A new year! How time flys. Since my last post, I've been back to the states for a few weeks, home in site for almost a month, and now on my way back from a week and a half mission trip where I translated for a group of vet students.

The states were better than expected and the tranquility and lack of noise was enough to want to make me stay. But the second I got off the bus in front of my house (after 2 days of travelling!) and a neighbor kid was ripping my bag out of my hands to carry it to the door, I was happy to be back. Two full days of catching up with people and realizing how many good friends I have here in Nicaragua that were happy to see me and me just as happy to see them, makes me realize how special this is. No one was at my mom's door waiting to carry my bag in! Except my mom, of course, who is wonderful and supportive.

Nicaragua is it's same old self....rude, machisto, dirty, hot....and wonderful.....smiling faces, community, sharing, beautiful mountains, rivers, and waterfalls.

Over the last week and a half on this mission trip, I had the opportunity to see a new area of nicaragua that no tourists ever see-Ayapal, Jinotega. It's remote, required 2 days of travel to get there (three for me), and then a 2 hour boat ride each morning to arrive at the actual community we worked in. Ayapal, located on the river, has this exhilirating movement of people, coming in on boat (more like canoes with motors) and horse to do their shopping and trading. The river ride down to the even smaller community where we worked, was lined with jungle like trees, small children in underwear swimming, and men pushing boats with large sticks. Every day, coming home up stream, we were forced to get out of the boat and push, wading up to our knees in strong currents. And the day that my new friend, John Andrew, lost his footing while pushing, and almost floated away down stream, filled us with uncontrollable laughter. Many days, tired and irritable, our laughter carried us through. Thank goodness for my new friends during the trip and their humor.

Our group, the vet students, had the best time out of all the groups, hiking through the mountains to fincas that were supposedly "10 minute" walks, but ended up 40 minute hikes. We treated horses, cows, and pigs. Rode horses one day, hiked over rocks and rivers everyday, and did a postmortem exam on the following nights dinner chancho (pig) another day.

After all that, Dr Rick and I saw the group off to the airport and got some much needed rest in one of the most tranquil spots in Nicaragua....no chickens, pigs, dogs, road noise...just soft breeze and hammocks.

Now I'm on my way back home and have lots of grant writing work to do.

Happy holidays to all! Enjoy the cold and snow!

The ¨horno mejorado¨ built by Eliza in her community.

Pizzas waiting in the windowsill to be put in the oven while the doña of the house relaxs with her new baby (4th boy!)

Rosquillas...traditional Nicaraguan bread product made with fresh cheese (cuajada) And our american addition...cinnamon rolls

yum!!!

Laura, me, and Eliza riding near Laura´s community

Keens and Spurs..who would have known?

What better way to explain than to show with pics. Finally some of my new abode...or shall I say adobe (house).

My kitchen

slash living room, furnished with hammock and plastic chairs

Bedroom and makeshift closet

Typical Nica Cowand Goat HouseA Rancho Ebenezer Lab(the lines of people are due to the health brigade)Preparing for surgery :)

Removing the tumor

And the patient made it back up and headed home

Happy Trails..

I now write post Nicaraguan election day. Although they were only departmental elections for mayor, these elections have brought about a lot of turmoil and fighting, with at least 2 dead in Managua, including one child. With election day, November 9th, almost 2 weeks past, the winner for Managua's new mayor is still undecided, with daily "protests" occuring in the streets, stopping traffic and creating violence.

Today, in fact, my medical visit was cancelled as it was determined unsafe to travel a certain highway here in Managua. And as I sat in the Peace Corps volunteer lounge chatting with fellow volunteers, I could hear the sounds of some kind of ammunition being fired on the streets. Luckily, these paid protesters have gone home by this hour and I should have no problems travelling to the airport for my late night flight to the states.

Although Jacksonville, Florida is relatively close to Nicaragua, I left my house at 6:30am to arrive tomorrow at noon! Gottta love Spirit air.

It's the eve before my christmas as I head back to the states to enjoy all those luxuries that I so miss, or maybe didn't know that I missed. I cant wait to be able to sit on the couch at the end of the day, watching a sitcom and eating ice cream. I cant to have really clean clothes that only required me to throw them in a machine with some soap. I cant wait to drink a good beer and have some good mexican food. And at a close tie to the food I miss (which I REALLY miss), I look forward to anonymity. It will be nice to have a short reprive from the constant attention I draw as a gringa in my small community. Yes, it is nice to say hi to everyone I pass on my morning run and have little children excitedly wait to join me running, but it will also be so nice to not have anyone watching, judging, or calling out "mi amor" or "gringasita" names as I ride by on my bike.

That said, I am leaving on a good note, after a productive week. I formed my committee to start my water project and have plans in progress even while I'm away. My women's group successfully made delicously creamy homeade peanut butter. I've joined in on the community bank started by my fellow PCV in the neighboring town and I celebrated my departure with a fajita dinner despidida and a pineapple updside down cake with my gringa girls.

Adios!

