Site Visit to Granada

Tuesday, July 1

My first glimpse of the city that would be my home was through a friendly rain and a quickly approaching darkness. The director, Coco, of one of my rural schools (Berta Pacheco) where I will teach accompanied me on the ride from Managua to Granada (1 dollar, 45 min-1 hour) and proved her worth in gold later the next day. We got off the bus in Granada’s famous and beautiful central park and then began the journey to my new host family and new house. As always in Nicaragua, the address was more of a direction than an actual address. Go three blocks from the mayor’s office toward the lake and then 1 block south. Look for the mamon (cream) and brown colored house. This is typical of ALL addresses in Nicaragua. Two blocks south of the gasolinera. Three blocks west of the pulperia Nica. I have realized why the Spanish word for address is actually dirección.

Anyways with the direcciones, Coco and I began walking three blocks toward the lake. It was probably raining because this was the point when I realized that I had forgotten my umbrella on the bus from Managua. I cursed aloud in English and then let Coco know what had happened. Finally after some time and not too much effort, we arrived to meet my new host family.

My first impressions of that night have been solidified in my mind. I was a bit depressed and a bit shocked. For the first time in a long time, I was on my own with a new family who I did not know in a brand new place. I had grown completely comfortable to my current host family, come to really love them, my room, and my home and now I was starting anew. My host family Granada seemed very sweet and quickly learned that the family consisted of a 23 year old son, a 13 year old son, a mother and a father. Who ever said that Nicaraguans have big families?!?! Still, I was a bit overcome with shock at first as my room seemed a bit smaller, the house a bit darker, and the bathroom a bit uglier than my comfortable Masatepe house. After eating a pretty decent dinner, I went to my room to relax and reflect a bit. I then received a call from one of my sitemates, Dianne, (another PCV who will live in Granada) and I remember the call distinctly. While Dianna was enthusiastic over her new digs (a hot shower, her own bathroom, a real bed, a toilet) I was far less excited. I probably sounded a bit depressed to her. She asked me how I liked the new place and I said it was okay and then said I was going to want to move out soon. Don’t get me wrong, the house is actually not too bad. It is just that I have been spoiled in my house in Masatepe and my expectations were set higher. I am going to have to share a bathroom with everyone else in the family. My room has a window that lead to the living room that is uncovered and unfiltered meaning that I hear everything. I have a twin bed. The last time I slept on a twin bed was at university and that was extra long! Seriously, I don’t even fit on a twin bed. So anyways, I recall being not too happy that evening as I went to bed early but trying to keep everything in perspective as I know that first impressions fade as I quickly adjust.

Wednesday

We will call this day, Nick and Toni day. Nick and Toni are married, PCVs, and I am replacing them in Granada after their two years of hard work. Today, Wednesday, was there last day in Granada before returning to the United States and they were nice enough to spend the day with us visiting the schools, the community, and giving us all the info possible. Who is us exactly? Us are the three PCVs from Nica 47 that will be living in Granada. I am the only small business volunteer while Dianne and Liz will be English volunteers. I hardly even knew them before this site visit to Granada and was not sure how much time I would spending with them, but looking back now, they are really cool girls and we will enjoy the two years together. We might even live together (totally against Peace Corps rules by the way but given the prices in Granada, one must learn to be creative and sneaky). We met Nick and Toni at a café called Euro Café that is owned by a South Florida Jewish guy and has bagels, Dr. Pepper (one of the few places in Nicaragua), and lots of other American goodies. Nick and Toni spent a lot of time there using the wireless internet while sipping on a Dr. Pepper and making good use of the Peace Corps salary. The Jewish owner already joked with us (but in a half serious manner) as we left the café to begin our busy day that next time we should buy something. Then he looked at me and with a half-smile said that a Jewish Peace Corps volunteer is a deadly combination for his business (meaning that not only do I not have money to spend due to Peace Corps but that I am probably cheap because I am Jewish). I could have taken offense to his comment but given that he is Jewish and that he is right, I will let it slide.

So…during the morning I visited three of the four schools where I will be teaching, conveniently located on completely different sides of the city and met a few of my teaching counterparts and directors. Nothing to much to report as I honestly spent a couple of minutes in each school but I will talk more about the schools after the big move and I actually start my job.

