La Vida Nicaragüense

Well, I've done it!  The rest of the US team left yesterday afternoon and I've survived my first day among the Nicas (the short version of Nicaraguan). While the rest of the folks from the United States were here, we moved around in our own little bubble of English language and American culture. But now it's amazing how quickly I've been integrating into life in San Isidro.

It is incredible how nice the Nicaraguans are to me. They are so patient with my incomplete Spanish (How do you say "accounts receivable" in Spanish?). They try and help me get comfortable in whatever way they can.  Hospitality is important.  So much so that it is sometimes hard to know if I am polite enough or know how to read the meaning behind their humble and generous words.

A typical plate of food given as hospitality

I have been invited to eat my meals in the home of a family of Seventh Day Adventists, because we are both vegetarian, and the father of the house really wants to practice his English. I've been mostly able to avoid the proselytizing by telling them I was Jewish, though that definitely caused a little consternation and some questions. But these genuinely kind and hardworking people have invited me into their home twice a day to eat at their table and talk a mixture of broken Spanish and English.

Similarly, I have seen the inside of so many homes, as people have invited us over for meals or to see the installation of an EOS technology.  They are always ready with a cup of coffee or a plate of rice and beans, whether they have a floor made of tile or hard-packed dirt.

Alvaro's Ranchero band

And while I don't get to speak just plain old English with anyone, nearly everyone wants to practice what English they know and wants to visit the United States.  So just as people patiently decode my Spanish, I try to do the same with their English, gently correcting their grammar and pronunciation.

I'm staying in the EOS office, which was a home before anyway.  People start to arrive early in the morning and tonight Alvaro was practicing with his Ranchero band (like Mariachi) until late. It's both a hub of activity, and a sweet comfortable spot.

A woman who recently had solar installed in her home ran after me to let me taste piñuelas after I expressed a curiosity in this sour but delicious little fruit

Today I got my phone set up and bought some tropical fruit. Tomorrow I'll borrow a bike for the rest of my stay and check out the birds of the area.  By Monday I hope to have a blender to make myself daily "licuados"(smoothies) from all these delicious and sometimes strange fruit. Today Ubania told me about a drink made from beets and lemons in a blender.  I can't wait to try it!