Its post-election day and we have a lot to celebrate!!!! A bunch of us peace corps volunteers got together last night in Esteli and watched the elections live in a hostel. All of us 30 volunteers there were Obama supporters and overcome with joy with the results. My faith in the american people has been restored after the last disappointing presidential elections.

This Sunday is Nicaraguas election day and the local municipality where I live has been campaining hard over the last month. Campaining here involves tons of people driving through communities on their motos and in pickups, screaming and cheering and waving their flags. There´s a lot of passion associated with the 2 parties, Liberals and Sandinistas, but not a lot of talk and reasoning behind their political choices. Most people are ¨born¨into their political party and don´t really ask why they are a part of it, they just are.

However, I live in the north of the country where there was a lot of fighting during the war, so there are strong emotions attached to their choice, as many people fled to Hondurus during the war or had brothers, sons, and fathers killed. And others had their land stolen by the Sandinistas.

I, being a US govt employee, am not allowed to take part in Nicaraguan politics and have had to watch everything on the sidelines, but its been interesting.

After our dog surgery, Evelio (the guy in the photos), Elizabeth (a peace corps volunteer in the community of the surgery), Mancho (my community counterpart) and I headed down to the Rancho Ebenezer ranch to attend some vet training. I was lucky enough to learn quite a bit and help my counterpart develop his skills. The suturing practice and goat castrations were my favorite part but helping Mancho learn how to do medicine dosage calculations, starting with how to use a calculator, was the most worthwhile part of the training.

Since returning from the training, Mancho and I have started a womens group to develop small business´catered to the new tourism route they are developing through our community. I will be working with the women showing them new skills and ideas to develop business´. Im also starting a small community bank with these women to teach savings, which is a nonexistent idea here, and provide a source of small loans at a low interest rate, which is also a difficult thing to obtain here.

And most of all, Im looking forward to my trip to the States on the 17th to spend Thanksgiving with my mom. Although I enjoyed a pumpkin-like pie I made last week (made out of a local squash, ayote, and the first pie made in my community), Im looking forward to enjoying turkey, good beer, and carpet in the company of my mom! And Im really looking forward to ¨testing¨out my yearning to go home and see if I truly miss the states and want to go back or if its a passing feeling that will make me wish to be back here in Nicaragua. And given that I fly out the day of my 1 year in service anniversary, it will be a good recharge for the next year of service.

In the next year, I hope to really give to the people of my community and Nicaragua and complete projects with a purpose. I feel I´ve turned a point in my service and its no longer so much about my experience and what Im getting out of it, but about what I can give. That said, Im signing off and thinking about how lucky I am to be an American and looking forward to the change our country is about to undergoe with the new president.

Wow, has it been nearly 2 months since I last wrote? I´ve been travelling a lot with rancho ebenezer brigades, peace corps trainings, and now helping out training the new group of volunteers.

My group celebrated 1 year in country the first of the month and its hard to believe. With the new group here and training underway, it feels like yesterday that I was in their shoes, but also so long ago. And all I can say, is thank god I´m not there anymore. Although time goes by faster now its still slow and at times I feel like I´ve done all I came here for and am ready to go home. But most of the time, it just feels like I still have sooo much left to accomplish and with the SLOW movement of work here, so little time to accomplish it all. Did I mention how slow it is to get anything accomplished here? Hard to get projects accomplished when people dont show up for meetings that have taken a week to prepare for. And can I say how much spanish I still have yet to learn?

Seems like life here has been filled with baking and cooking. In fact, cheers to Elizabeth´s mom, whom I met today in Casa Viejas where we celebrated her arrival with a goat and a day of baking all sorts of goodies. She seemed to fit right in and loved all of Nicaragua.

I´ve been getting accustomed to my house and trying to make it more homey. Since fumigating last week, the lack of cockroaches has really helped me feel more at home. Im pretty much always back at my host families house anyways, back to eating frijoles, arroz, and tortilla, which I love, and baking lots.

Have started some more family gardens and done some animal management training, with chicken vaccinations to come. Also doing some more nutrition training and demonstrations and upkeeping the school garden and english classes.

The rest of this month is taken up with medical visits, tech training of the new volunteers (supposedly I´m the animal expert and am scheduled to give all the animal mgt charlas), and a trip to Leon and the beach with the girls.

Thats all folks. Take care.

Oh did I mention that I´m now a ripe old age of 30!!

Times been roaring by but I feel like I get nothing accomplished. Life in Nicaragua is just like that I guess.

I was kicked out of my house a few weeks ago because I had a yoga book, so the neighbors say. But the dueno says it was because he is moving back. Either way, I had to rush and find a new house and organize all the logistics.

Although the house is not as nice, adobe walls, leaky roof, faulty light, no bano, pila thats broken, a falling down latrine, and a front door on the highway, I'm back by my host family and all the people I love, so that makes all the difference. The whole week moving in, all the kids and adults were over to help me clean, sweep, plant my garden, etc. And my host dad and all the chinguines came to help me move. And the kids were so enthusiastic with helping me that Im going to start a communal garden with the neighborhood kids in my backyard and let them manage it and take home all the veggies.

