Living in a Third World Country

I am certain that all yall wonder what it is like to be a volunteer in a third world country. Sitting in your cubicles, filling out meaningless reports that no one will read, must make you wish that you could just let it all go and live in a tropical climate and answer to no one. Well I am here to tell you that it is not all it is cracked up to be. Yes, I do feel quite liberated and I do not wish to be back home dealing with restaurant customers who complain that their food is not hot enough to burn their mouths, that their table is too close to the kitchen and the reservation they did not make is not in the system. I am at most times quite content with the fact that I am not making gobs of money to spend on things that I don’t need. I am living a life influenced by Ernest Hemmingway, Mark Twain, Jack Kerouac and Bill Bryson. That is about the extent of the luxuries that I lead. The third world, as I have seen it is hot, dusty and poor. When looking at a map of the world, why is it that when you trace your finger around the contents between the tropic of Cancer and the tropic of Capricorn you realize that in recent history there has not been an astounding amount of development and growth? I certainly do not have the answers, but I find it to be quite interesting. My work here has been slow, frustrating and at times feels like I am non-existent. The age old question of development comes to mind quite often. Is the mass consumption, capitalistic, independent, financially success measured world of the developed world what we are to strive for in life, or have we missed the clues that a self sustainable, socialistic, community oriented world the direction we should have gone? For so long I looked at this world as something in which we all had something to learn from each other, but I am second guessing this theory. I saw the Latin-American world as one which treasured community, family solidarity and love of living life. I have not entirely lost this vision, but it has certainly been altered. In terms of family solidarity it has been altered the most. Almost daily I am bombarded by people who think that, me being an American, I can hand out visas as a paper man hands out papers. Anyone I have met, if given the opportunity would leave their children, wives, husbands and parents to make a better life in the states. From what I have seen, the US is the still the promise land that our ancestors came to prosper. On the one hand it is disconcerting; on the other hand it makes me feel so lucky to be a citizen of a place that people dream to be a part of. The other day I was part of a business group who had to come up with a business. When it came time to do the financial portion, I was disheartened by the financial rewards my group members expected. They were content to make $30 a week, being paid by piece produced. I am currently being pushed by not only the Mayor, but the American Ambassador to help in opening a sweat shop in my city. In terms of dining luxuries I am certainly at a disadvantage. Convenience is such a luxury, one in which I miss dearly. Most of you are not exempt from the list of people I would kill to choose the type of cuisine I would like for my evening meal. To put together a meal I have to either buy food from a “fritanga” which is street food, or walk about a mile to 6 different places to gather the ingredients to make pasta. Water here is a crap shot. I conceded to the fact that I am here too long to drink only bottled water, so I drink the local tap water. I am not sure if I have a digestive system of steel or if I am super human, but it has only led to intermittent problems which have, to this point, corrected itself. The other day I filled a water bottle and found a small white worm floating in it. The government is to the likes of what we read in history novels in terms of corruption. The past president is under house arrest for corruption, but still influences our current president. Not to mention that our current president is getting instruction from Hugo Chavez. I have to hand it to Daniel Ortega, our current president that the power outages and water shortages are to a minimum as well as he is doing a phenomenal job in building infrastructure here. In the near future the dirt road that I had to travel 1.5 hours to teach will take about 25 minutes once paved, due to him. Personally life is not as eventful as it once was. I have been able to read more books than is humanly possible, but as in the states, the time spent reading is time to kill and I certainly have enough of that. The weekends were once something that I looked forward to in terms of not having work and it usually meant that something was going to happen. Well here a weekend is also a time for no work, but the difference is that there is nothing ever going on. A big weekend is sitting in front of your house watching people walk by and talking to your neighbors. That is of course if I am following Peace Corps rules and staying in my town, which as I am sure most of you agree is not something that I want to do often. Financially I am living in a strange climate. Peace Corps pays $200 a month, $50 goes to my rent, and another $10 goes to my water and electricity bill. This leaves me with $4.50 a day to live on. Considering the fact that people live on $2 a day this is a luxury, but this country is one of extremes. On one hand one can live on $2 a day quite easily and we are, as Peace Corps Volunteers, expected to live like the poor, but the other people live differently. The prices in the capital, or major cities is much more 1st world. A night at a hotel is $50 a night, a night out with dinner and drinks is $30. It leads to a life of tease. Burger King and Subway are available, but only the rich can afford it at $5 a meal. This leads me to how amazing the states are. Things in the states make sense, are organized and are efficient. To think that 50 states, as large as most countries, were able to unite and agree, is quite an accomplishment, one which is much overlooked. Am I happy? That is a question which must be asked either day to day, or at the end of my service. Some days I want to go home more that anything else and others I wish I had a house and farm here to live off of. The whole question of, “what is the point of life” comes into play quite often. I have always been someone, through all the drinks, fun and random conversations, to have a master plan, something happening in the future, something to look forward to, but at this juncture I am really at a loss. I am really not sure where to go from here. It makes sense to continue my search, in whatever it is I am looking for, or to find the country which makes the most sense, but I fear that this is not a reality. Why is it that people feel the need to travel? Are we looking for something? What is it that we are looking for? I think that we are looking to answer questions about the point of it all, but the reality is that the only thing that happens to us is that we have more questions in the end. The world, as I have seen it is certainly not something that is answered in the viewing of it, but much more in retrospect, as we can see what has worked and what has not. Well as a conclusion, I do love the life that I live. I have never been one to choose the easy path; I always have liked a challenge.

