Edgardo- who came with me to Managua to defend the project.

Dona Juana

Leveling!

Ana and Martin hard at work



Steps! Almost done!

Sophia and I are really happy

Fargington! This picture took way too long to set up.



Too cute.

The doors that will be filled in and then used to empty the latrine when its full- yes, full.

Pretty sure this isnt hard hat work- but after a bottle of caballito it might be.

The first row is the hardest- it has to be leveled to perfection or the latrine will fall down- or so they tell me.

El gemelo (the twin)

Ana carrying blocks!

I named her Natalie- they havent decided if they like it yet, but I know they will come around.

Natalia and Jess

Natalia and Ana

Entrance to 30

Wahoo, second row (of 4)!

A proud owner

the floor



Dona Cristina and helper

The rocks came!

So did the bricks.

Don Jeronimo (in blue) directing traffic. This project is only possible because of this man.

Child labor laws?

the heaviest saco ever.

Everyone is helping

I can carry one brick...

Main road in 30

Taking a break

My engineers!

Brand new puppy

The Germans lending a helping hand

I knew things were running too smoothly. Today was the day the “other foot finally fell”. It started with the collision of my site-mate Jessica’s VAST project (HIV/aids based) and the day we were going to give rocks (for the latrines) to 30. Santa Fe, the construction company that is building the highway from Managua to San Carlos told me last week that I could have the rocks for free if I can provide the transportation. My next move was to go to the mayor’s office and ask for transport- which led to negotiating whether I was going to put the diesel or they were. Finally they agreed that I could have the truck, and they would pay the gas, this Friday, today. But today is Jess’ VAST project so how am I supposed to be in two places at once?

I ended up getting my friend and a member of the Comite de Responsables, Don Jeronimo, to go in the quarry with the truck and the driver to pick up the rock. Now Don Jeronimo doesn’t have a cell phone- so getting him to go involved calling someone else in the neighborhood who had to look for him and then relay all the messages- such as: the truck is leaving at 1 (it left at 130), its going to El Tule (turns out it was going much further north to San Miguelito) etc. So I thought, if Jeronimo can get to the truck, and the truck can get to Santa Fe then we are golden. Here’s when the story gets good. Santa Fe told me that we had to arrive after 2PM because then my contact, Marcos, would be there. The truck leaves at 130 with the driver and Jeronimo (without cell phone). At 1:50 Santa Fe (Marcos) calls me to tell me that all of the workers are leaving at 2 because they’ve already worked their 8 hour shift. I call the mayor’s office to see where the truck is- its gone, of course. I call back Santa Fe and beg Marcos to call someone at the quarry (Marcos is on his way to Managua…) and try as hard as he can to get someone to stay for the truck. Marcos says I have 30 minutes to get there, its 2:08- oh, and I have a lecture Im about to start for Jess’ VAST project.At 3 I get a call from the mayors office saying: the trucks been at the gate for “a while” and no ones there. I call Marcos and he says, Natalia, this is your lucky day. I was driving by and saw the truck, but they are at the wrong place, so I sent them to the right one. (Out of everything that’s happened this day, that was actually my fault- woops.) The mayors office says: I hope its not far, we can only pay the disel to El Tule. I presented my lecture and run to 30 de Mayo. No sign of any trucks. Jeronimos wife (pictured as “My BFF of 30 in previous post) thinks its funny her husband is on this silly gringa adventure. At 4PM the mayors office calls me and says: they are at the place (where the workers were only supposed to be waiting for 30 minutes and this is 2 hours later) but they don’t have written permission from Marcos- so they wont give the truck the rock.

What do I do? Obviously call Marcos and tell him to deal with the situation- giving him the number of the driver- which was just given to me by the mayors office and keep my fingers crossed. I feel awful and mill around/see where people are going to put their latrines/eat plantains until 5:30 when it starts to get dark. I cant stay in 30 in the dark because there is no electricity and it is scary, plus the mosquitoes there are the likes that one would see in Jumanji. Im just too gringa for 30. PLUS I have to go back down town to help Jess with the rest of her project on the assumption that either the truck would come full, or empty, but that there wasn’t anything I could do anymore. Jess is in the process of throwing this great condom fashion show when we are rudely interrupted by a group of basketball players. I am in the middle of telling them that they need to get lost because we rented out the cancha (community gym) when one of my contacts from the mayors office shows up- ready to ball. He asks me a couple of times why they cant enter and the casually says “the truck broke down out side of San Miguelito- we sent a mechanic at 6 but…we don’t know whats wrong”.What? How could he just casually drop that into conversation? Poor Jeronimo is lost in San Miguelito and who knows if the rock is in the truck or not. As of this writing the rock, but more importantly, Jeronimo are not in San Carlos- its 9PM. If the rock doesn’t get here by Sunday we wont be able to construct until next weekend.I wish I had just paid for the rock and had it delivered. It really brings light to the saying that nothing in this world is truly free. UPDATE: I don’t know how it happened but the rocks are, supposedly, in 30 de Mayo (4PM Saturday). We will see if they are there tomorrow at 6AM. Wait for updates.

Excerpt from a recent email to my family:

"So as you all know I am working on a latrine project to finish up my 2

years here in Nicaragua. We've (the community and I) been working on

this project for the last 8 months; researching the community and

potential beneficiaries, writing the proposal, defending the proposal

in Managua and educating the community on personal and communal

hygiene as well as the use and maintenance of the latrines.

Through all of this I have worked closely with the members of the

community, the Mayors office, the office of tourism, a Costa Rican

firm that is constructing the road from Managua to San Carlos, and

the Ministry of Health. Peace Corps awarded us a Humanitarian

Assistance grant for the maximum allowable amount of $10.000. The

community is required to contribute 25% of the total cost as a way to

demonstrate involvement. The community of San Carlos has donated 32%

of the total amount to this project through manual labor, reduced cost

of materials, cash gifts and major transportation (from Managua to San

Carlos)."

Implementation:

We've decided to break the group into two. We are going to construct 12 latrines first (those that live on the first main road) and then 15. Which means we are bringing materials to the neighborhood two times (a longer process than I ever thought!) and then constructing in two fasces.

Day 1: Group A: Bringing Iron, nails, cement, and sand

No big deal right? But we are talking 72 bag of cement...120 lbs of nails...and 480 buckets of sand.

