Winter in Nicaragua and More!

Gosh, just like the day winter started, today summer started. The weather here is freaky! As you recall, there are only two seasons in Nicaragua, winter and summer. When you ask the locals when summer will start, they answer, “One day in October, toward the end.” After weeks and weeks of pretty heavy and sometimes non-stop torrential rains, the rain suddenly stopped. Once it stops, the sun comes out for the whole day, the winds begin, and we don’t get another drop of rain until May, when winter will start “One day in May, toward the end.” What happens during the rainy season? The water rises fast and rivers rage across the road to my house and unsuspecting drivers or hotshots invariably make the mistake of trying to cross. People have died doing this! Huge trees suddenly fall across the road. Usually you come upon the fallen trees when you are in a hurry to get somewhere and have to turn around. We find out what leaks we have in our houses. There is a lot of seismic activity during the year, so houses shift. You never know what problems you have until it starts to rain. I must admit I am pretty lucky. The two bedrooms in my house only flooded one day when the wind whipped the rain in a certain direction. The rest of the rainy season the rain was kind enough to blow in the opposite direction and everything stayed dry. And another thing that wasn’t so bad, there were only three days when I couldn’t return to my house because of the height of the river. My friend Donna has given me the key to her bed and breakfast and when I’m stuck (usually at night), I can let myself in and crawl into an easy sleep on her big sofa in the entry room.

If you ever want to visit Nicaragua during rainy season, you gotta love toads. Big, bloppy toads with the strangest cry I’ve ever heard. My neighbors told me I wouldn’t be able to stand the sound, but I remember a long ago trip to China when my friend Barbara and I stopped at a monastery in the mountains to hear the concierto that a special group of frogs in their pond produced. It was beautiful. But once again, my neighbors were right….the sound in Nicaragua of thousands of toads singing their strange song can be hard to take, especially if you are very tired and that’s the moment they decide to serenade you. Imagine trying to sleep to the sound of a transformer sparking (or thousands of transformers sparking). That’s kind of what it sounds like.

Other interesting experiences during rainy season: always having muddy shoes and a muddy patch on the back of your left calf that you get when hopping out of the car trying to avoid the mud on the car, having a brown car instead of a steel gray car, having the entire 4-wheel drive system basically fall out and break due to crossing deep rivers with big holes, not seeing huge rocks in the mud puddles, getting stuck in the mudholes, etc. etc. Radiators also don’t work because the mud is all gunked up in them that air can’t get through and the car overheats every five minutes. You fix this by having your radiator power washed, only to watch it all gunked up with mud again the next day. But also during the rainy season Nicaragua becomes a lush green tropical paradise, just like you’d expect to see in photos. Flowers, ferns, fruit trees everywhere, the air fresh and clean. It’s a double-edged sword: the most beautiful time of the year to live here and the most difficult.

November 1 was my one-year anniversary here in Nicaragua. So many things have changed in my life compared to the life I lived in California. For starters, I’m now one-half of a singing/dancing duo we affectionately call “The Gypsy Queens.” My friend Donna (also from California) and I drummed up the courage to sing with a band on Open Mike night in El Coquito, a favorite hang-out of everyone, locals and tourists alike. On Thursday night they have “Open Mike” night and we opted to get the party started by singing lively songs. Our first, Proud Mary, was an instant hit. Someone thought it was so funny they videotaped it and you can watch it on YouTube (adults only) at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybf-kwENy0A. Watch at your own risk…I can’t sing, we don’t know how to perform, but somehow, we became an instant success at this little local club. This week we perform “Conga” by Gloria Estefan (Miami Sound Machine). It should be fun, but don’t go looking for our CD anytime soon. Just pure fun!

I have been making jewelry. Over the years I’ve made the jewelry that I wear, but here in San Juan del Sur it was featured in a Fashion Show and at a Sidewalk Show. “Beads by Bonnie,” my little business, doesn’t sell anything, but enables me to give nice birthday presents when my friends celebrate.

