Nicaragua

Greetings from Managua! I´m sorry that I haven´t updated this in awhile, I´ll try to do a little catch up.

Let me start off by saying thank you for all your prayers regarding my health. As of 6 days ago, I have been healthy! (That means my diarhea stopped six days ago). Praise the Lord!

So, the week after we got back to San Jose from Punta Mona was full of lectures regarding economics, politics, the environment, CAFTA, indigenous rights, and all sorts of things. We also visited the US Embassy, which was an interesting experience to say the least. It was a very full week, and we learned a lot.

The next week we traveled to the Monteverde region and stayed in an ecolodge type place, which is actually a Unversity of Georgia satellite campus. We spent the week visiting different fair trade coffee farms and women´s cooperatives. It was just what we needed after seeing the poverty in Honduras, a little hope that changes can be made, and that fair trade and cooperatives really are making a difference in many areas. We had a few lectures regarding the Monteverde cloud forest, and also fair trade and the cooperative. Fair trade is basically when the farmers or producers are given a living wage for the products that they make. Often it involves cutting out the middleman who normally recieves all of the profits. Translation=fair trade is awesome and is changing lives in central america. We also spent a few nights in homestays within San Luis, the area surrounding the lodge. It was very interesting to see the differences between these families and our Honduran families, and the material wealth that ecotourism has brought to the families in this area. Also, it was a very encouraging experience. After our Honduran homestays, I felt that I would never learn spanish and that I had no skills whatsoever, they were so hard to understand. However, rural Costa Ricans have perfectly clear spanish, and it was so exciting when we could carry on full conversations and understand everything each other said! We did a canopy tour (zipline) in the cloud forest, which was breathtaking. It was a great week.

We then returned to San Jose for second half of Semana Santa (Holy Week), and Parents´Weekend! Thats right, I got to spend 4 days with my Mommy! It was so wonderful to get to see her, and to meet some of the other parents. We went to a parade of the Stations of the Cross in downtown Cartago (the old capital city), which was very impacting. Also, we visited a volcano (inactive) and did some other fun, touristy things. It was a great weekend, and almost like a mini-vacation.

On Monday morning, we packed up and rode a bus to Nicaragua. It was about a 10 hour ride, 2 hours of that being spent crossing the border. Costa Rica felt so much more like the States, entering Nicaragua, it was clear that we were back in Central America, and its good to be back. These last few days we have spent attending more lectures and touring the old downtown Managua, some highlights being visiting the National Palace and talking with a man (clearly suffering from posttraumatic stress) who fought the Honduran Contra forces in the 80s. It was pretty impacting watching him as he described how he killed a Honduran woman ¨just like me¨(and pointing to me), and then talking about how he continually asks God´s forgiveness, and then showing us his battle scars. He even had his name tatooed on his back before he fought so that his family would be able to identify his body if he dies. It was a difficult experience. Also, we visited Somoza´s old palace, which has now been converted into a memorial and museum for Sandino (take that Somoza).

Yesterday we visited the US Embassy. It was a much better experience that visiting the embassy in Costa Rica. It was very interesting to hear the US perspective on Daniel Ortega and his new administration. The foreign service officer began by saying ¨our archnemesis from the 80s¨ is now back in power once again, however, we are trying to make a working relationship with him. It is interesting to hear how the FSLN (Sandinista party) has changed over the last 20 years.

Today we visited a woman who works as a union organizer in the Zona Franca (Free Trade zones = maquilas). She worked in maquilas herself until she got fired for her union work. She had a lot of great things to say about free trade and what it has done within Nicaragua. She continues to work creating and organizing unions, in order to further the rights of maquila workers throughout Nicaragua.

We then visited a microcredit organization today, and learned about their work with small business owners. Over and over we are hearing how it is access to credit that makes the difference in the lives of poor Central Americans, giving them what they need to take those steps out of poverty.

Tomorrow we leave for Esteli, where we will have a 3 night homestay. After that we will be doing some sort of service project through Seeds of Learning. We´ll then return for a few more days in managua, and then we´ll be through with our time in Nicaragua. Please pray for safety as we travel within Nicaragua, and that we will continue to learn a great deal and have open minds and hearts.

Love and miss you all!
Emily