Site Visit

First of all, the purpose of the site visit is to see what a volunteer’s actual day-to-day life is like, and get a feel for what we might want in a site. I visited El Sauce from Sunday to Wednesday. El Sauce (pronounced sow-seh) is in the department of León. All the volunteers from León got us together on Sunday and we all went to the beach, which was a lot of fun. It was the first time I’d been here in Nicaragua, and we headed to the Pacific coast. The surf here is a lot bigger than what I’m used to on the East Coast of the US, but it was a calm day so swimming was entirely possible. I still got slammed a number of times, which was kind of fun in its own way. There is also a very nice outcropping of rock there for some reason, surrounded by big sandy beach, and I walked out there and checked out the scenery. Below is a picture of Las Penitas, and there are more at Picasa.

After that we went back to El Sauce. El Sauce has more people than Masatepe, but Masatepe is in Masaya, which is one of the densest departments, and it is also a major bus stop for a lot of people in the area, so it feels pretty busy. It also seems to be a relatively wealthy town so a lot more people have cars and there are a lot of paved streets. El Sauce has paved streets and is bigger, but it’s also a good distance (about 20 km) from the careterra (main road), so the traffic into and out of El Sauce are only people who live there. Therefore, it felt a lot smaller and quieter.

She doesn’t normally teach on Mondays, so I got a tour of her town, and I met her counterpart. I also got to swim in the river, which seemed quite clean except for all the soap it contained, since many people do their laundry in the river. Despite all the soap, there were still small fish swimming around. Monday we also ate fritanga, and I had the first carne asada I’ve had here, and it was excellent. Tuesday we went to her school and had two classes, as well as the opportunity to talk with the kids about how their vivero was doing. Wednesday, I got up bright and early and took a bus back to León, which took about 2 and a half hours. El Sauce isn’t really that far, but the careterra is terrible for most of the way so the going is slow. We also had to stop occasionally or honk very loudly at cows who were blocking our path because near El Sauce is all cattle farms. It made me feel like I was at home, stopping for cows.

Once in León we took a whirlwind walking tour and saw the cathedral which is quite lovely. The cathedral has an interesting story because this big cathedral was actually meant for Lima, Peru, but there was a communication mix-up and it ended up in León instead. We also went to a big grocery store, where I was able to buy chocolate, which I ate much too rapidly. If anyone is curious about what they can send me, I’m setting up an Amazon book wishlist and chocolate or peanut butter is always an option. You can get both here, but they are expensive. I’m sure once I get to site, there will be other things I need too. However, a box of crazy stuff would always brighten my day, so let me know if anyone wants my address. Packages are the highlight of the week (a good one highlights a month), so feel free to send stuff on down.

The other thing that came out of my visit is that the volunteer in El Sauce has a boyfriend who is Nicaraguan. Many Nicaraguans can whistle, in fact, here there is an entire culture of whistling that we are lacking in the US. They use whistles to hail cabs, stop buses (both to board and depart), etc. However, they also use them to talk to each other. One person can pass someone’s house and whistle, and the person inside knows who walked by. They have whistle patterns that carry different messages. It’s amazing. I cannot whistle, which is extremely frustrating. I am working on my whistle, but JP, the volunteer’s boyfriend, taught me how to whistle using a piece of plastic bag. And it is loud. I feel as though this is quite the accomplishment, although it does require me to always have a plastic bag with me. Hmm… The other trick is that Nicas take one of their hands and hurl it down and back in such a way that their index finger smacks their other fingers and makes a loud noise. It is awe-inspiring the volume that some people get. JP taught me how to position my fingers and I can do it now, but I’m still not very loud. I need more practice, but the killer is that after I do it for a while, my index finger is all bruised. I’m not sure if this counts as an odd injury, since it’s self-inflicted. I will let my public decide.

Finally, how the site visit helped me figure out what I want from a site. I have no idea. I liked that it felt smaller than Masatepe. I liked that Megan has conveniences, like a running shower (sometimes) and an internet café nearby, but a part of me still wants a tiny site in the middle of nowhere, even though I know many things will be more difficult there. I just keep thinking, in two years I can have a running shower with hot water, which is much better than one with cold water, so while I’m here, I might as well go all the way and live somewhere where I can really be a part of my community. The reality is that I will be happy wherever I end up because I want to be happy, so I guess we’ll wait and see. I’ll keep you posted. Next week is the site fair, when we find out where all the sites are and I’ll be sure to let you guys know what’s available!

Until then, here’s a pic of the careterra at the turn-off to El Sauce taken on the first day of my visit. Amazing, si?