Chao, Nicaragua...Hello, USA

These last few weeks have been filled with emotional highs and lows. I said all my goodbyes to my Nicaraguan family and friends, had my goodbye parties with volunteers and staff, and packed up my stuff and headed home to the US. I think these goodbyes were much harder than most because only some, not all, know how to use a computer and/or have regular internet access. It's obviously very difficult for them to come visit me because of visa and financial restrictions, and I don't plan on returning to Nicaragua for some years now.


Saying goodbye at my favorite school, Las Minitas


Receiving my Peace Corps Close of Service Certificate from our Country Director


Peace Corps Volunteer Goodbye party in Leon


Saying goodbye to my host family from training

But the positive side of things is that I'm now back with family and friends state-side and enjoying once again the comforts of being home. While taking some time to relax and adjust these next few weeks, I will also be applying to grad schools in international development for the fall and working on finding a job in the meantime (and of course eating plenty of delicious food and spending time with people I haven't seen in years).

Overall, it was an incredible experience that I would never take back. I have memories and pictures that I will take with me always. I want to thank everyone for all their support mail, emails, and phone calls throughout (particularly those packages including food and music ;)...you know who you are!!). It's been an intense and wonderful last two years.

Managua - My Second Site

As my Peace Corps service comes to a close (on November 11, to be exact), I've tried to spend as much time in-site as possible to finish up any previous projects and try to ensure sustainability with my work before I leave. I want to make these last couple of months as productive as possible so that I can finish up my service with a bang and really feel that I've had a worthwhile two years. However, for the past couple of months, I have made more visits to Managua, the capital, than I have in all of my previous two years combined, and it could not have started at a worse time.

On one early morning in June, before the sun had even fully risen, I woke up to take an ice-cold shower and get ready to go to school. As I was towel drying my hair, I pulled a muscle in my neck so badly that I couldn't move I was in such severe pain. With the help of a few phone calls to the PC Doctors and some medication, the pain subsided within a few days and I could at least get out of bed and go back to work. However, here I am three months later and I still can't completely twist my neck to one side.

Peace Corps is therefore sending me to physical therapy in Managua twice a week for what was originally just six sessions, but have now been extended to twelve and maybe even eighteen sessions, depending on my improvement, or lack thereof. I am losing two out of five work days a week for this therapy in addition to having to travel frequently in taxis - not exactly a pleasant experience after what happened to me. I am at least now taking more precautions when I travel and am using PC-approved drivers, but the anxiety of being in Managua hasn't fully faded away.

In terms of the police case, there really has been no progress made in all this time. Let's just say the issues I've been having throughout my entire service in regards to meeting with people, punctuality, etc. are not limited to just development work. But this has been an additional stressor I need to deal with on every visit to Managua.

So what am I doing the days I'm not in my "second site"? I continue to go to school every day and try to meet with the new environmental representative in the Mayor's Office to continue with eco-group work. I do have a good story for you, though. To get to one of my schools requires a 40 minute bus ride on an unpaved road, crossing through a river (that's right through, not over) because the bridge was damaged by a storm a few years ago. Since it's been raining so much, the buses aren't able to cross because the river's so deep, but one of my student's mothers has laid out a thick wooden plank for vehicles to cross the bridge and is charging 50 cordobas (about $2.50) to cross (which I find amazing how people completely take advantage of situations). So as I was coming back from school, one of the buses decided to brave it out (or not pay C$50) and cross the river. Well, we got stuck, and I witnessed gallons upon gallons of pure diesel just flow into the river as the driver slammed on the gas to try to get the bus out. If only I had a camera. Anyway, it's times like these that I wonder if I'll miss...

Home in a little over two months!

The Nica-side of Life by Barbara Veres, PCV Guatemala

It's pretty cool to think that Carolyn and I have never lived too close to one another, but have still maintained a strong friendship based on visits and common travel adventures to ten countries, including our Peace Corps time that just so happened to begin within three weeks of each other's with a geographical distance that is not too much further than our geographical distance was back in the states (of course you're looking at an eight hour leisurely drive through the Adirondacks in the great state of New York versus a grueling sixteen hour bus ride through three Central American border crossings).

After spending a few days kicking it back on the beach with my two friends Robin and Marisha, I headed to my next destination: Nicaragua, to get a mere peek into what has been Carolyn's Nicaraguan life for almost two years.

After arriving almost three hours late from Tegucigalpa and spending the night in an over-priced (but Peace Corps-approved hotel), I was happy to finally see a familiar face after two grueling days of solo travel on bus. Carolyn had been waiting at the bus station for about two hours, since I was still able to text her to let her know I would be arriving a little late (originally just one hour, and of course leave it to Murphy's Law to have me arrive even later and not be able to text her since I no longer had service once we entered Nicaragua).

We spent the next day in the Peace Corps office in Managua for Carolyn to run some errands, and to kill the rest of the day. We had a very fachenta (fancy) lunch at a nice vegetarian restaurant, did a little bit of shopping in the nearby shopping center and even watched a movie in English, Kick-Ass, which, despite having Nicholas Cage in it, was surprisingly good. Posh Corps, anyone? Although that was my first impression of Nicaragua, it was not surprising in the least bit to see the wealth of a capital city in a developing country. Sometimes you feel like you're in a developed country until you see a cow in someone's front yard, which could be just a block or two away from a shopping center nicer than I have ever seen in the States or even Europe.

The next morning we finally started our trip: first stop, to visit Carolyn's host family from training, and then spend the night in the city of Masaya, a small city known for its artisan crafts. Unfortunately we got as far as the micro bus stop until we were left in the middle of nowhere after our "incident." I won't lie- my initial reaction was to return back to the US the following week. Carolyn and I both reacted very differently to the situation. She tried fighting back initially, I somehow remained calm, and it wasn't until after the incident that I "lost it" after arriving back to the Peace Corps office. I obviously made the decision to stay in Nicaragua, which is the best thing I could have done. I didn't want that to be my sole experience and memory of Nicaragua, because that would have just been stupid. Bad things happen everywhere- some places more than others, and if anything, this experience taught the both of us to trust our gut instincts, and that some people are just plain manipulative - but it shouldn't ruin what could be a wonderful experience.

We spent the next few days in Managua, mainly at the Peace Corps office. We had some useless trips to the police station, only to have them tell us that they would not be able to meet us again until Wednesday, since Monday was a revolutionary holiday, and Tuesday was a rest day from the holiday on Monday. Not surprising. We decided to get out of the city and go to Carolyn's town, about a four hour bus ride from Managua.

We spent the next four days in her town relaxing, processing everything that had happened and just tried to keep ourselves busy by meeting her friends, teachers that she works with, and of course her Nicaraguan boyfriend, Norvin. I really enjoyed spending time there, not only because it gave us a safe atmosphere to relax and unwind in, but also because it has been where Carolyn has been tirelessly working for almost two years with teachers in many different schools to try to alter the way people think about the environment. As an Environmental Education volunteer, Carolyn has worked relentlessly to train teachers to teach more of an environment-based curricula in the classroom, and of course trying to make it fun for the students.





It was very apparent in the concern expressed and hospitality shown by Carolyn's colleagues that she has built close relationships with them during her time in site- earning confianza, or trust, is a very important thing to get things going in Latin America, and beyond building confianza, Carolyn has also built strong friendships with her teachers.

On Wednesday morning we headed back to the Peace Corps office in Managua- neither of us slept very well that night, but luckily we didn't have any problems, as we were now being extra cautious with everything. We had originally went in to Managua to continue with the police report, but unsurprisingly, the investigator who was handling our case was not ready.

Instead of waiting around for more disappointment, we decided to try out our plan once again- and so we headed to Carolyn's training town and spent the afternoon with her awesome host family. She has spoken so much to me about them, and how she really feels that they are her second family, and after spending just an afternoon with them, I could easily see why. If Olympic-style seed-spitting wasn't good enough, I don't know what would be.