Near Misadventure

Last week I was helping out an NGO I am working with, to take pictures of a school in a rural village. From the start it was not to happen. The bus which was to take me part of the way decided that it was not going to leave on time because it was not full enough. Finally, when we did leave, 1 hour later, it had changed its status from a ¨routa¨ meaning it leaves the highway to enter several villages, to an ¨expresso¨ meaning it did not leave the highway. After being over charged for a cab ride to my first destination point, I had made it. Well this was only my first destination point. From here I had to hitch hike into the mountains. This turned out to be a very lucky hitch hike. In talking to the other hitch hikers I learned that if I want to go to the community I am trying for; I have to be let off at a random part of the road and hike in. Well I was let off and told to walk about 4 hours down a dirt road and I will be there. I am not sure about you, but when someone gives me a time like 4 hours, or 1 for that matter, when it comes to a walk, it seems quite subjective. By another stroke of luck I ran into a group of kids who were about to make the same hike to the same community, we were even met along the way by the drunk uncle who made the walk with us, or in his case stumble.
It was a beautiful walk, parts were along rivers and the views that were offered were stunning. The issue I had was that we seemed to always be going up. I thought at times that my heart was going to beat out of my chest, clearly I need more exercise. I was grudgingly entertained by the drunken uncle who had 5 questions which he asked over and over for the entire walk. I do have the satisfaction of knowing I do not have the capability to murder, otherwise I would have pushed him off the mountain. I was put to shame a bit by the children who were from 10 to 14 years old who were carrying bags of mangoes among other things and did not seem tire, ever! Well after 3.5 hours of hiking we finally made it to the village.
My job was to take pictures of the school with all the students in front of it, so when I mentioned this to the people of the town, they informed me that there was not school the following day, a Friday. F@%$ING PERFECT! I tried my best to get the word out that there was a photo shoot the next morning and I need all the kids in their uniforms. That night’s sleep was insufficient to say the least. With the worry of this all being for naught, my body aching from the hike, dehydrated, sleeping on a wooden board covered in rice bags and hearing odd sounding critters buzzing around my head, insomniacs sleep better. Well the morning was a success. I had every kid in the village at the school, in uniform and perky. I felt a badly because after about a half hour of taking pictures I was finished. I think they were expecting a show, at least more than my pathetic magic tricks, which are my go to entertainment.
My mission accomplished, it was time to head back. One of the community kids was to be my guide and we had a bike this time to cruise down the declines. Unfortunately there were a lot more inclines then declines. Hauling a bike up hill makes you not want to be very good friends with it. We did get a chance to use the bike, but it was the most terrifying experience I have had in a long time. Due to this thing called gravity, even with me riding the breaks as hard as I could, we continued to gain speed. That was the first time I have gotten up 40 MPH on a bike, on a rocky road, with sizable drop-offs on the sides of the road. Lucky for me, the weight of both of us and me riding the brakes, put too much stress on the front tire and it flattened. We were able to ditch the bike at a friend’s house and we set off on foot. Mind you I am sore, under slept and dehydrated. The mid day sun was intense. My guide had no water and I had a liter water bottle to share between us. I wrapped a towel around my head (seriously, I was not looking to win a fashion award) to keep from getting burned and cool off my head. A lot of the way was down hill, but there were some major uphill parts as well.
The last part of the trip was a bit scary. My guide pointed to the top of a mountain and said that is where the main road is. I am at this point out of water, my mouth feels sticky and I am starting to get dizzy. I kept thinking to myself, what if I can’t make it? On the way up I had to stop several times and rest in the shade. My guide had my backpack and I was just trying to put one leg in front of the other. My legs were getting wobbly and burning. I did finally make it to the top. I had never been so happy to see a road before. I caught a bus back into civilization.
As for my guide, he just turned around and headed back. I did give him my water bottle that we were able to fill at house and I bought him 2 cokes and 4 bags of chips, the only things they were selling at the house. He is super human in my book. I did accomplish what I set out to do and I learned to bring more water in the future.