Hello friends and family!
Finally the first official update on life and work here in Nicaragua! Check out some of our photos below too.
We arrived on the 14th of January and our first month in Nicaragua was spent doing different things. Read on! And check out our photos below!
Joel: After leaving California full of Chinese buffet, I commenced my time with AsoFenix, working in both Managua and the community of El Jocote, about 2.5 hours northeast of Managua. I began by doing research for the projects we’ll be working on for several months, ie composting latrines, reforesting the watershed, and rain gardens. I then starting making trips out to el campo to get to know the people who live out there, and who we’ll be working with for most of the year. I would stay with families in their homes, usually made of mud walls and a corrugated zinc roof, and filled with all sorts of noise-producing animals. I worked alongside some farmers as an extra hand. Now is the dry season/summer time in Nicaragua, so it is quite arid, and the farmers must get their water from wells and sub-terranean pumps. I’ve been learning how to make authentic tortillas with the ladies of the house, slapping a mass of corn flour around for a while, and asking lots of questions in Spanish. It’s harder to carry on a conversation because the Spanish here is like a rural-southerner Spanish, that is not pronounced as clearly and uses different vocab, but you adapt. I’ve also had a jolly time becoming friends with Becky’s host family by visiting a couple weekends, and playing lots of epic games of ping pong with the other interns of AsoFenix, Ross, Elijah and Bryan.
Becky: I took 4 weeks to work on my Spanish, volunteering half of the day in the community of La Concha and taking classes the other half, while living with a [truly wonderful] Nicaraguan family. About 1 hour south of Managua, La Concha is a tropical fruit-tree filled, beautiful area with towns made up of brightly colored houses, many that double as a barberia, farmacia or miscellanea in front, selling items or services. My host family welcomed me as a new daughter and I now have a second mom, Marinna, a new sister, Varannia, and my first brothers, Angelo, Yarel, and Santiago. I was the eighth person at the dinner table - adding to the 3 generations that live together.
Once Becky finished her Spanish school, we got started building the first compost latrine alongside some local folk, Toño, Bano and Pablo. Things are looking good and projects are moving along. Below we made a list of different aspects of life that we experience which we will discuss in hopes to share a more holistic view of our lives here in Nicaragua. Disfrute (Enjoy)!
Aspects of Life:
Food - Rice. Beans. Corn tortillas. Cheese (a salty feta-like type). Those are the staples of the Nicaraguan diet. Often a meal includes a full plate of the national dish gallo pinto - rice and beans mixed together and pan fried. The most common additions include plantains, either verde (green/not ripe) or maduro (ripe), in a fried form or a fried egg. Most Nicaraguans eat meat only a few times per week, but definitely enjoy their beef, pork, and chicken. We have eaten rice and beans for at least 2 meals a day, everyday, since we arrived. In Managua, we can make basic salads and get grocery store foods, like sliced bread, cereal, and some [funky tasting] natural peanut butter. In el campo, the field, there are much fewer fruits and vegetables to be had.
Work- Our work looks pretty different on different days. Some days, in the office in Managua, we are on our computers researching problem solutions, designs, etc, in discussions about how to implement the solution, and then head into the rural community to put it into place, meaning talking with people and physically installing / building. We work alongside fellow interns in the office, coordinating with Jaime, the director of AsoFenix, and other technicians. In the field, we work with Nicaraguan technicians and community members to implement our proyectos, specifically so far building compost latrines and installing solar panels.
Language - We are working towards living full-time in Spanish; that’s the dream. Joel’s Spanish is strong from studying abroad in Chile, but his jokes don’t always translate yet, and Becky is very far from fluent. Daily, we talk, read & write in Spanish and speak Spanglish between the two of us. In el campo, they speak a rural version of Spanish that is a challenge to understand.
Home/Friends/Community- Right now “home” is the upstairs of the same office building we work in and we live with two other US interns. It is quiet and very convenient, but leaves a lot to be desired. As of yet, we don’t have much of a “social life” outside of work - as it’s difficult to get to places in Managua and a social scene of young people really does not exist here. We are looking forward to strengthening our relationships with families in El Jocote, which will not only be life-enriching but further support our attempt at making a difference when we can trust and rapport with people.