Although Ive moved in, I haven't spent one night there yet. I moved in last Wednesday, stayed with my host family and then left the next morning for a trip to the mountains of Matagalpa with some health workers from my area. We met up with the "Rancho" (one of the NGOs I work with) veterinarian and a brigade that came down from the states. We did a human and animal health clinic and I helped translate and do whatever else was needed. It was a really great experience, I learned a bunch about medicine, learned some spanish, got myself wormed and tested for malaria, and had a lot of fun hanging out with the Nicas from Managua and the Americans. And today, riding in the back of a pickup on the 4 hour ride through the green lush, waterfall filled mountains of Matagalpa, I really couldn't believe how lucky I was. Same yesterday tramping through the mountains to go work some cows.

I'm being very "vaga" and not doing much work in my community, but at least the trips are work related and I really feel like Im helping on these brigades. I feel like I can really relate to the people that are telling me their problems because I live their life most of the time. I never would have been able to do that if I hadn't lived in the campo for the last 7 months. And a recent comment by a Nicaraguan that I seem to be a Nica with a gringo face was complementary. And last week when my host mom casually said that "I'm family", I felt like all this time spent just getting to know people here is worth it. There are lots of down days and hard times to get through and many times when the cultural differences are just too much, but those good times remind me of what I'm doing here and why it's important. My spanish still has a long way to go, but it makes such a difference to be able to communicate and really know people, to develop relationships that can only come with time.

Work related, all us Peace Corps girls in my area and the affiliated organizations are starting our local farmers market in a few weeks. Unfortunately, I don't think its going to go that well because I dont really have any productores, just a few people with a few products. But we´ll see.

Im heading back to my site tomorrow, to only stay for a night or two and then off to a friends site and a day trip to a local womens coop where they make baskets out of pine needles. We're hoping to teach this skill to a few women in our communities as a way for them to start a business and make some money (since we live in pine forests).

Next week I´m heading to Managua for a 3 day hog cholera conferece by USDA and a visit to the ranch of the NGO I work with. And hopefully another brigade trip to do a horse clinic. And in between all that is my 30th birthday! Being here is helping me feel young!

Hasta luego!

The rainy season has come and the afternoon rains and cool mornings have brought a welcome change to the hot dry months of April and May. And what a difference 2 weeks of rain has made. Nicaragua has changed from a dry desert to a land of beautiful, green, lush mountains.

With the rains, I have planted my own vegetable garden. Two-square meters and raised from the ground with banana trunks that I hauled up from the road, the garden is protected from the pesky chickens by four adobe walls that were to be the kitchen of my house before the dueño left. My papa de aire (potato of the air plant) is growing fast, my ginger has sprouted, and the new rose transplants are taking. In the evenings I lay in my hammock on the porch and look out at the cows and caña fields across from my house.

The best part about the rains is that we now have water, which became such a scarce resource that someone stole all the water out of my pila while I was sleeping one night. But with the rains comes dirty, brown, murky water that just doesn´t satisfy my thirst. And I´m always battling to keep my water tank (pila) clean from the falling debris of the trees overhead or mosquito larvae that swim around or the new guest that came last week-tadpoles. My washing stone has also started molding, so as I scrubbed my clothes last week on a fungus-covered stone and rinsed them in murky tadpole infested water, I questioned how clean those clothes were getting. My next project is making a water filter!

I´ve also accompliesd the art of making Nica coffee by sewing my own coffee bolsa with an old-fashioned Singer sewing machine.

On the work front, the balls are rolling for our organic market and we´ve now had 2 meetings with the mayor and more planned. A meeting this week with the Nica government ag agency will leave me with more vegetable seeds to gift to producers to start gardens for the market and to re-start the school garden that failed a few months ago without water.

Two weeks ago, a vet med brigade came from the states, bringing 4 vet students, 2 vets, and a vet and nurse couple that recently moved to Nicaragua to serve for Christian Vet Mission. I was more than excited to work and learn with and from the vets. It´s always refreshing to be with other Americans, but to be doing vet work too, was more than fantastic. I was supposed to be there to translate, but with translators brought, I really learned more than helped. A kind vet tought me to do general exams for horses, let me help with the goats, and showed me the various bacteria and parasites in the blood and stool exams taken from the animals.

I´ve also been spending quite a bit of time with the other volunteers in my area nad the newest volunteer here, as she´s just moved into her own place and we celebrated her birthday last weekend with a homemade thai peanut spaghetti, pineapple upside down cake, and rich red wine. So wonderful for Nicaragua!

My cat, Fiona, has left me again, but has been replaced by new unwelcome visitors-a mouse, a bat, and many, many beetles and lightning bugs at night! The mouse made his way into a closed bag and chewed through 2 layers of bubble wrap to get to my precious peanut butter M&Ms. His diet is now being replaced with rat venom.