We started small with the cement. I saw on the bag that it weighed 42.5 so I thought no big deal. And then I picked it up. Immediately fireworks started going off in my eyes and I thought- I am going to die. Unfortunately Dona Maria (a 75 year old woman that weighs less than a hundred pounds) just picked up one of the bags as if it were filled with feathers. So I walked, little by little, until I made it the 20 yards to Dona Marias house. I was pretty embarrassed at my poor performance. Later on that night Cartucho informed me that the bag was 42.5 kilos, so approximately 100 lbs. Now I am proud I made it that far without falling over.

And the sand. Oh the sand. Each house was given 40 buckets of sand. We (the women) all stood around and watched the process for the first house. It involved putting two buckets of sand (each weighs 30+lbs) into a bag and carrying it the house. Luckily we were able to change the process by carrying the buckets, bucket by bucket, to the house which allowed us to help with process. Needless to say, those buckets were still pretty heavy. The best part of this was that we decide to go house by house- if I help carry buckets of sand to your house, you need to help me carry buckets of sand to my house. It worked really well and we were finished in a couple of hours.

Here are some pictures for your enjoyment. I didnt take many because I was making sure the first day went smoothly, but here are a couple.

My BFF in 30 de Mayo

Dona Maria. Here she has "verguenza" because of the previous pic

In the beginning of July I went to Corn Island with my training town buddies, Neil and Diego as well as Julia and Mike- Neils siblings. It was a blast. And paradise, as you will see. It took a plane ride from Managua to Corn Island and then a boat of terror from big corn to little corn. Little Corn Island doesnt have any roads or cars, and there is no corn. We scuba dove, hung out on the beach and explored the island.

Graces Cool Spot. How could we not stay at a place named that?

Neil and his brother Mike

My favortie picture of Neil ever.

Diego

Diego and I

Scuba diving!

More VAST pictures. Will post Little Corn Island pictures soon!

After a process of planning, asking Peace Corps for funds, receiving said funding and planning some more, my VAST project was a success! VAST money comes from PEPFAR money and thus the project had to have an HIV focus. I decided to have a 2 day training on HIV/aids, Diversity, Sexualidad, Stigma and Discrimination and in between the two days, a Big Gay Talent Show. I was expecting a lot of Celine Dion and men in dresses. What ended up happening was a few men in dresses and a lot of youth dancing super inapropriately (Nica Reaggaeton style). Either way, we did a lot of HIV education that night and in the 2 day training. It was a hit and people from all over San Carlos came to check it out. I will have more pictures later, but a few now!

Diego, getting ready for his big night

This little guy started off the talent show

Diego singing. The people just started to show up but by the end the entire malecon was full!

Aleska and Keyana showing off their talents as well.

Cheyla, a local Transgender who is outragous.

The winners of the night! A group of local breakdancers!

Oh man...

This lovely painting won 3rd place.

Yeah, I had to talk on a mic in front of A LOT of people. It was scary.

My host dad, Milton.

CEPS and Peace Corps!

Talking about sexual diversity

A few people who came to the training and their new condoms!

Angelica, HIV coordinator in San Carlos y Diego the Coordiator of the gay community (Communidad de Diversidad) in San Miguelito

Los Chiles Representing the training.

I know, I know. My last update was in October, so why start again now? Well, my site mate Jessica had the great idea of blogging pictures! So I am on an old adventure but will bring you a new perspective. Lets hope I can keep this one up so you at home can get a glimpse into my life here in San Carlos, Nicaragua.

9 more months!

The little girls on my block playing with the Easter goo that Kitty and Maggie sent me!

A weekend away at Laguna de Apoyo with the girls.

Finishing (starting) my high school summer reading!

HE52 1 year in service party

Dancing the Pinata!

A normal sunday afternoon sitting on the stoop.

My site mate Jessica made into a junglegym.

Aleska y Keyana

Aleskita

Its a birthday party! (Keyana is the birthday girl, dressed in the black shirt). I was the only person over 10 invited to the party, all other adults there had a child with them...

And they danced...

They also danced at the mothers day work party. Yes, we have off for mothers day in Nicaragua, yes, we also get another half day just for a work party, and yes this work party turned into a dance party. Way too Nicaragaun.



Doing the human knot with some community health workers.

San Carlos

On the way to Solentiname

Monkey on my leg!

We are buddies. He also stole my sunglasses and attempted to wear them.

A puppy and a monkey. They are bff.

Condom Demonstrations

Teaching the women in the Casa Materna about the importance of dark green leafy veggies during pregnancy! Preventing anemia.

An "anonymous" friend donated to the Casa Materna so that we could buy 7 of these awesome banners! They are great becuause they are always up (continuous education) and because they are full of pictures for the women who cannot read!

Sometimes I act like a fool.

Naked baby alert!

Dona Connie, the awesome responable of the Casa Materna!

This is Jose. His mom (not shown) was one of the first women in my Club of Pregnant Women in Bello Amanecer. Hes almost one! With him is his 86 (she thinks) year old great grandmother.

I know, I know. My last update was in October, so why start again now? Well, my site mate Jessica had the great idea of blogging pictures! So I am on an old adventure but will bring you a new perspective. Lets hope I can keep this one up so you at home can get a glimpse into my life here in San Carlos, Nicaragua.

9 more months!

The little girls on my block playing with the East goo that Kitty and Maggie sent me!

A weekend away at Laguna de Apoyo with the girls.

Finishing (starting) my high school summer reading!

HE52 1 year in service party

Dancing the Pinata!

A normal sunday afternoon sitting on the stoop.

Teaching the pregnant women in the Casa Materna about the importance of dark green leafy veggies during the pregnancy. Preventing anemia!

Thanks to an "anonymous" donor the Casa Materna now has 7 bad-ass banners about how to have a healthy pregnancy!

Yeah, I often act like a fool in the Peace Corps, but they like it.

Charla-ing. We were talking about the importance of breast feeding.

Naked baby alert! He wandered into the Casa Materna in the middle of the charla.

Dona Connie. The best. Head of the Casa Materna, loves talking (teaching) about nipples.

Jose is my favorite. His mom (not shown) was one of the first women in my club for pregnant women in Bello Amanacer. Hes almost 1! (This is his great-grandmother)

Aleskita

Its a birthday party! (Keyana is the birthday girl, dressed in the black shirt). I was the only person over 10 invited to the party, all other adults there had a child with them...

