I collated the video footage from when I was away and now have made a little film. It can be found in youtube at;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SFnOwiLenXI
Thursday, 30 September 2010
Monday, 31 May 2010
the last blog; costs and tips
Im back now and just been looking over accounts to get a breakdown of the costs over the past 5 months in Central America, written some tips too. Boring unless you're going to go.
Flights were $900 for round trip to Managua(nicaragua) from Edinburgh.
I took $350 to Nicaragua on January the 7th [new year rickshawing monies] and that lasted until the 26th of feb when I took out another $100 and started travelling north to Guatemala,. With 7 weeks of free accomodation at Casas de la Esperanza, I must have spent the rest on food for communal dinners, spanish lessons[10 hours,where i learned nothing because it was too hot] and rum. Then I booked a couple of hostels online [hostelbookers.com or hostelworld.com are decent sites] one in Leon, and in Esteli and Somoto we just found a place that looked good or near the bus station. In Somoto we decided on a price before trying the beds in the hostel, turned out we were sleeping on what felt like tables covered in sheets.
In Tegucigalpa Honduras we stayed in a couchsurfers accomodation and in with Copan ruinas I took out another $100. On the 8th of March I took another $100 in Guatemala taking it to about $650 for the 2 months in Nicaragua and traveling to Guatemala with some sightseeing.
In Guatemala I stayed in a homestay and had spanish classes for a Month, which was about $160 for a week, and including rum smoothies and travelling a bit at weekends, I spent about $900 that month, so starting to loosen up a bit there.
In Honduran Mosquita most of the money was spent on transport because the builders gave me free accommodation and food in Tuntuntarra. Wampusirpi was $5 a night in a clean private room, although no electricity. The flight cost $55 one way and I was cutting it fine for getting back to Managua the next week.
It cost around £2300 for the 5 months including return flights to central america.
Contacts - The only reason I went to Casas de la Esperanza was because I knew someone who had been there before. Although I don't know how he survived for 6 months without speaking much Spanish, I only managed 7 weeks. The reason I went to El Nuhal in Guatemala was because it was recommended by a friend I met in Nicaragua. The Mosquita I only knew because my uncle had been there in the 90's and told me to go. I would never have gone on a whim, because there is not a tourist set-up at all. MOPAWI told me how to get there and gave me suggestions for how I could spend my time.
People - Its important to speak a little spanish so I would have started in Xela if I had known this. Its cooler there and easier to learn. I had vitually no spanish in Nicaragua and it was futile going to the School there as it was too hot to learn. I also think they have a different meaning to non-profit at the school I went too, so I lasted about 10 hours. In the other school El Nuhal in Xela, it was really well organised a they cared a bit more about their students. I got 80 hours there, which is a good base for basic vocab and grammar. The people there are and good bunch. In Honduras I recieved a lot of generosity in terms of free accommodation and a lot of the time the builders wouldn't let me pay for food. I didn't really get to know any Nicaraguans but they seemed a good bunch.
Money - Dollars are weaker than Sterling , Xetzals weaker at about 7 to a dollar, Lempira even weaker at 18 to a dollar, and Cordobas at about 21:$1. But depends where you go. Really touristy places like the Bay Islands Honduras, and really remote places like the Mosquita region will still be expensive because they have an economy disconnected from the rest of the country. My visa debit card worked everywhere and only charged about 5 quid every time, which is fine if you're taking $200. Any trouble and you can use money sending companies, but not Western Union because they charge 20%!
Products - Guatemala has some of the best hand-made stuff you can buy and if you pay a little more you an get quality belts and fabrics. Try and buy it off the people that make it as opposed to the middlemen in the market. Theres plenty of cheap stuff too, my cheap belt is falling apart after 3 months and im wishing I hadn't been so tight fisted, because the good products are really quality. You can get cheap good string hammock from Nicaragua but I didn't see much else.
Food - Lots of fried stuff, beans, tortillas. Theres no olive oil though its all palm oil or from maiz and that was kind of sickly towards the end. You can get some good fish and shrimp on the carribean cost and a fresh lobster (if its not between breeding season feb-may). The thing I will miss is communal cooking in the casas de la esperanza charity, because you got the day off and had to make an effort it usually ended up being delicious. And Italians and Spanish are generally awesome cooks.
Transport - Its good to talk to people to find the best ways to get around. Chicken busses [old US school busses with new paint jobs] are safe and great for getting around and theres faster shuttles too. But that was in Nicaragua and some places in Guatemala, I wouldn't take one in the capital cities of Honduras or Guatemala as theres more crime there. A collectivo[Taxis with multiple fares] in Nica around town can be as little as 50 cent but sometimes its a crush if theres a few different people in it. I started getting little planes around the mosquita region as boat travel was just as expensive and it was close to my flight home.
Accomodation - There are decent hostels in the main towns and cities and plenty of nasty hostels to so just ask to see the room first. Paying around $5 for shared accomodation. I prefer to stay in one place and have a base than keep moving around constantly. That way you can get to know people a little better rather than just passing though countless hostels.
Animals - If i had a better camera with a decent lens I could have taken some more decent photos. I did see a spider monkey in the end.
Hygene - Talcum powder is the solution to sweaty feet.
http://www.casas-de-la-esperanza.org/
http://www.languageselnahual.com/
http://www.mopawi.org/
Flights were $900 for round trip to Managua(nicaragua) from Edinburgh.
I took $350 to Nicaragua on January the 7th [new year rickshawing monies] and that lasted until the 26th of feb when I took out another $100 and started travelling north to Guatemala,. With 7 weeks of free accomodation at Casas de la Esperanza, I must have spent the rest on food for communal dinners, spanish lessons[10 hours,where i learned nothing because it was too hot] and rum. Then I booked a couple of hostels online [hostelbookers.com or hostelworld.com are decent sites] one in Leon, and in Esteli and Somoto we just found a place that looked good or near the bus station. In Somoto we decided on a price before trying the beds in the hostel, turned out we were sleeping on what felt like tables covered in sheets.
In Tegucigalpa Honduras we stayed in a couchsurfers accomodation and in with Copan ruinas I took out another $100. On the 8th of March I took another $100 in Guatemala taking it to about $650 for the 2 months in Nicaragua and traveling to Guatemala with some sightseeing.
In Guatemala I stayed in a homestay and had spanish classes for a Month, which was about $160 for a week, and including rum smoothies and travelling a bit at weekends, I spent about $900 that month, so starting to loosen up a bit there.
In Honduran Mosquita most of the money was spent on transport because the builders gave me free accommodation and food in Tuntuntarra. Wampusirpi was $5 a night in a clean private room, although no electricity. The flight cost $55 one way and I was cutting it fine for getting back to Managua the next week.
It cost around £2300 for the 5 months including return flights to central america.
Contacts - The only reason I went to Casas de la Esperanza was because I knew someone who had been there before. Although I don't know how he survived for 6 months without speaking much Spanish, I only managed 7 weeks. The reason I went to El Nuhal in Guatemala was because it was recommended by a friend I met in Nicaragua. The Mosquita I only knew because my uncle had been there in the 90's and told me to go. I would never have gone on a whim, because there is not a tourist set-up at all. MOPAWI told me how to get there and gave me suggestions for how I could spend my time.
People - Its important to speak a little spanish so I would have started in Xela if I had known this. Its cooler there and easier to learn. I had vitually no spanish in Nicaragua and it was futile going to the School there as it was too hot to learn. I also think they have a different meaning to non-profit at the school I went too, so I lasted about 10 hours. In the other school El Nuhal in Xela, it was really well organised a they cared a bit more about their students. I got 80 hours there, which is a good base for basic vocab and grammar. The people there are and good bunch. In Honduras I recieved a lot of generosity in terms of free accommodation and a lot of the time the builders wouldn't let me pay for food. I didn't really get to know any Nicaraguans but they seemed a good bunch.
Money - Dollars are weaker than Sterling , Xetzals weaker at about 7 to a dollar, Lempira even weaker at 18 to a dollar, and Cordobas at about 21:$1. But depends where you go. Really touristy places like the Bay Islands Honduras, and really remote places like the Mosquita region will still be expensive because they have an economy disconnected from the rest of the country. My visa debit card worked everywhere and only charged about 5 quid every time, which is fine if you're taking $200. Any trouble and you can use money sending companies, but not Western Union because they charge 20%!
