Sunday, April 24, 2011

One more picture

I forgot to post this one...its a good one of the bottle collection effort.  Remember, its not that I hate plastic bottles, but if we don't pick them up to recycle them they either get burned putting out horrible toxic fumes or they lie where they fall for  maybe .........forever !!!!!  We actually made two loads like this to our collection point today.  And, the best news is that when people saw out collecting, they brought out bags they had collected.  So, the spirit is present in the town, we just have to get organized and have a regular pick up schedule.

The kid in the green shirt is Juan Pablo. He has his degree in Veternary medicine and is licensed to work, but can't find a job.  Lots of that here.   Raul, the guy in the red shirt has a degree in Architecture and .....no work.

Notice the paving stones.  

Pat

Final edition of Semana Santa

I want to give you a report of the final day of this Holy Week.  As expected, Jesus was resurrected today but he did not go straight to heaven, he participated in a procession around town first. ( Shame on me !!)  Anyhow, I was in the park with some kids ready to begin our bottle collection when the procession with Jesus approached ( I will attach some photos) which was not a surprise.  The surprise came when Mary's procession came around the corner and the two processions met and the reuniting of Jesus with his mother took place.  It was amazing and there was a large crowd there to witness it.  There were also men walking in the procession with arms full of these rockets they set off ( which they did at every corner of Jesus's procession ) and then they set off a whole bunch of them when Mary and Jesus met up.  Also, the police had their one vehicle there and they turned on the siren for what seemed like ten minutes.  Then, after an amount of time, both processions, with Mary and Jesus side by side, returned to the church for a mass.

I did not go to the mass as we had a full day of plastic bottle collecting planned and a bunch of kids showed up so that is what I did the rest of the day. 








I forgot one thing, this morning at 4:30 they began setting off the the bomb/rockets I guess to demonstrate their joy that Jesus had been resurrected.  I hope Jesus appreciated them because the new puppy next door and I did not. 

The pictures are a little mixed up but you can tell the bottle collection ones and the procession ones.  The guy in the red shirt and dred locks is Raul and he is sort of the community leader of the kids so I am trying to do everything in conjunction with him, so he can keep it going long after I am gone.  That is one of the requirements of Peace Corps, sustainability.

The smoky picture was taken right after Jesus and Mary met up and all the bombs went off.

The kid in the hammock and the other two are all kids of the ladies who work in our mercado/bus termial.

Thats my final report on Semana Santa.

Love,
Pat

Semana Santa

Its  Holy Week down here and they take it very seriously....for the most part.  It has been a real experience for me as well as an opportunity to keep my cynicism/tongue in check.  First of all, the schools are shut down for the whole week plus the following Holy Monday.  So, that sticks in my craw since the children here get so little educational opportunity anyhow.  And, to make matters worse, the Friday before the week of vaca, they have a party at the school to celebrate the start of vaca !!!

So, there are a lot of misas ( masses) all week on various days depending on what day it is in the story of the crucifixcion.  There are procesiones ( processions) almost every day or night with Jesus held aloft on a platform which is carried by church people ( special folks who have special shirts with patches on their sleeves indicating their role).  If the procession is at night, Jesus is followed by a wheelbarrow with a car battery attached to a long extension cord going to the spot lights on Jesus.  Also, the processions are either preceded or followed by a few young people, a band or ensemble of sorts, usually consisting of a trumpet, trombone or tuba, and a couple drums, which plays music or rather short tunes, sometimes somber other times joyful, depending on whether the procession is sad or joyful.

These processions usually follow a misa, so after Jesus is taken down from his place inside the church ( actually our chuch has two Jesuses, one is a black statue of Jesus and is our patron saint, Guisgipulas who was brought here ages ago from Guatemala, so I am told) and the other one is the more traditional chela ( light skinned, i.e. I am chela too) and thats the one they use for the processions. In addittion to Jesus on the platform held aloft on the shoulders of the carriers, the wheelbarrow and the band the townspeople who were at the misa follow, or precede, the procession all thru town.  The rest of the townspeople move their plastic chairs out into the streets to watch the procession go by.  So, those processions are a very big deal and are looked forward to with great anticipation.  Prior to the arrival of the procession, the people who live along the way, throw water in the street to keep down the dust that otherwise would be horrible with so many people walking in the street.