Most people, when they hear Celine Dion belting about how the heart must go on, conjure up their favorite scene from Titanic. Mine used to be the moment that what’s-her-name told Leo “Ill never let go” and then pushes his frozen body off her raft. Now though an altogether different and perhaps better image comes to mind. That is one of two 15 year olds walking in their best outfits (picture: black turtleneck (wait, a turtleneck in Nicaragua?), white pants and an oversized dinner jacket. Add: lb of hair gel and cologne to match. And for the girl: red sequenced dress with slit and all. Add: red rose) across the “stage” at the pace of the song…so they were essentially crawling. But every step they took was about as dramatic as the song. Why were these poor kids subjected to something we would find humiliating in the States? The answer: they are awesome and I gave them the full 10 points. Mostly because of the dramatic red rose give away at the end.

As you might have guessed I was a special guest judge at the beauty pageant that Jill had at her site. And this wasn’t just some run-of-the-mill pageant that happens impromptu here in Nica. This was the grand finale of all pageants, the big one. I traveled to Jills site (Sabalos, beautiful) and was lucky to take part in one of the funniest moments I’ve had here in Nicaragua. It started with a day of sex ed, hosted by Jill and myself, and ended in a huge fiesta. What was in between though was certainly the most interesting of all. Sabalos showed up for a fiesta and what they got instead was a beauty pageant. This pageant was special because it was an HIV/AIDS pageant and included in the festivities were: a long, and very graphic charla on common STD’s- yes there were pictures, and children present; a casual wear competition- think tube tops and wife beaters; the formal wear competition I described above; a cultural number- some were super inappropriate and involved dancing reggaeton like maniacs. My favorite was this cute folklore number where there was a mermaid and a captain; and of course the question answer part, specifically about how much of the charla the participants had retained.

Being a judge was great and it was hilarious to compare my scores to that of the other judges. More than once when I gave a 9 to a certain couple my neighbor gave a 4. I judged the competition on how hard I laughed whereas the other judges probably took the pageant just as seriously as the participants and judged them as such.

One follow up note. My favorite couple, and the clear loser of the group, was a mismatched couple. The girl was much taller than the boy which made dancing reggaeton interesting and awkward. She was also clearly the boss of the group, and thus spent most of the time on stage yelling at her counterpart, who seemed to not care or hear what she was saying. At some point, I think during the casual wear portion, she was yelling at him (on stage) for wearing his baseball hat and he just turned and walked off the stage. They did not receive any 9’s from me that night.

I know I haven’t updated my blog in awhile and I apologize for that, mostly to my mom, who has spent a lot of her time over the past couple of months reminding me. The truth of the matter is that for awhile life had gotten into a fairly normal routine and writing about it just didn’t have the same sex appeal. But, looking back on the last 2 months there has been no routine and my life is anything but boring. Mostly what people should know is that the Peace Corps is just…hard. Sometimes its great and sometimes all I want to do is scream and possibly break something expensive (speaking of which, the Japanese have a store specifically for this task alone). Things in general are good, but let’s be serious; the Peace Corps is still the Peace Corps which by default means it’s difficult.

I miss the good ol’ USA, a lot (who knew I was so patriotic?) But to be perfectly selfish, it will be better when summer is over. My friends are just having too much fun going to concerts, the beach, the farmhouse etc., and I miss getting in a car and driving to a new destination for the weekend (let alone with people who can speak my language and get my humor). But, it’s not as though I am not doing anything and I certainly have all of the heat of summer here in Nica. On the contrary, if I am not hanging out in my incredibly beautiful site I am traveling throughout Nicaragua, sometimes for work and sometimes for play. Its true its not home, but that’s ok because when else in my life will I get on a boat on the Rio San Juan and go crocodile hunting, dance in the streets of Granada alongside dancing horses or swim in a volcanic crater lake.

A special shout out:

I was lucky enough to translate for a group of 15 Americans (North America) who came to Sabalos for an eye care brigade. We spent a week living in Sabalos, a town down river 2 hours from San Carlos, and traveling into the communities giving eye glasses to the majority of the people and setting up surgeries for the severe cases. The work was routine but the experience was truly refreshing. The group that came was generous and loving and took such good care of us. It was ridiculously fun although we were working long, hot days. We danced to Lady Gaga, to the displeasure of the teenage boys in the group, got stuck in the mud, caught in the rain and spent the nights relaxing in the hammocks talking about good wine, cheese and Thai food- the things we miss most in Nica. Thankfully they will be coming back in a year to repeat their good deeds and I will get to spend another week with this incredible group of people!

Updates to come include: My parents visit (!!!), our fiestas and that time that Ortega didn’t come to San Carlos. Be patient. I swear its coming!

I apologize for my long absence on the blog, although I think that my excuse is probably pretty good. As most of you know, I have been in Managua for the past week and a half struggling through Dengue. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dengue_fever. It’s known as break bone fever for a reason. Luckily I did not feel like all of my bones were breaking, just my legs.

It all started at about 4am last Wednesday night when I woke up with a killer headache/body ache. No big deal, I thought. I must just be dehydrated. Silly me. By Friday I decided that I should probably get some blood work done just to make sure all of my vitals were normal. I really did not think it was possible that I had dengue (even though there have been 35 cases in my neighborhood in the past 3 months). My blood work came back so messed up that the director of my health center made me go back to the lab and have it re-done, thinking that there must have been a mistake reading it because there was no way that my white blood cell count was down to 1,100. After talking to the PC medical office, they told me that I needed to come to Managua immediately because they wanted the fancy westernized hospital to test me and figure out what was going on. At this point I was convinced that I was dying. Not only did I feel like I was dying, with a fever of 103, but the PC office wanted me in the hospital in Managua. Nothing good was going to come of this.

Gracias a Dios, my friend Jill was in town to visit. She helped pack me up and get me onto a bus at 6AM to go to Managua. Let me tell you what is not fun: riding a bus for 10 hours when you have dengue, especially when the roads are unpaved. The next couple of days were a blur. I laid in bed a lot. I had a lot of blood drawn. And I felt awful.

I have been in Managua for a week and a half and I am feeling like a new person. I don’t feel great yet, but I feel a lot better. Mostly I am weak; a symptom which I have heard will last for a month or 2. Awesome. I have been out of site for 2 weeks and won’t be going back for another 2 weeks, which has me pretty worried. Remember how San Carlos is cursed? Well, they are used to volunteers leaving and never coming back (seriously...other people have packed up their things and sent them to the US). I will be going back, just not for awhile. I would love to go back this week but we have language training in Masaya all next week, and so it just doesn’t make any sense to go back to San Carlos for 2 or 3 days when it takes 10-15 hours to travel there. Even worse is that for a week after language training I will be going to Sabalos (an hour from San Carlos, down river) to translate for an eye care brigade. July is just not going to be my month in San Carlos.