Products - Guatemala has some of the best hand-made stuff you can buy and if you pay a little more you an get quality belts and fabrics. Try and buy it off the people that make it as opposed to the middlemen in the market. Theres plenty of cheap stuff too, my cheap belt is falling apart after 3 months and im wishing I hadn't been so tight fisted, because the good products are really quality. You can get cheap good string hammock from Nicaragua but I didn't see much else.
Food - Lots of fried stuff, beans, tortillas. Theres no olive oil though its all palm oil or from maiz and that was kind of sickly towards the end. You can get some good fish and shrimp on the carribean cost and a fresh lobster (if its not between breeding season feb-may). The thing I will miss is communal cooking in the casas de la esperanza charity, because you got the day off and had to make an effort it usually ended up being delicious. And Italians and Spanish are generally awesome cooks.
Transport - Its good to talk to people to find the best ways to get around. Chicken busses [old US school busses with new paint jobs] are safe and great for getting around and theres faster shuttles too. But that was in Nicaragua and some places in Guatemala, I wouldn't take one in the capital cities of Honduras or Guatemala as theres more crime there. A collectivo[Taxis with multiple fares] in Nica around town can be as little as 50 cent but sometimes its a crush if theres a few different people in it. I started getting little planes around the mosquita region as boat travel was just as expensive and it was close to my flight home.
Accomodation - There are decent hostels in the main towns and cities and plenty of nasty hostels to so just ask to see the room first. Paying around $5 for shared accomodation. I prefer to stay in one place and have a base than keep moving around constantly. That way you can get to know people a little better rather than just passing though countless hostels.
Animals - If i had a better camera with a decent lens I could have taken some more decent photos. I did see a spider monkey in the end.
Hygene - Talcum powder is the solution to sweaty feet.
http://www.casas-de-la-esperanza.org/
http://www.languageselnahual.com/
http://www.mopawi.org/
Friday, 21 May 2010
chocolate factory and fishing
Finally back in Puerta Lempira, electricity, internet, cars etc..I missed the plane on Wednesday morning due to mucho sickiness and have been waiting in Wampusirpi since then. Mostly fishing in the rio patuca, which is the longest in Honduras [well except the rio coco but thats in Nicaragua too-the frontera that divides the countries]. You can travel all the way up the rio patuca to Tegucigalpa el capital, but unfortunately my cigars and laptop were here in Puerta Lempira so had to return.
Wampusirpi is a 30 minute plane ride from Puerta Lempira. Which takes you over the marshes and pine savanas, and into the tropical zone of the Mosquita. It rains a lot because it's "winter" here [from feb-may], and usually starts around 11 in the morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The river is dirty now because of the rain, and also upriver theres gold mining and timber deforesting with fills the river with soil. So if you come here for fishing come in the summer months when the water is clear! I cought 3 catfish (which is another sign of dirty water because they eat anything) and one baby rommel i think. All I needed was a line, hook and some bait! no rods here.
I stayed in a hostel for $5 a night and $2.50 for meals. Although I still had the devil in my stomache until wendesday when i discovered pepto-bismol, so didn't eat much. Theres hardly any fruit and veg in winter here because the rain detroys a lot of it, so not much variation in the food. I did get a nice steak yesterday but I can't wait until i get home to some European food. The owner was called Rocky and I also met a kid with the name Michael Jackson, I think Indigenous peoples take the names of western stuff and use it without having to worry about getting slagged.
Wampu is beside the River patuca and is bigger than Tuntuntarra; the houses are closer together, it feels more like a town. It has a parque central with basket ball court beside the telecoms tower and catholic church. The minister, padre Josue, has been here for 23 years, originally from Catalonia, Spain. He has a chocolate factory here[awesome] so i returned with a kilo of pure and a kilo of powdered [without oil] organic mosquita chocolate.
I spent a lot of time with ICF, which is a goverment organisation similar to the forrestry commission. They also try to protect the endangered wildlife and provent illegal export of exotic animals. One Jaguar was killed when I was there so there was some arguments between the locals. Sometimes the jaguars kill the cows and sometimes it´s just for the price of the fur, but from the locals I spoke to, if they see a wild animal they're probably going to try and kill it. There's some hostility towards the ICF in terms of trying to enforce those sorts of laws because the people have been here longer. I went on a couple of day trips with ICF up and down the river and saw different communities. Krausirpi upriver has a race of asian looking people called the Awak, and they speak a different language to mosquita, theres only about 3000 people. They go upriver to look for gold for a month and then return to Krausirpi, so it was quite quiet when I visited. Downriver we visited a cacao fermenting farm, which smelled like hot chocolate, [to sell to switzerland], and further down a village called Pimiento where the president of the farmers co-operative lives.
People here have nothing and its really poor, the work is to survive and there are no companies to employ people. The government have stopped the schools for the moment due to some re-organisation of funding because Mosquita teachers need much more to get around on the boats, they get 15,000 lempira for a month. The previous government, before they stole all the money, sold rights to companies to pump oil in the area but because there are indigenous communities here they have to consult an international organisation, and the people of the laguna area, before anything can happen. There have been 4 presidents in 6 months here. 1 galon of petrol here is 100 lempira, about $5 dollars. A house with land $2000. One of the guys I spoke to had gone to the states to work for a while, and I asked if he was gonna go back, no, no, he said, I was deported. Apparently 1 plane full of illegal workers leaves honduras every day to follow the American dream. I said he needs to sell stuff to the locals for extra cash [he was from La Cieba], so next month he'll bring mobiles to sell. If you're staying in a place for a while its good to sell stuff (like the builders in Tuntuntarra) because you get to meet local people, and trade brings change, money and inspiration. Books would be useful here too because theres no library, only some national geographics in the ICF office.
If I come back here i'll bring a better camera, and would love to take a guide through the jungle for a month, or go up the river patuca to Palestine and Tegucigalpa to pan for gold. But alas I need to return. The race is on for my flight from Managua, Nicaragua on Wednesday. Starting with a pickup at 5 tomorrow to the rio coco, a boat across the frontera, a car to Guapan, a bus to Puerta Cabeza in Nicaragua..then 22 hours in bus to Managua and a taxi to and from Granada to pick up some stuff I left at Casas de la Esperanza. If I miss my flight I guess i'll stay here..
Wampusirpi is a 30 minute plane ride from Puerta Lempira. Which takes you over the marshes and pine savanas, and into the tropical zone of the Mosquita. It rains a lot because it's "winter" here [from feb-may], and usually starts around 11 in the morning until 4 or 5 in the afternoon. The river is dirty now because of the rain, and also upriver theres gold mining and timber deforesting with fills the river with soil. So if you come here for fishing come in the summer months when the water is clear! I cought 3 catfish (which is another sign of dirty water because they eat anything) and one baby rommel i think. All I needed was a line, hook and some bait! no rods here.
I stayed in a hostel for $5 a night and $2.50 for meals. Although I still had the devil in my stomache until wendesday when i discovered pepto-bismol, so didn't eat much. Theres hardly any fruit and veg in winter here because the rain detroys a lot of it, so not much variation in the food. I did get a nice steak yesterday but I can't wait until i get home to some European food. The owner was called Rocky and I also met a kid with the name Michael Jackson, I think Indigenous peoples take the names of western stuff and use it without having to worry about getting slagged.
Wampu is beside the River patuca and is bigger than Tuntuntarra; the houses are closer together, it feels more like a town. It has a parque central with basket ball court beside the telecoms tower and catholic church. The minister, padre Josue, has been here for 23 years, originally from Catalonia, Spain. He has a chocolate factory here[awesome] so i returned with a kilo of pure and a kilo of powdered [without oil] organic mosquita chocolate.
