Day 105: Volcano Boarding

Saturday, April 16

We were running out of weekends in Nicaragua, and we needed to go volcano boarding. I feared I would be disowned if I came back home and hadn't sledded down an active volcano at unsafe speeds. Being students, we ("we" is loosely defined here) waited until the day before to figure out important things like who was going, did we have to make reservations, what time and day were we leaving... It ended up being Camina, Jessica, and me. After a confusing morning, we left Friday afternoon to take a bus to Leon, which is about one hour west of Managua.

We made reservations with Tierra Tour for Saturday morning, found a hostel, and spent the rest of the day being tourists. It's important to ditch the backpack as soon as possible because, as if being white or Asian wasn't enough, a big hiking backpack makes you stand out horribly. We passed the evening sitting in the parque central and it was lovely. I think some of my favorite moments on this trip have been people watching in parque centrales as the sky darkens.

The actual volcano boarding!

We got into a van with a woman from Norway, a man from Germany, a couple from Vancouver, Canada, and a few Salvadorans. As we approached Cerro Negro the regular dirt turned to black ash, which farmers take advantage of. Cerro Negro ("Black Hill") is a baby volcano, born in 1850, and is one of Nicaragua's most active.

It looks like a big ol' pile of black rubble and stands out beside the verdant slopes of the dormant volcanoes which surround it.

It's a 45 minute hike to the top, all while carrying awkward, heavy boards.

The wind made some parts a little scary with our wooden wings sticking out; our guide told us this was nothing but a breeze, other days are much, much worse. 

Another group going up, up, up. 

We payed a visit to the crater, which doesn't look like much during the day but at night you can see hot stuff. The wind coming off the crater was hot, and, if you dug down a little bit, you would burn your hand if you touched the ground. 

Suiting up! Our guide informed us of all the possible ways we could crash, burn, and die, which is a good thing because everybody in our group avoided injuries. 

 Jessica and Camina, ready to go.

And the going:

It's a 600 meter slope that starts out as a 43 degree angle then drops off to a 45, which is REALLY SCARY because you think you're going to fall off a cliff. The record speed reached was something like 87 kilometers per hour. I didn't go that fast. The whole thing is over in 3 minutes, after a hot hour spent hiking. 

10 out of 10, would do it again.

Day 123: Aeropuerto Sandino

Today, May 3

Well I'm behind on blogging, there's stuff I want to talk about from Easter, but I'm leaving Nicaragua in an hour. I'll most likely be busy with homework and saying hello's when I get back, at the neglect of this blog. We'll see! I'll post some pictures at least!

Boarding soon. 

Today, Day 111: Everyday life stuff

Wednesday, April 20

I'm going home in 2 weeks. I'll get to see my boyfriend, and not be sweaty 100% of the time. There's just one more thing I have to do before I leave Nicaragua, and that's go to a beach. One of the teachers at my internship wants to take me this weekend. There are a lot of things I'm not going to miss. I'm not going to miss the humidity, the bugs crawling on my toothbrush, the lizards under my bed, or always feeling like I'm missing half of the conversation. Actually, I might miss the lizards. Geckos are cute.

Nicaragua Christian Academy Nejapa 

The first weeks of my internship were very frustrating for me, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. The director's office is a disorganized mess because they're building new offices so this one is transitional, and there are four desks crammed in there and stacks of papers and boxes everywhere... but it's a good place to work. Everyone's really friendly. At first the work wasn't at all career related, just filing and running errands for Kenya, my supervisor. But then I started translating reports (Spanish to English) for Freddy, who works at a non-profit next door of the school. Then Aminta, the school counselor, started giving me documents in English that she couldn't read. So I learned about strategies for improving behavior in students with Down Syndrome by translating.

I think I like translating. I'm woefully unequipped to translate into Spanish... I just tried to give Aminta something she could understand. From Spanish into English, however, I think I manage quite well. Today I did a serviceable letter of recommendation, for example. So in the end, I did get something career-related out of my internship.

