REFLECTIONS BY DELEGATION MEMBERS
On December 29, 2011, a group of seven Marylanders traveled to Nicaragua as members of a Casa Baltimore/Limay delegation. Over the next 12 days, they visited our friendship municipality, San Juan de Limay, as well as four of the larger cities inNicaragua–Managua, EstelÃ, León, and Granada. Below are the reflections they shared about their experiences.Â
From Brittany Carter
To me,Nicaragua was a place that gave me the chance to explore and embrace a culture much different from mine. I think, as a delegation of people, Casa Baltimore fulfilled their goal in building relationships with the Nicaraguan people as well as learning about how we can help fund their developmental projects. In addition to this goal, I was able to achieve personal ones such as learning as much as I could about a new culture and exercise my Spanish skills. In telling the story ofNicaragua, it is important to recognize that their society has endured hardships of dictatorship, civil war, floods, volcanoes, and chronic poverty through several generations. However I noticed that even though much has been taken from the country, they still have so much to offer!
As we travelled through different parts ofNicaragua, such as the cities ofManagua, EstelÃ, Limay, León, andGranada, I noticed that…well, to put it simply… “we weren’t in Kansas anymore!” After a while, I was more accustomed to the daily life there and ended up changing my own life style in order to better assimilate. Three shirts for 2 weeks was all I wore,  the 5-Ssecond-Rule was quickly implemented if I dropped my toothbrush in the dirt, cold showers became my preference, and I became familiar with rooster crows, dog barks, and Reggaeton as my daily alarm clock.
The people of Nicaragua are nice as a whole, and they seem to trust each other as well as their visitors. The home-stay families that we stayed with invited us into their homes as if we had known each other for years. I felt safer in their towns than I ever have anywhere else. It was interesting to experience a tight knit family that shares most of their day with each other and nearly everyone knows most of the people in their town. Even kids of next door neighbors ran from house to house as if they lived in both homes. It was adorable!
Our journey through Nicaragua taught me a lot about their culture, such as their religion, food, art, trade, and transportation. We visited a well attended Catholic church on New Years Eve and enjoyed a sermon to inspire our spiritual walk as we entered 2012! I found it so funny to witness a wandering dog enter the church, approach the pulpit during the service, and meander around up there until it was shooed away by the children’s choir and a few adults. I really loved how relaxed they were about so many things. While we were there, we ate a great deal of Pinto gallo (rice and beans) with tortillas and cheese. The taste of these food staples still linger in my taste buds and wish I could have one more Nicaraguan meal!
Their art, buildings, and music were so colorful. Every piece of art that I saw was like a piece of a puzzle that told the story of what Nicaragua was, is, and will be one day–they were all so beautiful! The more traditional Nicaraguan paintings were designed with bright neon colors and great detail. The marble figurines and statues were all hand made and often resembled recognizable aspects ofNicaragua, such as geckos, gorditas (beautiful curvaceous women), or renditions of the masks worn during their civil war. The live music we listened to included guitars, maracas, singing, and more. As for their buildings, nearly every wall was painted with bright colors and murals. If you know me, my camera was snapping shots every second!
Coffee is one of the main crops that benefit the economy ofNicaragua. I enjoyed having a chance to learn about how the yellow and red coffee beans are ready to be picked and when you eat them right then, there is sweet honey water between the shell and the bean. It was so good but if you have too much, it’ll make your stomach burn! Their crops are precious, and I find it unfortunate that the coffee crop owners do not make nearly as much as they deserve from their crops. As a pound gets sold for $10, they only receive about $2 per pound due to the middle people who process and sell their product.
I believe that Nicaraguan transportation had to be the craziest yet one of the most fun experiences I’ve ever had. Some cities have very few cars and others have so many that there were traffic jams. We took more than enough taxis and bus rides for a lifetime. Now I know there had to be a couple rules on their roads, however I’m not sure if they’re very clear or even implemented. More than once we ended up riding on the wrong side of the road and facing head on in traffic moving the opposite direction. From my understanding you just honk your horn a couple times to let everyone know that it’s your turn to go through the intersection. Other than that… I couldn’t comprehend their system. The bus rides we had were very….cozy, to say the least. We rode on American yellow school buses most often and shared two-seaters with whole families. Frequently, there were people forced stand in the aisles and sit on packages in the back. I had my fair share of book bags, babies, and butts in my face! I also met new friends on the bus and had good naps. Since most roads were unpaved on our bus rides, short distances took a looooong time!
