how to build a house

Well it has finally happened. I moved into my very own "casita" (little house), and it is nothing shy of perfect. When I originally brought up the idea of building one to my host family I was thinking it would take AT LEAST 2 months to motivate people into helping me out. But, within 3 days of expressing interest I was in the city buying my materials and within 3 weeks I was moved in! It helps to have 3 host brothers who are carpenters :)

Theres the gang getting the cement all mixed up to lay our first batch of bricks. All the kids loved helping...So the coolest part is being able to say that I built my own house.. Well, I was an active participant in the actual construction. They called me their "ayudanta" (helper), and help I did! I was the tool passer, the cement mixer and cement layer (sometimes), the ruler holder, the nailer-inner, the refreshment-giver, and for some reason always the dirtiest at the end of the day. I learned how to level the ground in order to make the foundation, and lay brick after brick after brick, measure each beam, make cuts with a saw, and make a cement floor. After awhile they even let me climb up on the ladder and nail in the wooden beams for the roof! All in all I have to say that the sum of its parts was just as great as the whole. In other words, the process of building the house was just as rewarding as getting to sleep in it.I have some photos of the work along the way... The actual final product is difficult to capture in a picture because its pretty well hidden in a grove of beautiful bushes..Below are a few shots in action, they are making the beams for my door...The barbed wire helps the cement stick..don't ask me more because I do not know.more to come-

The Ladies take a Retreat--

What a hell of a Holy Week I had. Here in Nicaragua, they don't just celebrate Good friday and Easter Sunday, they take the whole week off to go swimming and "vagar" as they say, which I think stems from the same word as vagabond because it means the same thing...to wander around, outside of your home turf. So a couple of Peace Corps ladies and I decided to make the most of it and head out to the North country of Honduras for an adventure... OK we had a motive to go, and I am not embarrassed to say that they consisted of Wendy's Frosties and a Microbrewery that's said to exist there. After almost 11 months of clear Bud-light-esque beer and our only Fast Food dining option being McDonald's, we decided we'd had enough, and we left and sought greater dining and drinking opportunities. If you can see what the name of the Bus that we took is called (WENDY), we took that as a sign from god that we were on the right path...

We had a fantastic time, from tuesday-sunday we were there, and without any problems! I couldn't have dreamed a more perfect vacation if I tried, it just seemed that everything worked out, in the most stress-free, easygoing way. We spent one day in the Capital, Tegucigalpa and it was refreshingly different then our own capital city of trashy Managua. There was history and depth in the buildings, and the city itself seemed to be dug right out of the mountain in which it resided. The taxi's were cheap, the hostels quaint, and the weather was cool and fresh. Let me preface by saying that I denied myself nothing when it came to food. None of us did..We came to eat, and eat we did....Wendy's, Dunkin Donuts, Chili's, and of course some local treats along the way. I feel so ashamed of the way I eat that now I am limiting myself to vegetables, fruits and water and beans until my next vacation. But we did enjoy ourselves every step of the way. The next day, we headed to the Lake of Yojoa where the brewery was. The ride up there was just breathtaking, as the country (UNLIKE Nicaragua) is still completely green and plush, and full of pine trees, and the blue ridges of the mountains painted the whole backdrop. Needless to say, the getting to-and-from part was not a problem given the beautiful views and landscape to keep us occupied.
And Finally, day 3 we arrived at the brewery! It was nestled deep in a jungle-tropical forest, filled with chirping birds, and all kinds of exotic flora and fauna. The owner, Bob, is originally from Oregon, and moved here to start a Brewery. He took a liking to us, and said we were the coolest Peace Corps volunteers he has yet to meet. I have to agree. Anyway, he took us out on his own boat one day on the lake for a swim and a good time. It was a great time until he asked my to steer. Well for some reason I wasn't looking at all at where I was going, just focused on the motor completely, and almost took us right into the canal bank. How embarrassing! I redeemed myself later when I gave it another round and succeeded. It was really nice of him to take us out, and he said all we have to do is promise to come back and visit. Will do!
Anyway at the brewery he made a Raspberry Ale, and Apricot Lager, A Pale Ale, and Amber Ale, and best of all, A PORTER! There was a pool, and good music, and tucked away in this little local boating village, off the beaten path. The 7 of us, just enjoyed ourselves..We played cards, we ate good food (blueberry pancakes with amazing hash browns and REAL bacon were definitely my highlight), and of course drank great beer, for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
To wrap up the perfect week, we spent our last Saturday morning, on a bird-watching adventure with none-other then Sir Malcolm Glasgow, Professional Bird Enthusiast. See his foot long goatee? And he might just be the most enlightening person I've ever met.


