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.

Nicaraguan-isms

I have not been all over Latin America, nor have I been to many third world countries, so I am not certain if these things are limited to Nicaragua or not, but these are things that stick out in my mind as quite different than the US.

1) Instead of throwing their garbage in a garbage can they throw it on the ground. When there is a sufficient amount they sweep it into a pile and burn it.
2) Spitting is something that they do inside or outside. I have seen old women in a rocking chair hock and spit on her dirt floor. In bars here men will regularly spit on the tile floor, this goes for restaurants too.
3) The main form of transportation here is pick-up truck. The object of the game seems to be how many people they can fit into the thing.
4) Hitch Hiking is an approved form of getting around this country. It has offered me some of the most beautiful rides, but slightly frightening at times when passing on a one lane highway around curves.
5) Bicycles are also a main form of local transportation. It is not uncommon to see an entire family of 4 people on a bike. Man peddling, woman holding a baby sitting side saddle on the cross bar and child on the rear wheel pegs.
6) Cockfighting is a Sunday, after church diversion.
7) Music here is a range of crappy 80’s music from the states or reggeton, which begins playing promptly at 4am, quite loudly.
8) Nicaraguan food mainly consists of beans, rice or anything fried.
9) Power and electricity is about as consistent as George Bush’s honesty.
10) Dogs here do not share the same privileges as they do in the states. They are rarely aloud to sleep indoors and have to fend for themselves among other territorial dogs lending to a lot of fighting. They are also not to be trusted to be friendly, it is not uncommon to have to pick up a rock and pretend to throw it at them to get them to stop charging.
11) Nicaraguans have an interesting culture of paying for dinner or bar tabs. If you ask them if they want to go out to dinner of for a drink you have to make it very clear that they have to pay for themselves and whoever else they decide to bring, otherwise you are stuck paying the tab.
12) They have a fascination with fireworks, but only the huge bottle rockets they call “bombas” which they blow off at any religious service, during prayer, after prayer, every 30 seconds when there is a street parade or pretty much any time they feel like it.
13) When walking down the street it is rude to ignore people, so the greeting is “adios” meaning “good bye”. To be honest I might implement this in the states, it is a great way to end a potential unwanted conversation.
14) When an attractive woman is walking down the street men will hiss at them to let them know they are attractive “tsss tsss”, this is also done by Nicaraguan women who want to get the attention of a gringo guy.
15) The idea of distance is unimportant here, anywhere from 10 feet to 10 kilometers is termed as “aqui no mas” which means “here, no more”.
16) Peoples names here are quite difficult to learn since they have 4 names, two first and two last and they say them all when introductions are given. If I ask them what they want to be called they look at me like, “I just told you”. Add on to this nick names and I am thoroughly confused.
17) Men with large bellies like to pull their shirt above their pouch and go about their day. It is difficult for me to have a serious conversation with someone’s huge belly in my face.
18) Women here tend to be, let’s say well fed, they are certainly not self conscious about it since they wear shirts that only little children should wear leaving their curves to hang out.
19) In the more rural areas it is not uncommon to see a naked child running around.
20) The septic systems here apparently can not handle toilet paper, so every bathroom has a waste basket to put the paper. Enough said!
21) Political correctness here is not a word. They use very direct words to describe people. A light skinned person, or gringo is called a “chele” meaning “whitey”. A dark skinned person is called “negro” meaning “blackey”. An Asian person is called a “chena” or “Chinese” this really upsets most Asian people who are not from china. A larger person is called “gordo” or “fatty”. A person who is not attractive is called “feo” or “ugly”. As a twist of cultures, it is an insult to call someone “skinny”.
22) Dental Hygiene here is a problem. Many people have missing teeth and most have shoddy medal work done to keep their teeth from falling out.
23) There are two religions here, Christian or Evangelical. If you try to explain you are anything else they will never get it.
24) They are big on body language here. To point, they pucker their lips in the direction of what they are pointing at. If they don’t understand you they squint at you.
25) The idea of time here is unimportant. If you set a meeting for a specific time, it is expected that no one will show up until about 45 minutes after.
26) Women are also not shy about breast feeding in public. I have had several conversations with women, on a bus, in a line, during dinner making sure their child is well fed. When it gets a little odd is when the child is almost 2.

