La Poza
Hiking on our way to the poza
Friday, March 28, 2008
Half-Marathon Pics
Peace Corps group before the Half-Marathon
And After...still smiling. The church in the background is of San Rafael del Norte
Monday, March 24, 2008
24 de Marzo, 2008
Hola amigos!
Well, I did it...I completed the half-marathon! Although my goal was to run the whole thing, I ended up walking about 1 or 2 kms of it because of a gut-wrenching stomach cramp that made me want to fall over and puke. But the first 15km were good. I was feeling great, had lots of energy, enjoyed the beautiful views, and was cruising with my music.
The race was surprisingly well organized, with water stops along the way, music, fireworks, and snacks and even lunch afterwards. Although I didn´t win any prizes (the $150 first prize went to a young guy from Managua), the group of Peace Corps women defied the race organizers, whom insisted women should only run the 8km race, and ran the full 23km.
Along with the race, I got a chance to see beautiful Jinotega, a city nestled in a valley of lush, green, cloud-covered mountains. The race started in Jinotega and ended in a small Sandinista town called San Rafeal, full of Sandino and Catholic history, complete with a beautiful chuch and central park.
After 9 days out of my community, I was ready to come home. I was happy to see everyone and motivated to start working again. However, last week was Semana Santa here, thus I spent a good part of the week swimming and picknicking at the river. Although Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala last year was amazing, being able to spend the holiday here doing what the locals do, really made me feel like I was experiencing the true holiday, and it was just a whole lot of fun. We hiked and rode in the back of trucks to rivers, swam, did cartwheels in the water, drank wine, ate lots of food, and hung out in the sun. And of course, the women ¨bathed¨ in their underwear, complete with soap and all. (No one wears swimsuits here!)
So this week I´m busy moving into my house and getting some work done.
Happy Easter to all!
Well, I did it...I completed the half-marathon! Although my goal was to run the whole thing, I ended up walking about 1 or 2 kms of it because of a gut-wrenching stomach cramp that made me want to fall over and puke. But the first 15km were good. I was feeling great, had lots of energy, enjoyed the beautiful views, and was cruising with my music.
The race was surprisingly well organized, with water stops along the way, music, fireworks, and snacks and even lunch afterwards. Although I didn´t win any prizes (the $150 first prize went to a young guy from Managua), the group of Peace Corps women defied the race organizers, whom insisted women should only run the 8km race, and ran the full 23km.
Along with the race, I got a chance to see beautiful Jinotega, a city nestled in a valley of lush, green, cloud-covered mountains. The race started in Jinotega and ended in a small Sandinista town called San Rafeal, full of Sandino and Catholic history, complete with a beautiful chuch and central park.
After 9 days out of my community, I was ready to come home. I was happy to see everyone and motivated to start working again. However, last week was Semana Santa here, thus I spent a good part of the week swimming and picknicking at the river. Although Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala last year was amazing, being able to spend the holiday here doing what the locals do, really made me feel like I was experiencing the true holiday, and it was just a whole lot of fun. We hiked and rode in the back of trucks to rivers, swam, did cartwheels in the water, drank wine, ate lots of food, and hung out in the sun. And of course, the women ¨bathed¨ in their underwear, complete with soap and all. (No one wears swimsuits here!)
So this week I´m busy moving into my house and getting some work done.
Happy Easter to all!
Sunday, March 9, 2008
Domingo, 9 de Marzo
It's been a busy last few weeks, building gardens and viveros. With my 2 groups, I've helped fill 2,000 plant bags in preparation for our planting of tree seeds in the next few weeks.
I've also got my first Marango seed bank made with my community counterpart. This amazing, nutritional, and versatile tree from India grows extremely fast with little water, giving edible leaves, flowers, and seeds. The leaves are unusually high in protein, calcium, and iron which is great for both animals and us humans. I'm trying to get some of the people in the community, like the anemic and arthritic (so the doctors say) little girl that lives next to me, to use it in their diet.