We woke up at sunrise, and fully decked out in our most birdy outfits we headed to the lake, with binoculars of course. We saw Baltimore Orioles (they really know the places to migrate to if you want my opinion), we saw 4 toucans, a bunch of different herons, and parakeets, and a regular old vulture! Also a handful of Bats and water lilies, and other incredible sights that I will surely never forget.

All in all, the vacation was fabulous, the company and the money spent was very reasonable for a week ($200). Going back to my site was the hardest part.. Especially when I found out that a cow had eaten my entire garden while I was gone. I am furious. But hey, everything has to eat, right? I don't blame the cow, because the poor things have nothing to eat, so I will just try again in may.

'Side of the Road' Blues

So here I am, sitting on the side of the highway...resting atop a heap of sacks filled with cement; yes, it is me, the chosen one, the weakest link left here to guard these materials that just weighed too much for the poor truck in which we were all riding. Clearly, with 1000 bricks, 500Lbs of cement, 2 mountains of sand, and 15 boards of wood + a super steep incline that stretches upward for 2 miles...an overload is bound to happen. So there we were; chuggin, chugging, "we think we can we think we can"...Well as it turns out..we couldn't.

My truckload of construction materials deemed too much for just one trip. So we quickly realize after our truck starts rolling backwards that maybe lightening the load would be a smart idea.
Well we got up and over that big bad hill, but not without a struggle. My poor host dad and the helper of the truck driver, running up the hill behind the struggling truck, boulders in hand, for each time the truck stalls out, they are there to wedge the rock under the tires as a secondary form of brakes. And here I am, unable to do a thing. Lets be real. I am the weak, helpless woman who daintily trails alongside clenching fists and gasping at every screeching halt the truck makes. My host dad, wheezing, unable to catch his breath, and all I can think about is how we are going to have to turn this truck around and head straight for the hospital for his athsma attack in which I am surely responsible for.
If you didn't catch on, I bought my materials to make my very own room! $570 worth of materials. But I can't think of a price high enough to pay these poor souls for doing this man labor, that surely they did not sign up for. I can just imagine the work ahead. I must, however, insist on helping. I have to prove them wrong, I am not helpless as a matter of fact! Give me a job, designate me a chore; Zinc carrier, brick loader, tool man. I am desperate to participate in this procedure; tedious as it may become.
Of course I have time to think about all of this as i sit here laughing at the magnitude of the situation I am currently in. Literally, sitting on the side of the road, a highway, a lonely one at that; all the familiar faces of the bus drivers that pass me by, or pass me along from here to esteli and I; jaws open, smiles wide, heads shaking like "what the hell has this crazy girl gotten herself into?" and I just laugh and wave back as they pass by, knowing I will have a lot of explaining to do the next time I see them.
But I am completely comfortable, and it is nice to sit back and acknowledge the progress I have made...to be perfectly in my element without a worry in the world (well except for the burns I am enduring on my nose), but who worries about that anyways.....
In other news, We have growth in the garden! Cucumbers are here! Little as they may be, it is evident that my work is paying off! Take a look at life on my little garden and tree nursary!

