Merry Christmas!

I suppose it's about time that I update my blog again. Although I'm sure it won't be as interesting as it was during my stay in Somoto.

We're right at home here in Prince Albert with the Longlitz family. It feels very very bizarre not to be on my way home for Christmas. This will definitely be a difficult one for me, but knowing that I'm not the only person going through these difficulties makes me feel a little better. I have a great support group, as usual. And although any of us live far apart we have been managing some small kind of contact through our workplaces.

We are fortunate in the fact that the majority of our workplaces are located in the downtown core, making it very easy to visit over lunch breaks. Work has been slow, as the winter is downtime for the Canadian Red Cross. I have been manning the front desk sporadically, reading up on the kind of work the Canadian Red Cross and International Red Cross do, and working on my own small pet projects. Our Office manager, Sue, will be going on leave for January; so it is likely that I will take care of the front desk for the majority of that time.

I have already started forming plans (with the help of the Red Cross staff) for my second Educational Activity day. One of the employees at the Prince Albert, Canadian Red Cross is of Cree descent. She has many connections within the First Nations community in Prince Albert and is keen on helping me to incorporate some First Nation culture into my day. She made mention of cooking a lunch with all of the traditional foods she grew up with (moose, elk, rabbit, etc.). Another employee of the Red Cross has a husband who works in one of the correctional facilities, so there's possibility for a prison tour as well. I've lived in Kingston all my life, and have yet to see the inside of a prison.

Josue is doing well. As you can see, he's making good use of his blog. He is currently witnessing his first sample of real snow, and for the moment is enjoying it (give it 3 months). Chocolate has become a major part of his life over the past 4 days. In Nicaragua Chocolate is relatively expensive and of poor quality. I remember him saying that he disliked chocolate in Nicaragua, but he can't seem to get enough of it in Canada! His plan is to bring a large amount of good chocolate back to Nicaragua for his friends and family.

Christmas isn't widely celebrated in Somoto, so many of our Christmas traditions are completely Alien to him. He wasn't familiar with putting presents under a tree, and seemed to be fairly excited by the prospect of getting a picture with Santa (although we never carried through with that intention). I'm so glad that he'll be able to experience a Canadian Christmas. Mingling with family (even though it will be someone else's family) and absorbing all of the food and candy that you can manage.

Merry Christmas!

Josue's Blog

I've showed Josue how to make a blog of his own, and he has already made his first post. For those who are interested in checking out his blog, the link is: http://josuesiezar.blogspot.com/
It will all be in Spanish, so for those of you who want to brush up, here's your chance!
Note: Most online translators do not translate accurately. You will probably be able to get the gist of what you're translating, but quite a bit of it will come out as hilarious gibberish.

The Busy first week..

Two weeks until Christmas, already!! I'm just preparing myself for the strangeness of a Christmas outside of Arden. It'll be very interesting to experience family traditions outside of my own.

Not too many updates from our first week in Prince Albert. We've spent the week touring workplaces, meeting new contacts and getting to know our new host families. The Longlitz's continue to be great to us. I'm feeling very comfortable in their house, as is Josue (as far as I know). This will be the first week that the majority of the group will be seperated. Over the past three months only one day comes to mind where I didn't see at least one member of the group. We won't see each other until Friday. Hopefully once we become a little more comfortable with our surroundings we'll be able to meet up after work, for lunch, etc. Four days apart each week simply won't work. I suppose it will be a sample of the difficulties that we'll face being seperated at the end of the program...but let's not talk about that yet, we still have another amazing 2.5 months ahead of us.

Our work situation in Prince Albert is different from that of Somoto. Instead of working through one organization, each counterpart pair is working at a seperate organization. Included in the list of workplaces are: The Canadian Mental Health Association, The Salvation Army, The Red Cross, The SPCA, The Saskatchewan Research Council (dealing primarily with Forestry), 2 Primary schools, a day care centre, the hospital. Josue and I will be working at the Red Cross. Today is our first day of work, and I'm actually writing this during my lunch break. Our primary duties will be office related, but I hope to be able to learn a bit about their various programs in the area, possibly even to participate in those programs.

Sometime in the near future I'm going to try and post ALL of my photos on Photobucket.com I'll let you all know when I finally get to that. Tonight I'm going to help Josue make a blog of his own. I'll post both of these links on here as soon as I have them ready.
Well, my lunch break is coming to an end. Best wishes from Prince Albert!

Prince Albert, Saskatchewan

Once again, I'm sorry that I've waited so long to update my blog. The last 5 days have been a blur. We flew out of Managua at 12:50PM after a long morning of tearfull goodbyes and bus breakdown scares. It was the first flight for many of the Nicaraguans, and all handled it relatively well. We arrived in Toronto at about 8:30 only to be greeted by a large group of our families outside of the terminal, my Mom and cousins among them holding large "Welcome Home" signs. A pleasant sight to see having been away in a strange place for such a long period of time.