I spent a lot of time with ICF, which is a goverment organisation similar to the forrestry commission. They also try to protect the endangered wildlife and provent illegal export of exotic animals. One Jaguar was killed when I was there so there was some arguments between the locals. Sometimes the jaguars kill the cows and sometimes it´s just for the price of the fur, but from the locals I spoke to, if they see a wild animal they're probably going to try and kill it. There's some hostility towards the ICF in terms of trying to enforce those sorts of laws because the people have been here longer. I went on a couple of day trips with ICF up and down the river and saw different communities. Krausirpi upriver has a race of asian looking people called the Awak, and they speak a different language to mosquita, theres only about 3000 people. They go upriver to look for gold for a month and then return to Krausirpi, so it was quite quiet when I visited. Downriver we visited a cacao fermenting farm, which smelled like hot chocolate, [to sell to switzerland], and further down a village called Pimiento where the president of the farmers co-operative lives.
People here have nothing and its really poor, the work is to survive and there are no companies to employ people. The government have stopped the schools for the moment due to some re-organisation of funding because Mosquita teachers need much more to get around on the boats, they get 15,000 lempira for a month. The previous government, before they stole all the money, sold rights to companies to pump oil in the area but because there are indigenous communities here they have to consult an international organisation, and the people of the laguna area, before anything can happen. There have been 4 presidents in 6 months here. 1 galon of petrol here is 100 lempira, about $5 dollars. A house with land $2000. One of the guys I spoke to had gone to the states to work for a while, and I asked if he was gonna go back, no, no, he said, I was deported. Apparently 1 plane full of illegal workers leaves honduras every day to follow the American dream. I said he needs to sell stuff to the locals for extra cash [he was from La Cieba], so next month he'll bring mobiles to sell. If you're staying in a place for a while its good to sell stuff (like the builders in Tuntuntarra) because you get to meet local people, and trade brings change, money and inspiration. Books would be useful here too because theres no library, only some national geographics in the ICF office.
If I come back here i'll bring a better camera, and would love to take a guide through the jungle for a month, or go up the river patuca to Palestine and Tegucigalpa to pan for gold. But alas I need to return. The race is on for my flight from Managua, Nicaragua on Wednesday. Starting with a pickup at 5 tomorrow to the rio coco, a boat across the frontera, a car to Guapan, a bus to Puerta Cabeza in Nicaragua..then 22 hours in bus to Managua and a taxi to and from Granada to pick up some stuff I left at Casas de la Esperanza. If I miss my flight I guess i'll stay here..
Friday, 7 May 2010
respeta la gente
This is the team of constructors in Tuntuntarra. Starting from the right;
The pastor gives a prayer most mornings and is also the clerk of works on site. Next is Richard the Batana farmer, which grows here very well and is the raw material for lots of pharmacuitical creams and beauty products. Another thing that MOPAWI are working on is the trade of Batana with companies in Europe. Hence the french woman here last week. He also has some funny T-shirts one of which says "I survived mardie-gras 97" with the catchphrase "what seems to be the problem officer?". I Can't pronounce the next guys name but he has silver teeth and his mum always comes to site and talks to me in Mosquita, and cristened me Powny (red in mosquita).
The guy in the pink shirt is the guy with two wives and 22 children and always takes a break to smoke a rolled up tobacco leaf. Miguel breaks into song frequently, "are you crying?" is what you say in Spanish when someone starts singing. Josue is always trying to talk football and my limited knowlege doesn't suffice, "Crouch-yeah he's English", or, "Tottenham Hotspurs-I've heard of them" [apparently they have Honduran players]. Isais and Kelly are my english students.
The family of constructors are from San Juan Cito near Tegucigalpa. Papa Miguel [sorry photo wont upload] is a reknowned builder in Honduras and is very thorough of the quality of everything, from the materials to the workers - he kept scalding me when I said I wasn't hungry. Miguel his son has worked on-site since the age of 12 and plays a good few tunes on the guitar, he looks a bit mexican too i think. I'm just trying to learn the lyrics to no vale nada la vida. Josue is the youngest and swaggers around working away steadily. In Tegucigalpa they work 5 days 7-4 and sat-sun if they want overtime. Josue spends the rest of the time playing football, pool, drinking a couple of beers and watching tv so pretty much the same as people in Europe. Josue and Miguel have moustaches which is a machitsta thing for respect, but papa Miguel doesn't need one, especially with his Rayban sunglasses. He has another son who works in the US as a mechanic who he hasn't seen for 3 years.
Beside the building is a Coconut field of 40 trees is being created which will start producing in 3 years. Apart from farming theres not much work around Tuntuntarra, its either farming, diving or transport; diving is for lobster and seafood for the Bay islands and transport can be people or goods. The rivers are very dry so its hard to get around at the moment. Its very very poor here and some people just do enough to subside. It's totally disconnected from the rest of honduras; I drove around huge palm plantations to the north in a half day pickup ride from Tocoa to get to the Gracias a Dios zone and theres a huge forest reserve the the west. It seems like another country; different language, food, people and transport. I hope the new building brings more education and money, if I return i'll bring more sunblock.
Now i'm in Puerta Lempira as was sick this last week so decided to go to the hospital after fighting stomach ache in Tuntuntarra. Free healthcare here and good Cuban Doctors so I was pleasantly suprised in the hospital. Puerta Lempira was used in the past as a drop off point for supplies for the Contra's fighting along the Rio Coco an in Nicaragua, which is why its quite developed. The MOPAWI offices are here and internet and a TV in my apartment (i havn't had a TV since January the 6th). I spent yesterday watching Indiana Jones[awesome], Sixth Sense ["veo personas muerte"] and Waterworld. My plan is for next week do a walk with guides of a mountain here if its possible, then go south on another pickup to Guapan across the Rio Coco to Puerta Cabeza in Nicaragua. Then across to Managua and home.
Thursday, 29 April 2010
Tuntuntarra
Hi i've been in Tuntuntarra for two weeks now. No internet here, no electricity [alex thanks i finally get to use your solar mobile charger], and the toilets and showers are outside. Its a boat ride from Puerta Lempira which is the biggest town in the Honduran Mosquita area. I live with two guys from Tegucigalpa who are working on a community centre for Tuntun tarra and the villages around it, a school for teaching farming techniques, processing and also to be used as a emergency refuge when the surrounding areas flood in the wet season. All the houses in the village are on stilts and the families can be huge. One guy who works on-site has two wives and 17 children, the wives are sisters. Sometimes the families have as many as 20 children, mucho amor. What have I been doing all my life I ask, although theres no TV here.
The construction starts at 6 with a prayer from the local pastor, and usually finishes at 5. But that depends whether there are materials because they all have to be carried from Puerta Lempira, and then transported by foot (or bike) a mile to the site. Its usually the women who carry the materials because the men plant crops and go fishing in the day. Its about 80 cents to move a bag of cement. Theres not much experience in concrete constuction here, which is why Miguel and Josue (the guys from Tegucigalpa) were brought over. They treat me like family and we have a chef that cooks all our meals at the site. The Mosqitas here have a very limited diet and its very poor so they mostly eat yuka, which is kind of like potatoe if you fry it. There are abundant coco trees which I've sampled but I leave the tree climbing for the locals.
Bug city here. Theres little red bugs that are rapid, and go for delicate areas. Their bite burns like fire. Mosquitos of course and malaria are a major problem, thats why I came back today because Miguel has got ill with Malaria symtoms. Chloroquina is the anti-malaria stuff that im taking, which gives the crazy dreams sometimes. Here, there is also another disease known as grisky sikiness i.e. crazy sickness or loco, and is only found in the Mosquitan peoples. The symptoms are obvious, being crazy for a while, and only local witchdoctors can cure it. There are witches here but also a lot of churches and I can wake up on a Monday,Wednesday, Friday and Sunday to beautiful Mosquita harmonies from the nearby church. The popular Mosquita music here takes some getting used to, one singer Roncar i think his name is, wails Sandra, Sandra, mi amor. But im starting to appreciate it.
awesome storms theres a story of a lightning strike in Puerta Lempira that killed 10 people when it hit a football field.
In the local Language mun means you in Mosquita, which i guess is similar to Jamacans get to saying mun at the end of sentences, Bob Marley mun. grisky whit mon is crazy white man and tahti is pronounced tattie as in Scotland and means potatoe. Also beautiful is bohni pronounced bonny also as in Scotland. The mosquitas where in fact given there name because they worked with the Brittish Empire to fight off the Spanish armada in the past. The Brittish gave them muskets and they became known as muskitos or mosquitas. Pirates also used the coast to raid passing spanish ships laden with Gold from south america. Maybe there were some Scottish pirates to influence the language too. In the community I've become known as Powny (which means red) because im always getting burned on site and an old lady kept on laughing at me and shouting powny, powny one day.
