Trip to the other side

We boarded the little 12 seater plane to Waspam with a little apprehension – moments before at the gate, our companion for the week, Harold, told us that they didn’t often fall out of the sky. Excellent. As it happened, we didn’t fall out of the sky, and spent the entire journey marvelling at Nicaragua from above.  We landed on what can only be described as a narrow stony pathway in the middle of a forest, made with the same stuff as Matt’s parents driveway, lined with school children.  Welcome to Waspam airport.  Aside from the nerves of landing in the middle of nowhere, we were amazed at the landscape that welcomed us – damp, moody and mysterious looking.

 

Our boarding cards!

Arriving into Waspam airport

Waspam is a small city in the Region Autonoma Atlantico Norte, or the RAAN for short, and is located on the River Coco, which forms the border with Honduras.  You can notice a difference from the Pacific Coast instantly – this region is inhabited with not only mestizos (as in the Pacific), but is also home to indigenous Miskito and Mayangna communities... It was fascinating to walk the streets and listen to a mix of Spanish and the musical Miskito (which occasionally sounds like English (i.e. the numbers are identical), only with lots of Ks and Ws).  In fact the English have a lot to answer for over here on the Atlantic coast, whilst the Spanish conquistadores were colonising the Pacific coast, it was the English who were creating the kingdom of “mosquitia”.   In 1894, the region was ceded to Nicaragua, however the region was not too willing to be ruled by the “Spanish” from Managua.  Whilst autonomy was granted to the Atlantic region in the 80s, separatist tendencies have not all been quelled – independence was unsuccessfully declared within the last decade, and according to an indigenous leader we spoke too – some of the elders are still waiting for the English to arrive and take back their colony!

As the crow flies, this place isn’t that far away, but by road it could take 24 hours to reach, simply because of the poor infrastructure – there is no road between the two coasts, and this also goes for the electricity supply – the two coasts are yet to be connected by the national grid.  If you look at a poverty map of the country – you can see that this is the poorest region of the country by far...

The equivalent of the M1 had its own bridge

Apparently: this bridge is known to collapse wih lorries on!

So, why did we come over to the other side?! We were accompanying a group from the Ministry of Energy to visit several communities that had been beneficiaries of a World Bank funded rural electrification programme.  5 communities (4 Miskito and 1 Mayangna) received solar battery charging stations in 2006... Each of these communities were unfortunately devastated by Hurricane Felix in 2007 – people lost their homes, their livelihoods (the wood resources they rely on were destroyed, their animals killed), their solar panels, their water was polluted, and are only now just about getting back on their feet.  The international aid community arrived here in force post-Felix to help with food programmes, reconstruction programmes, and you can still see remnants of their work, e.g. USAID tarpaulin on the houses still missing roofs.  One development worker from a local NGO said that as the region is so vulnerable to flooding, to hurricanes, the organisations are constantly “fire fighting” the latest disaster.  The constant threat is to food security – just this year, severe flooding wiped out the bean crop, on which many subsistence producers rely on to feed their families. Climate change is taking its toll in this region; communities’ ability to decide when is best to plant their crops is hampered as weather is becoming more volatile and much less predictable each year: a massive issue for food security.

One of the solar battery charging stations

Our view of Honduras over the Rio Coco early morning

For over a week, we followed the Ministry team around the communities – Matt and I got to ride out back of the Hilux in the rain, whilst the driver seemed to have forgotten that we were there bouncing around on the back.  The communities were beautiful, houses are colourful, large and built on stilts. I took advantage of talking to as many people as possible to find out about their experience of having light in their homes, losing it all to Felix, and the rebuilding of the community (along with their new solar lighting kits). 

As with all development projects, funding comes to an end, and this is no exception for the World Bank project.  In December, the Ministry will leave these communities with their lighting kits in the hope that people will continue to recharge their batteries at the communal charging station ($1 a pop), hopefully saving enough money for the day households need to replace batteries, bulbs, inverters and cables.  This is the current challenge they face – how can you ensure financial sustainability in the long run, when communities’ existence is so very fragile?  When food security is so often threatened, people will prioritise feeding their family over lighting their home.  This is why the Ministry is planning an “exit strategy” – a plan which will hopefully help to generate much needed incomes.

A view across Sagni Laya

After visiting 2 communities, we got the opportunity to stay for 5 days with a family in Sagni Laya, a Miskito settlement about 80km from the nearest city, Puerto Cabezas.  There we met Santos, a gentle man, who became our host for the next week.  He welcomed us into his family, showed us life in the community, and translated Miskito into Spanish.  We soon settled into his home, setting up camp in two hammocks in his lounge, washing at the well and heading to the loo across the other side of the community, in a latrine with no roof and a door hanging off at its hinges.  One piece of advice before heading out into Sagni Laya was to take lots of Vaseline..... to cake on our ankles, shins and legs, apparently to stop ticks from climbing up our legs and making a home under our skin!