Hopefully I will be medically cleared this week and will wander the country-side semi homeless until language training starts. I am going to go see Mamacita in Dolores (my training town) for the weekend, watch the futbol finals and start class on Monday. Because I have been out of site for 2 weeks, I haven’t spoken Spanish in 2 weeks, which should make class interesting to say the least. I don’t think reading subtitles on the television counts.

Thank you for everyone’s concern. Being sick abroad is really awful and mostly I just missed my mom (who offered to come and visit, but in my fever induced mental state I decided I didn’t need it). Thankfully I had good friends taking care of me (hopefully who will not catch Dengue from being around me) and a great Peace Corps medical staff who took my calls at all hours of the day. When you come and visit I will make sure that I have plenty of bug spray around so that you too do not get the Dengue bug.

Nahuatl Prophecy- Find twin volcanoes in a fresh water sea and you are home. Ometepe.

Two of the smallest islands of Solentiname. Google it. They are cool a cool archapeligo of 36

Emilsa, her Husband Juan and their new baby boy, Juan!

Emilsa and Juan. 12 hours old.

Dona Rehina and her princess. She is waiting to name it, which I have heard is normal. Some people wait up to a year. Silly Americans giving names before the baby is born. How can you name someone you dont know?

My favorite picture of all. I am almost positive this is the first time Ive ever held a baby. I dont think any of my various relatives plopd one in my arms. Dona Rehina told me that she wants this picture of the two of us so that her child knows how lucky she is. I cried.

Flor also gave birth this weekend! I first met her on the dock in San Miguelito, about 4 hours by boat north. When I came back from Managua, there she was, in my casa materna. She gave birth yesterday and started the 6 hour trip home today. She will walk for 2 hours after the bus drops her off. Damn. Girl.

Ah!!!!! I’m pregnant! Just kidding, I couldn’t even keep that one going, for fear my dad would have a heart attack on the spot (sorry dad). But seriously, my first Nicaraguan babies are, fingers crossed, coming into the world tonight! One of my main jobs here is to give health lectures to the women of the Casa Materna. I can’t remember if I’ve talked about the Casa Materna before or not, but here is a quick re-run. Nicaragua had an out of control maternal mortality rate. To fix this, they used a fairly innovative, sometimes faulty, “Plan de Parto” (birth plan). It mainly involves convincing women in the countryside to move to a Casa Materna 2 weeks before they give birth, so that when they give birth they will be near a health center, or in San Carlos’ case, a hospital. Because our casa maternal is the only one next to a hospital (the only hospital in the department) we get all of the really dangerous cases, including one of my favorite preggers, a beautiful girl who is always dancing, laughing and surprisingly outgoing, and who, I found out today, is only 13.

So, I have been working in the Casa Materna for the last 3 weeks, where two women, Doña Rehina and Emilsa, have had the unfortunate pleasure of not giving birth. Some women stay for only 4 days and others for up to a month, depending on when they give birth of course. The women who are only there for a couple of days come and go but these two women have been there so long that I have become close to them. This happens to be very easy when you have a lot of pregnant women (avg 12) with raging hormones and no family members nearby.

Doña Rehina is the typical women from the campo. This is her 5th child, a boy, has little education and is very timid and quiet. Emilsa is the opposite. She is a gem. She is young, lives in Los Chiles, a fairly urban place (….there are 5 sq blocks and a bunch of “pulperias”), and is a teacher. This is her first baby, which she decided to have after she graduated from University. Tonight I met her husband, her mother in law and her cousins, who all came to help her. It is true that Los Chiles is not only close, about 2 hours, but that the transportation is impeccable between the two locations. Dona Rehina and other women usually have to take a boat or a bus 3-4 hours and then walk another 2-3 hours to get back to their home (which, as you can imagine, is a ridiculous journey for A) a women 9 months pregnant or B) a women who just gave birth and has a new born less than 3 days old).

I can’t remember the last time I was this excited. These women are so incredible. I can’t wait to meet the new men in their lives. Have I mentioned that not one of these women will use painkillers unless they have a cesarean? I am unbelievably thrilled that these are the first two, out of hundreds of women, I will meet and support through their final weeks and pregnancy and that this is my job! Its not really, I have lots of other work to do, but this is at least part of my job. My 13 year old friend (who loves more than anything to make fun of the way I dance) told me today that she is going to name her baby after me, but she hopes her baby has more rhythm than I do. We will see what happens after 48 hours of labor, but I am hoping to at least be in the hospital with her when she gives birth, she needs all of the support she can get. We will see how many “Talia’s” or “Natalia’s” are running around Nicaragua after my time here. I doubt many.

Have I told you all that I changed my name? After being called “Chuker” for a week my friend Julia (Jill) helped me pick the name Talia. The day I told everyone my name was Talia, everyone started calling me Túker. So in the health center I go by Túker but in the Casa Materna and whenever I introduce myself, I am Talia. It’s sort of complicated, but I am just rolling with the Nicaraguan way of having 2 names.

Hopefully I will get a picture of the new babies once they’re born! I can’t wait (but don’t worry, I will) to have my own.