Theres some free time in the evening so I've started teaching engish to two of the workers from the site. Isais and Kelly come [most] nights, the first night 15 people turned up at the house, thankfully they were only curious and only the 2 wanted lessons.
One of the main organisers Osvaldo visited the site with a frech ambassador the other day, so I finally got to meet my uncles contact.My uncle was here for 3 months with students on a Tearfund sponsored project. The french woman was quite funny, she didn't like beans (which you have every meal here), and when she tried some local bread she remarked "this isn't bread!", no bagettes here luv. . It was payday for the laborourers [all women! almost] and one of the office workers from Mopawi asked me for my paperwork, which was quite funny. So i went up to the pay desk in the bodega with my drivers licence and asked for my pay. . grisky whit mon .
Monday, 12 April 2010
Traje de Escocia - men in skirts
Finally some internet This is what ive done the last few days.
LAst week was easter, which means several things in Guatemala. You either stay in town and partake in the religious festival, or you go to the beach. I would upload a video but internet is turtle speed here;
Most of the shops are closed and the transport shuts down so all you can do is eat ice-cream in the parke central, watch processions and go to church. I however was feeling homesick, or as a side affect from anti-malaria pills [going to Mosquito coast this week] decided to make a kilt. I borrowed a machine off a friend and bought 4 yards of fabric [the instructions i found on the internet were in imperial] and with help from American Irish/Scottish immigrant Susan made a (non-traditional) kilt. I wanted some guatemalan fabric in there as it is reknowned for textiles. Although all I could find was a tea-towel so I cut that up and sewed it under the pleats,which looks awesome. Joanna a friend in Xela says shes gonna upload a photo for me tomorrow
Heres how its done if anyones interested. I have a lot of respect for kilt makers now!
Measure yourself and don't lie about the rump mesurement
Buy the fabric, Velcro, and thread - [yes velcro, also used for stripper trousers]
Wash the fabric because it shrinks
Quick-iron the fabric, always with lots of steam
Cut out the fabric
Iron it all flat again
Sew on half the Velcro [strippers take note]
Mark the pleats with chalk [I measured it on a tiled floor which is great for lining up at right angles to fabric] 4 yards seems like a lot but box-pleats take it all up.
Sew down the hem.
Sew the pleats from hem to the bottom of the fell (the lower 2/3rds)
Fold up the kilt, taper the pleats and iron the pleats [this helps if you have two people]
Sew down the fell/upper 1/3rd of the pleats and taper them [this is hard!]
Attach the other half of the Velcro
Make belt loops and attach
Strut
If anyone wants the instructions I can send them. It took about 12 hours of marking the fabric and power sewing. This was WAY better than my attempt to make haggis for community lunch. I got some laughs from the women and whistles from the men but generally people thought it looked good i.e."que guapo!". El Nuhal is a Mayan district nearby and the men wear skirts there too. So it wasn't completely out of place. Mucho aire! I'll get someone to upload a picture for me because internet is quite slow here.
This week ive been travelling mostly. I put the prices in brackets to see the travel costs.
After leaving Xela on monday mording. I got a lift(free!) with wonderful Gabby one of the guatemalan volunteers [whom i borrowed the sewing machine off to build the kilt] to Guatemala city, there we stayed overnight with one of her friends in the city and ate at taco bells twice. Gabby left the next day and I stayed with gabbys friend again and made him and his sister dinner [pinnaple stir-fry and rice, is easy and tasty]. They gave me a lift to the station at 4 the next morning and I got a bus($40) to la ceiba [half way across guatemala and most of the way across honduras]. There I stayed the night in a hostel dorm($5) and the guy who stayed in the room told me how to get to Belen.
That wednesday night I had a few drinks with girls I met at the station and played cards til the bar shut, which was early thankfully as I had to get up at 4 for the bus to Tocoa. I parted ways with the english girl who wanted to learn spanish [80 hours for basic grammar and vocab I said and she looked daunted] and the norwegian who couldn't deal the cards until I finished my beer [I think its was OCD she had].
Then more travel the next day, along the North coast of Honduras. On the chicken bus($4) to Tocoa I met some nice women who were going in the same direction and I basically followed them. Tocoa to Bataya was a mental pickup truck ride($20) along roads initially, then dirt-tracks, and finally flying along the beach in a truck with 12 people staked full of luggage, bikes and two mattresses strapped to the top.
Bataya is a Garifuna community of mosty african descendents, so it started to feel like the CarribIean about here.
Thursday afternoon I took a to Belen ($10) that kept stopping because the petrol had been watered down and the guy had to empty the tank completely to get it runing properly. I got to Belen hoping to find a Mopawi charity worker there but he had gone away for semana santa so I stayed in some sweet Ecotourist accomodation for ($10) a night. It was here I realised that I should have bought all that stuff I had made a list of before travelling, insted of just half of it..no machete,no water puro pills,no pan for heating water etc.. and no food. I only had oats and some candy that was similar to tablet that I bought in the gas station. I had only brought $100 dollars and had to get to Puerta lempira, $$? worth of travel away..there are no banks for miles..duh. I had my hammock though. i spent friday there talking to some people and reading and not eating much but a pear that looked like an apple and a green mango (I prefer then when the're ripe).
Saturday I got some more boats Belen - Bruz($10), Bruz - Awaz($15), Awaz - Puerta Lempira($20). And had distinctly not much money when I got to Puerta Lempira. But at least the powerboat ride through the jungle was awesome. Of course the bank was shut when I got to town, and I started to worry that I might have to crack open my prized nicaraguan cigars to sell. Not to worry because the guy from the boat I talked to offered some awesome Mosquitan hospitality and I went to his barrio to stay with his family there.
The house was a little crowded, 5 people in a wee house but I set up my hammock and went for some food with remaining $10 [phew]. Bought me and the guy Bustillo some dinner and then went in search of Mowapi workers. I knew the one girl Debora Sanchez, but hadn't told her when I would arrive, and didn't know her number or house. Some asking around with help from Bustillo we located her and now Im staying in a nice hotel on expenses, feel a bit bad about that but thats built-in Scottish guilt. This is sweet.
Here its very expensive because everything is brought in by boat or tiny plane. No more watermellon for me, because they come from Nicaragua and cost at least 100 lempira each, and no more rum smoothies. They have a new Tax to fund the new government, as the last one was totally corrupt and ran away with all the money. So this week everything is gonna get more expensive.
tomorrow im going to help build a school in a nearby village where theres no electricity and lots of mosquitos. Adios
LAst week was easter, which means several things in Guatemala. You either stay in town and partake in the religious festival, or you go to the beach. I would upload a video but internet is turtle speed here;
Most of the shops are closed and the transport shuts down so all you can do is eat ice-cream in the parke central, watch processions and go to church. I however was feeling homesick, or as a side affect from anti-malaria pills [going to Mosquito coast this week] decided to make a kilt. I borrowed a machine off a friend and bought 4 yards of fabric [the instructions i found on the internet were in imperial] and with help from American Irish/Scottish immigrant Susan made a (non-traditional) kilt. I wanted some guatemalan fabric in there as it is reknowned for textiles. Although all I could find was a tea-towel so I cut that up and sewed it under the pleats,which looks awesome. Joanna a friend in Xela says shes gonna upload a photo for me tomorrow
Heres how its done if anyones interested. I have a lot of respect for kilt makers now!
Measure yourself and don't lie about the rump mesurement
Buy the fabric, Velcro, and thread - [yes velcro, also used for stripper trousers]
Wash the fabric because it shrinks
Quick-iron the fabric, always with lots of steam
Cut out the fabric
Iron it all flat again
Sew on half the Velcro [strippers take note]
Mark the pleats with chalk [I measured it on a tiled floor which is great for lining up at right angles to fabric] 4 yards seems like a lot but box-pleats take it all up.
Sew down the hem.
Sew the pleats from hem to the bottom of the fell (the lower 2/3rds)
Fold up the kilt, taper the pleats and iron the pleats [this helps if you have two people]
Sew down the fell/upper 1/3rd of the pleats and taper them [this is hard!]