 I live on a block which has a corner by which most of the processions proceed.  There is a very nice family, extended family as far as I can tell, which lives there and each day they told me when the procession was coming and invited me to sit on their porch with them to watch.   I did it twice and it was a good experience both times.

On Thursday night, I went to misa ( because one of the deacons invited me so I felt I had to go) and then sat on the porch to watch for the procession afterwards.  I actually left the misa early when the priest came down into the congregtation and started washing people's feet.  I was not up for that ( given that my feet have really taken a beating over here with the dirt streets and they were not much to speak of prior) Anyway, I left, walked around town, bought a leche con banano ( like a milkshake but in a plastic bag which you bite of a corner and suck out the milkshake) and then wandered back to my neighbor's to await the procession. 

Finally, Jesus came by and I figured out, or was told, that he was on his way to a congregant's house to spend the night from which there would be another procession in the morning that would carry him back to the church for the crucifixcion.  When he arrived at that house, all the people in the procession would have cakes and drinks, I guess symbolizing the last supper. Thats what the feet washing was about too.

There was a big procession Friday night but I missed it.  I could hear the band in the street and it was very slow and somber as I believe that is the night he supposedly was taken down from the cross and placed in that cave/tomb.

On Saturday the do some things that sort of have me mystified and my Spanish is not good enough to understand what they were trying to explain to me. I think it is related to purging bad spirits.  It involves people walking around town in masks, the very scary kind with ragged clothes, sticks, crazy hair, faces usually totally covered or smeared with black mud or paint, very very scary.  These people walk in the street and make threatening gestures at passing cars, bikes, pedestrians, etc.  No one seems really scared  ( except me when they stepped in front of the bus which was going full speed at the time) but it was all a dance and everyone ( except me) knew what to expect and no one was killed. 

Then, on Saturday, following the misa, the procesison came by again and I was on the porch waiting with my neighbors.  Prior to the procession, townspeople had  hung ( as if in effigy) dummies, fully clothed, shoes and all,  from ropes in trees along the processions path, stuffed not only with flammable paper or rags, but with fireworks and bombas.  As the procession came by ( this time it was obviously statutes from the church of Mary and Jesus ( or maybe it was Joseph held aloft on the platform and lighted )  since Jesus himself was still in his tomb)\with the usual band and large large crowd of townspeople many of whom were young people who were along to watch this procession and likely had not been in the misa prior.

Anyhow, after the platform passed each one of these dummies, ( hoodas) someone lit the dummy and it burst into flames and the fireworks and bombs  went off while everyone stood and cheered.  It was very very exciting for all.  The fireworks often shot out sideways and into the crowd which caused great excitiement and as far as I know, no one was injured and no houses burned down.  We are in the last week of the 6 month long dry season so I know , if we were in Colorado, those fire works would have been prohibited.  But, here its much more like the old West and it seems to work out , for the most part.

There was also a huge fiesta going on with loud music and dancing and food/drink vendors in the next block but I did not partake of that.  Maybe next year.  Unfortunately, this week involves a whole lot of drunkedness so its best, for people like me, to steer clear.  I might say or do something that gets me killed !!!!

This is going on too long so I 'll stop here.  Today, of course is resurrection day so I am sure it will be a very happy procession today or tonight. 

I have a plastic bottle collection project scheduled with the young people at 8 am this morning knowing that the fiesta and the procession will have produced a whole lot of trash in the streets.  Thats actually good news for us since we plan to sell these bottles and keep them out of the solid waste stream ( which gets burned here).

Happy Easter.   There are no Easter Bunnies or eggs or special candy down here, and darn, I sure would like to bite the ear off a solid milk chocolate bunnie.  Or those special eggs in Juniata county, boy, I could sure go for one ( or 5) of them right now. 

As the world's most famous bunny says.......Thats all folks.....
Pat

Saturday, April 16, 2011

An update

I just got home from a three day training in Selva Negra, a private reserve of cloud forest several clicks east of me.  It was beautiful and I will attach some photos.( one of the cabanas with a roof garden which  rents for $80 a night, one view out over the mountains of Matagalpa and another of the pond where the restaurant is located) Its quite different from Malpaisillo, where I live.