Celebrated Mothers day here with my host mom and her family, making nacatamales (actually helping this time) and baking lots of cakes. I have become the town baker, between my baking group, baking with my peace corps friends, and my host moms constant desire to bake everytime I visit. Not that I´m complaining!

Off to visit a friend this next week for a little vacation and then back home to get some projects going.

Well, its been awhile since I last wrote. I guess thats a good thing, because it means I´m busy.

As you can see from the pictures, my mom and I had a good time on her trip here. Very busy and went by fast with a few problems, mostly related to the car I rented and also damaged. Arriving at my house at night, I tried to drive up my steep, narrow, dirt driveway with a small toyota sedan. Needless to say, that didnt work and I ended up breaking the bumper and hitting a post. This was all after a 6 hour journey from Managua, where I worried constantly about being pulled over by another corrupt cop, like the one in Managua who pulled me over on bogus charges and made me pay to leave. The return trip to managua included a kid puking in the car, hitting a dog, a drunk man throwing himself in front of my car, asking to be hit, as I was speeding along the highway at 60mph. Luckily it all ended (and started) with my mom and I sitting by the pool, relaxing, and enjoying ourselves.

As for life lately, its still an adventure. Nicaragua is now in its 12th day of a transportation strike, with no buses, taxis, or trucks running. After gun fighting, trucks being burned, and road blocks on the main highway outside of managua on tuesday, my friends, Wenonoa and Eric, decided to postpone their trip, in which they were supposed to arrive today. I´m bummed to not be able to see them but am relieved to not have to worry about anyones safety while travelling.

Work goes up and down...slow at times and busy at others. I successfully have started my womens baking group, teaching them how to make mango bread last week and plans set for a chocolate cake recipe the day before Nicaraguas mothers day (May 30th). A garbage clean up activity that I did in the school last week failed when all the kids ran to the dump to fill their bags first for the prize, instead of running around finding garbage to put IN the dump. Since then, I´ve been a little hesitant to return to the school for work. But I´ve crossed the gender bridge for working with cattle when I was handed a needle and syringe to help vaccinate cows of a man I know (my host moms father). This is motivating me to learn a little more and start working more with the ganaderos. I´ve also been asked to give a chicken concentrado charla and am trying to start a chicken vaccination program, however, there is a national shortage of one of the 2 necessary vaccines. My nutrition charla failed after I spent several hours sitting on someones porch eating, chatting, and waiting for women that never showed up.

On the homefront, I´m settled in to my house and have acquired and lost a kitten several times, today being a ¨lost¨day, with her not returning home this morning.

And lastly, the US ambassador graced my community yesterday to inagurate a new well in the community, complete with music, ballons, and a speech. However, no one addresed the fact that the well will only deliver water to the surrounding neighbors who all have a constant supply of water. To really reach the community that needs water (they are hauling water by buckets and bathing in rivers), we need to come up with a few thousand dollars to buy an electric pump to pump water from the well to the community.

Oh, I also took my first river bath, which was actually very lovely, standing in a pine forest in my underwear with another woman, throwing water over our heads, and enjoying the sunshine. But somehow, I dont think I´ll enjoy it in the winter!

As far as health goes, Ive come down with pinkeye, another ear infection, and the relentless stomach bugs that torment me. But none of it is that bad and I find lots of time here to enjoy the company of the people of my community and the fellow peace corps volunteers that live nearby.

Hope everyone is well.

Laguna de Apoyo

Mom baking with the ladies

Firing up the horno

Lounging by the beautiful pool in Managua again! My mom just arrived for her visit last night and we're stuffed on the gorgeous breakfast buffet and headed to the pool and then on to Granada for a few days of vacation.

Coming back to this hotel after a few months in my site was a weird change yesterday. Swimming pools, air conditioning, cable TV with American commercials and Will & Grace, surrounded by gringos speaking english, I felt like I have been transported right back to America.

Surprisingly I ran into a couple of Peace Corps friends also awaiting or sending off their families. Small world.

Work has been very productive since Semana Santa. I've conducted lots of meetings and PACA tools, determining community needs. Lots of hiking to see gardens, lots of presentations on nutrition, gardens, organic insecticides, and starting school gardens. Helping distribute world aid food to pregnant and lactating women. Planning for the national vaccination campaign. And of course studying and practicing spanish. And thanks to a care package from Stephanie, studying my newly acquired Merck Vet Manual, which I most likely won't get the chance to use much here, but am devouring for information just the same.

One of my latest meetings was with a government organization that's aim is to reduce hunger of the poor population by giving them animals (a cow, 2 pigs, and some chickens) and the tools they need to raise those animals. I am really excited to be working with this group, doing animal nutrition and mgt presentations and starting a chicken vaccination program.

I've also met a really excited producer who wants to build his farm up into a model farm to show the community soil coservation and better management techniques.

And I'm finally settled into my little house, complete with all plastic walls of the bano and latrine put up. Just in time for my mom's visit. My 3 friends welcomed me into my new house last weekend with a housewarming dinner and sleepover.