Notes on a garden, and other thoughts

I got malaria. Now I can check that off my list of things I'd hoped would never happen to me.
It wasn't all it was cracked up to be... Just a fever that came only at night. Nothing a little chloraquoll cant fix! It has been a long time since I have last blogged, but there hasn't really been too much going on. I hosted a training in my site and in return was given 4 Drip Irrigation Systems for individual producers in the community. A drip irrigation system will work wonders, because it provides a steady source of water, even during the dry season, so that people can have gardens in the dry, unproductive months of Summer (Jan-May). I am working with each of the four families to quickly break ground and plant this week, so that we can harvest before the first rain in May. I went around yesterday, checking the progress of each family and was pleasently suprised to find that all of them had prepared the land, and were just waiting for me to bring seeds and help them make planting beds. I was VERY impressed with their iniative, and cannot wait to see how they turn out! We are growing zucchini, cucumber, melon, watermelon, tomato, chili pepper, and sweet bell peppers, beets and carrots..and one very brave soul wants to tackle head lettuce which I say brave because it is sucesptible to plagues and pests. Well, the easy part is over, (the planting of seeds). Now I just await the world of growing and producing vegetables that lay ahead. I am working with 4 families who have each recieved one of the Drip Systems. We are testing it during these final months of dryness, and once rains come they won't need to use it....

I never thought I would ever say, in my life "How beautiful is this fencing", until I made one. To be able to stand back and look at the final product is truly an awe inspiring experience. From the cutting down of posts with a machete, to digging the 2 feet deep holes that hold up the giant tree trunk posts. Thats not all, then there is the hanging of the chicken wiring.... 7x7 meters squared, this area needed to be protected from the pests, formally known as patio chickens....They will eat everything in your garden, so it is for this reason we come prepared with 2meter high chicken wire...They'll be no flying over our fence and stealing our vegetables, THANK YOU VERY MUCH. Oh this chicken wire, needed to be tightened, lifted, hoisted, pulled and stapled in every which way...a way that kept me fully occupied all day long. We are preparing this area for a couple of seasons of growing vegetables, all depending on how quickly it rusts...But Oh, the grandure. When the sun is setting, making everything look siholuetted, the metal is glimmering, while the fence stands tall and sturdy, beaming with its posture that we have created. This tanglible, work of art...and now we are only at the skeleton in this grand whole that is a garden. The sum of its parts are certainly grea, but the whole is what we are counting on. Two long months of watching, and weeding, caring and hopefully if all goes as planned, a harvest to follow.

Other thoughts, on personal space. Well, it really doesn't exist here. When riding on the bus, if I am lucky enough to find an empty seat, my eyes light up, and I cherish it for the slim moments I have, alone, fully stretching my legs and arms, and lifting my head out the window for some fresh air...For I know what the next bus stop brings...Somehow with my luck my seat always gets picked by mothers heavily baggaged with infants, diaper bags, and a handful of other children, all which she stuffs into her lap and soon after spilling onto the last bit of dividing space that existed between my seat-mate and I. So there we are, the 5 of us, smudged into a 2 seater in the newly renovated school-busses we all used in elementary school, to take us to god knows where.... Sweaty arms pressed against one another, maybe the kid is eating a juicy mango, well sure as hell is hot, that mango doesnt stay on there side of the seat. Or maybe the other kid behind me is eating a popsicle. How do I know? Oh, its kind of a suprise... Not til I lift my head up off the seat to discover that her sticky hands preceded my newly showered main of hair, and now I must go to the city with fudgsicle matted in my ponytail. Imagine, sweltering heat, loud ranchero music blaring, useless, solely-for-the-asthetic-value window curtains that blow into my face every 2 seconds because there is no way to tie them down; maybe the baby is hungary next to me, or tired, the only thing I can tell is that they are unhappy. How do I know this? Oh the crying, screaming, kicking and wailing that takes place in the very seat next to me, and more often then not, on top on my lap.

