A Long Week

So a new post has been a long time coming, but I´ve had a very tiresome week and I just plain didnt feel like blogging. Ive done alot this week, so embrace yourself cuz I think this one is going to be a long one. So my post will be in chronological order, or as close as I can get it. So the first thing im going to write about occurs exactly a few days after my last post, or something like that so Ill call that monday.

So it is monday night (I think) and our whole group gets invited to a political rally. This rally was held by the Sandanista government, which is the current government in power at the moment. Before I go on about my experiane at the rally it is important to understand a bit about the country´s rich political history. I am going to give you only the basics, because I do not wish to make a mistake and ruin the legacy.

Before democracy existed in Nicaragua, there was a different type of government in power. Nicaragua was run by Anarchists. These anarchists were known as the Somozas. They held power from 1936 to 1979, they passed power down the familty line. Their rule angered many people in Nicaragua, which led to a start of a National revolution. The revolutionists called themselves the Sandinistas. They got their name from Augusto César Sandino who lead a revolt against the Americans whom were occupying Nicaragua in the 30´s. AFter many years of revolt and guerilla warfare, the Sandinistas took control in 1972, and they held control until 1990, where they were beat by another democratic party; but today the Sandinistas are in power.

That was a very basic synopsis of the revolution, and many key parts have been skipped over so I suggest reading up on it if you ever find time. Now back to monday and the rally. When I heard about the rally I assumed it would be a bunch of old people that would be in attendance, as it would be in Canada. When I went there I was amazed to see that the maority of the people were under the age of 19. Many were over that age, but everywhere I looked there were kids. The revolution of Nicaragua was lead by the young, and politics remain an important part of their lives. It is possible to have a converstaion here in Nicaragua about politics with a 15 year old child. A 15 year old in Canada probably couldnt name 3 political party´s. A 20 year old prolly coudlnt name 4 without including the Mirajuana party in their selection. The point being is the children are taught about politics and their country at a very young age, and is something our country who also has a rich political history should also be doing. Final point, they take pride in who they are and where they came from.

So tuesday and wednesday were pretty boring days. I wake up at 5:30 am and play soccer till about 7am. Then I go to work at the INPRHU office. By the time I get home I am ready to go to sleep.

Thursday of course is Palmira day, and once again we help constuct things. This Thursday we help build their adobe houses, which is very slow and strenuous labour. Each brick has to be made one by one by mixing mud shoveled from the ground and water to make it sticky. It is they put into a mold which makes 2 bricks and has to be left in the sun to harden. We made bricks and we laid them, over and over. There is no such thing as cement to seal the bricks in place, the same compound use to make the bricks is used as sealant. A very labour intensive day, but a very satisfied feeling follows.

So that brings me to today. Usually Fridays are INPRHU days as well, but this friday and every other one we again will be going to Palmira. We are going on fridays as well because a mother of 6 has recently been left by her husband, which means that the building of her house will rapidly decline with the loss of the main source of labour for her family. As a special favour to her, our group will be going to Palmira every friday to continue to build her house. Also they have asked our help in the production of the comunity centre in Palmira which half the group will be responsible for on Fridays. My responsibilty lies with the mother and her house, and today we were making the adobe bricks once again. The group of about 7 or 8 people worked for 3 hours today. In that time we were able to create only 28 bricks. They say to comletely finish the house 500 additional bricks are required. At a rate of about 9 bricks an hour, thats a long ass time to make a house.

Each day I try to have a new sort of experiance, somedays itll be interesting and not worth mentioning, and others will be a bit more intriguing. Today I decided to get a hair cut and a shave at a barberia (barber) this may not be interesting to you, but to someone who despises shaving it sure intrests me. First the barber tried speaking to me in Spanish, but my spanish still isnt that good, so I used my counterpart Luis as my translator. He asked me how I´d like my hair and this is the first time in about 3 years I´ve gone to a different barber, so I didnt even know how to answer. My counterpart was able to explain it too him, and we were on our way. I assumed the haircut would be very quick, but the barber took meticulous care of his job and about 30 minutes and 50 cordobas later ($2.50) he was done. Next came the part I was most interested in, the shave. He first used a brush to apply baby powder to my face, then made a concoction of some sort in a water bottle. It didnt really lather like shaving cream but it did the trick. He then took a new single razor out of the package and inserted into the device that those old school barbers have. He started with a steady hand on my cheeks and jaw. At this point I felt very calm and the process relaxing. The spanish music played from a boombox in the corner only furthered my relaxation. Again with meticulous care he worked. He then got to my neck, and it got me thinking; this guy has a razor blade to my throught, and once slip could render me bleeding on the floor. So at this point I tensed up a bit, but then his meticulous care calmed me down once again. This process again took him 30 minutes, and again the charge was 50 cordobas. So in total it was 100 cordobas which is aporximately 5 dollars canadian. I ended up getting a good hair cut and an experiance I´d never be able to get in Canada for 5 dollars. And I ended up tipping the man another 50 cordobas, which was half of what he asked for. But I felt it was well deserved since he didnt slice my throught open. As I left he only asked for once thing, he asked me to send a magazine from Canada back with Luis when he returns from Canada in 5 months, which I will gladly oblige.

Sorry for the long post and the lack of pretty pictures, maybe next time!

Peace!