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 Nicaragua. The Payles family here is the wealthiest in the land. They own all the sugar production, most of the alcohol production, and countless other capitalist enterprises. They are mad wealthy and outside the entrance road to the dump there is a Payles toyota car center that is the biggest nicest shop around. The payles family is paying for the construction of a new road that is going to change the entrance to a different block so that all the people that crowd the street of the dump aren´t near the Payles car building. Que LoCo...

We are going to El Salvador in a couple of days for 8 days. I think it is increasingly rising on the list of political kidnappings and crime. This is especially true in the city of San Salvador where we are spending a good bit of time. I don´t think we are allowed to go out on our own much. But oh well lets goooo.

There is more to tell about this past week and El Salvador but I will save it for an up and coming day.

-paz-