Blogs from Northern Highlands, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 19

Wow, been a while since I´ve blogged. Or rather, a lot has been happening since my covert Saturday post. The boss and my tech from INTA, the agricultural entity here in Nica and our counterpart organization, stopped by my house last week, actually the same day as the Hambre Cero pig meeting. I have so many ideas, but it´s hard to get them started with such limited Spanish. So the lady in charge of INTA here in Madriz, Doris, is cool. My tech, Juan Carlos, is also cool, but is loud and intimidating with his rapid Spanish. Nonetheless, I managed, in our 15 minute convo, to ask about: lombricultura, or using worms for organic fertilizer, and where I could purchase some of the specialty worms; biodigestors - there´s one in the next community over and my ... read more

I won´t be listening to my English language Christmas music here. It makes me too homesick. I love the holidays. Love fall. Love the time from Halloween through Christmas. And pretending like I can celebrate it here, or that it can in any way compare, just isn´t possible. No, I listen to my sister´s, henceforth known as Eyebrows as she has a fairly severe face and a set of eyebrows that are hard to forget, Christmas CD in Spanish and haven´t even asked if the kids believe in Santa here. I don´t really want to hear ¨no¨. Ask no questions, I´ll hear no lies. .... Which is not exactly how it´s supposed to work, as a PCV.... but I´ve always been better at watching and listening. ... read more

Leaving after three months of staying within the intricate community of Sabana Grande brought a strange mix of emotions. Bidding farewell to Yelba, our host family mother, was poignant. Yelba had been wonderful providing us a cosy home and going out of her way to look after us even to the lengths of staying with us for two days and nights in hospital whilst we enjoyed the delights of an intestinal infection. Mauro, who ran the solar panel workshop, it was also sad to leave. His phenomenal patience with our faltering Spanish is worthy of the highest acclaims. However, mixed with the emotion of leaving those great people that had helped us to acclimatise to a very different way of life was a distinct air of relief. Relief was probably not an emotion that we had ... read more

Oh, where to start? Just had Thanksgiving dinner here in Estelí with several Ag volunteers, mostly from Ag45, and four of us from Ag48, and our Country Director, George, and his wife. And it was lovely. Two turkeys, mashed potatoes, mashed sweet potatoes, stuffing, gravy, corn, MIXED VEGETABLES, squash, and passion fruit frescos. Oh, and chocolate ice cream and 4 pies, two of pecan and two of apple. And it was glorious. There wasn´t a bean or a tortilla in site and there were such delicacies as green beans, carrots, and broccoli. And we have leftovers in our hotel room wrapped in tinfoil. And it cost each of us $10. So happy Thanksgiving. I have been trying to explain Thanksgiving to the people in my site. Telling them that it´s a day to think about what ... read more

okay, so this is not formatted as well on here as it was on micro word, but here is a brief rundown of what we have learned in the past 3 months of training.... NICA 48 AGRICULTURE TRAINING COMPETENCIES compiled by Molly Baade Ag 48 Nicaraguan Rural Cultural & Socio-Economic Context: • LACK OF FOOD DIVERSITY & DESNUTRICION: --basic grains: corn, beans, rice, and plenty of it! --limited vegetables or family gardens --refrescos loaded with sugar --vitamin deficiencies and malnutrition --“a tooth per child” & lack of weaning foods awareness --difficulty adapting to “new” products: marango, broccoli, spinach, etc • LIMITED NICARAGUAN INFRASTRUCTURE: --most products exported, packaged, and resold to Nicaraguans --tobacco, coffee, sugar cane cash crops primarily exported --migration from campo to cities, Costa Rica, USA for better work opportunities --defores... read more