha ha, just kidding!

Sunday night my family went to yet another neighboring pueblo Blanco called Pedio XII for my cousin’s (I think) dance performance.  It took place at a festival where the folklore dances of the pacific coast and the Jamaican influenced dances of the Atlantic coast were showcased.  I have also included pictures of Nicas engaging in a common fiesta practice of climbing an extremely large pole by stacking one on top of the other to reach a cerveza at the top=interesting.

Catholic church in Masaya

This week has been a whirlwind in language training as we have already visited the police station, the governor’s’ office and sat in on an entrepreneurship class at a high school in Masaya.  We have yet to hold our second youth group meeting, which will take place later this week.  We are engaging youth in starting a small business of their choosing and going through the motions of what it takes to become an entrepreneur.  Hopefully more to come here as we get going, but our first meeting drew in about 15 youth of all ages!

I continue to bond with my family as they laugh at my grammatical mistakes and gawk awkwardly at my gadgets.  Every time I whip out my electric toothbrush my mom makes a buzzing noise to imitate it while Sheila(lil sis) just stares as though she will find where the noise is coming form.  I know what your thinking,” really Kate?  An electronic toothbrush?”  I figured if I have electricity than I’m bringing the electric toothbrush because nothing can top it!  Annie I knew you would be proud!  As weird as they think I am, the Nicas take the prize with their odd mystical beliefs.  Apparently my mom had pain in her neck/jaw and it’s a Nica cure to roll up a piece of newspaper like a funnel, stick it in your ear, and burn it until it gets dangerously close to your head.  What the?  I witnessed it and told them they were insane the entire time.

Juevos rancheros, I finally discovered it.  It’s been a rough start with the intensity of the rice and beans diet here in Nica.  I’ve already had enough, but luckily my blabbing about how much I love eggs brought out the juevos ranchers tonight!  It was truly delicious and hit the spot!  I must say that the daily dose of tropical fruit such as mangos has me very happy, but I’m working on adding more veggies to my diet. 

Nandasmo

This tiny pueblo is my new home for the next 11 weeks.  It has been a long five days since I arrived in Nandasmo on Saturday morning.  Let’s just say it’s taken this long for the culture shock to finally subside.  My host family is incredibly sweet and ridiculously poor.  My mom, Ceyla, and host dad Roberto are still rather young for having daughters Sheila(7) and Jhorleni(14).  My new house is blue and white with fresh Nica air flowing throughout.  Like all Nica houses I do not have hot water or air conditioning, but I do have indoor plumbing and electricity as promised.  My room is rather small, but it doesn’t really matter because I never find myself sitting in it.  I should mention that Ceyla has four sisters and Roberto has seven siblings who live in the neighborhood with their children.  I made a family tree tonight to help sort things out and it was quite the event!  Everyone had an opinion on how it should be done and had a pencil in had to help draw.  At any given time there might be about 20 people wandering through my house.  I have no idea who is my aunt, uncle, or cousin, but they know who I am!  Everyone is very interested in the gringo girl.  I was also thrilled to find that my host family has a sweet little dog along with a two-month old puppy that is absolutely adorable!  I’ve never seen such a playful and happy puppy.

Me with the puppy!

When I arrived on Saturday I wandered aimlessly not knowing what to make of my surroundings.  I received the most rural training site assignment possible for a business volunteer, which was hard at first, but I’m starting to realize that this lifestyle is going to teach me more about Nica culture than any text book or big city.  My family does their best to accommodate me and persuade me to love their small town as much as they do.  In an effort to showcase the Nica culture my mom Ceyla insisted we go to the neighboring town’s fair on Sunday night.  My entire family plus cousin David loaded in to my dad’s taxi(did I mention he is a taxi driver?) and drove to the next town over for a fair to enjoy the festivities until 10pm.  I was pretty impressed with their stamina since little Sheila has class early and Roberto drives to the large city of Masaya for work around 7 am.  A popular Nica band was performing while I danced with other volunteers and members of my family.  The fair was very similar to an America fair with art, jewelry, popcorn, cervezas, and cotton candy, which I haven’t had in years!  It was great to run in to other volunteers that live in that town which isn’t hard when we stick out like soar thumbs!  During the day on Sunday I hiked with Pedro(another volunteer) to the town’s lookout over the nearest lake which has a public pool with a restaurant which should be opening soon! On Sunday I also taught a yoga class in Spanish to other volunteers and our host sisters, which went over really well!  Yoga is going to be my saving grace over these next few months.  Let’s just say there was more visual than verbal ques, but I’m sure I’ll get better as my Spanish improves.