Thats all for now.

Peace Corps group before the Half-Marathon

And After...still smiling. The church in the background is of San Rafael del Norte

Hola amigos!

Well, I did it...I completed the half-marathon! Although my goal was to run the whole thing, I ended up walking about 1 or 2 kms of it because of a gut-wrenching stomach cramp that made me want to fall over and puke. But the first 15km were good. I was feeling great, had lots of energy, enjoyed the beautiful views, and was cruising with my music.

The race was surprisingly well organized, with water stops along the way, music, fireworks, and snacks and even lunch afterwards. Although I didn´t win any prizes (the $150 first prize went to a young guy from Managua), the group of Peace Corps women defied the race organizers, whom insisted women should only run the 8km race, and ran the full 23km.

Along with the race, I got a chance to see beautiful Jinotega, a city nestled in a valley of lush, green, cloud-covered mountains. The race started in Jinotega and ended in a small Sandinista town called San Rafeal, full of Sandino and Catholic history, complete with a beautiful chuch and central park.

After 9 days out of my community, I was ready to come home. I was happy to see everyone and motivated to start working again. However, last week was Semana Santa here, thus I spent a good part of the week swimming and picknicking at the river. Although Semana Santa in Antigua, Guatemala last year was amazing, being able to spend the holiday here doing what the locals do, really made me feel like I was experiencing the true holiday, and it was just a whole lot of fun. We hiked and rode in the back of trucks to rivers, swam, did cartwheels in the water, drank wine, ate lots of food, and hung out in the sun. And of course, the women ¨bathed¨ in their underwear, complete with soap and all. (No one wears swimsuits here!)

So this week I´m busy moving into my house and getting some work done.

Happy Easter to all!

It's been a busy last few weeks, building gardens and viveros. With my 2 groups, I've helped fill 2,000 plant bags in preparation for our planting of tree seeds in the next few weeks.

I've also got my first Marango seed bank made with my community counterpart. This amazing, nutritional, and versatile tree from India grows extremely fast with little water, giving edible leaves, flowers, and seeds. The leaves are unusually high in protein, calcium, and iron which is great for both animals and us humans. I'm trying to get some of the people in the community, like the anemic and arthritic (so the doctors say) little girl that lives next to me, to use it in their diet.

But for now, I'm happy with the marango bank we're planting in preparation for the dairy goats about to arrive.

The youth group is now up and going and we have lots of plans, including footbal games and field trips to the local library and maybe even the beach! The normal curriculum here doesn't include after school sports, PE class, libraries, or field trips, so the club events can hopefully supplement their education.

My housing plans are solidified and I'll be moving into my new place in a week or so. I have mixed feelings about that. Of course, I'm happy to get my freedom and own place, but I've grown so attached to my "family" that I am a bit sad to leave their home. The little things that used to bother me so much before are now no big deal and I feel like I've definately bonded with them. Luckily I can visit whenever I have free time.

Currently I'm back in Esteli, where I'll be attending a language workshop tomorrow with almost all of the training group. We'll be staying with host families again, but luckily Cuerpo de Paz listened to me and didn't put me back with my training family. Before heading out to the training towns, I got my fix of good (and different) food....roasted chicken, cheesecake (wow...a first here and just as good as home), cafe mocha, whole wheat carrot bread, yoghurt cheese, and of course my fix of ice cream.

And I'll be burning off all those calories with the half-marathon next Saturday!!! I've managed to stay on schedule and hope that I do allright next week. Send me energetic vibes everyone!

I'll let you all know how it goes....

Buidling the huerto modelo

Working in the fields

And in the house laying cement

Teaching english

View of one of the areas of my morning run.

Another week´s gone by and it seems like the time´s flying now. I gave my first nutrition charla to pregnant and lactating women to be followed by two more next week. The local nurse and I also visited the primary school where we recruited youth to join our adolescent club we´ll be starting in a few weeks.

Now that school has started I am being transformed by the lack of education they have here. The classrooms are basic, with zinc roofs and open spaces that allow air (and sometimes rain) into the classroom. Textbooks are rare, if even existent, and the students only have a notebook to study from at night. Receiving help with homework from parents is difficult, as many can´t read, and the ones that can often just do the homework for the kids instead of explaining it.

And then you have one teacher and one classroom for 2 grades of kids ranging from 11 to 16 years of age. The teacher teaches half the class while the other half waits until she´s done to learn their lesson. And to top it off, in the last week, they´ve missed 2 days of school due to one day of teacher meetings and another to clean the school that lacks janitors.

Although I don´t want to teach, I see a need there. Hopefully the help with homework I give to the family kids and the youth group can enrich these kids lives.

Our first meeting to work in family gardens started last week with a good turnout of both women and men, although women definately took the majority. A family garden may not sound like much, but providing nutrient-rich tomatoes, bell peppers, and radishes makes a huge difference in a diet of mainly rice, beans, and tortillas.