But for now, I'm happy with the marango bank we're planting in preparation for the dairy goats about to arrive.
The youth group is now up and going and we have lots of plans, including footbal games and field trips to the local library and maybe even the beach! The normal curriculum here doesn't include after school sports, PE class, libraries, or field trips, so the club events can hopefully supplement their education.
My housing plans are solidified and I'll be moving into my new place in a week or so. I have mixed feelings about that. Of course, I'm happy to get my freedom and own place, but I've grown so attached to my "family" that I am a bit sad to leave their home. The little things that used to bother me so much before are now no big deal and I feel like I've definately bonded with them. Luckily I can visit whenever I have free time.
Currently I'm back in Esteli, where I'll be attending a language workshop tomorrow with almost all of the training group. We'll be staying with host families again, but luckily Cuerpo de Paz listened to me and didn't put me back with my training family. Before heading out to the training towns, I got my fix of good (and different) food....roasted chicken, cheesecake (wow...a first here and just as good as home), cafe mocha, whole wheat carrot bread, yoghurt cheese, and of course my fix of ice cream.
And I'll be burning off all those calories with the half-marathon next Saturday!!! I've managed to stay on schedule and hope that I do allright next week. Send me energetic vibes everyone!
I'll let you all know how it goes....
I've also got my first Marango seed bank made with my community counterpart. This amazing, nutritional, and versatile tree from India grows extremely fast with little water, giving edible leaves, flowers, and seeds. The leaves are unusually high in protein, calcium, and iron which is great for both animals and us humans. I'm trying to get some of the people in the community, like the anemic and arthritic (so the doctors say) little girl that lives next to me, to use it in their diet.
But for now, I'm happy with the marango bank we're planting in preparation for the dairy goats about to arrive.
The youth group is now up and going and we have lots of plans, including footbal games and field trips to the local library and maybe even the beach! The normal curriculum here doesn't include after school sports, PE class, libraries, or field trips, so the club events can hopefully supplement their education.
My housing plans are solidified and I'll be moving into my new place in a week or so. I have mixed feelings about that. Of course, I'm happy to get my freedom and own place, but I've grown so attached to my "family" that I am a bit sad to leave their home. The little things that used to bother me so much before are now no big deal and I feel like I've definately bonded with them. Luckily I can visit whenever I have free time.
Currently I'm back in Esteli, where I'll be attending a language workshop tomorrow with almost all of the training group. We'll be staying with host families again, but luckily Cuerpo de Paz listened to me and didn't put me back with my training family. Before heading out to the training towns, I got my fix of good (and different) food....roasted chicken, cheesecake (wow...a first here and just as good as home), cafe mocha, whole wheat carrot bread, yoghurt cheese, and of course my fix of ice cream.
And I'll be burning off all those calories with the half-marathon next Saturday!!! I've managed to stay on schedule and hope that I do allright next week. Send me energetic vibes everyone!
I'll let you all know how it goes....
Saturday, February 23, 2008
Some recent pics
Buidling the huerto modelo
Working in the fields
And in the house laying cement
Teaching english
View of one of the areas of my morning run.23 de Febrero, 2008
Another week´s gone by and it seems like the time´s flying now. I gave my first nutrition charla to pregnant and lactating women to be followed by two more next week. The local nurse and I also visited the primary school where we recruited youth to join our adolescent club we´ll be starting in a few weeks.
Now that school has started I am being transformed by the lack of education they have here. The classrooms are basic, with zinc roofs and open spaces that allow air (and sometimes rain) into the classroom. Textbooks are rare, if even existent, and the students only have a notebook to study from at night. Receiving help with homework from parents is difficult, as many can´t read, and the ones that can often just do the homework for the kids instead of explaining it.
