More on week 2

So, Arella already told you some of what has gone on this last week. While it wasn't a tourist week, we got to see and do quite a bit.

Like she said, we went to Leon for a couple of hours. While we were there we went to the cathedral and to the Museum of Myths and Legends which is located in Jail 21. This jail was used during the dictatorship of the 80's and the unrest as a prison where people were usually tortured and killed. Unfortunately there is not a lot of information on the victims there, but pictures were drawn on all the walls to show a little bit about how it would have been there. The museum was instead mostly based on portraying different myths and legends that the people of Nicaragua have. There were figurines all around dressed up and with their stories written on paper sitting next to them.

In El Sauce we stayed at a nice hotel and then worked in San Calletano, a very small community which we had to take a very rocky bumpy road to reach every day. We built two stoves and made compost which meant we had to go collect cow dung. Unfortunately we did that in the pouring rain, since the rainy season started early. We worked along side community members who were fantastic to work with. They were very hard workers and showed just how much this project was important to them.

Given it had rained so much, the power went out. Since there was no electricity the water also did not work. We took a bath in someone's back yard using well water, which was kind of awkward with everyone together, but it worked. The power had been out since Sunday and by Thursday the people of el Sauce had had enough. They gathered outside the office for the power company (which happened to be right across the street from our hotel) and demanded that they get power back, or that the Spanish company leave so someone else can come do a better job. The company said they would have power back by midnight, and the townspeople then promissed that if there was no power by midnight, they would burn down the offices. They started a fire in the road and had fire crackers throughout the evening. Luckily the power came back on around 9:00 and the riot was able to end.

We celebrated Sarah's birthday which happened to be on the same day as our farewell party. It included a pinata for the children in the town we went to work with. There was lot of dancing and the people were great. We also had in the evening a cultural night where a local band came in to play some traditional music, before we then went out to the local bar with a couple of guys who work for el Porvenir (the organization we were volunteering with) to dance. We didn't decide to make Sarah partake in the traditional birthday egg breaking which is usually done here, which includes everyone breaking an egg on her head, and we settled for a birthday cake.

We toured the past projects which people had done with El Porvenir,which includes wells which are dug by hand, washing stations, tree farms and latrines. Before we headed back to Managua. On the way back to Managua we stoped at a vent for a volcano where we saw bubbling mud and smelled the oh so pleasent smell of sulfur. It was a very interesting sight to see.

hopefully more pictures will be coming soon.

Ngaire Honey