We all went back to Nick and Toni’s pad to eat some lunch as well as figure out a way to divide and move all their stuff to our three respective houses. After some initial discussions about methodology, prices, and merchandise, the decision was made to have a draft. Our names would be picked out of a hat to determine the drafting order and then we would start picking items from the house. The top three items were the fridge, tv, and gas stove. First to pick was Liz. In a stunning move, she picked the gas stove. Next up was Dianne. Predictably, she picked the fridge. Lastly, I ended up with the tv even though to be frankly honest, I am not sure I will even want a tv. Anyways by the end of the draft, I had selected, in addition to the tv, a folding cot, nice, soft sleeping mattress (not for a bed but for the floor), a broom and dustpan, some dishes, a pepper grinder, trashcan, water dispenser (think Zephyrhills machine but a little less refined), chewed up yoga mat, and a hammer. I am still waiting on the results of Nick and Toni’s draft analysis but I give myself a B+.

After resting up from the exhilarating draft, I went with Nick and Toni to my rural school to see the place, meet my counterpart, etc. Remember, Coco, the director, who would prove her weight in gold. Well as soon as I arrived at the school, she handed me my umbrella that I had left on the bus the night before! She actually went back to the bus terminal, found the bus, and reacquired my umbrella. How amazing is that! Anyways, she is very, very nice, seems to know a lot of people in Granada, and I am sure that I will rely on her a lot during my service. After arriving at the school, I was introduced to all the 4^th and 5^th grade students and then to every single teacher regardless of whether they were in the middle of a class or not. I really loved the school and am very excited to teach there! The only thing not so exciting is my counterpart but I will wait to rush judgement until later on.

In the late afternoon, with trucks borrowed from two very nice American women, we were able to move all the stuff from Nick and Toni’s house to our own respective houses, and rooms. My family did not seem to mind the invasion of stuff but Dianne’s family was a bit shocked when we unloaded the fridge into her room. After a bit of sweet talk, all was smoothed over and everyone in the host families understood what was going on. Then the rain came….. When the rain comes, all is stopped. When it rains, it pours. You just need to find shelter and wait it out. So wait it out we did. About an hour later, it let up a bit, and we traveled out to my last destination of the day, El Fortin, a very poor neighborhood, 5-10 km outside of Granada. Nick and Toni have been working with a group of women there, teaching them about business, and helping them set up their very own business. They just started selling soup on Sunday to their neighborhood and had made a profit the first two weeks. Anyways, my job will be to continue working with them, improving the business, and take the soup company global. All you doubters….just wait…soon you will be going to your neighborhood branch of El Fortin Soup. I really should describe the wretched conditions of the roads that lead out to El Fortin and how poor this neighborhood is but I just would not do it justice right now so in time, I will describe in detail the rural poverty surrounding Granada.

We ended the night by eating out at a bar/restaurant that had pretty good burritos at great prices for Granada. I also met another Jewish woman there who is living with her husband in Granada. This brings the number of Jews I have met to 10. Not too bad. Seriously, you may think that Jews aren’t everywhere, but we are….you can never escape us.

Thursday

Today, we will call, Opportunity International Day. Why? Because I spent the entire day with an NGO Opportunity International, with whom I will work as a volunteer helping them in their work with entrepreneurs around Granada and in various other capacities. OI (as I will call it) is a religious based org which makes me uneasy but I talked to them about it and they say they are just founded on the principles of Jesus and do not promote any particular religion. Still they do not promote spirituality in general which I am all for, but it may be a conflict of interest with Peace Corps to work with them. However, this is a lengthy discussion and I am happy to share my personal views with anyone who wants them. Moving on….I loved OI. The current director is an American but is just there on a short term basis training a Nicaraguan to take over the operations. She seems very, very smart and seems to really get it. The rest of the office is Nicaraguan and I am really excited to be working with a group of people who at my first impression seem very motivated and intelligent. OI partners with local micro-financing groups to help work with the poor and with dual efforts bring individuals, families, and communities out of poverty. For more info on OI as a whole, I am sure you can look them up on the net.

During the morning, I talked with the director and two sub-directors with whom I will be working closely, as they briefed me on all that OI does and where I would be able to help out. Then we broke for lunch and following lunch went out to visit some rural communities. Absolutely fascinating. I observed a community meeting that discussed how they were going to fund a project to build a community library and cyber and saw microfinance in action as I went to a man’s house who began his own chicken farm with micro-loans. I loved the day, loved the communities, and I am really looking forward to working in these rural areas. Once again, the roads were poor, houses not so great, and living conditions so-so but I will go into greater detail as I begin my actual work in this area.

Friday

With Coco as my guide, I was able to meet Granada’s mayor (a woman), talk to the police station about the security situation in the city, and meet the supervisor of schools for the department of Granada. On the surface, everyone was really nice, offered their future help in my projects, and I left with lots of business cards. By the way, I don’t know how many PCVs have their own business cards but I am 100% going to get some of my own. OI already offered to make them for me and I need them in a city like Granada with its foreign influence and influx of NGOs.

