World Aids Day 2012!

Every year on Dec 1 the world comes together to raise awareness of HIV/AIDS hoping that one day we might find a way to stop the spread of this disease. There is no cure, but scientists are hard at work and every year new advances are made that bring us closer to a solution. Until then, its super important that the public is aware of how to prevent the spread of HIV.

Chinandega, as I've said in other posts, has a HUGE problem with HIV. In fact, our department takes first place when discussing new cases found for the department. For this reason, the volunteers decided to have a HIV health fair in the new Chinandega mall.

Together we organized a health fair complete with informational pamphlets and the opportunity to get tested. We performed 33 HIV rapid tests, had education games, trivia questions, condom demonstration contests, dance contests, a circus act, a vibrant story explaining how HIV is transmitted from person to person, and give-a-ways. There was an amazing turnout and interest from the public. It was also great fun to bring volunteers from all different sectors together to work on this issue that affects us all.

Here are a few photos from the event:

Welcoming the gente!

Arranging the pamphlets

He made that game from scratch!

Chain of Transmission- How HIV is passed from one person to the next

Condom Demo

Dance Contest- To keep it fun!

The Circus Act!

Not sure...?

Congratulations Graduates!

Two of my friends are now Licenciados (Translation- College Graduates!)

Carolinas Graduation Mass

University in Nicaragua is a BIG DEAL. Successfully completing and graduating university is something to be celebrated in any culture. It's in part because the costs of education is so expensive in terms of money and time. In Nicaragua, there's also a sentiment amongst youth that even if they spend the 5 years studying for their university degree they might still not find a job in their field. Its discouraging to hear students graduating high school, not thinking about college or considering higher education because of this dearth of employment. This sentiment also exist amongst youth in the states. Its disappointing that learning for learning's sake is losing its value because the cost of education is unrealistic for many youth. Hopefully, things will change for the better whether it be through education reform or a revitalization among the youth.

 Continuing, Im so proud of my friends for finishing! These college graduations (like many others) came with a a certain number of invitations, mass service, a family escort into the auditorium, family dinners, lots of waiting while the names are being read, and crazy applause when your graduate is crossing the stage!

Carolina, entering the graduation with her Dad as an escort.

Kenneth Crossing the Stage

Kenneth's Diploma

Spreading the Holiday Cheer!

My violin students had their first Christmas Concert!

These ladies made me so proud!! Ive worked with both of them from day one and now they've performed in their very first concert. It was such a good feeling to them smiling and enjoying themselves, despite being extremely nervous. They had been practicing for a couple on 4 holiday songs (Jingle Bells, Silent Night, Joy to the World, & Deck the Halls) and finally had the opportunity to show their stuff at our holiday concert in the Chinandega Mall.

Chin City Gossip- Hide your Kid! Here comes Lindsey, the Baby Robber

Apparently, about 2 months before I got to site a women who looks like me entered the local hospital and robbed her newborn nephew. There had been a disagreement between the baby's mother and the father. Because of this, the fathers family thought it necessary to rob the baby out of the hospital.

Fast forward 4 months- I've been working with pregnant women in Chinandega for about 2 months at this point and Ive decided that I'd like to visit them after they've given birth in the hospital. Upon arrival at the hospital the guards give me the cold shoulder and won't let me enter the hospital. Finally, after a week or 2 or trying/sweet talking/thinking about how to sneak pass they let me enter. Turns out they thought I was the baby robber, back for another snatch! AND to top it off when the nurses saw me coming they would tell the women to hide their children because the baby robber was coming!

But I think the absolute best part is that this was going on for months without me having the slightest idea...

Now, I hardly enter the hospital but when I do the women do not fear that I might kidnap their children. I like to think of this as a story of integration and acceptance.

The nastiest way to wake up...

At 6:47am a roach fell on my face.

Since I was not awake prior to the incident it took me a moment to realize what was crawling across my forehead. I sleepily swept it off. Then about 3 seconds later I screamed, jumped out of bread and chased the creepy crawler with my shoe and a broom.

At 7:01am I took a deep breath and then thoroughly washed my face to remove as roach residue.

At 7:02am I began my morning routine and subsequently began my day.

Panamaaaa!

I've been busy writing my resume, description of service, site report, holiday emails, and working on other manuals. I don't want to write very much more, but I do want this blog to be a bit more up-to-date. So here goes...

Panama was an amazing trip! It all started because of my friend Carolyn, who lived across the hall from me during freshman year, got stationed in Panama for her Peace Corps service. Carolyn was assigned to be a environmental health volunteer. Eventually, she found out her site would be a rural indigenous village. To read more about her service click here. Once I got my invitation to serve in Nicaragua, we promised to meet up and explore each others countries since they are so close to each other.

The trip began just as Carolyn was getting ready to finish up her service. I used the very comfortable and very friendly Ticabus.  The ride was about 30hours long but I was fed well along the way and slept in the whole row of seats that I had to myself. In short, I was more than content.

