Thursday, October 13, 2016
Odds & Ends - 3
Here we see a classic example of the introduction of American culture and its corrupting influence on the local one. A casino!
What is super cool about the artwork is that at night they project a rotating colored light on the Beatles mural and the psychedelic zebra appears three dimensional. Through trompe l'oeil style painting the zebras head seems to come out of the wall itself. Either that or there was something really strange in that fruit juice that I had at Juan Carlos' house...
Wednesday - Total Immersion
Today really proved to be the big day. By prior arrangement I was to start by meeting Juan Carlos Sanchez at the Hospital Victoria Motto where he works in the pharmacy as a technician. I had met him on Tuesday during the meeting with the sanitary committee of which he is the coordinator.
I got up at around 5:30, cleaned up and left the house at 6:30 and walked to the south end of town where the hospital is located. The day begins early down here and by 7:00AM the streets of the city where lurching to life. The sidewalks were full of students in uniform heading to school and people on their way to work. I met Juan outside of the emergency department thinking that we're going to drive back to Sasle in his car. That was a bit presumptuous on my part. Instead, we would be taking the bus together. The bus did not leave until just after eight so we had an hour or more to kill. We grabbed a cab and headed to the north end of town where the bus stop is located end went over to one of the local comedores (a small storefront restaurant quite common down here) where we had breakfast. Now breakfast down here is not like breakfast the way we are used to up by us. This is not rice crispies, toast or eggs; this would look very much like a dinner meal to most of us. We had rice, beans, a watery pasta , and a piece of steak in a red sauce with onions. After we finished breakfast we did a little shopping in what looks to be the city's main open-air marketplace.
We picked up items for what would be our lunch. By the time we were finished with our breakfast and shopping it was almost time to get the bus. We boarded and within minutes we're off on our way north to Sasle. Unlike the previous day when Jairo and I had gone by car the bus route was less direct and took a number of detours to drop off and pick up people. Once again, a number of these roads were not paved and the bus did a fair amount of bumping and bouncing. In addition, the bus made a number of unscheduled stops when it encountered a bus traveling in the opposite direction (see the entry "Odds and Ends number one"). In contrast to the 35 minutes it took to go by car with Jairo the bus took the better part of an hour. One of the most amazing aspects of the trip was when the bus navigated the small bridge over the stream at the village of San Angel. The bridge itself seems barely large enough to accommodate a car let alone the bus and as always there are people downstream from the bridge washing their clothes in the stream.
We eventually arrived at the bus stop near the turn off for the school where we were met by Francisca and Raquel. They and Juan Carlos were to be my guide for what proved to be a fairly comprehensive hiking tour of Sasle.
After we exchanged greetings we set off up the road for Juan Carlos' house to drop off the groceries and to meet his family. He gave me a brief tour of his property, which he currently rents but is seeking to purchase. He is a truly amazing man, working a full time job (often 24 hours in a row shifts) in the hospital pharmacy then going home and improving his property which is, essentially, a mini-plantation. He has pigs, a small plot of corn, several coffee trees and numerous fruit trees. He also has a beautiful ornamental garden with roses and zinnias and even a number of topiary trees which he is pruning into artistic shapes. Quite the guy.
We set out directly from Juan Carlos' house for our "walking tour" of Sasle. "Expedition" might be a better word, perhaps. I guess "trek" suits it best. We walked past the school and up one of the unpaved roads into the back country. The terrain here is based upon volcanic mountains that have undergone erosion. The soil is coarse, black and relatively sparse. The fields are pocked with stones and boulders. The roads themselves are essentially naturally paved concourses where horse and human traffic have either pounded the stones into a relatively uniform depth, or, the road itself winds to avoid large boulders and to utilize this natural paving. Unlike Panama, despite abundant rain, there was relatively little mud. The simple fact is that the soil layer is just too thin for mud of any great depth to form. Also, unlike Panama which is at sea level, this is relatively high country and over the course of what was probably a 15 km hike we peaked out at 3900 feet (Yes, I got the GPS up and running after all). Actually, the geography, and even the vegetation, is similar to what we have here in the Catskills.
The primary purpose of the tour was to survey the homes in the community mainly so I could get a feel for the layout of things and to formulate an approach as to how to provide latrines for them. I had hoped that the homes would be arranged in clusters so that we could install multi-unit latrines that could be used by people living in groups. Unfortunately, this proves not to be the case: the homes are spread out over considerable distance, between a half and a full kilometer apart. This is not that unusual - this is an agricultural community where individual houses are situated on small farms surrounded by pastures and plots of cultivated land. Again, it is not that different in our area if one were to drive west on Route 28 or even further west in the farm and pasture lands of Delaware County.
