Thursday, January 15, 2009

Survived Week 1!

Well, I’ve officially crossed the one week threshold her in Nicaragua! It’s a milestone that, while not terribly long, is still an important one in my opinion. In fact, it’s amazing how much you can learn about and adjust to a new place in just a week. There are still surprises daily – for example, yesterday my desk spontaneously became infested with some sort of flying beetle and I had to evacuate – but in general, I’m falling into a routine pretty quickly. It also seems like such a long time since I was last battling the subzero temperatures of the Midwest. Friends in MKE, CHI, MSP, etc. – stay warm, and don’t worry about me. It’s at least 80 degrees here!

Given that I am now in the daily grind, I don’t have too much to report. However, I am really excited about this weekend because I will be making my first trip out of Managua. I am getting a tour of some of our schools in the north, which means I’ll get to see the mountains. I’ve heard it’s absolutely beautiful up there, so I will be taking lots of pictures.

We’ll be going to Cusmapa, our northernmost school on the Honduran border. I think that will be eye opening because it is the region with the most extreme poverty of all those Fabretto serves. One highlight there, besides the scenery, is that some of the women in this region make beautiful baskets out of pine needles as part of a Fabretto program (http://www.fabretto.org/baskets.htm). There are some here in our office and I love them, so I’m hoping to get some souvenirs.

From Cusmapa we’ll travel south to Estelí, a cowboy town known for, among other things, fabulous cigars. There is also another Fabretto farm near Estelí which we’ll be seeing. Should be a whirlwind tour, but a good one. I’ll write much more when I get back next Wednesday!

While I’m basically tapped for posts for the week (barring anything crazy tomorrow), I’ve had many requests for a picture of the horse and the bathroom (seriously, people?), so I’ll see what I can do. Stay tuned...

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