This is a blog about the adventures of Dan and Bel in Nicaragua. We have taken the last months of 2009 off from work and are currently in Nicaragua volunteering in the city of Granada with some local schools.
The blog gets its name from the volunteer house that we are living in. It is situated in the street of Calle Santa Lucia.
Next day we took a scary mini-bus to Lanquin in the highlands. Lots of people there still speak Mayan as their first, and often only, language. After a night in Lanquin, we took a tour in the Semuc Campey national park. The first part of the tour was a really cool cave tour. Very different than what you could do in a western country, no helmets, no safety harnesses and if you don’t bring your own headlamp they give you and candle, which you have to hold aloft while you swim along the underground river!!! We got to climb up an underground waterfall, jump off a ledge into a dark pool, and slide down a natural waterlogged chute into an adjoining chamber. Would have made for some great pictures but we don’t have a waterproof camera.
The next stop was a bridge where our guide showed us the where to jump from to avoid hitting the rocks. I followed all the instructions and executed my jump perfectly but Bel wasn’t so lucky. As she was getting ready to jump a mini-bus full of tourists pulled up and started taking photos and then when she did jump she broke the golden rule and failed to enter the water completely vertical. This resulted in a red backside and much mirth from the mini-busers.
It was time for lunch so we brought some food from a local vendor and then carried it for about 20 minutes up to a lookout (followed all the way by a random dog).
We finished the day off with a swim in a series of connected pools that also have another river running underneath them!
The Nicaraguan public transport system is comprised almost entirely old American school buses painted in all sorts of wonderful colours (commonly referred to as chicken buses). Said chicken buses, herein referred to as CBs, and the system of transportation itself has many benefits over a more “refined” system such as the STA network of Sydney. For example:
EVERYBODY NEEDS A LITTLE “FRESCO”, “VITAMINES” OR SALVATION SOME TIME RIGHT?
On Sydney buses, you cannot eat or drink or you could technically face a fine or even be refused entry to the bus, you must suffer the parchness and grumbling stomach until you reach your destination in 55 minutes time (for the 10km journey…). In Nicaragua, drink vendors are kindly welcomed on to the bus offering all kinds of exotic “frescos” such as dragon fruit or chicha (a sugar and maiz concoction) in little plastic bags with (if you’re lucky) a little straw sticking out the top. All this for a mere 5 cordobas! (20 cents). Sometimes, you can even lean out the window and buy them! Other items I’ve bought on buses include cookies, enchiladas and tacos with cabbage salad.
Other vendors that frequent the morning run to school include “The Vitamin Man” selling everything from throat lozenges to iron tablets and selling them in doses of one, and the Apocalypse man preaching salvation to all… unless you’re a gringo.. we seem to be exempt.
IN A HURRY, NO PROBLEM, SO ARE WE!
If you’re in a hurry to get on or off the bus, don’t worry, the kind conductors will allow you on or off without even coming to a complete stop. In fact, I have seen conductors move out of the moving bus onto the ladder that goes up to the top of the bus, climb onto the roof, obtain the bicycle, backpack or basket of veges he is looking for and lower it down off the side of the bus just as the bus slows enough for the owner to take it off his hands. He will then climb back inside the bus as the bus picks up speed again of 40-50km/hr.
WE WANT YOU!
In stark contrast to the STA buses of Sydney who generally employ an attitude of “Too late? Too bad!”, CB buses bid ferociously for your patronage. I have run waving at a bus for it to stop and it has spotted me, 100 metres down the road, stopped, and then reversed in order to pick me up – now that’s service!
As one passes by the bus terminal at 9.30 in the morning to the welcoming cries of “Escuelita, escuelita, escuelitaescaulitaculitalita!!!”. There is a general insistence by each conductor that their bus will be departing first and that you would be mad not to board their bus immediately. Admittedly, what appears to be endearing love of the job, can be explained by the system of salary of conductors which works on commissions.. but nonetheless, it’s nice to feel special :)
THE GOLDEN RULE OF CHICKEN BUSES.
