Dispatches from the field

As part of my course I had to write for the school's blog "Dispatches From the Field." In the first post I really wanted to be reflective and think about the trip comprehensively. It's a lot more wordy than my average post here but for anyone who's interested you can find it here: http://gslis.simmons.edu/blogs/dispatches/

Nicaragua- People

The children of Nicaragua are some of the most precious I've ever seen. I think what keeps me going back is how amazing the people there are and how much I love working with the children. Here are some of my favorites from the recent trip...

Nicaragua

After a long time of being stranded in Miami I am finally back and can share some pictures from my recent trip to Nicaragua. I figured I'd start with some of the best pictures of the landscape for you. Above is the island of Ometepe which has two volcanoes on it and is in the middle of lake Nicaragua (the second largest lake in North America and the only lake to have fresh water sharks).
It was my first time on Ometepe and the beauty of the island certainly made up for the very rough ferry ride out there.
One of the volcanoes on the island, Concepcion, erupted on the day we arrived, sending up an ash plume to an estimated 7,000 feet!

Adios

This would be a police dog rolling over for a tummy rub from a little girl. I would have taken a picture closer up but I was a little worried about what his reaction might be to me documenting his working dog in such an undignified manner.

Sadly, as all trips must, ours came to an end. It was hard saying goodbye to all the library staff we had come to know, and also difficult to part with the Nica lifestyle and great food!
So to say goodbye I'll leave everyone with an image of the hammocks (if you could experience lying in a Nicaragua hammock you'd know how special they are!) and of some of the beautiful flora of the country.

Adios Nicaragua, I will be back!

Pelican Eyes

We went to the Pelican Eyes several different times during our trip, for one thing they have a great happy hour two nights a week. The mojitos and macua (a local specialty) are fantastic!
We also hiked all the way up to the top one day to enjoy the pool and have some lunch. The view was amazing, looking out onto the harbor. All the whitewashed stairs and walls were radiant.

Here you can see the view looking out from the infinity pool, when I wasn't reading in the sun I was cooling off in the pool and taking in the view, what a way to spend the afternoon!

Beach Day!

We took one day off from the Library by taking a water taxi up the coast for a beach day. It was about 15-20 minutes by boat, but it was as pristine and beautiful as you could hope for.

Paradise!

We started out with a swim and then began to bake ourselves in the sun. It was soon apparent though why we were the only ones not in the shade and after an hour or so, most of us were sunned out and ready to move to the shade. Alternating between reading, sleeping and swimming was a fantastic way to pass a couple hours.
When it was time for the water taxi to come back we were all ready and eager, feeling a little crispy and pretty hungry. While I had been slathering myself with SPF 70, I apparently forgot several places and ended up with some great burns.
I wasn't alone with the sunburns though and we all took turns putting aloe on each other and comparing how crispy we were. The burns were well worth the great day at the beach though and all the beautiful views on the way there.

More San Juan del Sur

Since we spent several days in San Juan del Sur there was plenty of time to walk around, eat ice cream, sit in the hammock chairs, and look at stray dogs. Here you see some of our group walking back to the hotel after a yummy lunch at El Gato Negro, which also has a great book selection. While we were told about their amazing brownies, every time we tried to get some they were sold out. On our last morning there we woke up early just for a stealth brownie trip. Unfortunately we didn't get exactly what we were expecting. To say the brownies were gooey would have been an understatement, the one I shared with Stephanie was actually liquid. To be walking around with plastic baggies full of liquid brownies led to some laughs and pretty unsavory jokes that I'll let you imagine for yourselves.

Canopy Tour

In addition to the turtle tour we had also heard great things about the canopy tour and were eager to try it, we sure weren't disappointed!! The course was just a fifteen minute drive out of SJDS and apparently has some of the highest, fastest, and longest zip lines in Nicaragua. After going on two little practice runs where we got used to braking and got comfortable with the whole process it was time for the real thing! The guides were hilarious, five men showing off by jumping on the zip lines and changing quickly from one line to another. I was pretty jealous with how effortless they made it look, plus they did crazy stuff like going upside down or going with no hands which just looked like way too much fun. I was able to convince them to bounce my line for the last run though!

The zip lines themselves were amazing, but they also offered a great view of the beautiful Nicaraguan countryside. At one point I even got to see a monkey hanging out in a tree. When we weren't getting whisked on and off the lines (our guides were the epitome of efficiency), we were standing on little platforms, able to look around at all the wildlife and vegetation. My best view though was when Andrea got stuck in the middle of the line (it was one of the long runs and it got super windy as she was going across, leaving her stranded in the middle of the line) and since I had already started I got to stop in the middle of the line and hang out with her until the guide came to get us (at which point he got to show off some more by hauling us all back to the platform!) At the end of it we all wanted to go and do it all over again, and some of us harbored dreams of staying in Nicaragua indefinitely and running our own canopy tours.

Turtle Tour

Photo courtesy of Andrea G. You're only supposed to use red lights around the turtles as the white lights can be very disorienting for them, however Andrea's camera went all wonky and the flash went off by accident. I however am not above sharing this amazing accidental photo.