Overall, I learned a lot about the culture of a third-world country such as Nicaragua. I feel that even though their country is poor, the people and the country are  rich in spirit, talent, and innovation. I really enjoyed myself while I was there and I hope that the ties between Nicaragua and the US continue to strengthen as each delegation of people go to visit such a beautiful country. ~Nicaragua has stolen a piece of my heart. 🙂
From Brittany Mendez
We spent our first few nights in Esteli, where we met two incredibly talented video artists working to better their community. In one film, they followed 3 different disabled people in their twenties, around their daily lives in order to promote awareness that although their bodies may function differently, they have the same feelings and aspirations that we all do. In Esteli we also met with a man named Stephen who runs an organization that brings women in from small rural towns, and teaches them to be teachers so that they can further education where they live.
In Limay, where we spent our biggest chunk of time, I got to stay with a local family of ten (8 children with their parents). We met with a bunch of different people in Limay: we spoke with the mayor about local attitudes toward the community, a women’s group who worked for safety and equality for women in the area, and coffee farmers on the side of a mountain who only got $1 from every $10 sold of their exported coffee. We discussed their opportunities for local sales and they said they had little options to sell locally because even if they had internet and marketing experience (which they don’t) the market isn’t large or wealthy enough to support their business. The locals who can afford their coffee prefer not to buy it because imported coffee is more appealing to them. We met with smaller more rural towns outside the mainvalleyofLimay, in small one room community centers, where the doors where all open and everyone who was wandering outside, including the dogs, came in and sat to greet us and tell us how glad they were that we could come visit.
In Leon, we met with a non for profit that provides affordable classes in the arts on weekends because most of the funding for arts education has been cut in public schools and science and math teachers are the ones teaching art! The organization was created by a couple students when they were freshmen in college, and it has grown with them into their late twenties. With more of a demand now than ever before, they are working to get more funding so they can afford to offer more classes during the week to satisfy their community’s needs. It was really inspiring to meet people who at such a young age created something so helpful and successful for their community!
My trip with Casa Baltimore Limay to Nicaragua enabled me to meet a group of people spanning all different ages and occupations, who were working to better their communities. It encouraged me even more, upon returning, to consider my occupation as not only a way to make a living, but a way to further the well being of the community I live in.
From Louise Gregg
Last fall (2011), I heard that a trip was being planned to go to Nicaragua, partly sponsored by my parish, St. Vincent de Paul, representing our sister parish, San Juan de Limay, and partly by a local group called Casa Baltimore/ Limay, about which I knew nothing. I paid little attention thinking I could never go until some invited me to join them as their translator. (I had learned Spanish from my days with the Peace Corps inBolivia, and had kept up my fluency in the subsequent years living inTexas.)
For several months, we worked out the travel details, checked out the shot requirements, updated our passports, and studied up on the country. We found out, for example, that theRepublicofNicaraguais almost 50,000 sq. mi., slightly larger thanNew YorkStatewith a population of 5 million, approximately 50% is urban, 50% rural.
Our delegation consisted of a representative of the Casa Baltimore/Limay, another person representing my parish, 4 post-college-aged people and me: a nice size group with good energy. With fund raisers and meetings, we quickly felt at ease with each other. Right after Christmas, we found ourselves actually on a plane toManagua,Nicaragua’s capital city.
The first thing that struck us aboutManagua(1 million population) was the heat: 80-90 degree with matching humidity, and 60’s at night.  Nicaragua’s terrain varies between relatively flat coastal plains and low mountains. The climate in the lowlands was hot and humid while the mountains were warm yet fresh.
Unemployment and underemployment rate ofNicaraguais 52.1% (2007 est.). Many people make ends meet working in the informal sector, selling or doing odd jobs. In rural areas, the entire family contributes. Often a daughter or son is sent off to the city to do domestic or other low-paying jobs.
Women have a special place in the country. Interestingly, national laws give property titles to the wife, if a couple applies. This has prevented many husbands from leaving their wives and children impoverished if there is a divorce.
We stayed in Spanish Colonial hotels for the first couple of nights there and in Esteli, the capital of the Department where our key destination, Limay was located. We met some local craftspersons, artists and musicians, traveled to the cities’ outskirts to view and hear their works. Though the degree of poverty and harsh conditions inNicaraguawas all around us, the sincerity and generosity of the people was life giving. I realized that we take so much for granted in this country. I was easily able to contemplate how we are blessed beyond belief.
I expected to find the dusty (or muddy in the rainy season) unpaved roads yet many of the Nicaraguan main roads are paved or cobble-stoned, even in the little town of Limay where we stayed for a number of days. In the more rural villages there is no pavement. I expected no electricity or running water, which, again, even Limay had though those undeveloped conditions still are true for the most rural areas. Apparently, electrical service comes to only 41% of all dwellings and just 7% in rural areas.