Attach the other half of the Velcro
Make belt loops and attach
Strut
If anyone wants the instructions I can send them. It took about 12 hours of marking the fabric and power sewing. This was WAY better than my attempt to make haggis for community lunch. I got some laughs from the women and whistles from the men but generally people thought it looked good i.e."que guapo!". El Nuhal is a Mayan district nearby and the men wear skirts there too. So it wasn't completely out of place. Mucho aire! I'll get someone to upload a picture for me because internet is quite slow here.
This week ive been travelling mostly. I put the prices in brackets to see the travel costs.
After leaving Xela on monday mording. I got a lift(free!) with wonderful Gabby one of the guatemalan volunteers [whom i borrowed the sewing machine off to build the kilt] to Guatemala city, there we stayed overnight with one of her friends in the city and ate at taco bells twice. Gabby left the next day and I stayed with gabbys friend again and made him and his sister dinner [pinnaple stir-fry and rice, is easy and tasty]. They gave me a lift to the station at 4 the next morning and I got a bus($40) to la ceiba [half way across guatemala and most of the way across honduras]. There I stayed the night in a hostel dorm($5) and the guy who stayed in the room told me how to get to Belen.
That wednesday night I had a few drinks with girls I met at the station and played cards til the bar shut, which was early thankfully as I had to get up at 4 for the bus to Tocoa. I parted ways with the english girl who wanted to learn spanish [80 hours for basic grammar and vocab I said and she looked daunted] and the norwegian who couldn't deal the cards until I finished my beer [I think its was OCD she had].
Then more travel the next day, along the North coast of Honduras. On the chicken bus($4) to Tocoa I met some nice women who were going in the same direction and I basically followed them. Tocoa to Bataya was a mental pickup truck ride($20) along roads initially, then dirt-tracks, and finally flying along the beach in a truck with 12 people staked full of luggage, bikes and two mattresses strapped to the top.
Bataya is a Garifuna community of mosty african descendents, so it started to feel like the CarribIean about here.
Thursday afternoon I took a to Belen ($10) that kept stopping because the petrol had been watered down and the guy had to empty the tank completely to get it runing properly. I got to Belen hoping to find a Mopawi charity worker there but he had gone away for semana santa so I stayed in some sweet Ecotourist accomodation for ($10) a night. It was here I realised that I should have bought all that stuff I had made a list of before travelling, insted of just half of it..no machete,no water puro pills,no pan for heating water etc.. and no food. I only had oats and some candy that was similar to tablet that I bought in the gas station. I had only brought $100 dollars and had to get to Puerta lempira, $$? worth of travel away..there are no banks for miles..duh. I had my hammock though. i spent friday there talking to some people and reading and not eating much but a pear that looked like an apple and a green mango (I prefer then when the're ripe).
Saturday I got some more boats Belen - Bruz($10), Bruz - Awaz($15), Awaz - Puerta Lempira($20). And had distinctly not much money when I got to Puerta Lempira. But at least the powerboat ride through the jungle was awesome. Of course the bank was shut when I got to town, and I started to worry that I might have to crack open my prized nicaraguan cigars to sell. Not to worry because the guy from the boat I talked to offered some awesome Mosquitan hospitality and I went to his barrio to stay with his family there.
The house was a little crowded, 5 people in a wee house but I set up my hammock and went for some food with remaining $10 [phew]. Bought me and the guy Bustillo some dinner and then went in search of Mowapi workers. I knew the one girl Debora Sanchez, but hadn't told her when I would arrive, and didn't know her number or house. Some asking around with help from Bustillo we located her and now Im staying in a nice hotel on expenses, feel a bit bad about that but thats built-in Scottish guilt. This is sweet.
Here its very expensive because everything is brought in by boat or tiny plane. No more watermellon for me, because they come from Nicaragua and cost at least 100 lempira each, and no more rum smoothies. They have a new Tax to fund the new government, as the last one was totally corrupt and ran away with all the money. So this week everything is gonna get more expensive.
tomorrow im going to help build a school in a nearby village where theres no electricity and lots of mosquitos. Adios
Monday, 29 March 2010
problems.what problems?
Heres a photo of the tallest Guatemalan I could find. She works at the school and has 8 children. A mayan language is her first indigenous language and Spanish her second. The younger generation tend to speak Spanish as their first language, but you can still hear the local dialects in the market. It sounds a bit like Gaelic!
The weekends I have been climbing the local Vocanoes, I was up Tajimulco last weekend, which is the highest in C.A at 4200m. On the main route up theres pine forrests and cattle farming and on the other side theres marijuana fields. Theres some snow on the top but it's still warm, its not really exploited as a tourist destination. All there was at the start of the trail was a pole with a Guatemalan flag and some stray dogs, although Guatemala is usually better at flaunting its other tourist spots, like the lake Atiglan and Tikal Mayan ruins.
Was at the Local football game on Saturday, I missed the only goal as was trying to find the male toilet(as there was none, use the pillars under the stand). Atmosphere was a bit tame, but was amusing when the away side goalie was at our end due to the chants. Tried some of the local Quetzaltecca rum during the game, its $1 for the half bottle, but needed a bit more to make the game interesting. There were kids that looked about 7 working in the stands as food and drinks vendors. Hot pineaple juice, tacos and soup, no pies unfortunately.
In the spanish classes I made the mistake of asking about Guatemalan problems, which opened up a can of worms ["desatar la lengua" is the spanish phrase], as lili my teacher went off one a 1.5 hr rant. I've broken down what I can remember here;
Education - theres a low standard of teaching, teachers missing out silent letters, and relying on volunteers in some schools for English classes [AKA.me - sometimes people like me who don't have a clue how to teach]. Corruption in university is common for example taking money to mark a thesis.
Hospitals are overcrowded, apparently 6/10 women die giving birth. The water is Contaminated - chemicals in the water supply, and lots of amaebas to contend with, which make number 2's like number 1's.
Minimum wage is $75+ dollars a month for local services work, $187+ for banks and government and $750+ if you have a university degree. Indigenous Mayan families are large due to factors like parents wanting more kids to work for them, the Evangelicals and Catholic religions encouraging it and banning contraceptives. Child labour is commonplace.
There is no benefits system for contractual workers (like those fantastic agencies we have in Britain). There are many disabled people as punishment for thievery in rural areas used to be to cut of the arm. As the police force is untrusted and corrupt people still take law into own hands in the rural areas. There is a guy with no arms and legs, who delivers papers on a skateboard in Xela, the city i'm in.
There is a machista culture, chuvenism, inequality in the sexes. Although there may be a female president running in the next election. There is no confidence in rural communities as indigenous farming co-opratives in the past were destroyed the government, due to being communists . . . i.e. It did not adhere to the US intrests of creating a neodependent state, with a one crop export economy.
and the world is going to end in 2012.
Tuesday, 23 March 2010
Centro Americas
Another history lesson? The coolest thing i´ve found this week is a rum smoothie. Here is a thoroughly unreferenced short history of Centro America.
Central America has history of conflict, a tragedy, for example the 36 year civil war in Guatemala only ended in 1996. They threw government adversaries into active volcanoes from helicopters in that one.
Starting from the beginning, peoples from Asia came across the Bering straight into Alaska and down through the Americas. Around 3000BC the savage and sophisticated Mayan civilisation was gathering momentum before reaching a pinnacle at around 900AD and falling into decline. So the Spanish didn't destroy the civilisation but were extremely cruel to the dissembled Mayan people, they arrived in the early 1500's. The Spanish brought Guns, Horses and Disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel) all of which scared the bejeezus out of the indigenous peoples. They pillaged the land (along with the British) and enslaved the people until they ran out of the indigenous peoples and had to start importing African slaves. The mix of White European, African and Indigenous gives the diversity of people that can be found today. In 1821 the Centro Americas got independence from Spain, creating the 5 states of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
The 19th-20th centuries were full of US intervention, dictators, revolutions, war and poverty. This has lead to countries today that have high unemployment, crime and corruption. There is an abandonment of subsistence farming and emigration north in search of the American dream, to the greatest country in the world.
In the Guatemalan past there was a lot of resistance to the Spanish conquests for land and slaves, In the North the people resisted the armed attack of Spanish but were converted to Christianity instead, another method of subduing the indigenous peoples. In Colonial society there were different classes of peoples any mix that wasn't pure Spanish was generally enslaved, for the mining gold and silver, and working in plantations. The Spanish brought sugar cane to the Americas.
