Morning in Tonala'

Mornings in Tonala’ begin at about 5:30 a.m. when the town loudspeaker makes the first announcements of the day.  You might actually wake up earlier, if you don’t sleep through the roosters’ crowing.  The announcements consist of 

Coo coo, random cat, Jack

births, deaths, who is selling what, local events, etc.  They continue throughout the day.  Sometimes the mass is blasted over the loudspeaker.  Often, one of Christine’s neighbors will also play their radio at full volume starting at 5:30 – A.M., because they believe in sharing their joy.  The Nicaraguans love music and noise and just general loudness.  They believe if you are quiet then you must be sad.  I am convinced, based on the level of decibels that the Tonala’ residents create, that they are a very happy people.  Tonala’ is a small rural village in northern Nicaragua, about 40 minutes south of the Honduran border.  It is a rather economically poor, but culturally rich community.  As poor as it is, it definitely has a Nicaraguan charm to it, which Christine has completely embraced. Many of the residents are sugar cane or plantain farmers. Some sell tortillas or vegetables for a living or pedal a tricyclero that can give you a lift to the bus station, or if you are running late, a lift to school with your American aunt.  The last morning we were at Christine’s home, we had a rather typical morning.  Christine went outside with her broom at 5:30 and, like all of her neighbors, began to sweep clean her dirt yard.  Nicaraguans take significant pride in keeping their yards clean.  This particular morning, two of her neighbors’ pigs wandered into the yard.  As I ran to capture this moment on film, the pigs ran down the street.  Christine told me they would be back, because the dogs (Moco, Dumbo and Coo Coo) would chase them back to their own home.  Sure enough, when the dogs took notice they chased after the first pig, squealing, barking and racing down the street.  The second pig cowered across the street, trying to keep the dogs from seeing it – to no avail. I mean, it was a pretty BIG pig.  This one they chased in a circle around Christine’s entire house, while I scrambled to slam the door, foregoing my photo op, as I was afraid they would run into the house. Then, the bread man rode by with four choices of bread.  We picked the cheese one, which was delicious with our fresh pineapple.  Christine boiled coffee, which I totally appreciated, and strained it into our cups.  It was delicious con leche. I am so over my Starbuck’s addiction (I can tell you about the 12-step program if you’re interested)! She then fed the three dogs, only one of which is hers, and the three cats, again, only one is hers, and we headed out to the primary school.  Christine lives directly across from the secondary school, so we saw all the high school students walking the other way, dressed in their crisp, white school shirts and blue skirts or pants.  The Nicaraguans are meticulous in the way they dress and make a great effort to always have bleached white shirts. We usually walked to school, but this morning all the pig excitement made us late, so Christine waved down a tricyclero who gave us a ride to school. We arrived just in time, which is a little vague in Tonala. (Go ahead, say it.  ‘You must have fit right in, Ceil.’) Mornings in Tonala’ are unique to the culture of small towns in Nicaragua and were really a joy to experience, despite the cacophony, because I loved seeing and feeling and hearing what Christine’s daily life in Nicaragua is like.

Bread delivery

Being Nicaraguanse

Mi sobrina, Christine, or best day yet!

Nicaragua, Part Two – the best part.  Part one of my trip involved studying in a Spanish immersion program in San Juan for two weeks.  Part two involved meeting up with my niece, Christine, who has been in the Peace Corps for two years, and living in the rural village of Tonala’  in northern Nicaragua. This would give me an opportunity to see my darling niece again, learn about what her life has been like in Nicaragua and experience that first hand, garner an understanding of what Peace Corps work entails, and have an opportunity to practice my new Spanish skills. As I imagined what it would be like to first see Christine after two long years and how excited and happy we would be, I sometimes saw it in my head as one of those moments in the movies where the two people run towards each other in slow motion, arms outstretched, smiling broadly, as the music builds.  Here’s how it actually played out:  I was to meet Christine on the first floor of a mall at a coffee shop.  The Mariposa driver was going to the airport and agreed to take me to meet Christine and then drop us both at the bus terminal.  When we got to the mall, we were cutting it close for Luis, the driver, to make his airport connection and Christine was nowhere in sight.  I texted her and she wrote back “oh no! b there soon”.  A few more minutes passed and still no Christine.  I decided to go into the mall to look for her and realized then that we were on the SECOND floor.  As I went down the escalator, of course I see Christine coming up the escalator.  I yelled her name and then, turned and ran UP the down escalator, nearly stumbling as I scrambled upstream on the moving staircase. Christine sees me and says “Ceil?” We still had our big moment of joy and greeting each other, but it certainly was not a Kodak moment.  I have to say though, as funny as I may have looked, it was worth it.  It was so wonderful to see Christine again and I felt like I had come home once I was able to give her a big hug.