The Family

It's a mixed bag. The best thing was the papusa house. My host mom, Elizabeth, and her sister Rocío, sold delicious papusas together out of Rocío's house. A few evenings a week we would hang out at the papusa house and the boys would play with their cousin Daniel and I'd get to play with Gaby. She's 10, still annoying, but a better conversation partner than my little host brothers. Then last weekend something happened. Elizabeth said she lost her sister and her business.

I also feel like I don't have a real connection with my host parents. Roberto, the dad, is cool and talkative, but he works 6 days a week and comes home when I'm ready to call it quits for the day. Elizabeth is the one I see the most of, and she's alright, but we never talk much. I wish my family had more relatives that lived nearby, like uncles and aunts and grandparents, but they all live in El Salvador.

My little brothers are fun and they adore me. They can be really annoying but they're entertaining.

My brother Andrés, 5 years old. 

My cousin Gabi, 10 years old.

And my brother Samuel, 8 years old, who is currently squishing me on this hammock.

Day 34-36: Welcome to Nicaragua

February 5-7

Our first weekend in Nicaragua we did some sight seeing in Managua. We went to Parque Salvador Allende (named after the first socialist president in Latin America), which offers a long walk along the windy shore of Lake Managua and a bunch of shops and restaurants. Programa paga treated us to icecream, which to our amazement melted faster than we could lick it up.

Along some of the highways in Managua and overwhelmingly present at the park are ... The Trees. They're big, bright, and colorful. They can probably be seen from space. To Nicaraguans, they're something of a joke. President Daniel Ortega's mujer, Rosario Murillo, designed them as part of her campaign to beautify Nicaragua with loud colors. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America. The price tag for "Trees of Life" was a large one, as well as the electricity bill every night.

Most Nicaraguans are annoyed by the trees because, well, they're painful to look at. They chopped down real trees to put up fake ones. Powering them costs a lot of money that could be put to better use. They're supposed to attract foreign tourists and bring outside money into the country, but the only people that come are Nicaraguans. The swirls look like upside down sixes -- they're a satanic symbol.

 

Murillo is also responsible for all of the parks, benches, telephone poles, and anything else built by the government being painted these cheery colors. It's nice to look at, at first, until you start seeing these colors everywhere. It's like putting a happy face all over the country to pretend that there's nothing wrong. Or, as if the government wants people to be aware of every good thing they provide, every street lamp and city park. 

Augusto C. Sandino, national hero and favorite decoration of Nicaragua. He's recognizable even by his silhouette because of his big hat. He was a leader in the rebellion against U.S. occupation between 1927 and 1933. The marines left after setting up a new president and a general of the National Guard... the general had Sandino assassinated in 1934, and went on to cease power and establish a family dictatorship that ruled Nicaragua for 40 years. That was Anastasio Somoza García. The FSLN, Sandinista National Liberation Front, took on the old hero's name when they rose up to challenge the Somoza dictatorship. The Sandinistas succeeded in 1979.   

We went to a park on a hill overlooking the city, where the Somoza's had their bunker. On display is a "toy" tank, a gift from Benito Musolini to General Somoza García. 

Day 34: La teología de la liberación y Carlos Mejía Godoy

Friday, February 5
As per request of Jesse, a post on liberation theology.

It was a short flight from Guatemala, Guatemala to Managua, Nicaragua, but that didn't mean that Friday wasn't a long day or that we weren't exhausted. We stayed at Palm Point, a fancy little hostel used by missionary groups, where we napped in hammocks and had class. Probably the worst thing you can do planning wise is schedule a 6am flight and a concert on the same day. What were the profs thinking? When evening rolled around and I was in the middle of a blissful nap, we were roused to go see the man himself, Carlos Mejía Godoy.

In our our prep class last semester, Latin American Culture and Civilization, our prof introduced the topic of liberation theology to us with a song, Vos sos el Dios de los pobres, by Carlos Mejía Godoy. How does popular folk music fit into theology? Let's back up to the Second Vatican Council held from 1962-1965.