During my visit, my mom called and we spoke for a few minutes (my mom is Hungarian). Afterwards, Carolyn told me that she had told her host family that I was speaking in Hungarian to my mom, and her host grandmother said that she could understand some of what I was saying! It turns out that Carolyn's host grandmother had worked for a Hungarian family in Managua back in the 1930s and had learnt some Hungarian from them. I have traveled to nearly thirty countries and have met at least one Hungarian in almost every country- not an easy feat. Her host grandmother may have not been Hungarian, but hey... that was much cooler than actually meeting just a regular old Hungarian!

After a wonderful afternoon with her host family, it was hard to leave their endless hospitality after spending such a good afternoon with them, but Masaya awaited us. We arrived there after a thirty minute bus ride and easily found our hostel and went out for a cheap, but delicious meal of gallo pinto (red beans and rice), tacos and some other goodies. The next day we took a short trip to the artisan market where we made rounds and I picked up some pretty cool artisan pieces without going overboard (not as easy as it may sound). That afternoon we headed to Leon, through Managua, but we managed to get a bus that took us directly to the bus station that left to Leon, so we avoided having to taxi through Managua, easing our anxiety and stress.

After arriving in Leon, we set out to find the volcano boarding place we had heard so much about, only to find out that it had been booked for the next day. I didn't feel overly disappointed at first, as I wasn't sure if uncontrollably hurling myself down an active volcano was what I needed in a time of uneasiness and anxiety. Well, it turned out to be exactly what we both needed, because we ended up finding a smaller, non-profit organization, Quetzaltrekkers (www.quetzaltrekkers.com), (originally based out of Guatemala, but now with a location and tours from Leon, Nicaragua. I highly recommend this organization since the profits go to children in Nicaragua, and the staff work there on a volunteer-basis).

During the hour-long truck ride to the base of Cerro Negro, the active volcano we were to climb, we overheard the guy sitting next to me talking about being an editor for Survivor: Nicaragua that was being filmed in San Juan del Sur, one of Nicaragua's finest tourist venues. Carolyn had already been bashing it the night before, and continued to do so until two other guys, who had been intently listening, mentioned that they also worked for the show, one of whom was a producer. That shut Carolyn up for the rest of hike. ;-)




Little did they know that we did in fact have very tough nuts (see hat)...


A walk down into the crater.

The volcano boarding was nothing short of exactly what I needed. It really comes to show that being physically active reduces stress and anxiety in ways I never understood before now, and it was a good self-esteem booster in terms of getting ourselves out there and not locking ourselves in our hotel room for the remainder of our vacation, not to mention it was incredible - so incredible that we did it twice.









Despite experiencing an awful situation just days after my arrival, I could not be happier that I decided to stay and enjoy Nicaragua and get to know some important and wonderful people who have been such a big part of Carolyn's life. I would also like to thank the Peace Corps Nicaragua staff for being extremely supportive and helpful, especially to another volunteer from a different country. It really put things into perspective in terms of how supportive Peace Corps is, no matter where you are (so long as you are in the States or another Peace Corps country :-) ).

If you are interested in visiting Nicaragua, doing it with Carolyn is pretty much impossible at this point, since she is ending her service in three months - but our experience in Managua should in no way deter anyone from visiting. Nicaraguans are extremely hospitable and wonderful people, but just like anywhere, always have your guard up- even at home, where we often feel a false sense of comfort, that nothing can happen to us, whether that be your home town, or a place you have learnt to call home.

Express Kidnapping

My friend Barbara who is a Peace Corps Volunteer in Guatemala came to visit me for what was going to be a fun, relaxing 2-week vacation for the both of us. The first couple of days started out fine but on our way out of Managua to Masaya everything took a turn for the worst.

Barbara and I were waiting on a fairly busy road at 10 AM for a microbus headed towards Masaya to do some shopping in the artisan markets and have lunch with my host family. A friendly Nica woman approached us and started asking about our travels, if we like Nicaragua, etc. She knew we were tourists not only because we're pasty white but we were carrying huge backpackers backpacks.

After waiting for about 10 minutes with no micros passing, a taxi pulled up and the woman offered to share a cab with us to Masaya with her and two other men. It's not uncommon to fill up a taxi to get a better rate so we did just that. The woman was seated in front, a man on one side in the backseat, Barbara in the middle, and me on the other side. The other man tried to enter on my side of the car to sandwich the two of us in the backseat and I told him no. Peace Corps had warned us about these kidnappings, identifying just that as a way to get the victims trapped in the car in a vulnerable position.

I immediately felt uncomfortable and told the driver to let us out at the nearest bus stop instead of taking us all the way to Masaya. As he slowed down to pull over, he made a quick right, slammed on the gas, and sped down a less-traveled road. The man who I wouldn't let in on my side was seated in front with the woman who had befriended us and jumped into the backseat on top of me to lock the doors. I tried to kick him away and escape and received numerous punches and was threatened with a knife, while Barbara kept surprisingly calm and did exactly what they told us.

From there we were told to keep our eyes shut for the entire time as we gave them directions as to where exactly we kept our valuables. We needed to give away pin #s to our ATM cards or else they threatened to harm us. We were told they would leave us with all our clothes, passports, and IDs, and that they only wanted money.

After about 20 minutes the woman was dropped off at a bank and we were kept hostage in the car. I remember sweating and being squished uncomfortably in the backseat, wondering if this was reality or if I was having a nightmare. We continued driving as she took money out of the machines (about $600 worth from my accounts) and made sure we weren't lying about our pins.

Thirty minutes later the three men finally let us off with our stuff in what seemed like the middle of nowhere on a dirt road in a very isolated location. They left Barb with 200 cordobas (about $10) to get a taxi and were told to get out of town (decency?). We took our stuff, hysterical, and walked for about ten minutes until we found a hotel and went inside to use the phone, despite having reservations that maybe the thieves were connected with the hotel owners.

In the end, money was stolen, our cameras, our cell phones, Barb's mp3 player, sunglasses, and a few smaller items. I'm not really so much concerned about the stolen items as I am with the hassle of not having a camera here to take pictures the rest of my service, for example. But more than anything the emotional scars this leaves me makes it scary every time I need to go into Managua for work or medical appointments. But such is life and I will be taking extra precautions to take secure taxis and remain safe.

Barbara and I are healing, slowly but surely. Peace Corps staff has been wonderful with taking care of us. We both have less than four months left in our service so we want to try to remain in-country and make the best of the rest of our time in Central America. We both have had so many positive experiences and relationships here as well and don't want this one event to ruin all the good we've built up. I still think Nicaragua is a great place with such genuinely kind and warm people, and I don't think this experience should change anyone else's opinions either.

Thanks to those of you who have been supporting me through this. You've all been great.

Cooking Nicaraguense - Nacatamales

Nacatamales are corncakes, similar to Mexican tamales, stuffed with rice, vegetables and meats. The dough is then wrapped in banana leaves and steamed. (A vegetarian version can also be made with oil instead of lard and soymeat or no meat)



2 cups Cornmeal
1/4 cup Lard
1 Onion, chopped
2 teaspoons of Sour Orange Juice or Lime
2 cups Chicken Broth (or other broth you prefer)
2 Garlic Cloves, minced
1 Green Pepper, chopped
1 Red Pepper, chopped
1 teaspoon Fresh Parsley
Fresh Mint to taste
Paprika to taste
1 pound Pork, cooked and cubed
2 Tomatoes, cubed
2 cups Potatoes, mashed
1/2 cup Rice, cooked
Ground pepper to taste
Salt to taste
10 Banana Leaves

Just cover the cornmeal with water, adding the orange juice and then cooking it at a low heat so that the hulls begin to separate. Then rinse with cold water, placing it in a pot and again covering it with water. Allow it to sit for 3 days, being sure to change the water every day. Once it has stood for 3 days, drain the corn and mash it. Now add half of the lard, plus some salt. Knead the mixture whilst slowly adding the broth until the dough is soft.

