Potpourri

As my time winds down (only two more weeks in Sabana Grande and one of those will be Semana Santa, when little will happen in the way of travel or work), there are a number of (hopefully) interesting observations and experiences that have not fit into any of the topic areas of my posts.  So this will be a catch-all post with little coherence from a literary perspective, but hopefully coherent enough to be enjoyable.  Some of the topics have pictures to go with them, but if I was unable to get appropriate photos, then the topic will be just the written word, so on the whole, this post will not be quite as visual.  In keeping with the hodge-podge spirit, there will be no particular order.

Nights

Living in a place without street lights, one rediscovers the beauty of the sky at night and how much we lose by lighting not only streets, but parking lots, billboards, etc.  Light in the night sky really is pollution after you see what it’s really like.  I recall in Platteville when the new gas station was built in Belmont.  That one, relatively small facility 6 miles away made a significant impact in the night sky to the east.  Here, the nearest street lighting is about 4 miles away on the other side of a ridge, so the effects are not too bad.  One of the nice things about having a latrine instead of indoor plumbing is that when you step out you are greeted by Orion, or Mars, or Jupiter or the Milky Way—it really takes your breath away.  I wish my camera could capture the night sky, but I don’t have that technology, but you can simulate what I’m seeing by driving way out in the country and taking a look up.

Also, because I’m here in the winter, I get to see constellations that I don’t normally see because I spend very little time in the winter just gazing up at the sky.  I’m usually trying to get back inside as quickly as possible to warm up and don’t take the time to even briefly look up (but even if I did, I would not see as much as here!).  At this time of year, the handle of the big dipper extends below the horizon and only the handle of the little dipper is visible.  The north star is only about 13° above the horizon (about the same as the latitude.

Another joy of the night comes thanks to the temperate climate with open building construction, allowing many sounds to come in.  You feel almost like you’re a participant in the night rather than closed up in a cocoon.  At first, the noises disturbed my sleep, but now I hardly notice.  There are roosters and chickens galore that seem to mysteriously feel the need to crow or cackle at virtually any hour; there are the brief, but intense, dog scuffles; at this time of year, there is a drone of insect noises that sound a lot like our cicadas, but much louder and a higher frequency; there is the early morning (4 am or so) sound of horse or cattle hooves going past on the gravel.  While I find these comforting here, I’d probably be complaining if I had the same disturbances at home.   In fact, in the US we are probably MUCH too sensitive with respect to our neighbors’ activities—Nicas would probably find our myriad ordinances and rules about this and that rather amusing.

Cleaning:  showers and laundry

My kids will tell you that I’ve never been a fan of cold showers (and am still not a fan), but I’ve come to enjoy the showers here.  This is because you can stand outside and look up at the trees and sky, hear the bird, dogs and chickens, and feel the sun shining down, all while soaping or rinsing.  My shower facilities (as I think I’ve mentioned) are actually quite luxurious as we have an elevated tank, so I have running water and don’t have to be distracted by panning water over me to get wet or rinse.  And I must confess that about 4 in the afternoon is my favorite time for showers because 1)  I can get the day’s grit off before going to bed and 2)  the air is warmest, the water has been warmed slightly by being in the sun all day and the block walls are radiating the stored heat of the day, all mitigating the negative effects of cold water.  Some of this you can simulate backpacking, but having a solid surface to stand on and a showerhead with a valve is really nice!  The only weird thing is that you are essentially showering in the middle of a living space and life is going on right outside even as you’re showering.

Laundry is a much more personally-engaging experience here than the automatic washing machine at home.  Washing, scrubbing, rinsing, wringing, hanging are all hand operations.  It’s better than rocks in the river, but the technology (with the exception of a running water faucet) is roughly the same.  The sinks are made of concrete with two scrub boards molded in and a water reservoir in the middle.  Water fills the reservoir (in my house by spigot, but in most by water carried from the well) and is dipped for washing hands, dishes or clothes.  To conserve water, a bucket or basin is filled for rinsing clothes (instead of filling the entire sink).  Laundry soap comes in a large, cylindrical bar that is rubbed on the clothes to apply.  Scrubbing is then done on the washboard surface and finally the clothes are rinsed.  Because I personally observe the water at each stage, I can fully appreciate how dirty the clothes actually get here (lots of dust in the air in the dry season).  Scrubbing on a board also takes its toll on clothes, so wear and holes appear much faster, especially compared to our front-loading machine at home.  On the bright side, the extra wear means I can dump more of my clothes here and won’t have to schlep so many on the bus as I head to Oaxaca in a couple of weeks!

