Our Nicaragua trip started with a day in San Jose, which happened to be the Presidential Election Day. It was a lot of fun to see - elections here are quite different from in the States. People drove around crazy all day, waving flags of the party they were supporting, honking at everything, and everyone was out on the streets as if in a big party. It was great to see the patriotic nature of Costa Rica, and how festive the day felt.
We spent the afternoon at my former host mom's house, Aminta Ortiz. She is our annual guest speaker for Nicaragua, since she is Nicaraguan and grew up as an active member during the Sandanista Revolution. Her story is powerful, and was translated by her son Sergio and daughter Claudia - both of whom had their own personal information to add to their mother's stories. This is a great intro to Nicaragua, and often very eye-opening to our students, as Aminta and Sergio both had some insight into Nicaragua's history that included the negative effects of the U.S. involvement - most of which isn't taught in our own U.S. History classes.
The following day, everyone took off for Nicaragua while Adele and I headed home to host the large group of 26 people from OTS (which I briefly mentioned in my last blog post). After a loooooong bus ride, the group made it to the capital city of Managua for a couple of days. This portion of the trip included a historical tour of the city, a stop by a cultural center that reaches out to the community by providing educational opportunities, and a guest speaker who is a gringa married to a Nicaraguan. They saw firsthand the effects of recent history, caught a glimpse of the complexities of current politics, and experienced "in your face poverty" as one student put it. Because Nicaragua is night and day different from Costa Rica, it is a wonderful opportunity to experience both during a semester abroad!From Managua the group headed to their 6-night homestay, in the small community of Candelaria. Those six days would have to be an experience that most people would
never dream of doing in their entire lifetime, and it truly was life-changing for our students. They were so far out in the campo that each tiny house had 3 rooms - one bedroom, a living area, and a kitchen, with one lightbulb for the entire house. Each house had one spicket for water, and everyone took bucket showers out behind their houses. The houses had mud floors and each family had a number of animals that were free to roam in and out of the house - dogs, pigs, chickens, etc.What the students found immediately was how giving and loving their families were. They were given the one bedroom to sleep in, while the rest of the family would sleep in the living area. Their plates were piled high with rice, beans, and the occasional piece of meat - cooked specially for them. The kids in the community were thrilled to have people to entertain them, and so our students spent countless hours playing baseball and running around in the extreme heat.
The project that the group went through was called AsoFenix, which is an organization that works with small communities to better their lives through environmental projects. Our group funded a project that provided the materials to build lavanderas, which served as a system that allowed them to collect their grey water and use it for their gardens. In addition to helping build the lavanderas, our group provided a bit of environmental education for the adults and kids in the community.Though all students came back to Costa Rica completely jazzed about this type of experience and ready to share how their worldviews had completely changed, the homestays did not come without their challenges. Most students would agree that it was the food that may have been the most challenging. Here is an excerpt from David's journal:
"If I had to give a name to the little game I play every meal it would be 'sshhufuera' or 'van por alla'. It's not necessarily a fun game, but it is a way to help me get through what seems like the endless barrage of meals. The following rules are observed: 1.) A plate of food that is inhumanely possible to eat is served to me. 2.) The only two ways of winning is to either eat all the food and become ill due to a bursting belly or secretly feed various portions (preferably the coagulated milk or tortillas) to the numerous starving animals (dogs, cats, and chickens) who are begging for the food. The rules are simple but the game is complicated by two factors. Six people are in and out of the room constantly who I can't let see me feed the animals. And, the animals I want to have close to me so I can slip them the food at the opportune time are constantly being driven away with a leather whip and either the slurred phrase 'sshhufuera' or the loudly spoken 'van por alla'. When you put all these rules and factors together you really have to hone in your skills to beat the game. In its simplicity it takes patience and a keen observant eye. If one is willing to wait it out to completion you will be rewarded with your food in the belly of a wanting animal and not sitting idle in your stomach, beans upon layers of beans, waiting to be deposited in the latrine. Your host mom may wonder why it takes you 45 minutes longer to finish your plate of food than it does the rest of the family but glory does go to the victor, albeit secretly. I win approximately 75% of the time. The other 25% of time I walk with
my head hung low and, in an act of shame, place my plate with food left on it back on the kitchen wood plank hoping my host mom doesn't think I'm 'fresa'." :)After the homestays, the group headed to Granada for a few days of debriefing and resting up before making the long trek back to Costa Rica. Adele and I met up with them in Granada and I was thrilled with how she traveled on a bus! I was also extremely grateful for how the Costa Ricans and Nicaraguans looked out for me during border crossings and stops on the bus. We happened to be in Granada the same time as the Poetry Festival, which made it a ton of fun. There were booths set up with artisans, a parade, famous poets, and concerts both nights. We had a great time enjoying the culture, and had a great discussion on our last night to debrief the overall experience in Nicaragua. I maintain that this study trip is one of the highlights of the entire semester, and it's awesome to see our students go through an experience like that and come back to Costa Rica changed people.
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