Although the title might suggest a relation between the two, that traveling circuses make small children cry, the fact is that I make children cry. I make them wail, unable to catch their breath, as they lay in their mothers’ arms giving themselves whiplash trying to turn their heads in such a way that I won’t be able to find their mouths. The silver lining, other than the fact that I am preventing any number of horrific diseases from polio to blindness, is that their fits do make my job easier for the fact that it is impossible to express yourself in such a way with your mouth closed. I feel like a monster squatting before them saying “please open your mouth, just a little bit, it tastes like sugar” in gringo-Spanish, which I am sure adds to their general fright. This weekend was Nicaraguans annual vaccination campaign, which for any health center in the country, is a huge deal. Nicaragua prides itself on having the highest vaccination rate in the area which is a huge accomplishment (but lets face it, when you live in a socialist country going door-to-door to give vaccines isn’t all that hard…we know where you live). Not to make light of the situation, vaccinating kids is a huge deal and it’s definitely a positive thing that when the kids didn’t show up this morning we could go to their houses and apply the vaccines in their living rooms. And it’s not as dramatic as I make it seem, it’s not as though we were pulling out the big brother cameras, peering into peoples homes, and targeting them. Instead we used an approach I deem as more “community based” in that the health workers working on the vaccination campaigns, myself included, all lived in the neighborhood we were working, thus, we knew who needed to be vaccinated. We worked all day Saturday and half of the day today to vaccinate the neighborhood, and ended up vaccinating more than our goals listed, overall a big W for the team in sector 4. A battle we are currently losing in San Carlos is the fight against dengue. If you haven’t heard about dengue it’s this bad-ass tropical disease that is transmitted by mosquito and is also known as “bone breaker disease” here in Nica. That’s because when you get dengue it feels like your bones are breaking, you have shooting pains through your body and in your eyes, and it can take up to a month to fully recover. There have been 27 cases of dengue since the start of the year; last year there were only 13 cases total. 14 of the 27 cases have been in my neighborhood, sufficiently freaking me out. The problem in curbing the epidemic is that if the mama mosquito is infected, all of the larvae will also have dengue, making the rate of infection that much higher. To stop the spread we took about 200 kids out of school this Thursday (do I even need to say it?) to go door to door to put special chemicals in all of the water to kill the mosquito larvae. We will see what happens to the epidemic, but my health center director is freaked out that we are about to blow all other departmental records in regards to dengue. And the circus! Oh the Nicaraguan traveling circus, seriously, have you heard of anything quite so intriguing? How could I not go and check it out. I wish I had taken pictures for all of you at home trying to picture what a traveling circus looks like, let alone one in Nicaragua. I had two conflicting images in my head regarding what I was about to get myself into. The first was a Hero’s-esc scene; a run down walk through fair environment where you can play small games, win prizes, and get your fortune read. The other was a freak show. After hearing about the traveling circus in Indonesia (Dede anyone?) I thought that there was a possibility of any number of really disturbing things to see at the traveling circus. Luckily, or maybe unfortunately, I got neither. The circus was set up in a huge tent on the side of the road into San Carlos. Against one wall were the stadium type seating made out of wood planks and logs. It was really precarious and more than once the woods seats/steps at the bottom fell off, trapping the people at the top. I was ballsy enough to go to the second row of seats and left rows 6 and 7 for moms carrying infants and drunken boyfriends. Acts included an unicyclist who, after messing up his previous act, decided to put a boy of about 7 on his shoulders and try again. There were 6 clowns, who did song, dance and skit routines, a fire blower, and a couple of belly dancers. It was hilariously confusing and generally a good time although I probably don’t have to go back.

More later, life is pretty tranquillo. Please send me emails, although I know I am horrible at replying I will try!

So last week I posted the pictures of Swearing-In, an event that turned out to be a big deal. The day before Swearing-In we went to the Embassy where in the morning we had a tour of the Embassy which is a huge compound with multiple check points, huge air conditioned buildings, pools and mansions. The tour included bagels and cream cheese, possibly more coveted by the volunteers than the air conditioning. We were the first group invited to the Embassy before Swearing-In and it was nice to see the digs and meet with random ex-PCVs working for the Embassy now. The most exciting part of the visit was definitely in the afternoon when we met with the Ambassador for a couple of hours. The visit was special because he was really open about everything from his personal life to the problems that the US government has with the Nicaraguan government and Ortega in particular. As a very small example, Ortega’s wife erected a HUGE billboard of “Christian, Socialist, Solidarity” right in front of the US Embassy, so the workers pretty much have to walk underneath it between the security building to their offices. Obviously this is a very very small power display in a long history of fighting, violence, and overall differences in ideologies. One of the most interesting things that the Ambassador told us was that we only give Nica $50 million dollars every year; money that has all sorts of strings attached. On the other hand Chavez gives Ortega $550 million with no strings attached. With that sort of monetary support, there is little that the US can do to quell the overall love for Chavez. Also, the Ambassador told us that Nicaragua really doesn’t mean much to anyone anymore, but that it matters for the fact that it matters to Chavez and Chavez matters to us. The Ambassador has also been making headlines for denouncing mayors in a couple of cities because of the fraudulent elections that took place. Thus the Ambassador has been called persona non grata in these cities, although as far as I can tell, he is still going there. It all calls into question what will happen in the general elections for the president in 2011. Right now there are riots in Managua (we currently aren’t allowed to travel to, or near, Managua) because the opposition party is meeting to work on a plan to get enough power to fight against the Sandinistas in 2011 and to fight against the constitutional change (which I think has already happened) allowing Ortega to run again for another term. Changing constitutions is generally looked down on. The day of swearing in we all got ready at the hotel (yeah, it’s got to be something special if we have hot water and air conditioning) and headed to the Intercontinental Hotel in downtown Managua. Our host families were there to be with us, which made it particularly special. Mamacita and Papa came, but my host brother Cristian couldn’t because only 2 members of every family were invited. We had an opening ceremony for the families where my training town best, Neil, gave a nice speech and we gave our host moms certificates. After a short break the Ambassador, the country director of the Peace Corps and the 2nd to the Minister of Health arrived and we started the grand ceremony as our families sat in the back to watch the magic happen. There were speeches from all of the important people in the room and we said our Promise to Service in English and in Spanish. The ceremony lasted 3 or 4 hours and at the end we finally became full-fledged Peace Corps Volunteers! Now, if you ask me, we have been Volunteers since the moment we stepped foot into Nicaragua, but in the Peace Corps mind, it wasn’t until this moment. The weekend was spent in the hotel in Managua and on Sunday I packed up all of my worldly belongings and moved to San Carlos! As a good friend described it, we are finally of the training teat.I am writing this post incredibly late and have been in Site for the past 2 weeks and it is just as awkward as I pictured it. Its not that it’s bad, it’s just awkward, especially with my non-fluent language ability. What makes it worse is that the first three months here I am supposed to be getting a hold of the town, the health center and learning more Spanish and not doing any real work. Which in the long run will be good, but for the moment I feel like an intern. For now I am doing what is asked of me, but I am making a running list of projects and other things I want to do when I take the training wheels off for good.

My roadView of the water front

The sunsets are incredible

The Ambassador: Amb. Callahan

Mamacita and Papa came to Swearing In!