And then you have one teacher and one classroom for 2 grades of kids ranging from 11 to 16 years of age. The teacher teaches half the class while the other half waits until she´s done to learn their lesson. And to top it off, in the last week, they´ve missed 2 days of school due to one day of teacher meetings and another to clean the school that lacks janitors.
Although I don´t want to teach, I see a need there. Hopefully the help with homework I give to the family kids and the youth group can enrich these kids lives.
Our first meeting to work in family gardens started last week with a good turnout of both women and men, although women definately took the majority. A family garden may not sound like much, but providing nutrient-rich tomatoes, bell peppers, and radishes makes a huge difference in a diet of mainly rice, beans, and tortillas.
Also, building the idea of organization and regular meetings is important to strengthen the community and existing resources. After riding my bike around with my community counterpart for 3 hours last week to invite people to the meeting, I insisted that we set a date for the next meeting at the existing meeting. Mountain biking through dirt roads with beautiful views of pine forests and mountains is great, but 3 hours of it every month is a little unecessary.
I´m still amazed here by the beauty and how lucky I am to have my morning commute be a walk through a corn field, a jump over a creek, to climb up a banana tree forest, and arrive in someones yard with an "adios" and a chat. And to wake up everyday after a decent 8 hours or more of sleep (if I can sleep through the roosters crowing at midnight and dogs barking) without more of a routine than I dictate, is wonderful.
I try to remind myself of these things when the hard times come, like the constant cat calls from the men here or the day you show up for a scheduled meeting or event and the person casually says the dates been changed to tomorrow.
But life here is starting to normalize and I´m full of ideas for future projects and activities that are only waiting for my level of communication to improve to actualize.
Till next time.
Now that school has started I am being transformed by the lack of education they have here. The classrooms are basic, with zinc roofs and open spaces that allow air (and sometimes rain) into the classroom. Textbooks are rare, if even existent, and the students only have a notebook to study from at night. Receiving help with homework from parents is difficult, as many can´t read, and the ones that can often just do the homework for the kids instead of explaining it.
And then you have one teacher and one classroom for 2 grades of kids ranging from 11 to 16 years of age. The teacher teaches half the class while the other half waits until she´s done to learn their lesson. And to top it off, in the last week, they´ve missed 2 days of school due to one day of teacher meetings and another to clean the school that lacks janitors.
Although I don´t want to teach, I see a need there. Hopefully the help with homework I give to the family kids and the youth group can enrich these kids lives.
Our first meeting to work in family gardens started last week with a good turnout of both women and men, although women definately took the majority. A family garden may not sound like much, but providing nutrient-rich tomatoes, bell peppers, and radishes makes a huge difference in a diet of mainly rice, beans, and tortillas.
Also, building the idea of organization and regular meetings is important to strengthen the community and existing resources. After riding my bike around with my community counterpart for 3 hours last week to invite people to the meeting, I insisted that we set a date for the next meeting at the existing meeting. Mountain biking through dirt roads with beautiful views of pine forests and mountains is great, but 3 hours of it every month is a little unecessary.
I´m still amazed here by the beauty and how lucky I am to have my morning commute be a walk through a corn field, a jump over a creek, to climb up a banana tree forest, and arrive in someones yard with an "adios" and a chat. And to wake up everyday after a decent 8 hours or more of sleep (if I can sleep through the roosters crowing at midnight and dogs barking) without more of a routine than I dictate, is wonderful.
I try to remind myself of these things when the hard times come, like the constant cat calls from the men here or the day you show up for a scheduled meeting or event and the person casually says the dates been changed to tomorrow.
But life here is starting to normalize and I´m full of ideas for future projects and activities that are only waiting for my level of communication to improve to actualize.
Till next time.
Tuesday, February 12, 2008
12 de Febrero, 2008
Its been a busy week or so and I'm very thankful for having something to do.
Superbowl with some friends was fun, but as always, I think I enjoyed being able to eat different food like hambugers and ice cream sundaes, more than anything else. And of course it was great to see some friends that I haven't seen from training.