The world was changing and it was about time the Catholic Church did some major housecleaning. The result of Vatican II was a church more accessible to the laity. Mass was now to be held in the vernacular of the people, not Latin, and more emphasis was placed on the Bible. (Previous Church decrees discouraged or even forbid lay people to read the Bible in their mother-tongue, for fear of bad translations or misinterpretations.) Now, the amount of scripture to be read in mass was greatly expanded, and lay people were encouraged to study the Bible for themselves in their own language. Additionally, Protestants and Eastern Orthodox Christians were declared "separated brethren" rather than outright heathen.

How did the "spirit of Vatican II" affect the Church in Latin America? In 1968 in Medellín, Colombia, all the Latin American bishops got together. Where before priests had gone alongside conquistadors, and later with oppressive governments, the conference recognized that the Church should stand with the poor. This "preferential option for the poor" meant that God loved the poor and oppressed in a special way, and that he didn't want for their suffering to continue.

Another development were base communities. Latin America, then and today, had a scarcity of priests. No priest, no mass, right? Not anymore. In base communities, Catholics met to study the Bible and also to take positive action in their towns and neighborhoods. They became active in politics and in finding practical ways to improve their standard of living. When a priest visited, they did all the sacraments, but base communities were so much more than liturgy. Some were even ecumenical, bridging the rift between Protestants and Catholics.

The thought behind all this became known as liberation theology: the teaching that the suffering of the poor is preventable, it's systematic, and by golly let's do something to change that.

Henri, an ex-priest turned Protestant and a teacher at Casa Xelaju, explained liberation theology like this: there are some travesuras that come from God, and some travesuras that come from people. Some of the bad stuff in the world, some suffering, some mischief, is indeed from God. But far too often people say, "this travesura is from God, it's my lot in life, I can't do anything about it," when really it's the fault of people. And understanding that much of the travesuras in life are from people, and are changeable, that's liberation theology.

It's important to understand that liberation theology wasn't actually a new thing. Caring for the poor has always been commanded of believers. It wasn't "Christianized Marxism." It was the message of the gospels interpreted and claimed by people who knew the depths of poverty and systematic oppression. It was the enthusiasm of the masses given access to the Word of God.  

Of course, this was going on in the 60s and 70s, at the same time that popular revolutions were happening and regimes were being toppled all over Latin America. Some took the idea of liberation theology, of changing their lot in life, and ran with it to support violent uprisings. Most believed in peaceful measures. Dictators saw any peasant organization, education, or sympathetic clergy as a threat. Conveniently label such activities as communist, and the United States Government during the Cold War pours out money and military aid to bad dictators.

So where does Carlos Mejía Godoy come in? In the 60s and 70s Nicaragua was going through a revolution to get rid of the Somoza family dictatorship. Mejía Godoy, talented musician and witty song writer, avidly supported the revolution and the FSLN (Frente Sandinista de Liberación Nacional) and composed songs to stir up feelings of patriotism and activism. (He's not a big fan of the FSLN or Daniel Ortega now.)

One of his albums, La Misa Campesina Nicaragüense, is an entire liturgy for mass that uses common instruments like the marimba and guitar, and depicts
God as close, personal, as one of the people. 

Vos sos el Dios de los pobres (You are the God of the poor), is different first of all because it uses vos. Traditionally you talk to God in usted -- the formal, respectful way to say "you." Then there's tú, the informal way we were taught in Spanish class. But Nicaragua has a third way to say "you," a colloquial form that wouldn't be found in academic writing. That's vos. The way you address God, as a distant Lord in all his glory or as a close, intimate friend, is huge. 

The song goes on to describe God. He's the God who sweats in the streets, the God with the tanned face, the God who eats in the park with Pancho and Juan José. God stands in line to get payed at the end of the day. And when the snow-cone guy doesn't put enough syrup on, God protests to get his money worth. He wears overalls and pumps gasoline, he sells lottery tickets -- the job reserved for blind people, he is el Cristo trabajador.