In a pan, place the rest of the lard, along with the peppers, onion, garlic, tomatoes, paprika, salt, pepper, mint and parsley. Then add the pork and other ingredients. Wash the banana leave and cut into 16 inch squares. Place a spoonful of dough in the center of each leaf square, then top with pork mixture. Carefully wrap and tie with string. Place the nacatamales in boiling water for about 30 minutes. Enjoy! (www.nicaragua.com/recipes)

Visit with my niece, Carolyn, from 6/30 - 7/7/10, by Aunt Frances

First of all, Carolina left NO stone unturned. She received and answered my million and a half questions prior to my arrival. Between her responsiveness and her regular blogging which included pictures, I felt very comfortable with her Peace Corps country from the moment I saw her beautiful face. She is an extraordinary travel planner and tourist guide!

My intention from the beginning was simply to be with her and share in her current life. Of course, we did that and more. The "sharing" of life part included: (no particular order intended)

1. meeting some of those closest to her (Norvin and others) as well as several school colleagues (Profesoras Mariela and Elizabeth);
2. living in her home and taking advantage of her hammock along with enjoying her own special homemade breakfasts (hot oatmeal and craisins/raisins) and, lest I forget, learning there how to dance the "bachata";
3. going to class with her (Profesora Carolina) and encountering the children she teaches in one of her schools along with observing her co-teaching a lesson on the balance of nature;
4.enjoying the children singing (for me) as well as the sharing in the "fruits of the earth" like sugar cane (cana), mangoes, and lovely flowers from the children and teachers in school;
5. experiencing with her the regular long bus rides she takes (and even one minibus breakdown);
6. enjoying some of her diet of pitahaya (dragon fruit), melocoton (star fruit with and without salt), gallo pinto, avocado, plantains, mango, and papaya (to name a few);
7. knowing "intimately" the long soaking rain walks she encounters;
8. meeting lizards, special birds, mosquitoes, a scorpion, cattle, dogs and their puppies, chickens and roosters with hourly night wake-up calls, hummingbirds, cows, goats, horses, geese, pigs, and ducks on a regular basis;
9. appreciating with her the affectionate and gracious nature of the Nica people; and
10. witnessing her sincere and loving commitment as she lives out one of her many dreams.

Remember "we did that and more?" The "more" part included: (order intended by dates of travel)

1.6/30-7/1 -- Touring her site and getting to know that area along with her friends there and at the nearby school (that is, after a short ("un poco") walk and a 4 hour bus ride from the airport on Wednesday. Thursday night we enjoyed a supper with one of her Peace Corps volunteers (Jocelyn) and her father (John). (And I won't mention how happy I was to see a taxi show up at her home on 7/1 afternoon with - guess what?- my bright green duffle bag). I must admit that I was prepared to pick it up in Managua on 7/7, and simply "do without." Did I forget to mention the night choruses that made me get the giggles every so often? The night concerts consisted of the following: lizards croaking; roosters crowing all through the night (which triggered my giggles and poor Carolyn getting less sleep); which woke up the dogs who started barking (and fighting or whatever) - not to mention waking up the next door puppies who decided to tell their mother they were hungry as only puppies can; which made the happy baby next door start crying - and all of this simultaneously accompanied by certified (as in real) local music. And, by the way, cold showers never felt so good as after a hot night with musical accompaniment and no change of clothes (except for the underwear I was grateful to find in my carry-on). It's amazing how "little things" really "mean a lot." Is that how that old song goes?

2. 7/2 - Off to Esteli for a 6am bus, (2 of which and about 5 hours later) we found ourselves roaming around after we traveled through Matagalpa. We stayed at Hotel La Meson; hungrily ate at a vegetarian eatery (my first soy hamburger with freshly squeezed orange juice - scrumptious!). In between our roaming we encountered a fascinating parade with a band and some special music. We were informed that this was the funeral procession of an important local official. Great sendoff, says me! In between, we luckily found a stop for a soda during a deluge of rain. As luck would have it, we got to see the end of the Uruguay/Ghana game, with Carolyn cheering for Ghana, and with my help, unfortunately, they lost. We were both in bed by 9PM anticipating a 4:45am wake-up which (is a frog croaking phone). A super bowl of wanton soup that night was "just what the doctor ordered!"

3. 7/3 - A bumpy, lengthy bus ride (are there other kinds?) took us all the way to the Miraflor Natural Reserve in Esteli. The incredibly magnificent nature along the route made me wonder how much more beauty there was still ahead for us. The hospitable guide and family provided us with a breakfast and lunch "to die for." I had pancakes and bananas in the morning and soymeat, beans, plantains, and vegetables for a late lunch. Here we hiked through the high and intermediate forest and eventually delighted in a waterfall swim area - (so, so, so refreshing that I can still feel it). The guide almost had to drag us both out because of time (walk back, lunch, bus departure - none of which I had any sense of). And before I forget, it was wonderful spending the week without a watch!!!

Anyhow, our host family, Luis, Martha, Luisa, and Carla were more than gracious - even providing hammocks for us to rest in while waiting for our planned bus ride that was not. We wound up receiving an invite to sit on the back of a truck instead; said "yes," and because of my age, Carolyn got the back and all the rain when it decided to fall. But, prior to our return to lunch and the uphill roads here and there, a person whom I thought was an "angel on a motorbike" came along. Rodolfo proved not to be the angel I thought he was though I was sincerely grateful for his ride. He asked me to take his picture after he dropped me off. The "more to tell" of this story is for another time. Anyhow, Carolyn and I sort of agreed that "whatever happens in Nicaragua, stays in Nicaragua." If there is interest in more detail, either of us would be happy to share.

4. On Sunday, the 4th of July, we left Esteli for Granada. Up at 5:45am, and 2 buses and a cab ride later, we found ourselves (after a bit of a walk) at the Oasis Hostel where there was free internet service, a free 10 minute call, and a lovely little pool. There we toured, visited a few churches, one primitive history museum, and attended Mass at the cathedral with Bishop Perez himself presiding. Of course, we called and talked with my Mom and my sister-in-law, Lorraine, and my brother, Jim. How wonderfully refreshing to hear the voices of loved ones! That night, too, we decided to make it our special supper at a fusion cuisine restaurant called "The Third Eye." It will be long remembered.

5. The morning of the 5th, we encountered several of Carolyn's Peace Corps colleagues, and what a treat to hear them from a distance talking about their shared excitement as I was using the internet nearby. Another pancake breakfast suited me fine (Blue Moon). Oh, and by the way, the best Nica coffee I had the entire week was made for me by Carolyn at her home, lest I forget - Selva Negra, I believe!

We left Granada for Laguna de Apoyo after boarding the minivan "that couldn't." Luckily, we were able to find a nearby cab after the first group got dropped off. Neither of us could wait to enjoy our swim in a volcanic lake (lowest point in Central America). There was such grandiose beauty there with the mountains surrounding the lake at Hotel La Orquidea. We saw more diversity of the birds and butterflies and hummingbirds there, too, on this "private" section where we swam. Had a lovely supper at La Abuela and I lost a 500 rummy game to my niece (definitely not a nice way to treat a guest, don't you think?)

5. After another giant Nica breakfast, we "trucked" with Mike (who owned La Orquidea) to Masaya as he headed off to register his 2 month old baby girl's birth there. We visited the local artisan markets most of the morning, and got a "hands on" feel for the market life there. Luckily we decided to return to the Laguna since the "monsoons" came upon us. The walk from the place where the bus left us off and our "home" is another very long story (for another time). It would be difficult for me to "get to the point" with this one, but know I had fun!

