STEPHANIE MORK

Managua is just a little VERY different than Minneapolis.  I have been here for one week today and its been a whirlwind.  Today I found a little taste of comfort in an air-conditioned mall with some blessed coffee, wifi and yummy baked goods.   But the past week has been a tornado of activities, new things, acclimating to new places, languages, and mindsets.

The culture shock is pretty real, but I am starting to feel more comfortable going out and about on my own, asking questions and speaking in Spanish.

Here are 6 words to describe my first impressions:

1. Hot
2. Noises
3. Kind
4. Fresh
5. Water
6. Open

My first morning in Nicaragua, I was woken up around 4 am to a cock-a-doodle-dooooo (!) and I could hear the city begin to wake up with the sounds of motorcycles, dogs barking, buses revving, horses clapping on the cobblestone, people talking, babies crying, music, and the smell of cooking meat.  I somehow slept for a few more hours until I had to use the loo only to find that the water was turned off and I had my first lesson on how to flush the toilet with a bucket of water.

I spent my first 24 hours sweating through my clothes, being spoken to in a language I don’t really know, and wondering what the heck I am doing here.  It was a lot to take in and the learning curve for this gringa is very steep.  Its crazy how quickly things like seeing lizards and cockroaches, constant intake of water, never going anywhere without hand sani, and using a bucket to flush the toilet have become the norm.

To go into further detail of my 6 words – hot is pretty self explanatory.  Its literally always hot.  I guess I came during the summer (whoops), and its pretty normal for the high to be around 95 and lows in the mid 70’s at night – which is actually pretty comfortable for sleeping.  I have literally never in my life drank so much water or juices or smoothies just to prevent being dehydrated without really doing anything!

My first description of Nica describes pretty well what I mean by noises.  There is just a lot going on and it’s crazy how early the Nicaraguan people get up and out and start moving in the day – probably because the best hours of the day are about 7 am to 11 am.  1 – 4 pm are the death hours.

Kind is to describe all of the people that I have interacted with thus far.  My host family is so patient with my bad Spanish, and willing to help me learn.  They share their food, answer my stupid questions and have shown me the ways of the bus (more on that later). They are easy to be around and I am so thankful for them.  I have also spent some time with the staff of Comamos Juntos and other volunteers and they again are all so patient with helping me learn Spanish, showing me the ways of the Nicas, and inviting me to go on trips or hang out with them.

Fresh is for the fruits and many of the foods I have tried here. But mostly the fruits, fruit smoothies and frescas.  My host mom literally makes the best frescas in Managua (even though I haven’t tried many others I can tell you they are the best).  They are these juices made from exotic fruits that I have never heard of – the fruits are cooked, strained and mashed and blended up and then put in the fridge.  The family actually runs a little business selling these and I plan to learn how to make them.

There is a thing about water in Managua where sometimes they shut it off – but the good news for me is that the tap water is safe to drink.   Mostly water is constantly on my mind, whether its that I need to drink some, or use some to flush my poo, or dump on my head so I don’t have a heat stroke lol.

Open is for a) my mindset and b) how the spaces in Nicaragua are laid out.  My room doesn’t actually have windows, more like grates with a curtain to cover it in the night.  But it seems that doors and windows are always open, many restaurants are open aired, the people are open, the windows on the bus are open – its just a very open place!

My mindset going into this was one of openness and its been a challenging first week – many new experiences, frustrations and acclimations – BUT I am feeling excited to continue learning and growing and keeping my mind open.  And I have really enjoyed the volunteer work and just watching life happen here.

I have done some volunteering already, received a few social media projects for Comamos Juntos and went to a forest reserve in the mountains last weekend, so it’s been busy! I have a feeling it will continue to be busy, but I don’t have much time and I hope to fill it with more explorations and experiences.

This is very long so stay tuned for my next posts about life in the market and my trip to the cloud forest! With photos! Adios for now 🙂