At the restaurant where the old man Carlos Mejía Godoy and his band performs every Friday night, we struggled to keep from nodding off while folk music was played loudly and enthusiastically, and Mejía Godoy cracked jokes none of us understood. He sang a different song from his misa campesina, El Cristo de Palacaguina. It tells the tale of how baby Jesus was born in Nicaragua, in the little pueblo of Palacaguina. Everyone in the crowded, tobacco filled room sang along.

Day 32: Convento de las Capuchinas

February 3.

Consecrated in 1736, el Convento de las Capuchinas was the first in Guatemala that didn't require money from its nuns. All the other convents required dotes, literally "dowry." This meant that only women from rich families could become nuns, and effectively made de las Capuchinas the first to accept indigenous women.

There was room for 25 nuns, who led a contemplative and cloistered life. After joining the order, a nun would never see her family or the outside world again. Even after death, her family wasn't permitted to see the body. A "graduated" nun was buried under the chapel with a crown of white roses and a ring that symbolized her marriage to God (while alive, she was engaged). Their tiny cells had the barest of furniture, they spent days at a time praying (I know, "pray without ceasing," but days), and were guarded closely by the mother superior. So why become a nun? Our friendly tour guide, who was a real nerd about architecture, gave us two reasons. If you were rich and embarrassed your family, sending you to a nunnery to keep you out of the public eye was a viable option. If you were poor and systematically oppressed, this was an opportunity for education, (relative) comfort, and to always know where your next meal would come from. 

Our guide told us that the construction of the convent and chapel of Capuchinas was designed with a mix of Maya and European influences. I'm not sure whether the inclusion of Maya themes was deliberate or just came about because of the surrounding culture.

All of the other colonial chapels in Antigua are orientated north-south, las Capuchinas is east-west. The little window in the back illuminated the alter with the rising sun. The sun is a Big Deal in Maya cultures.

The design implemented a lot of circles and arcs, as you can see in chapel. Circles represent perfection and infinity. In the Maya fire ceremony a circle is drawn to ask permission (of the earth or of the gods, I'm not sure) to perform the ritual. In Spanish architecture, the square was the favorite shape. Arabic influence on Spain brought the octagon, another shape of perfection.   

This fountain, as well as the one in the central park of Antigua, makes use of all three perfect shapes. The Arabic octagon, the European square, and the Maya circle.   

The cross also has a Maya significance. The symbol existed in Central America before the conquista. The four points correspond with the four cardinal directions, the four colors of corn, and a person's four grandparents.

This is what facebook looked like, back in the day.

The kitchen. The stove is called a poyo because the servants would lean on the wide edge, from the verb apoyar, "to support." It has nothing to do with chicken.

"Don't sit on the archaeological pieces!" 

The nuns' only communication with the outside world came by way of a Lazy Susan in the wall to receive letters, gifts, and meals. This one connected the kitchen to the convent, the nuns never even saw their servants. In the chapel wall next to the alter is a little grated window for them to receive the Eucharist. There is also a special corridor where a nun could visit her family on the other side of a door. The corridor was curved in an L shape so the mother superior could secretly stand behind the nun and hear everything.

That's a door, a door post, and a hinge made out of a chain.

Our guide stressed that these ladies lived in comfort. They had hot water, bathtubs, and a sauna equipped with an arm rest to help with meditation.

On the left is a toilet. 

The main feature of the convent is the round tower. If you stand on the tile in the exact center your voice echoes back at you, which is pretty cool. Around the circumference are little cells where the nuns might spend days at a time praying. 

On the outside of the tower you can see holes that were chimneys for the candles in the little cells. Our guide was very excited about the triangle that sticks out above the chimney hole, to keep rain water from falling inside.

Underneath the tower is a round basement with incredible acoustics for singing. Our group is blessed with a singing professor and two choir members, and you can bet we took advantage of that.

This concludes the long overdue Antigua series. Maybe soon you'll see pictures of Nicaragua.