Picture of my shower facilities--you can look up and see banana leaves, mangoes, palms, etc.  The drain actually just goes to the back of the yard on the ground where it’s a little bit lower.

Picture of the sink for washing clothes, dishes, hands and even kids on occasion.  The basin is typcial for clothes washing.

Aesthetic differences

One thing that I’ve observed is what I perceive as a difference in the aesthetic sensibility of Nicaraguans compared with North Americans.  I’ll leave it to someone more artistic to evaluate if either aesthetic has more merit, but I’ll mention three areas in particular where I identify differences.

The first has to do with the ground itself in locations where people use it on a regular basis (such as yards, gardens, parks, church yards, etc.).  In the Midwest and much of the rest of the country, the preferred ground cover would likely be grass, and if not grass, it would be green.  In California and more arid areas, it might have more rock and gravel, but would still have considerable green and maybe even some grass or other ground cover if water is not being rationed.  In the true dessert, the greenery might be exclusively cacti, but there would still be rocks to cover the bare dirt.  We seem to be repelled by bare dirt (except in bean and corn fields where we like to use a lot of Round Up!).  Nicas, on the other hand, seem to really like completely bare dirt and don’t seem to like really thick, lush plant growth.  In the dry season, it makes good sense to not require irrigation, especially if you are carrying water from a well.  On the other hand, in the rainy season dirt doesn’t seem such a good choice, but from last May I know that the dirt here does not turn to sticky mud when it gets wet and stays relatively firm, so there are perhaps good, practical reasons for the choice of bare dirt.  As you walk around here, yards are all exclusively dirt and they will be literally swept once or twice per week, perhaps with coarse twig-bristle brooms, but often with the same broom that sweeps interior floors.  For the opening of the solar restaurant, we spent several days clearing away native grasses and groundcover with shovels and picks so the ground could be bare for the grand opening.

A couple of photos showing manicured dirt.  The top is the yard at my house and the bottom is actually the street and area around a common well.  The well area is often swept when I go by in the morning, but I’m not sure who actually does it.

The second aesthetic difference is somewhat intertwined with the previous one and has to do with leaves versus litter.  As mentioned, considerable time is spent sweeping the yard (and interiors are swept every day) to get rid of all of the leaves (these are often burned, at least this time of year) and to achieve the nice, “dirt look.”  However, snack bags, beer bottles, plastic bags, etc., remain caught in trees, shrubs and fences or even in flower gardens in the yard, and no effort is expended to pick up any of this litter.  It’s almost as if the litter is considered decoration and the leaves as trash, although to my eye, the leaves seems much more pleasing.  This attitude towards litter is also evident on buses as people routinely throw snack packaging and bottles out the window.  (I must remember, however, that it was only about 45 years ago when Lady Bird Johnson started the highway beautification program that US citizens started to develop a litter-free ethic, so Nicaragua probably just needs some time [and a place to put the trash they pick up!].)

Another picture from my yard, but in one of the flower areas.  You can see a beer bottle, a Pepsi bottle, a shoe, a snack wrapper, some miscellaneous paper and a bucket.

The third thing I’ve noticed is how formal portraits, particularly of children, are made.  While in the US we often get the kids dressed up and put them with some kind of prop, the pictures are more or less printed as taken (with generally minor touch-ups like red eye removal).  Here, they seem to do the same dressing up (although little girls are REALLY dressed up) and the pictures then seem to be taken with a plain background so that the kids can be superimposed on whatever background in desired.  So on walls of homes you may see pictures of kids standing in what looks like the grass of a suburban back yard or in the formal living room of a fancy house—more accurately, I should say they look like they are hovering over the yard or in the living room because the Photo Shopping is not very subtle.  And the scenes don’t look at all like anything that belongs here in Nicaragua.