Our boys. Looking good. Dolores training group!Diego, Katie and IMamacita and IMINSA, Callahan, APCD, Country DirectorMe and the AmbassadorParty time, post Swearing InTay and JennyMe and TayLiz, Pinto, Carrie and Jenny

So the title to this post isnt exactlly accurate, but there is good reason to think this. Mosly, my site placement. The long and the short of site placement was that I had a complete breakdown when my director said ¨Tucker: San Carlos, Rio San Juan¨. Now would be a good time to go and look at a map and see exactly how far Rio San Juan is from pretty much everything else. To make the trip especially fun, half of it isnt on paved roads...its on dirt roads. On sunday I had my first experience of what my life will look like when I need to go to the office, adn I am happy to report that it only took 9 hours, instead of the 12 I thought it would be. I am unhappy to report that it was on a school bus discarded from the US in, I would guess, 1990. Ha. Also, that most of the time I will be riding this bus is when I need to go to see the doctors in Managua. So picture me, sick (Latin American sick...aka intestinal issues) for 9 hours on a bus on unpaved roads! hahaha, my life is hilarious.

Good news, there is also a boat! The boat takes 15 hours, but there is a bathroom. So assuming I can time my sickness right (It only runs 2x a week), I think the boat with the bathroom might be the way to go. As well there is a place for me to put up a hammock, and most of the ride- well, part of the ride, is overnight. I wont get to take the boat this time, but hopefully next time I can check it out.

Anyway, back to being so amazing. I say this because of my breakdown and the consequences of said breakdown. I just couldnt, for the life of me, realize why they would place me (MPH what what) pretty much in Costa Rica. The reason is that San Carlos is cursed. As far as I can tell, not one volunteer has made it through their entire service here...sure there have been medical reasons, and pregnancies, etc but the rumor is that San Carlos is cursed. And the reason why I am here is because my APCD, aka director, believes that I am the one to break the curse. And that I am bad-ass enough to not only last the 2 years here, but to love it. And to do some great work. So being amazing has its up and its down, I havent figured out which one this is...but we will see. I am taking my placement here as a compliment and not an insult although I am the furhest volunteer south in all of Nica, out of all 200 vols.

San Carlos is not the prettiest city, and it doesnt even have a grocery store, even though it is the deparment capital (the closest grocery store is in Costa Rica). But it is the main city of the craziest department in Nica. I am living in a tropical jungle, where the river between Costa Rica meets the huge lake in Nica. There are jaguars and monkeys and sloths and of course the famous fresh water shark (bull shark to be exact). There are also some 80 types of orchids and birds that bird watchers go crazy for, although dont ask me to namy any of them.

Hopefully I will be working on the boarder to educate sex workers and truck drivers about HIV, as well as working in the city of san carlos and the outlying communities. In the first month I am going to help implement the vaccination campaigns, and because we are surrounded by water, we will be using a boat! I had my first full day here in San Carlos today and leave Weds night to go back to Managua, finish the last 2 weeks of training and finally swear in as a volunteer!

More on San Carlos after the visit. Google it. And be warned, most people call it the ugliest city in all of Nica. I dont know if I would go that far, but it might be the hottest. Welcome to the Peace Corps.

Two burning volcanoes in the background

you cant see the crater, but I am on top of the ridge

Lake in the background

My friend Kate and I

Mini-group shot. I will get the one of the entire group (including yours truely) and post it.

Volcano!

James (aka Diego)- fellow Dolorian.

Fellow Dolorian, Neil. Hes ready for a site in the north aka Cowboy Country

Katie and I on the bus on the way to the Volcano: Masaya

Jenny, Katie and I

Volcan Masaya!

The waterfall has a nice cave (right above my head) which is a great camping spot.

My host for the week- Danny Murphy. He is the head health volunteer and has been in country for 3 years. He is "re-upping" to Africa this summer

I think it’s about time that I talk about training and what it is that I am actually doing out here in Dolores.

Peace Corps training was revolutionized by PC Nica. I know that sounds ridiculous, but the “Community Based” training model was made, adapted, and disseminated from Nicaragua. I’m not sure of exactly how many countries implement this type of training but it is certainly different than I expected. As I understand it, most trainees are in a compound where they have intensive language and technical training, but generally, everyone lives together. In our training here we live with a host family, there are only 4 of us in our training towns, and our language classes and technical training are integrated into our everyday routine.

What I mean by that is this:

-We have a youth group. This is a main priority for all Peace Corps projects in Nicaragua because more than 25% of all pregnancies are in girls under the age of 19. I see regularly girls between the ages of 13-16 walking the streets of Dolores 6, 7 and 8 months pregnant. It is unbelievably sad and could have large implications on future HIV rates.

We have a solid 10 kids in our “Club de Jovenes” (Youth Group) that meets two times a week and so far, so good. It got off to a rocky start, but slowly it is becoming easier, and we have given them two charlas (interactive lectures); one on skills to build a healthy life and the other on self-esteem. Next week is a big week because we are doing sexual health, etc. They have a final project at the end where they have to give a charla to another group of people (we are being trained in training the trainers- a tongue twister for sure), but haven’t talked about this final project very much because most of our kids are shy and we don’t want to scare them away, ha. Many kids here have “pena” or embarrassment, especially the girls. Anyway, we are trying to ease them into it slowly; we’ll see how it goes.

-I also give charlas in the Centro de Salud (Health Center). Healthcare is free in Nica but cost is not the only barrier in providing effective healthcare, especially here. (A post for another time: “Socialist Values in Healthcare”, “Republicans, beware! Healthcare in Nica”, etc). Patients come to the health center, and as they wait to see a doctor, I give them a 15-25 minute charla on some topic of health- yes in Spanish. Last week I talked about STDs and this week I hope to give 2 or 3 charlas, possibly on malaria, dengue and general hygiene.

-Right now we are also preparing our Survey of the community. We decided to complete our survey on alcoholism in Dolores and the effects on the Community. There is plenty of public drinking, public passing-out, etc. Results to follow.

Also in my training here in Dolores I will give charlas in the schools to youth between the ages of 9-13 during one of their school periods. The children in Dolores attend school either in the morning or in the afternoon, not both. In the campo (rural areas), kids attend school only on Saturday. I thought that was because they needed to help their parents during the week but the truth is that school is only once a week because there is a lack of resources aka buildings and teachers.

So basically we are doing a lot of what we will also be doing in our sites, but here we are doing it together, struggling with Spanish, and we have support from the training coordinators and our language facilitators. I can’t imagine how other Peace Corps countries do it, training is so hard and we are constantly tired, but we are lucky that we get a test run before jumping into site.

My schedule this week looks like this:

Monday:

8AM-3PM- Language class

3PM-5PM- Club de Jovenes (and charla on STIs, teen pregnancy and birth control methods)

6-7- Dinner

7-8- The family all watches “our” favorite telenovela. It’s about a two girls that were in a horrible car crash. One dies but the doctors put the face of the dead girl on the body of the live one. She now works undercover trying to take out the huge drug lord who is in love with “her” (but remember, she is really the other girl). Oh, and they were married to the same man at some point, but I can’t figure out when that happened. It’s a Latin American soap opera and it’s amazing. It’s also on EVERY night during the week…. My parents (mostly my papa surprisingly) watch novelas from 7-11PM.

