Hey there,
It's been more than a month, I suppose it's time to start a new series, and sell the movie and book rights.
Well, I started by visiting and catching up with people, so that was fun. Good to be able to take the time to visit people without having to worry about the time so much, as I usually do on my quick visits.
Then I got settled in my new digs after staying a few days in the Barrio (the dangerous drug capital of Managua, as they say), I moved into Virginia's house. Virginia, a good friend, was off to visit her daughter in the US for 4-6 months, so I am house-sitting for her. An ideal arrangement, as I have a base of operations for my job search.
The house is great, 2 bedrooms (3 if you count the maid's house - I don't have a maid though), garage with a car I can use, but do not, kitchen, 3 bathrooms, washing machine (a big rarity in this country), a rice cooker, a garden, and countless other luxuries. It's great to have breakfast in the garden and start off the day right.
So far, I have no job. What more can I say. I have had several interviews with NGOs that have no money but are working on proposals - most of them seem to be looking at Sept/Oct. I was called recently by the UNDP for an interview, but unfortunately I was in Costa Rica (for just one day) and they were making a quick decision. Oops. Oh well, it is a good sign though. I still have hope.
In the meantime, I had a job for 10 days, translating for a delegation that came down recently. That has helped pay the bills.
So, the delegation came from an ecumenical group from Conneticutt/New York. Ana Maria, the nun from El Recreo, hooked me up with them, as I was looking for work and they were looking for a translator that maybe had a bit of a social(ist?) bent.
One of them arrived one day early and I picked her up in Virginia's car. (the one and only time I have used it) I gave her a mini Managua tour and we ate lunch at a nice cafe. Funnily, we bumped into people from Leon that I know who had just dropped of a delegation of their own.
The next day, the big group arrived, late unfortunately (this would become a theme). The early bird, Anne Marie, and I waited for a while then ran off to get lunch as we were getting too hungry and naturally the group arrived within minutes of when we left. So we caught up and the group was tired anyway, so we waited and we finally went for dinner, skipping our planned tour.
On Sunday, the next day, we went to the 2 cathedrals, the gaudy concrete bunker-like new one, and the barely standing after-the-earthquake older traditional one in the Plaza de la Revolucion. Then we went to El Recreo, for our first project visit. I ended up as tour guide, although I don't know enough really to do that. Most of the questions people had, I had to say, I don't know. (Sometimes I just made it up though, especially after several people jokingly suggested it)
I had imagined that we would visit El Recreo for a couple of hours, visiting all the little projects talking for a bit and then leave in the mid-afternoon. Nope. We were there from before noon until 5pm. It is a great project and there is lots to see and lots of interesting projects like the women's revolving credit fund - that grew from 40 to 200 women - and the eyeglasses program - that now has a road show to visit poorer parts of Nicaragua to bring eyeglasses to them - but I never imagined we would be there so long even so. Several people were wilting in the heat, wow, what a day.
One thing that particularly impressed one of the delegates was the homemade greeting cards that the elderly people make in the drop-in centre. They sell the cards to support their project, but a portion of the proceeds goes to help people in the Congo. Impressive that people with so little can still think about others less fortunate; this brought tears to many eyes.
After that, we went to another poor barrio for mass with beautiful singing, finally dinner and home maybe around 10pm. This was a typical day, long, tiring and full. By the end of the 10 days, I was exhausted and had even succumbed to diarrhea and had to miss work for a day. This, and I never had any stomach problems the whole 1.5 years I lived here before. Yuck.
The next day was interesting as we met Ketxu from John XXIII and got to hear some of her political perspective. Stuff about how the current president, who was vice-president for the eminently corrupt Aleman, didn't say peep during those 6 years and suddenly he is interested in a fight against corruption? Lots of interesting stuff, but I'll save that for another day.
On the way to John XXIII, which was 3-4 blocks from the hotel, we got lost. First, the group leader thought he knew the way, but took a wrong turn and got us lost. Then I tried to recover the situation (being the "native" and all), but got us more lost, until finally we were pretty far away but finally we got there, taking a longer but easier route. At the time, it wasn't funny, but it is now.
Getting lost and being late, these were sort of the themes of the trip. We'd often get lost. Especially with addresses in Nicaragua that go like: the first traffic light north of the statue of Montoya and there are 5 streets there, so you have to guess which way is really north, or the address is something like, 2 blocks east of where the big tree used to be. Anyway, it is confusing to say the least. So, usually we got lost and had to ask directions at least 4 times. My philosophy was that if we got the same answer twice then we must be going the right way. Often, we were misled...
Q4P also had some project near Leon and Somotillo that they were supporting - housing projects, an agricultural high school/farm, and a school for streetkids. It was great to see so many interesting projects and everywhere we went, we had presentations from the kids - dancing, poems, songs. The hard part was when they asked me to translate the poems and songs. Yikes. It was super hard, but I suppose they understood the point of them, more or less.
In Somotillo, the group split up and stayed in various houses of the teachers of the school. Many had no Spanish so had to communicate by sign language. It was a great experience for them, I think, a place where they can learn the most about how people live, by living with them. Most of the showers in Somotillo don't work, for example, since the water pressure is not strong enough to pump water that high. They use a bucket shower technique. Things like this are hard to explain, but living and seeing it makes it clearer.
Also, apparently some of the teachers in the school are in love with me (flechada - shot with an arrow, as in by Cupid), but I don't suppose I'll be back in Somotillo anytime soon...
It was a long drive back - 5-6 hours back to Managua. The roads are terrible and there is a whole industry around filling potholes in the highway and then begging for a few coins for your labour. A cynical person might conjecture that they probably unfill the holes in the evening as there doesn't seem to be any progress, but who knows?
We also visited an orphanage in Granada and took a boat ride on the Lake. This was particularly good for the group to have a rest from all the project visits. People really enjoyed it, and one person jumped in for a swim and we met them on the way back from the sightseeing.
The next day we were in Managua for the morning and then Granada again for the afternoon, but that was when I got sick and couldn't continue. Luckily the last stop of the morning was 2 blocks from my house so they dropped me off and I slept/laid in bed for the next 36 hours. On Sun I was ok again, although not 100%, but I went with the group to Masaya to do some shopping. I was tired by the end of it, but it was fun.
Finally, I got rid of them. :) I helped the group leaders translate for one more afternoon, and then I went home to lay in bed for a day or two. I seem to have lost 10 pounds along the way, but I am trying to eat lots now to make up for it.
The group had a good time and I think learned a lot. It is hard to convey the poverty here to people unless you see it. I think they got it though...
After the delegation, and resting, I went to Costa Rica, trying to fix my ticket to return to Canada (Aug 2 in Toronto). I hoping to avoid paying $150US to do that, but in the end, I had to pay it. There were 2 student travel agencies that could do it for me for $25-50US, but they both went out of business recently.
So, I continue here, in my job search, visiting friends in El Recreo, helping out with things here and there, enjoying life while I can. Soon, I suppose I will have to get a job to pay all the bills (just paid the electric bill yesterday) but for now, life is ok.
Hope your life is too, un abrazo,
Rob