Or sometimes, when luck really slips by and I am left to take a half-occupied seat, me being on the outside, the real fun begins. The next stop, of course, yields a handful of passangers left without seats. One might think, oh, the next bus passing will scoop them up, for certainly there is no room left on this one. Well...Let me clear it up for you. They let those passangers pile on in...Aisles are fair game too. And When I say cram, I don't even have the literary capacity to full engage you in what I mean. I am going to say this in a way as politically correct as possible, but you know those descriptions we have all read of the accounts during world war 2? the tight conditions of the cattle cars that transported victims to the Concentration Camps?? I am sorry but I can't think of a better image. One can't help but feel like cattle, 3 people wide, each space in the aisle, in butt to butt, bag to bag, packed in so tightly that if there were an accident and the bus tipped I feel safely assured that the injuries would be minimal, and the people would be safely rotated without falling out because of how tightly we are packed in. Even the cobrador (the man who you pay for your bus passage) has to literally wedge on his tippy toes through each pair of standers. For those of us that are sitting , I think you can gather what that means. It means hips, and butts, and other organs from the waist down smushing your arm and in actuality the whole side of your body that is outwards toward the aisle. I want, so badly to nudge them, to reclaim the space i have claimed as my own. But then I remember, this is not a airplane where everyone gets there own arm rest and recliner chair. Any available space is fair game.

Every time I ride one of theses "rush hours" if we can call them that..I think, oh no..there is absolutly NO way in hell that one more person is stepping onto this bus...But to my disbelief, each time, they are picked up. And in the small, very rare chance that the aisles reach the point of absolute suffocation, the just stick the remaining passangers on the roof! I am serious! (luckally being a woman has its benefits, because being the "helpless and weak" women, we mostly always are offered a seat, or at least a pocket of free space in the aisle to post up during our ride..the roof is left to the young, striking adolescents who live out there macho, I am the king of the world scenarios while riding atop of those busses (they have racks up there you know) Luckally, the route buses I take are only for a 1/2 hour at most to take me to the nearest city..But there have been times where I have been the unlucky passanger, and have stood in an aisle for 3 hours to get to my ideal destination. So in conclusion, anyone who is planning on visiting me, don't forget to pack your patience! or Xanax!

"Action is about living fully. Inaction is the way we deny life. Inaction is sitting in front of the TV everyday for years, because you are afraid to be alive and take the risk of expressing what you are. Expressing what you are is taking action. You can certainly have many great ideas in your head but what makes the difference is the ACTION. Without action upon an idea, there will be no manefestation, no results, and no rewards" - The Four Aggreements.

I am trying to live out exactly what this passage is saying. It is one thing to think and talk about the things you want to do, but actually doing them, whether fail or success, is the divide.

What can I do with chicken poop?

That thing above? He is my arch nemasis. He keeps me up at all hours of the night, and annoys me with his "cock"yness all day long.

Well, this has been one big week and a half. All I have to show for it is lots of sunburns, blisters, and back pain. I am really out of shape and apparently I am not the only one to notice it. According to my nica friends the first thing they noticed about me since I have been back is, how fat my arms have gotten! I also got asked if I was pregnant the other day...how special. No I am not pregnant, I just have a tire around my waist. Or a muffin top as we call it..but they don't understand what that means because they don't have muffins...but tires are plentiful.So lots of things have happened, I don't have any particular order so I will just start from the top.

I went to this glorious canyon of somoto with my friends last weekend, and It was absolutly incredible. It was like a grand canyon that you could climb around in and jump off at any point to swim in the water. I went with a group of 7 including myself, unfortunetly I was one of two girls amongst the group of idiots that are my friends. We woke up early saturday morning, got loaded up on bread and gatorade and headed out for a hell of a day trip. We crossed rivers, and completly fell and submerged ourselves at various points during the hike. We jumped off cliffs into crystal blue streams of warm river rocky water. And climbed more cliffs, and sang folk songs at the tops of our lungs. It was really special, and I am anxious to go back.

