Volunteer visiting

WHO: Essa (aka Vanessa)
WHAT: Peace Corps, Environmental Education
WHERE: Nicaragua
WHEN: Sept '05 - Nov '07
WHY: La vida es un carnaval.

A summary of my weekend visit up north to see Allie and Jade - two volunteers living in a little town by the name of a tree Allie has yet to see. It's a lot hotter and dryer up there and kinda reminds me of Arizona. They have all but given up on the battle against dirt, as a chicken walking by creates clouds of powder-fine dust that envelop their home. But, they have learned to accept it without complaint - that and waking up at midnight to fill water containers for the next day. Here's Allie preparing dinner at her sink.

Cashew fruit - eating the fruit has an incredible drying effect (Lacey - but there's NO alcohol!) in the mouth. It's okay, but I wouldn't eat a lot of them.



We stayed inside most of the weekend, as it was too hot to be out and about. It was good to have some new folks to act as sounding boards - and really interesting to see how our views on development work are evolving after 4 months of doing it. We did go for late afternoon bike rides around town, and I caught this pic of the old and the young...

Allie and Jade and their neighbor's cat that has adopted them.

Kids waiting for the bus - caught this as I was headed back home from their site.

Stopped off in Managua to help plan the next In-Service-Training meeting that will be in April. 5 or 6 volunteers and the Environmental Education specialist help organize the event.


This past weekend, my friend Noemi came from her site to visit. We decided to walk from my site to Lake Nicaragua. It's about 12 miles and took us about 6 hours. It did get pretty hot, but we were fortunate to meet a woman half way selling watemelon. She shook her head when we told her we were walking and sighed, saying, " I don't know why these foreigners like to walk so much...". Others we told, were incredulous and exclaimed the popular refrain, "¡Ni quiere a Dios!" or "Not even God wants that!"

Noemi helping herd some straggling cows along the way.


We were rewarded with this, the Mirador Vista Bonita - restaurant and swimming pool overlooking Lake Nicaragua. Made it all worth it.

Grubbin' on the guapote:

I introduced Noemi to my friends that own the farm nearby. Nica sandwich flanked by white bread...

Had a pick up basketball game with the four of my neighbors. It was more like wrestle-ball...no jump balls, no traveling, no double dribbles - stongest wins. I did find I could dominate on the inside (for the first time in my life), and Julito and I won two of three games.