Blogs from Masaya, Capital Region, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean

CEPAD is based on Managua the capital, but their work is done in the rural areas. They are focused on regions that are arid as that makes their life of farming more difficult. In these areas residents normally grow corn and wheat, but CEPAD is helping them to expand their crops to include more nutritious items like veggies. When I am not visiting rural areas I am staying in Managua. I have a cute little studio casa in a safe neighborhood that has a place to part my tiny white rental car (that I have nicknamed pipsqueak). The sun is up by 5:15am so I rise early to walk different neighborhoods to learn the area. I had my first rural visit yesterday to an area they work in that was about an hour from Managua. One ... read more

Masaya is one of 18 distinct volcanic centers that make up the Nicaraguan portion of the Central American Volcanic Belt. Formed by the subduction of the Cocos Plate beneath the Caribbean Plate, this belt of volcanoes runs from volcán Tacaná in Guatemala to Irazú in Costa Rica. In 1979, Masaya became Nicaragua's first national park, named Parque Nacional Volcan Masaya. The park has an area of 54 km² and includes two volcanoes and five craters. Volcan Masaya is about 30km west of Granada and is one of Nicaragua's most active and unusual volcanoes. In contrast to most other volcanoes in subduction zones, it has been erupting mainly fluid basaltic lava. At the time of the Spanish Conquistadors, it contained an active lava lake and it is rumoured that there were attempts to extract the volcano's molten ... read more

And so my time here in Jinotepe comes to an end. In nine weeks this community has truly become a home to me. I have gained a new family in my home stay (¡muchisimas gracias a mi familia nicaragüense!), worked alongside the wonderful employees of the Centro de Salud Jinotepe, and explored the natural beauty of Nicaragua. The 15 minute walk to and from work twice a day has become the most natural activity and I can't imagine that I will not be doing it again next Monday. At the Centro I have been welcomed as a fellow employee and I feel comfortable and useful there. I have gained at least 8 new mothers in form of the nurses and doctors who work at the Centro, all of whom love to check in and remind me ... read more

Six weeks feels like six days when doing development work. I can’t believe how fast the time has flown by and that I now only have 3 weeks left working in my community, with the Centro, and with the wonderful people I have gotten to know here! Before leaving for this trip I thought 9 weeks was going to be an incredibly long time to do a project, but I have figured out very quickly that it is really only enough time to scratch the surface. It has been interesting as well to meet volunteers in other programs that are only here volunteering for 2 or 3 weeks (normally a decent length for a trip but now equal to the amount of time I have left) and I can’t even imagine at this point being here ... read more

The first meetings! Success comes in many different sizes, and in the last few weeks they have ranged anywhere from getting used to a spanish keyboard to actually holding my classes and having participants! There is, however, good news and bad news for this week. The good news. I have now successfully held two of my meetings and people actually showed up! First, I just want to say that Midwives are amazing people and invaluable resources in their communities. I have so much respect for anyone who takes on that responsibility, especially in a semi-rural, developing place, and the extent to which they know everyone in their community is incredible. My first two meetings took place in La Competencia, a neighborhood in Jinotepe, and all we had to do to spread the word was tell the ... read more