¡Feliz Año Nuevo!

Apologies for not having posted anything for such a tlong time now. Firstly I got ill with dengue (the classic, not the fatal variety for anyone wishing to look it up) and then holidays have meant less access to the internet.
Many people have asked my how we celebrated Christmas here. We pretty much didn't. There was a moderate amount of the familiar Christmassy advertising, the comercialed, westernised kind on television and to a certain extent in shops and market stalls in the city centre but compared to the UK almost nothing. My church does not celebrate Christmas, as Christ was clearly not born in December and because most of the Christmas traditions that are well known have become disconnected with the nativity story, they feel it is not appropriate to participate. My Nica family had a sort of special dinner on the night of the 24th and my sisters gave me a gift of (expensive) apples but I did miss Christmas at home a wee bit!

New Year however was much more exciting! At church we had special services thanking God for the year that has pst and looking forward to the new. Every group I am part of had a "despedida" or goodbye at the end of December so I have eaten many shared meals, barbequed meat, tortillas and ice cream! On the 31st my family held a sort of midnight fireworks party including burning a straw man representative of the old year which we had dressed up and sat outside our house earlier in the day. There was a lot of explosives...and the young men seenmm to have no fear in throwing exploding things around in the street as the women squeal and run away but it was great fun. I was quite relieved to have celebrated well as I think itf both Christmas and New Year had passed unoticed I would have been sad. There was also time whilst waiting for midnight for some Scottich country dancing, a good taste of home, and highly amusing for everyone involved.

El muñeco del año viejo
The end of the muñeco and my cousin Josef with fireworks...
Dancing with tío Cesar

New Year's day - to a river to swim and sun ourselves.

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!

A couple of Talent Show pics

Generacion Radical: ¡Avivame!

Lis & I sing "Revelation Song"

Nica notes

Sleeping in bright orange sheets that have turned my pjs orange.

Waking up at 5am when my Nica-papa shouts at Xavier (the young lad who helps on the farm) to get up. Then going back to sleep for another hour until actual getting up time at 6am.

Gallo pinto (rice and red beans re-fried together) and a fried egg for breakfast. Yum. Accompanied by better instant coffee than you can buy anywhere in Britain (no sugar, despite my Nica-mama's horror).

Cold, and hence short, showers in the morning.

After about 3pm washing/flushing the loo with buckets of water from the big barrels that we fill earlier in the day. Throwing the loo roll into a bin and not into the pan...otherwise flooding ensues, this point has been proven by some North American visitors.

Using Spanish words and phrases even when speaking in English and occaisionally being so confused that I can speak fluently in neither language.

Rice and tortilla with every meal, even if the main dish is pasta.

Constantly having worship music/Christian TV on in the house. Mainly in Spanish, but sometimes in English. I can now sing along to all the most popular tracks.}

Main forms of transport: taxis, microbuses, horses.

Squashing into crowded minibuses so that you are practically sitting on the lap of the person next to you, or if not, in their armpit!

On days that we spend in the community space in La Conquista, eating more bananas and oranges than might generally be recommended while trying to keep an eye on all the kids.

Concentrating so hard on a film in Spanish on the TV that my family have to shout to get my attention...

Always being content to be in short sleeves even when Nicas are wearing scarves inside.

Torrential rain on a tin roof; a very calming experience as it drowns out everything apart from the thoughts in your head. Space to think, soothed to sleep.

Being called "chela" meaning "white girl", both affectionatley by friends and collegues and as a kind of cat-call in the street.

Seeking advice from my wise Nica-sisters.

Bedtime at 8pm!

To Catarina...and not far beyond

Just a wee update to let you know how things are going in Jinotepe. My family have been complaining of the cold, especially in the evenings...when I explain that the temperature is now at something approaching Scotland's summer I get looks of horror.

The beans are growing! To the delight and relief of many Nicaraguans it looks like the next bean harvest will be a good one and bean prices should start to fall in December. I did however have the unfortunate opportunity to visit some bean crops sown in the land-bank project that had been almost entirely demolished in one night by straying cows. At the moment thirteen families farm the land here but no one yet lives on their plot; I hope to organise some sort of workshop to give construction advice for simple, well-built homes.

Don Alfredo, the father of my boss at the Luke Society passed away after a long illness. There was much sadness in Jinotepe, and Nicaragua as a whole at this news but also rejoicing for the wonderful example his life was of Christian living. As well as pastoring various churches he had been influencial in much social outreach. The incredible floral tributes at his funeral showed just how many people he had touched and the parade through town following the coffin stopped traffic due to the numbers of people that wanted to pay tribute.

On Saturday Kat (fellow Latin Link volunteer), my Nica sister Clara and I decided to visit the nearby town of Catarina, it has a beautiful, if touristy, viewpoint over Lake Apoyo and over to Granada on the other side. My idea was to walk down to the water, maybe have a paddle and then climb back up. Granted, it is fairly steep but I thought it entirely possible as there is a path cut through woods and we were shown the entrance to the trail. I have become fairly accustomed to walking on rough tracks in warm weather but for my companions the going was tougher and we considered it an acheivement to have made it halfway (30 mins walk) before turning back. Perhaps more of an achievement was that all three of us got back to the top again; Clara's frequent protests that she could not go on worried me slightly! Later she revealed she had been carrying with her, in her handbag, an almighty stone for protection against robbers on route...

Sunday we held a "bazaar" at church to raise funds. I spent several hours sorting, pricing and selling second hand clothes to eager women from the surrounding neighbourhood but was rewarded with the best barbequed meat I have yet tasted. All was good.

the start of summer

1st November was officially the start of the summer here in Nicaragua, it's raining less and the sun is stronger than it was, though until January we are in the "cool" months of the year. Excitingly as well as oranges, lemons, mandarins and other tropical fruit, my family have the most enormous avocados growing in their garden...at least double the size of anything you will see in Britain so I am tucking in. I have also discovered this plant...
...which you may recognise from your bathroom!

My work now has something of a routine as every Tuesday and Thursday I help run a kind of youth project with another volunteer, Robin. We have the use of a "community centre" really just a room with some tables and chairs in a nearby town and children and young people can drop in to play table games, ping-pong or games outside such as football or volleyball. It's a very informal setup and at times a little frustrating as the two of us struggle to maintain control and structure when 30 kids turn up at once. But we are starting to build relationships with some of the regulars and gain their trust and a bit more discipline!

It's not the work I expected to be doing with San Lucas but I'm starting to realise I have more important functions to fulfil that solely working in a technical capacity. I have also had the opportunity to visit the local hospital to pray for patients there as well as a care home for the elderly just a bit out of town. This was quite challenging in some ways. There is a real stigma attached to sending your relatives to a home; whereas here it is often seen as the best solution, in Nicaragua it sends messages of worthlessness or lack of care. When church group go to hold a mini service or serve lunch they want to say "we value you, we care - God values you, he cares," and it was a privilege to accompany a group of women from my church in this work and speak with some of the patients. The only slightly panicky moment was when one of the old men got me round the back of the neck and tried to insist that I kiss his lunch-smeared lips. Luckily, I managed to escape...