The upcoming week is Semana Santa which celebrates the crucifixcion etc.  The official holidays are next Wednesday thru the following Monday but they take the whole week off. They are very good at holidays.  There will be lots of music and food vendors in the streets each night but I have sort of gotten used to the din.

 There is music playing in the street right now...but I think that has to do with the elections that are coming up.  Peace Corps prohibits us from attending any political rallies so  I am closeted in my hovel.   I did hear a truck patrolling the street yesterday with speakers strapped on top announcing  very loudly, that the opposition candidate would be here today around 3  pm and thats what it is right now. 

We have the current president, Daniel Ortega, running for another term, despite the fact that it is prohibited by the constitution and one strong contender, Fabian Galdea, who is running a pretty tough campaign.  The election is next November but things are heating up right now.  Galdea wants international observers but Ortega will not allow them.  Ortega is BBF with Castro, Chavez and Gadafi.  Its sort of surprising as he was one of the leaders of the famous "revolucion" back in 1979 when a bunch of young kids who got themselves well organized, overthrew the US supported dictator, Somoza. They were called the Sandinistas then ( in honor of an old guy, Sandino, who in the 1800's was successful in running the US Marines out of Nicaragua) and the party is still called the Sandinista party but lots has changed.  Many of the other leaders of the Sandinistas from the old days are no longer supporting Ortega...so there are lots of issues. 

In this coming week, the schools are closed for Semana Santa so many of the younger volunteers take off for the beaches.  We got lots of warnings about all the crime that takes place this week on the buses and at the beaches especially.  Booze is very very cheap over here, unfortunately, and lots of young and old men use any excuse to get wasted.  Its very sad, actually.  Also, we have had two terremotos ( earthquakes) off the west coast of Nicaragua in the past week so we are getting text messages about what to do if the ocean receeds suddenly....run for the hills !!!!!

We are also having more and more incidents involving narcotrafficing, so thats another concern.  There was big news the other day in the paper about a former Peace Corps volunteer who returned to Nicaragua and was arrested with a bunch of something on him...can't remember if it was weed or something else.  Anyhow, PC was very embarrassed and the paper kept referring to him as a PC volunteer even tho he had ended his service many years earlier. 

This blog started off all cheery...sorry about how it deteriorated !!!  I'll do better next time.

Some good news is I am still enjoying DELICIOUS papaya and aguacate ( avocado) at  very very low prices !!!! I bought two beautiful papayas this morning for 14 cordobas, thats about 75 cents. 

I also got a flat on my bicycle fixed last week for 5 cordobas ( less than 25 cents)  I gave him 10 cordobas...big of me. 

Be happy,
Pat

PS,  I added a photo of my dear little dog , Tico, with his big brother Cash.  My son and my daughter in law are taking care of Tico and clearly are doing a great job of it. 
PPS  I also added a photo taken from the bus on my way home from Selva negra.  These are school kids walking out the lane from their school to the highway where they can walk home or catch a bus. 




Friday, April 1, 2011

Big news

I wanted you, my blog readers, to be the first to hear my good news. Actually, great news.  I'll get right to the point.   I have met a Nicaraguan man, a little younger than me ( actually quite a bit younger, but.....) and we have decided to live together to see how things go.  We have talked about long term plans but have not made any solid committments.  He does have a job ( which is against the odds down here).  Unfortunately, he drives a truck for a slaughterhouse so its very sad job.  Hopefully, when ( and if) he comes back to the states with me, he'll be able to get something a little more "ethical."  Needless to say, he is not a vegetarian but I am working on that.  We'll be living in his house so I'll have more access to a kitchen and his mother, who will be living with us too, is a great Nicaraguan cook so she can teach me all she knows.  His sister and her husband and their kids live there too so I feel sure I will learn a lot of Spanish , real quick.

We plan to start living together within the next week or so but I will still be in the PC and doing my work at the schools, etc.  Unfortunately, he has some bad habits re. the environment, e.g they have several endangered species birds in cages in their house, they burn all their trash, they make weekly trips to the forest reserve and cut down trees for firewood and other habits that are naturnal for the Nicaraguans but hopefully I can change, at least for this family.

Gotta go to work now but I hope you are all as happy for me ( finally Mr. Right came along) as we are for each other. 
Love,
Pat and Miguel