I am clearly not following my Compliment sandwich rule, but I can’t be perfect in every way.

Can You Believe They Call Me Professor Here?

So I have begun my school year and am currently teaching business classes to high school students. The curriculum that I am teaching is basic business concepts, but goes into how to create a business plan and by the end of the school year groups of students will have formed small businesses which we will then compete against the other school in which Peace Corps is teaching the same theme. Our purpose is to give opportunity to the students because they, for the most part, will not be attending college after high school. It is not an easy task to teach! In the states I feel like it is not easy either, but here they do not have any of the basic discipline that we have in our high schools, like raising your hand, not answering your cell phone during class, not getting up and walking around the class room to talk to your friends, being in class on time, etc. The culture here is one of very little critical, creative or personal thinking mainly due to the fact that it is a community mentality and not an individualistic mentality. What this means is that homework, in class work and tests are done by only a few and then the rest copy. Unlike cheating in the states, they do not understand that it is wrong. Parents also condone this by doing the homework for the kids and also don't realize how this is a bad thing. They figure that if someone in the community can do the work then they don't have to worry about knowing how to do it as well. This mentality has held this country back, as I am certain many other third world countries, because they never come up with anything new on their own. Getting them to think creatively or to take an existing product and making it better is about as difficult as getting an American High School student to design a rocket engine. On top of this lack of creativity classes are cancelled at least once a week for either teacher meetings, holidays and other various Saint days of which they seem to have weekly. Another challenge is that materials for the students is non existent. They might have a notebook and pen, but the school does not give books or any other critical material. Most Nicaraguans are notoriously bad spellers omitting silent letters or interchanging B's and V's which have the same sound. Some common mistakes are "ondura" for Honduras, "cotarica" for Costa Rica or public road signs that say "No Votar Basura" which when translated is Don't Vote Garbage instead of "No Botar Basura" which is Don't Throw Garbage. Being a teacher makes me feel bad for all the teachers whom I was the class clown in their classes, which were most. It is such a hard thing to keep the attention of kids and when there is one who makes a joke and distrupts the class my job becomes more difficult and also wastes time. I feel like I should go back and apologize to all my past teachers. I do find teaching rewarding though, when I see the light come on in their eyes it makes it all worthwhile. Also I do not mind that everyone in my community refers to me as "Profay" which is Professor, so I expect the same treatment when I come back to the states.

Back From The Mountains

I was recently in one of the most rural places I have ever been to in my life. It was called Los Valcones and it is a community where I am helping to build a primary school. I had agreed to join a group of inter-city youth who were there to aid in the effort. The ride up there should have been my first alert. The road was so bad, keep in mind I have seen some bad roads here, that I was not sure we would make it in our 1982 Landcruiser. At a couple of points the Vice Mayor who was accompaning me pointed out where other trucks have fallen off the road, comforting I thought. Once there I was shown where I was to be sleeping for the next three nights, which during the day seemed much more cool and rustic then it ended up being. The building I stayed in was the same place that the coffee pickers stay, but they stay there for months. It was a room with two levels of wood slabs, dirt floor and lots of ambiance. By ambiance I am refering to cob webs, mouse holes, bat feces and a sweet smell of sweat. The first night I did not do enough work during the day to pass out so it was the worst night. I am a side sleeper and this does not work too well on solid wood. I would wake up periodically with my shoulder smashed against my ear and then have to slowly stretch it out, slightly painful. When awake I could hear bats flying around the room as well as all the other unidentified sounds of the night, I had only the the thin layer of my sleeping pouch to guard me. On a more serious note the family I stayed with was very nice. They had 5 childred all under the age of 11, one of which was a newborn of 33 days. The parents both had only upto a 2nd grade education and the building of this school was a godsend to them since the nearest school for their children was about a 3 mile walk each way. This was a very poor family. All seven of them sleep in the same room and they have a kitchen. In their kitchen they used a wood burning stove and their house was constantly filled with smoke. They all had developed a wicked cough which they told me was only a cold, but clearly this is not the case. They did not have water nor electricity. For water they go to a river and for light they use a small flame burning diesel, which they are also inhaling. For food they eat different variations of rice and beans. The family was so close, all they have in this world is family and god. It was a very hard reminder of why I am here. Just thinking of this family makes me a bit teary eyed. They live literally in the middle of nowhere and there is no opporunity for them other then picking coffee at $2 a day. I asked the father if he was happy and he said yes, but he wished he had a better education and better opportunities. On Monday I left that family, I went to my own house, cooked pasta, slept on my nice soft mattress and watched a movie on my lap top. Them, well they are still there, that is their life and they can not just leave it, but they would give anything to do so. I am lucky, I have never known that life other then as a tourist. I have gorwn accustom to my normal life here, compared to that it is luxury. This should not make anyone feel guilty, we all play the cards that are dealt to us, some have better hands then others, but that is just life. When I think I am having a hard time and things are down, I will remind myself that I will live, things could be worse.
-O