Think of the days in Sydney when you arrive at the bus stop 25 min early, only to still be standing there 45 min later, 13 buses have already gone by, but they have 15 people standing, and the driver has refused to let anyone else on.. Let’s contrast that to the golden rule of chicken bus travel - “THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE”.
In contrast to the Sydney peak hour hell, the conductors on CB buses will vigilantly hail you on approach from about 200 metres, body protruding from the open door of the moving bus (to of course ensure that the CB bus punctuality is not impeded). It does not matter if the CB bus (or microbus) that you are on has a seating capacity of 22 and there are currently 31 people, including 2 babies, 5 sacks of rice and 3 chickens in a bag already on the bus. The rule number 1 of CB buses always applies – “THERE IS ALWAYS ROOM FOR ONE MORE”.
And let’s face it, there is a secondary benefit to the Golden Rule, with all that snuggling, it’s really easy to make new friends!
During the week off that the schools here take to celebrate independence from Spain we did a rather brief 8 day trip to Guatemala. Our first night was spent in Guatemala City in a 5 star hotel which was a sharp contrast to our volunteer share house. It had hot water, buffet breakfast, upside-down umbrellas hanging from the roof of the lobby and those cool glass fronted lifts.
The luxury didn’t last though, the next night was spent “sleeping” on the bus to Flores. The next day we just chilled in the small town of El Remate, went for a short hike in the national park, saw some nice lookouts over the lake.
Then came Tikal which was, along with Semuc Champey, was my favorite part of the trip. We hired a guide who took us around to all the best bits of the site and told us plenty of Mayan history and also the history of all the various restoration projects.
Got back to town around 3pm and spent the rest of the day lounging beside the pool. Bel decided to try a cocktail that she’d never heard of before (a Michelada) turns out is was beer with Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce, not such a winning combo!!!!
Ok, playing a bit of blog catch-up here so pretend you’re reading this 3 weeks ago :) This weekend we went to Leon and climbed the Cerro Negro Volcano. It’s a very young volcano, only about 150 years old. Apparently it just popped up overnight in the middle of this farming region outside of Leon (being a farmer must be hard enough with the droughts and floods without having a volcano pop up in the middle of you cabbages!!).
Anyway, the tour started at the barefoot hostel where we saw the top recorded ash boarding speeds (80km per hour for guys and 72 for girls). We then got into the back of a ute for a bumpy ride to the volcano.
I took us about 1.5 hours to carry our boards to the top where we donned the sexy overalls and goggles for the descent.
Alas no speed records were broken but it was an awesome ride!! Every time I’d get some speed going I’d lose control and fall off. The speed was measured at the bottom so by the time I got there I was only doing 20km per hour. After that it was back to the hostel for Mojitos :)
This weekend we boarded the chicken bus (the guidebooks call them chicken buses but I've yet to see a chicken) to check out the Peublos Blancos or White villages. These are a bunch of villages whichspecialize in arts, crafts, ceramics, etc. The first stop was Catarina which has a very nice lookout over the crater lake of Laguna De Apoyo (we went there the weekend before last, would have made a good blog entry but I was too busy lounging in hammocks to take any photos).
Then all 4 of us crammed into a Tuk-Tuk to get to the next town of San Juan De Oriente which is renown for producing lots of very cool ceramics.
Final stop was Diriomo which is meant to have a reputation for white witchcraft and some funky alcoholic drink made from corn. On the witchcraft front we only managed to locate a tarot card lady who said she had a sore throat and therefore would not be able to accurately read our cards! We did have more success with the corn drink though, we found a guide that took us to a small drinking house (it was literally just a house) and they served us a mildly fizzy concoction. Hard to describe the taste, certainly not unpleasant but I don't think it would make a good “session” drink. The brewer said it's cooked for 8 days and then fermented for 1. I think the shortness of brewing time is what leads to the lack of depth on the pallet.
