I had come to Managua to give a charla with my counterpart and we traveled through torrents of rain and witnessed flooding on both sides of the highway. Farmland looked like swamps and the microbus had to slow down and wade through flooded sections of road. Upon our arrival I was informed that the department of Chinandega was in a state of emergency and all of the volunteers were being “consolidated” to the department capital of Chinandega City… unless they were in Managua whereupon they would stay there for the duration of the consolidation period.

So now here I am… still in managua with the few clothes that I had packed for a supposedly short trip turned terribly long. I believe that we will be able to get back to the department capital soon and stay there but the Northern Alliance Cats wont be able to get back to our sites until they reopen the highway which is officially closed as is the border crossing.

Here is the link for those who can make do with spanish. Im talking about you Mrs. Hook’s class.
Read on.
Flooding in Chinandega

I am less sorry about not updating photos, there is some money involved with pushing those kinds of bits and I am very cheap nowadays.

Lastly I am somewhat sorry for the state of my english presented to you here today. As my Mother or Sean can attest to you, it aint what it used to be. These paragraphs may read well, but it will have taken waaaay longer than it should have to write. The direct consequence of “complete immersion” is that while my spanish has improved, my english has raced downhill to meet it. I´m not worried, Im just trying to be cheeky so stop biting your fingernails Mom.

So here is the update that everyone has been waiting for.

I have a house.

After the stressful building process. After the unfortunate timing with the installation of the doors and my visitors having to sleep in my cramped room. After two volunteers coming to visit to help me move all of my stuff….

I have a house.

It´s a great feeling to finally be living solo. People have actually changed their behavior to me since I am not depending on a family. Ive cooked all of my meals so far (excluding my corn flakes ok?) and some of those have been some traditional Nicaraguan dishes (to the delight of palettes everywhere, you listening family?… you´re getting tongue again.)

Naturally, all of my shit is everywhere and being the rainy season everyone has tracked dirt in onto the floor. But in time all shall be clean and all shall be put into its own place!

Of course, we can´t have all of this euphoria without a catch. I have no power yet. I couldnt affort the line and I`m waiting `til this weekend to go to Chinandega to save some money as well as go to a meeting. It`s not too bad going around with candles, though. I just cant organize as easily so its taking longer than usual. For those who aren´t in the know, Nicaragua is rationing power. The demand is greater than the output for some crazy ass reason so power is intermittent anyways. La Pavana gets it from about 3PM to about 7AM. Good thing I have a gas stove.

As of this writing the new group of Environment Volunteers from Nica-45 should be meeting each other in D.C. going through the same steps of awkward anticipation that we felt almost exactly a year ago. If any of you are ready this, I`ll see you soon.

This should wrap up the English portion of this entry. I`ll be including passages in Spanish for Mrs. Hook`s class.

¡Muy buenas tardes clase! Espero que tuvieron una buena vacación. Como siempre estoy en Nicaragua aprendiendo español y cultura. Yo vine aquì hace un año y tengo quince meses mas. Disfruto mi servicio aquí, pero hay dificultades. Enfermedades son muy común y la integración con la cultura puede ser difícil. Me siento bien cuando estoy dando clase y los alumnos entienden la tema.

¿Ustedes tienen interesa a vivir en otra pais? ¿Donde vivirán?
Señora Hook era mi profesora y me llamaba Manolo. ¿Què es su nombre en español?

Eric made the event extra awesome by meeting me in Miami and traveling with me up to Virginia. We checked out some vineyards with pops around the Charlottesville area.

We were able to make a trip down to Lexington to see the other side of the family. I am so lucky to have been able to see 99% of my family in about a week`s time!

Lastly, a big thank you to my friends who were able to make it down to see me and also another big thank you to my sister and parents who busted their asses carting me around like I was in middle school again.

Until something interesting happens here…. Adios.

My spanish has also been improving, things are coming to me without as much work and I am starting to understand what they hell they are saying in the Reggetón Jams. Once I get studying on my grammar I expect even more gains. Perhaps I will understand what the chavalos and ancianos are saying to me. Ojala.

Lastly and most importantly, I would like to thank everyone who thought about me on my birthday. I will do my best to send thank yous but I am pretty bad about getting them out. Usually I sit down to write them and I am distracted but some ungodly insect or a chavalo so forgive me. I am looking forward to my visit back home for the wedding! We will have fun, oh yes.

They´re arriving on the 10th for a whirlwind tour around Nicaragua. I am so ready to see them and I believe that they feel the same way. Here´s hoping that this week goes by fast, and next week goes by slow! ¡Saludos a mi familia!

Also, today I taught a 3rd grade class the American ABCs to practice standing in front of class. I feel that it went well.  Here´s to practice!

I have a vivero (read:reforestation) project in its planning stages.  This shall be a working triumvarate between the primary school, the mayor´s office, and the military.  All have pledged their support thus far and the initial figures for the tree count is around a thousand.  I expect the number to dwindle as we nail down some more of the specifics, but no matter what this should be a large project!  Our main goals are shade (including the river which has the problem of drying up because it evaporates) and direct consumption like fruit, medicial, and firewood.

Vermiculture…  Thanks to PCV Greg Fraser I have been able to bring worms into my site and they are not dead as of this writing.

School….  Classes are back in session and I am observing them to get an idea of what I´m diving into.  Thats all for now but I will try to think of more cool stuff to write later.

Oh yeah, the bricks for my room just got dropped off by the cattle cart today so I will be in there sometime before my service is over in two years.  But if I´m in there soon I will get those  world wise school letters back out!

If you haven´t been checking (shame on you) there are newish pictures on my flickr account for your enjoyment!  Just to save you and me the time, I am indeed kissing a very dead, fried fish in one of the photos (try and contain your jealousy). Once I get my hands on a stove and gas tank here i will let you all know how many variations one can make with the options of tortilla, beans, and rice.

Thank you all for your support and comments, you truly make my backwater campo experience seem like a little bit of America…. and Belgium. Adios.

Happy New Years!

The second project is small gardens which I will try to put into the school and (possible) the military garrison up the road.  Hopefully by growing vegetables some variation can be introduced into a diet of just rice, beans, and cuajada.  God knows my diet could use some sweet, green, delicious, variation.

With that short introduction, I want everyone to start thinking about gardens.  I know, I know.   You want to say “Hey asshole, you realize its snowing here?  I can even see the ground under the slush and black ice!” So I apologize in advance, but if you think of any good plants to put it a garden with unrelenting sun and absurd levels of heat, and the possibility of heavy drought, you just go ahead and let me know.  I am SO open to suggestions.  I am in the initial planning stages for the garden which is cool because I can´t actually plant until I have the compost worked into the soil from the worms which havent been installed yet.

I hope that all those who have been complaining about short posts are  happy.  I know there isnt alot of personal information, but thats just how I roll, son.  I am always open to email and regular mail so if you have the time just send something my way.  And please, please, please send me your thoughts on these projects or if you have any other project ideas!  Peace to all and if I dont post before, Have a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays (up yours Bill O´Reilly)!

Lucian Reynolds

Cuerpo de Paz

Las Pavanas, Somotillo

Chinandega, Nicaragua

Central America

 Also, I have new pics up.  Check ‘em out.

www.flickr.com/photos/lucianreynolds/