Roads in Nicaragua
I figure every day I learn something new is a day well spent. Well, this one was a good one. To see where these places are, go to Leon, and keep on going to Somitillo, and hang a right for another 45 minutes or so. The border with Honduras is a few miles further north. It took 4 and one half hours to drive from Managua, so the trips are always overnight. The good thing is that the road to Leon is almost brand new, and one can drive along without worrying about potholes. The Spanish for pothole is "pothole". Actually it is "hoyo" hole, or "bache" bump, rut, etc. Neither of which I can ever remember - but the paper this week used the word "pothole". After Leon, there are some potholes, so there is considerable weaving and swerving about. The gravel road out of Somotillo is actually quite nice. The communities up there persuaded the local government to repair it. It only has a few spots where you need to go a bit more slowly.
The road to some of the other communities is unbelievably bad. I posted a video to YouTube on the one to El Corozo - you can find it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rh9n5Qxq6a4&feature=feedu. It's about 15 kilometers of bumping and jostling along at 5 mph. The curious thing is that as you are going along on this wretched track, all of a sudden, there's a paved section. I'm thinking - yes - they fixed the road. But it only lasts for 100 feet or so, and back to the ruts. Then another paved section, and so on. Turns out, that section of the road was so bad that no one could get through, so they paved it with the standard paving blocks! Bit by bit, I guess.
I am pretty sure that they could save millions of dollars in gasoline here if they really fixed all the roads. Even anywhere in Managua, people are always swerving, or stopping, or crawling along because of the holes in the road. Woodbury even times its traffic lights just to save gas and air pollution.
El Ojoche
We drove over to El Ojoche to hold a brief meeting with the women's pottery group. There were two amazing things about this little town: 1 - there was NO LITTER. None, none whatsoever. You would have thought someone swept the central square and every piece of road, and the yards. I couldn't believe it. Every developing country I have been in, and some areas of developed ones, have lots of litter - plastic bags, trash, etc. It always bothers me, but I figure it takes a certain level of development before you start to worry about trash like that, or turn it into an industry! Our "fearless leader" explained that they had a couple of deaths in the community, and all of a sudden all those words about health and cleaning things up hit home. The disease was Leptosprisosos, spread by the urine of animals like rats, which humans come in contact with through an open wound. I had an ear of corn there, and I could not find a place to put the cob. Our host suggested I feed it to her pig - who obligingly took care of it! Wayne - this is NOT sweet corn, but it tasted pretty good - bit chewy by your standards.
The other thing was that there was a crew of men and boys working on the road! They were putting in rocks and covering them with dirt to take care of a rough downhill section. That's the first time I've seen anyone working on their own road! You pass crews every once in a while - but to have the neighbors pitch in and fix it, that was new. Elena says that this community is really well put together. They do not accompany the community any more - they have reduced the group to just the women's pottery group. That group has raised funds and constructed their own kiln, and seem to be doing pretty well.
What came to me during this visit is that our "project", if you will, is actually about building up the community, helping them establish relationships, build a network, and work together to accomplish whatever they want. If that turns out to be a road or a school or something tangible - that is clearly secondary. That they become a community capable of doing that is the whole goal!
Dulce Nombre de Jesús
I stayed overnight in this community, primarily because they have a well, and most homes have an outhouse. An outhouse I can handle. No outhouse - I am not quite sure what one does. I sat and talked with my host mother and the two children. She made me dinner, and they left me alone with it! That is the culture - they do not eat together - I have never seen it, except on special occasions. I persuaded the 11 year old daughter to visit with me a bit, and the three year old thought my iPod was interesting. I showed them a picture of the other 3 year old in my life - Annalynn. They agreed that I had the most beautiful grandchildren in the whole world! But I had to take their pictures as well. I'll put them here when I get my pictures on the PC.
Dinner was a delightful warm hard boiled egg, some rice and beans. I think the chickens running around there had something to do with it. I had the same dish for breakfast, except the rice and beans were put together to make gallo pinto - the national dish, I swear.
They showed me to the latrine, and my bed. I got the oldest daughter's room - and I thanked her profusely. They also gave me a small fan - it helps with the heat and the mosquitoes! I greatly appreciated that. Of course, there was actually no outlet in my room to charge my iPod, but that's not a big deal. The fan ran in from the other room, and it was just fine.
Housing
I had commented on the house earlier to my host, and she assured me that her husband had constructed it about 6 years ago. It is very solid - masonry, etc. The windows are small - easier to be secured, etc. The roof is mostly tin - there are a few tiles up there. The tiles are much better in the heat. The tin tends to radiate the heat of the sun inside, while the red tiles absorb it a bit. Of course, the floor is a dirt floor - which takes a bit for me to get used to.