It was fantastic to be able to touch base with family, even though we didn't have much time to visit. By the time we were all checked into our hotel room and ready to go it was 11:00PM. We gave Josue a late night tour of Toronto, the primary destination being the CN Tower. He was, of course, blown away. I'm glad that I was able to give him a small glimpse of our largest city. Being driven around such a large city was definitely a first for him, as there's nothing comparable within Nicaragua.

The next morning (after our 3 hours of sleep) we were off to Saskatchewan. After another grueling plane ride to Saskatoon and a sleepy bus ride we were in Prince Albert. My kind of town! With a population of 30,000 people, Prince Albert presents a small town atmosphere not unlike the kind I grew up within. The cold was a shock, being -15C upon our arrival (From 30C to -15C overnight for our group). We went directly to meet our families, some of which were already waiting for us at our meeting place.

Our host family, Rob and Elaine Longlitz have done a great job at making Josue and I feel right at home. We live in a beautiful log house outside of the city limits which Rob built himself. They have a 19 year old son named Tyler who I have yet to meet (he's on vacation in Mexico), and another son named Cody who went through the Canada World Youth program himself (Ukraine/North Battleford. Funny thing is that North Battleford is only a 2hr drive from Prince Albert). Cody goes to the University of Calgary, and I won't be able to meet him until Christmas.

I was more than a little bit worried about Josue in his adjustment to both the cold and the Canadian way of life, but he appears to be doing very well. He seems to like the cold, the food, and is interacting well within the community.

Well, I think Josue is waiting for the computer, so I'll elaborate on the past couple of days in my next post. It will be far easier for me to update this blog as I now have internet access within my home.

Last Week of Activities...

The day after our Final camp was the Carnaval. The biggest party of the year within Somoto. The Carnaval features party bands from across the country, and many people travel from all over Nicaragua to attend. The Party ran from 9:00PM-6:00AM. I stupidly let myself be talked out of attending. I regret the fact that I didnt go even more because of the fact that most of the other Canadians were in attendance. They all had a blast. I´m sure that I´ll be trying to make up for missing the Carnaval for the rest of our program.

Yesterday was our final excursion. We visited the department of Matagalpa, and Matagalpa city. It took us a long three hours to arrive in Matagalpa. Upon our arrival we visited the farm of a familiar INPRHU employee. He gave us a full tour of his land, and allowed us to sample his produce. He had Cacao, Guava, Mandarins, and Lemons the size of a baby´s head. Afterwards he gave us a big plate of Squash and Honey, and a potato like vegetable with cream. Delicious, as usual.

After the farm we made a brief stop in Matagalpa city. Among the Nicaraguan cities which we´ve visited, it´s probably the one which presents the most North American lifestyle. Marta explained to me that it was the most important northern city in Nicaragua, producing a large portion of the country´s exportable goods, coffee being the most significant.

We arrived in Matagalpa central park, just in time for the lighting of the large Christmas tree. We didn´t have much time in Matagalpa city, but the Christmas spirit was definitely present. Kind of a strange thing to experience without the cold and snow.

Last night INPRHU hosted a potluck dinner for all of the volunteers and their host families. Great food, great music and great company. It was our first opportunity to mingle with all of the families together. I´m really hoping that I´ll be able to reproduce some of the interesting foods which I´ve sampled in my time here. I believe the dinner was our last planned activity, and that the next couple of days are reserved for departure preparation.

I would like to acknowledge INPRHU for making this exchange possible for us. They´ve been more than accomodating, and have done a fantastic job at making us feel welcome within Somoto. INPRHU is providing a one in a lifetime experience for both the Canadian and Nicaraguan volunteers. I already feel like I have bettered myself over the last 3 months; maybe a little more humble, a little more mature, with a better understanding of culture and international relations. I feel that, having experienced life as a Nicaraguan I can use some of their customs in my day to day life in Canada. I hope that after the duration of the program the Nicaraguans are able to do the same with some of the things that they´ll learn in Prince Albert regarding the Canadian lifestyle.

Over the next four years INPRHU plans to plant a tree for every Nicaraguan and Canadian volunteer who participates in the program, with each volunteer´s name attached. Although I hope to come back to Somoto in the not too distant future, the idea of returning to see my tree in 30 years along with the trees of my fellow volunteers will surely summon a fair bit of Nostalgia. I´m envious of all the volunteers which will be able to participate in this exchange over the next four years. Although they are not yet aware of it, they are in for a hugely rewarding experience. This is probably my last post while I´m in Nicaragua. Next stop, Toronto!

Wrapping Up...

We just finished out Final camp. The camp served as our last visit to Topochcalli, which has been our countryside base for the majority of our trip. Our departure is to be early in the morning on December 4th, one week away.

