Adios FunArte

So its my last day here at FunArte and it feels as though my heart is breaking into a million pieces. This is home to meee now, I can´t leave these people! FunArte is like my equivalent of heaven on earth. Working with kiddos, painting, drawing, singing, talking about equality, AIDS, anti-drug and violence etc. And with the best staff of people. I have really grown attached to my coworkers. Leaving Manuel, Jafeth, Katy, Tania, Rafita (Rafita Chalita Gringita), Carlitros, Freddy, Wilmer, Chio, Angelina, Aura, Tamara, Elvia, Orlando.
Yo no creo que esta la fin! Me siento muy triste, pero yo se que yo voy volver aqui espero pronto.
I also can´t believe that I can get by with my Spanish, considering landing here I was absolutely useless. Now I take cabs and the drivers think I´ve lived here for years! I don´t say much, mind you, but what I do say I say perfectly!

I just can´t get over not seeing them and working with them all of next week. There is still so much to do here, to talk about, to paint and get done. I have to come back, its just something I know I am going to do. Being here is really being in another world. I don´t feel as though I´m on the same stretch of land as Canada. They are worlds apart. This trip has awakened a desire to travel and meet people through conversation and the building of relationships that I never knew I had. I have only ever really traveled to Europe for no longer than one month and strictly as a tourist and art gallery observer. Never have I invested months in getting to know the people of a place on as close a level as I have on this trip. I know them, I know their upbringings, their family tragedies, their struggles and a connection has been made to them that will make it harder to leave Esteli, Nicaragua more than any other European country I have been to yet. Despite the uncomfortable situations a Third World Country brings, I will remember what I have learned from those situations and leave this place without regret or resentment. Nicaragua has taught me to let go, that I can not control everything and that I have to accept things and let go of my attachments. In moments when I feel as though my life is crumbling apart I have to stop and think of the kids that I work every single day with who are beaten yet brave and unbroken. That is unbelievable. They´re laughter resonates and reassures me that I can be brave and happy too. It´s okay to be happy! I know that sounds dumb but its something that has taken a lot to understand, but I get it now.

xoxo
S

Putting Things in Perspective

Hello Everyone,
its me again, your favourite email buddy. With a little bit over one week to go on my three month stint I´ve a lot to think about. Working day in and day out with the kids has taught me more about myself then I ever thought I would learn here. It is a constant struggle, but a happy struggle. The kids and my work and my family here give me wake up call after wake up call. This past Thursday I was asked by FUNARTE to go to managua and work with the down and out at two different mercados (markets) giving art classes to the kids. We left at 5am in the morning and i did not see my bed that evening until 10pm. What a long day. But the theme of the day was ¨Derecho,¨ meaning human rights, what is necessary to make you happy. As you can imagine the answers we received were not iPods or Abercombie and Fitch. They were instead family above all, bicycles to take younger siblings to school and get back home with (most of the kids live hours and hours away,) food, jobs for money, playing football etc. It is a really wonderful thing to witness, these kids who are absolutely filthy dirty but still smiling and bursting with desire to learn. I guess if you are feeling hopeless, lonely or sorry for yourself in this moment you can just imagine what I am talking about. A tiny cramped class room full of lice ridden children of all description dressed in rags and eager to laugh smile and hold your hand. It is certainly something to get me up and ready to face another day each morning, even when my body is giving me every signal not to (Including something I have recently discovered I received from the kids--head lice! oh yay me! Thousands of eggs and head lice for Siobhan that Marissa had to sift through and pick out for hours on end this morning, oh joy! What a friendship) This email is just my recent realizations, its not to make you feel belittled in any way as I have also discovered that no matter where you are in the world or of what class you belong to, it is inevitable to suffer. This goes without saying. But it is these kids, these tired little bodies that suffer so much but still are able to always muster up a smile and a brave face. They get up and beat the odds every day to inspire everyone else to get up one more time too. Its one of the worlds many miracles I think, and I am so greatful to have witnessed it.
Anyways, I will leave you with that.
I´m sure I´ll see you all sooner than we both know.