Monday was the first day of training, which was held at my house.  I naturally wake up around six in the morning here with the rest of the locals to the sound of trucks and roosters in the streets.  Since I am up and the air is cool I have been taking advantage of that time for an early run before class starts.  I’m pretty sure the locals think I’m insane, but I just nod and say “Buena” as I run by.  Hola is common here, but Buena is short for Buenas Dias and is the typical Nica greeting.  I do enjoy the language training.  I have already learned an incredible amount of new words since I’ve been here.  What’s great about the training is it isn’t just out of a text book and its solely in spanish.  No one, I mean no one, speaks English here.  Our trainer is a local Nicaraguenese who walks with us around town and is taking us to a large market in the capital on Friday to actually use our Spanish in context.

My class

Our second day of training was dedicated to learning how to get around Nica.  Nicas don’t use street names or addresses, just imagine.  The directions to my house are from the internet café go half a block “arriba” which translates to up and means east here.  It’s the blue house with two trees in front.  The most popular mode of transportation is a moto taxi, which is basically a motorcycle with a carriage behind it with room for three people(see pics).  Everything is ridiculously cheap, which is good news considering my salary.  To put things in to context, I spent 10 Cordobas on an hour of internet use which is around 50 cents here.

My family is fascinated with the fact that I do yoga.  I taught another yoga class at my family’s house and everyone was getting in on the action.  The eldest daughter was pretty in to it until the seven year old broke in and showed her up.  Not minutes after that my dad got involved.  I don’t think I’ve laughed so hard with so few words spoken.

I just spent the last hour with my host family in the kitchen going over all the fresh foods Ceyla bought at the market.  I told Ceyla that I love fruits and veggies to get her mind jogging since the Nica diet consists mostly of rice, beans and anything fried.  The good news is there is a lime, avocado, and banana tree in back that I can utilize when in season.   While we sat around chatting my family insisted on calling volunteers that they have hosted in the past and still keep in touch so I could chat with them.  The past volunteers filled me in on all the places to go out for fiestas and get cervezas.  I’m slowly getting in to a routine here and I’m totally appreciating the torrential down pours of the rainy season, which cool Nandasmo off in the evening.   Tomorrow we have our first session at the local school and on Friday we start our community bank.  I’ll have the projects section of my blog updated in not time! I’m off to the Cyber café to post this blog if I can get the puppy to stop wrestling with my pant leg.

First Days in Nica: Staging and Pre-Training Retreat

These last few days have been long and exhausting.  Yet I’m surprised as I catch my self say out loud that Staging and the Pre-Training Retreat is already over and I’m a bit sad! I think I’m really going to miss not seeing this group of people that I’ve bonded with on a daily basis.  Let’s review the bonding process shall we?

Monday through Wednesday was a whirl wind as I departed Tucson and spent the last 2 days stateside in DC for Peace Corps(PC) Staging.  Staging is basically a day of filling out paperwork and meeting your volunteer group via icebreakers before heading out to your country.  Monday night after arriving in DC I was able to meet up with my girlfriend Ashley who sent me off on my journey!  Ash is a PC volunteer in Togo, Africa, but we were fortunate to overlap in DC after not seeing each other for over a year and a half!  After Staging ended on Tuesday, my last super consisted of sushi followed by Spanish wine and cheese, which I will truly miss.  I slept about a half hr(literally) that night before I flew out.  I was up until 1 am talking with friends and family for the last time on a phone for awhile.  I have reluctantly put my cell number that I’ve had since I was 16 to sleep.  At 2 am we checked out of our hotel in DC and departed for Nica.  Lucky me, I got to be the leader of group number six and play kindergarten teacher as I took role at 2 am in the hotel lobby.  Bada bing bada boom we were in Miami and then on to our final destination. Once we arrived in the capital of Managua we were greeted with current volunteers and giant bottles of water.  Let’s just say Managua is not known for its architectural beauty or for being very safe.  This city took a pretty large hit in Managua’s earthquake of 1972 and was never completely rebuilt to represent the large capital it once was.  Nonetheless, the capitol is always the site of PC headquarters in a country.  It was a sweaty 30 min ride in an old school bus with out air conditioning to our training facility.  All 47 of us have been staying in an education facility where we will have been for a total of three nights during our Pre-Training Retreat. The compound’s palm trees give us a taste of the lush greenery surrounding us while sporting dorm style housing, air-conditioned lecture rooms and wi-fi!  I was a zombie the rest of that day after we arriving in Nicaragua.  Luckily we just covered simple logistics in the afternoon as my head kept nodding with exhaustion.

