I am back from Nicaragua and life is good. Andrea and I went to Nicaragua to do the feasibility research for YCI/RJI starting a new program there. It was a great trip - busy, fun and exciting, meeting tons of people - we had 20 meetings over a week. The program looks good for 2002.
I am old now. I celebrated my birthday in Nicaragua with all the mothers, as it is also Mother's day there - as well as a small second celebration here in Costa Rica after. In Nicaragua we got to see a bit of the country besides Managua - Matagalpa, Ometepe and San Juan del Sur. I have accepted the job in Costa Rica as assistant Project Director. So I will be here for another year, I guess, although part of the time will be in Nicaragua if all goes well.
The feasibility trip to Nicaragua was exciting because it is the climax of why I took this job in the first place - this trip was what had got me excited about working with YCI again way back in 1999. Of course, the whole year has been a great experience, but Nicaragua has always been where my heart is.
We arrived on Saturday night and I introduced Andrea to the Barrio - El Recreo, which had been my home for 15 months in 1996-7. I mentioned to her in passing as we arrived in Managua - "Oh by the way, this neighbourhood is one of the most dangerous in Managua, one of the drug selling capitals of the city." Oops. Should I have kept that to myself? Should I have told her earlier? It is something I take for granted, I suppose, and having lived there and knowing a lot of people there, as well as being known there, I feel safe in the barrio. For Andrea, this comment, as well as hearing several stories from the nuns was enough to make her feel nervous for the whole week we were there. Actually, things seem to have calmed a lot in the barrio since I lived there. At 9, 10pm, people were out in the streets still, families chatting, living a seemingly normal life. Not at all what I remember from late 97. It's much better now.
During the week, we had lots of meetings, with lots of local NGOs, international NGOs like Peace Corps, Save the Children, Oxfam, World Vision, and the Canadian Consulate. We were very well received - things look very positive for the project - the main obstacles remain funding and getting enough participants in Canada.
We also saw Berj and Normand. Berj is a FOG volunteer and Normand was a friend of ours from the beginning of FOG that introduced us to the nuns in El Recreo in the first place. It was great to see them. Berj was on his way home and Normand has just started a year term working on a farm with street youth. It is a great, but ambitious project.
We went to a movie in Nicaragua on cheap night. This is not exciting in and of itself, although the movie was good - Dancer in the Dark - but coincidentally we met the woman from MSF that we had met on Monday, three people from Puntos where we had a meeting that day and another friend Edgar. It was strange to bump into so many people at the same movie...
It was my birthday on Wed that week, which is also Mother's day in Nicaragua. It's great because there is always a party on my birthday in Nicaragua. Although we had two meetings in the morning, the day was still great. I dropped by the nuns house and Normand had made a cake, so they sang me happy b'day and we had pumpkin cake! It was great. Then, I went around visiting friends, including a baseball game with Rosa's nephews for an hour. Finally, I stopped at my old friend Nubia's house and they had dinner for me and a cake and ice cream! It was great. We danced for a while, then Berj and I went out for more dessert. It took a long time to find the cafe I was thinking of, so we ended up at a different place and it seemed too late to eat more, so we just had a drink. Still, it was a good birthday.
Not all of our meetings were in Managua. We had one in Matagalpa, about two hours north. Andrea fell in love with the city. It is not too hot, similar to San Jose whether and seems very relaxed. The organisation there was great too. We also had a meeting in Ometepe, the island of two volcanoes in Lake Nicaragua. It is a beautiful island.
After that we went to San Juan del Sur, rather than go all the way back to Managua and worked on typing up all our notes and worked on the project budget. It is a beautiful quiet town. There are lots of tourists, but not so many as Costa Rica. It was a nice place to relax - have to get back there for more time some day.
On Wednesday, another friend, Walter came to visit. We know each other from Nortel. We are off to Quepos and Manuel Antonio this weekend and then Corcovado the next weekend. Should be fun. Somehow I have to squeeze a lot of work in between, but somehow I'll manage.
We had a second birthday celebration last night, the people from my house as well as Diegito and Laurita - two of the young volunteers in our office. We had a nice dinner, fudge that I made the night before and then dancing. Not a late night, as Heather's boyfriend had just arrived from Canada that night and was understandably tired. I was ready to dance all night, but it was not to be. Maybe next week... :)
As I mentioned in the executive summary, I have accepted the job to work as Assistant Project Director in Costa Rica for another year with the probability of taking on the Project Director in Nicaragua in Feb/March. We still need to work out a start date and some other details, but we'll do that over the next few weeks...
That's it for "me" news for now. Take care,
Rob