Blogs from Northern Highlands, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 8

EEEE!!!!!!! We just went to the courthouse to give all the paperwork so we can get legally civilly married in two weeks. Molly papers.... official birth certificate, notorized paper saying I am single, and copies of my passport and residence card. Lenin papers... official birth certificate, singleness letter, copy of his ID card. We have to go in on Friday after 11am to make confirm that all things are in order, and then we shall be civilly married on Monday 14 June at the San Lucas courthouse. ... read more

Well, we are fully in the rainy season here in Madriz. Everyone is out planting. There are teams and teams of bulls yoked together plowing fields. On the hills where the bulls cannot get to, teams of men with long sticks make holes in the ground and throw the seeds in. In Nicaragua, there are two planting seasons... three in places with a lot of rain. Here people plant the ¨primera¨now at the end of May. Most everyone is planting beans and some corn. Then, in about August-Sept they will plant again, the ¨postera¨when they will plant more beans, but also maisillo-sorgo-millet. This is usually used for animal feed, though tortillas of half millet and half corn are made, too. Now is mostly beans and corn, though. Mostly red beans, though some black beans, too. People ... read more

To get married in Nicaragua you have to be civilly married and have the marriage certificate presented to the pastor or padre in order to be married in a church. To be civilly married you can be married in the courthouse by a judge or by a lawyer wit the power to marry. In our case, we are using the judge in our municipality. In order to get married, you have to be single. Or divorced or a widow(er). In any case, if you’ve never been married before, you have to have a carta de solteria, or a singleness letter. For Nicaraguans, this is standard stuff. There’s a form that can be picked up, filled out, etc. For me, it’s an issue. The judge said I have to have a lawyer/notary write up a document saying ... read more

So. It's Thursday morning. I went to the health center a week ago, and my leg still isn't healing. Yesterday I called Peace Corps Med Office and said that after a week of antibiotics, the hole still wasn't closed, and, naturally, they said to come in. I came in last night, stayed in a hotel with a hot shower and air conditioning and lovely clean sheets and HOT WATER and now, at 5:30 am, the hole is closed. We shall see what happens today. For those who are coming to Nicaragua, this thing in my leg is very very rare. If you are travelling in the Nica, staying in hotels for the most part, even if you stay with a host family for part of your trip, you shouldn't worry about Chagas or larvae or any ... read more

deeeeeear mother, know what's awesome? and by that i mean, not awesome? i have a fly larvae in my leg.... like cows get and like our kittens get. like when we have to use peroxide and tweezers to pull out the thing? oh yeah, have one in my left leg right above the knee. and it's gross. but apparently these things happen to people down here. because as people ask me about the bandages over my knee and i tell them what it is, everyone is like, oh yeah, i had one of those or my kid had one or whatver. of course i didn't know what it was until yesterday. i thought it was a flea bite that i scratched that got infected. so yesterday morning i sat on my porch with a bottle of ... read more