“I’m a big, brave dog"

Did you ever see the Rug Rats episode where Chuckie tries to overcome his fear of going down the playground slide by repeating to himself “I’m a big, brave dog”?  Well, I took a page from his book when I had to use the latrine at Christine’s home in Tonala’ – after I found out that cockroaches reside inside the latrine!  Christine’s technique is to bring the lantern with her and hold it inside the door ahead of her – and then, get this, lower the lantern into the bowl to make sure the cockroaches go down inside the latrine.  NOT for the faint of heart, which means me!  Of all the things I had on my list to worry about before coming to Tonala’ – the four hour bus ride in the heat with my tendency towards carsickness, the extreme heat (did I tell you that the Chinendega district is the HOTTEST place in the country?), the mosquitoes (it is the rainy season after all), where I would get my morning coffee, and having to use the outdoor latrine - I never knew I would have to worry about dealing with cockroaches in order to use the latrine.  Actually, I am thankful I had not been forewarned.  Christine was very patient and understanding of my fear.  Apparently, I am not the only visitor who had an issue with this (and you know who you are!). I eventually was able to manage it.  After all, one cannot go for three days without ever using the facilities.  But I will let you in on a little secret – Christine always went in there first whenever it was dark enough for las cucarachas to be out and about!

Bar Chanchito or “Whatever doesn’t kill you makes you fat”

Friday night is a big night to go out for pork at Bar Chanchito, which means 'little pig' en espanol.  Berman, the head of the school, took a small, but fun-loving group of us to the bar for a Nicaraguan happy hour. It wasn’t very crowded when we arrived, as it was raining.  Friday night also seems to be a big night for rain here. He had us take a short tour of the kitchen, and talked about how they slaughter about five pigs for this event.  Several people were coming in and out of the kitchen, picking up their bags of pork to go.  They deep fry the pork AND deep fry the pork rind.  I think the Nicaraguan proverb ‘whatever doesn’t kill you makes you fat’ could possibly stem from Friday nights at Bar Chanchito.  Berman said hello to the kitchen staff (seriously this guy knows everyone!) stirred a pot of boiling oil on the stove and showed us the bags of black pudding that we could buy.  No one did, however, because the thought of cooking up a bag of rice and pig blood was not really appetizing. When we returned to our table, they brought us two large bottles of Tona beer, one of two Nicaraguan brews, and two plates of the deep-fried pork and pork rinds.  They plopped them down right in front of the only vegetarian in our group!  We had a great time, ordered two more bottles of the Tona and took photos with some of the Nicaraguan children who were there with their families.  Two of the younger women in our group ordered a small bottle of rum and a coke.  I tried a sip of it so I could have the full Nicaraguan night life experience, and I didn’t even have a ‘goma’ the next day!

Volcan Masaya photos

The Mouth of Hell

Thursday we went to Volcan Masaya National Park for an evening visit.  We were able to drive right up to the edge of the crater on this one (did I tell you the last volcano I tried to climb I had to hitch a ride halfway up in a truck?). It was impressive to say the least.  It is still active – and visibly so.  One tour group ahead of us was wearing gas masks.  Signs warn you not to stay longer than 20 minutes because of the gases that are being emitted.  The Spaniards named it ‘the mouth of hell’ and the indigenous people tried to appease it with human sacrifices. We then climbed a trail to peer into another crater, less visibly active.  The views from the top of the mountain were spectacular!  One of the women said that it was as though we were ‘in a map’.  I was very worried about the next part of our visit as I have a tendency to be claustrophobic.  We were going 200 meters into an underground volcanic cave.  I handled it quite well I think, no freaking out.  It was actually quite spacious.  There were some massive tree roots working their way down there, too, searching for water.  Then we were lucky enough to poke our heads into an active bat cave!  Batman was not there, but hundreds of bats were flying in and out searching for insects and mosquitoes.  THAT was a little freaky!!  Finally – it was now about 7:30 at night- we hiked up another trail to peer into yet another crater to see if we could catch a glimpse of any glowing magma.  I can’t say I saw any magma, but what I did see was an absolutely beautiful night with stars sprinkled through the heavens.  It was really one of the highlights of my visit to Nicaragua so far.  I am starting to get sad about leaving, but very happy and looking forward to seeing my niece, Christine on Sunday in Managua.

Torneo de kickball