The camp was bittersweet. We discussed many of our most pressing issues such as: Workplaces in Canada, Life in Canada (For the Nica´s), fundraising; and of course, our trip from Somoto to Prince Albert. Although the camp was very helpful in answering our many questions on these topics, it really brought home the fact that our time in Nicaragua is at an end.

The funny strange part is that following the camp all of my feelings and attitudes changed regarding my place in Somoto. Upon our return to town tonight I felt, once again, like a tourist. My room no longer feels like my room and I no longer feel like a member of the household, but like a guest who has overstayed his welcome. I´m starting to realise just how hard it is going to be to leave Somoto. I now understand why CWY prepped us for culture shock upon return. Not because we would be unajusted to Canadian Life, but because we will be leaving a place and lifestyle (possibly forever) which has become so familiar and dear to us. Jeez that´s sappy.

Anyway, so I plan to have a great last week. I´m going to fully enjoy all of our most frequented areas, take tons of pictures, and say goodbye to all my new Nicaraguan friends. I´ll try to post again before I leave, as I realise this is a terrible blog post and I don´t want it to be my last in Nicaragua.

Cross Country Voyage..

Our cross-country trip to Montelimar was fantastic. I´ll give you a little runthrough.
Although the final destination was Montelimar, we stopped at an additional 3 destinations to sightsee. These stops ended up being the highlight of the trip.

We set out from Somoto at 4:ooAM, beginning a long treck across Nicaragua to the historic city of Granada. We arrived in Granada at 8:30 or so and were given about an hour to wander. Granada has been the Nicaraguan destination which I have been the most keen to visit, and it was easily the most disappointing. VERY touristy. I saw more white tourists than I did local Nicaraguans. All the prices were in American dollars. It made me feel like a tourist, which I hate. All this aside, Granada is a beautiful city (The little that we saw). We started our sightseeing at the large Cathederal and finished at the massive Lake Nicaragua. Lots of statues, canons, and ancient buildings along the way.

We continued on to the town of Catarina, elevated over Granada and the Lake. Another tourist destination, but definitely one worth visiting. The streets are lined with artists selling their goods. Lots of tacky stuff among which is some cool pottery and woodwork. The town´s Mirador (lookout or viewpoint) faces Granada and a gigantic lagoon directly below Catarina. Very picturesque.

We left Catarina for our primary destination, Montelimar. The resort was huge. We spent all of our time feasting on the free food and swimming on the beach. It was amazing to have such a variety of food. Surprisingly, there isn´t much to say about Montelimar itself, beyond the fact that it was a very relaxing experience.

We left the resort at 2:00PM the following day. On our way to the final destination, Leon. The road was very rough. Sometimes the bus drove on the shoulder because it was in better condition than the road itself. We arrived in Leon at 4:00, with little sunlight remaining in the day.

Leon and Granada are the two of the most historically significant cities in Nicaragua. Their significance in history was primarily political : Leon being the most liberal concentration in Nicaragua, and Granada being the most conservative. The two cities were constantly opposing each other. Whenever there was a change in government the capital city changed between the two. Both of the cities have been the capital of Nicaragua several times. Eventually, in the mid 1800´s, the neutral city of Managua was chosen as the permanent capital city.

Anyway, Leon has easily been my favourite location in Nicaragua. It has the history of Granada, without the tourists. The city gave off a friendly, welcoming vibe. We spent the spare time we had viewing the breathtaking Cathederal, and strolling through the streets. The Cathederal and its grounds were littered with large lion statues, which seem to be the cities primary symbol. My best pictures to date have come from our visit to Leon (it helped that we had a beautiful sunset).

We left at 5:30 to suffer the remaining 4 hours of our trip, with the bus arriving home at 10:00.
What a fantastic trip. Spanning western nicaragua, we were finally able to experience the geographical diversity which the country has to offer. I would love to come back and spend some more time in Leon and Granada. Granada deserves a second chance, and Leon is a city which simply needs to be explored.

The Drive itself was an interesting experience. Spanning from the mountainous area of Madriz to the picturesque region around Granada, along the Pacific ocean, and back up to the volcanic lowlands of Leon. I feel much better knowing that my time in Nicaragua was not limited to Madriz and the mountainous highlands, however beautiful they are.

Mountains...

The last week has been jam packed with activities. I hope I can remember an adequate amount of detail about the best events. Should have brought my Journal along with me to the Internet Cafe.
The First event was an excursion to the countryside, facilitated by one of the INPRHU employees who we´re familiar with. He wanted to show us some of the Petroglyphs which can be found in the mountains outside of Somoto. The event turned out to be focussed less on the Petroglyphs and more on the journey to the location. We drove to the base of a mountain nearby Somoto, and he lead us up to the top. Beautiful view. I snapped some photographs, but they never quite do the landscape justice. The Petroglyphs consisted of a number of bowl shape indents in rocks on top of the mountain. They were used for storing food/water, and bathing. I have a good picture of Josue lying back in one of the bath shaped indentations. The climb down was the most exciting part of the excursion. The guide decided that instead of backtracking along the well used trail, it would be a better idea to bushwhack down the side of the mountain. The trip down the mountain added just enough adventure to make the excursion a complete success. I ended up being covered by big nasty ants which stung like hornets and left marks which still remain, more than a week later.

