Day 9: pocentepe and andres familia
Trip Start
Nov 2007
1
16
33
Trip End
Dec 2007
Granada,
Nicaragua
Saturday, November 24, 2007
I can't possibly say enough about casa xalteva. They are amazing people; giving the boys here lots of attention and at the same time doing everything they can for you. during class, melissa mentioned that she wanted to try a local cocao drink, no recuerdo el nombre... padrillo or something. Our teacher immediately summoned andres, another employee and andress ran to the market (10 blocks away) and bought her the drink. Later, we mentioned wanting to kayak to the isletas and again, she called in andres, who made some calls for us. After our excursion to mombacho last night there was a huge party for one of the boys. They playing pin the tail on the donkey, musical chairs and pinata and everyone was having a blast.
After class, it was back to the house for lunch (rice, beans, plantains, and a very tasty shredded beef/onion/tomato dish) then back to casa xalteva for our 'unofficial excursion'. Andres agreed to take melissa, me and another student named casey on a special tour of the neighborhood he grew up in. Andres used to be a student at casa xalteva, meaning that he grew up poor by nica standards. To say it was powerful does not do it justice.
We started our bike ride in the 'upper class neighborhood' that surrounds casa xalteva. The houses are big and absolutely georgious. We wound our way through to the middle class neighborhood like the one melissa and i stay in. The houses are built of brick with sheet metal roofs. The roads are potholed but paved. Then we meandered into the lower class suburbs where the streets turn to highly rutted dirt. The houses are small, less than 300 square feet and made of scrap wood and open. fires are going cooking up the nights dinner. trash is piled high in ditches. I didn't see any running water, but andres said they had it. The electricity was stolen by attaching make shift wires to the electrical wires that run electricity to other neighborhoods. On the side of the roads, we are passed by women going door to door selling their wares from a basket balanced on their heads. One of them is Andres sister who sells us a piece of corn each for 20 cents.
Like everywhere, kids are out having a ton of fun. we pass a makeshift baseball game, several soccer games and even some races. (about 20 kids assembled to race each other in heats down the street)
Finally, we end at Andres family house where he grew up. His mom bought the property ($30), cleaned of trash and constructed a typical house, made of scrap wood salvaged from garbage. The house is about 200 square feet. i think 3-6 people live there; i'm not sure. Andres brother, father in law and mother are there along with 2 sisters and 3 kids. They immediately rustle up some chairs and invite us to sit down. A fire is going for dinner and the smell is so good. His brother explains his job to us: He rummages through garbage heaps with a pick looking for recyclable materials... aluminum, bronze, plastic...etc. He shows us a kitchen trash sized back with this weeks take. Andres is the only bread winner for the house (andres moved out and supports himself). His brother supports the parents on about $10 to $20 per week.
Andres father stands up and tells that we cannot come to nicaragua and not hear the real story of nicas. He is a friendly slow moving man of 63. He has a chisled face and his speech is just as deliberate as the ageing lines that run across his face. He speaks slowly and clearly. As he works up his passion, moving closer and closer to me until he is a few inches from my face... "We are so hungry. We have nothing. No material things. We have only god. God has kept me on this planet and i live for him. We do what we can for food, but there are no jobs. the goverment is currupt. in the 80's there were jobs, but now no..." He goes on for about 10 minutes.
After chatting more with the family, we continue on our bike ride to a small local volcano, maybe a hundred feet high. The view over the neighborhood is striking because you are so close. i highly recommend finding a local to take you to pocentepe instead of mombacho, which is much bigger but more 'remote'.
Most houses have a sign that tells what they do/sell there. "Fix shoes" "Cubed ice"...etc. We pass a house that sells chocolate covered bananas. Casey buys their last 5 for andres family. We return to andres family house and have a much lighter and fun conversation with the family. Andres sisters ask about when mel and i want kids and we joke about who 'wears the pants' in our relationship. Andres mother explains that she is taking a class in clothes making; hoping that might bring in more income. For being here a week and having only 1 year of spanish background, it's awesome that mel is able to keep pace with the spanish conversation. go her!
Finally, it's back home. Sucks though. We have not had running water at home since yesterday afternoon. Mel is sticky and stinky and unhappy and rumor is we won't have it until tomorrow. I've got random itches and a heat rash. Tomorrow we leave and mel is thinking we'll hotel it for a few night to get cleaner :) Next week, we return to laguna de apoyo for a week of classes there. Then we head north to leon... the really adventurous part of the trip.
- steve and mel