Holland wins; Carolyn lost this 500 rummy game (while it rained); and then we re-visited the laguna before the rains continued. Carolyn "made my evening" when SHE said she would like to play "MONOPOLIO" with me. Actually, I think this is really the 75th anniversary of Monopoly. And, yes, Aunt Frances won this one. !Que bueno!

6. Left Laguna de Apoyo after an all-night rain and some short loss of electricity. Another great Nica breakfast, a 9am departure, and many tears as I said goodbye at the airport.

In summary, I slept well, ate well, exercised much everyday, and cried a lot as I said goodbye to Carolyn. (Mom says it is good to cry.) If anyone has any questions, be sure to ask Carolyn about "her side of the story." I can never thank her enough for her infinite patience with my repeated questions; her exquisite travel plans created for me; her gift of helping me make my golden jubilee year one I'll never forget.

Cooking Nicaraguense - Gallo Pinto

This is my first installment of Nicaraguan recipes that I will be posting regularly on my blog. I figured I'd start with Gallo Pinto since it is the most popular dish found in Nicaragua. These recipes are meant to serve more as an educational experience regarding what typical Nicaraguan dishes are like, rather than something that's always feasible to prepare (unless you're really up for the challenge! Some of these recipes can be pretty time-consuming). I hope you enjoy!

Gallo Pinto



2 tbsp vegetable oil
2 large onions – thinly sliced
2 cups cooked red beans
¼ cup water
1 cup cooked white rice

Beans: cook 1 cup of dry red beans with 6 crushed cloves of garlic and water in a pressure cooker for 15 to 20 minutes. Sauté the onion in a pot. Add in the cooked beans and water. Cook for 5 minutes at a low heat whilst stirring. The beans must remain whole. Now add the cooked rice and simmer for a further 10 minutes, still stirring.

(recipe taken from www.nicaragua.com/recipes)

Building Confianza in a Developing World

In Spanish, the word "confianza" means trust, and during our first three months in-country, also known as Peace Corps training, we are taught incessantly about the importance of gaining confianza and building relationships within the community before diving right in and attempting to start a project. In the U.S., diving right in with a business associate may roll, but in a developing nation where you may not share the same political, religious, cultural, educational, and/or socioeconomic background as those with whom you work, if you have no confianza, you'll have limited success.

Now that I have over a year and a half in my site, I feel I've developed enough confianza with certain people to make our work together worthwhile. With some people, it came easily because of their relationships with the previous environmental education volunteer, or because of an inherent openness or fondness towards Americans and American culture. However, this was certainly not the case with everybody.

People generally view all "gringos" the same - rich, right-wing, and basically there to give away hand-outs. To try to teach people the reality in that not all Americans are alike, just as not all Nicas are alike, and that we are working voluntarily for only a modest living stipend, is very difficult.

However, one thing that certainly helps level the playing field is our living allowance, or better said, stipend. In the U.S., we are considered volunteers, but here, we make just about the same amount of money as any teacher, which is not considered a salary for us but rather a stipend for basic living expenses. As much as this can frustrate any volunteer who's used to going out on a weekly basis, traveling, and saving up money back home, it can actually be a blessing.

Why? It puts us more on the same playing field with our counterparts who are making about the same amount of money as we are. We live in similarly-sized houses under the same living conditions and are therefore no longer seen as "rich gringos" (well, at least that is the goal). It gives two people raised under entirely different circumstances more things to share in common.

The rest of the confianza-building process depends on how much you're willing to put yourself out there and step out of your comfort zone during your first few months of service to visit people you hardly even know at their houses and try to carry on a conversation in a language which you barely dominate. As awkward as this was, I now realize how much closer I am with these teachers than with the teachers with whom I started working mid-service because we've gotten to know each other personally rather than on just a professional basis. We cook together, they invite me to family and school functions, they come to my house with their kids, and they paint my toenails (I'm telling you, pedicure-quality toenail paintings).

But not only are we close personally, I have much more success with them work-wise because they show more interest in my projects. They truly understand what it is I'm doing in Nicaragua for two years. So is it really worth having all that free time in your first two months of service and sitting through all those awkward silences when you're first getting to know each other? Absolutely.

It may not have been apparent when I first got here why I had so much time off, why I wasn't just placed in-site right at the beginning of the school year instead of at the very end, or why "confianza" is so important and why we are forced to live on such small means. It's made me get to know and understand better the people with whom I work on a regular basis. I'm more respected. And I often feel more like a part of the community than a complete outsider. So even though my work can often frustrate me, I can at least feel some sense of accomplishment because of the relationships I've built along the way.

Un Dia Tipico

Thank you for those of you who made suggestions for my next blog entry. I will be writing several to try to take into account all of them, since I know there's still a lot you'd like to know. This entry is about a typical day in Nicaragua...

I wake up between 5:30 and 6:30 to the sun rising brightly, illuminating the starfruit tree I have outside of my window. I take a refreshing, or sometimes less refreshing and more frigid, cold water shower, and if there's no water, a bucket bath from the water I have saved in my pila (large water storage area). I'll usually prepare myself a cold oatmeal drink of oatmeal, sugar, and water, but if it's a weekend and I have rice and beans on hand, I'll make gallo pinto (fried rice and beans) with a warm corn tortilla from one of the tortilla ladies down the street and a fresh avocado. To die for.

After I've gotten myself ready, I'll leave for school, umbrella in hand (for both sun and rain), and wait for the bus. The ride is between 20 and 40 minutes on either a paved or dirt road, depending on the school, and if reggaeton is blasting, the ride usually seems quicker. At the school, I'll co-teach the class to 3rd-6th grade collectively (multigrade) on a science-related topic that the teacher and I have already planned earlier that week using lots of fun, hands-on activities.

After spending a few hours at the school, I'll take the bus back into the "city" (sometimes standing), go home to relax, and heat up my lunch on the gas stove. This is usually something that I've already prepared a day or two before and continually heat up throughout the day so it doesn't spoil (since I have no refrigerator...I like to try to stay within the living allowance that PC gives us and since I was never able to save up enough to buy a mini-fridge, well, I don't have one).

The food I'll prepare is usually one of the following: rice and beans with malanga, quequisque (both in the potato family), or chayote (a type of squash) and fried green plantains; curried lentil stew with potatoes, chayote, and carrots served over rice; pasta with homemade tomato sauce, soymeat, and chayote; soymeat prepared with potatoes, carrots, and chayote served over rice; chickpeas cooked with Indian spices, carrots, and tomatoes served over rice; and if I'm lucky enough to be in Managua or another big city that day, I'll bring back some fresh eggplant, broccoli, or spinach to cook with garlic and oil over pasta.

Although this may (or may not) sound appetizing, it gets tiring eating the same things all the time, especially after almost two years. So if you have any simple recipes using any of the ingredients mentioned above, please, send them my way!!!

My afternoons are usually spent napping/relaxing, at the Mayor's Office planning, carrying out an environmental activity or eco-group session, and/or co-planning with one of my six teachers. The teachers with whom I've developed more "confianza" (trust) will usually have me over for a while longer to chat, offering me a drink or sometimes a meal. I feel like I've had much more success working with those teachers (more on that in a later blog).

I mostly get around by bicycle, but if it's raining or looks like it's about to rain, I'll walk. On the days that I go to my afternoon school in town, I'll spend the mornings sleeping in a little bit, hand-washing clothes for about two hours, sweeping and mopping the floors, and cooking one of the above-mentioned recipes. After lunch, I'll walk 25 minutes or ride my bike to the poorest neighborhood in town and spend my afternoon in class there. One night a week I give science classes there to enrolled adults, too.

Upon returning home at night, I'll eat dinner and relax, preparing materials for the next day's class, or watch DVDs of "Sex and the City" or the "Office" until I go to bed around 9 (I know, lame). My days of nightly English classes are over now that we have a new TEFL (Teaching English as a Foreign Language) volunteer in town, Jocelyn!

