Today we drove 2 hours to Granada. Actually, we drove to two camposinos, or farm towns. We met up with 3 women from the NGO Opportunities First, a micro-lending organization that is also involved with education and health issues. We visited the first library where the children put on 2 traditional folk dances for us. The library director spoke, plus 2 men who are officials in the small town. Speeches were made (90% of which went over my head) but I did catch that the library and the people of the camposino were committed to education, cultural pride, and innovations in agriculture. We handed out stickers to the children and left to visit the second library, 30 minutes away. There, the library director greeted us and presented Jane with gifts - they were just so appreciative of everything she's done. After another small ceremony we left for the actual city of Granada.
Granada is a beautiful city. It looks very European (it's actually based on the Spanish city of Granada) and it's filled with these gorgeous colonial houses. The downside is the incredible amounts of children begging- it just breaks your heart. Government officials and citizens alike warn tourists not to give anything to the children. Their feeling is they don't want the children to become dependent on begging and fall into it as a way of life. I don't know how I feel about that, since there are practically no social services in Nicaragua, no safety nets for these children.
It's so hard to blog here in Nicaragua. Rolling brown-outs and black-outs are common and I've lost internet connection twice so far! The issue of power is political - I'm not entirely clear on it, but it has something to do with Ortega and his battle with power companies here. Black-outs are such a common occurance here that people just move out to their porches when the power goes off and sit there by candlelight.
There are a lot of foreigners in Nicaragua, mostly a combination of surfers, non-profit or ngo workers, or rich expats. There are a lot of American retirees here...some are working to help local Nicaraguans out (through donations, volunteering, starting non-profits) while some aren't.
The Nicaraguan people are the most welcoming, warm people I have ever met. They always greet me with a smile and patiently listen as I try out new phrases I've picked up. People here are so relaxed and time is never an issue. People operate on "Nica time" - basically getting around to doing things when they get around to it. For example, this morning we were told to be at the hotel around 9 to leave for Granada. We got there at 9:30 and no one else was there! We finally left at about 10!
Tomorrow we have the morning off, so we are all going on a canopy tour & then heading out for some R & R at the beach (playa de coco, I think?). I have a TON of pictures to download, but with the power outages, it's near impossible. I might have to download them all upon my return...but I hope not.
Until next time!
|  | 
|