Santos and his family

Our home in Sagni Laya

During our stay, we got to visit his family’s “parcelas”, this involved riding in a canoe carved out of an enormous Guanacaste tree, down the Rio Huahua (which is apparently home to many crocodiles!).  We joined Santos in harvesting beans - it is very sweaty work under hot sun, even at 8am in the morning.  The following day, we spent several hours de-shelling the beans, ready for dinner, the staple meal of “gallo pinto” or as we know it, rice and beans.

On the Rio Huahua

Picking beans out in the campo

Shelling beans in the afternoon....

Before bed we talked with the family, making use of their “solar light” to converse in Miskito, Spanish and English.  We were grateful for the light as it really was pitch dark.  I asked them what they had thought the first time they saw the solar panels – what did they think of this strange technology?  Santos had thought it was “bonito”, and quite different from the overhead wires and noise of the generator in the nearest city, Puerto.  According to the driver who took us on the two hour journey into the community, he knew of some indigenous populations who had a different reaction to the solar panels – they distrusted the fact that solar energy was quiet, the electricity they knew came from noisy diesel generators and in one case, after an hours discussion with the elders, they decided they would not accept the silent technology, based on the belief that it was the work of the devil. 

After a boiling hot day, it turned into a very cold night in the hammocks.  A night in Sagni Laya is just as noisy as our home in Masaya, only this time with the noise of the animals living below the house amongst the stilts and heavy rain on the tin roof. 

Matt settling in for the night in a not so comfy hammock!

All in all we had an absolutely fantastic time, although we did both find it hard to come to terms with the difficulties that these people face everyday just to ensure that their families have enough to eat....

Now on to the job of writing it all up and transcribing hours of interviews - woo!

Finally we have a couple of photos for your viewing pleasure :)

One of the communites has a pet monkey: he likes to eat chewing gum!

March

This month has once again been more of a working month with the odd trip out here and there at weekends when Dani has days off. We love pretty much everything here and thought: why not write a few bits about the every day things which make us happy, amuse us, annoy us and sometimes down right confuse us! Here it is...

Public Transport Safety 101

Taxis: You hail a taxi and jump in. Often the driver will stop and pick up others on the way if the hailer is going in a vaguely similar direction, so you squish up and fit in the extra bodies (sometimes entire small families).  Still can’t work out at what point to pay, some pay after the journey, some pay when they get in and others just seem to thrust the money into the drivers hands whilst his other hand is on his phone when careering across a road (where I STILL cannot work out who’s right of way it is!?). Sometimes even though you got in first, the driver will go another route (which is clearly the opposite direction to your destination) to drop another passenger off first, this could happen a couple of times before you finally get to where you are going! But, you pay for per seat and for 30p to pretty much anywhere in Masaya you can’t really complain! It is however, always entertaining to ask a taxi driver for a price for a destination before we get in (as they often attempt to dupe foreigners!) Once quoted a specific price and sat in the taxi the driver will ask “where are you going again?!”

Buses: Simple concept that I’m pretty sure the Guinness book of records should be made aware of: cram in everyone and anyone where ever and when ever you can – the bus conductors have an incredible perception of capacity! The smaller “micro” buses, like a small mini bus that have 16 seats, usually fit around 25 in and the conductors constantly hang out of the window shouting the names of destinations at lightening speed! “MasayaMasayaManaguaMasayaManagua Masayaaaaaaa!  Took a while to grasp hearing the names they are so fast. And when it is full – they convince people at the next bus stops that there is room, often luring one or two to cram in further. Again though, a 2 hour bus journey half way across the country for around £1 is not bad... It is amazing how some of the buses are missing a large proportion of the floor in parts (Dani tells me she got on a bus before Christmas which had a precariously made paper thin rusting metal floor – BUT worry not because it had banging new speakers complete with loud reggaeton music and plenty of signs declaring, to our relief, that “Jesus had blessed this bus” we certainly hoped so!)

There appears to be little governance with public transport though: the only evidence are a few people dotted about in orange jackets in the bus stations who check the correct number of people are on the micro buses and to ensure no one is hanging out of the door/window shouting for more spaces to be filled – this is easily overcome. Either, the driver just ignores them and drives by winding up their tinted windows so they can’t see in OR the bus leaves at ‘legal’ capacity and just picks more people up on its way out! Either way, the sardine concept and shouting out appears to prevail.

Oh yes... and all buses, taxis, cars and motorbikes fill up at the petrol station with their engines running throughout... I know we don’t do that in the UK but I’m pretty sure this is dangerous for one reason or another. Anyone?

Shops: No such thing as queuing in most places. Bustling and pushing with no sense of who was first. Amazingly when being served in busy shops on a few occasions the checkout worker will often stop for a minute or two to answer a call or text someone back. Customer service is VERY different than the UK is perhaps used to!

