I left the office early on Friday afternoon to head over to one of our schools by the dump to do training with the cooks there. I brought one of the really talented and charismatic cooks from the other Managua neighborhood, Catia, and the two of us worked with another Fabretto volunteer, Jason, and the two cooks from la Chureca, Karla and Ide. Jason and I have worked together closely on the menu and he is on board with it, at least in theory. However, we both understand that there are many challenges that stand in the way of actual implementation, including lack of water, insufficient funding, too little help in the kitchen, space constraints, and so on. Still, we want to start making slow progress toward an eventual improvement and, as such, decided to begin using a modified version of the new menu in the schools for next week.
This plan was, unfortunately, met with a bit of resistance from the cook in Acahualinca. It’s understandable that she would feel overwhelmed – she is currently cooking for almost 800 kids a day, and there are days when she has virtually no help to do it. Adding another layer of challenge on top of the existing day-to-day difficulties would make me argumentative as well. Still, our intentions were good and we tried to communicate that we understand it will be a process that goes “poco a poco” or little by little. Also, some of the complaints that were expressed about how the kids will not eat certain kinds of food (especially the donated foods) are the same kind of complaints I’ve heard from other cooks in the past. However, it was good to have Catia there because she was able to vouch for the fact that, when prepared properly, the kids at her school eat just about everything she serves. After she whipped up some of her delicious creations, and after more encouragement from all of us, I think we got the cooks on board, more or less. There are still big challenges to address at those schools, but getting everyone on the same page and improving morale is probably a big step in the right direction.
Friday evening Kelly and Joe cooked up some deliciosa chili, which hit the spot even for someone who generally prefers her chili on 12 degree rather than 90 degree days. Then we had some adult beverages and did craft projects, two activities that are as much at odds with each other from a fine motor skills standpoint as it sounds. I made a pair of earrings to give a friend of mine at work for her birthday, and they turned out pretty well.
Saturday Kelly and I went to Masaya to do a handful of errands and to check out the big craft market they have there – the same one we visited last weekend but at a more leisurely pace this time around. There was a lot of really nice stuff for sale, so I was able to get most of my remaining souvenirs to bring home. I’m going to have one heavy suitcase to bring back with all the pottery, jewelry, baskets and rum.
After the market, we had lunch in the central park and managed to finally, after much hunting, find a copy of Slumdog Millionaire. Then we went to the other market in the town to buy our fruits and vegetables. I have to say it was one of the more miserable experiences I’ve had at a market here. All the fruit and vegetable vendors seemed to be located right across from the raw meat vendors, and in 95 degree heat, I can tell you that that is not a good place to be.
Since Kelly and I both failed on one of our missions for the day – replacing our missing watches – we ended up getting back to Managua later than planned. We had to quick shower and get ready, and then we were off again. We headed to one of the really upscale parts of Managua for a fundraising event for NicaHope, the outreach project of Fabretto that does all the work in the dump. It was at a really chill outdoor bar/restaurant that had great tiki and candle lighting. They had a band playing from the Andes – complete with a guitar, drum, and several different kinds of flutes – and they were selling all the jewelry they make. There was a decent number of other volunteers there, including our friends Rosario and Jason and two girls that were visiting from NYU who help sell the NicaHope jewelry. We all had a good time and went out after to yet another fancy part of town. All in all, it was a fun night, but a bit surreal seeing the really upscale, Americanized parts of the city that contrast so starkly with the rest of the country.
On Sunday I had intended to go with a big group from Joe’s school to help clean up a lake nearby. However, I just couldn’t quite stir when my 7am alarm went off, so I opted to sleep instead. I was then awoken at about 9 by what sounded like a herd of high schoolers in our living room. What a surprise – it WAS a herd of high schoolers in our living room, the very same ones that were just leaving to clean up the lake at 9 because the bus arrived 1.5 hours late. Typical.
Instead of cleaning up a lake, I decided to instead attempt to clean up my clothes. It would be my first time doing wash here, which I promise is not as unhygienic as it sounds. My clothes have been cleaned several times before, but only because I paid one of the neighbors to do it. It took me until now to work up the nerve to do it myself using the following state of the art equipment:
I have to admit it was not anywhere near as bad as I’d anticipated. I guess that by way of closing the washing machine at home and pushing a button, I had it in my head that a lot of magical stuff was going on inside there that would be quite difficult to replicate without the machine. It turns out, though, that washing clothes is really just a matter of swishing them around in some detergent, scrubbing and rinsing (who would have thought), so it was actually pretty easy. Also, since I promised myself I would do wash this way at least once during my time here in Managua, I’m happy that is off my list. Now I just need to cook one full dinner without assistance (which is on the calendar for tonight!), and I’ll feel pretty domestically complete.
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