Geography and Weather- Nicaragua is fairly hilly, with mountains that get up to about 7k ft. It is pretty vegetated in most places, with the makings of jungles in the hills and less populated areas. Managua is more flat and set next to a giant lake, which has been massively polluted over the years, yet trees still do pretty well finding places to grow and rise above the trash. The weather is predictably hot (90 in the day, 70 at night) and partially cloudy with winds blowing west during the daytime. In El Jocote, things are different. It’s very hilly, rocky, twiggy and dry. Inland Nicaragua does not receive as much moisture, and is usually a little cooler (upper 80s in the day, 60 at night).
Adventure/Recreation/Fun - So far, we have had the chance to explore Volcan Mombacho, an active volcano with a cloud forest all around it. Over the past couple weekends, we have explored Managua and discovered it is a pretty ugly city. In the future, we have plans to go to the Pacific Coast for a weekend as well as staying at a nature preserve with flocks of parakeets that live around a set of waterfalls.
Money- Living costs are much lower here than in the United States. Still there are commodities that are comparable in price, such as gasoline at $5 per gallon and makes trips into rural communities with materials and supplies quite costly. Here are what some things cost, to give you an idea of comparison: bus ride = 10 cents, avocado = 20 cents, dozen eggs = $2, restaurant meal = $2-5, movie ticket = $4, cell phone minutes = $10/month, rent for 1 room = $125/month.
Health - We actually do not have many big health concerns here, the main concerns are: too little water, the wrong water, too much sun, eating contaminated food and insects. We drink filtered water that is either purchased, filtered through a ceramic filter at the office, and have a travel water filter for back up too. We are not in areas where there are many mosquitoes and therefore not at high risk for malaria or dengue fever (though there are parts of the country with higher risk). As for contaminated food, the possibilities are high because hygiene practices, namely washing hands before preparing food, are not prevalent here. There are hospitals and health clinics in Managua should we ever need one.
Emotional - Joel’s emotional dramatics are at the usual high. He just cries soooo much. Becky is her usual stoic self, mastering control of human emotions in a psychologically healthy way.
Safety - Nicaragua is considered to be the safest country in Central America, but we don’t know exactly what that is based on - crime/violence statistics perhaps. The only concern that most others have in Managua is that of being robbed. It happens a lot, mostly at night. Hoping that Joel’s Jedi skills will be of service at changing the minds of any would-be robbers.
Culture / Societal Norms - The people we meet are very kind and friendly. Other general impressions: Men and women are regarded and treated quite differently here. Girls do not play sports and are usually responsible for cleaning and making food. In terms of a societal trend, we find it hard to see and worse, smell, the trash everywhere - it mostly gets burnt in piles on the roadside or even in the yard of the school with kids playing around it. We believe some metals and plastics are repurposed by being sold and shipped to other countries, but no official recycling infrastructure exists right now. Most people in Nicaragua appear to be quite Christian. Buses throughout Managua have “Jesus is Lord” and things of the like plastered on the windshield. In El Jocote, the houses almost all have a poster of Jesus or Mary. Joel has been to both the Catholic and Protestant church in El Jocote and found them to be nearly identical, except that the Protestant service was nearly an hour longer. Which church people attend appears to be somewhat of a divider in the community.
Transportation / Getting Around - Most people rely on buses to get around here. There are mini-buses and big buses, most of which are retired school buses from the US, now given a Nicaraguan paint job and always followed by a distinct black cloud of smog. Buses are packed full almost all the time. Not full as in to legal capacity, but the nooks and crannies are filled with bodies. More people than is ever comfortable and often more than is probably safe. Joel has been perched inside a mini-bus with his face 8 inches form a breastfeeding baby and almost got splashed. Positively, the buses run frequently and are cheap, 2.5 cordobas / 10 cents or about 12 cordobas / 50 cents to get somewhere an hour away. Devastatingly, biciletas are not a viable option for getting around here. No one in Managua rides a bicycle nor in el campo, the field, where the roads are made of jagged death rocks that make even walking difficult.
That’s our life overview for now and really just our first impressions from one and a half months of living in a different country. Let us know if you have any specific questions, thoughts, advice, or translatable jokes!