xoxo
S

The Final Countdown

I have two weeks to go, TWO WEEKS! That seems very strange to put into writing!
Yesterday William, my wonderful host brother, took Jess, Marissa, Dan, Sam and I (Dan and Sam are American new comers to Edna´s house!) to the great Somoto Canyon. It is beautiful! very far north on the West side of Nicaragua, very close to the Honduran boarder. Very hot and sweaty day though. When we got to the start of the canyon by hike and by boat we decided to stop and eat our signature banana peanut butter hot dogs for lunch. That has consisted of many of my meals here in Nicaragua, well when the meals are left me at least. Last night I decided to join my host brother Denis, his two friends and my host sister Samaria to the theater to see Transformers for roughly a dollar fifty American. I absolutely hated the movie and found it just embarrassing to watch, very very different from when I went to see Up! at the theater only a week before with all of my boy cousins here. Transformers was ridiculous, all the excess and the frivolity. Ive never been so embarrassed in a movie theater in my life. It wasnt the plot or the transformers it was the portrayal of American College and and all the unnecessary sexuality etc. Anyways, it really brought me into a huge reality check, infact I think it was my first real instance of culture shock so far on my journey home. Coming from Esteli for three months, seeing La Chureca and the children in inhumane poverty and then seeing the ignorance and lax carelessness of the teenagers in that movie just made me sick. I suppose its something that I´m just going to have to live with. I can´t go one living in disgust or frustration though, I have to find a way to see the good parts in everything but to never forget the horrors or the injustices I witnessed. Its all a delicate balance, as everything almost always is.
Anyways, until the next time.

S

Granada y Isle de Ometepe

Hello Everyone,

The five days I spent in Granada and Isle de Ometepe were exactly what I
needed. Exactly half way on this trip I hit a wall, and I hit it hard.
I read up on what I should do to get out of the rut and a vacation was
the antidote. I went with Jess, Marissa and new friends Sara and
Austin. Sara lived with my family and worked at FUNARTE last year with
Intercordia. She also knows alot of spanish and was a very very big
help.

We arrived in Granada on the 5th of July. Its a beautiful city but its
very hot. So colourful, everything is painted in bright colours and
very kept. What a refreshing sight. That night after our horse drawn
carrage ride around the city, we ended up meeting two of Sara´s friends
from london Ontario completely by coincidence. It was great, they are
two very very interesting characters. Juan Diego from Columbia
originally and Justin bobby, a london native. These guys were caught in
a huge Honduran protest and have many many stories to tell that would
really blow your mind. I was beyond happy to know that they would
accompany us on the ferry the next morning to Ometepe.

The Ferry was tiny and scary. We made it to Ometepe and took a very
crowded bus two hours to Altagracia where we settled into our 4 dollar
a night room at the Hotel Castillo. The seven of us then set out to Ojo
de Agua (Eye of Water) which is this crystal clear mineral spring on
the island. You couldn´t pay me to get out of the water. I was in there
swimming with Juan Diego (someone who just love swimming as much as I
do) and with everyone for hours and hours. It was incredible. When they
finally managed to get me out we returned back to Altagracia and had
two girls from the town to take us around. We ended up at their
cemetery in pitch darkness.. Then to reward the girl´s kindness we took
them out for dinner at a local restaurant. The night of sleeping was
horrendous. Bed bugs everywhere. It was a mental exercise to not rip my
skin off my body. I just lay there in agony all night, in the heat and
the bugs.

Juan and Justin left early the next morning to climb the volcano
Maderas, so the five of us split to Playa Santa Domingo (a beautiful
beack on the lake of Nicaragua.) The water was wonderful and the sun
was very very strong. The backs of my legs and my back were burnt to a
crisp, even after applying sunscreen four times. After the beach we
made our way to what I like to call the heavenly hostel. For $6
american a night you get a cabin with the greatest beds and pillows,
the most delicious food (which is brought to you while you lay in your
hammock) and the most amazing dock that allows for kayaking, swimming
and watching heartwrenching sunsets. Kayaking to Monkey Islands was
incredible. There are these two islands that spider and howler monkeys
inhabit respectively. You cannot get any closer than 50 ft or the
monkeys will jump into your kayak and bite you, no joke. It was a tough
kayak as the water was rough but I enjoyed it so much.