After independence from Spain the next major conquistador was United Fruit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company] or "El Pulpo" from US in 1902. They bought the best tracts of land and built the port Barrios and a railway through the country solely for the export of Bananas, giving them a monopoly on the export of fruit with no Taxes. This was frustrating for the people of an overpopulated country that had given away the best land. Eventually a president was elected that was too bold for America, whom reclassified huge tracts of land for the people. Then came the CIA sponsored Coup [The American Ambassador in Guatemala and a CIA director were chairmen in United fruit], and the next half of the century, in which 350 villages were destroyed, 35,000 widows were created and 2 million people emigrated. When the mountains tremble . . . http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421089/
Now Guatemala has the highest population in Centro America, with 75% living below the poverty line of $2 a day, and no sign of Ajis, thats a midget who wears a red coat, and if you follow him back to his little red house, he will make you rich [Guatemalan Story]. If that wasn't interesting heres the story how to catch a Haggis.
Central America has history of conflict, a tragedy, for example the 36 year civil war in Guatemala only ended in 1996. They threw government adversaries into active volcanoes from helicopters in that one.
Starting from the beginning, peoples from Asia came across the Bering straight into Alaska and down through the Americas. Around 3000BC the savage and sophisticated Mayan civilisation was gathering momentum before reaching a pinnacle at around 900AD and falling into decline. So the Spanish didn't destroy the civilisation but were extremely cruel to the dissembled Mayan people, they arrived in the early 1500's. The Spanish brought Guns, Horses and Disease (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guns,_Germs,_and_Steel) all of which scared the bejeezus out of the indigenous peoples. They pillaged the land (along with the British) and enslaved the people until they ran out of the indigenous peoples and had to start importing African slaves. The mix of White European, African and Indigenous gives the diversity of people that can be found today. In 1821 the Centro Americas got independence from Spain, creating the 5 states of Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Panama.
The 19th-20th centuries were full of US intervention, dictators, revolutions, war and poverty. This has lead to countries today that have high unemployment, crime and corruption. There is an abandonment of subsistence farming and emigration north in search of the American dream, to the greatest country in the world.
In the Guatemalan past there was a lot of resistance to the Spanish conquests for land and slaves, In the North the people resisted the armed attack of Spanish but were converted to Christianity instead, another method of subduing the indigenous peoples. In Colonial society there were different classes of peoples any mix that wasn't pure Spanish was generally enslaved, for the mining gold and silver, and working in plantations. The Spanish brought sugar cane to the Americas.
After independence from Spain the next major conquistador was United Fruit [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_Fruit_Company] or "El Pulpo" from US in 1902. They bought the best tracts of land and built the port Barrios and a railway through the country solely for the export of Bananas, giving them a monopoly on the export of fruit with no Taxes. This was frustrating for the people of an overpopulated country that had given away the best land. Eventually a president was elected that was too bold for America, whom reclassified huge tracts of land for the people. Then came the CIA sponsored Coup [The American Ambassador in Guatemala and a CIA director were chairmen in United fruit], and the next half of the century, in which 350 villages were destroyed, 35,000 widows were created and 2 million people emigrated. When the mountains tremble . . . http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0421089/
Now Guatemala has the highest population in Centro America, with 75% living below the poverty line of $2 a day, and no sign of Ajis, thats a midget who wears a red coat, and if you follow him back to his little red house, he will make you rich [Guatemalan Story]. If that wasn't interesting heres the story how to catch a Haggis.
Monday, 15 March 2010
Guatemalteca
The Mayan were dominant in Central America for around a 1000 years, then the civilisation colapsed for an unknown reason. There were 22 different peoples and they came together at cities like Copan and Tikal to trade and worship. The social hierarchy was divided into the Senores at the top of the pyramid, the Pueblo or public, and then slaves at the bottom. Senores consisted of Kings, Priests and Fighters, the public of farmers, builders and artisans, and the slaves were losers from battles between villages or from losing at Mayan football [campo]. This social divide can still been seen today in the graveyards of Guatemala, which have three distinct sections. You have to pay a tax on your grave, so if you can't afford it you get moved to the lower class section in the yard.
There were many gods in the Mayan religion,for example Hunab Ku, the supreme god, with whom you have to ask permission to walk up volcanos and mountains. Mountains are very spiritual places for the Mayan peoples. The people climb up and perform ceremonies and exorcisms, which is quite a surprise if you get to the top and there are wailing and shouting people there.
The Mayans are known as people of the corn, as maize [corn] was one of the main crops they cultivated. The principle crops were corn, beans and cocoa (which was used as money, not gold!). It may be a tedious link but the Mayans knew the importance of corn, and it's no mistake that the entire American food industry is based on it, i.e. corn flakes, corn syrup in everything, even the cattle get fed corn. interesting film - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/
The Mayans were also great astronomers and mathematicians. They invented the number 0 for example. They created two calenders, one for the Moon and one for the Sun, and also ones for religious, civil and the long count historical one. [http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/]
if thats not interesting heres a bubbling lava video . .
There were many gods in the Mayan religion,for example Hunab Ku, the supreme god, with whom you have to ask permission to walk up volcanos and mountains. Mountains are very spiritual places for the Mayan peoples. The people climb up and perform ceremonies and exorcisms, which is quite a surprise if you get to the top and there are wailing and shouting people there.
The Mayans are known as people of the corn, as maize [corn] was one of the main crops they cultivated. The principle crops were corn, beans and cocoa (which was used as money, not gold!). It may be a tedious link but the Mayans knew the importance of corn, and it's no mistake that the entire American food industry is based on it, i.e. corn flakes, corn syrup in everything, even the cattle get fed corn. interesting film - http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1286537/
The Mayans were also great astronomers and mathematicians. They invented the number 0 for example. They created two calenders, one for the Moon and one for the Sun, and also ones for religious, civil and the long count historical one. [http://www.fourmilab.ch/documents/calendar/]
if thats not interesting heres a bubbling lava video . .
Wednesday, 10 March 2010
Snakes and Sacrafic
I´ve arrived in Guatemala after a week traveling through Honduras, on chicken busses [buses that you can take chickens on], passing over volcanos [well I took a tour of Pacaya, near Antigua] and through ancient Mayan Ruins. Now i´m at a Language School in Xela, learning Spanish and teaching English.
The snake video is from a Visit at Copan ruins Near the Honduran\Guatemalan border, it´s a Boa so not poisonous i think. The Mayans are the Civilisation\People recently back to public attention due to a prediction of the World Ending in 2012, which was made into a film. Not true! It is a prediction of a change in world order, like a paradigm change or something. They did not do as much sacrificing as the Aztecs, like in Apocolypto, but did it in moderation.
This is the Campo field, which was played with a solid rubber ball [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_ballgame], and if you lost then the other team got all of your belongings and you were sacrificed. I´ll do another post on Mayas because they are pretty interesting!
Next was the Volcan Payaya near Antigua, Guatemala. It had a landscape like Mordor, which gave good opportunity to practice Lord of the rings impressions and also had awesome signs that said Danger, rivers of lava
Now im in a language school in Xela, Guatemala. Today I was trying to teach kids how to play you are my sunshine on guitar, next week i will try some Nirvana. The music was dire in Nicaragua, only reggaetone and bachata. but in Guatemala theres more diversity, They like Metallica for a start!
Adioos
The snake video is from a Visit at Copan ruins Near the Honduran\Guatemalan border, it´s a Boa so not poisonous i think. The Mayans are the Civilisation\People recently back to public attention due to a prediction of the World Ending in 2012, which was made into a film. Not true! It is a prediction of a change in world order, like a paradigm change or something. They did not do as much sacrificing as the Aztecs, like in Apocolypto, but did it in moderation.
This is the Campo field, which was played with a solid rubber ball [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesoamerican_ballgame], and if you lost then the other team got all of your belongings and you were sacrificed. I´ll do another post on Mayas because they are pretty interesting!