To finish the day off we went and took a photo of this guy and spent the bus ride home alternately feeling confused as to whether he's meant to be a cowboy or a shepherd and disappointed over the continued absence of chickens on the chicken bus.
In an out-of-the-way barrio here in Granada, right near the central markets, is an unnamed French Bakery which is manned by an old French hippy couple. They make bread in a woodfired oven and they make vegan meals, mostly for the volunteers, upon request. Nicky, Owen and Pip were visiting from Costa Rica for 2 days this week and it corresponded with a trip to the French bakery for a 3 course vegan meal for less than $6AUD. This place is sure to become a regular haunt!
Dan and I formally began volunteering this week with La Esperanza Granada. Whilst Dan initially was going to be a handy man, he asked to be on the English team instead. His team visits all of the schools giving lessons mostly on basic English vocubulary. I am at a school called Angela Morales which is a very small school of about 60 children (depending on how many show up that day..). The first day we did one to one reading and then today we took the Preescolar children (kindergarten) and made butterflys stuck to a peg and a pipecleaner. They loved them! I have to say that I was surprised at the lack of dexterity for some of them. Also, there is a tendency for the kids who have finished to want to also finish the work for those who are struggling. The focus is on finishing the task, not on the learning itself.
Nonetheless, it was fun – I've learnt the spanish words for butterfly, glue, peg, scissors :) I am struggling to understand what is said to me, and generally I just smile and nod and then say something else.. Luckily Charlotte from my house (another volunteer) is there to help with the translation. Alas, it is her last week, so next week I will have to really concentrate on understanding!
The Sunday just passed was the festival of the running of the bulls in Granada. Despite the warnings of large crowds and professional pickpockets, we decided to risk it and sought out a nice viewing sport at about 11.30am.
People watching in itself was very entertaining. As the crowd slowly built, the best vantage points (out of the sun and with a secure view of the road, became harder to obtain. We were blown away by the number of (mostly) children who scaled the scaffolding at the park we were in and sat there for the almost 4 hours before the bulls arrived. Rather than vacate their spot to buy snacks and drinks, a system of yelling, throwing down money and passing up food/drinks/change seemed to work great... It wasn't so great sitting under the person eating....
When finally the bulls arrived it was quite a strange moment. There were in fact only 8 bulls running over 4 different streets. Thus, there was generally only 1 bull in the view at a time. There were about 5 cowboys per bull and they would lasso it's neck and almost drag it down the streets. Then occasionally the bull would pick up some speed and the crowd would practically yelp with excitement.. If the bull dared to stop, it would be surrounded by the crowd and beaten with rope/branches/planks of wood. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but at this point I had had enough – whilst the locals love this event, I wasn't really enjoying seeing the bull like this.. I'm glad we went so that we could see first had what it was like. We did get some interesting photos, and we did manage to not be robbed :) (though a friend was not so lucky).
PS read what is says on the lady's scarf in the last photo :)
Dan and I have arrived to our new home in the street called Calle Santa Lucia in Granada, Nicaragua.
My first impression, I admit, was a bit of shock. The house is old.. Very old.. We arrived at the house, knocked on the door, and I broke the wood paneling.. Luckily the security door was still locked!
Inside, we claimed our room – housing a double bed with one top sheet, a less than perfectly clean toilet and a dodgy ceiling fan (which thankfully Dan managed to get working). The sign in the kitchen which is undercover but which opens onto a garden on one side, said that there we have resident mice.. I was hoping that the mice did not take regular excursions to the bedrooms..
After 2 nights here now, we are settling in and have not had any visits from our furry kitchen friends. We now have a gorgeous baby blue mosquito net to sleep under, there is internet and cable TV in the house and we have a lovely and refreshing outdoor shower :)
We have met our current housemates, but as is the transient nature of volunteering, most of them are leaving in the next 2 weeks and we will have a new set of people to live with.
We don't begin volunteering until next week. Until then we are taking one on one Spanish lessons - lots of fun! Hasta luego!!