Earlier in this blog I posted a picture of Somoto, the backdrop being a large mountain. Since the beginning of our stay in Somoto it has been our objective to climb to the top of the mountain. I´m happy to say that this Saturday we were able to do just that. Two of our Somoto contacts were able to get us a guide.For the past couple of weeks the weather has been quite ugly in Somoto. Rainy and Cold. Saturday was not an exception.
We set off at 6:00AM, walking all the way to the base of the mountain and it quickly started to sprinkle as we arrived. We climbed for a couple of hours, and quickly the sprinkle turned into a downpour. Soon we were all soaked to the core along with our backpacks, everything they contained, and our shoes. However, we had waited too long to achieve our goal. We persevered. Soon the path disappeared and we found ourselves climbing up a very steep and muddy incline. We made it within a couple hundred feet of the summet and the muddy path literally began to fall away under our feet. A couple of us chose to continue, and a couple to stay behind. I stayed behind. The entire time the mountain had been enveloped in fog, only clearing for a couple of minutes while we waited for the rest of the group. The view of Somoto was fantastic, everything antlike. The elevation of the mountain is something around 5000 feet. Our climb back down was extremely muddy and wet (constant rain). Upon our return to Somoto we were soaked and dirty, but we accomplished the feat! Easily one of the most extreme activities which we´ve attempted during our stay in Nicaragua.

Tomorrow is the 47th anniversary of the creation of our province, Madriz. Somoto, being the capital of Madriz, is also the centre of celebrations. For the past week or so there have been celebrations at the Central Park, including music and food. Although the celebrations last throughout the month, the big days are tomorrow and the Carnaval on the 28th. Tomorrow we hope to view a Rodeo, go to the little fair that they have set up, and enjoy some of the food which is sold via vendors on the street. Anyway, I´m being rushed to leave. Meeting in a matter of minutes at INPRHU. I´ll post after Montelimar (this sunday) with details about the festivities, and our trip to Granada and Leon. Ahhh! No time to read over what I wrote here.

Day of the Dead

Just had a very embarassing case of mistaken identity in the street. Thought I had recognised one of our contacts in Somoto, a New Yorker working for the peace corps. `Hey there Matt!´...`Sorry, have we met?´. Whoops, white people are all starting to look the same to me.
Anyway, today is the Day of the Dead in Nicaragua. The Holiday is far from being as I had expected it to be. Early in the morning we made a trip to the cemetary to lay some flowers for Josue´s father. I expected it to be a somber event, but it turned out to be just the opposite. We arrived at the cemetary and it was flooded with people. However, it seemed like more of a festival than a day for respecting your dead loved ones. People had set up stalls outside of the cemetary with food and flowers, and everyone seemed to be in a generally cheery mood. There were even ice cream and candyfloss salesmen walking around inside. We walked through the cemetary and it was like a trip to the grocery store, stopping and having conversations with everyone we recognised. Neat holiday, being able to pay your respects without it being a depressing matter.
I believe that the cemetary was the limit of the festivities, but the day isn´t quite over. It could yet involve some late night church services. I have heard of some Latin American countries who celebrate the event with parades and parties, but apparently Nicaragua doesn´t share in that custom.

Countdown...