Love,
Becky & Joel
Finally the first official update on life and work here in Nicaragua! Check out some of our photos below too.
We arrived on the 14th of January and our first month in Nicaragua was spent doing different things. Read on! And check out our photos below!
Joel: After leaving California full of Chinese buffet, I commenced my time with AsoFenix, working in both Managua and the community of El Jocote, about 2.5 hours northeast of Managua. I began by doing research for the projects we’ll be working on for several months, ie composting latrines, reforesting the watershed, and rain gardens. I then starting making trips out to el campo to get to know the people who live out there, and who we’ll be working with for most of the year. I would stay with families in their homes, usually made of mud walls and a corrugated zinc roof, and filled with all sorts of noise-producing animals. I worked alongside some farmers as an extra hand. Now is the dry season/summer time in Nicaragua, so it is quite arid, and the farmers must get their water from wells and sub-terranean pumps. I’ve been learning how to make authentic tortillas with the ladies of the house, slapping a mass of corn flour around for a while, and asking lots of questions in Spanish. It’s harder to carry on a conversation because the Spanish here is like a rural-southerner Spanish, that is not pronounced as clearly and uses different vocab, but you adapt. I’ve also had a jolly time becoming friends with Becky’s host family by visiting a couple weekends, and playing lots of epic games of ping pong with the other interns of AsoFenix, Ross, Elijah and Bryan.
Becky: I took 4 weeks to work on my Spanish, volunteering half of the day in the community of La Concha and taking classes the other half, while living with a [truly wonderful] Nicaraguan family. About 1 hour south of Managua, La Concha is a tropical fruit-tree filled, beautiful area with towns made up of brightly colored houses, many that double as a barberia, farmacia or miscellanea in front, selling items or services. My host family welcomed me as a new daughter and I now have a second mom, Marinna, a new sister, Varannia, and my first brothers, Angelo, Yarel, and Santiago. I was the eighth person at the dinner table - adding to the 3 generations that live together.
Once Becky finished her Spanish school, we got started building the first compost latrine alongside some local folk, Toño, Bano and Pablo. Things are looking good and projects are moving along. Below we made a list of different aspects of life that we experience which we will discuss in hopes to share a more holistic view of our lives here in Nicaragua. Disfrute (Enjoy)!
Aspects of Life:
Food - Rice. Beans. Corn tortillas. Cheese (a salty feta-like type). Those are the staples of the Nicaraguan diet. Often a meal includes a full plate of the national dish gallo pinto - rice and beans mixed together and pan fried. The most common additions include plantains, either verde (green/not ripe) or maduro (ripe), in a fried form or a fried egg. Most Nicaraguans eat meat only a few times per week, but definitely enjoy their beef, pork, and chicken. We have eaten rice and beans for at least 2 meals a day, everyday, since we arrived. In Managua, we can make basic salads and get grocery store foods, like sliced bread, cereal, and some [funky tasting] natural peanut butter. In el campo, the field, there are much fewer fruits and vegetables to be had.
Work- Our work looks pretty different on different days. Some days, in the office in Managua, we are on our computers researching problem solutions, designs, etc, in discussions about how to implement the solution, and then head into the rural community to put it into place, meaning talking with people and physically installing / building. We work alongside fellow interns in the office, coordinating with Jaime, the director of AsoFenix, and other technicians. In the field, we work with Nicaraguan technicians and community members to implement our proyectos, specifically so far building compost latrines and installing solar panels.
Language - We are working towards living full-time in Spanish; that’s the dream. Joel’s Spanish is strong from studying abroad in Chile, but his jokes don’t always translate yet, and Becky is very far from fluent. Daily, we talk, read & write in Spanish and speak Spanglish between the two of us. In el campo, they speak a rural version of Spanish that is a challenge to understand.
Home/Friends/Community- Right now “home” is the upstairs of the same office building we work in and we live with two other US interns. It is quiet and very convenient, but leaves a lot to be desired. As of yet, we don’t have much of a “social life” outside of work - as it’s difficult to get to places in Managua and a social scene of young people really does not exist here. We are looking forward to strengthening our relationships with families in El Jocote, which will not only be life-enriching but further support our attempt at making a difference when we can trust and rapport with people.