On weekends or days that I don't have class, I'll visit friends, have eco-group meetings, travel to a community to plant trees, catch up on household duties and chores, travel two hours to the closest city to get my mail and do some grocery shopping for some difficult-to-find items, watch local soccer games, use the internet, or just relax.

Really, no day is ever the same here because my schedule pretty much varies on a week-to-week, season-to-season basis, but now you've got the gist of what I generally do. If it seems like teaching for only half the day, three to four days a week is nothing, take into account all the wasted time spent making numerous trips to co-plan, meet with someone at the Mayor's Office or an NGO, or even school when I find that they are not there or are in a meeting, which makes planning things really fun for me. But what's great is that I always have the flexibility to move things around if I need to take an afternoon or day off, which is not so easy with a 9-5 job.

Overall, I try to keep myself fairly busy and avoid spending too much time alone in my house to prevent boredom and loneliness. I also want to be able to look back at my two years here and feel like I really did something positive for the community. I've got less than five months left, and time is moving quickly. Hello, U-S-A!

Suggestions?

Hi everyone, I'd like to leave my next blog post open to suggestions. Is there anything I haven't written about or that you'd like to hear more about? Nica culture, a typical day, food, Peace Corps, etc? Please, leave a comment or send me an email...I'm looking for suggestions!!!! Thanks!

Rainy Season - I Hate You

You know the saying, "April showers bring May flowers"? Of course you do. Well in Nicaragua, the saying should be, "April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, and (if you live in the northern regions) December showers bring mangoes and avocadoes." Yes, I love mangoes and avocadoes. I think they are some of the most delicious things that could be produced on this earth. However, I would be willing to sacrifice them if I didn't have to deal with 8-9 months of daily rain.

Does my job depend on the rain? Yes. Without it, we wouldn't be able to have school gardens and plant trees, since two out of three of my schools don't even have running water. But I absolutely cannot stand the rain, and the rainy season's only just beginning. Sure, I wouldn't mind the rain every once in a while, but when it's every day for 8 months and you have to walk/ride your bike everywhere on dirt, or better said, mud roads, and wash by hand the resultant filthy clothing (that will never dry) in an area where every five seconds your feet are bitten by fire ants, you start to abhore the rain.

The rain here as it relates to my life in Nicaragua means constantly dirty floors and mounds of dirty laundry. Why don't I just wash them, you might ask? Well, all chores and manual labor are pretty much left to the mornings. If you decide to so much as life a pencil in the afternoon, you have so much sweat pouring out of you you're practically swimming in it. So that cuts out half my day. Then, factor in that I spend most mornings at school, in meetings, or cooking, and that limits me to about 1-2 free mornings a week. Now, understand that in the rainy season, the water schedule is very unpredictable. Water can go out for days at a time (for some areas, weeks) due to flooded rivers, and that means the chances of having running water on those one or two free mornings I have are slim to none. Therefore, in my mind, I am living in a constant world of filth.

Another problem that I am facing which has been 100x worse this year because last year was a fairly dry year, is ants. Billions upon billions of them living in and under my house. And these ants aren't the gentle, lovable ants that you get to know in the movie Antz, these ants have attitude. They will bite you any second they get and it stings and itches for days. I look like I have some kind of disease on my feet. So, I being the environmentalist and all have tried all sorts of natural remedies to get rid of them - chili powder, soapy water - you name it, but nothing has resulted. I've really reached my tolerance level, and at this point, Raid or any other kind of fast-acting poison is looking like an excellent solution.

I could go on and on about how much I hate the rain, but really I don't think it's something you want to read about. Besides, there were many farmers who got hit really hard last year because it was so dry and farming is their only source of income. So who am I to complain? I've only got less than six months left here. Maybe I'll just buy a pair of rubber boots in the meantime and move to Arizona when I get back?

The Top 20 Things I Can't Wait to Go Home To

As my time in Nicaragua has wound down to about seven months left of service and I'm seeing off those volunteers in the groups before me, I've been getting into the mindset of life back home. So I decided to make a list of the top 20 things I can't wait to go home to, you know, just for fun ;). Yes, feel free to call me a dork, but these are the things I daydream about. The further down the list you get, the more excited I am about going back to it...

20. Going to the movies.
19. 24/7 internet access
18. Weddings
17. Waking up to find the NY Times in my inbox.
16. Driving
15. A clean, unlittered environment and an environmentally conscious public.
14. Bravo Reality TV, The Daily Show, WB11 late night tv, Travel Channel's "No Reservations"
13. Live music
12. Going shopping for an entirely new wardrobe (and I used to hate shopping!)
11. Spending the holidays with family
10. Inexpensive monthly phone plans
9. Snowboarding
8. No mosquitoes or sleeping with a mosquito net
7. Using a machine to wash clothes
6. Grocery stores and food shopping
5. Always having running water
4. Hot showers and soft towels
3. Dinners at nice restaurants with close friends
2. FOOD! Veggie burgers, Thai food, Chinese takeout, mesclun salads, bagels with tofu cream cheese or Earth Balance margarine, fresh berries, bok choy and other leafy greens, vegan grilled cheese, vegan waffles, Tropicana orange juice (some pulp), Silk Soymilk, Green Cactus mexican food, sandwiches and toast with multigrain bread, and a REFRIGERATOR to keep it all in!

And the #1 thing I can't wait to go home to...

1. Sitting on the couch in sweatpants eating soy ice cream and watching Oprah.

School, Billiards Tournaments, and Eco Groups

Since it's been a while, I figured I'd give an update on what I've been up to the past few months...

February marked the official start of the new school year. At this time I still had plans to work with most of the same teachers from the previous year. However, over the past month, many changes have taken place. Already weeks into the new school year, one of my multi-grade teachers got switched from teaching 1st and 3rd grade, to 1st and 2nd, leaving me to work with only one teacher in that school. I am also only working with one teacher in my other multigrade school, with grades 3-6. So that leaves me with having to work with four teachers in my not-so-favorite urban school.

At the beginning of the year, I was solidly working with one of my teachers from all of last year and two with whom I began at the end of the year. One of the new teachers worked out, while the other, after countless visits to his house, finally admitted that he didn't want to work with me. Many teachers, despite constant discussions about the point of my work and how we need to work together, co-planning and co-teaching for our work to be sustainable, still seem to miss that memo and think that my sole purpose here is to give their science classes for them so that they can leave the classroom and hang out. So when this teacher finally realized that this was not the way I roll, he suddenly didn't want to work with me anymore. Go figure.

Then one of my teachers with whom I worked all of last year got moved to teaching adult elementary classes at night, leaving all 50 (or is it 60? I lose track) of her 4th graders with a teacher who's just getting back from sick-leave. This, please note, was already a month into the new school year. So I may or may not be working with this 4th grade teacher, with whom I worked last year and didn't have too much success. Luckily, though, I will start giving night classes for adults which I'm really excited about. It'll be quite a change to teaching kids and I'm looking forward to being able to do more disciplined activities that some of my kids can't handle.

So that leaves me with four to five teachers, and as we're required to work with six, I need to pick up two brand new ones from my urban school (the only two with whom I haven't worked) and start from scratch. This is incredibly frustrating because I spent all of last year developing "confianza", or trust, with these teachers, so that this year would be a breeze. But now starting all over again with two new teachers and rushing the two-year process into one will be a challenge. I'm going to explain really well what my work is all about and my expectations to avoid some of the confusion I most recently dealt with.