Already rounding the end of October, and gearing up for a very very busy last month.
Things are well in Somoto, and we´re beginning to prepare our Nicaraguan counterparts for the harsh Canadian winter. We´re currently working on collecting them some warm winter clothes. Although we´re all still enjoying our time in Somoto I know that many of the Canadians, myself included, are very excited for our return to Canada. Yesterday our truck was very very late in picking us up from Machitia. Romain and I spent the good part of an hour discussing all the fantastic meals we´re going to consume upon our return. We went further and talked about our favourite meals to cook, passtime activities, etc. We´re probably not doing ourselves any good discussing these things, but it´s hard to keep your mind off of the diverse foods that are available to us when we´re back home.
Our trip to Montelimar has been postponed until the 7th of November. Apparently the 2nd of November ( The original day of our trip) is the Day of the Dead, and Marta thinks that it would be an important holiday for us to observe. It should be interesting. I have heard of the holiday many times in reference to Latin American countries, but have yet to understand what exactly the day consists of. All I know at this point is that it´s a day for family in which they pay respect to their deceased relatives, friends, etc. I know nothing of the rituals involved. I´ll include some details in my next post.
Our work in Las Cruces has advanced. We have finished the stage of diagnosis, and are working on the finances. I feel good in knowing that the project is progressing as it should. Today we worked on cutting some costs so that it would fit the budget that has been given.
We have some pretty major highlights in the upcoming month. There´s Montelimar, of course; two large festivals/Carnivals on the 11th and the 28th; and a celebration on the 21st in which our group have the opportunity to sing with one of the most famous Nicaraguan musicians, who happens to be a native of Somoto. Not to mention the two excursions that we have planned for some of the larger surrounding communities. There´s no such thing as a dull trip here.
Last Friday we took a truck ride up to the community of La Sabana, wayy wayy up in the mountains. The community hopes to boost its Economic draw through an upcoming advertising campaign. They would like our group to assist them in this advertising. This could include, but might not be limited to, illustrating and painting some of the wooden signs that they´ll be constructing. On our tour of the community we made two stops of significance. One was a coffee producer which grows and roasts their own beans. They hope to be able to set up a cafe where the customer can choose their coffee, have it roasted in front of them, and prepared to drink right there. Sounds like an interesting and unique business idea to me. We got to check out the coffee roaster, and some of the raw coffee beans.
The second stop was farther past the community, ascending even higher into the mountains. The business was a rural hotel, ideal for hitchhikers, or people who just want to enjoy the mountainous Nicaraguan countryside. It was a Western style building and can only room about 7 people, but it doubles as a farm. The owner of the hotel gave us a brief presentation in Spanish
( he appeared to be a simple farmer ) which was translated to us. A Canadian posed a question to him and he broke out in perfect English. By far the best I´ve heard in my stay here. Quite a surprise, and very funny. After he gave us some information about the business we got to check out some of the interesting farm equiptment they had, including a machine that seperates cream and milk ( a demonstration was given ).
Anyway, I´ll post again in the near future, and try not to neglect my postings as I have lately.
Best wishes from Nicaragua!

Somoto Canyon

This past Sunday the group payed a visit to Somoto Canyon. The Canyon is the primary tourist draw for Somoto, and possibly the entire province of Madriz. I can see why, it´s nothing short of beautiful.
We began with one of those bumpy truck-bed rides down a back road, actually driving through a river at one point. We got to the Canyon, where there were boats to rent for 20 cordoba a person. We rented two, and paddled further up the Canyon. After a while we reached a small shoreline where a couple Nicaraguans were renting out inner tubes and acting as guides (for another 40 Cordoba per person, of course). We spent the afternoon splashing and paddling our way up the Canyon. The Further we went, the more narrow and beautiful it got. There were all sorts of interesting bats, birds, and spiders. If you sat back on your inner tube and looked up you got a fantastic view of the forest, growing over the edge of the Canyon.
Fantastic trip. We´re going to attempt to plan another one sometime in the near future.

On Saturday Josue and I had our EAD day, and it went perfectly! Our guest speakers all showed up (although some of them were very late) and gave great presentations. We then took a trip to the water treatment facility (which I actually missed, because I was helping with the food). Followed by the best part, our dinner. While everyone else was off at the water treatment facility Lake and I drank rum & coke´s and helped out with the food. Later in the night it changed from an EAD activity (the purpose was to analyse the effect a meal has on the environment) to a party. Great time. I´m sure my EAD evaluation will go quite well :P

My work situation is ever changing. I have once again shifted communities, this time back to Las Cruces. We´re now working in two groups of counterparts. Ariane, Carmen, Jorges, and me. I hope this is the last switch, as I´m dying to get some real work done within our community.

Nicaragua, Part 2...

Well, we're now officially into the second part of our Nicaraguan phase. Our orientation camp lasted Sunday, Monday, and Tuesday. We spent the three days working out some problems that we have within our program, eating good food, reading, and participating in various team building activities.

A productive camp, and a good break from life in Somoto. I went back yesterday re-energized and ready to continue work.

I don't really have any updates, or en

ough time to write a thorough post, but I thought this would be a good opportunity to post a couple more pictures.

I took this picture today. Boiling hot and sunny.

My short short hair. This was taken

at our favourite bar, Don Chu´s.

A view down one of the streets

in Somoto. The mountains in the background surround the entire city.

Another Photo..

I found a another group shot from out Orientation camp that I´d like to post, this one including the Nicaraguans. If you click on the photo you should be able to get a blown up version where you can actually make out the faces.

From top left to right: Thelma, Yanine, Alex, Veronique, Alani, Tanya, Kayla, Carmen, Catherine, Ariane, Michel, Luis-Carlos, Romaine, Enmanuel, Lake, Jorges, Josue, Me, Ruth (our Nicaraguan supervisor).

Mid-session....already???

Sorry that it has been such a long time since my last post, I´ve been sick for the majority of the week, so I haven´t really had the opportunity to get to a computer with internet. But now I´m feelin´great!

