Rainy Season and Gallo Pinto

Ironically, in the rainy season it rains for days on end (which I can testify to as the last two nights in a row I have been literally soaked to the bone in downpours) and yet there is no water. What do I mean? Well the pump that feeds the municipal water supply in my training town broke last week, and since then they have been rationing water (meaning it only runs for two hours a day and that is if it runs at all) I am accumulating a large pile of dirty clothes and only bathing sporadically. I am sure I smell like roses and sunshine ha ha. Of course, due to the large amount of rain we are having, it is making it even harder to get things repaired. Go figure.

In the meantime, I am enjoying another plate of Gallo Pinto (which for the Nicaraguan Novice is rice and beans – in my house heavier on the rice than beans) and a cup of black instant coffee. For those of you who didn’t know, Nicaragua is one of the greatest coffee producers in the world, and Matagalpa where I will live for the next two years and has some of the best coffee in all of Nicaragua. However, although they are big coffee producers, they tend to drink instant coffee, which I have been told is actually Nicaraguan coffee that was exported to Costa Rica, processed, and then imported back into Nicaragua for the local market. Maybe one of the businesses I can advise will start a coffee processing plant to take the middle man out and put most of the profits back into the transaction.
I officially have 16 days left until swearing in and still quite a bit of work to do.

The past two months have seemed very short at times and painfully long at other points. But I can honestly say, that even with the amount of international experience I have had, I have learned a lot during training, both personally and professionally. Nicaragua is a completely different country that any other I have experienced before and the challenges I have faced and continue to face will be perhaps the most rewarding part of my experience. It is a country of great problems and of strong people that fight daily to survive and better their lives so that their children can have a better future. It reminds me of the US not too many generations ago. I am excited to keep learning about this amazing country but also to keep learning about myself in face of the challenges as they arise. Hope all are well. I am trying to take it one day at a time and to always remember to make
good choices. Hope you all do to!