Besides teacher frustrations and getting backtracked with my work in the schools, I've had some notable successes or hopefully soon-to-be successes that are still in progress. In March, my sitemate and I held a billiards tournament to promote HIV/AIDS education and prevention. Since men who frequent the billiards halls are considered high-risk individuals, this is the perfect place to hold this type of event. I'd like to take credit for thinking of such a brilliant idea, but these tournaments are actually pretty popular among health volunteers not only in Nicaragua, but in other parts of Latin America too. Neither one of us is a health volunteer, but Peace Corps encourages any kind of work we do in the HIV/AIDS field, and this seemed like a pretty cool event. Although only eight people participated in the tournament, we had about 60 people in attendance who heard the info sessions and received the information. We had some PC Health Volunteers, a representative from the mayor's office, and doctors from the Health Center come to the event to give info sessions and do free HIV testing. Condoms were distributed and the top two players in the tournament received a monetary prize. Overall, I think the tournament went well, especially as it was the first tournament of its kind that was held in town and that my sitemate and I really worked on involving local community members so that it can be done again once we're gone.

Lastly, luck must be on my side because the environmental representative in the mayor's office, Yaquelin, was able to stay and we've got a number of things we've been working on. First, the formation of ecological groups in each school who will eventually receive info sessions from us and will decide among themselves what kind of environmental projects they'd like to independently take on. Also, the anti-trash burning campaign continues, and now that it's been banned in the schools, we'd like to incorporate the eco-groups and get a community awareness campaign going. Yaquelin and I will also be attending a 4-day workshop together (which just so happens to be at the beach) for learning about project design and management so that we can hopefully get a trash management project going at least before I leave in November.

Seven and a half months until the end of service and I can really feel the clock ticking. I hope to have at least one main accomplishment that I can always look back on and really feel like my service was worthwhile.

Gallo Pinto, by Sonia

This is a guest entry by my friend, Sonia, visiting from New York.

Kipling once said “The first condition of understanding a foreign country is to smell it” …It is March and I am in Nicaragua, the first thing I remember smelling is burning garbage. But this smell is not the “first condition” to understanding Nicaragua. The first condition is to go in with an open mind. Nicaragua is a poor, polluted and developing country but also a very interesting one. Aside from reading up on its political history, I tried to go in without any expectations and only had my brief trip to Costa Rica several years ago for any Central American travel context. I wanted the experience to just wash over me and let Carolyn lead the way. She is a great navigator of the country so if you are planning to visit, please go.

Transitioning so quickly from 45 degrees Fahrenheit in late winter NY to a steamy 95 in Managua was almost unbearable for me. Why am I wearing jeans? Why did I bring a small rolling suitcase instead of my backpack (more on that later)? Will I ever feel clean on this trip (no)? These were my initial thoughts...but getting too caught up on the heat, the bumpy roads, the dirt and grime of traveling cheaply in Nica etc. will only detract from what was ultimately a worthwhile travel experience.

After a night in the capitol, Managua, Carolyn and I took a questionable old schoolbus to her site, Matiguas. We spent a little over two days and I got to see how she lives and the work she does. The highlights of my time in her town were:

-Norvin’s mother's very tasty veg lunch she cooked for us, old-school over a wooden fire

-Getting to meet Carolyn’s friends, boyfriend and colleagues

-Visiting a pretty waterfall with Spanish moss and monkeys

-Observing Carolyn teaching at one of her schools

The heat, the insects, my watch being stolen, the stares I got from locals, and my lack of Spanish were not exactly pleasant but I think if you do visit Carolyn, it is important to see her site and see how she lives. I am so impressed by the comforts she willingly lives without. She has no water and power during the day, no hot water, nosy neighbors, no internet, a small stipend she has to stretch for the whole month etc. I am also very impressed by Carolyn’s amazing Spanish and by the work she does; micro-change and micro-development is so important and she is part of that process, right in the thick of it.

Another miserable bus ride to the capitol and then a micro-bus ride, and we are in Carolyn’s training town, Masatepe. I was able to meet her very hospitable host family and a very different region of the country. It is a larger, greener and more bustling town than Matiguas. The following day, more buses and dirt, we went to the artisan market in Masaya. The market was nice and I bought a few woven scarves, local chocolate, coffee etc. My rolling bag couldn’t make it to the less touristy, cheaper market but I was trying to do a favor and take a Gautemalan blanket back to the states for Carolyn ;) Note to self and other future visitors to Nica: bring a backpack, these roads are not made for rolling! I did appreciate that the men always helped me with my bag so there is at least one positive thing to be said for the machismo culture in Nica.

After Masaya, we made it to San Juan del Sur. It is a beachy party town, with some higher prices, expat community, surfers and so on but it was the off-season so it actually did not feel too touristy. The first night we stayed at a $5 hostel and the next night at a slightly more upscale hotel/hostel. At this point in the trip, I was a getting a little sick. In general, the trip took a real toll on my body and I recommend you spend a little money on cabs, avoid wearing jeans, slather on the sunscreen and bug spray, and definitely watch what water/food you consume to avoid feeling like I did at the end. I was able to make it to the beach at least and to a villa of Peace Corps Volunteers; the group started before Carolyn’s and was having its end of service party. San Juan del Sur is worth visiting and is a good place to relax if you need to.

On the way back to the capitol, Carolyn and I visited Volcan Masaya. You can’t see the lava but there are some great views to be had here. Also, the cave tour is great! Then, it was time to fly home after one last plate of gallo pinto and plantains. Nicaraguans might stare, invade personal space and the men might harass you, but in general the people are very warm, welcoming and kind. The food is heavy and oily but a vegetarian can get by. The country is polluted at parts but very beautiful in others. Yes it can feel unsafe to walk around alone and yes you might get something stolen, but it is seriously worth visiting. With Carolyn as your guide, you will get to see the real Nicaragua. Also, for a traveler on a budget, it is a great place to visit. Go without too many expectations, and you will not be disappointed.

National Lampoon's Guatemalan Vacation

This entry can be originally found at: http://beveres.blogspot.com/

Guatemala has enough things going for it that my visit there almost made me feel like I was visiting home. Between the heavy tourism and plethora of American comfort food, I was finally able to have what I felt was a real vacation from my Peace Corps service in Nicaragua. But I wasn’t just there to see the beautiful mountains and freeze my ass off (yes, contrary to popular belief, Guatemala is COLD), I was there to spend time with my wonderful and close friend, Barbara Veres.

Upon arriving in Comitancillo, San Marcos, after a windy and very uncomfortable eight-hour bus ride from Antigua, I felt like I was entering into a fairy tale. The clouds enveloped the bus as we scaled the mountain filled with a serene forest of pine trees. Entering into Barb’s primarily indigenous community up on a hillside reminded me of what I always thought typical Peace Corps service would be like before I came to Nicaragua. A toilet, hot water, and wireless internet, on the other hand, were not. ;)



I appreciated having the opportunity to meet Barb’s famous counterpart, Isa, as well as many of her other well-liked, and not-so-well-liked, coworkers. We sat with the artisans of one community as each of them, with their quiet babies strapped to their backs, crocheted yamacas, 250 of which Barbara would later schlep half-way across the country. I learned about the different types of weaving techniques and all of the hard work that goes into each and every product. It was an experience that later persuaded me into buying two bags, two scarves, and a bed cover in the towns along Lake Atitlan (or maybe the fact that I was “on vacation” had a little to do with my happy-go-lucky spending).



Overall, the experience of being in Barbara’s town gave me a better sense of her day-to-day life and the stresses and successes of her work in Guatemala. Much of it is relatable as I also live and work in Latin America, but the additional challenges of language barriers and a generally conservative indigenous culture make adjusting and integrating into her community that much harder.

After visiting Comitancillo, the real Guatemalan vacation, for the both of us, finally began. We spent days in Antigua and Xela gorging ourselves on typical Guatemalan cuisine such as bagels, falafel, curry, and an all-expenses-paid candlelit dinner (with wine) financed by Mr. Ron Veres for Barbara’s 25th birthday (thanks, Barb’s dad!). The locally-grown coffee, too, was excellent, and we treated ourselves to some Guatemalan music at a cute gringo café. Yeah…ex-pats have it real hard.



