Hey yooo
So I landed in El Salvador today around 8 in the morning. I think its the same time zone.
Quick historyTyranical government for 60 yrs. 10+ yr genocide during the 80´s. Peace resolution in 1992.
Know maybe you know a lot more than you did?
A quick note tambien. The food in Nicaragua is usually beans, rice, bananas, meat of some sort, a sour salad and some juice.
The food in El Salvador fucking rocks the socks off of nica food.
We are staying at this place called the Oasis in San Salvador and maybe the food is organic but it tastes soooo good. It turns your mouth alive with flavors that nicaragua have convinced me didn´t exist in Central America.
Learned about the history of El salvador today. Damn messed up as you can see by the histroy lesson. But here unlike Nicaragua there is more of a truth commision which involves testimonies given by people who were involved in the war. Tonight we recieved an amazingly powerful and daunting story of bad-assness by this ex-guerilla. Which I would love to talk about now but have to let it settle and will indulge all interested parties in on this history when I have more time on the comp.
Hate to say but its really nice to be outside of Managua. Word the fuck up.
PAZ
Thursday, October 18, 2007
Monday, October 15, 2007
CheckALo
Okay its been a long minute since I last posted and I gots lots to say. Oh yah...
Actually now that I am sitting trying to think about what to write it is slowly not coming to me. Must be the humidity?
I returned from the coast with visions of getting a month long pass for this dance class next to the university where I take my language classes. Dreams were floating in my head of becoming an amazing dance partner for the ritmos latinos. And then they all melted away when I entered the class. So I was thinking that the class would be partner dancing of salsa and cumbia and other sorts of movement with some sort of instruction. However my friend Rachael and I were sorely disappointed. It was a class of ritmos latinos but really it was latin jazzercize... There was an instructor and he was a dude and there were a ton of womens in mostly tight spandex who had obviously participated in this class before because they could keep up with the instructor who I think always threw in an extra three steps. SO I couldn’t keep up with anything and it must have been good for my soul to look such a fool in front of a group of total strangers. I feel like I can dance a little better to reggeaton now but nothing else. That was kinda cool I don´t think I am going back I just need to find the bars that offer nightly lessons.
We have been talking about the culture of peace in class this last week and part of that was listening to Eddy Perez one of the main dudes who’s organization offers education and after school programs to kids who live in CHURECA, which is the subdivision that surrounds and is part of the city dump of Managua. The families that live there actually work and live in the dump. They do everything from collecting their food, supplies, and shelter, to finding plastic and aluminum to recycle. Managua doesñ´t have much of a recycling program so this is like a human recyclery but it is much more tragic than that because these peeps really just live off the garbage and there is little concern for health or education and it is nearly as simple as living to survive to live... There are interesting dichotomies here in
We are going to
There is more to tell about this past week and
-paz-
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
Where the HeLl am I
SO I recently returned from the Atlantic coast on Sunday of this week and I am back in Managua. First and fore most it is not at all like any other part of Nicaragua. It seems totally like its own country. The majority of the people there are creole or mestizo. There are also many indigenous tribes on the atlantic coast. I was in Orinoco which is in the southwest side of the pearl lagoon. The main tribe there is Garifuna but they are quickly losing their heritage and trying to rebuild it.
The Atlantic coast has a very interesting history. At the moment there are two autonomous regions; the north and the south regions which are both very large pieces of land and rich in natural resources. Anyway Columbus came by and didn't much care for it. Eventually the Atlantic coast became a british protectorate. At this time the coast had a king and a government that followed the british style. then America wanted to build a canal through Nicaragua and persuaded the brits to give up the coast as a protectorate. America never built the canal but they did help the pacific side of Nicaragua fight against the atlantic side. However the pacific soldiers didn't know the american soldiers were for them so all they did was ask them to help them flee and the atlantic side some how got out of it. The atlantic side sometimes asked the british to help when the pacific side encroached on their autonomy and sometimes the brits helped and sometimes didn't. Anyway the tribes and regions of the atlantic eventually got their asses kicked and were tricked into signing over all their rights under the government of Zelaya in the early 1900's. Then came Samoza and things got darker and bloodier. So only in 1980 did they once again receive autonomy under the sandinistas and they only got similar human rights in 1987 and are working now on what they want exactly as an autonomous region.