One of the truly amazing experiences of the trip was going on a Turtle Tour. We signed up through Casa d'Oro in SJDS to go see baby sea turtles hatching. For $25 we showed up around 6pm and were treated to an informational slide show before loading up on two trucks.
It was a very bumpy hour long ride to the beach. The seats weren't padded, there was no gate in the back of the truck, and our rider must have thought that a roller coaster like experience would really enhance the trip. So after an hour of holding on for dear life and sucking in dust, we showed up at the beach. We were put in pairs and given red lights to be used on the beach. They first showed us two baskets of baby turtles that had hatched during the day and were collected to be released at night (when its safer for them) and then we made our way to the beach.
After being split into two large groups, our guide released the turtles 200m away from the water's edge and we were able to cheer them on as they made their way arduously to the water. The act of pulling themselves across the sand helps build up their swimming skills so even though it was painfully slow to watch their progress we couldn't help them if we wanted them to have a good chance of survival once they reached the water. After seeing all 20 or so make their way into the ocean we walked out along the beach and were able to see several different nests hatching. At once point we were so engrossed watching all the turtles make their way out of the sand that we didn't realize another nest was popping out five feet to our left. It was amazing to be able to be part of this experience, observing the whole process. At one point I just went and stood down by the water, the best part for me was watching them finally reach the water and have the waves sweep them away, while it was the conclusion for us it was only the beginning for them.

San Juan del Sur

If you were wondering where one of the most beautiful places on earth is, just go to San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. This was our home base in a sense during our stay. Jane, who founded the SJDS Biblioteca, also owns the Hotel Villa Isabella where we stayed and it was perfect.
In addition to having this fantastic front porch with great hammocks and swings, we got to wake up every morning and go downstairs to be treated to a fantastic breakfast, fresh fruit, great coffee, burritos, eggs, pancakes, waffles, tamales, you name it, we ate it.
This doesn't mean though that we didn't get hungry later in the day, here you see our group walking along the beach to get some ice cream. I opted for coconut although they also had a fruit one that was the most brilliant purple you've ever seen.
Here is the harbor at San Juan del Sur with a view of the hills on one side.
Right across the street from the library (and quite close to the hotel) was the church. Five minutes before 6pm you would hear the bells going, Jane explained that this was the way of saying "this is your last chance to come to church or you will be late!"

Bookmobile

Here you see two of the volunteers, Renaldo in the green hat, and Erikka with the red headband. This was a particularly intense game of soccer and I took a quick break on the pretense of taking photos. When I wasn't busy being the goalie I tried playing offense and had some pretty fierce competitors. The only reason we were able to keep up with them is because we had sneakers and they were all playing in sandals and flip flops (not ideal when you're playing on a combination of cement, barbed wire, rocks, and dog poop) the game ended tied 1-1 with the volunteers exhausted and the kids eager for more.

A major part of the trip was getting to go out on the bookmobile to see some of the communities that the library is able to serve. In addition to having the library in San Juan del Sur, they also serve over 30 communities through the bookmobile, bringing books to some pretty rural areas.
You never know what you might find on the drive, in addition to fording a river in the pick up truck we also saw some oxen (this of course led to many jokes about Oregon Trail and dying of dysentery) along with beautiful vistas of rolling hills and jungles.
This in a sense is the bookmobile, a pickup truck full of volunteers, and another truck with three bins of books, some paperwork, and some snacks.
At one of the schools a mama pig and her babies came to check out the book selection. They were interested in the book "Lodo, Lodo, Lodo" ("Mud, Mud, Mud") but since they didn't return their books they couldn't check out any new ones.
All the children were on vacation during our stay so school was out of session when we went out on the bookmobile. Kids still made their way out to the sites though with their books to return and eager if shy expressions on their faces. The SJDS employees had an awesome system for checking the books in and out, so as volunteers we mainly did crafts with the kids, played soccer or Frisbee, did read alouds, or got the kids to read to us (this was my personal favorite).

Granada

We only had a couple of hours in Granda but it was enough time for an amazing meal and to see what I was most interested in: the cathedral, below, and the Iglesia de Guadalupe, above.
The cathedral was repainted recently and the yellow practically glowed.
Here it is with a view of the hills in the back. Granada sits next to Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America, and the 21st largest lake in the world. Lake Nicaragua is home to species found nowhere else on the globe, such as a freshwater shark. The Lake is also home to two volcanic islands, Ometepe and Zapetera.


The square by the cathedral had a number of stands selling jewelry, pottery, and dried stuffed frogs. This boy was taking a nap with his parrot until the opportunity of sales perked him up.
Here our chef for our amazing lunch poses besides his grill. Think juicy beef, amazing fresh fish, fried plantains, and great sauces full of fresh flavor. This was definitely one of the best meals we had the whole trip and I left feeling quite full and ready for a little walk.

Tipitapa

On our way from Managua to Granada we stopped at a small library in Tipitapa. This ended up being our favorite site visit by far and an amazing story. A mother and daughter in the community saw a need for a library, and so they donated half of their house to this cause and now run the library out of one room.
It's clear that they do a wonderful job with community outreach when you see how confident these children are and how comfortable they were in the library. I sat to read them one book and soon had many more piled on my lap. They were very patient with my slow pronunciation although I did elicit more than a few giggles.
In addition to story time there were lots of kids making calendars and I had fun passing them glue and buttons and watching their very careful selection of macaroni. This site visit was even hotter than the last and even though it was hard to tear ourselves away from all the hugs and laughter the air-conditioned van was once again a big relief.

Chinendega

The next morning we had an hour or so to walk around Chinendega and take in the sites. It happened to be the Day of the Three Kings, and there was a performance of traditional folk dance that we were able to stumble upon.
The costumes were beautiful in motion and created fantastic patterns as the dancers spun and twirled.
The dance performance ended up being the highlight of our brief walking tour, and after being hounded by street children trying to sell us gum we made our way back to the hotel.

From the hotel we packed up and then made our way to a nearby library for another site visit. There were very few children here and the visit had a much more subdued feeling, drinking juice boxes and speaking with the director. Even with the laid back visit, the heat soon had us all exhausted and ready for an air-conditioned van ride back to Managua for the night.