The highlight of our trip, though, was by far Semuc Champey. Translated as, “the river that hides under the Earth”, this hidden gem, which took two full days of roundtrip travel, was more beautiful than we had imagined. Barb and I started off our day (after a not so great sleep at a slightly more rustic hostel than we had expected) on a cave tour, illuminated only by the candles with which we held on for dear life in the palms of our hands as we swam through the murky depths. At one point on the tour, we got what we thought would be an exhilarating opportunity to climb up a tall rock and jump down. After all, Carlos, our guide, had been working there for months and had never had any accidents, so what was the danger in that? Well, Carlos had apparently never met Barbara. Being the accident-prone person that she is, Barb slipped off the rock, pulling a ligament in her index finger and falling on top of me, leaving a hideous (but pretty bad-ass) bruise on my shin. Looking back now, it was actually pretty damn funny.



The rest of the day Barb and I spent taking pictures of every twig and bush from all possible angles. We swam in the turquoise, crystal-clear ponds, and hiked up the mountain to get a sweet view of the waterfall and ponds below, fully prepared and decked out in our official hiking gear of flip flops with string tied around the ankles (left over from the caves…maybe that’s why we’re so accident prone?). Although light-years away, Semuc Champey was well worth the trip.





Overall, what can I say? Guatemala’s a pretty freakin’ cool place, and Barbara, as always, was a wonderful guide. If you haven’t yet gotten the chance to visit her, go (and stop by Nicaragua while you’re at it)! I’m looking forward to future travels around Nicaragua, El Salvador, Honduras, and other off-the-beaten-path locals with the now crunchier than you’ve ever seen Posh Corps Volunteer Barbara Veres.

The $10,000 Burn

In Nicaragua, trash burning is a common sight and smell. Although it is illegal according to Nicaraguan law, I've never seen it enforced and few people are aware of its consequences on personal and environmental health. In many cases, people burn their trash in rural areas because there is no garbage pick-up. However, even in more urban areas where there is a weekly trash pick-up organized by the municipality, many people will still burn because, as a society that's obsessive about cleanliness, having trash lying around for a week is not what your average household will tolerate.

Ever since I've come to my site, one of the things I've wanted to work on was eliminating trash burning. I thought, how could I, as an environmental education volunteer, leave Nicaragua after two years and allow trash burning to continue in my community? Well, as it turns out, it's really not that simple. It takes a lot of coordination with people who are willing to fight for this cause, and I'm not quite sure environmental health is among what the community feels as one of its top needs. It's one of my personal "reach" goals, but something I feel would really leave a powerful mark.

So, throughout my time working in the schools, I figured I could at least leave my mark at these three locations and eliminate trash burning there. In my rural schools, I promoted burying or making compost over burning trash, since there is no trash pick-up. In the urban school, I talked to the school principal and recommended that he collect sacks from the students to deposit the week's garbage instead of burning it right on school grounds where kids are running and playing (literally). The immediate responses I received were, "Yes", "Absolutely", "We'll start right away", among other promising remarks. But with the potent smell of carcinogenic burning plastic in the air, I quickly learned that these things were still going on behind my back.

Fast forward towards the end of the school year, around September. I've been making countless trips to the local mayor's office, trying to coordinate some kind of action with the environmental representative, Jaqueline. She agrees with me 100%, but putting words into action has always been a difficult task. So when early October rolled around and I got a visit from a new environmental ed trainee, I decided to take advantage of the opportunity and come up with some activities for us that would make her visit a little more worthwhile. We made a trip to the Mayor's Office and after waiting around and twiddling our thumbs for an hour until the electricity came back, we finally sat down with Jaqueline to write a letter.

The letter was addressed to the Director of the Ministry of Education (MINED) in my municipality. In summary, it talked about how trash burning is illegal, how it is a huge environmental health problem, and how fines are between $5,000-$10,000 (believe it or not). We also mentioned that schools, as centers of learning, should act as role models to its students and be setting a good example by depositing garbage in a legal and safe manner. We both signed the letter, and most importantly, got the John Hancock of the Mayor. High fives were given all around, the letter was dropped off at MINED, and we hoped for a positive response.

Well, October came and went. So did November. And December. The smell of burning trash continued to greet me day after day at dusk as I made my way back home from class. By the time January came, I had pretty much given up hope. I hadn't heard from the MINED Director and had become so frustrated with trying to meet with him to talk about it because he virtually could never be found in his office.

Finally, after literally trying to track him down for days with Jaqueline, because, being almost the beginning of the new school year it was the perfect opportunity to bring up the issue again, I finally found him at a meeting and pulled him aside. He told me he never got the letter and wanted to see a new copy. I'm not quite sure if this was the truth or if he was too embarrassed that nothing was done about it, but another copy was promptly delivered and we hoped for a response.

The last week of January finally came and end-of-the-month teacher meetings were taking place. Despite the complete boredom and uselessness I feel at these meetings, I went just in case anything important was discussed. Well, something important was discussed. The section-head of our meeting started to read, word for word, my letter, quoting the law about trash burning having up to a $10,000 fine and how the educational community can do better than that. We couldn't have worded it more perfectly. Hearing those words literally brought tears to my eyes. Could it be that something I had started months ago and had virtually been pushed aside really be happening?

The answer was yes. And since that meeting, teachers have been mentioning the letter to me, unaware that I had a hand in writing it, and how they need to look for alternatives to burning trash at the schools. The Director is mandating that teachers look for a better option. Right now, we are dealing with all of the logistics of trash pick-up and burying vs. burning, but overall, I can smell the progress, instead of trash, in the air.

Very few times in my service have I actually felt something this rewarding that makes me feel like, wow, maybe I can and really am making a difference. We, as education volunteers, are only exposed to the frustrations of daily classroom interactions, whether it be student behavioral issues or vegetables getting robbed from our school gardens, and rarely will see the fruits of our labor. So to have something like this happen is a very big deal, and just motivates me even more to see if I can make this a city-wide policy (that's actually enforced). I may be losing Jaqueline from the Mayor's Office due to budget cuts, but if I can get a solid and passionate eco-group together from one of the local high schools, and we can go door-to-door doing an awareness campaign and take it all the way back up to the Mayor, I think we can make this happen.

Nicaragua: A Tourist Perspective

The following entries are guest entries submitted by my parents, sister, and brother-in-law after their 8-day visit to Nicaragua. I wanted to have the opportunity to present Nicaragua from a tourist's eyes, to give you all a little bit of a different perspective. And keep in mind if you decide to visit me, I'll let you have your own entry, too ;).

Entry by Matt Klentak

How we ultimately remember our trip to Nicaragua will vary dramatically depending on the lens through which we choose to remember it. For me, that lens changed right in front of my eyes on several occasions. When we first landed, the lens revealed a hot and humid climate, a few too many strangers who didn’t seem to respect the idea of “personal space,” a lot of bumpy roads, the smell of burning garbage and the unsettled feeling that resulted from so many people at home telling us to “be careful” because they had heard about all of the dangers associated with the country. Suffice to say, that first lens was the same lens with which I had left New York City on Christmas Day, thinking about work, traffic and why our flight wasn’t equipped with WiFi.

But as our trip progressed and we ultimately left the hustle and bustle of Managua, the lens in front of my eyes began to shift. The views out the window of our van as we traveled through the country revealed a gorgeous landscape, countless workers busting their tails on the coffee plantations, kids excitedly playing baseball in empty fields with broomsticks and balls made of duct tape and the occasional traffic delay as we (slowly) passed herds of cattle that were entitled to the right side of the road just as much as we were. The organized simplicity with which the folks at Selva Negra lived their lives demonstrated to all of us the limitless potential of people when they are driven and have a well defined plan.