Lets see, My goat had babies, and they are too cute. A chicken tried to lay eggs in my bed 3 different times in one day. I had to whip her into shape. It was not funny, of all the beds to lay eggs in, why mine! ? I already have enough troubles with mosquitos and lice, and sleeping in general. Oh, the joys of living in the country! I also woke up the other morning to my host brother skinning a pig, all that was left was the head, fully in tact and the eyes bulging. Heres a photo! Just some of the daily pleasures I take part in....

This was to make a typical nicaraguan food called "nacatamale" its corn meal, veggies, and pork all wrapped up in a bananna leaf and then boiled until its delicious. I have the luxury of enjoying one every week since my host mom makes them as another means of income. Speaking of income, it is becoming really apparent to me the wrath of the poverty that occurs in the dry season. In other words, if the farmers have nothing to harvest, then they are without any means of income. They are working for pennies in the tobacco fields during the dry season. Anyawys... I have spoken to various students who cannot afford the bus fare to ride to and therefore aren't able to go to school. For a measly fare of 50cents. And my first instinct is to give them the money, but then I think about not wanting to become a source of income for every person who cannot afford something. Although the money is not an issue, its the greater issue of sustainability that is at hand here. I had another issue, a host sister told me that she can't go to school because she has no backpack, pens or notebooks. Her mom is a single mother and cannot find work at this time. So, without thinking I gave her a drawstring adidas bag, a couple of MDVIP pens (thanks mom), and the only notebook I had without any writing in it. I don't know if this was the right thing to do, but my impulses couldn't help themselves...an education over a couple of notebooks and pens? It is complexes like these that I am going through each day. I wish there was something I could do....I guess that is the whole trouble with development..You can't just "fix" it.

Changing subjects, during the week I had a date with my friend laurie who lives just up the road from me and luckally has her own place. We had a much needed girls night, and made some serious food in the kitchen! We made saag paneer, which is a typical indian dish consisting of spinach and indian cheese. But we used the things we had at hand which was the swiss chard I had grown in my garden. ( Look at my harvest! )

and the cheese the old lady up the road had just made. It was a success! We made garlic naan (indian tandoori style flat breads) to go with it. We paired the spicy dish with passionfruit-mandarin and lime rum-ritas. Delicious to say the least. The next day we made handmade pizza, homemade pizza sauce, and topped with freshly made cheese and basil and parsley. We watched sex and the city, and another awesome movie called Charlie Bartlett. It really felt like a sunday in the states; rainy, grey, and with the greatest company of all, your girlfriends.

Below is the rainbow that came after the rains, and the pizza that we mastered, from scratch.

The week to follow was a great one. I got knee deep in cow poop and chicken droppings, all for the sake of a compost pile. My host dad loves doing projects and because it is the dry season, he is left without much to occupy his time. He has told me that he is really interested in working with me in making a medicinal plant garden filled with garlic, ginger, onion, oregano, aloe, dill, etc. But first, we needed to make some compost to improve our soil quality.

A compost is an equal balance of:

carbon sources (browns)--like leaves, nut shells, sawdust, corn cobs husks or any other husks, and nitrogen sources (greens)-- animal poop (cow, chicken, goat, pig, NOT human), egg shells, ash, fruit and vegetable scraps, etc. and sunlight, and water of course to keep things moist so that microorganisms can break down all the nutrients and turn them into usable, incredible soil to improve the quality of the plants one is growing. Our soil happens to be very clay-ish and therefore hard for roots of plants to pass through and develop properly.