The Compliment Sandwich

If there was something that I remember of my corporate days it is that if I have something negative to say, I need to surround it by two positive things, thus it is called the Compliment Sandwich. I would consider myself a more than average positive person, but at times this expereince tests my patience and positivity. So I will now conduct a collection of Compliment Sandwiches.

1)
Positive: People here are so open, friendly and curious about me.
Negative: My neighbor burns his trash ie. plastic bottles, bags, car parts, etc. right next to my house which in turns fills my house and my line drying clothes with rancid smoke.
Positive: When ever I am bored I have kids on my street who always want to play cards, monopoly or dominoes.

2)
P: At my school people have been so welcoming and take their time with me, which is a godsend
N: Communication at my school is non existent. When I ask about upcomming meetings they have not once happened when I was told. So either I miss them or walk in an hour late.
P: Fortunantly they have a basketball court so it is not a wasted trip when I go.

3)
P: They have so many cute animals here.
N: These animals bite, tear up my garbage and deficate in my front yard so without fail when I come home in the dark I get a nice sqooshy suprise.
P: I have nothing

4)
P: The fruit here is so amazing, it is juicy and plentiful
N: With all the amazing food in Mexico on south I want to know how Nicaragua missed out on this, they make the most blan food that I have ever had, when I make food for Nicaraguans, they pick out all the flavorful parts, for pasta they prefer ketchup and cream.
P: To their defense their Ketchup is much better than in the states, it is loaded with sugar.

5)
P: The weather here is nothing to complain about, recently it has been hot during the day, but nice and cool in the nights.
N: It is so dry here right now that every time I walk down the street I am greeted by a wall of wind blown dust.
P: Almost every day is a potential beach day

6)
P: It is so cool how almost everything here is handmade such as art products and especially food.
N: The problem with handmade food in a thirdworld country is that they do not properly wash their hands. Sometimes they are good enough to have a bowl of water, but ususally their hands go from pockets to food to handling money to coughing to food to scratching their head to food and so on, oh then dip their hands in the same bowl of dirty water.
P: The street food is really growing on me, it is cooked on an open flame, the closest to BBQ I am going to get.

7)
P: The beer and rum here is so cheap that it is hard to believe. A 1/2 liter of decent rum is $2 and a liter of beer (3 - 12 oz beers) is $1.50 or $.50 per beer
N: I have to choose between 2 beers and I only have an option of rum. If I want a glass of wine I have to break into my savings to drink anything palatable, don´t get me started on a liquor other than rum.
P: If I so choose there is a bar on almost every block in Nicaragua, most are quite seedy, I don´t spend much time in those places, also I am a ¨professor¨I have my reputation to protect.