Also, building the idea of organization and regular meetings is important to strengthen the community and existing resources. After riding my bike around with my community counterpart for 3 hours last week to invite people to the meeting, I insisted that we set a date for the next meeting at the existing meeting. Mountain biking through dirt roads with beautiful views of pine forests and mountains is great, but 3 hours of it every month is a little unecessary.

I´m still amazed here by the beauty and how lucky I am to have my morning commute be a walk through a corn field, a jump over a creek, to climb up a banana tree forest, and arrive in someones yard with an "adios" and a chat. And to wake up everyday after a decent 8 hours or more of sleep (if I can sleep through the roosters crowing at midnight and dogs barking) without more of a routine than I dictate, is wonderful.

I try to remind myself of these things when the hard times come, like the constant cat calls from the men here or the day you show up for a scheduled meeting or event and the person casually says the dates been changed to tomorrow.

But life here is starting to normalize and I´m full of ideas for future projects and activities that are only waiting for my level of communication to improve to actualize.

Till next time.

Its been a busy week or so and I'm very thankful for having something to do.

Superbowl with some friends was fun, but as always, I think I enjoyed being able to eat different food like hambugers and ice cream sundaes, more than anything else. And of course it was great to see some friends that I haven't seen from training.

Superbowl was followed by a few days in a friends community helping build an improved stove for a family. These stoves are made of the traditional mud mix that they seem to use to build everything here. But our design uses bricks and a few pieces of bent iron rebar for support. And the key difference is the chimney to funnel smoke out of the lungs of the women that stand over the stove all day and up into the sky and the special ramp built inside to use less firewood that is quickly being depleted in this country without much reforestation.

The stove building was a great learning experience for me. See pictures below of Maritza making a chicken for examples of how the stove looks.

As soon as I was back from these activities I got busy planning meetings with my counterparts to start our gardens with the womens groups and attending "controls" with the local nurse. This is a monthly event where she weighs children under 2 (using donated balance-like scales where children are hung in a sack) to track their growth and gives vaccinations and vitamins to pregnant and lactating women. I'm tagging along to meet the women in the groups (which helps me meet more of the community) and prepare to give nutrition presentations next month.

While attending one of these events, I got word of another house that is vacant. After looking at the cute, recently built house, complete with powerful electricity, glass windows, water, and a ceiling, I fell in love and hope to be moving into this place by March.

So along with work picking up, I'm busy getting organized for my move. Which requires logistics like bargaining for furniture so that I don't get too screwed on the gringo price and getting mattresses loaded onto an old school bus and trucked 2 hours to my house.

Also I have succeeded in finding a used bike and am now mobile, which is a wonderful feeling, to be able to whiz to town whenever I want.

My stomach problems have left and my perforated ear membrane has healed and been cleared by the doctor. So I'm on my way back from Managua today and heading back to dig into some "real" work.

And after a 2 week hiatus from running because of my illnesses, I'm back training again for the half-marathon in March. Amazingly I reached another goal this week and ran for a complete hour, so I am building faith that I'll make it to my mark by March 15th.

All for now, take care folks.

Another month has gone by and I can´t believe its been over 2 months in my site. I´m assimilating and speaking the language better, but still have a long ways to go. At least now I am able to sit and have conversations with friends and neighbors. Although the majority of my time is still spent just hanging out with people and talking, I am working with my community counterpart and an aid organization to start ¨huertos familiares¨with a group of women in the community. I´ve already started gardens with a smaller group of women, but will be working in a more organized manner with more women in a larger group. Although I am the one that is supposed to be ¨teaching¨, I feel like I´m learning more from my counterparts and the group than they are learning from me! And for some reason my own personal garden is just going down the tubes, being attacked by all kinds of new bugs and diseases.

I´m also set up to work with the community nurse on maternal and child nutrition and health, giving ¨charlas¨and meeting all the women this month. And since school is starting this week, we will be trying to organize a youth group to teach life skills, agriculture, community banks, and relationship skills.

I´ve also started an informal english class with some neighborhood kids, that sometimes has 15 kids in attendance and other times only 1. And always be assured that they will show up 1/2 hour late.

An aerobics class is in the works, all I have to do now is remember enough moves to fill an hour!

And lastly I´ve been busy helping lay brick and perfecting my machete skills with the construction of the animal health lab that is being built at my community counterparts house. The director of the organization that is funding the lab came to our community last week to meet with the women in the group and I got a better chance to learn about the 5 year plan of this sustainable, organic agricultural organization that I am looking forward to working with over the next 2 years. They start with small garden projects for family self-consumption, then work up to chicken coups and goat production on a scale large enough to produce enough to sell.

And between all this ¨work¨I´ve been constantly sick. A terrible ear infection that perforated the membrane in my ear sent me to Managua last week and then was followed up by another round of stomach problems this week. All these enfermedades have put be in bed, kept me from running, and prevented me from socializing with the community more than I´d like.