8-10PM- Homework: preparing charlas for the next day, reading technical books for the week etc.

Tuesday:

730AM- Charla in the Health Center and then the same as Monday.

Weds:

Same morning routine.

Group technical session in the afternoon: All trainees attend.

Weds afternoon technical test

Thursday:

730AM Chalra in Health Center then same as Monday.

Second meeting with Club de Jovenes.

Language proficiency test

Friday:

Technical training all day in Managua: 7AM-5PM

Saturday:

“Field visit”: We are traveling 4 ours north to 2 volunteers who work primarily in the Casas Maternas (The ministry of health is implementing institutionalized births and so these “houses” keep women who are 8 1/2 months pregnant, until they give birth in a hospital or a centro de salud.)

The Pan American Highway, shut down, before the ProcessionSaint Sebastian The Three Saints

What nightmares are made of....

Gaurd Dog and playmate Chanel

Sunday Breakfast

The Jungle, where I live!

My House! I live in the back

Another pic of my house, the hammocks and the jungle

Laying on the Hammock Reading

At least that was what I was doing when my papa came over and told me to get up and go out to the Carretera and “wait for the procession,” whatever that meant. So I went outside of my house to the main road. This road happens to be the Pan American Highway (PAH). The road you would take if you needed to drive from the US to….Im not sure, but at least Costa Rica. I consider it the 95 of Latin America. Of course that’s not really true because I cross it 5 times a day going and coming from class and Dolores. But yeah, there are huge trucks (like 95) and yeah they are going fast (30, not 70) but there are also cars, motorcycles, bicycles and pedestrians sharing the road.

When I got outside to the road I realized that things weren’t normal- first off there were no big trucks, or cars, or any other sort of motorized vehicle. Instead there were hundreds of “peddle taxis” and people in the PAH! Groups started forming on the side of the road and after about an hour of waiting (the urgency my papa expressed when I was in the hammock was pretty unnecessary, but also very Nicaraguan) the procession arrived! At first there were hundreds of people walking (some in costumes) then came the dancers.

The dancers are men and women with elaborate outfits on and large headdresses, interestingly much like the Gambay dancers in Bermuda- peacock plumes and all. And they wear white masks with bright blue eyes. They dance in a line, following a man with a huge shield who is supposed to represent a bull. I know this because I was attacked by the bull. He came up to me and hit me in the leg a couple of times with his huge shield, and the line of dancers (shield-less) followed suit, coming up to me but not hitting me. I still do now know if this happened because I am white or if I was just a random girl looking for a fight with a bull.

After the dancers (there were four groups of these dancers), came the saints! Three saints were carried from Diriamba to Jinotepe, through Dolores. The only saint I knew was Saint Sebastian- the patron saint of Diriamba. My mama explained the others, but I am not well-versed on my saints and found it hard to follow. Saint Seb is easy to identify because he has arrows coming out of his body with colorful strings attached to the ends. He also shares a birthday with my mama and so he is the patron saint of our household.

This story is really interesting because the PAH was shut down for hours. Approximately 5 hours! What, I asked, were the cars and trucks and supplies etc. doing while Carazo had our little fiesta in the streets? The answer: waiting. Today I realized I no longer live in the United States, and I think I like it.

I learned while working for Broadreach that writing about food is boring, no one really cares what you ate today. But I also think that it is impossible to talk about Nicaragua without talking about what I eat daily. Its interesting because it’s a major topic of discussion within the Peace Corps, between trainees and with our families. Not surprisingly, food is in the spot-light in this Latin American country.

I am lucky, my mama has had 8 other trainees and so she is used to picky eating. I am not a picky eater but am glad she’s had worse because I feel comfortable asking her to “please please please, put less rice on the plate!” or that I don’t need to drink fresh fruit juice (think: oranges, water and tons of sugar) three meals out of the day.

The Bad

Yes, I eat tons of rice (which is fried in oil before boiled) and beans a day. I used to love plantains…now, if I am lucky, I only eat them once a day. Everything is fried and veggies are difficult to come by.

The Good:

I am learning a ton. Because of my inability to relax around my family I prefer to be cooking with my mama than just sitting around and watching her cook. So I am making tortillas from scratch, empanadas and the occasional gallo pinto (fried rice and beans).

My breakfasts are amazing. I get fresh fruit salad of melon, watermelon, oranges, papaya, pineapples and bananas. My parents here have a small farm where they grow mandarins, oranges, bananas (at least 3 types that I can figure out), and plantains. So there is always fruit in the house for everyone in the family (and the various neighbors) to eat at will. They also have avocado trees which means fresh avocado at a majority of the meals.

Sunday Breakfast:

As I said before, every morning I have an amazing fresh fruit salad. This Sunday I woke up a little bit disoriented and sad. I immediately thought of my amazing fruit salad I was about to have, got out of bed unwillingly and made it to the kitchen. Much to my surprise, breakfasts are different on Sundays.

Disclaimer to Brandon- please stop reading.

My parents just sold 13 pigs (don’t be sad- we still have five. They sing me to sleep- and by sing I mean screech, wail and generally sound like they are being slaughtered all night) and we were lucky enough to receive a present from the buyer- some of our pigs in food form! I can safely say that Darla from Market Street Grill really has nothing on a traditional Nica breakfast.

Not only was breakfast from the very same pig I talked to the day before (also wished death upon the night before) but it was made with all different types of pig parts. We started with fried pig meat and fried pig fat. The meet was pretty good and I will just let you use your imagination regarding fried pig fat. The next course consisted of fried pig skin. This is something I’ve had before in Mexico and can confirm I am still not a huge fan of any type of fried skin. The third course is one for the books, and really embodies the idea of a grand finale! This particular type of sausage is black and is made with the blood of the piglet- I think it is called Modunga. My parents told me that its really good for women who’ve just given birth because there is tons of iron in the sausage (duh, its blood). Quite honestly I think I would have been ok with the sausage had I not known about the blood. That being said, I tried everything and even said that I liked everything except the fried skin (I just couldn’t bring myself to say that I prefer fruit salad over this elaborate affair).

I miss Darla.

Hola!