An interesting thing that I took note of recently is how Nicaraguans treat personal belongings. Although they love their belongings they treat them far differently than we do in Canada. Instead of thinking along the lines of `What´s mine is mine´, they seem to lean towards `What´s mine is yours´ and vise versa. For example, if you admire something of theirs like a hat or a bracelet, they´re very likely to just take it off and give it to you. This happened earlier during our orientation camp, and all of the Canadians were blown away by it (the `gift´was a very nice hat). I know that several of the Canadians are trying their best to be as generous with the Nicaraguans as they have been to us.

Tomorrow is our mid-session camp. We´ll spend three days in the countryside, working out the kinks in our program. I can hardly believe that our time in Nicaragua is already half over! I´ve figured out a way to post pictures, but it´s going to have to be a couple at a time. I´ll post a group photo of the Canadians today. I´ll try my best to get a good one of the entire group at our camp this week.

This particular picture was taken just after we arrived in Managua from Toronto.

(Sorry for the poor photo quality)

From top left to right: Michel, from Quebec city, Quebec; Lake, from Toronto ,ON; Ariane, from Orleans, ON; Veronique, from Montreal, Quebec, Romaine, from Victoria, BC; Me; Alex, from Tofield, Alberta; Catherine, from Rockland, ON; and Kayla, from Summerside, PEI.

Quick Note..

I think I fixed the comments section of the blog. People seem to be having a lot of trouble posting. Now anyone should be able to, even if you don´t have a Google account.

October...still boiling hot..

I´ll make todays post primarily about my work within the countryside communities.

So, my work situation has changed a little bit. I´ll explain as best I can. I work within two communities: Las Cruces and Machitia. In Las Cruces, as already mentioned, I work with only one other person, Jorges. Machitia is a different situation. Basically INPRHU has split our entire group on half, one going to Machitia and one going to Topochcali.

I was fortunate enough to land in the Machitia group. Machitia is about an hour and a half outside of Somoto, wayyyy up in the mountains. We ride in the bed of a truck as we do with most trips, and the view is fantastic! I´ve taken many pictures, and even took a video out of the back of the truck, but it hardly does the landscape justice.

Not only is the landscape beautiful, but the community seems to be the type which I expected to be working with when I came to Nicaragua. Machitia itself is just a base camp for the activities. It serves as a school for children in the surrounding area. We work with a group of about 90 kids, and so far have made some promising progress (we find that the best method for getting things done is to split the kids into one group of girls and one group of boys)

During our last visit we worked on some basic exercises, analysing the hopes, dreams, and reality of their situation. We had them fill out questionaires, draw pictures, etc. You would be surpised at the simplicity of those dreams. Although a soccer pitch was among them, most were for the simplest of things; for example, electricity, clean drinking water, or proper transportation to outside communities.

During our break we took a hike to the top of the mountain. On the top there is another school, serving the younger children. They were outside playing a game of baseball. When they spotted me and my fellow Canadians they all stopped and stared. I think they rarely see any outsiders, let alone white people. It was a pretty funny situation. We managed to get them to line up for a picture, which I believe they enjoyed.

I think I´ve failed to mention an important detail. Before I left Canada, a donation was made by the Ottawa YMCA, Metro Y. They donated 27 soccer balls for me to bring down to Nicaragua for the children. Very generous. I couldn´t be more happy with the donation. It is probably the most appropriate thing that I could have brought down for the kids here. Our plan is to split them up among the countryside communities, where the kids really do have nothing.

Dont worry, I´ll get lots of pictures :)

The aspect of my work situation which has changed has to do with Las Cruces. One of my fellow Canadian volunteers has had problems with her supervisor saying inappropriate things in her workplace. She requested a switch to another supervisor and community. Jorges and I happened to be the only male pair of work partners with a female work supervisor, so we´re making the switch. I´m perfectly fine with the switch if it will fix the problem, but I´ll be missing another week of work inside of the community. My new community is called Caldera, and they specialize primarily in producing Straw Mats and Fruit. As it stands, I won´t be working there until about October 16th. At least we´re starting to make some good progress in Machitia.

Hmmm... I feel like I´ve missed something that I had been meaning to post. If I think of it I´ll post again!

Best wishes to everyone back home! You´re all in my thoughts!

No Hair!!

We´re getting down to actual work here in Somoto. Our supervisor, Shayne, says that he wants us to spend the next couple of weeks on our various projects and work placements, rather than enjoying the scenery and wandering. Probably a good idea as the work we have to do over the next couple months is overwhelming.
Each counterpart pair is assigned a topic. The pair is expected to organise a full day of activities and presentations based around that topic. Josue and I have been assigned the environment. We´ve decided to focus around drought and water management issues (El Nino, unclean drinking water and similar topics). There are many organizations and contacts available to us, so it should be a pretty easy task.
We´ve had a pretty rainy and mild week here in Nicaragua. I hear that it is really cooling down rapidly in Canada at this point, and I´m not the least bit jealous. Although the shock of going from this climate to Saskatchewan in 2 months may likely destroy me, I´m going to enjoy the heat while I have it.
Ah! I almost forgot to post the most important detail! A couple of fellow Canadian counterparts and I shaved our heads last night! Huge deal for me, as the shortest I´ve ever had my hair is about 2 inches long. I like the way it looks and am thinking about wearing it like this for a little while. I´ll try to post pictures again in the near future.

