Still in the northern part of the country today. We had a chance to drive a bit further into the mountains. It is a beautiful place! At one point, our hosts pulled over, and we walked up a short hill to a beautiful view. The view was amazing. Green as far as you can see, just one mountain after another. You can also appreciate how difficult it is to travel here off the main roads. The mountains are not tall, but are very rocky and steep. During our day, we took a dirt road over several of these mountains, and there were several times we were certain we’d need to get out and walk the rest of the way. In fact, we expected to, as our hosts told us the road is usually not drivable after about the ½ way point. We were all surprised when we were able to drive all the way to our destination. If it had rained at all this week, we would not have been able to! We had asked if we could go to another site, but found out the only way to get there was a 2 to 4 hour burro ride. Less if you could ride the whole way, more if you had to walk large parts of it. Unfortunately, time didn’t allow us to go, but my wouldn’t that have made for an interesting day!

We learned a lot about the health programs here. We’ve met several doctors on this trip, and I’m amazed at how young they all are. In Nicaragua, after a doctor completes medical school, they have to do 2 years of “social service”. Basically, each is assigned through lottery to the various rural and urban health clinics throughout the country. They then work there for 2 years, and are then allowed to move onto a specialty, private practice, or another government health job. The doctors we met were in their mid to late twenties, and all are living basically by themselves in some very remote outposts. The good news is their facilities are reasonably equipped, but they still have much to deal with. The one we visited today only recently had a latrine built on the property, and still does not have access to clean water. The doctor must bring the water in from the next nearest town.

We also had the opportunity to visit a school within the community where they do many arts programs. Singing, dancing, drama, and painting are just some of the areas taught at this school. The kids put on a great performance for us, showing off their skills. We also each received a canvas painting done by some of the older kids in the drawing program. The paintings are amazing!

A few other interesting things from this evening. The town is having a Star Trek convention this weekend. Gotta love that! I also learned that sherbet can be made out of about every type of fruit there is. Our hosts took us to an ice cream store that hand makes sherbet from many of the different types of fruit grown here. Can you believe there were 20 different types to choose from? I chose watermelon, and it even had seeds in it.
Tomorrow we will work again in the area around this small town, and then back to Managua for our last full day here.

Visits to hospitals

We spent all day yesterday in the office learning about processes and procedures. The team here is doing a wonderful job, and we learned a lot. Today, we drove about 2 hours to Esteli. The drive here was beautiful. Everything is very green. As you drive north out of Managua, you enter the mountains. Just like Managua, everything here is very green, with many fruit trees. I don’t think I’ve ever seen this many mango trees!

We spent most of our day with the staff at a district hospital. They shared a lot with us about how they use products we send, and about other places where items come from. I can’t compare this to other hospitals in Central American Countries, but compared to those I’ve seen in Africa, this hospital is much larger, and much better supplied. That said, it is still nothing like hospitals in the US. They can still do only basic surgeries, and treat basic illnesses. The team here is very dedicated and very interested in helping the people in this community.

We also learned a lot about illnesses in this region. While children here are not malnourished, there are still many who are undernourished. From what I understood, things are getting better all the time, but they still have a ways to go. We did learn about several wonderful nutrition programs that are helping to address this issue.

And now for a little fun. We went to a Cuban restaurant for dinner. Much different from Nicaraguan food. Then back to the hotel. The hotel is very basic, and I’m very glad that the temperature outside is cooling down a bit. The small fan in the room wasn’t helping much earlier. Now, I’m entertained by a 12 inch TV (but it gets something like 100 channels), and the bugs crawling on the wall. They look harmless enough, so all is well. The hotel is inexpensive ($13), and you get everything you pay for, and not one thing more……
Tomorrow we will spend some time working with one of the communities, so that should be fun to talk with people and learn how we can assist them better. More then….

Sightseeing in Managua

We arrived safely last night in Managua. Today, we had time to do a little sightseeing before beginning work tomorrow. It’s winter here in Nicaragua, so the temperature was only in the upper 80’s today. It wasn’t hot though as there was a wonderful breeze blowing constantly!

Our host took us several places today. First we went to Tiscapa Lagoon, which includes a small museum and memorial to Augusto Sandino. He was a revolutionary in the 1930’s, and is much celebrated here. We saw many references to him around Managua. This area has several volcanoes, so the lagoons are actually the craters of old volcanoes.

We also drove around old Managua. In 1972, there was a major earthquake here that completely destroyed the city. When they rebuilt, they did not build on the original city, but instead on surrounding area. The old city is still there, but people have moved into the old buildings, most of which look like they are about to fall down. One building that is still mostly standing is the old cathedral. This was a beautiful cathedral, but was never rebuilt. You can still see the huge cracks in the walls from the earthquake. Looks like large pieces fall off regularly, as the building is roped off, and we saw large pieces of concrete even outside the roped off areas.

Our host took us to Masaya for lunch. This is a beautiful area south of Managua. The city sits on a hill overlooking another lagoon. Beyond the lagoon, you can see Lake Managua. While they call it a hill or a mountain, what you are really sitting on is the rim of the volcano crater, overlooking the lake that now fills the crater. For those of you in Washington, it actually looks a lot like the Crater Lake area, but without the evergreen trees. We’re told that people swim here all the time, but it seemed a bit cold today to do so.

Tonight for dinner, we walked to a restaurant not far from the hotel. Dinner was wonderful, but I think the waiter may have misunderstood part of the order. We tried to order something we translated as a “sample platter”, but apparently, the 20 words of Spanish we collectively speak led us a bit astray. We’re not completely sure what we had, but did eventually figure out that at least part of the plate included beef heart. We are hoping that was all that was on there. It tasted fine, but we are thinking maybe we should ask a few more questions next time.
Tomorrow is mostly at the local office, working with the team here to understand how we can organize and ship products to them so that they can be more effective and efficient in what they do. This trip will focus on health related items, so lots of time in rural clinics and hospitals. I’m quite certain I’ll learn more than I actually teach!