Plenty of pics...the lighter side of life

This post is really just an excuse to upload some pictures from the past couple of weeks, I will make little attempt to give any particularly deep reflections!

Rest stop...

Team Fundación San Lucas chill out in our room for the night

At the end of November there was a cycle tour to Chacocente, a coastal reserve created to protect the highly endangered turtles who come to lay their eggs there. Many turtles return to Nicaragua's coasts every year to make their nests, but both turtle meat and turtle eggs are still considered by some to be delicacies worth breaking the law for, so reserves like this are important to keep numbers up.

Sadly we only managed to see one turtle as she returned to the sea after laying her eggs...grainy image due to it being around midnight.

Every month we have a Latin Link Nicaragua Team meeting to chat to and pray for each other, share a Bible study and maybe do something touristy. December's meeting was held at Managua zoo. Note Kat's sad zoo face as an indication of some of the cage conditions...

Yesterday was a national holiday for the Purisima; the conception of Christ. Nicaraguans queue to pay tributes of food to shrines of Mary erected in the streets. Although as Evangelical Protestants we did not celebrate with the Catholic majority it was a good chance to take a trip to the beach...

La Boquita beach
Horse riding! Note the gradient of tanning on my leg...

One more thing...you might like to see a couple of pictures of our "venta" or shop. My mama calls it our supermarket, but that kind of depends on the fluctuating stock levels.

Buying eggs

Helping in the shop

Becoming more Nica

I have been reflecting lately that this year is less of a year out of the usual uni-work transition and more of a year in Nicaragua. I am already very much attached to life and people here and sometimes life in the UK seems too distant and distinct to think about properly.

Some of the ways I have been learning to be more Nica perhaps seem a little trivial. Nica muchachas (young women) always carry body spray and a flannel to combat the effects of sweat, they almost always wear their hair up because of the heat, they take great care of their choice of shoes, especially for church. I have also learnt to apply eyeliner and have experimented with straightening my hair...though perhaps most British women already possess these skills!

However, some of the reflections I have made on life here go a little deeper. The pace of life is so much slower; I walk more slowly (especially through the crowded market streets), I must take into account time needed for travelling in an over-full mini bus, I cannot expect something I am working on to be completed as fast as it might be in the UK, I must expect that tomorrow, or next week, is sufficient, I have to wait. In fact, It spend a fair amount of my time waiting; waiting for a meeting or a church service to start, waiting for my sisters to get ready, waiting for my computer to open a large file, waiting for instructions on what to do next, waiting as a shopkeeper comes out from the back room to serve me and then has to return there to find me some change.

At times going slowly and having to wait irritates me, I am used to the fast pace of Cambridge, the two minutes to rush from one thing to the next. But I am learning that I do not have to wait impatiently. I rarely wait alone, and so waiting gives me time to talk to other people, to ask them questions and to enjoy their company. When I do wait alone I can use the time to update my diary, to text friends or to pray. In exploring the reasons for the waiting I am forced to take into account the priorities of others. In all this my own priorites change; what is more important in the use of my time - met targets or deepened relationships? worrying that I will be late or enjoying the moment?

There are of course limits...even Nicaraguans get annoyed when a meeting that was supposed to begin at 9am has not begun by eleven.

One other major challenge has been the value I place on my independence. In the UK, most young people aim to, at least in part, become independent from their parents by the age of 18. We move out of the house to go to uni, we make decisions without feeling the need to consult Mum & Dad, we strive to assert our freedom. In Nicaragua family is incredibly important. Young people mostly don't move out until they get married, and fathers, especially for girls, still have the ultimate say. Parents and children both contribute to the household but there is a definite, though loving, hierarchy. (N.B. In my church you are considered to be a young person until you are at least 30 or get married.)

Living back in this sort of context has made me feel really quite young again! But again, I am challenging my own values. How much do we lose out by deciding it is better to make our own way in the world as soon as possible? As a closing thought, I was recently given the advice that if I am looking for a husband I should take careful account of what relations are like with his family, if he has moved out of home this is not a good sign. Possibly this does not translate exactly to the UK!