But the best bit about it all... no one bats an eye lid, no one complains or says a bad word as no one even notices, it is simply part of a much more relaxed way of life. I think perhaps an outlook in which we could learn from in our usually busy, perfectly planned and timely executed daily schedules.

You also get very personal relationships with people who provide services and goods on a regular basis. You know and trust well your barber, local farmer, bread maker, local molino, fabric maker, doctor etc, there is a real sense of community.

Highlights from the last month include:

Finding a SUBWAY: quite possibly the most exciting “food moment” to date!

Finding a book shop with a whole section of various books in English: I have started reading a few classics which I missed out on at school, literature on climate change and some children’s books in Spanish (in hope to improve my reading and writing!) Dani has been reading several Spanish books and was disappointed to find out that the well known Nicaraguan author of one of the books she was reading was at the same book shop for a signing the night before!

Living with nature generally!

We recently removed one MUCH bigger than this!

Meet 'Batty' our new resident - unfortunately due to health reasons we spent an afternoon waving a broom at him until he found another home!

Going to the Taekwondo ITF Central American Championships: We didn’t compete but went along for the day where we watched the competitors whom were mostly from Nicaragua and a few from Costa Rica too! The kids were of a very good standard – fast legs, flexible kicks and not afraid to get ‘stuck in’! The adults had some very impressive black belts in the final rounds too!  Upon buying t-shirts as a souvenir we asked who organised the event, before we knew it the t-shirt guy had fetched to meet us the Master VII Degree who invited us to train at his ITF club right here in Masaya. Fantastic!

For the TKDers out there: Look familiar? One of the rings at the competetion

We started training a couple of weeks ago and let’s just say that the last time I sweated that much was a UK squad session in the middle of summer! The Master actually fetched a mop half way through the lesson where he attended to the slippery puddle on the floor where we had been training! The style of TKD is very similar with some slight variations on technique (which I’m sure we will have fun discussing in the pub after a training session once back in the UK).  There is a LOT of stretching and kicking and fewer patterns and the instruction is something we simply wouldn’t allow here, i.e. the instructor hitting children with the kicking paddles to ‘encourage them’, un-sheathing a knife he keeps nearby to again ‘encourage’ students to perform more efficiently! Oh and generally turning-kicking the students.  Old school and fantastic! Oh and Mr Crisp (and anyone else who has had this debate!)... you will be pleased to hear that they pronounce Eui Am “we am” and not “U am” ... I will say nothing more!

Washing our doboks ready for training

The Laguna de Apoyo (again): this really is a gorgeous place, this time we took a packed lunch and read our books in the sun, relaxed, had a dip and sun bathed on the floating wooden platforms 30 feet out into the lagoon and took kayaks out into the water – a well needed rest!

The day that awful earthquake and tsunami hit Japan we had a number of personal tsunami warnings: the first was from Dani’s step mum very early in the morning.. “I don’t want you to worry, but there might be a tsunami heading your way” and my Dad, rather bluntly, “Tsunami heading your way, 6 hours from now”... thanks Dad! The whole Pacific coast was put on high alert, with whole towns evacuated. It was incredible how many bikini clad (and rather stupid) foreigners were shown on Nicaraguan TV being marched off beaches by officials on the Pacific Coast after ignoring initial warnings.  Thankfully the tsunami was hardly noticed at all in Nicaragua....

Our thoughts are with those who have been affected by the catastrophe in Japan.

Upcoming plans

TOP RIGHT - Destination ... The RAAN

We’re going “off grid” for 2 weeks to the RAAN (Region Autonoma Atlantico Norte -  the North Atlantic Autonomous Region) of Nicaragua, on a trip with the Energy Ministry to look at several renewable energy projects in isolated communities.  This part of the country is dominated by 20,000km2 of protected rainforest (apparently the largest north of the Amazon), is home to Mayangna and Miskito populations, is where rivers are more common than roads, communications are extremely limited, and where, according to my lonely planet guide, “cocaine dollars” have done a great deal to fill the development gap.  We’re really excited about seeing the “other side” of Nicaragua – learning about another culture, and of course how they are getting on with solar energy.  Will post some photos and an update soon!

Solar panel installation in one of the communities Dani is working with

Some shout outs

Thank you everyone for your emails and facebook messages – keep them coming, we like to hear all the news / gossip! We’re both missing the oddest of things at the moment: like carpet under our feet and cold weather. On the up side it is very easy to give certain things up for Lent: Dani has given up hot showers and proper cups of tea! I have given up Xbox! (The PS2s in the local gaming shop don’t count!)

Unit 50 (and now unit 51 as well?!): we are thinking of you working those long (and possibly quite cold!) days in the unit packing, sorting, sifting, boxing, categorizing, labelling and moving everything ready for the big day!

Loading day: we will be thinking of you all and wishing you good weather for the big day! :)

Laguna De Masaya - just a 10 minute walk from our house