My beloved Nicaragua

Ay, Nicaragua Nicaragüita, la flor mas linda de mi querer...a line from a love song for this country written by it’s most famous musician, Carlos Mejia Godoy. His brother, Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy, is also quite famous, and it is he whom I got to see perform live! Celebrating the 75th anniversary of the national hero Augusto C. Sandino (countryside rebellion leader against U.S. forces in the 1920s and 30s), Luis played a number of revolutionary and famous patriotic songs- everything from tributes to Sandino, revolutionary battle hymns, songs celebrating the role of women in the 1979 revolution, catchy tunes about typical Nicaraguan food, and songs like Nicaragua Nicaragüita- love songs for a beautiful country. The best part was my former host dad, Don Martin, singing along to every song and his wife, Blanca, telling me how much this music means to him. Don Martin was a Sandinista soldier in the 1980s and fought for two years in the mountains in the north against the U.S.-backed Contras. Luis and his brother Carlos have been writing music since the 70s, and their music, according to Blanca, brings Don Martin back to the mountains and reminds him what he fought for. The concert ended with everyone in the audience (gringos included) singing along to two verses of Nicaragua, Nicaragüita, repeated over and over. The song concludes with the famous line “Pero ahora que ya sos libre, Nicaragüita, yo te quiero mucho mas” (But now that you are free, my beloved Nicaragua, I love you that much more).

While Luis Enrique Mejia Godoy and his world-famous brother Carlos continue to sing about Sandino, the revolution, and the need for peace in their beloved country, life goes on in Barrio El Recreo, somewhat lacking of the revolutionary inspiration that the Mejia Godoy brothers try so hard to rekindle. But El Recreo residents are fighters. I continue to be inspired by the sweat and tears my coworkers put in to the Project to make life better for their community. My direct coworker Grety has been especially inspirational to me lately. A single mother raising three kids and taking care of her nephew as well, working full time and then coming home to cook, clean, and wash clothes by hand, jumping through bureaucratic hoops every two weeks to force her ex-husband to pay child support, Grety maintains and joy and confidence about her that motivates her coworkers and 200 or so bank women whom she sees every week.

Thanks largely in part to the patience and love of people like Grety at work, this year I have really felt like I have a place in the Project. Work started up full time again at the beginning of February. The Project is much smaller this year, after cutting multiple programs due to financial constraints. I feel as though I am out of the training stage in the banks and have my equal share of responsibilities and respect as my two coworkers Grety and Silvio. I finally know the names of most of the women in the two bank groups for which I am responsible (about 65 women total).

I’d like to share two fascinating stories from my work. The first: the slaughter of a pig. Grety, Silvio, and I went to visit a bank woman, Maria Olimpia. When we got to her house she had a bloody apron on, her elderly mother was sitting outside in a wheelchair, and her husband had already killed the pig via axe and tied it upside down. There was a big bowl below the pig to catch its blood, which would later be used to make deep friend bloody rice patties. In two other huge bowls, Maria Olimpia was separating the pig skin (to be deep fried and nibbled upon as Chicharron, which is actually delicious) and the slabs up meat/blubber, which would just be friend and eaten with rice and a tortilla. Her husband picked the pig apart with a machete, carefully dissecting it piece by piece. When all that was left besides the skeleton was the head, lungs, and multi-colored intestines, I got nauseous and had to sit down and stare at the ground for about 10 minutes to collect myself, and then distracted myself by talking about plants with the elderly mother in the wheelchair. We left, and the next woman we visited on the other side of the neighborhood, by total coincidence, served the three of us a huge plate of rice and fried, fatty pig meat. Mmm.

The second story from work is about a horse. This one is not gross. A couple weeks ago an old, scrawny horse sat down next to the Project and slowly died over the course of five days. The horse was owned by an elderly couple who live along the ‘cauce’…in other words, they are extremely, extremely poor. The old couple, Guillermo and Rosa both need crutches to get around and have multiple grandkids to take care of, but they are the only adults in their home. They used the horse to draw a rickety carriage to the market, buy fruits and vegetables, and take them back to the neighborhood to sell. When the horse died, they were out of work. Going against a lot of rules, the bank team decided to facilitate this couple buying a new horse (there is a rule that says a woman must have a recommendation to enter the banks…unfortunately, no one wants to recommend the poorest of the poor). We urged Rosa to join the banks, and last week she was present with 32 other women at the opening of a bank cycle and received a 3,000 cordoba loan ($150) to purchase a new horse. Grety, Silvio, and I walked by her house three days later. No one was home, and the rickety carriage was gone. They were back to work!

In other news, we had a community guilty pleasure activity a few Fridays ago. Using ‘special’ funds, we rejected our basic values of simple living, social justice, and physical health for a night and went to, um, McDonalds. I felt so guilty, but it was so delicious. I even shaved a nice thick mustache and wore my ‘long live democracy and freedom’ shirt to really celebrate the truly American event. Forgive me God, JVI, my body, and all those who work for justice in the world.



Aside from that fluke night we keep quite healthy here. We had our first harvest from our dozens of baby basil plants last night (thanks Mom for the seeds!), and we have a decent compost bin going as well. The oregano and parsley plants are up and coming and the cilantro is stronger than ever. Patrick and I built a ‘hanging garden’, as we have no soil access and very little sun hits the ground in our patio. The homemade shelves get our new garden some much needed sun!


The hanging garden: basil, cilantro, oregano


Our impressive aloe plant...great for sunburns


The compost bins: A 3 gallon water jug wrapped in a Home Depot bag, and an old water filter


Thai basil, one of our three varieties of basil plants

We also have two bikes in the house, one of which works, kind of. I took the decent one to work for the first time on Friday, and I’m hoping to get in the habit of bike commuting two or three times a week. It’s kind of scary, as Managua is not exactly bike friendly. But I’m working on finding the least trafficked routes. It was quicker to commute via bike than it is to commute by bus, and I can get daily exercise without expending extra time! It felt great also to work with energy and a clear head after having exercised in the morning.

So, as you may have noticed, and I hope I gave the right impression, but I am very much enjoying life here. My job is very rewarding and I feel confident and capable at work. I am becoming enamored with Nicaraguan culture, a sort of polar opposite experience of culture shock. And I enjoy very much the little things that bring so much happiness, i.e. gardening, biking to work, and seeing revolutionary musical heroes. Jenna and I are about to complete 15 months of being in Nicaragua, which means only 9 left to go! I’m hoping that things only get better and that I savor every day in this jodido, but beautiful country.

Peace and Love
Michael