Aside from the rocky terrain being rough on the knees and ankles, the other thing that made the transit difficult was the ubiquitous presence of barbed wire fences separating properties. We left the road for large segments of the trek, traversing fields and pastures and looking for gates in the fences. Where no gate could be found we crawled through the fences by gingerly pulling up a top strand of wire while holding down the lower one with a foot. We would allow each other to pass doing an awkward limbo to get through. The difference being that "losing" in this contest would be bloody and painful. One of those fences can be seen clearly in back of me in the center photo above.
Again, the main point of the tour was to see the community and assess need. For this project, we will be partnering with another NGO called Bridges To Community (BTC) which has a strong presence in the area. They have done a tremendous amount of development in the region, especially in improving individual housing, as well as public health and education. They have asked our technical assistance with design and implementation of the latrines which are a bit more complex. The following photos show a number of houses constructed by Bridges. They are basic, sturdy rectangular block houses. Pretty "no-frills" by our standards but a remarkable improvement over essentially shanty houses built of boards, corrugated tin or pieces of plastic.
In most places, the people have opted to not demolish the old buildings but use them as an add-on, often converting them to the kitchen and using the new Bridges buildings as their sleeping quarters.
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| Juan Carlos Sanchez - My Guide for the Day |
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| New School at Sasle |
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| Tour Guides - Francisca and Racquel |
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| Ornamental Garden - Zinnias |
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| Coffee Beans Drying |
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| Coffee Beans on the Tree |
We set out directly from Juan Carlos' house for our "walking tour" of Sasle. "Expedition" might be a better word, perhaps. I guess "trek" suits it best. We walked past the school and up one of the unpaved roads into the back country. The terrain here is based upon volcanic mountains that have undergone erosion. The soil is coarse, black and relatively sparse. The fields are pocked with stones and boulders. The roads themselves are essentially naturally paved concourses where horse and human traffic have either pounded the stones into a relatively uniform depth, or, the road itself winds to avoid large boulders and to utilize this natural paving. Unlike Panama, despite abundant rain, there was relatively little mud. The simple fact is that the soil layer is just too thin for mud of any great depth to form. Also, unlike Panama which is at sea level, this is relatively high country and over the course of what was probably a 15 km hike we peaked out at 3900 feet (Yes, I got the GPS up and running after all). Actually, the geography, and even the vegetation, is similar to what we have here in the Catskills.
The primary purpose of the tour was to survey the homes in the community mainly so I could get a feel for the layout of things and to formulate an approach as to how to provide latrines for them. I had hoped that the homes would be arranged in clusters so that we could install multi-unit latrines that could be used by people living in groups. Unfortunately, this proves not to be the case: the homes are spread out over considerable distance, between a half and a full kilometer apart. This is not that unusual - this is an agricultural community where individual houses are situated on small farms surrounded by pastures and plots of cultivated land. Again, it is not that different in our area if one were to drive west on Route 28 or even further west in the farm and pasture lands of Delaware County.
 |
| Yours Truly with barb wire fence and Lake Apanas in the Background - elev. 3780' |
Aside from the rocky terrain being rough on the knees and ankles, the other thing that made the transit difficult was the ubiquitous presence of barbed wire fences separating properties. We left the road for large segments of the trek, traversing fields and pastures and looking for gates in the fences. Where no gate could be found we crawled through the fences by gingerly pulling up a top strand of wire while holding down the lower one with a foot. We would allow each other to pass doing an awkward limbo to get through. The difference being that "losing" in this contest would be bloody and painful. One of those fences can be seen clearly in back of me in the center photo above.
Again, the main point of the tour was to see the community and assess need. For this project, we will be partnering with another NGO called Bridges To Community (BTC) which has a strong presence in the area. They have done a tremendous amount of development in the region, especially in improving individual housing, as well as public health and education. They have asked our technical assistance with design and implementation of the latrines which are a bit more complex. The following photos show a number of houses constructed by Bridges. They are basic, sturdy rectangular block houses. Pretty "no-frills" by our standards but a remarkable improvement over essentially shanty houses built of boards, corrugated tin or pieces of plastic.
 |
| Yes, This is a House. Latrine is the Aluminum Building to the Left |
In most places, the people have opted to not demolish the old buildings but use them as an add-on, often converting them to the kitchen and using the new Bridges buildings as their sleeping quarters.
Wednesday, October 12, 2016
Odds & Ends - 2
During my exploratory perambulation around Jinotega yesterday I passed a number of churches. Not a rare event in Latin America. But something about one of them caught my eye and compelled both a photograph and this entry.