Housing all over the developing world is frequently a work in progress. There is no real way to put money aside, other than through informal mechanisms. There are no banks in most towns, and it costs a significant amount to get an account, which comes with withdrawal fees. Most people build their own houses, and they do it brick by brick, board by board, as they have funds available. There is a new one going up right next to where I stayed, which looks a bit unusual. It is cement blocks, it has huge windows and the roof supports are metal framing! I've never seen one with metal frames. The guy welding the metal together had climbed up and tapped two wires directly into the overhead feed and he was using that juice for arc welding!
Beds
Beds here are interesting. Here at the center I have a mattress and a box spring. When I got up in the middle of the night to use the outhouse, I saw that the man of the house was sleeping on a kind of cot in the living room. His daughter was probably in with mom. I have slept on those in the past - in the living room. That is where I would put a guest like me. The cot has a thin piece of canvas or plastic stretched over a wooden frame - no mattress. And, on investigation, my bed was the same construction - a woven piece of material stretched from end to end, with a blanket on top. It's a bit stiff, but it works.
The Well
Now comes the embarrassing part. When I got up in the morning, everyone else was already out and about. I brought my towel out and asked where I should wash. The young lady took me three doors down to the well! It's a rope well, and there was a kind of pond structure with a stopper in it, and a 4 sided bit of fabric where you stand to wash with some privacy! She showed me how to pull the stopper out, so I had a bit of running water - but then the thing ran out - meaning I would have to go back out, run the pump to fill up the reservoir, and go back inside, etc. I was trying to figure out how I could shave and wash the rest of me in that arrangement, finding a place to mount my mirror, put my soup, rest my glasses and my shorts, etc. Normally there is a container of some kind that you actually use to wash, so you don't contaminate the source of the water with soap, etc. None was in evidence. And I couldn't figure out even how to get the stopper back in the pipe in my discreet enclosure. I quickly decided this was just not going to work! So I am sitting back here in Managua, unshaven, and stinky - with the exception of the bit of water I splashed on my head and face! Next time, I'll have to be better trained!!
Spear Fishing
As I was eating my breakfast, the young man of the house - 14 or 15 I would guess, was assembling a spear fishing weapon! This was carved out of wood, with a bit of the shape of a gun. The end was round with a hole in it, and there was a place to mount two tightly wound pieces of elastic hose. The whole thing was maybe 12 inches long. He fussed with this thing for over an hour. He had a long piece of metal as the spear, with a string tied to it. He had an old piece of plastic in the rear to hold the spear straight. He had filed or cut notches in the spear so that a trigger mechanism would hold it. And the twin pieces of elastic were connected to a metal gadget that slipped into another slot carved into the spear. After many failed attempts, and new refinements, he had it working. Then he proceeded to put additional elastic stuff around a swimming visor so he could go into the water and see the fish!
By the time he was done, he must have used 8 different tools - a hammer, knife, pliers, file, scissors, etc. In my world, a bit of epoxy would have solved a lot of his problems. More likely, I would have found one on the Internet somewhere!
He said he was going down to the river this morning to get some fish. I wonder what the local game warden thinks about that?! I hope he was successful! When I have been swimming in a lake, it is pretty rare that you actually see a fish!
Well Project
Here is a bit on the "project" which installed the well which I was having problems with:
Well project: http://blueplanetnetwork.org/projects/nicaragua05.
This is clearly appropriate technology, but I am not sure who owns it and maintains it. I note that they have had some maintenance problems. But I am thankful these folks came by and put this thing in. One that is drilled, with a pump would be nice next time!!
Meeting
We spent virtually the entire morning in a community gathering. This group and an urban one are doing a joint retreat next week, up in Esteli - one of my favorite towns. They had to work on the details of that. And this community has had some dissension recently. Some of the community funds were loaned out, without consulting the entire community. There is always tension around funds, and this was a particularly egregious thing to do. They are working on how to resolve that, without destroying the community. Funds in general are a tough subject in this culture, and any kind of direct "confrontation" is almost impossible. One of the team members described a process that his group uses. The rules are that you first have to complement the person positively on something they do well, and then you can state your perception of something that is bugging you. It's not an accusation - it is YOUR perception, your feeling about it. That's a kind of simple minded Covey thing. First you build up a bit of a positive bank account, putting some trust in the relationship. And then you describe your feelings, not the other person's failure or issue, but how it strikes you. Pretty good for a 1 minute 7 Habits Exercise.
Conclusion
OH - this community did not get any corn this year. The rains were so frequent that the corn never got a chance to fertilize - they have virtually nothing in their crop. They are currently harvesting sesame - but the rain has continued. They need it to be dry, or the sesame will literally rot. We have had 3 days of unusual rain - AFTER the rainy season is supposed to be over.
There is also some kind of virus killing off their hens! If it isn't one thing, it's another. When things are this close to the bone, it doesn't take much to upset the whole program.
OK, Jude - how did I do? Does that work? Until next time!
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