March: Papusas

Day one of living with my Nicaraguan host-family we spent the evening, as we would spend many evenings, at the papusa house. My host-mom Elizabeth and her sister Rocío run a pulperia (a mom and pop store) and sell papusas out of Rocío's house. It turns out my family isn't Nicaraguan, but Salvadoran. Papusas are a typical Salvadoran food, they're basically thick tortillas stuffed with sausage, cheese, and/or beans, and are delicious. (They're also typical of Nicaragua, but I am assured that Salvadoran papusas are better. I have yet to discover the difference.)

The outside of the papusa house has plastic tables and chairs set up and a half-finished painting of two women and a grill full of Papusas Cuscatlecas on the green wall. The inside is mostly bare except for the partition of wooden shelves that make up the store and the corner where papusas are hurriedly prepared. My host-family has lived in Nicaragua almost five years, Rocío moved her family here barely three months ago.

Upon arrival that first day my two little brothers, Samuel and Andrés, ran off screeching to play with their cousin, Daniel. Elizabeth jumped into papusa mode with a woman who's name began with “R.” I was left alone in the living room with the mostly deaf, one-legged grandma rocking sedately in a wicker chair with a broken seat. We attempted polite conversation but ended up just smiling and nodding at each other.

Unsure of my place in the universe at this point, I hovered near the table with the papusa ingredients and asked to help. My papusas were too small and not exactly round.

A few times a week we spend the evening at the papusa house. My cousin Gabi has latched onto me. She's ten years old, too old to run crazy with the three little boys, but cooped up in the house with papusas and one TV channel. She likes to steal my phone, grab my arm to drag me around, and find other ways to be a nuisance. Entertainment improved drastically after I bought a deck of cards.

For dinner I am offered a choice of papusas or something else. I usually go with three or four papusas. Elizabeth and Rocío always ask if I'm bored of eating them yet – nope! They smile and say that after eating papusas their whole lives they're not tired of them either. Rocío always eats with her hands but Elizabeth prefers a fork. Rocío argues it's the traditional Salvadoran way to forgo utensils but my host-mom has the health department on her side: it's okay to use your bare hands in preparing papusas because they're cooked, the health concern is that the consumer doesn't wash their hands before eating.

As a routine developed over time I found I couldn't break the ice with Elizabeth. It seems that neither of us are blessed with the gift of small talk. She's also busy most of the time, which doesn't lend itself to cozy chats. As she makes my breakfast in the morning she runs between the stove and the bedroom to get her sons ready for school, and in the evenings she's busy with papusas. We do share an affinity for pretty clouds. When she's driving she'll point out interesting sky activity but otherwise conversation doesn't flow between us.

I like to stand with Elizabeth or Rocío and pat masa in my palms. It gives me something to do besides endless rounds of kings in the corner with Gabi, and when hands are busy it frees up the mouth.

Last week Elizabeth begged me to help her sell papusas on the street. Rocío's house in a quiet neighborhood isn't the best location to attract customers' attention. Recently Elizabeth found a spot next to a busy bus stop where she's swamped with hungry commuters. I've only helped her once, but I can't imagine how she does it on her own.

After we set up the grill and a plastic table full of all the supplies, I asked Elizabeth if I should holler at passersby to buy papusas like most street vendors do. She looked appalled. “If you want to” she answered. She made just short of a million papusas, and as fast as she could make them I was bagging them, handing them off to customers, and counting cordobas.

Conversation had always been stilted before this, but when it was just the two of us and papusas sizzling for hours, it became easier. She encouraged me to interview customers for my theology paper, since “Nicaraguans love talking about religion.” When I was reluctant she did it for me, immediately asking a woman at random about her church.

After that evening I think we began to stop tip-toeing around each other. It can be hard to ask questions to get to know a person. You think about everything that could go wrong – you'll pronounce a word wrong, she won't want to talk, the question is too personal... but usually no harm is done. Conversation comes easier over papusas.