Now, is it my imagination, or is that the Led Zeppelin logo stenciled on the doors? Is this "The First Church of ZOFO?". Is this the REAL "Stairway to Heaven"? I mean, I liked their stuff back in the day, but I have not been impressed that their music has held up well over the past 35 years. Still, seeing the logo on a church struck me as singularly unusual. I fully expected to go inside and see...
It's ok. He wasn't there. (With a tip of my hat to Bob Malfetano and the infamous "Bob Dylan in Changuinola" entry from the first year).
Now, is it my imagination, or is that the Led Zeppelin logo stenciled on the doors? Is this "The First Church of ZOFO?". Is this the REAL "Stairway to Heaven"? I mean, I liked their stuff back in the day, but I have not been impressed that their music has held up well over the past 35 years. Still, seeing the logo on a church struck me as singularly unusual. I fully expected to go inside and see...
It's ok. He wasn't there. (With a tip of my hat to Bob Malfetano and the infamous "Bob Dylan in Changuinola" entry from the first year).
Odds & Ends - 1
OK, it has really been another helluva a day and I am not sure if I will write any full entries. We'll see. I am going to throw in a few short ones of things that amuse me or catch my interest. The first one I am going to call "The Nicaraguan Bus-Roof Commerce System". So, I got up and out early to meet Juan Carlos for the drive out to Sasle. To my surprise we were not driving, we were taking the bus. So a little after 8 am we boarded the bus. Now, Nicaraguan buses are not quite the gaudy, painted up beauties that grace Panama City, but they are pretty festive. On board there is a staff of three, a driver, a conductor and a baggage handler. Large parcels and, apparently, items of commerce get loaded on the roof.
Note the large items up on the roof rack. Now, as two buses converge upon each other the driver opens the door and the baggage handler, and possibly the conductor, swing out of the door and climb up the ladder onto the roof, while the bus is moving. Not only is it moving, it is slowing down or deccelerating. When they are side by side, the come to a complete stop, right there in the middle of a highway, traffic be damned. The baggage guys toss items from one bus roof to the other and as soon as the transaction is finished the buses pull away, guys still up on the roof.
I wonder if they have difficulty getting disability insurance...
Note the large items up on the roof rack. Now, as two buses converge upon each other the driver opens the door and the baggage handler, and possibly the conductor, swing out of the door and climb up the ladder onto the roof, while the bus is moving. Not only is it moving, it is slowing down or deccelerating. When they are side by side, the come to a complete stop, right there in the middle of a highway, traffic be damned. The baggage guys toss items from one bus roof to the other and as soon as the transaction is finished the buses pull away, guys still up on the roof.
I wonder if they have difficulty getting disability insurance...
Tuesday, October 11, 2016
Helluva Day
Writing this entry from my Kindle as I sit out on the back patio working on a fine Nicaraguan cigar. Liga Privada T52. Very nice cigar. Spent the morning roaming around Jinotega then met up with Jairo and Edrulfo. Oh, and before that, rectified the mattress problem by switching to a different room. Damn well bet I tested the bed this time. Here are a few pics of my ramble in Jinotega.
Anyways, after rendezvousing we drove out to Sasle. It's about a 40 minute drive out there, initially on a main road then down a progressive series of smaller dirt tracks until we arrived at Benita's rancho. Three cows were parked in the driveway if you can call it that. Benita is the community leader and, while we had spoken previously by a computer teleconference, it was still appropriate for formal introductions.
Now, let's back up for a second. For those of you who are somewhat new to this let me give you some background on why I am here in the first place. In 2014 I had finished my engineering masters and was looking for something to do with it. I found the Engineers without Borders group (EWB) and the RPI chapter of it. I became an active member of that group and took part in the Panama water project which implemented the rainwater collection and chlorination system which you may have seen before. We are currently winding down that project end in April of this year signed on for a new project in Nicaragua. This project was initiated by another NGO group called bridges to community. Bridges does not have a strong representation in the engineering field itself but is more interested in community development in particular education and medical clinics. The project that they had undertaken was to provide latrines for the community of Sasle. Eventually they found that they were unable to progress meaningfully with the project on their own and sought assistance. They were referred to EWB and the project was made available on the website. As we were in the process of winding down the Panama project we were looking for a new one and submitted our application for this one and it was granted. The group itself is formulating its plans and preparing for the initial visit this coming January and I am here simply to make an informal introductory visit to the community and to lay the groundwork for formal visit. And that's pretty much how I got to be here.
