May 11, 2009
Hi All!
So, like the title so suggestively and cleverly implies, I am alive and well in Nicaragua! I write this from internet cafe called Xiam Internet in the town of Ocotal, 20 minutes north of Sabana Grande, the village where we are working and residing. It is now about 85 degrees out and sunny and has been ever since we got here, and the shops are kicking with locals and visitors.
The past few days have been no less than a whirlwind of adventure. Nathan and I arrived at the international airport in Managua Friday morning at about 11:15am Managua time (two hours behind New York), and, unlike last year, there was no one there to meet us. There are two new volunteer coordinators, Bruno from France and David from Canada who both live here in Nicaragua, and they were busy with the other University of Dayton ETHOS breakout students already here. So, they forgot about us. But, it´s like I tell everyone who comes to Nicaragua, you HAVE to be mentally prepared for this sort of thing. Nathan and I waited around for a bit, then decided to exchange some money at the airport (which takes an unnecessarily long amount of time) and then buy a cell phone with which to call Susan, the person in charge of… everything. Susan grew up in Cincinnati and has lived here in Nicaragua for the past 13 or so years (I cannot remember), and she started Grupo Fenix who UD works with. Anyway, by the time I got currency – Cordobas – the phone shop had closed. Ugh! Nathan bravely asked someone else to use their phone, and she was generous to let us use it to call Susan. After talking with her, we found that there was no place for us to stay in Managua as planned, so we decided to go straight to Sabana Grande. After visiting the Grupo Fenix office for a bit (and seeing some familiar faces =]), we left for SG at 3:30 and got there after dark, around 7. It would have been much later if I hadn´t seen our stop zoom by on the bus and yelled for the driver to stop… they said they knew where Centro Solar and Sabana Grande was, but I didn´t think they really did. Nathan and I backtracked with all of our stuff, and finally pulled in around dinner time.
Saturday morning was wonderful because I saw so many people that I knew and who were excited to see me. All of the locals knew that I was coming, and were eager to stop by and say hi. On top of that, the Breakout students were at the Solar Center, many of whom that I knew from UD. Now I am their expert on everything local as well as their translator. We spent the day building solar box cookers, and I even gave a demonstration of the solar autoclave. Students from the National Engineering University in Managua came up for the day, and we talked all things autoclave for some time, which was a great intercultural engineering exchange. We spent the day milling about, discussing life in SG, building box cookers, throwing frisbee and playing hackey sack. That night I had all of the volunteers who wanted to come over at my place to play Uno and listen to good tunes. We had a great time and ended up playing card games for several hours.
Sunday we did something I had never done before: we went to Somoto Canyon. This is a large and gorgeous natural park area, a canyon with very clean water running through it. The tourist-y thing to do is go to the canyon and swim upstream, traversing the rocks and occasional waterfalls of course, and then float back downstream. At our turning point, way upstream, is the diving spot where we can climb up the cliffs and jump into the river from various heights. This was where we spent most of our time and was great fun. After tiring from diving, I found a good spot in a small waterfall to sit and let the water massage. I did NOT want to move for a long time. Eventually, however, we swam/floated back and dried off. This was also the day of Mike Vehar´s birthday, the grad student in charge of the Breakout students, so we all celebrated by hanging out together for awhile when we arrived home.
Now it is Monday. I brought the Breakout students to Ocotal so they could explore for a few hours. They have already left for SG, and I need to get going to get lunch. Afterwards, I will begin setting the autoclave up to start testing. Unfortunately I do not have any pictures to upload this time, but I hope to soon! I hope to have more time to write more detail in the near future, but for now, nos vemos!
-Daniel
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So your first few hours were “adventures in traveling”. Chalk up Another growing/learning experience. We found a baby deer abandoned in the back yard and I tried to save it but it was not meant to be.
Dad leaves tomorrow for Atlanta. My adventures are limited to northeast Ohio for now.
Love.
Sounds like an amazing start to the summer, way to have a great sense of humor/outlook on everything!
Can’t wait to hear more about SG
You made Dean’s List – Congratulations. Hope the rest of your visit in Nicaragua goes smoother than your arrival. Your nice even temperment and your faith will get you through. Hope your mom and sister and Diyana are all well and doing fine. Please say
“Hola” for me.
Way to roll with the punches! I’m glad you enjoyed Somoto!