So that is a brief semi-inaccurate history of the atlantic coast. And i went there. Most of the population is black and they talk in a sweet rastafarian creole.
I was in a group of 8 and we stayed in the hostel of Miss Rebecca. Who was a large lovely creole nurse who worked in the health clinic of Orinoco. We were there for 4 days and nights. We swam in bath temperature water and danced Garifuna dances nearly every day. We ate fried fish once and some of the best fried chicken i've ever had for a couple of meals. But we had little seafood concerning our position on the globe. We were taught Garifuna drumming and dancing by artistic leaders of the community, and we had members of the community like a priest, judge, teacher, and community leader come talk to us about the situation of life in Orinoco and the Garifuna culture. We went to the fadcanic school of agriculture where there is a lot of science and splicing going on to provide farmers with the most productive seeds and methods of farming. We also went to the bar a couple of nights, the first night Tueday, we were sort of the only guests because the drumming instructor's uncle owned the bar and opened it up for us. In Orinoco they make a sort of bootleg moonshine rum that is stronger that 151 proof and makes your eyes water and nose cringe when you smell it. Any way most of the group got real pissed off the stuff and that was prety funny. The next time it was offered to us not nearly as much was consumed by the group, because we learn quick here at SIT.
Thats sort of the brunt of it. It was a great time of learning and relaxing. It was also like a completely different world from here in Managua. We also watched the stars every night because we could actually see the millions of them out there. It was awesome and I love trying to talk in a creole accent as much as possible.
On another note I think I collected a parasite somewhere along the way and was sick as a dog on our last day which was spent in Bluefields which is the main town of the region. But I've been taking some pills and feel a bit better now.
Until next time.
The Atlantic coast has a very interesting history. At the moment there are two autonomous regions; the north and the south regions which are both very large pieces of land and rich in natural resources. Anyway Columbus came by and didn't much care for it. Eventually the Atlantic coast became a british protectorate. At this time the coast had a king and a government that followed the british style. then America wanted to build a canal through Nicaragua and persuaded the brits to give up the coast as a protectorate. America never built the canal but they did help the pacific side of Nicaragua fight against the atlantic side. However the pacific soldiers didn't know the american soldiers were for them so all they did was ask them to help them flee and the atlantic side some how got out of it. The atlantic side sometimes asked the british to help when the pacific side encroached on their autonomy and sometimes the brits helped and sometimes didn't. Anyway the tribes and regions of the atlantic eventually got their asses kicked and were tricked into signing over all their rights under the government of Zelaya in the early 1900's. Then came Samoza and things got darker and bloodier. So only in 1980 did they once again receive autonomy under the sandinistas and they only got similar human rights in 1987 and are working now on what they want exactly as an autonomous region.
So that is a brief semi-inaccurate history of the atlantic coast. And i went there. Most of the population is black and they talk in a sweet rastafarian creole.
I was in a group of 8 and we stayed in the hostel of Miss Rebecca. Who was a large lovely creole nurse who worked in the health clinic of Orinoco. We were there for 4 days and nights. We swam in bath temperature water and danced Garifuna dances nearly every day. We ate fried fish once and some of the best fried chicken i've ever had for a couple of meals. But we had little seafood concerning our position on the globe. We were taught Garifuna drumming and dancing by artistic leaders of the community, and we had members of the community like a priest, judge, teacher, and community leader come talk to us about the situation of life in Orinoco and the Garifuna culture. We went to the fadcanic school of agriculture where there is a lot of science and splicing going on to provide farmers with the most productive seeds and methods of farming. We also went to the bar a couple of nights, the first night Tueday, we were sort of the only guests because the drumming instructor's uncle owned the bar and opened it up for us. In Orinoco they make a sort of bootleg moonshine rum that is stronger that 151 proof and makes your eyes water and nose cringe when you smell it. Any way most of the group got real pissed off the stuff and that was prety funny. The next time it was offered to us not nearly as much was consumed by the group, because we learn quick here at SIT.