The next morning was really early, we had our hearts set on climbing
the volcano. Most physically exhausting thing I´ve ever done.  We ended
up only going half way to the waterfall because of a huge mix up from
our guides but it was sufficient for me! 12 km of brutal brutal hiking.
Unreal. After the walk down my legs were jelly. I jumped off the dock
sooo fast when I got back, and rewarded my hard work with an afternoon
in a hammock with cafe con leche and coconut ice cream. I slept like a
baby that night.

The next day was trying, starting with a trek in the rain and mud to
the bus that took three hours and was so beyond capacity. I was so
ready to stand up and breath fresh oxygen at the end of it. Then back
on the tiny Ferry full of fumes. Then into a cab that we paid five
dollars each to get driven back from San Jorge to granada.

That night in Granada was laid back, we went out to the tourist strip
and had a delightful dinner of vegetarian curry crepe and a deliciouso
sangria. The Hostel we stayed in was rather sketchy and lacking in air
so I didnt sleep at all and woke up the next morning at 5 to take a bus
to managua, then another to esteli. We got back to Esteli at 10:30am
which from granada is record time. All my clothing stank horribly so I
did laundry for two hours and then took a shower and slept.



There! You are all sufficiently caught up!

I am home very very soon guys, I have mixed feelings about this. I
really dont want to leave but on the other hand I really miss certain
things at home (like my beautiful family) an abundant amount.

Can´t wait to start back at work on Tuesday.

xoxo

S

a few pictures!

The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly

Priscilla has emailed me some really sad news. Fabiola, the little girl from La Chureca, will not be moved out of the dump because of refusal from her mother and step father to let her go. This is very very upsetting but I´m staying hopeful that her mother has a change of heart. Priscilla visits Fabiola at least once a week and is not giving up hope either.

In other news...Yesterday while walking home with Marissa, my Canadian FUNARTE partner, two guys (who´s images are burned in my brain forever) decided to rob me infront of a school and in the middle of tonnes of mothers, fathers and children all of whom did nothing to defend me when the two men were easily stoppable. They only managed to get my Toronto cell phone but it was the principal of it, it was the public humilitation and mockery. I am sooo fed up with men here. Their comments, remarks, rude gestures. These guys were just horrible. One pushed Marissa onto me and then the other started feeling the side of my body. I was in total shock so without really thinking I elbowed the one feeling my side really hard in his arm. He recoiled and then walked off laughing with the other one. One of the bystander mothers shock her head and said ¨poor girl¨in spanish of course. She tried to mime that they had taken my cell phone. The only thing left that had pictures from Nicaragua. Anyways its just really unfortunate that things like that have to happen after a good day at work. It really defeats a person. I got on the phone with mom right away and got her to cancel the phone plan. Then when I got home yesterday in tears from what had happened, Sayda ran and got me a package from Rachel for my birthday and I was sooo moved and happy. I called rach and told her all about what had happened and how her package could not have come at a better time. This is just the way life is here, still I find it all very hard to just accept. I am treated like dirt and scum from the guys as a female here and I´m treated even worse as a foreigner. We get up and give our all to the next day though, thats all I can do. Must not dwell.

Next week FUNARTE is on vacation so Jess, Marissa and I have decided to pack it all up and go to Granada and the Isle de Ometepe for five glorious days. They will not be without their challenges but we have been doing mucho research and according to all of our friends here, Ometepe and Granada are where it is at. I am thrilled. We leave Sunday morning. Tomorrow I´m going to work on a mural project with Manuel from FUNARTE and a bunch of kids. The mural is going on the Esteli Library! Its very naturalistic and flowing. I love it. All from Manuel´s imagination. He is an artistic, let me tell you. I´ll take many pictures with my new memory card that I just picked up at RadioShack here (Yes there is a RadioShack here! Payless and RadioShack are the only familiar stores here in esteli and they look nothing like the ones we have back home.)

Thought I´d just tell you all how I`m doing. Its a battle of ups and downs but I perservere. There isn´t really much of an alternative.