The past three days have been exhausting and from what Ive heard from other volunteers (there are three here with us until tomorrow to give a real persepective on being a volunteer), training is a crazy and tiring three months. There are 24 trainees, 19 girls and 5 boys. Supposedly the proportions are 60/40 and this group is just the exception, but who knows.

The most exciting thing we've completed over the past three days is a long long language assessment which placed us with other PCTs we will be living with for the next 3 months! I was placed in a town called Dolores, it is Carazo municipality, to the South East of Managua (the closest town is Jinotope if you are looking on a map). I was placed in the intermediate language group which is great- falling pretty much right in the middle in terms of my language skills. Its great because the advanced group (pretty much fluent) have to give charlas (health lectures) in a week, ha! I get to start the week after and will give about 5 over my time in training. I will also for a youth group, how you ask? who knows! Hopefully I will by the time Im expected to do it- in apporximately 2 weeks.

A typical week during training: Monday, Tuesday and Thursday we have intensive Spanish classes from 8AM-3PM and then "interactive homework". On Weds and Friday we have technical training classes in Managua (our towns are approximately 45 min from Managua and all within 20 min of one another).

I will be living with a host family. My fmaily is small; mother, father and brother. Sounds sort of like my family! One of the PCVs (Peace Corps Volunteers) here with us was the "son" of this family when he was a volunteer two years ago, so I have some inside scoop which is cool. Turns out I have my own bathroom, which is high living in comparison to other volunteer placements. I dont know how I scored something so sweet- especially because I dont need it- but I am happy to have it! My "mother" is pretty strict Ive heard, and will want me home by 9, which will be ok- Ill probably want to sleep anyway!

I will be with 3 other volunteers, Stephanie, Neil and James in Dolores. I will have my Spanish classes with them and we will all be together as a group for technical training.

Other than that, the only thing else I have to report has to do with the mass amounts of rice and beans I've already eaten- preparing to eat some more in the morning.

Yummm.

More soon, once I get to training site.

Hasta Luego,

Tucker

Hello friends and family!

January 19, 2010 is here, which means I am off to join the Peace Corps! I will be in DC tonight and then leave for the airport to go to Managua, Nicaragua early tomorrow morning. I have over-packed (surprise surprise) and will have to do some major re-arranging tonight after a long day of staging (learning all of the PC rules and regs before arriving).

Thank you, everyone, for your support and love over the past couple of months. Between finishing my thesis (which I did well on- you can now call me Tucker O’Donnell, MPH) and getting ready for the Peace Corps, it’s been a stressful time. I doubt my life will become less stressful in the PC, but it will definitely be a different type of stress!

I am communicating my adventures through a blog- the address is: http://tuckerodonnell.blogspot.com. I will try and update it as much as possible, but I apologize in advance for my sporadic updates because A) I am not a good journaler and B) who knows what my internet access will be! There are lots of mysteries about where I am going, who I am living with and what I will be doing.

A quick note about Haiti:

I have heard from some, but not all of my friends. It doesn’t necessarily mean the worst, infrastructure is still down. I have been lucky to hear about friends from friends and hope that trend continues.

If you have not donated and would like to please consider agencies which will use your entire donation to help the acute issues of the earthquake (and not go to administrative costs etc). I recommend the Clinton Foundation, Haitian Health Foundation, Partners in Health and the Red Cross.

Please do not donate to individuals traveling to Haiti in hopes to “do good”. My philosophy is that they will take away needed resources from the people such as food, water and shelter and if they were qualified to help, a reputable organization would hire them.

If you have donated, thank you! Remember that Haiti will be struggling with this disaster, in conjunction with their past issues, for many years to come. Please keep Haiti in your thoughts after the disaster crews have cleared. Rebuilding Port-au-Prince will require long-term efforts of sound policy, international and governmental cooperation, and continued support. There are 4x the number of people living in Port-au-Prince than it could infrastructurally hold- this is a real opportunity to rebuild PAP. It is also an opportunity to have non-governmental organizations, the government and international powers to work together and build a system of support which allows community participation. Unfortunately we have not seen that so far in this disaster. Haiti’s long history of occupation (particularly in the past 5 years of UN peace keeping involvement- MINUSTAH) and a corrupt government and police force have made the Haitian population weary of these types of situations where “super powers” are providing care for the people. Please keep that in mind when you hear news reports of “those Haitians” and the violence that is likely to occur, especially how it will be portrayed on the news in the US.

A good book to read on Haiti- although it focuses mostly on the rural plateau- is Mountains Beyond Mountains by Tracy Kidder. It over-glorifies Paul Farmer to some extent (only making his head bigger) but it ties the issues of Haiti, Public Health and development nicely together.

I look forward to seeing everyone next winter! Please email me, and when I get a mailing address- please write me letters!

Hasta Luego!

Love,

Tucker

Today, after much anticipation, my placement packet arrived from the Peace Corps! I have been waiting three years for this day- really, almost three years. I applied in May of 2007 and between traveling, grad school, medical clearane issues etc, I am scheduled to depart on January 20th, 2010. Thank you, Peace Corps, for giving me four (I mean, ugh hum) two months notice!

PC/Nica (Peace Corps Nicaragua) was not my first choice, or second, or even third. While applying to the PC they ask for "your top 3 regions of the world" where you would like to serve. My answers included SubSaharan Africa, South Asia and the South Pacific and I am off to Central America. Ha. Only the Peace Corps. After being bummed for about 30 seconds I realize that Nica has a lot of really great things going for it.

1) Its close! Its proximity to the US makes it easy for all of my friends and family to write me, send me care packages (please) and visit (pretty please!)

2) Nica is the second poorest nation in the Western Hemisphere which means I am moving up in the world! After spending a couple of months in Haiti (the poorest nation) this summer/fall Nica might provide greater access to internet, cell phone service (nica cell phones) and their power system (although unclear whether it will function) is the same as the US- so goodbye converters! Bucket showers, lack of electricity and large insects will be some of the wonderful amenities I can look forward to- but enough speculation- developing is developing and I tend to love developing countries!

3) Knowing Spanish fluently will definitely be benificial to my future career and employment.No matter how sexy "I can speak Nyanja" sounds, it probably wont be as useful after my two years of service.

So, Nicaragua it is. Google it. Wikipedia it. Peacecorps.gov it. I will post more about my specific job descriptions, the fun of packing for a 27 month "trip" and of course- updates from the field once I am there.

PS There is no spell-check? I apologize and also giggle because I refuse to write things in word, spell check it and then paste it in this box and thus, live with the bad spelling/grammar etc! Its all part of the experience right?