Next was the Volcan Payaya near Antigua, Guatemala. It had a landscape like Mordor, which gave good opportunity to practice Lord of the rings impressions and also had awesome signs that said Danger, rivers of lava
Now im in a language school in Xela, Guatemala. Today I was trying to teach kids how to play you are my sunshine on guitar, next week i will try some Nirvana. The music was dire in Nicaragua, only reggaetone and bachata. but in Guatemala theres more diversity, They like Metallica for a start!
Adioos
Thursday, 4 March 2010
Horse and cart
The horse and cart belong to Carlos, who is the guardian of the second plot of land. He gets first pickings from the fruit trees among other things, and has 11 children! We're just taking some blocks to build a wall inside a house, in the first development of houses. A family left the house and went to Costa Rica (without telling the charity) in search of jobs presumably. The house is going to go to the Doctor that works on sundays for free in the Clinic, which is an interesting contract!
Thats the last week in La Prusia for me. The welding school has started since I arrived, which will bring recognised qualifications to about 10 teenagers this year. The words, a community are not built with blocks and mortar, are probably true here as the houses don't seem to be the most important factor, it's moreso the ownership of land. As Sandino (an early 20th century revolutionary) said, "first you get the land, then you get the freedom!" [as he chopped of an Americans head]. The engineer who visited was not even sure if the new houses could withstand an earthquake (which is due) anyway, because of their shape in plan [the concrete frame is stronger with a square or recalinear plan].
On leaving Nicaragua we passed through Leon and Estelli, which are not as "polluted" with tourists as Granada [theres a saying "we're not tourists, we're travellers!" which one of the volunteers always said but I still don't know the difference]. I didn't get hassled for money so much in these cities. Also Estelli is the Cigar rolling capital of Nicaragua, so did a tour and basically got 20 Cuban standard cigars for $27 in a cedar box [many Cuban cigar manufacturers who were exiled went to Nicaragua with the tobacco seed]. Its an interesting and delicate process and well worth a visit, if you like smoking fat cigars for a hour or two. They also had a zoo with tocan, parrots and a jaguar, which is the guard dog . .
In Honduras we're staying with a couchsurfing (http://www.couchsurfing.org/) [like the hospitality club] friend who has shown us the downtown area of Teguci, but you can't really walk through much of the city as its too dangerous, we have to get taxis everywhere. He knows a lot about his country which makes for a more interesting stay as in hostels you just meet other gringo tourists. Its more expensive here as there has been some inflation, so the limpira buys less melon here than in Nicaragua.
Thats all folks
Thursday, 25 February 2010
Iguana Soup
The iguana in the video is dinner for the family, or I could have bought it for $2.50. On Fridays they can't eat meat as they are Catholics (which is I think is fact), so instead of fish fridays its Iguana. Apparently they are illegal to catch but it seems to be part of the diet here. Ive seen quite a lot so hopefully not endangered.
The houses have run into some trouble. Engineer and Architect volunteers have arrived and looking at the design of the roof say that it would be a bad idea to have the gutter in the middle of the roof; torrential rain for 4 months might cause some problems, so they've designed a new roof. The original design was also quite complicated, therefor expensive. Keep it simple architects!
Its pretty useful to speak spanish if you visit Latin America otherwise you do miss out on quite a lot. Its like going to a funpark and being to short to do all the rides. But for constuction it's pretty simple, like, "mas agua, mas mezclar, mas arena" . . . more water, more cement, more sand. The spanish argue quite a lot, but Nicaraguans don't seem so outgoing and expressive. There is an ongoing argument between Spanish and Americans of who is dirtier. Although here pretty much everyone is dirty.
Im reading Open veins of latin America, which is a scathing history of the exploitation of the Americas. Basically a history not written by the winner. Theres nothing good to say about the United States in it (or Europe). Although it can´t be true Americans are always saying,"We have the greatest country in the world!".
Im travelling to Guatemala next week as have heard of another project there.
ALso here is a tiny lizard similar to ones that you see everywhere.
Adios
Tuesday, 16 February 2010
gangsta radio
Hope this video works. Its from the taxi ride up to La prusia after we were at the market. The volunteer with crazy hair is Mitch from Boston who is here for a year.
This past week has been pretty quiet in the construction, waiting for pipes to arrive for water and electicity. A new house should be started this week hopefully. Free time is usually spent either reading, playing cards or Settlers of Catan [awesome nerdy game, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Settlers_of_Catan], although I did have to cook yesterday. There are 20 people now so it took a couple of trips to the market to get all the food, and I only got charged double for some cabbage so did ok there. The sellers tend to quote ok prices in the market even if you are a gringo. It´s 8 cords for a dozen banannas, so theres 20.9 cords to the dollar . . . i think its 40 cents for a dozen . . not sure what the pound is at 1.5? so 27p for a dozen banannas. . . 2p per bananna, thats cheap! I made burgers followed by smoothies, just because I knew the Americans wanted it but didnt want to make it due to stereotyping slagging from Spanish. There is the supermarket Pali (Walmart company) but I just got a bag of meat there because the market meat is more . . flavoursome?
In other news one of the volunteers is trying to start radio in the barrio, for public announcements (and constant reggaeton no doubt) . . . Check out
tocarte toa (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RKfnvLPdLM)
daddy yankee (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uHgnebZ_jYo)
or oh dear god the bachata king Frank Reyes (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0CTuzPQiWY)
. . . for the popular music here.
In nature watch there are lots of birds, no idea what they are, sorry! I think the snake was a banded brown snake but not sure.
hasta pronto
Tuesday, 9 February 2010
tennents a great English beer . . .
A month now in La Prusia. The squirrels are black and white, the oranges are green and I eat more fruit in a day here than I do in a month in Scotland. Got some charity chat this week;
It´s true that Casa´s de la Esperanza must be one of the few charities that it doesn't charge money volunteers to stay. The money is made from companies sponsoring the project, and people occasionally donate. So there´s no shortage of the volunteer, and long term ones too. . A 62 year old Canadian is even here but rents a room in Granada. He did say to me this week that English beer is terrible because of going into a shop in Manchester and buying Tennents, which was pretty funny . . The point in the charity was initially to build homes for people so they could own land/property, but that´s just the tip of the iceberg. Then everyone needs jobs to pay back the charity for the homes, which are hard to find anywhere (like chicken and the egg situation). So thats the part where people get trained in construction skills (welding, diggers, etc..).
So the charity brought electricity and water to this area 5 years ago, but people still forage for dead wood for cooking in the forest. if no concrete homes were built maybe more forest would be chopped for timber squatter houses . . [Bought myself a hammock by the way, it is awesome] . . The people put in the time to build their own new houses but if they can't afford to pay the charity back through micro-business then the charity relies on donations too much . . [the original idea was influenced by Muhammad Yunus the economist who gave loans for poor entrepreneurs from his bank and stayed solvent, and got noble peace prize] . . The charity has a welding school that starts soon, and along with the drivers of the two mini-diggers (that get plenty of work) [I want one], more of the community should have jobs. . ok enough . . education, etc but I know less about that. .
My BACK is quite stiff, we mixed about 20 bags of cement on Friday to do the floor and now a different guy is coming to do the roof. .
There´s snakes here saw a big one yesterday and found chopped one, awesome reptile. . .and also an evil looking spider, which you can compare your house spiders to if you get scared.
Any comments or questions are much appreciated from this side!
Sunday, 31 January 2010
Beans and Rice
kidney beans, onions and rice, known as galla pinto, is the staple diet here. If you work on the houses or in school then that is the lunch provided along with a meat dish, although sometimes the meat here can't be stomached by some. Other dishes are burritos and tomalis (meat encased in rice, boiled in a banana leaf), are good and they like deep fried things here too, no mars bars though. Usually its a piece of chicken wrapped in tortilla, with salad and salsa picante,mmm.
The houses are taking shape. The concrete frames are almost complete and blockwork walls also (although apparently a window was put in the wrong place). This week was spent tieing all the metal for inside the columns, and mixing cement of course! Its a good site to work on because a volunteer house is nearby and we can have some tunes playing. Theres plenty of fresh water too,(which is practically unheard of in Central America), because some nuns whom owned the site previously built a well there, halliluya sisters.