Here are some portraits of the two kids who live at my house (grandkids of the owners).  Tahiris is on top and she seems to be floating above a plush carpet in a house that looks more typical for Dubuque (or perhaps in some telenovela).  Asbel is below and he is also floating above the grass.  I think the horse was actually a prop in the studio.  Interestingly, the pyramid of cans behind him on the left is made of Nestle baby formula cans.

Privatization—Nica style                                                                                          

Governments at all levels all over the US have been rushing to privatize as many services as possible to save taxpayer dollars.  Simultaneously, the US has been sharply critical of the Sandinista government here as socialistic and unfriendly to private enterprise.  However, I have discovered at least one area in which Nicaragua is showing us the way to more creative privatization:  road signs!  Here you find sponsorships on signs ranging from stop signs to directional signs.  I can see it now:  the Harley-Davidson Welcome to Wisconsin sign, the Steve’s Pizza Take the next right to Dubuque sign.  As Donald Trump might say, “This could be HUGE!”

Not only is Budget Rent-a-Car sponsoring the sign telling you that it’s 226 km to Managua, it appears that Managua has been renamed as BUDGET Managua (with BUDGET all uppercase no less).  We could try AVISTA Platteville or KOCH BROS. Madison.  At the right is a stop sign brought to you courtesy of Xiam cyber café.  I wonder if the sign would be there if Xiam were not courteous enough to provide it?

Riding in trucks and other things that OSHA, NTSB, etc., wouldn’t tolerate

I’ve shown a photo of Susan and me riding in the back of a truck (which she would never DREAM of in the US!), but our trip was the model of safety:  we were sitting down, the tailgate was up and there were bars around the sides.  Workers are routinely transported in the backs of trucks.  Some in pick-ups (SRO) to commute to coffee plantation jobs and some just in the back of truck hauling wood, rock, concrete blocks, etc.  On the larger trucks, they are often resting or napping.  Sometimes it’s just kids riding in the back of pick-ups with the parents up front;  I’ve even seen kids riding on the top of the cab.  And don’t forget the colectores on the buses (earlier post) who may be walking on the top or climbing down the side at highway speed (admittedly “highway speed” is much slower for a local bus, but it could still hurt to fall off the top even at only 40 or 50 km/hr.).

Examples of people-transport by truck.  The top shows a woman traveling by pick-up.  She may be related to the driver, but may also just be a friend or even have hitched the ride at a bus stop to speed up the trip.  In the middle is a group of workers heading to the job.  These probably aren’t coffee workers since there is equipment in the truck (and there would likely be twice as many people for coffee picking).  The bottom shows a typical material-delivery truck.  Unloading (even for rock, sand, etc.) is manual by shovel—no dump trucks that I’ve seen.  So helpers typically ride along to speed up the unloading process.

Highway habits are just one example of many in which the sense of what is and is not safe/acceptable is much different here than in the US.  I’ve shown some photos of the rats’ nests that are called electrical wiring here, plumbing connections are sometimes plastic bags for gaskets sealed by a stretched bicycle inner tube and safety equipment (guards, shut-offs, helmets, etc.) is often non-existent.

One more electrical example at my house.  They were doing some welding across the street (off the grid), so patched in to my house.  It is not a matter of plugging in an extension cord, but directly wrapping the extension wire (not extension cord, but individual wires) around the main wires and stringing the wire across the road.  You can even see some taped patches on the wire heading to the welder towards the bottom.

Baseball

I like baseball and Nicaragua is a great place to go for baseball.  There are professional leagues, semi-professional leagues, amateur leagues, kids’ leagues…  In fact, baseball is more popular than football (soccer), whose quality is not very high here.  There are currently several Nicas in major league spring training camps and their successes/failures are followed closely by the local papers and TV sports reports.  Dennis Martinez (former major league pitcher) is something of a national hero and the stadium in Managua is named after him.  Unfortunately, I’ve not been able to take in a professional game, but I’ve seen a few on TV and have watched the local amateurs play.

Apparently a game like baseball (maybe rounders or cricket) was introduced to the Caribbean coast in the mid 1800s (where the British had dominion), but baseball’s popularity ironically traces back to the very unpopular occupation by US Marines for well over 20 years.  Apparently when the Marines needed more players, they recruited locals who picked up the game and it spread.