So, my host brother has a chicken coop where he raises chickens to sell as a secondary source of income. So the chickens need "beds" in which he uses rice husks. Anyway the rice husks, get thrown away every 44 days, and they are beautifully coated with chicken poop by the end of the cycle. In other words we have a PERFECT balance of ingredients to make a compost. We started by preparing a giant 2x2 meter bed, about 2 feet deep. unfortunetly the land is what they call, 'pura piedras'-PURE ROCKS, and our first 2 days consisted of digging out the clay filled soil to remove giant boulders and rocks from our hole. It took all morning and afternoon, and I couldn't help but notice the profound strength that my host dad possessed. I wanted to ask him, "Dont you ever say to yourself, 'boy I am getting too old for this', or ' wow, my back is really starting to hurt from all this physical labor' ". But no, he is trooper, and I felt like I had to keep up with him seeing as though I was a third his age, and he was still trucking. I am hanging with the big dogs. He, unlike me came prepared for the sun and unfortunetly I forgot my sunblock, hat and long-sleeved shirt. So I was hurting the next morning.

Thats my host dad- what a guy!

Anyways, the next day was the day we made the compost pile. First we had to collect 125lbs of cow poop, and boy was it HEAVY! I had a bucket full that must've weighed 50lbs and he had a saco of fresh, wet cow poop. We were quite the duo in the cow pen, literally picking up the poop that had just come out of there butts. All of the cows took a liking to me and sooner or later I was surrounded by 15 huge mama cows. I got scared but all my host dad said to do is give em a grunt (ruuhh) and bop them on the head. So I did, and it worked. The cows got back to being milked by there young. Heres a little picture of a mother and her lil guy---

So after our grand haul, we made it back to the site of construction. Basically the pile consisted of layers, rice husk, then dirt, then ashes, then cow poop, then water. Repeat 8x and there you have a compost pile. So around noon we finished up, tired, and covered in feces. It was a real day of work and it felt good. Everyone had a good laugh about how dirty we were. It attracted a lot of attention from the community. They wanted to know what was the purpose of what we were doing, and wanted in on the action. Hopefully more people will want to get involved in this potential community project.

Turning pages a little, there seems to be a surplus of this rice husk/chicken poop combo and even with our huge pile of compost we were left with tons of extras. So I asked around in the community and found out that you can take this and mix it with salt and molassas and turn it into cow feed. So the next project I do is experiment with this and maybe it can become a small buisness oppertunity.

Last thing that happened this week, was my host sister and cousin took me to there secret swimming hole that is on their family property. It was a little afternoon adventure that turned out to be a blast for all of us. It was my 17 year old sis ingrid, and my cousin 8 years old, paola. Little 3 year old linda wanted to come but we couldn't bring her because it was too much hiking. We explored the creek by our house and then followed it to the land that belongs to my host dad and then decided to go to this swimming hole. It was so much fun, as we walked my sister showed me the coffee plants and the mango and avocado trees of our family. She told me different uses for different plants that we saw along the way..She also told me stories about coming here when she was a little girl. So we get there, and it looks like a secret cove that is in the middle of a paradise! huge rock walls surrounded this little sun-kissed hole of clear water, that looked too delightful to pass up. We decided to take a dip, and ended up staying for hours...playing tag in the water, jumping off rocks, pretending we were models in a soap opera. All in all it was a great laugh, and I could tell I wasn't the only one enjoying myself. We were all giddy for the rest of the day, and all the other girls and I decided that we needed to go back and have a girls day at the "redonda" as it is called.

Well, That is all I have to report for this weeks little jammer. I hope you all aren't freezing your butts off in the snow-ma-gadden or whatever they are calling it. Oh by the way, I have a funny little story about that before I go. So my host brother calls me in the living room the other night and tells me that "maryland is on the news" I couldn't believe my ears, so of course I run in to find out that they are reporting on the snow fall. Well, there must have been a glitch in the system because what was reported was that "14 FEET of snow had fallen". I about died when I heard this; I knew it had been snowing a lot but I couldn't believe this . My heart fell when I thought of my mom and alice stranded at home with roof high snow. I left to call them immedietly the next morning only to find out that about 4 feet had fallen during the whole storm. WHEW.

la vida campesina

I am one day back, and it really feels great, I must admit. As you can see in my picture, I soon realized the depth of my dads presence when I was shopping and came across a MSI jersey and a Montgomery Soccerplex polo in the store. In the entire 8 months I have been here, not once have I seen anything even from maryland, let alone something this relevent to my dad. I took this as my first sign.