There was a small culture festival in town this weekend, music, poetry and circus acts. Afterward the volunteers started on the cana and I ended up getting very drunk. There's alcohol problems in La Prusia so none is allowed in the volunteer houses, as we're supposed to set an example. . I ended up going looking for spider monkeys at 4am, which I thought was a great idea until I got lost and had to climb a tree to get my bearings. Managed to get a nasty bite from something in my shoe too (note: always check for insects/scorpions when putting on clothes), but that's nothing compared with the first weekend..see attached photo.
There's football and baseball between the Nicas and volunteers. Managed to loose 20-2 this Wednesday, it was the bad surface . . I'm yet to play baseball but maybe next week.
There's a thriving market in Granada. Back when the Sandinista took power they made any jobs fixed pay, and people realised they could make more street selling, so theres still that ideal. and cheap DVDs too, I couldn't find Pulp Fiction though,"tienes Tarantino?". They also sell juice in sandwich bags, which is another throwback to when the Somoza dictatorship was overthrown, and there was only one factory open making plastic bags.
See you next week amigoos
The houses are taking shape. The concrete frames are almost complete and blockwork walls also (although apparently a window was put in the wrong place). This week was spent tieing all the metal for inside the columns, and mixing cement of course! Its a good site to work on because a volunteer house is nearby and we can have some tunes playing. Theres plenty of fresh water too,(which is practically unheard of in Central America), because some nuns whom owned the site previously built a well there, halliluya sisters.
There was a small culture festival in town this weekend, music, poetry and circus acts. Afterward the volunteers started on the cana and I ended up getting very drunk. There's alcohol problems in La Prusia so none is allowed in the volunteer houses, as we're supposed to set an example. . I ended up going looking for spider monkeys at 4am, which I thought was a great idea until I got lost and had to climb a tree to get my bearings. Managed to get a nasty bite from something in my shoe too (note: always check for insects/scorpions when putting on clothes), but that's nothing compared with the first weekend..see attached photo.
There's football and baseball between the Nicas and volunteers. Managed to loose 20-2 this Wednesday, it was the bad surface . . I'm yet to play baseball but maybe next week.
There's a thriving market in Granada. Back when the Sandinista took power they made any jobs fixed pay, and people realised they could make more street selling, so theres still that ideal. and cheap DVDs too, I couldn't find Pulp Fiction though,"tienes Tarantino?". They also sell juice in sandwich bags, which is another throwback to when the Somoza dictatorship was overthrown, and there was only one factory open making plastic bags.
See you next week amigoos
Sunday, 24 January 2010
Pirates de la Prusia
another week in La Prusia mixing cement and working on a tan.
The houses being built are designed by an architect called Teddy Cruz, who works from Boston. Angel, is a 70 year old proffessor at harvard (but retiring this year...)spends his holidays in La Prusia, and relays the information from the architect to the constuction team. The design is more complicated than the previous development of homes, but should still be affordable. The previous homes were supposed to cost $1000 dollars but due to rising oil prices they ended up costing more like $2500. Two contstuction teams are paid individuals, and the labour is not, i.e.the volunteers and future owner of the house. See attached photo
More new Spanish and a Canadian volunteers have arrived and the houses should be full next week. 8 people in our house and one bathroom, fun fun. At least I wont have to cook for a month or so...I didnt make enough tuna burgers last time oops! Although I got some pastrys and Nica sweets for dessert, its all about the dessert! Some of the Nica sweets I bought were these pink coconut sprinkles dried into fingers, the colourings must be stong because i was pissing pink for 4 days.
Apart from construction there was a trip to the beach for kids who had attended "summer school" (its their summer holidays). The theme was pirates, and the treasure was sweets. Different games, the funniest being when teams of 5 kids had to wrestle the big South Carolina volunteer sumo style, "yall give me this game cos am a big guy?".
Big baseball game in town last night, Granada vs Leon. Tried to get a ticket at the stadium but it was packed out, the atmosphere sounded awesome from the outside! so instead we went to some bars to sample the flor de cana. Its the smoothest rum that you can drink easily with some ice. Got this cool video outside the stadium when they were restocking beer..
In nature watch this week theres been an ant attack in the orange volunteers house. There were many casualties and the battle continues.
The houses being built are designed by an architect called Teddy Cruz, who works from Boston. Angel, is a 70 year old proffessor at harvard (but retiring this year...)spends his holidays in La Prusia, and relays the information from the architect to the constuction team. The design is more complicated than the previous development of homes, but should still be affordable. The previous homes were supposed to cost $1000 dollars but due to rising oil prices they ended up costing more like $2500. Two contstuction teams are paid individuals, and the labour is not, i.e.the volunteers and future owner of the house. See attached photo
More new Spanish and a Canadian volunteers have arrived and the houses should be full next week. 8 people in our house and one bathroom, fun fun. At least I wont have to cook for a month or so...I didnt make enough tuna burgers last time oops! Although I got some pastrys and Nica sweets for dessert, its all about the dessert! Some of the Nica sweets I bought were these pink coconut sprinkles dried into fingers, the colourings must be stong because i was pissing pink for 4 days.
Apart from construction there was a trip to the beach for kids who had attended "summer school" (its their summer holidays). The theme was pirates, and the treasure was sweets. Different games, the funniest being when teams of 5 kids had to wrestle the big South Carolina volunteer sumo style, "yall give me this game cos am a big guy?".
Big baseball game in town last night, Granada vs Leon. Tried to get a ticket at the stadium but it was packed out, the atmosphere sounded awesome from the outside! so instead we went to some bars to sample the flor de cana. Its the smoothest rum that you can drink easily with some ice. Got this cool video outside the stadium when they were restocking beer..
In nature watch this week theres been an ant attack in the orange volunteers house. There were many casualties and the battle continues.
Monday, 18 January 2010
gringo times
The last two weeks have been interesting
After chaos at the airports I got to Nicaragua and arrived at the charity. Casas de la Esperanza (in a nutshell) is a charity in La Prusia. La Prusia is a neighbourhood of poorly built homes in Granada, Nicaragua. Most of the people build on land that they don't own. The charity buys land,(which is overpriced due to foreign investment), and if a family who is currently in a shack wants to build on it they can get the materials and help from the charity[ok quite a big nutshell]. The family can they pay back the charity for the price of materials over a period of time. Other things like community education and workshops in welding, computers etc.[thanks to those who donated laptops] all help for building a real community, employment prospects and paying back the charity for more development. . .[more at http://www.casas-de-la-esperanza.org/index.html]. . . The new plot has just been started with some architect designed houses featuring a butterfly roof to collect water. Lots of trees are protected on the site (as trees are fairly essential for hammocks..a fine invention) and the houses will sit between them nicely, giving shade from sun and hurricanes!
There are volunteers of course(it being a charity, and one you don't have to pay to stay at), mostly Spanish (amazing cooks who smoke like chimneys), Americans ("sup yaal"), and me, a castaway Scot ["aye pal"]. The minimum stay is 2 months, just to stop freeloaders taking advantage of the accommodation. I know the essential cuss words in spanish now, but might try getting some Scottish words into the local dialect. Any suggetsions you can comment on the page; I was thinking munter, or mingin' might sound good or "que pasa..pal".
The locals are very friendly although there was a machete fight earlier in the week where a Nica guy got his arm chopped..not really, just an exaggeration [don't let reality spoil a good story they say]. They talk a bit slower than Spanish people [hooray] but I've not quite grasped the language yet [damn my ignorant brain!]. People with vans often give free lifts down/up the very bumpy road to la Prusia. Today some friendly cops gave me a ride down the 6km to town.
me "is that an AK 47?"
jose the cop "yes"
me "can i have a go?"
jose "jejeje..no"
Not sure why being in a poverty stricken county I would ask to get a shot on a cops AK47 though, to many movies perhaps.
The wildlife is awesome. I've seen some cute mini parrots, which I think are called loros, an iguana, loads of geckos, and today I rescued a scorpion (possibly the coolest looking animal ever) from the bathroom. The landscape is dry as its summer but there's banana trees near the volunteer house and orange trees (a certain type of green oranges..very tasty).
So its all good in the hood although I'm still suffering from culture shock. Tonight its my turn to cook. Tuna Burgers is the plan for the volunteers. Interestingly there are no vegetarians, which I thought would be the case for the alternative lifestyle here, but that's just more stereotyping i guess.
Any comments please and I'll try write something next week.
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