So, meeting up with Edrulfo and Jairo we headed out towards Sasle and my introduction to Benita and the community. She is the leader of the community itself and, from appearances, has the largest and nicest spread there. We sat and made small talk over soft drinks and discussed generalities . After about an hour we climbed back into Jairo's truck and headed up to the school where the rest of the members of the committee would meet us. We arrived at the school campus to find a modern open airy school building with a state-of-the-art latrine facility for the students. After getting a look at the latrine building and the outside of the school we proceeded indoors where the members of the sanitary committee were waiting to meet me. They were about seven women and two men and we all sat down to introductions. While it was not my intention to use it as an icebreaker , in the moment, I decided that in addition to writing down their names I would also take their photographs so that I could put names and faces together . Not only would this be good for me but I could also then send it back to the EWB group the students could familiarize themselves with the people with whom they would be working in the future. This proved to be an excellent icebreaker as it was little bit awkward for everybody but made everybody feel more relaxed. After the introductions we spent about 45 minutes discussing our expectations and how to best go about exploring the communities needs.
The other thing that helped was a few gifts I brought. Most were school supplies for the students like an abundant supply of brightly colored mechanical pencils and some solar-powered calculators, but the unintentionally inspired gifts were a half-dozen small bottles of maple syrup and several boxes of maple sugar candies. These proved to be excellent gifts as they were quite appropriate for women. Not to be overtly sexist, but I doubt that they would have played as well to a bunch of rough-necked country farm men.
Following this we proceeded to climb into Jairo's truck for an initial drive around the community. Again though it was not meant as a PR move I decided to climb into the back of his truck, which had a guardrail surrounding the back, with a bunch of the women from the committee. It seemed like the right move to make in the moment. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It also sent the message that I'm willing to come into direct contact with their physical environment. We set off over a series of rough and rock strewn roads (and I use that term lightly) to get a first-hand view of their community.
We passed small plots under cultivation with corn , cabbage and here and there small groves of coffee trees. We are getting bounced around pretty roughly (after last nights mattress and todays bouncing I was really glad I always pack Tylenol and Naproxen) and were all laughing and making jokes about it. Things are going fairly well until clouds abruptly moved in and the first drops of rain began to spatter us. Being out on rough roads it was not as though we're simply going to turn around and head back home quickly. We are out there and we were stuck in the rain. The rain came down pretty heavily and soon we were soaked through and through. Actually, the rain proved to be a good thing as were all laughing and enjoying it. As this was happening two thoughts ran through my head: 1) I had to be insane to do something like this and 2), how in gods name was I so lucky to be able to do something like this? I felt totally alive and vitalized by being here and doing something like this. I realized that this is why Hemingway must've loved Africa. The raw energy of the land, its nature, and its people. How amazingly fortunate I am to be able to do things like this. Eventually we made our way back to the school and we all got out of the back of the truck. The women from the committee made their ways back home and I was able to climb back up into the cab with Jairo. We headed back to the main roads and as we drove to Jinotega Jairo and I discussed what we had learned and how we would move forward with this project into the future. We made my arrangements for tomorrow when I will meet Juan Carlos who is a member of the committee and is also a pharmacist at the local hospital. He is working the night shift this evening and will meet me tomorrow at the end of his shift and will drive me out to Sasle for another day. We got back into town where he dropped me off at the Estancia was able to change out of my wet clothes into nice dry ones. I made a quick series of text messages and then uploaded photographs from my camera to my computer. I then headed back to El Tico the cafeteria restaurant where I dined last night and had my evening meal. Once again starch was in abundance but slightly different . Tonight's fare included potatoes, spaghetti, two types of rice, and bananas. I made sure I got whatever vegetables and salad I can find and had my dinner. I then headed back to the Estancia where I picked up my tablet and my cigar and I'm now sitting writing this entry. It has been a very satisfying day. As I finish both my cigar and the entry there's only one other thing I feel compelled to write and that is this. On my previous excursions to Panama I have been with the group and with other English speakers and usually another person fluent in Spanish . We have been able to speak English amongst ourselves and also to share the translation duties. Being here on my own requires me to use my Spanish exclusively. There is no one else here to speak with in English and there's no one to help me if I can't find the correct words. It's been a very pleasant crash course in improving my Spanish . It doesn't get better than this.
Anyways, after rendezvousing we drove out to Sasle. It's about a 40 minute drive out there, initially on a main road then down a progressive series of smaller dirt tracks until we arrived at Benita's rancho. Three cows were parked in the driveway if you can call it that. Benita is the community leader and, while we had spoken previously by a computer teleconference, it was still appropriate for formal introductions.
