11 Days as a Nico

So, I guess it’s time for a real update about life in Nicaragua.

We met EARLY Monday morning to hop on a pair of people-mover type buses for our trip to Nicaragua. Including a stop for brunch and some time at customs at the border, it took us about 10 hours to reach our first destination: Managua, the capital city. We stayed our first three nights in a retreat center run by the Church of the Brethren called CEPAS Nehemias. It did the job. We spent our days exploring the city and hearing from some pretty awesome speakers- such as Dora Maria Tellez,

Javier, Anna, Dora Maria Tellez, y Trevor

one of the four major leaders of the Sandinista revolution against Somoza, former Minister of Health, and leader of one of the nation’s major political parties. One day, we visited a really cool church that is full of murals expressing the real history of Nicaragua from a liberation theology influenced perspective. It was really cool to see the great expression of artwork, and I was really grateful for Hermana Luz Beatriz, the nun who explained the murals to us in spite of the potential personal risk. In the nights, we played a lot of cards. Dutch Blitz and Nerts (very similar to Dutch Blitz, only played with playing cards) were the most popular games, although I did get in a game of Euchre after Keith and I taught a few others how to play.

 

Thursday morning the pastor of each our respective churches came to take us back to their communities. There were four or five of us in each community, and I was with Ruth, Shantry, and Anna in a community called Cuatro Esquinas, a little village about a mile off the highway between Managua and Masaya at kilometer-marker 13.2. I actually ended up living with Pastor José, his wife Sandra, and their kids- Cesar (20), Saraí (19), and Brenda (15).

I thought that the family/community in Costa Rica was really close. In Nicaragua, it’s SO much closer. There were two other little houses in the same fenced-in area as ours, and there were other family members in and out all day. I really connected with my cousins Daniel (15) and Eliezer (11), who were at the house a lot. My grandfather- Roger, who fought for the Sandinistas- and grandmother lived in one little house, and my cousins and their kids- including little Isaac, an almost two year-old- lived in another little house.

There were many aspects of life that were REALLY frustrating. It took me a day or so to really adjust to the accent; Nicaraguans don’t really pronounce the letter s most of the time, and the leave off the ends of their words a lot, so for the first day and a half I had to ask everyone to repeat things two or three times. I was often frustrated with my Nica dad. He constantly spoke to me like I didn’t know obvious things, told me the same things three or four times, and frequently asked me if I was upset (aflijido) when I was smiling way more often than any of my family. It took me a long time to feel like I was actually a part of my family there- that they really wanted me to be there. And then there was the cheese. I don’t think I can even go there.

But there were SO many more positive aspects about my time there. It was incredible cool having interaction with people close to my age there. It’s something I really feel like I’ve missed out on during my time in Costa Rica, and I was pumped to have that opportunity here. The church is such an integral part of their community here, and it was really cool to be in a church where the people were joyful. Sure their singing was often more like yelling, but you could tell that they were into it and actually wanted to be there- something that can’t be said for many churches stateside. The daily life and the community revolved around the church. We went to our church two separate nights, went to another church on Sunday afternoon, and had activities with a large portion of the church on both Sunday and Monday night. It was so cool piling 19 of us into the back of a truck and riding into Managua, just to share two pizzas and see the mall. I got to go to my sister’s high school and watch a program that celebrated the Day of the Races, a day of cultural activities of the provinces of Nicaragua. Brenda and her friend Jonathon ROCKED their dances- hopefully I’ll get it up on Facebook sometime soon to show it.

It was really tough to leave them. The night before we left, we had our official send-off; everyone came over to our house and we played Pictionary and Anna and I taught them Upset the Fruit Basket, which they LOVED. They actually got WAY more into it than I ever would have expected. It’s been a while since I’ve laughed that hard. We took some pictures that evening, and then everyone headed out. I especially hated seeing my cousin Daniel leave- we’d bonded a little bit over the course of my stay, and I really hated to see him go.

Anna and me with our families/church family in Cuatro Esquinas

Tuesday morning, we piled back into the truck as my family and the families of the girls drove with us down to Granada, where we spent the last few days of our trip. Granada is a beautiful little city, full of colonial architecture and style. I ate with some people at TelePizza that first afternoon, and it was incredible; we spent the evening walking around, seeing the town, and taking some photos. Wednesday, we had a process group session to try to unpack our Nicaragua experiences a bit- something that I’m still trying to do and probably will be doing for months. After a few more hours of free-time- during which I shopped a bit and grabbed lunch at another little restaurant- we took a carriage ride down to the lake, where we took a nice little boat tour of Lago Nicaragua. It was a lot of fun, and a monkey actually jumped onto the other boat! McCall, Laura Starr, and I capped off the evening with a little internet café and post office action, a little shopping, and a few hours relaxing and eating at the Euro Café- which was SO good.

Thursday we all piled back into our buses to make the trip back to LASP, which only took about 8 and a half hours. According to the staff, it was their quickest trip ever- we really did fly through customs. I spent some time unpacking, catching up on life on the internet, and sleeping, only to wake up in the morning and re-pack for Manuel Antonio- which I’ll talk more about soon.

I have SO many thoughts about my time in Nicaragua. Lots to process. I sorta feel helpless in my desire to better the situation there; what can one guy do? I’ve also found myself struggling with the following question: was I content there because I was truly happy with my circumstances or because I knew that I would be leaving it after a few brief days? I’m not really sure how to answer that right now, but I hope that I continue to discover the answers to my questions.

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~ by robertmvnu on October 27, 2010.