Welcome to my blog!

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Bienvenidos!

As you can hopefully tell, this is my travel blog! Here I will record all of the Central American excitement that will be occurring over the next 6 months or so. This first entry is just to let everyone know exactly what I'll be doing.

I am going to Nicaragua to participate in a 22-week internship with the Foundation for Sustainable Development. I will be working at Red Arco Iris (The Rainbow Network) in El Crucero, which seems to be settled in the highlands near Managua. From what I can find, the majority of the people living in El Crucero work in the coffee industry, while the rest mostly work in Managua. The area is extremely poor, and nearly half of Nicaragua's population lives under the poverty line (under $1/day). I am planning to shower with a bucket, as it appears that the electricity and water go out regularly.

Red Arco Iris is a Christian nonprofit organization that works to create sustainability in rural Nicaraguan regions. The organization has many projects including health care, education, farming, housing, micro-loans, scholarships, etc. I will be doing a little bit of work with each project and then selecting one or two to focus my energy on. Eventually, I will conduct a needs-assessment of the area and create a project to address the issues I find. Also, on the side, I will be doing an extensive research project dealing with migration in Central America.

I leave this Saturday and will be spending the 19th-26th studying Spanish in Granada. I need to get back in the habit of speaking Spanish, as well as learn any phrases or words used in Nicaragua that I don't know. Then, on the 26th I will attend an orientation in Managua with the other students who will also be interning all over Nicaragua. After the orientation, I will move in with my host family and begin work. I will let everyone know when I find out more about my living conditions, as I still do not know where I will be living.

I will be interning until the last week in June and plan to spend the next few weeks seeing as much as Central America as I can. The plan is to be home in mid-July so I can make it up to Iron River to see the family when I get home.

Okay, I think that about covers it for now. Check back next week for a (hopefully) more interesting post!

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