Now, let's back up for a second. For those of you who are somewhat new to this let me give you some background on why I am here in the first place. In 2014 I had finished my engineering masters and was looking for something to do with it. I found the Engineers without Borders group (EWB) and the RPI chapter of it. I became an active member of that group and took part in the Panama water project which implemented the rainwater collection and chlorination system which you may have seen before. We are currently winding down that project end in April of this year signed on for a new project in Nicaragua. This project was initiated by another NGO group called bridges to community. Bridges does not have a strong representation in the engineering field itself but is more interested in community development in particular education and medical clinics. The project that they had undertaken was to provide latrines for the community of Sasle. Eventually they found that they were unable to progress meaningfully with the project on their own and sought assistance. They were referred to EWB and the project was made available on the website. As we were in the process of winding down the Panama project we were looking for a new one and submitted our application for this one and it was granted. The group itself is formulating its plans and preparing for the initial visit this coming January and I am here simply to make an informal introductory visit to the community and to lay the groundwork for formal visit. And that's pretty much how I got to be here.
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| Jairo Zelaya - Bridges To Community |
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| Edrulfo Rodriguez - EWB-USA - Northern Nicaragua Coordinator |
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| Benita - My New Boss (Jefe) |
The other thing that helped was a few gifts I brought. Most were school supplies for the students like an abundant supply of brightly colored mechanical pencils and some solar-powered calculators, but the unintentionally inspired gifts were a half-dozen small bottles of maple syrup and several boxes of maple sugar candies. These proved to be excellent gifts as they were quite appropriate for women. Not to be overtly sexist, but I doubt that they would have played as well to a bunch of rough-necked country farm men.
Following this we proceeded to climb into Jairo's truck for an initial drive around the community. Again though it was not meant as a PR move I decided to climb into the back of his truck, which had a guardrail surrounding the back, with a bunch of the women from the committee. It seemed like the right move to make in the moment. When in Rome, do as the Romans do. It also sent the message that I'm willing to come into direct contact with their physical environment. We set off over a series of rough and rock strewn roads (and I use that term lightly) to get a first-hand view of their community.
 |
| These Are Where We Will Be Building Bio-Digestor Latrines |
We passed small plots under cultivation with corn , cabbage and here and there small groves of coffee trees. We are getting bounced around pretty roughly (after last nights mattress and todays bouncing I was really glad I always pack Tylenol and Naproxen) and were all laughing and making jokes about it. Things are going fairly well until clouds abruptly moved in and the first drops of rain began to spatter us. Being out on rough roads it was not as though we're simply going to turn around and head back home quickly. We are out there and we were stuck in the rain. The rain came down pretty heavily and soon we were soaked through and through. Actually, the rain proved to be a good thing as were all laughing and enjoying it. As this was happening two thoughts ran through my head: 1) I had to be insane to do something like this and 2), how in gods name was I so lucky to be able to do something like this? I felt totally alive and vitalized by being here and doing something like this. I realized that this is why Hemingway must've loved Africa. The raw energy of the land, its nature, and its people. How amazingly fortunate I am to be able to do things like this. Eventually we made our way back to the school and we all got out of the back of the truck. The women from the committee made their ways back home and I was able to climb back up into the cab with Jairo. We headed back to the main roads and as we drove to Jinotega Jairo and I discussed what we had learned and how we would move forward with this project into the future. We made my arrangements for tomorrow when I will meet Juan Carlos who is a member of the committee and is also a pharmacist at the local hospital. He is working the night shift this evening and will meet me tomorrow at the end of his shift and will drive me out to Sasle for another day. We got back into town where he dropped me off at the Estancia was able to change out of my wet clothes into nice dry ones. I made a quick series of text messages and then uploaded photographs from my camera to my computer. I then headed back to El Tico the cafeteria restaurant where I dined last night and had my evening meal. Once again starch was in abundance but slightly different . Tonight's fare included potatoes, spaghetti, two types of rice, and bananas. I made sure I got whatever vegetables and salad I can find and had my dinner. I then headed back to the Estancia where I picked up my tablet and my cigar and I'm now sitting writing this entry. It has been a very satisfying day. As I finish both my cigar and the entry there's only one other thing I feel compelled to write and that is this. On my previous excursions to Panama I have been with the group and with other English speakers and usually another person fluent in Spanish . We have been able to speak English amongst ourselves and also to share the translation duties. Being here on my own requires me to use my Spanish exclusively. There is no one else here to speak with in English and there's no one to help me if I can't find the correct words. It's been a very pleasant crash course in improving my Spanish . It doesn't get better than this.
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