I´ve also finally received approval for my little casita that I´ll be moving into the first of march. It still needs some work on my part, but not as much as I anticipated. Already, though, the word of me moving to a house alone and being separated a bit from the part of town I live in now has spread to everyone and they´re all talking. No one wants me to live out of their watch and can´t understand why Im not scared to live there. Hopefully with time we will all learn something different about our cultures and how living alone is normal for Americans and there is nothing to be afraid of.

I will be thinking about everyone at home as I´m watching the Superbowl from a Nica bar tomorrow. Who´s playing again?

Christmas Day with Maritz, Ledi, and Terling.Segovian Mountains Niko the cat staying warm under the oven.

Here comes the bus!

Maritza preparing pollo for dinner.

Hacienda Party!

Giving the peliguey rum before killing it.

Taking part in the skinning

Making Nacatamales on Christmas

The last day of 2007 and I´m celebrating on ¨vacation¨. Myself and 3 other volunteers have taken a trip to Matagalpa and are enjoying getting to know this cool misty mountain town. We´re also greatly enjoying the variety of foods we get to eat, like granola batidos, coffee ice cream, hamburgers, french fries, and beer! And we´re really looking forward to italian food and wine tonight!

Living in the campo and being so far from a city, unlike some of the other volunteers, has its advantages. When the 3 of us living in Nuevo Segovia make the 2 hour or more trip to a city, we really appreciate the small things like a grocery store with chocolate and peanut butter, having a burger and beer for dinner, being able to shop for things we need, and indoor plumbing. And the best part is always coming home. Although I always look forward to my ¨trips¨to the city, I love stepping off the hectic bus after a few loud days in town, to the peace and quiet of my community and being able to say ¨adios¨to the neighboorhood kids greeting me.

The last few weeks have brought more activity than the first few in my site. I´m not quite sure if I´m just getting used to not having much to do each day or if I actually have more activities. I think its a combination of both. I´ve been busy sharing ideas with my new counterpart, transcribing gardening information into spanish, using my creativity to plan for my first womens group meeting, thinking of resourceful ways to ward off chickens from eating my worms in my vermiculture project, getting my hands dirty planting more vegetable and tree seeds (25 vivero bags the other day!), milking cows, riding a borrowed bike around ¨town¨, and attending fiestas.

As Mancho and I were navigating our bikes down a washed out steep dirt hill, I couldn´t help but smile and think how this mode of everyday transportation here reminds me of a weekend mountain biking activity. I realized I was in the perfect place when I thought of how my daily routine here required me to hike through forests, mountain bike, and ride horses. All activities I would go the extra mile to do at home. And I even love riding on the buses here. Even if it means being completely over-the-max stuffed into a bus with my skirt flipping up everytime the handle of the emergency back door opened to let out pasengers.

As for parties, I was lucky enough to attend a graduation party way up in the mountains at a beautiful hacienda owned by the mayor of a local town. The hacienda required 2-3 hours of driving up amazing twisting & turning dirt roads high up into the Segovian mountains, crosing creeks and cow pastures to get there. We arrived and were greated by the owner with a rifle in one hand and a hand out to shake with the other, plus a toothbrush and toothpaste tucked into his shirt pocket. We immediately got into the killing of that nights dinner-a peliquey (sheep-goat cross). My friend and I were lucky enough to get our hands dirty and take part in the skinning and butchering of the animal. I was more than excited, to say the least, and got to dissect the heart and try to remember all those anatomical words I learned this last year.

Surely thinking the 5 year old ¨sheep¨was going to be tough mutton, I was surprised to taste the best meat I´ve had yet in Nicaragua. It must have been that rum they gave it right before the killing.

The rest of the night was filled with lots of food, drink, music, dancing, and horseriding. My first time on a horse here in Nicaragua (finally) and after accidently letting a bull out into the cow pasture, I quickly herded him back through the gate and out of the cows. Then proceeded down the mountain with the old vaquero on the back, arguing in spanish with another friend about the proper noises to command a horse.

I guess my spanish is improving. Poco a poco.

Christmas here was different and pretty uneventful. The 24th is the more celebrated day and includes women spending the day making the classic nica food ¨nacatamales¨. I enjoyed hanging out in the kitchen with the women learning and helping to make these softer, moister versions of a mexican tamale. Rather than being wrapped in corn husks and cooked, they are steamed in banana leaves.

