Impressions of Nicaragua (written by Deena Richman, my mom)

We landed in Nicaragua on Saturday evening, the 27th of December.  While waiting for our luggage I gazed thru the darkened window and saw Avi jumping up and smiling.  What a wonderful sight!  The main reason our family chose to spend our winter vacation in Nicaragua was because of Avi.  We wanted to see him and what his life was like in his new surroundings.  The trip satisfied that goal 100%.  Not only did we get to see Avi speaking fluently in Spanish, but we got to see him interacting in his environment with confidence and knowledge.  He became our tour guide for the 12 days we visited…We were dependent on him for getting us places and exchanging our money.  It was strange for me as his Mom to have the roles reversed…He was now in charge of my schedule!   Of course, this was also difficult for Avi as he had nine of us asking him numerous questions, wanting to know our plans, and our schedules.   He immediately informed us that we were on “Nica Time”  and that the saying in Nicaragua is: “There is more time than life.” (I can’t remember how to say this in Spanish!)  Nica Time was the most challenging part of the visit for me….nothing runs on a schedule, no one is in a hurry, things happen when they happen.  Of course, I think Avi has been running on Nica Time even before he was a Peace Corps volunteer in Nicaragua, so this suits his personality well.  I believe I did gain at least a small amount of patience during my visit.

Nicaragua is a very poor country.  The infrastructure of water, sewage, electricity, garbage pickup, is poorly developed.  Trash on the streets, lack of hot water, lack of electrical appliances, inconsistent electricity was part of what we experienced.  We were living in the places of the wealthy (our rented house in Granada, our chalet in the mountains) but even those places experienced these problems.  How strange it was not to be able to put toilet paper in the toilet,  or not to see dishwashers, dryers, or electric stoves.  The outdoor markets are crowded and filled with all types of foods and wares. The Nicaraguans carry baskets on their heads to transport their goods.  On the streets are many people walking, riding bicycles, or riding in the back of pickup trucks.  Firecrackers were heard throughout the day as well as announcements in Spanish coming from the intercom of a truck announcing events such as the circus. It truly felt like we had moved back in time, maybe back to the 1800’s.

Avi showed us one of the schools where he worked.  School is out of session until February, so the rooms were empty except for desks.  The school was a simple concrete structure with small classrooms and dirt courtyard in the center of the building.  Avi said it is very hot and noisy and difficult to get the students to attend to the lessons.  Most of the students could not afford to buy the workbooks that were recommended to them for Avi’s course he teaches on Creative Enterpise.  How sad to see the lack of priority for education.  How amazing to realize what some of Avi’s students accomplished with minimal resources!

We also visited one of the NGO’s (nongovernmental organizations) where Avi works.  We met a woman who sews shirts, pillow cases, and purses.  They were creative and unique.  The NGO is trying to help individuals learn to set up their own businesses and market their products.  They learn how to keep track of what they sell.   It took a while for the woman and her co-worker to write down our purchases on their notepad and total the costs with their calculator.  We also bought some bamboo products that are made by another man who Avi is helping.  The potential is there to sell the products;  the people just need to learn how to run a business!

Nicaragua was a beautiful country.   It has many volcanoes, rain forests, mountains and lakes.  We were fortunate to experience many aspects of  its natural beauty.  We walked in the cloud forest and ziplined across the canopy of trees!  All of the kids even ziplined as Superman and upside down!  They were fearless.  We rode on a boat and toured the iselets.  There are 250 or so mini islands in Lake Nicaragua.  Many of them have houses on them, some quite beautiful.  On one island are howler monkeys, brought their by someone.  They were swinging all through the trees!   We didn’t have any food to give them, but they would reach out for it from other tourists on boats.  We hiked in the forests of Selva Negra, and took a tour of an amazing self sustaining organic coffee plantation.  We also rode horses on the trails.  Some of us saw more howler monkeys in the wild.  They get their name from the sound they make.

We ate rice and beans, plantains, fried cheese and pizza!   We cooked eggs for breakfast (the eggs dont have to be refrigerated).  The bananas were sweet and delicious. We washed down all of our meals with either bottled water, Tona (nicaraguan beer) or Rum ( made in Nicaragua)!  The meals were nothing to brag about, but the beer and rum were excellent, and  everything was very inexpensive compared to the USA.

The best part of the trip to me was spending quality time with our family and friends.  How wonderful to see all of our children laughing and talking together!  How wonderful that we got to bond with everyone including our long time friends who we met in Knoxville, before Avi was even born!
I left in a hurry, because of a family emergency, but I left feeling happy I had been able to have this nice vacation and have time with my children.  I am so proud of Avi, and also still somewhat surprised that he has chosen to give up all of the comforts and luxuries he has known in the last 23 years to move to a foreign country where he has only the bare minimum of necessities.  I am impressed with Avi’s ability to adjust to this new environment and to make the best of his situation.  He has mastered the language and has used his social/communication skills to develop new friendships.  Wherever we went Avi knew people, either another Peace Corps volunteer, a student, a native Nicaraguan…He has the ability to connect to people and to enjoy life.  I know this will always be an asset for him.  I also know that this experience will be life changing for him…He will certainly be able to appreciate the comforts of living in the United States of America as I have been able to do since returning home!