All funny stuff aside, most of my time is spent here in different volunteer projects. These projects are the main part of my existence here and truly what makes me happy. I believe I’ve spoken about some of them before. I give free English classes. Right now I am giving eight classes a week, including teaching the entire Police Force! Now there’s a win-win situation. It’s a GOOD thing to have the police on your side here. And now they seem to be my good, good buddies. The Police Captain even gave me a good pair of sunglasses that a tourist had left behind (his story).

Anyone in San Juan del Sur who wants to learn English can come to any of my classes. There is one woman who comes to four of my classes so she can learn more! On Wednesdays I go out with the Mobile Library to exchange books with the kids in the campo (out in the jungle). We often do crafts with the kids, read with them, etc. Now that I’ve been part of this for almost a year, there are some ideas we may implement to improve the volunteer program.

Finally, one day when two women asked me about my free English classes, they asked why I didn’t teach English at La Casa de La Mujer (the House of the Woman). The next day I went in search of this Women’s Shelter with my daughter Talia, who was visiting at the time. We spoke to the Director, Mayra Calderon, a dear woman who has been trying to keep this center open since 1990, and she told us that the entire program had broken down and now nothing was happening. I got my friends Lee and Rachel and got started. We hooked up water to the building, painted the rooms inside that needed painting, and I started giving English classes there twice a week. Many of the women and children who come to my classes are illiterate and cannot write their own names.

We are about to paint the outside of the building and two weeks ago we had our first organizational meeting. We have grand plans for this Women’s Center and hope to give classes to the local women. And interesting fact is that Nicaragua’s Law 230 protects the women IN HER OWN HOME, so if there is a case of domestic violence, the man is removed and thrown in jail. If the report is made only through the local police, not much happens, but if the woman goes to the local “Casa de La Mujer” and uses the free lawyer’s services, it has quite a bit of impact. A restraining order is executed and if the man goes near the house, he goes right to jail. At this point it doesn’t even look like there is a trial, but we are trying to find out more information about this law and how it protects women so we can teach them about domestic violence and what to do if they are victims. So technically, there are no “Women’s Shelters” as we know them in the U.S. here. The woman and children get to stay in their own home, supposedly protected by the law.

Other classes we plan to create are: teaching how to read and write Spanish, conversational English, classes in cosmetology, food service, domestic service and tourism to help women get jobs. Since many hotels and restaurants here are owned by foreigners, it is possible that we can also get a job placement service started. Workshops in empowerment (how to live independently without a man), how to start your own business, nutrition (to stop women from giving their infants Coca Cola in their bottles, etc.), and information about sexually transmitted diseases are all on the list. We plan to have fundraisers, to ask for donations, and do everything we possibly can to help the women of Nicaragua. Right now we have a core group of 10 people, five American/Canadians, and five Nica women. In my next blog I hope to be able to give you a report on wonderful things we have accomplished.

For those of you who know my girls, Talia and Shanna, here’s a quick update: Talia is currently in Cambodia doing volunteer work in an orphanage and just wrote a grant through a UN organization for an AIDS study, where she also continues to work as a volunteer. She plans to attend grad school next year in Australia for International Public Health. Shanna has recently moved to Los Angeles with her boyfriend who she met in my Nicaraguan town San Juan del Sur the first night we went out. Daniel is from Australia, a professional rugby player (playing for the LA team) and is working for an Oracle partner selling software. Shanna’s new job is working at UCLA in the medical center. By latest counts, both daughters are healthy and happy. They both visited Nicaragua in July, Talia staying with me for a month and Shanna surprising me by coming at the same time for a week! Had a wonderful time with the girls!

This fall brings Lyn Hall (Encinitas, California) for a Thanksgiving visit and Stacy Matseas (San Diego, California) for her (hopefully regular) December vacation. Former Kodak client Sue Suss from Rochester will be here in February. It’s fun to have visitors, but this place is not for everyone. If you are planning to visit, let’s talk first. I hope all of your lives are as happy and fulfilling. Life can be wonderful if you just step outside the box and let it unfold.