Hola Todos!
I have returned from my trip to
Nicaragua, and am happy to say that it was AMAZING. Heidi and I went on this
trip with another study abroad program, ICADS (Institute for Central American
Development Studies) since I am the only one in my program with Valpo. Since so
much happened, this will be a long post, so I will break it down day by day and
include a link to all of the photos that don't appear here, the album will be
updated as I get ahold of the group photos that were taken on the trip.
SUNDAY 9/18
Today I had to leave with Heidi at
5:50 AM to get to ICADS and leave by 6:20 AM. We rode in a bus for 7 (ish)
hours, not including our lunch stop, and stopped in Managua for the night.
Before stopping in Managua, we made a pit stop at la Laguna de Apoyo, a really
cool lake in the crater of an old volcano.
MONDAY 9/19
Today we
spent the morning talking to former banana workers (bananeros) from
Chinandega who are living in Managua to protest their situation. These people
worked on big banana plantations owned by multinational companies like
Chiquita, Dole and Del Monte, and were severely harmed by the use of Nemagon
(one of the dirty dozen pesticides). The bananeros were
not warned of the dangers of working with Nemagon and were not given protective
clothing. Many now have cancer, and deal with hair falling out, tooth loss,
infertility, miscarriages, blindness and birth defects in the children that
they manage to have. They are protesting because the companies have not given
them any kind of compensation, or even an apology. Personally, I am disgusted
at the treatment these people have received, and will no longer but bananas
once I return to the states. I urge all of my readers to please do more
research regarding this topic and consider writing a letter to these companies
letting them know that citizens of the United States know what is happening,
and aren't happy about it.
After talking to the bananeros, we visited a museum
dedicated to Sandino, one of the leaders of the revolution against the
government in the 20s and 30s. This museum is located next to the ruins of the
Somoza family's national palace, which was destroyed in an earthquake in 1972.
The museum also
has information about the torture of Somoza's prisoners, one of which involved
keeping prisoners in a room adjacent to a room with hungry pumas, and removing
the wall between the rooms. According to Heidi, Somoza would have his guards
dress up as roman centurions and invite his friends to watch this
"entertainment". Today was full of hard information to process, but
it was incredibly important.
After visiting the museum and the bananeros, we traveled to
Matagalpa, where I met my host mom, Paula, her daughter Erika, and her
granddaughter, Andrea.
TUESDAY 9/20
Today we visited a co-op coffee
farm in San Ramón (about 30 minutes from Matagalpa) called Danilo Gonzalez, and
we learned about their history. They named the farm after a local boy who was
killed during one of the revolutions in Nicaragua, and it was founded 9/6/1986.
The co-op is now part of UCA (union of agriculture and livestock co-ops) San
Ramón, to learn more, you can visit their website, but
it is in Spanish. About 3 years ago, they lost around 80% of their trees and
crop due to some kind of leaf rot. After removing all of the infected trees,
the co-op planted new, more resistant trees, and are getting their first crop
this year. After the talk, we went for a 3-hour hike around the farm, some
parts were super steep and muddy, but it was lots of fun. Especially since our
other leader, David, is a biologist (this meant stopping to look at birds,
plants, and poop).
WEDNESDAY 9/21
Today was mostly just talks given
by various people, one woman talked about the Nicaraguan Communal Movement and
its organizations, and another woman talked about a program for kids who have
been taken out of school so that they can work full time. The program works
with the parents and educates them about the importance of sending their kids
to school, and provides full scholarships (uniform, supplies, tuition) for 21
kids. The other kids in the program get basic school supplies to help lower the
cost. After lunch, 2 Nicaraguan women who migrate to Costa Rica for work talked
to us about their experiences. Today was full of really interesting
information, but not much movement.
THURSDAY 9/22
Today we left Matagalpa at 7AM and
traveled to León, where we met a war veteran, Francisco, who fought in the
revolution during the 60s and 70s and again during the contra wars during the
90s. His talk was incredibly interesting, but one of the things that surprised
me most was his openness. Not only did he talk about something that must be
very difficult to talk about (the death of his girlfriend in their first
battle) but he was also very open about his PTSD, his triggers, and his
medication. This was very different for any conversation in the US, because
most people keep their mental illness and medications a secret. Francisco also
spoke to us in English, it wasn't perfect, but he is self-taught. He taught
himself English by reading book both in English and in Spanish, and by reading
the subtitles in movies.
Thursday afternoon, I climbed the
youngest volcano in Central America, Cerro Negro. It was definitely a
challenge, but it was also a lot of fun. I discovered that if you sit on a
volcano for too long, your butt gets burnt because it is so hot. The view from the top was incredible, and the pictures don't quite do it justice. As we neared the top and at the top we saw the heat vents where the smoke was escaping (the technical term has escaped my mind) and we could smell the sulfur. The scariest part was that a friend, Bianca, and I went down
the way we went up, and realized too late that we were alone. It was really stressful as we raced down the volcano as it grew dark. When we got
back to the trailhead, we had to run and search for the bus, luckily I chose
the correct fork and we made it to the bus. Unfortunately, we missed out on sliding down a volcano :(
FRIDAY 9/23
Today was pretty uneventful, we
visited a honey co-op, and I bought wild honey for my Costa Rican host family.
Friday night was miserable because I got food poisoning. Thankfully, I feel much better now.
SATURDAY 9/24
Today was full of traveling, and
I'm very thankful that I was no longer sick, because we had an 8-hour bus ride,
plus a boarder crossing. On the Nicaraguan side of the boarder, I bought a
hammock for my host mom, and some leather key chains for souvenirs.
FINlAL REFLECTION
This trip was amazingly eye opening and I loved (almost) every second of it. One thing that I noticed right away when we entered the country is the propaganda, it is everywhere. You can't walk 100 feet without seeing a poster with Daniel Ortega's (or his wife's) face plastered on it. In the cities, there are bilboards with their campaign slogan (something about going forward in victory, I dont quite remember). It was very different than in the United States, where people are very outspoken against the government. Here, the people seem to be afraid to speak against the government. This is very diferent from Costa Rica, where I have never seen a picture of the president. Another thing that I noticed, especially in León, is the difference in modes of transportation. There are cars and trucks and buses, but I also saw a lot of carts pulled by horses. And this wasn't just in town, we passed a couple horse drawn wagons/carts on the highway. One of the biggest problems that Nicaragua (and the reset of the world) is facing is climate change. The last few rainy seasons have received very little rain, making it hard to grow anything. I also saw crops of corn on super steep slopes, as well as places where there was so much errosion that the land is no longer suitible for growing anything. This was a completely new experience for me, and it's one that I won't quickly forget.
Hasta luego!
Caylyn
https://goo.gl/photos/VrRzZm3tMKxqdjey9
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