Activities, Activities...

The schedule is packed, and looking towards the next 2 months I can see that the time will fly.
Among the events planned for us is a trip to a beach resort near Managua in November. The resort is called The Barcelo Montelimar, and is classy even for North American standards. It is all inclusive and boasts the largest pool in Central America. An interesting fact about the resort is that it used to be the Summer Palace of the much hated former dictator, Somoza. It was converted into a resort in 1980.
The best thing about this trip is the pit-stops. Apparently we will get to stop in both Grenada and Leon, two of the most historically significant cities in Nicaragua. Woohoo! However, plans seem to change by the day here, and I´m not holding my breath for anything. I´ll believe it when we are inside of the vehicle on our way to our destination.
A couple of my fellow volunteers and I are planning a trip to nearby Esteli in the near future. Esteli is much larger than Somoto and will be a more promising destination for touristy shopping, which is the primary reason for making the trip. It is also home to the 2nd group of Canada World Youth volunteers, who we spent some time with in Toronto. Hopefully we´ll get a chance to meet up with them. We were very very lucky to be placed in Somoto. Being a larger city, Esteli has horrible air quality. Driving through it from the airport I thought my lungs were going to give out. There are no car emission standards here, and it is very very common to see vehicles with a trail of black smoke in their wake. Gross.
I´m missing home, but am still enjoying my time here to its fullest. I´m sad that I have to miss the Fall season. Being able to see the leaves change, enjoying the vegetables from Mom´s garden, and just enjoying the silence. Silence is hard to come by here. There´s always some form of loud speaker or rattling truck nearby. Even at night you would be hard pressed to find a moment of silence.
Anyway, my time on the cafe computer has run out. I´m off!

Work Placements and all that jazz

So we´re finally beginning our work placements. There are 9 work placements, with 2 volunteers per placement. One Nicaraguan and one Canadian. Each work placement is in a separate rural community, mine being the community of Las Cruces. Las Cruces is a small farming community (only about 30-40 houses, max) which produces basic grains and tobacco. Very poor, composed of crumbling adobe houses.
The Organization we´re working with is called INPRHU. This is the first year in a five year partnership between INPRHU and Canada World Youth. In all five years they will be working within these 9 communities. Our project will be aiding in the diagnosis of the communities. Its our job to find out what the members of the community need most, and the logistics required to accomplish the development goal.
We will be dealing with the youth and adults of the community equally. I´m more than a little nervous, as I still barely know any Spanish. The Nicaraguans will be responsible for the majority of the work here because of this handicap, and vise versa in Canada.
Nicaraguans have a completely different sense of time than we do in Canada...and it´s driving me nuts!!!! You can always expect them to be at LEAST a half an hour late, regardless of the importance of the meeting. We were late for a meeting with a representative of the Mayor´s office today, and they were stopping to sit and talk along the way! This isn´t something I´ll miss from my time in Nicaragua. I think it´s starting to drive all of the Canadians a little nuts.
I´m happy to say that Josue (my counterpart) and I are getting along very well. He´s a really nice fellow, and is really working hard to make sure that I feel at home. I´m trying my best to prepare him mentally for his visit to Saskatchewan, but I don´t think any amount of explaining will do the trick. I just hope that the cold isn´t too much for them.
Sorry for the infrequency of my posts. I´ll post in a day or two with more details about life in Somoto.

Independance Day in Nicaragua

So, today is Nicaragua´s Independance day. Everyone is out celebrating in the street. There are lots of interesting foods and drinks available. I´ll take this opportunity to tell you about some of the interesting points regarding food and drink on the street.
Food on the street is rediculously cheap. You can buy a fair sized snack for the equivalent of 25 cents Canadian (most of the time home made and delicious). Pop is another interesting topic. Although plastic bottles are commonplace, the majority of pop is packaged in glass bottles. If you are drinking the pop within the establishment you can drink it directly out of the bottle. If you want it to go they pour it into a bag and you drink it with a straw so that they can keep the deposit. Strange ways. Beer is another item which is far cheaper than in Canada. You would have a hard time finding an establishment that sells beer for more than 1$ Canadian. Nicaragua has two main beer labels: Victoria, and Toña. Both are good, and extremely satisfying in this sweltering climate.
Another common thing to see on the street is vehicles with mounted speakers, blaring either advertisements, music, or Police Reports (the Police reports are given early each morning).
Ah! Another thing! I learned how to wash my clothes by hand today!! With the strength that it takes, I´ll surely be made of muscles by the time I get home. I definitely prefer this to washing machines. You really get a sense of satisfaction when you finish by hand, and it´s nice not having to do an entire load each time.
The cool thing about Somoto is that it seems to be completely untouched by tourism. I´m really getting the real Nicaraguan experience here. Not one McDonalds within eyesight :)
One thing to note about my blog posts: It is extremely hot here, and usually by the end of a post I do not have the energy to edit what I´ve written. So please, humour my bad grammar and spelling :P

Adjusting...