On Sat., Dec. 31, we travel to Limay in an old-style school bus packed with people (3 to two-seats and many standing) and goods, burlap bags containing grain, rice, or other provisions. In other trips, we would travel on the back of pick-ups hanging on as best we could. That night, we went to a special 11 pm New Years Eve Mass (loud and full of pageantry) in the local parish (90% of the population is Catholic), and were entertained (!?) with firecrackers the rest of the night.
We spent five days in the city of San Juan de Limay, in northernNicaragua; we stayed in the homes of local people in order to experience their daily lives. “Your living situation inNicaraguawill be simple,†said out delegation leader. “Most of what you see, hear, smell, taste and feel will be different from what you are accustomed to at home.â€Â And that proved to be quite literally true.
The two things I am most asked about are since returning is what we ate and about the phone situation. Food inNicaraguarevolves around staples, particularly rice, beans, salty country cheese, and tortillas. In Limay, our meals were substantial though they became a bit monotonous as we ate different combinations of these staples at each meal. Chicken is the most common meat. As several of us are vegetarians and vegans, they served our plates without the chicken. Coffee and various fresh-squeezed fruit juices rounded out our meals. We washed clothes by hand, as is the local custom, and showered in cold water piped into the houses.  These experiences provided us with another reasons to count our blessings.
Nicaraguahas a national telephone company, and internet communication similar to many places in the world these days. In rural areas like Limay, I was so surprised by the presence of several internet cafes! Their hours were limited, and the electricity was “ify”. Also, in rural areas, you physically visited the local phone company to make a call. Needless to say there were few calls. All this was new to me as I was expecting short-wave radios or one phone for a whole neighborhood.
In the day, we took day trips into the rural countryside, visiting the farmers and projects funded by Casa Baltimore/Limay andSt. Vincent’s Parish. The projects were diverse: scholarship for local, college-bound students (literacy is only 75% in the country, much less in rural areas), a childcare center, businesses that got micro-loans to develop their own little businesses, a medical clinic, and agro-forestry projects in rural villages, such as bee-keeping, cows for milk and cheese, and coffee bean plantations.
At several places, we were able to gather people together for them to share their concerns, sometimes with regional civic representatives present, including one woman from Limay who is now a national delegate. We met with these groups in hopes of helping them bring positive social change to the region.
After our time in Limay, our delegation traveled to other parts ofNicaragua: like a visit to Granadaand León to savor their colonial charm, and hear stories of their centuries-old rivalries for regional predominance. We also peered into the cauldron of a large, active, sulfurous volcano, Masaya, and followed that by a trip toLake Nicaragua, stopping at one of its delightful islands to have a leisurely swim and lunch. On the night of the feast of Epiphany, several of us got to experience a festive parade/procession featuring the Three Wise Men, floats with scenes from the bible, a giant women and other unidentifiable characters.
On our last day, back inManaguaagain, we experienced the country’s preparations for the re-inauguration of the Sandinista Party’s Daniel Ortega. He had served as president in 2007, where one of his first actions was to eliminate fees for children to attend public elementary schools. He reestablished free health care in the public health clinics. There was a lot of activity and hope around this event.
On Jan. 10, when I returned fromNicaragua, so much had changed yet we were home. We came home to a winteryBaltimore; it was surreal. Our feelings, our points-of-view, our understandings and attitudes about our world and ourselves were all distinctly changed. I enjoyed exploringNicaragua, its people, and its traditions. It was a most special visit.
From Tom Hyatt
Each time I travel to Nicaragua I am struck by how much beauty and energy and love and kindness  are shown by the people of the country and how much still there is do to help them in their work. And I am always grateful for the lessons we learn as visitors, as friends of those who live in Limay, for how much we grow and come to understand how varied and complex are the good things in the world.
This past visit we met groups of people with many different needs, hopes for the country, ways in which we could come together to learn, address issues, understand better how we could help. We visited small villages in the mountains where there was no electricity, talked with independent coffee growers who needed better access to markets where they could get a better price for their coffee. We talked with women who had banded together to fight machismo and spousal abuse. We talked with young people receiving grants from CB/L who have high aspirations for how their education and subsequent careers could help their families and the country. We met with the mayor of Limay to learn more about the challenges of toilets and sanitation in the villages around Limay. And we met families who had benefited from support for new houses to replace those lost in the floods that have torn through the valleys.
Best of all, we had the experience, as always, of becoming part of a family, if only for a short time, to experience and share the day-to-day lives of these warm and hopeful people who struggle like us to create lives that are rich and meaningful and that celebrate family and the beauty of their country. So I am always honored to be able to feel connected through our visits, through the work that we do to support their needs and to bring others into the Casa Baltimore/Limay family.