After my training I had a hard time going back to my site, because I was worried about being pressured to work and at the same time go through my grieving accordingly. I had a couple days of alone time where I ended up thinking too much, and then I realized that I needed to go back and give my community a chance. AND I AM SO GLAD I DID!! All the things I was worried about have gone and left my worried mind. I was greeted so warmly by my community, and instantly I felt better. When I came back, my host sister presented me to my family and said "your daughter has arrived". Kisses, hugs, smiles, affection filled the room. I found out tht all my plants had been tended for, the greens garden (all my lettuces and swiss chard and cucumbers) had been watered, my cilantro bed has been cared for and watered every day, my room had been maintained. They even saved a pile of chicken poop so that we could start a compost together like I had said I'd wanted to do before I'd left! they didn't forget! My host dad had put a huge shelf in my room so that I could put away all the things I had brought back from the states. I had left some laundry that I didn't get to do before I'd left, and when I came back it was all folded and done for me. It was evident that they missed me...

In other words I was just blown away by the hospitality of my host family and my community in general. Not one person told me how sorry they were, or instigated talk of my dad or anything like that. They were just so happy to have me back, and I for the first time since I have been back in nicaragua, I really felt wanted and like I was in the right place. All the projects I had started before I left hadn't been forgotten about (my animal concentrate project). I had anxious and interested community members approach me yesterday that I didn't even tell. It turns out that my host brother had been collecting opinions from the community while I was gone so we could generate a needs assesment when I got back. He was thinking of it all along! The little girl who I live with wouln't leave my side all day..she kept playing with my hair and giving me hugs, and all of the kids wanted to show me the presents they'd gotten for christmas.

And on top of it all, my goat (se llama pellybuey) had 2 babies last night! she was supposed to give birth around christmas, but my host dad said she waited for me to come home so I could be there for it. I feel so honored. I don'r know if you all have seen a baby goat, but boy are they cute! I tried to milk it unsuccesfully...oh well there is always tomorrow. I will take pictures and put them on here this weekend.

It seems like I have a lot to keep me busy this week at least, and I am excited to get back into the swing of things. I am sorry if this entry seems a little wordy, but I am very emotional right now, and well I tend to talk alot when I am feeling this way. This is not the last time you will here from me! As we say here, Hasta la proxima vez! (until next time!) VA PUES (go well!)

Here's to new begninngs!

Alright...Welcome, or bienvenidos to all. With the new year, I decided to jump on the blogging-bandwagon instead of sending those long emails to explain the many strange events which are my life. When I brought up the idea to some of my PC friends, they looked at me as if I had just discovered the television...Apparently I am the only one who is doing things the hard way and living here blogless. SO....I Brought back my laptop from the states to write entries while I am in my site, and then post them once I get to Esteli. If I can figure it out, I will be able to post videos and pictures as I go. But lets take it one step at a time. This last month has, to say the least...taken the wind out from under me. I have, and still am going through one of the toughest battles I have yet to fight, but somehow, I am able to move forward. I don't know what it will be like going back to my site, and trying to pick up where I have left off. I kind of feel like I am starting over, from scratch. And I am so overwhelmed with everything that I don't think I have even given myself a chance to even get hit with the weight of reality...But here in the land of alone time, I am sure it'll come sooner or later. One of the things I realized while I was home, is that having such an amazing group of friends in Nicaragua made the going back bridge a lot easier to cross. I was greeted warmly in the airport by 6 of my friends, with posters and screaming chants of welcome. It felt really nice to be back with them. We went together to my own city of Esteli, because lucky for me, it was here that we were to have a week of training!

