First observations

We left the airport sometime around 2:00pm local time (Nicaragua is on CST and so is 1 hour behind us) and headed to a restaurant to have lunch. I peered out of the window, excited to see what this country was like. I noticed graffiti on walls, houses and other public buildings. Nearly all the graffiti contained one of the following: FSLN, Sandinista or Daniel Ortega. FSLN stands for Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional or in English Sandinista National Liberation Front and is the Socialist political party in Nicaragua. Ortega is the leader of the FSLN and served as president of Nicaragua from 1985 - 1990 and again from January 2007 - present. Members of FSLN are called Sandinistas. I mention these details because it became clear to me very quickly I needed to understand Nicaragua's history if I were to understand the people. I don't know about you but I never studied anything about Nicaragua in any class I took. To the right is a picture of some graffiti. I am guessing it says something like 'long live Daniel' but maybe one of you Spanish speaking folks can clarify.

Another thing I observed was that every house or building was surrounded by barbed wire. This was true in the city, in the country, everywhere we went. The odd thing was that the smallest shack was enclosed in barbed wire just the same as a nice house. Fields in the middle of the country were also protected by barbed wire. I have no idea why.

It also seemed like everyone had a little store front and was selling something. When I say store front it's not what we would call a store - it's more of a stand. I found this to be the case in Ticquantepe as well as in Managua. You could buy anything from a coke, to pewter candle sticks to cloths.

We arrived at Asados and had the first of a series of excellent meals. Rice and beans are staples of the Nicaraguan's diet and we were to eat some combination of these in nearly every meal for the next 8 days. At lunch we were also offered a choice of juices including lemonade, fruit punch. I was thirsty and so chose lemonade and what a wise choice it was. Truth be told, you couldn't go wrong with any choice. In fact over the next week I would sample all kinds amazing juices from orange to pineapple to papaya to guava to beet and combinations therein. They were all fresh and I just couldn't get enough of them.

After lunch we loaded back on the bus and headed up to the Tiscapa Lagoon for a history lesson and ride on the zip line. More on that in my next entry.

Day 1

So, back to Saturday, January 16th at 3:00 am. Roxane and I arrived at Dulles Airport 30 minutes a head of schedule. The Copa Airlines baggage check counter was nearly empty and so we ready to go to the gate by 3:15. Surprisingly, we were not the first to arrive. After checking in we connected with Michelle and discovered that she had gone on the trip last year. I began to get excited as I listened to her talk about her experience last year. Here's the first trip picture. (Roxane is on the left and Michelle is seated on the right) As 3:30 approach more and more of our group arrived. Everything went smoothly except for the fact that Katie accidentally went to the web check in line when she hadn't checked in on the web. Apparently this was quite improper and the woman behind the counter was somewhat indignant. When Katie looked down at her seat assignment, she was not surprised to see that somehow she had been assigned a middle seat.
We all decided to walk with Katie to the gate to see if she could get a better seat. Low and behold when we got the gate, the SAME woman was there. Needless to say Katie didn't get a new seat. After we were all on board the plane I looked up and saw the SAME woman walking down the isle. My head swung around to see if the woman was going to escort Katie off the plane. Thankfully, she left Katie alone!

We arrived in Panama on schedule and made our connecting flight. [As an aside we were very fortunate that Leslie, the trip leader, got us out of the bathroom line in Panama as we barely made the last call for the flight.] As this was my first experience on Copa Airlines I wasn't sure what to expect. It really was a very pleasant trip. (Katie's encounter aside) Copa allows you to check two bags for free, (American Airlines only allows 1). Copa also feeds you on both flights. We aren't talking peanuts, either. We got a full breakfast on the first flight and a delicious sandwich on the second flight. Couple that with a free beverage (with alcohol if you want it) and who can complain?

When we arrived in Mangua (pronounced Manawa) we were met by Bridges staff members Dave, who would be one of our two group leaders, and Nikki, who is the senior Bridges staff member for Ticuantepe. We were led out to the bus that would be our primary source of transportation on our trip (when we weren't in the community). Our bags were loaded on top of the bus (see picture) and off we went.

Get Ready, Get Set, Go

Trip Preparation -

If you haven't traveled to a third world country before (like me) you might not know that the CDC recommends that you get immunized to protect against a number of diseases. The CDC has a website (http://wwwnc.cdc.gov/travel/destinations/nicaragua.aspx) which contains their recommendations. Since I just had gotten a tetanus booster, I could skip that but I had to get immunized for Measles/Mumps/Rubella (MMR), Hepatitis A, Typhoid and also get malaria pills. Interestingly, the MMR and Hepatitis A are two part vaccinations. You get the second MMR about a month after the first vaccination. (In fact, I am due for that this week) The second Hepatitis A vaccination needs to be administered 6 months after the first one. Additionally, my doctor was only able to get the pill version of the Typhoid vaccination. So, I had to take a pill every other day for 8 days. Did I mention that it had to be taken 1 hour before food and also needed to be refrigerated? Couple that with the malaria pill requirements (taken weekly 2 weeks before possible exposure and three weeks after) and you can see why I had to employ the use of a calendar to keep track of all my required actions. It feels like I have made more trips to my doctor in the last 6 months then the rest of my life combined.

Another aspect of preparation was telling my family and friends what I was going to do. Many expressed concern about my exposure to various diseases, only some of which vaccinations would prevent. Others were also concerned that I might get kidnapped, robbed or be threatened in some other fashion. After reading the material on the Bridges website, (http://www.bridgestocommunity.org) I became comfortable that the infrastructure in place (20 staff members located in country) the history of the organization (working in Nicaragua - exclusively- since 1992) in addition to an experienced trip leader (6 previous trips) afforded me a level of security that was acceptable.

So, where are we going? I mentioned Ticuantepe in my first blog entry. There are 15 departments and 2 self governing regions in Nicaragua. Ticuantepe is part of the Managua Department but is considered a municipality (there are 153 in the country) Ticuantepe has thirteen small communities under it and combined they make up one of the poorest populations in and around the capital city. The Ticuantepe municipality is split up into two sections: the urban zone and the rural zone. The Urban zone contains 37% of the population - just over nine thousand people - and the rural zone is made up of 63% of all inhabitants, which amounts to about twenty-five thousand people. Today Ticuantepe is the largest supplier of pineapples to the whole of Nicaragua and the local land and environment is perfect for the growth of these delicious fruits.

The Journey Begins

It's Friday night, January 15th at 10:30 pm. I am at Roxane's house waiting for the appointed time of 2:45 am. Why? That's when the taxi is coming to take us to the airport where we will meet our group and depart on our 5:45 am flight enroute to Nicaragua. Our purpose: to help build houses for some residents of Ticuantepe, a municipality located 15 kilometers outside of Nicaragua's capital city, Managua. Nicaragua, which literally translated is 'surrounded by water,' is the largest country in central America and is bordered by Honduras to the north and Costa Rica to the south. What would unfold over the next nine days was, in fact, quite different then we expected. As Jason, one of the members of the group, so aptly wrote: "I went to Nicaragua to build a house that built me." In this blog I will walk through this journey, providing thoughts, images and commentary on an experience that had a profound impact on me and the members of our group.