Nicaragua!

As I've probably mentioned before, I went to Nicaragua over spring break with some other students from Global Studies. And yes, I really did go. It was a successful trip in that we set out to learn more about global issues such as poverty, health and globalization and we did learn much more about those issues.

We met with several people from organizations such as the Center for Development in Central America (they help Nicaraguans in the community set up small businesses) and ProNica (a government-funded organization to draw investors to the country). We also met politicians from both major parties, one of whom was in charge of building infrastructure in his municipality. (Infrastructure is a major issue in Nicaragua, one that sometimes deters investors from coming to Nicaragua). There were also cooperatives, an engineer, a historian, an economist, the list goes on. It was a busy nine days!

This post would be too long if I were to describe everything now, so I'll start with some pictures and describe their context. I'm supposed to write up some kind of journal/report, so when that happens I will try to get that online and post a link. This post is just to whet your tongue.

First of all, this is the group I went with. Naming heads from left to right there is Akshay, Modolu, Manasi, Sruthi, me and Izzy. We're all members of Global Studies House and have been preparing for this trip since November.

Here is a view of the old center of Managua, Nicaragua's capital. That tall building is one of the only buildings that was not destroyed at the time of the earthquake of '72. Since then Nicaraguans have been paranoid about building tall buildings.

To the right is the lake, to the front is the baseball stadium, and what you see smoking behind that is not a volcano, but rather the garbage dump. 1500 people live there. They recently organized themselves against the garbage collectors, whom they claimed were milking trash of recyclables.

Don't drink the water! Nicaragua has many fresh water lakes, but due to few regulations on industry and poor infrastructure, the lakes have become extremely polluted. Beyond this crater lake is the new center of Managua.

Here is a building that was partially destroyed in the '72 quake. People still live here.

Supposedly this Managuan cathedral was designed by the man who started Dominoes Pizza.

An active volcano crater at Masaya, near Managua. The gases in the air are so thick that you are advised to only stay in the area for 20 minutes. You also must park your car facing downhill, just in case of an eruption (which hasn't happened in quite awhile). On a more somber note, Samosa's government used to throw political enemies into this volcano in the 70s.

We had an impromptu meeting with the leaders of Managua's Nemagon camp, which is a camp built in protest of the use of the pesticide Nemagon. These people have been marching on the capital for more than a decade, and last year they decided to camp in protest. The effects of Nemagon are far-reaching: it ruins the soil and seeps into the groundwater, affecting the plants and the people who live in the area. Skin cancer is one of many diseases that is a direct effect of Nemagon. This picture (and the next two) are the courtesy of Manasi.

We learned about the traditions behind pottery making, including the stories drawn on the ceramics and how to make it. We even got to make some ourselves!

We spent an afternoon in Granada, a touristy town on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. For lunch we stopped at Cafe Chavalez. The Cafe is staffed by former gang members and young men who used to live on the streets or did drugs. They are now finishing up school and getting jobs. They got Carnegie Mellon T-shirts from us, we got a delicious meal from them.

Granada is famous for its intact Spanish colonial architecture.

On a side note about Spanish colonialism, most of the big names in politics and at the heads of major Nicaragua businesses are the same names from Spanish colonialism.

We visited a health center in Nueva Vida, a Hurricane Mitch resettlement community. Many of the people here who have jobs work in free trade zones.

When finished, this will be the largest free trade zone in Nicaragua. Free trade zones here are usually synonymous with sweat shops. There are some exceptions. We visited a sewing cooperative that is in a free trade zone. They export organic clothing and pay 0 taxes.

Up ahead is one of the most beautiful buildings in Nicaragua: the U.S. embassy.

We went on a tour of a free trade zone in Managua. Here they sew jackets.

We left Managua for Esteli, which is a city farther north in the mountains. We met with Esteli's director of public works who gave us a rundown of his infrastructure projects. Nicaragua is 15 years out of a civil war which left it short of the infrastructure necessary to attract investors and build a strong economy.

We forded a river to reach Miraflor, where we met with a coffee cooperative and had our host stay.
The school in Miraflor.

It's hard to see in this picture, but this really is a coffee plant. It is grown organically by this cooperative.

In my host stay, I got to help make tortillas. I also played soccer, tag, and a couple other random games with the kids.

The house.

Some of the toys the younger kids play with.

Here are some of the kids. They are so cute! The little guy liked the camera so much, that one of the other girls would mimic a camera's clicking sound and he would start giggling.

Next, we visited an organization that takes coffee from cooperatives and carries out necessary processes until the coffee is exported. Here you see coffee being dried in the sun. At the time it was Nicaragua's dry season (the only other season is the wet season, which run at about the time of our summer and fall).

The green bags are organically grown coffee. Most of this coffee has already been sold, although it must sit in this warehouse for at least a month.

A machine that sorts beans by quality. The husks have already been removed. Later the beans will be scanned to see what their colors are (another sign of quality).

Bags of coffee ready for export.

After our tour of the coffee facilities, we attended a cupping session. In this session different coffee samples are rated based on aroma and taste.

Modolu and Manasi had to think about coffee samples. Coffee tasting is harder than it looks!

Back in Managua, we went to a large marketplace that sells everything short of a McDonald's hamburger.

And now that I've posted more about my trip than I had initially planned, here is a picture of one of the lakes from the plane heading back towards the States. I'd like to thank those people who made it possible for me to go on this trip. As you can tell, I learned a lot from and I really enjoyed my short stay in Nicaragua.