Monday 10/13—Wednesday 10/22: NICARAGUA!

I don’t even quite know where to begin. My trip to Nicaragua was one of those kinds of trips where words cannot describe nor can photos capture the things I witnessed, the lessons I learned, and the relationships I built. As much as I would love to write down what I did for you each and everyday, I’ve already done so in a personal journal (since internet was unavailable) and my experience is one of those that I would need to discuss over a long cup of coffee (or smoothies, or ice cream or frappacinos since I hate regular old coffee)

Here are a few basics of my trip to Nicaragua…

1. We spent the first few days of our trip in the capital city of Managua having “charlas” (equivalent of lectures or conferences) with various important people of Nicaragua. For example, we were able to hear people like Dora Maria Tellez, currently one of the most important and controversial political figures of Nicaragua.

2. After a few days in the Managua, we were dispersed into small groups of 5 and went to live in small towns throughout the countryside. As Nicaragua is the 2nd poorest country in the Western Hemisphere (behind Haiti) our job was to live among the poor and learn, grow, and witness the inequalities that plague Latin America as a whole. I lived with María, a women who live in a case of extreme poverty (a shack made a scrapes of metal, no toilet, shower, etc, etc). She and I slept in the same bed (no mattress, but a simple broken wood framed that killed my back every night) and our bed pretty much took up the whole house. Our property consisted of many shacks and many of her grown children and grandchildren also lived on the property. I spent my days playing with literally dozens of her grandchildren as well as working at the church with my fellow students. Everyday, María and I would make the 30 minute walk through the puddles of mud from our house to the church and discuss a wide variety of things (especially the history and current situation of Nicaragua). Much of my time was spent observing. Observing the way people learned to accommodate to the lack of basic items, observing how people spent their days when no work was to be found, and observing the challenges and difficulties of poverty. Although people may not consider this school work, it was a tremendously challenging week full of new insights and understanding on poverty in Latin American and I learned hundreds of things I could never learn sitting in a classroom.

3. After a full week of living with poor families we all met back up in Granada, an amazing colonial city of Nicaragua and debriefed and spent time sharing our 47 individual experiences of living in poverty. There were plenty of stories to tell, both silly and serious. After a few days of debriefing, we made our way back to Managua to make the long bus ride back to Costa Rica.

Again, if you are at all intrigued or interested by my time in Nicaragua, I would love to talk with you more when I come home in December!