The next morning I woke up to a hearty breakfast of gallo pinto and eggs, which kept me going through our busy day of vaccines, medical exams, language tests, photos, and our tour of Managua.  The city is beautiful in most areas with large hotels and nightclubs, but some areas have been abandoned or turned to slums.  We visited Managua’s old cathedral(used before the earthquake), which reflects the architecture of the Spanish who once colonized the city.  We chilled by the enormous lake Managua for a cerveza Tona before stopping by a very standard(minus the plantains) Wal-Mart on our way back to the compound.  Today I also met my Program Director(boss) Georgia and Project Specialist Emily who I will be getting to know over the next three months of training.  These ladies will determine where I spend my two years of service after getting to know my needs, interests and personality over the three months of training.  They truly care about our happiness and well being, which puts my mind at ease. 

Today I was assigned a host family and training town!  This announcement also revealed the few volunteers who will be sharing the same tutor and training town with me for the next three months.  Lucky for me Kelli, Noelle, and Peter will be my partners in crime in the city of Nandasmo, Masaya!  All of these decisions depended on how my language test from yesterday turned out.  Basically the four of us are at the same level of proficiency and will be taught by a language trainer in an intimate experiential setting.  When I say language test I mean an uncomfortable encounter with a very straight-faced Nicaraguan women sitting across from me with a tape recorder making me feel inept.  The good news is Peace Corps has a world-renowned language training program called ACTFL Language Proficiency which will allow me to earn a certificate at close of service stating my level of fluency, cool!

It’s extremely humid here, but the nights cool down.  I just finished an hour and a half of power yoga with my buds Leslie and Alicia and right now I’m sitting under an open-air gazebo made of palm leaves enjoying the breeze.  The lightning and thunder is crashing signifying that the rainy season is about to take over for the next six months.  It reminds me of the monsoon season in Tucson, my favorite.  Tomorrow I head out of the training compound to my host family’s house bright and early.  More to come on my new family and training town!

The Countdown is on!

In exactly one week from today I will be on an extremely early flight from Peace Corps Headquarters in DC to Miami and then on to Nicaragua’s capital Managua.  I’ve spent my last month stateside in Arizona enjoying friends, family, wine, great food, sunsets, yoga, hiking, camping and everything American.  I’m finally ready to take the plunge in to the unknown. When I say unknown I’m referring to the fact that I have no idea what part of Nica I will live in post training, who my host stay family will be or any of the individuals who will be serving alongside me for the next two years of my life.  Despite the massive amounts of research and picking the brains of current volunteers, nothing can really prepare me for what I’m about to encounter.  Sure I have my bug spray, swimsuit, trail running shoes, and every Nike dri-fit piece of clothing I own packed, but let’s get real.  After three years in a very predictable corporate America setting, it’s extremely exciting and liberating to have no idea exactly what each day will hold.  I’m told that I will be training alongside other PCVs(Peace Corps Volunteers) with the same level of Spanish and that I will be able to express my preference for which area of the country I want to live in, but I’m not holding my breathe.

Everyone has been asking if I’m ready or if I’m scared.  I’m not going to lie and pretend that my nerves aren’t kicking in right about now!  Just like everyone else there is a flicker of doubt that passes through my mind when making a major life changing decision, but I do my best to push it out of the way and focus on all the amazing things that are about to enter my life.  Just the other day I was having one of my “over analyzing moments” when your mind starts to run away with all the “what ifs” until an episode of Andrew Zimmern’s Bizarre Foods Nicaragua comes across the DirecTV menu.  My Dad and I watched in fascination as he continued to eat Caribbean fair, grilled iguana and a delicacy of soft cheese with mini maggots in it(gross I know)!  It wasn’t the food that caught my attention, but the gorgeous architecture of the city of Granada about 20 minutes outside of my training town of Masaya.  Amongst the lush greenery were massive cathedrals and plazas with splashes of vibrant yellows and corals juxtaposing the bright blue of the ocean in the distance.  This reminded me of a perfect blend between Spain and Mexico, my paradise!  You know that pure bliss of waking up in a foreign country(early of course!) with a myriad of things to explore and enrapture you?  When your sole purpose is to learn, discover and be swept away with everything new to your senses.  That feeling of adventure swept over me as a big grin widened across my face, I’m more than ready!