El Compo

AKA The country side...

Tomorrow we leave Managua for our respective villages. My destination is Malacatoya (in the municipality of San Jose de los Remates). Through my program, volunteers are usually paired off, but because of some last minute road blocks in our program, I will be thrown off the deep end by myself. While other volunteers have a fellow gringo to help them through and share their learned mistakes with, I will be on a solo adventure. Honestly, I couldn´t be happier. The whole reason I volunteered for this project was to be pushed out of my comfort zone.

If I had to define stepping out of ones comfort zone, I would say "living for two months with a new family in a small village in the mountains of Nicaragua, being forced to speak only in a language I know very little of, learning their culture, being completely disconnected from everything I´m used to, all the while learning the workings of an already operational microhydro turbine so that I can test and monitor its operation to improve its efficiency and output, while at the same time teaching them about how to use electricity wisely."

On top of this, I also have several side projects. First of all, I am designing a solar water distiller to provide purified water for refilling deep cycle batteries charged by solar panels (for the village of Corozo). Secondly, I am helping to improve (and develop fail safe features for) an existing wind turbine design from previous volunteers that is made from modified pvc tubing and steel water pipes.

Lets do this!

First Communtiy Experience...

So after one day of sitting around the Aso Fenix Office (the local NGO that I am technically working for) I weasled my way into an outing. Two people from here, and four from Blue Energy (another NGO on the eas coast of Nicaragua) and I went out to a village near San Jose de los Remates. The purpose was to get to know the community for the ultimate goal of installing a communal windmill for the 13 houses in the village. I would say that overall it was a great experience. The one downside is that I said all of maybe 5 words in the last 36 hours. Around the office I am capable of understanding a fair amount of the conversations, but in the community (thanks to accents and such) I can understand one or two words out of every sentence if I´m lucky. Apparently those few years of Spanish in High School aren´t proving as useful as I´d hoped. Aside from that, I had a great time.

There were fruit trees everywhere (mangos, avacados, limes, and more that I don´t even know what to call). By watching the kids, it was pretty easy to tell what the tastiest ones were. Once they realized we were interested in what they were eating, they started to bring us their favorites and show us all sorts of cool plants. We had rice and beans for every meal (they´re delicious now, but I may be sick of them by August) and were given cots and hammocks to sleep on for the night. I get another day or so to regain my senses after that adventure before I´m thrown back into the deep end. Next time I will be by myself though, with no one to tell me if the crowd is talking about me or trying to ask me a question without my realizing it. I know I´ll survive though, at least I know how to say I´m hungry, I need sleep, I want a beer and it´s ok. That was all I really said throughout high school and college anyways!

Hola Nicaragua!

I´ve been in Nicaragua for almost 24 hours (day 1 of 63) and I can already tell I´m going to love it. We didn´t get up to much today; aside from a small walk around the managua airport I took part in two meetings (both in spanish). The first was sort of an introductory meeting with the Director of Aso Fenix (the local NGO I am technically "working" for) and the other two interns I came with. The second meeting was a planning session with another NGO about going to a rural community tomorrow for a site assesment. I´m not entirely sure what was said in either meeting, but I do know that I´ll be able to help out in more ways than one. Several times today I´ve reffered to projects I´ve worked on in the past that will be helpful here.

As far as the languag barrier goes, it is definitely going to be a rough week or two (or two months for that matter) getting my spanish back. The good news is, if I´m eavesdropping on a conversation, I can usually discern 60% of whats being said. The bad news is, as soon as someone asks me a question or starts speaking directly to me, my ears seem to clog up at the same time as my brain slowing down and I can only understand 20% of what is said. Worst of all, when I feel I have something to say (or its time for me to say something) I stumble more than a sixth grader at his first school dance. It will be slow going, but I´ll get my tongue back eventually; its already a good sign that some of my thoughs are starting to come out in spanish.

Tomorrow I get up by 7 and pack up my rain gear to head into the mountains to tag along on the assessment. Lucky for me, there are at least two other english speakers in the group so I might be able to give some input on what I know and see (provided they´re willing to translate it for me). We´ll see how it goes!