The lens that produced the greatest memories from our trip, however, was the lens through which we saw Matiguas (the town in which Carolyn lives) and met so many of Carolyn’s wonderful friends. The extreme poverty that was evident at every corner was overshadowed only by the love, hospitality and welcoming nature of Carolyn’s many friends and neighbors, many of whom rescheduled their days for the chance to meet us, show us their homes, prepare a meal for us and welcome us into their lives. To play with their kids, share their smiles and see the hope and pride in the way that these people all regard Carolyn was by far the most rewarding and memorable part of our trip, as it revealed to us the profound impact that Carolyn has had on this community. And while she remains humble, what Carolyn is doing for the village of Matiguas is having a dramatic impact on people’s lives – an impact that I have no doubt will extend well beyond her departure date in November.

After departing Matiguas and enjoying a few days of swimming, volleyball, relaxing and seeing life through our UV-protected lenses on the Pacific coast, we headed back into the country for further exploration. Seeing the world through our adventurous lenses, we hiked up a volcano, soared through the jungle on zip lines and snapped photos at a beautiful lagoon – solidifying the images of one of the greenest and most beautiful terrains I have ever seen.

The final lens through which we saw Nicaragua – and yes, I am consciously avoiding the details of the “toilet lens” through which I stared down the bottom of the bowl on our final night in Managua after Montezuma exacted his revenge on me and my adventurous eating habits – was the rich historical lens through which our terrific tour guide, Fernando, provided us with a detailed history of this remarkable country. To see the lone remains of the 1972 earthquake or to hear the history of how the Panama Canal almost became the Nicaragua Canal were reminders of not only how interesting history can be, but also of just how powerful history can be when it is learned in a hands-on way as opposed to through heavy, hollow textbooks.

Before we left for this trip, I remember telling people back home that I didn’t know what to expect but that I was certain it would be interesting. As it turned out, it wasn’t just interesting… it was fascinating. And humbling. And inspiring. And through my Gringo lenses I was reminded for nine straight days of just how caring and giving and thoughtful and patient my sister-in-law is and how lucky both she and the people of Nicaragua are that the Peace Corps played matchmaker and produced this wonderful combination for all of us to see through our own personal lenses.

"Gringo in Nicaragua", By Jim Smalkowski

I think that the best thing about Nicaragua is the people. Their warmth comes across loud and clear. I was impressed with their kindness and friendliness to us "gringoes."

The country itself is beautiful and has much diversity. Rain forests, volcanoes, lakes, an ocean and a sea coast, cattle ranches galore, coffee plantations, many different fruits and animals, cocoa plants, sugar cane, many small towns all make up the character of Nicaragua and its people.

You put together a fantastic itinerary for us and I'm glad that Fernando accommodated all our changes and adjustments. I was happy to see Matiguas and get a feel for it through walking its streets and through your narrative pointing out its different sights. I was glad to meet your many friends in the town and it seemed that all of them cared for you very much. Human relationships, the psychiatrists say, are what make us happy.

I was happy to meet Norvin and was glad to see the affection that you share with him. He has a nice family and the land that we saw was beautiful. Our visit to the farm was a good learning experience.

Meeting Matt's family again was also enjoyable since they are warm and friendly. Denise and Daniel went out of their way to make us feel a part of the "clan." I felt very relaxed and at home with them.

The travel arrangements that we had made all turned out beautifully. This, without a doubt, added to my enjoyment of our time there because I can look back at the days there and see nothing but good times.

And, lastly, but most importantly, the reason that we made the trip - you. I am very proud of you and it makes my heart feel good to see how you've grown up and matured. I'm happy to see that you've adjusted very well although it has not been all roses for you. You've dealt with the ups and downs and that will make you stronger. I hope that your remaining time in Nicaragua is a happy and fruitful experience. I know that you do your best.

"Nicaraguan Experience", by Lorraine Smalkowski

Thank you for giving me the opportunity to experience Nicaragua! I probably wouldn’t have chosen to go there otherwise. I can’t really pick a favorite place, but the whole cultural experience is my favorite thing:

Seeing all the different markets – the creative Masaya craft market, the hammock “factory,” the man weaving bamboo baskets in front of his house, the wooden furniture workshops lining both sides of the street; stopping at the many fruit and vegetable markets and sampling all the delicious fruits -

Staying at Selva Negra - the organic coffee farm tour and the amazing sustainable agriculture techniques -

Experiencing the farm at Matiguas, meeting all the different families and friends at Matiguas and Masatepe and everyone’s warm hospitality –

Seeing the breathtaking views at the Masaya volcano and the different lagunas, especially the Laguna De Apoyo -

Enjoying the warm, clean water of the beach, and also seeing the newly hatched turtles making their way to the ocean –

Having an unbelievable driver/guide, Fernando, who not only drove us around, but provided some history and introduced us to some amazing foods -

Just driving around observing the people, all the animals on the sides of the road, the “cattle drives,” and the beautiful views of the mountains in the background –

The only thing that was a little disappointing was the zip line, because the road to and from it was too long and much too bumpy, and the zip lines were too short – not measuring up to the great ones in Costa Rica. But nevertheless, I still had fun!

So all in all, the culture - the people, their way of living, the land – all the new things I saw and experienced, was rewarding and memorable, and I will look back at my pictures and remember an amazing time.

"The roads are bumpy…but coffee, chocolate, and rum make life much sweeter", By Lauren Klentak

Its been 3 days since returning to the states following our incredible trip to Nicaragua. When I look back on all we saw and did during our 8 day stay, I am amazed. I believe we covered more ground in that time than most tourists (and natives!) ever get to see – all to the credit of Carolyn and our guide Fernando. Oddly enough, most of the cities and towns seem to start with “M” but for the first time since Carolyn started her service, I believe I have Managua, Matiguas, Masatepe, and Masaya all straight.

So what did I think? Well, for one thing the roads are indeed quite bumpy. I mean this both literally and figuratively. Much of the country’s infrastructure is either underdeveloped or in terribly rough shape, which made for some challenging car rides, both on actual roads and off-roading through the woods, countryside, etc. It gave us the opportunity to take in a lot of the landscape, and to be honest some of it was hard to look at. There is poverty, garbage strewn about, and people sitting around with seemingly nothing to do. And lets not forget the frequent cow crossings that held us up more than once along our journey. As an outsider, I got the sense that life was difficult and motivation to change was severely lacking.

But to focus on these obvious, negative first impressions is to miss out some of the true beauty and joy within the country. Objectively, the country is beautiful with its abundant mountains, forests, lakes, and beaches. And who couldn’t love a country with some of the best coffee, chocolate, and rum in the world?! There is obviously a great sense of pride in not only Nicaragua as a whole, but also individual towns and regions, as well as their chief products and exports. There is a way of life that is revered and fiercely protected, including strong ties to family and tradition. I was amazed by the warmth and hospitality of so many people that have been touched by Carolyn’s work and friendship. No matter how little they had, we were welcomed into their homes and charmed with smiles and conversation (at least attempts at the Spanish / English crossover)! One lesson I will take with me is a reminder to take pleasure in the simpler things in life…like being with family and friends, drinking good coffee (and rum!) and treating yourself with some quality chocolate. A sunset swim in the warm Pacific ocean, an invigorating zipline through the forest, and shaking your hips to some lively music won’t hurt either :)

I am also extremely impressed with the work that Carolyn is doing and the obvious impact she is making on her community. As someone who has a background in organizational development and change management, I know how difficult it is to transform the undesirable aspects of a group’s behavior or culture from a corporate perspective. Carolyn’s challenges are no different. Environmental awareness is a relatively new concept for Nicaragua, and change is not going to happen overnight. However, the ability to influence even a small handful of children and townspeople will make an impact for generations to come. And amazingly enough, communities like Selva Negra are gold-star examples of the sustainable development and food production that even the most advanced countries are recognizing the need to emulate.

Overall, I am grateful to Carolyn for the opportunity to experience a country that I probably wouldn’t have sought out on my own. It was a fabulous trip and I hope she continues to feel the progress that she is making…and doesn’t forget to have some fun along the way :).