Superbowl was followed by a few days in a friends community helping build an improved stove for a family. These stoves are made of the traditional mud mix that they seem to use to build everything here. But our design uses bricks and a few pieces of bent iron rebar for support. And the key difference is the chimney to funnel smoke out of the lungs of the women that stand over the stove all day and up into the sky and the special ramp built inside to use less firewood that is quickly being depleted in this country without much reforestation.
The stove building was a great learning experience for me. See pictures below of Maritza making a chicken for examples of how the stove looks.
As soon as I was back from these activities I got busy planning meetings with my counterparts to start our gardens with the womens groups and attending "controls" with the local nurse. This is a monthly event where she weighs children under 2 (using donated balance-like scales where children are hung in a sack) to track their growth and gives vaccinations and vitamins to pregnant and lactating women. I'm tagging along to meet the women in the groups (which helps me meet more of the community) and prepare to give nutrition presentations next month.
While attending one of these events, I got word of another house that is vacant. After looking at the cute, recently built house, complete with powerful electricity, glass windows, water, and a ceiling, I fell in love and hope to be moving into this place by March.
So along with work picking up, I'm busy getting organized for my move. Which requires logistics like bargaining for furniture so that I don't get too screwed on the gringo price and getting mattresses loaded onto an old school bus and trucked 2 hours to my house.
Also I have succeeded in finding a used bike and am now mobile, which is a wonderful feeling, to be able to whiz to town whenever I want.
My stomach problems have left and my perforated ear membrane has healed and been cleared by the doctor. So I'm on my way back from Managua today and heading back to dig into some "real" work.
And after a 2 week hiatus from running because of my illnesses, I'm back training again for the half-marathon in March. Amazingly I reached another goal this week and ran for a complete hour, so I am building faith that I'll make it to my mark by March 15th.
All for now, take care folks.
Superbowl with some friends was fun, but as always, I think I enjoyed being able to eat different food like hambugers and ice cream sundaes, more than anything else. And of course it was great to see some friends that I haven't seen from training.
Superbowl was followed by a few days in a friends community helping build an improved stove for a family. These stoves are made of the traditional mud mix that they seem to use to build everything here. But our design uses bricks and a few pieces of bent iron rebar for support. And the key difference is the chimney to funnel smoke out of the lungs of the women that stand over the stove all day and up into the sky and the special ramp built inside to use less firewood that is quickly being depleted in this country without much reforestation.
The stove building was a great learning experience for me. See pictures below of Maritza making a chicken for examples of how the stove looks.
As soon as I was back from these activities I got busy planning meetings with my counterparts to start our gardens with the womens groups and attending "controls" with the local nurse. This is a monthly event where she weighs children under 2 (using donated balance-like scales where children are hung in a sack) to track their growth and gives vaccinations and vitamins to pregnant and lactating women. I'm tagging along to meet the women in the groups (which helps me meet more of the community) and prepare to give nutrition presentations next month.
While attending one of these events, I got word of another house that is vacant. After looking at the cute, recently built house, complete with powerful electricity, glass windows, water, and a ceiling, I fell in love and hope to be moving into this place by March.
So along with work picking up, I'm busy getting organized for my move. Which requires logistics like bargaining for furniture so that I don't get too screwed on the gringo price and getting mattresses loaded onto an old school bus and trucked 2 hours to my house.
Also I have succeeded in finding a used bike and am now mobile, which is a wonderful feeling, to be able to whiz to town whenever I want.
My stomach problems have left and my perforated ear membrane has healed and been cleared by the doctor. So I'm on my way back from Managua today and heading back to dig into some "real" work.
And after a 2 week hiatus from running because of my illnesses, I'm back training again for the half-marathon in March. Amazingly I reached another goal this week and ran for a complete hour, so I am building faith that I'll make it to my mark by March 15th.
All for now, take care folks.
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