A Day In the City

I know this is my second updated in two days and it may seem kind of crazy for me to be spending so much time on the internet, but I had a BIG day yesterday that I wanted to share on the blog before I forgot...

Yesterday, the whole group headed to Managua for the whole day, which meant no spanish class and no lecture! Yippee. So despite all the transportation strikes that have been going on we found a way to make it Managua safely. We didn't have any problems except at one check point the police stopped our bus. They saw that we were all "gringos" and immediately asked for our passports. None of us had them because our leaders keep them at their house for safekeeping. We were a little confused and Maria, our awesome leader who is Nicaraguan, talked our way out of it. Later she explained that La Policia knew that we probably wouldn't have our passports, but instead would take money so that they wouldn't "arrest us". It's kind of like a bribe thing, just another issue of corruption here in Nicaraguan.

So, we finally made it to Managua. The capital city. We had a schedule of everything we were going to do that day. Visit the Nehemiah Center, which is a center where they set up programs and send people out to work in communities. The main goal is to bring the connection of Faith and Life together. It's run by a family from Michigan and it's a part of the Christian Reform Church, but many other churches and church related groups support the programs. I really liked the place, and it may be a service option for me.

We then headed to the MCC house in Managua. It was great to see friendly mennonite faces. We ate lunch there and heard a bit about what they do. They are basically a human resource facility. They make connections for people and organizations. After that we went to a community center where there are clasrooms and awesome murals. I don't remember much from that tour because our tour guide didn't really know much and it was hard to listen to her, ha. Plus, it was SO hot! Managua is always about 10 degrees hotter than here in Jinotepe. Hot, Hot, Hot!

We all got onto the bus and drove through town to the city's garbage dump. Here they call it "La Chureca" and WOW! It was unbelievable the poverty around and IN the garbage dump. There are tons of people that work in the dump to sift through the trash to find anything recylable. Glass, plastic, paper, etc.. All of these things they sell for a very, very low cost. And not only do some of these people work in this place, but they also LIVE there. In a garbage dump. I just couldn't even comprehend all of it. Even after SEEING it I couldn't believe what I had seen. There were people of all ages working. Kids, grandparents...just trying to find a few pieces of garbage to make some money. As we drove through the dump, two little boys jumped into the van with us for the ride. They were just normal boys, but living their entire lives in a garabage pile. The houses are nothing but cardboard and the occasional piece of metal. It was just insane. I have never seen anyhting like it before. Or experienced I feeling so awful. You know that feeling you get when a begger asked you for your loose change and your gut just kind of clinches when you walk right by and ignore them? Well this was 1,000x worse. My whole body just clinched. It was not a fun feeling at all. We had a lady on the bus talking with us about how she had worked in La Chureca for many years and finally worked her way out. She explained how the people who work there are find their food there. And also, so many kids are getting lead posioning because of car batteries or other forms of lead. It's just insane. When we left our bus was completely silent because I think everyone was just in shock and really there was nothing to say, at all. It was just breath taking...and not in a good way.

So, after La Chureca we headed to the Peace Park which is where thousands and thousands of guns were burried after the contra-sandinista war. After the election of Violetta Chomorro, she declared that all the guns of the way be burried in cement, so that is exactly what happened. Usually countries will send guns for money, but Chomorro wanted to be sure that the guns would never be used to kill again. I think it's a good idea...

We then headed to El Palacio Nacional, which is the national palace. It is now a national museum, so we did the usual museum thing. It was just like a museum in the U.S. but it was about Nicaraguan history, from the times of the Indigenous until now. Interesting, but kind of long.

We then left Managua and headed back for Jinotepe. The drive was beautiful as the sun was beggining to set behind the mountains as we drove. Amazing.

Tomorrow half of the group is headed for Mombacho, which is a famous volcanoe here. We are staying overnight at the top. Hope it's not an active volcanoe! : ) Yikes. Now it's friday night and I am going to bed at 9:40...Buenos Noches!!

Also, I forgot to put this on my blog earlier, there is a GC website that has pictures and another blog done by our leaders if you want to keep tabs on SST that way. There are a few pictures that I am in, but they all seem to be of me making really awful, bad faces. So if it appears that I am having an awful time, or am falling asleep...really it's just a BAD picture. Ha. Just a little disclaimer. The website is: http://www.goshen.edu/sst/nica08/