Orientation Day 1

Today was a long day, but I was finally sitting still after 20 hours of flying and 28 hours of walking around (but 25% of the walking around was actually spent sleeping in the airport). Today was a day spent receiving advice that would have been great almost a month ago. Alas, I guess I'll just be happy with learning my own mistakes. No major ones to leave any permanent damage; but it's a long summer, give it some time.

That was Saturday...

Today is Sunday; I fly to Amsterdam, then Portland, then Oakland, then BART to Berkeley, then walk to campus. This is going to be one hell of a great time. How great you ask? About 45 hours of great I say! Here I come America, brace yourself.

Nairobi Nightlife

Thanks to Gilbert, we've been able to experience something I never expected: the club scene in Nairobi, Kenya. There are a few differences from a US bar/club.

1. Everyone is dancing, even if they're sitting down.
2. Drinks are much cheaper (under $2)
3. The playlist is more diverse (East African Reggae, The Corrs, Michael Mcdonald, very little gangster rap)

Safari Time!

Being in Kenya, we felt obligated to go on a Safari. After many late night discussions, our group decided we would be morally remiss if we were to pass on such an opportunity. We finally found a company within all of our budget ranges and booked the adventure. Luckily for us, we were the only four passengers booked for an eight passenger van, so we had more than enough leg room. The tour company we booked through picked us up in Nairobi, drove us to Masai Mara (the game park we toured) and even arranged for our food and lodging at the Mara Simba lodge. The lodge made us all feel a little un easy and out of place when we first arrived, it felt like 5 star accomidations which no college student can justifiably feel comfortable in (not to mention they had a swimming pool in the middle of Masai land). As part of our stay, we had two game drives (one from 4-7 pm and another from 6:30-9 am). Here's a list of what we saw!

Zebras
Goats and Cattle
Traditional Masai Herdsmen
Gazelle
Monkeys
Mongoose
Gilla Monster (or just a really big lizard)
Hippos
Impalas
Topi
Buffalo
Giraffe
Jackals
Elephants
Wildebeast
Lions (feasting on a kill)
Ostrich (with their heads in the dirt)
Warthogs
Hyenas
Crown Cranes
Bush babys
Eagles
Cheetahs
Secretary Birds
Baboons
Other safari vans at every turn

It was an adventure I won't soon forget!

Kitale to Nairobi

To get to Nairobi, we took an 8 hour bus ride southeast out of Kitale. To imagine what it was like, try to picture yourself offroading in an outdated greyhound bus. The scenery would have been incredible, but running the entire length of the bus was a partition in the windows right at eye level. To see out the windows, I would have to either crouch uncomfortably low or lift myself up off the seat. Once we got to Nairobi, it took at least an hour to get from one side of town to the other (where the bus stop was) because of thw worst rush hour traffic I have ever seen. After getting off the bus, we had to take a cab back to the other side of town (another hour of sitting in traffic) to get to our hostile. If it weren't for the fact that every site and face along the way was new to me, the ride would have been unbearable. We made it in one piece too, which is a doubt I had at several points along the journey. That adventure made me fully appreciate the luxury of Amtrak and Greyhound in the states (not to mention well paved roads). Don't take it for granted!

Cuisine

The food here is very diverse and flavorful. I expected to learn what traditional african food tasted like, but I have come to see that, like many places, there is an influence of many diferent flavors and spices in this region. For example, Tea is a very big part of the culture here, but this was not always the case. Tea is a custom that has been adopted from the times of British rule. Much of the food has an Indian influence in terms of flavor.

The most common dish I've seen seems to be Stew with Ugali. The stew is usually beef (sometimes spicy, sometimes not) and is very runny. Ugali is a dish that is made from maize (corn). It can best be described as similar to grits, but much more dense. The Ugali is almost flavorless, so its very common to dip it in the stew as you eat it.

Meat here is very different from the States. It is much tougher as everything here is raised "free-range". Also, chicken is more expensive than beef. It is traditional for a family (that can afford it) to slaughter a goat every month or so, and that meat will last for the entire month (meat is only prepared on special occasions in the home).