So, I´m slowly adjusting to Nicaragua, and am feeling a little more grounded. For the past week I´ve been dying to come back to Canada, and to see something familiar.
Today is to be my first day of work and I had a couple hours to bust, so I decided a trip to the internet cafe was much needed. My first trip outside without a Nicaraguan guide :)
You know that stereotypical image of a bunch of central americans piled into the back of an old Toyota truck?? That was me yesterday. We went to check out some of the more rural workplaces on a series of back roads (undrivable in a regular vehicle). The truck was outfitted with bars to hold on to, and my entire group of 18 people were piled into the back. What a rush. Definitely the kind of thing that would quickly get your license taken away in Canada. Not here! The rules of the road are definitely different. Much scarier! It´s commonplace for a driver to make a pass on a tight curve and think nothing of it. I´m very surprised that I haven´t seen any accidents yet.
Somoto itself is in the more mountainous area of Nicaragua, near the North-Western boarder of Honduras. The scenary is nothing short of beautiful, with a backdrop of huge mountains wherever you go.
The basic meal ALWAYS involves some kind of Rice and Bean dish, usually accompanied by Plantain. I love it now, but I have the feeling that after 3 months I´ll never want to touch another Plantain in my life. Not much diversity as far as the food is concerned. As would be expected in a developing country. The coffee is fantastic. It´ll be hard for me to make the switch back to the stuff we have in Canada.
Well, I´m off to do a couple more errands before I´m picked up for my first day of work.
Wish me luck!

Nicaragua times!

Holy moly, too much stuff to update on. I´ve been in Nicaragua since last Thursday, and it has been a roller coaster of both good and bad. We arrived at around 5:00PM Nicaragua time after a long airplane ride. The scenery is beautiful, and it´s super hot! We met up with the Nicaraguans at a camp like set-up on the outskirts of Somoto. Really wonderful people.
We spent about 4 days in the camp getting to know each other, learning some Spanish, discussing customs, etc.
After the training camp we were paired up with counterparts. Although I love the Nicaraguans, I managed to get paired up with the only one who I have the most trouble communicating with! Funny how things work, eh? Anyway, I´m going to try and make the best of it, and hopefully things will get better between us.
Unfortunately, I don´t know if I´ll have the ability to post photographs until I get home. I only have access to the internet through some of the local internet Cafe´s. I´ll try later, regardless.
Anyway, my group awaits me outside, and I think they´re getting impatient. I´ll post again soon with some more details.
Take care everyone! :)

Just Leaving!

Woohoo! I'm in the lobby of the hotel, waiting for our bus to the airport. Scary. I can't believe that by tonight I will be in Nicaragua with my counterpart. Anyway, just a brief little message. I'll post as soon as I can!

Training in Toronto

Hello from the lobby of the Days Inn, in Toronto!!
I have been in Toronto with my group for the last two days. All of the volunteers in my group are really cool people! There are actually two Nicaraguan groups, and the other pales in comparison to our's. We all really seem to click. We've been undergoing all sorts of training and preperation, and it turns out that the focus of our program will be on Health Care. I can hardly wait until Thursday, when we ship out to Nicaragua.
On an interesting side note: while doing a little extra reading on Nicaragua, I read about one of the scarier insects which can be found in the country. It's called the Chaga bug (also known as the Kissing and Assassin bug). It bites it's victim on the face, usually on the lips, sucking it's fill of blood. It then deficates on the new wound. 2% of victims develop something called Chaga disease. The disease goes into remission for 5-30 years, and then the lining of your heart swells up, sometimes causing death. There is no cure. Scary stuff, I'm quite glad that I have a bug net.

Packed and Ready to Go!

I'm all packed, and ready to leave Arden! I am both excited and nervous for the next couple days, not knowing quite what's in store. I head to Toronto tomorrow and stay there until the 3rd of September, when we'll be shipped out to NICARAGUA!!! EXCITED!
Anyway, I'm almost just as excited to meet all my fellow volunteers tomorrow. I'm sure they're all going to be pretty cool people. It is a very diverse group.
Over the next couple months I'm not sure how much internet access I will have or even if I will have the ability to post photos, but I will post updates as often as possible. I hope I get plenty of responses. :)