8)
P: The public transportation is one of the few things in this country which runs a consistant schedule.
N: Riding one of these cerca 1985 grade school yellow school buses is at times a test to the limit of my patience, with a lady pushing 300 lbs next to me holding her live chickens that keep rubbing up against me, while a kid is kicking the back on my seat as another kid is sick throwing up accross the aisle and a man is spitting out the window in front of me and parts of it fly back and hit me in the face. This only happens if I am lucky enough to score a seat. The entire time the music playing is Rivers Of Babylon, We are the World, or any other 80´s song that we forced out of the US because it is an aweful song.
P: The rides are unbelievably cheap, to go from the top to the bottom of the country is about $8.

9)
P: I have been getting really into the Latin music while down here maybe because I can undertand it.
N: Unfortuantly none of the good music comes from here. Their only music is folkloric which if you do not know what this is, take my word for it, if anyone wants to play for you Nicaraguan folkloric music, or worse do a folkloric dance, RUN! They do love their 80´s US music which I eluded to before. I feel like I am back in my dad´s car when I was 7, I didn´t like the music then. For the first few months here I was thrilled when someone asked me ¨Do you want to listen to US music¨ I caught on that this was the only US music they like so now I decline the offer. Try Litening to ¨Total Elipse of the Heart¨by Bonnie Tyler, ¨Africa¨by Toto or ¨Everybody have fun tonight¨by Wang Chung and tell me where your mental stability ran off to.
P: To be honest I am warming up to it, I find myself singing along ¨Turn around, every night and day I get a little bit........when I see that look in your eyes, etc. etc¨

10)
P: I love that to get most day to day items such as eggs, bread, soap, tomato, onions etc, I only have to cross the street, they have stores called puperias which is a mini grocery store and they have one on almost every block, sometimes 2-3 per block.
N: I do not understand the logic of someone who would open one of these stores. If my neighbor sells these day to day products, why would I think it was a good idea to open the same thing right next door. I am just ensuring that neither one of us makes much money. The market research is clearly not done here. Also once I am at these stores or any other store for that matter the idea of a line is nonexistent. People just walk up in front of other people while they are being helped and shout out what they want, the workers promote this by stopping what they are doing for someone else and help the person who has just shouted fresh demands.
P: On a positive note I like the color blue


I would go on for longer, but I can not think of two positives to wrap around the things that have frustrated me about this country. I wonder if people come to the states and have similar feelings, I imaging they do. The interesting thing about this experience is that it truely does test you. If you can not find a way to laugh at things then it really eats you up.
-OD

New Blogger, Getting Quite Technologized In The 3rd World

Well we are well into the "School Year" and still my classes have not begun and will not begin until early March. I have been traveling around a bit visiting other volunteers, making sure that the local rum is quality checked for not only consistency, but also effectiveness. Currently there is alot going on politically in this country with the new Sandinista government headed by Daniel Ortega. In the past administrations, since the revolution, things were put into place to limit the power of presidents and to safeguard against the possibility of sliding back into a communisitc leadership. One such piece was the parliament which limited the presidents power. Well currently he is slowly, but surely gaining power of the parliament as well as the military. He continues to, in public, reasure the people that he is for peace and reconciliation and does not have plans to change anything in terms of foreign investment and development. A piece of news we received the other day was that next year he will be bringing over teachers and doctors from Cuba. This is concerning for business volunteers like myself because I am basically teaching capitalistic values in my classes by having my students learn to start small businesses and the power of thinking of creatively. As can be imagined there will be a bit of a conflict of interest. He will also be inviting over Iranian workers, this I am not so sure what the effects will be, but it seems odd because we have so many people unemployed here already. The schools here are very political which lends to a very interesting time when the parties change. Typically the Directors of the schools are of a political party and when things change new Directors are put in who have the current party affiliations. This is the case with most governmental jobs, putting alot of people out of work and giving work to people who are less experienced. In talking to other volunteers working in schools, the common consensus is that things are very disorganized at the beginning of the year because the Directors are wating to be let go. So it is a very interesting time to be here.
-OD