XOXO
S

Memory Cards and Leon

Hello Everyone,
Oh its been a great balance of ups and downs here in Nicaragua. After a very long working week the gang had a great friday night in honour of our great pal Jon Daley, who left us for his home in England this past Saturday. Needless to say it was a great send off dinner and dancing that followed at the Sandinista Bar called Ricon Legal (Legal Corner.) Saturday was another FUNARTE extravaganza, but this time good old Benny came to visit me at my work. Saturday afternoon I found four very lost looking california guys and decided they should be escorted to Hostel Luna beside Cafe Luz, as it is the best hostel in Esteli. They were thankful and we ended up meeting up again at Cafe Luz that night. After our beer fest with the Intercordians and the guys, Jess and I boarded a taxi with the four to Somafero to dance the night away. In retrospect this was a very bad idea as I had to wake up way too early for Leon the next morning and already was feeling under the weather. Anyways got home safe woke up for the bus to Leon and no sooner realized my memory card for my camera was gonzo. I had taken it out of my camera to make sure it would be safe incase my camera was stolen. This was counterproductive as my camera was left untouched and my memory card never to be seen again. OI VEY. Luckily everyone else (mostly Benny) have taken many many photos that they will put on cd and share with yours truly.

Leon is a beautiful city. I couldnt get enough of it. It is SOOOO hot, but it has this rustic Spanish feel that I haven´t come across anywhere else in Nica. Sunday was suppose to be a relaxing pacific ocean beach day. Ohh how naive we were in believing that! Megan, Laura, Benny and I took forever to find the bus to the beach. That was our first struggle. Then we load off when everyone else does thinking that would be a good idea. Huge mistake. It was the blind leading the blind. We ended up at the local´s beach in a horrific restaurant where the food took forever that the flies were EVERYWHERE. The bathroom was an aluminum sheet constituting as walls surrounding a toilet bowl, no back, no flush, in the middle of the dinning area. Disgust. After that little taste of hell, we decided to set out to find this beautiful beach we had heard so much about. Ended up walking down the entirety of three full beaches, stumbling across a used bent syringe, naked bathing Nicaraguan men drinking Toña, and a dead possom thing that looked like a gigantic rat (I screamed soooo loud when I first realized it was right infront of me. Grossest dead animal I´ve ever seen.) So tired and forelorn, we sat by the ocean. No idea where to find a bus back home we decided to trust a kid that was clearly high on glue. He showed us to the street behind the beach and said that the bus would be there in half an hour. I kid you not, we were stuck in Hotel California. Ya know the place that you can check into anytime you like but can never leave?? A green water pool with bathing men to our right, zombie children on glue to our left, mud beneath us, and a darkening sky above. Finally the bus despelled our doubt and came. Our relief only lasted ten minutes as the next thing we knew, we were stuck in a hole. No one was willing to give up their seats and get off the bus, so the bus driver struggled to get us out with around 95 people on the bus. Mmmm the smell of burning rubber and sweat. Finally all got off and within about an hour and a half the bus had been rescued from the hole and back on track. My feeling under the weather quickly bloomed into full blown laringitis, miagrane and sinus infection. By the time I got back to Via Via hostel I decided I could not climb up Cerro Negro (the volcano I had my heart on climbing the entire time. Bummer.) Megan stayed back from the volcano climb with me and the two of us roamed around Leon. We climbed to the top of the Cathedral instead of the volcano. Beautiful view. People in Leon are just nicer, I´ve decided. Megan and I ended up spending our afternoon talking to an amazing Nursing student by the name of Richard (another bloke from Cali.) He was traveling alone and wanted a few hours company, which we were very capable of providing. After missing our bus back to Esteli Monday night, we had to go to Ocotal and hitch a ride back on an express bus from Managua to Esteli in the pouring rain. Let me tell you, nothing goes smoothly or without obstacle when travelling in Nicaragua.

Took yesterday off work to get healthy, Back here today. Recharged and ready to work this week well and head off for Granada and Isle of Ometepe next week when FUNARTE goes on holidays.

XOXO
S





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