It is Friday the 29th of January and our agriculture group has just finished our first IST (In-Service Training). We did all sorts of interesting things, like make Drip Irrigation Systems, Make cheese, and learn about medicinal plants and how to process them into concentrated tinctures (Syrups), and other usable products. It was just like being in training again, a lot of standing around while watching a few people do things. No I am being too harsh, we did participate some...So I guess I will just start from the top.

A drip irrigation system (for those of you who don't know) is a device that is used in agriculture all over the world. It is an especially good alternative to typical watering methods in third world countries who don't have access all year to rainwater, or runninng water. In my case I am lucky to have running water all year, but the rain only comes from may-november. So there are these systems, very simple, that run water through tubing from a central barrel, to garden beds. The tubes have special holes that "drip" out water slowly, therefore watering your garden without acutally having to physically water it with a hose, or a watering can (which is my primary mode). It uses less energy, and is more efficent in the long run. So, our group built 4 in a community that happened to be located right up the road from my site. It felt great to get dirty and sunburnt again. Although I must admit, this time around since I have stopped biting my nails, I enjoy scooping dirt out of the ground much less, since now I have to maintain them. :)

So on the drive back to the city, my boss Bayardo, told me he would swing by my house with the whole aggie gang so that I could drop off my luggage and see my family for a quick minute and say hello, I am alive and I will be back soon. WELL, let me just say it was way too overwhelming. I was greeted by pretty much everyone in my family (40+ people) running up to me with hugs and kisses and huge smiles. I could not even find words to say. It was like being some sort of gringa royalty or celebrity, not to say I didn't enjoy it, but just my family being there alone was a lot, PLUS the added density of all my fellow group members and bosses etc. I'll tell you one thing, all the boys in my group can't wait to come back and visit me after getting a look at some of the very cute girls in my family. AND not only are they cute, but they are 18years old, single, in college, and without a baby...let me just tell you that combination is harder to find in nicaragua then a pair of sunglasses in the ocean!
The days to follow in training were very cool. We got to go to this finca (farm) that grows medicinal plants and herbs organically, and then dries and processes them into various medicinal products, like tea, soaps, syrups, etc. Some of the herbs we worked with were:
aloe- which is very good for your hair and skin and also used to help treat stomachache ,
garlic-which is an anti-fungal, anti-parisital, anti-bacterial, and a really good cleanser internally. It is also used to help repel pests in the garden by making a tea of garlic and chile +water. I was told it is really good for your nails too, so I made some garlic oil and rub it onto my cuticles and nails to strengthen them. I highly reccommend it if you can stand the smell! it helps me keep the boys away! :)
lemongrass- which is used for many things, teas and to help with stomach troubles.
lemon balm (or citronella)- is used for repelling mosquitos and also if ingested can help with insomnia and sleep discomfort.
Chamomile -is used to also calm nerves, and help with sleeping.

We worked with others like oregano, basil, wormwood, etc. but the above were the most interesting to me. Anyway we took dried leaves of the various herbs and mixed it with either alcohol or boiling water. and let them seep into a very concentrated liquid version of the leaves. We then made sweet syrups that children or adults can use (kind of like tryminic) to heal various health problems. I made on with mentha (mint) for stomachaches. We also made polmades which are vasaline, and beeswax based and then mixed with the strong concentrations we had made earilier. I made on with chamomile ( I am using it as lip balm) and one with garlic (as a nail treatment). At the end of the day, the director gave each of us 25 plants, and a bag of different seeds so that we can give the same information out in our own communities! I love when we get seeeds, as you know how hard they are to come by.

The cheese making- well it was very cool. I took a video but am not sure how to upload it onto here. I also have pictures as well. We took milk, and mixed it with sour whey to separate. After that we drained the liquid and cooked the cheese until it resembled something like mozzerella, but certainly was not. We got to eat it afterwards. Very cool. I am going to work on pictures for this so you can see. Well that is all for now. I will write again soon- hopefully!