Although women spend most of the day cooking, like we do in the states, the day ended without a big family meal and rather individuals grabbing a nacatamale and eating it alone at different times. Giving gifts is also not a tradition, which is fine with me, as I´ve always thought this was an over-commercialized part of xmas anyways. However, I really did appreciate those xmas packages I received from my parents this year. Mmmm....ghiradelli chocolate and photos from home. Christmas here also included (if you´re catholic) lots of drinking and partying late into the night. There were many, many bolos running around those 2 days. One of which arrived at our house horseback. Myself being so enamorated with horses ran out to ride his horse, but was stopped by my host family who wouldn´t let me ride off with a bolo. There overbearing protection is good at times :)

Since I´ve been training for a half-marathon here in March, I´ve been diligently running every morning. I accomplished a 50 minute run 2 days ago that I never would of thought possible for myself a few months ago. I now have so much confidence and faith that I´ll be able to reach that 13 mile mark in a few months! Anyways, on my morning run through the pine forest I spotted a vacant house that just might be mine in a couple of months. It´s a cute little adobe house with dirt floors tucked back into the pine forest with a yard of lemon grass, banana and mango trees, and the perfect place to plant a garden. The floors are dirt and the conditions are a little rough, but the peace and tranquility of the location are amazing. Up and down 2 hills, cross a creek and you´ve arrived. But its all still only a 10 minute walk to the carreterra, bus stop, local store, and my host family´s home. There´s some repairs that need to be done and not sure if it´ll be approved by Peace Corps, but I´m keeping my fingers crossed.

Getting this new place fixed up, working on my spanish, and planting huertos with the ladies should keep me busy over the next few weeks.

Happy New Year to all and hope you´re enjoying the cold weather and maybe even snow that I´m missing here!

After my last post, I got extremely sick again and spent the whole night and next day in bed. Today I´m still struggling with whatever it is I have and awaiting lab results, which like the veggies, are hard to get around here. After missing the bus this morning, I started the hour long walk to town with my sample in my backpack. Second time in 2 days and after arriving, found out that the doctor at the lab is on vacation! About ready to give up and just live with this bug in me for another week, I decided to try the health center, which normally doesn´t service foreigners. But being very friendly and courteous, they decided to run the test for me...thank you Centro de Salud de Jicarro! Hopefully this time I won´t have cryptosporosis, like my last bought of illness in Managua. Did I mention I almost missed my big swearing-in ceremony because I was trying to drop off a stool sample at the hospital in Managua and then racing across town, arriving with only 10 minutes to spare! But I made it and also made it onto nationally televised TV, with the rest of the PC group and US ambassador. And I was well enough to celebrate that evening with the PC group. Managua was a good trip...2 weeks of luxury and eating well. But I was definately ready to leave when it was over.

As for life here, things just seem to take longer around here. Kind of like the simple errand to get milk this morning. I remember back in Salem walking 4 blocks to the mini mart and picking up a gallon. Not here, my milk errand involved a 15 minute bike ride, 2 houses, a chat with a señora, and milking the cow myself by hand. It definately made it worth it!

Although I´m still struggling for things to do here, I´m starting to work with a guy in the community named Mancho. This week we are going to the homes of the different women for me to meet them and view their patios, which are actually large yards where they grow all sorts of veggies and fruits and plants and keep their animals.

Mancho is a great guy to work with, he´s really excited about working with me and trying new things, he already has tons of medicinal plants growing, a vermiculture project, he makes wine that he exports to Spain, and is in his first year of vet health worker training. Yesterday he showed me all his manuals and vet books, which were made by an american vet for the organization he works for here in Nicaragua. All of the books are in spanish of course, but I get the general jist of it and its great to be exposed to vet medicine again...it makes me so excited. In January, a team of americans are coming to finish construction on the lab in his patio, which I´ll be a part of and also helping him learn and work in the lab. I´m also really excited about this.

Also working on planting a garden with my host mom. It all sounds so simple but things take so much time here. For example, we have to build a fence for the garden to protect it from the chickens but finding the materials to build a fence without spending money they dont have takes time. And getting water throughout summer is a challenge, as is finding a container for the worms to make compost (I think I´ll be using an old tire that I learned to flip in training).

So I´m staying busy for the mean time and meeting new people each day and of course, improving my spanish.

And looking forward to the beach trip for New Years!

What´s new now? Trying to get out into the community and meet new people. Hard to do when my host family is so great. And especially hard to do when my communication skills are limited. But I started a community map yesterday, which means I have to walk around the community and plot all the houses and resources. The minute I stepped out my door, I ran into one of the kids I know who took me to the neighbor´s house. A little awkard to walk up to a strangers with no real reason to be there. But being the warm and welcoming Nicas that they are, I was immediately offered a seat and we chatted for at least an hour and I´m returning today to gift them some vegetable seeds and start a garden with them.

Also looking forward to the garden I will be starting with my host mom and the lombriculture project I´m starting also (a worm compost for the garden).

I now realize why Nicas in the campo dont eat very many vegetables, they are damn hard to get. The nearest market with veggies is 2 hours away. So unless you grow them, you´re limited to tomatoes and onions and the occassional truck that drives by and sells fruit.

I made a friend the other day that is about my age and shes super friendly and talkative and from Managua, which means her spanish is MUCH easier to understand. Also, I met the woman that bakes bread in the community and visited the nearby river for some jumping and playing with the dog and my 8 year old host brother.

And I´m lucky enough to have 2 other PC volunteers close to me, so we meet every week to express much needed feelings that are so hard to do in spanish with our nica friends.

Thats about all for now. One of these days I will post about my time in Managua.

Adios