The first couple of days were spent in Panama City. I met other PCVs from Carolyn's group, took a tour of the city, and even went out salsa dancing to a great live band. The capital was so.. modern, metropolitan. It was a refreshing change from the grunge of Managua. We walked by the fish market, did a little last minute souvenir shopping and hung out with other PCVs.

Panama City has Skyscrapers.. That was just one difference between the capital cities...

Casco Viejo. The "Vintage" part of Panama City

Some parts are still under-construction...

Peace Corps Panama PCVs

We spent the weekend traveling through the center of the country. There was a feria de sombrero pintado, painted hat festival. These traditional hats are woven in this region of Panama and really popular. So much so, in fact, that there was a huge gathering of people that came out for this festival and a parade. All the floats were beautifully done, and most floats passed along with Panamanians doing a traditional dance alongside the float. It seemed like a basic 2 step dance, just to a upbeat, lively music. Everyone was literally dancing in the streets wearing their favorite hat. I don't know that we have a similar festival in Nicaragua so it was really interesting to be apart of that experience. 

Sidenote- Walking from the festival we passed a Jumbo Store. They sell grains and sugar wholesale. We had talked about it earlier in the trip but I didn't really understand it until I saw it for myself. I also realized how much Carolyn loves rice and that Jumbo maybe a contender for her favorite place to buy rice.

Sombrero Pintado Festival in Penenome

Carolyns favorite store?

 During the planning stages of the trip we had talked about visiting each others volunteer sites. Weeelllllll, considering that Carolyn had moved out of her site 2 weeks before, it wouldve been a bit weird to just reappear when she was supposed to be long gone. So we visited a similar site of a another volunteer in her group.

We wore the traditional garb, carried our necessities in the bag, and trekked through the mud. The campo life of Panama is much different than my experience in a city. Her village built her living space. I live in an apartment. Rice was involved in most of her meals. A sushi place just opened up and we have Burger King. She had no sitemates (other PCVs living in the same site). I have 3 sitemates and we all live on the same block. The list goes on.

Here are some photos from our day with Ngobe:

A day in Ngobe land!

Working on a Community Garden

Making a quick call on the town phone

The last leg of the of the trip was to the Caribbean side of Panama in a town called Bocas del Toro. Its a slice of paradise. Having just visited the Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua there were many similarities that I saw, the biggest 2 being the presence of English speakers and darker skinned Panamanians. We spent a few days soaking up the sun, snorkeling, swimming, dancing to live bands, enjoying seafood, and loving the beauty of the coast.

Welcome to the Caribbean side of Panama!

Getting ready to...

...Snorkel in the Atlantic!!!

Relaxing at our hostal in Bocas...

Our last day in Panama we ate a delicious breakfast before taking our last steps on Panamanian territory.

Beef with caramelized onion in a delicious sauce and a Panamanian tortilla

Carolyn taking her final steps out of Panama =(

Rio San Juan (Its still 100%Nica!)

During our evacuation from the Volcano Explosion in September, I was going stir crazy sitting in a hotel waiting to go back home. I also dont really enjoy being stuck in Managua. So I took a evacuation vacation to Rio San Juan, which is the river that provides part of the southern border between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Isn't it Beautiful!

I was fortunate enough to be able to visit RSJ during their annual international fishing tournament. Honestly, I'm a lot better at eating fish than catching it, but it was still really interesting to see some of the fish that were caught during the competition. Fisherman came from a variety of countries to compete in the tournament. All over the Americas and I think maybe as far as Europe...

At the end of the day, when the boats were coming in, the crowd would gather around the scale to see who had the biggest catch of the day!
















                       Fried, Grilled, Steamed, lo que sea...
                             just serve me a bit on a platter please!








I also got to catch up with the elusive Rio San Juan Volunteers, all of whom are awesome. I almost never get to see them since our sites are so far away. We visited El Castillo, the Solentainame Islands, and Boca de Sabalos, in addition to spending time enjoying the festivities in San Carlos (the department capital and location of the fish fair). Another fun surprise was that Fuzion 4, a cumbia band I enjoy was performing. I danced on a stage with the band...and won a CD!

Getting ready to visit the artists colony!

After a short boat ride, we arrived at the Solentanaime Islands, which was the home of a artists colony...leaving a legacy of brightly painted, beautifully done handicrafts made from surprisingly light wood. I have a little butterfly as a souvenir! It was really interesting to visit the island. We wondered from house to house just watching the artists work on their figurines or paintings...

Shes hard at work, handpainting each one of those figurines.

I also spent a day visiting El Castillo, which was a fort in whats possibly one of the cutest little towns Ive seen in Nicaragua. My friend from Chinandega is living and working in El Castillo for 2 years with an NGO, so I got to catch up with her as well. The NGO does a bunch of projects in relation to fort preservation and river conservation. Also, she is really into Nica history and so she gave me a full tour of the fort!*( For more history visit- El Castillo Information)

AND to end the post, I also decided to try and swing my way along the river through the tree forests a la Jane from Tarzan...

 It was a fail! That vine snapped 3 seconds after lift-off...Maybe too much gallo pinto in my diet =/

But I loved visiting the Rio and I hope to get back one day and see more of the outdoorsy adventures it has to offer!