Professionally, I’ve only watched on TV, so must comment based on limited data.  Stadium are small by US standards, appearing to hold in the 20,000 range or so, and were packed for the games I saw.  The crowds were also very animated and loud, more so than in the US.  Level of play is hard to judge from just a few games on TV, but there were certainly individual plays that were equivalent to what is expected at the major league level.  What I could see was that the mannerisms of the players are exactly the same as those in the US. :  the same stretches, spits, trots after walks or home runs, the same everything.  (This contrasts somewhat with Japanese baseball, which I saw some of about 30 years ago.  The Japanese had courtesies and mannerisms that distinguished them somewhat from US baseball.)

The only area that was distinctly sub-par by US measures was the camera work:  not as many cameras, not as many angles, not as much replay (although when they did have a replay, we got to see it MANY times!) and more missed plays.  I think stadium lighting was also below US levels.

On the amateur side, I’ve seen some live games in Sabana Grande.  Sometimes the beer gets in the way of quality play, but it seems to be as much for pure enjoyment as for winning.  They play nearby communities, usually within bicycling distance since there is not team bus!  The field has been nicely leveled and is about a standard size, but the surface has a lot of rocks (along with some broken glass) and no grass (especially now in the dry season).  There is a backstop, covered stands for about 150 spectators, foul poles about 1.5 m high with a rag tied at the top, one dugout on the third base side (where the visiting team sits, because it’s hotter than under the tree down the first base line) baselines limes about once per season and no fence—just a steep bank at the edge of the outfield.  The most “outstanding” feature to me, however, is the series of DEEP gullies (close to 2 m deep in places) near the first base line, with some extending across the line.  Pop fouls could be very hazardous to catchers and first basemen.  There is a hired umpire (calls everything from beyond the pitcher’s mound) and some kind of manager or player in charge for each team.  Most players have at least some fragments of uniforms, but most don’t match their team mates.  What perhaps draws the crowds, however, is that there is a bar (with carry-out) strategically placed about 50 m down the right field line.

A view to left field and a view to right field.  In the left field view you can see the visitor’s dugout and get a view of some of the smaller gullies in the foreground.  The view to right shows the indentation from the gulley about 3/4 of the way to first base.  You can also see some of the rocks on the field in the foreground.

A view of the home team “dugout” in the shade and it also shows some of the gullies better.  Below is a view of the stands with the bar in the background.

Auto hotels

Last, but not least, auto hotels are one of the stranger (to me, anyway) institutions that I’ve come across in Nicaragua.  Not to be confused with a “motel” in the states, which is what one would first think of with the term “auto hotel,” an auto hotel rents by the hour, is specifically designed for discrete trysts and  often has a rather suggestive name.  The use could include illicit affairs, but also could be impatient courting couples who may have a hard time finding privacy elsewhere.  The information I read indicates that for your money, you’ll get clean towels, clean sheets and a condom.  The “auto” in the name refers to the ability to hide your automobile behind curtains or doors so no one can identify who’s there (although there is usually a high wall around the entire complex, as well, so once you are inside, it’s very clandestine). 

I had not noticed any of these hotels for my orientation in May and for the first several weeks here, but after reading about them, I suddenly started to see them all over (many of which I passed by several times previously but didn’t notice).  They seem to be typically located on the outskirts of larger towns/cities, but can also be found in the city or the countryside.

It is apparently a “given” in Nicaraguan culture that men will cheat and it’s tolerated as long as it’s done discretely.  Women do not have the same perquisite, but one has to wonder where all the partners come from if virtually all the men are indulging? 

The first auto hotel that I saw up close was walking along the highway in Estelí to La Casita restaurant.  There was a gravel road that cut-off some distance from the highway, so I was following that and realized that the business was one of the auto hotels.  Pulling out my camera to record this, I saw that there was a couple getting out of a cab at that very time, so I quickly hid the camera and backed off to where I wouldn’t be recording anyone inside. 

On the left is a sign for one of the auto hotels, aptly named the “Passion,” along the Pan-Am highway in Estelí.  The right shows the hotel that I walked right past on the way to the restaurant.  You can see the large sliding doors behind which cars can hide.  From what I’ve seen, there appears to be tendency towards pink, lavender and other pastels in the color schemes.