Oh yeah, Happy 4^th of July!! You may have thought that I forgot about this glorious day where we officially said screw you to the British but you would be wrong. Actually, Dianne discovered that from 3pm-6pm there were going to be free hamburgers, hot dogs, and beer to all American and British (don’t ask me to explain about the British) citizens at Kathy’s Waffle House, a very good breakfast place. So at 3pm, with some other nearby PCVs in tow, we all headed over to Kathy’s for some red, white, and blue. The party was awesome. I downed two giant hamburgers, a hot dog, and 5 or 6 beers (who is counting) while meeting a whole bunch of other Americans living in Granada. Some were weird, some seemed helpful, and others were just travelers passing through the city. Anyways, more business cards were received and I found myself already getting mad at some of the Americans (especially old men married to young Nica women) for their lack of Spanish and cultural understanding. Still I had a great time and I recognize how useful some of the Americans could be in helping with my projects during my service.

Friday night was just spent messing around town, calling the parents, and playing cards in a nearby hotel with some PCVs who just happened to be staying there that night. It is worth noting that Dianne (I am definitely about to just call her out on this one) thought that the card game “Go Fish” was called “Goldfish” and her only defense to this was that English was not her native language (Korean). She then got mad over my mocking and made fun of my Jewfro (which is beginning to form into a sexy beast). Still her new nickname is Goldie.

Saturday

My first free day during the site visit and I took advantage of it by sleeping a bit later, lounging around during my breakfast, and watching Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (the cartoon). It is still just as amazing as I remember it from my childhood and even in Spanish, I am obsessed. However, I did not remember how small and scary Splinter looked and I am actually a little freaked out about his appearance. After taking a quick morning nap following TMNT I went for a walk down to the lake. The area is very pretty but could be soooo much more beautiful if it was just cleaned up a bit and developed. Lots of potential there.

In the afternoon, Dianne, aka Goldie, Liz, and I just sat around the park and observed people. I talked to a guy who was selling hot coffee and we had an interesting discussion about why in the world he would sell hot coffee while it was 100 degrees outside. Anyways, he said business wasn’t too good but was not sure why. Hmmm…..I wonder. I also saw some amazing, old American tshirts worn by Nicaraguans. The winner of the afternoon was worn by a 40 year old Nicaraguan man and said “Danger, Educated Black Woman.” Honestly, people does it get better than that. Anyways, looking at all the tshirts worn here has become my favorite activity. I would say that a good 85 percent of Nicaraguans do not understand what the shirts say and obviously don’t do any research into this subject. This leads to some amazing photos. Oh and any shirt you have ever donated in the past is probably down here in Nicaragua. I saw a Beth El basketball jersey the other day and one of my buddies saw a New England Super Bowl Championship shirt from this year a few days ago. Another reason to visit me, I dare say!

Saturday night came and the three of us went to a young American couple’s house (who we met on July 4^th) for a couple of beers and then out to sing karaoke. I sang Sweet Caroline and it brought down the house. Enough said.

Sunday

Breakfast at Kathy’s Waffle House. It was actually worth the 4 dollar price even though I was skeptical beforehand. A big vegetable omelet, hashbrowns, toast, and coffee, and it was really good (so yeah it was worth 4 bucks). I will probably make this a monthly ritual even though I did get incredibly annoyed at the kids shooting off firecrackers literally next door to the restaurant for the duration of the entire meal. Thanks losers!

I briskly walked back to my house, gathered my bag, and headed to the bus terminal on the southern side of the city. My site visit was officially over. In the end, every single day in Granada was better than the previous one and I grew to become more comfortable with my host family even in the short amount of time. Still I doubt, I will be living with them longer than the required six weeks. Granada is a beautiful city with loads of potential for growth especially in the small business area. I think that I have the ability to accomplish a lot during my service there. I will have to avoid the gringo crowd and perfect my Spanish but I don’t think it will be too hard considering all my work is done in Spanish. I will also have to learn how to manage my money well as Granada is the most expensive city in Nicaragua due to the tourist market. Basically, I will learn to be creative. Exchanging services for goods, making deals with business owners, finding group housing, whatever it takes. I will learn to live a bit like the urban poor….lots of great things around them but constantly on the outside looking in. However, I will have the advantage of a little extra money, English skills, and a good education to guide me. Still, when you are poorer than the community around you, you are forced to be creative. This is what the real poor have had to do their entire lives and why I am so excited to use this creativity to help the poor devise ways to climb up the ladder.