Thats sort of the brunt of it. It was a great time of learning and relaxing. It was also like a completely different world from here in Managua. We also watched the stars every night because we could actually see the millions of them out there. It was awesome and I love trying to talk in a creole accent as much as possible.
On another note I think I collected a parasite somewhere along the way and was sick as a dog on our last day which was spent in Bluefields which is the main town of the region. But I've been taking some pills and feel a bit better now.
Until next time.
Monday, October 1, 2007
Howdy all
Howddyyyy,
I am still adjusting from my stint to the the campo, there were many things experienced that I have yet to process, but on to other things.
This week was pretty regular.
There was a theater festival this week and I went to two plays; one on AIDS and the other on CAFTA. To tell you the truth they weren't very good. The one on CAFTA had lots of cheesy singing and lounge type music, which is the worst when it is live.
On Friday I went to a nicaraguan punk show. Half of the bands were awful. The others were hardcore punk and metal. During one band that sounded like incubus I witnessed a very odd spectacle. There was a mosh pit created in the middle of the crowd and kids would gather in teams like red rover, the game you used to play as a youngin. They would lock arms and then run towards the other side of the circle, it didn't matter if the other side was looking or participating. But they would run and when they got close enough they would do something like flying jump kicks at them. They would also do this as retribution to someone who had just done it to them and kick them in the back; very violent and extreme. A couple times a fight would almost break out but would calm down and kids would be high-fiving eachother. Muy loco.
I have been creating a closer relationship with my uncle who is in his early 30s. He has been taking me around to different places in Managua. This weekend we went to a great restaurant for shrimp cocktales and such. It was great, shrimp shell fish of all sorts and other various invertebrates(sp) in a very flavorful broth. all for the cost of about 50 cordobas which is a little under 3 bucks. Que rico. Then we went to a party next to my house and indulged in 3 ginormous bottles of flor de cana, an excelent rum here.
Tomorrow the group is traveling to the costa caribe, we will be in Bluefields and Orinoco. I am really excited and it should be a great time. I will let you all in on it when i return.
PAZ
I am still adjusting from my stint to the the campo, there were many things experienced that I have yet to process, but on to other things.
This week was pretty regular.
There was a theater festival this week and I went to two plays; one on AIDS and the other on CAFTA. To tell you the truth they weren't very good. The one on CAFTA had lots of cheesy singing and lounge type music, which is the worst when it is live.
On Friday I went to a nicaraguan punk show. Half of the bands were awful. The others were hardcore punk and metal. During one band that sounded like incubus I witnessed a very odd spectacle. There was a mosh pit created in the middle of the crowd and kids would gather in teams like red rover, the game you used to play as a youngin. They would lock arms and then run towards the other side of the circle, it didn't matter if the other side was looking or participating. But they would run and when they got close enough they would do something like flying jump kicks at them. They would also do this as retribution to someone who had just done it to them and kick them in the back; very violent and extreme. A couple times a fight would almost break out but would calm down and kids would be high-fiving eachother. Muy loco.
I have been creating a closer relationship with my uncle who is in his early 30s. He has been taking me around to different places in Managua. This weekend we went to a great restaurant for shrimp cocktales and such. It was great, shrimp shell fish of all sorts and other various invertebrates(sp) in a very flavorful broth. all for the cost of about 50 cordobas which is a little under 3 bucks. Que rico. Then we went to a party next to my house and indulged in 3 ginormous bottles of flor de cana, an excelent rum here.
Tomorrow the group is traveling to the costa caribe, we will be in Bluefields and Orinoco. I am really excited and it should be a great time. I will let you all in on it when i return.
PAZ
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