Geography and Weather- Nicaragua is fairly hilly, with mountains that get up to about 7k ft. It is pretty vegetated in most places, with the makings of jungles in the hills and less populated areas. Managua is more flat and set next to a giant lake, which has been massively polluted over the years, yet trees still do pretty well finding places to grow and rise above the trash. The weather is predictably hot (90 in the day, 70 at night) and partially cloudy with winds blowing west during the daytime. In El Jocote, things are different. It’s very hilly, rocky, twiggy and dry. Inland Nicaragua does not receive as much moisture, and is usually a little cooler (upper 80s in the day, 60 at night).
Adventure/Recreation/Fun - So far, we have had the chance to explore Volcan Mombacho, an active volcano with a cloud forest all around it. Over the past couple weekends, we have explored Managua and discovered it is a pretty ugly city. In the future, we have plans to go to the Pacific Coast for a weekend as well as staying at a nature preserve with flocks of parakeets that live around a set of waterfalls.
Money- Living costs are much lower here than in the United States. Still there are commodities that are comparable in price, such as gasoline at $5 per gallon and makes trips into rural communities with materials and supplies quite costly. Here are what some things cost, to give you an idea of comparison: bus ride = 10 cents, avocado = 20 cents, dozen eggs = $2, restaurant meal = $2-5, movie ticket = $4, cell phone minutes = $10/month, rent for 1 room = $125/month.
Health - We actually do not have many big health concerns here, the main concerns are: too little water, the wrong water, too much sun, eating contaminated food and insects. We drink filtered water that is either purchased, filtered through a ceramic filter at the office, and have a travel water filter for back up too. We are not in areas where there are many mosquitoes and therefore not at high risk for malaria or dengue fever (though there are parts of the country with higher risk). As for contaminated food, the possibilities are high because hygiene practices, namely washing hands before preparing food, are not prevalent here. There are hospitals and health clinics in Managua should we ever need one.
Emotional - Joel’s emotional dramatics are at the usual high. He just cries soooo much. Becky is her usual stoic self, mastering control of human emotions in a psychologically healthy way.
Safety - Nicaragua is considered to be the safest country in Central America, but we don’t know exactly what that is based on - crime/violence statistics perhaps. The only concern that most others have in Managua is that of being robbed. It happens a lot, mostly at night. Hoping that Joel’s Jedi skills will be of service at changing the minds of any would-be robbers.
Culture / Societal Norms - The people we meet are very kind and friendly. Other general impressions: Men and women are regarded and treated quite differently here. Girls do not play sports and are usually responsible for cleaning and making food. In terms of a societal trend, we find it hard to see and worse, smell, the trash everywhere - it mostly gets burnt in piles on the roadside or even in the yard of the school with kids playing around it. We believe some metals and plastics are repurposed by being sold and shipped to other countries, but no official recycling infrastructure exists right now. Most people in Nicaragua appear to be quite Christian. Buses throughout Managua have “Jesus is Lord” and things of the like plastered on the windshield. In El Jocote, the houses almost all have a poster of Jesus or Mary. Joel has been to both the Catholic and Protestant church in El Jocote and found them to be nearly identical, except that the Protestant service was nearly an hour longer. Which church people attend appears to be somewhat of a divider in the community.
Transportation / Getting Around - Most people rely on buses to get around here. There are mini-buses and big buses, most of which are retired school buses from the US, now given a Nicaraguan paint job and always followed by a distinct black cloud of smog. Buses are packed full almost all the time. Not full as in to legal capacity, but the nooks and crannies are filled with bodies. More people than is ever comfortable and often more than is probably safe. Joel has been perched inside a mini-bus with his face 8 inches form a breastfeeding baby and almost got splashed. Positively, the buses run frequently and are cheap, 2.5 cordobas / 10 cents or about 12 cordobas / 50 cents to get somewhere an hour away. Devastatingly, biciletas are not a viable option for getting around here. No one in Managua rides a bicycle nor in el campo, the field, where the roads are made of jagged death rocks that make even walking difficult.
That’s our life overview for now and really just our first impressions from one and a half months of living in a different country. Let us know if you have any specific questions, thoughts, advice, or translatable jokes!
Love,
Becky & Joel
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