Often, I read blogs of fellow SALTers. Two themes that seem to be recurring are the heat and transportation.
Complaining about heat gets old after about five seconds, so here is my list of interesting things that have happened to me on the bus.
First, as I think I have mentioned previously, city buses (and most inter-city buses) in Nicaragua are old souped up school buses. They are not normally anything special. But, the other day, I went to the mall after work to try and find jeans (sometimes, shopping in a market is kind of, oh, stressful, if cheap). This put me straight into rush hour. Bad move. Anyway, as I was leaving, a lady was basically sitting on me as I was trying to get up.
Another time, I was meeting someone at a big bus stop, about 20 minutes from my house, and about 5 minutes away from said location, my bus broke down. Or so I thought. It turns out it was actually in an accident. Or so someone told me. But, the driver calmly gave everyone back their money and I just waited for another bus.
My last story is about Guatemala and the pig bus. This ride already figured prominently, I believe, in my post about my trip, but that is OK. I was so ridiculous I have to mention it again. Firstly, in Guatemalan school buses, people sit three to a seat and then have people standing. And then the man who helps the driver (ayudante) weaves among these people giving change. As the people get on and off he always knows who owes him money. This is a skill. But I digress. The pig bus. So we were on a microbus that wasn't that full. It did, however, have many things on top of it. One of them was a crate of pigs. We went on a very turney journey and every time we turned they squealed.
My favorite new method of transportation, is, of course, hitchiking. Ha. Ha.

Oh wait. I’m already in Central America!
Bare minimum description
1. Much time on the bus
2. Many sites seen
3. Memory card ceases to function and am very annoyed.
4. My brother really enjoyed the transportation and pupusas.
5. All Central American capitals that I have seen are quite similar. Most, fairly ugly. (Competition between Managua and Tegucigalpa) and varying degrees of danger.

More elaborate (read at your own risk)
My brother Philip arrived in Nicaragua on the evening of March 1st. The next days were spent planning our epic tour (actually, he was doing most of the planning, I was just sitting, awed at how much you can accomplish in one day if you’re North American) and calling some hotels. Then we began a tour of Nicaragua. Since he was already here at Christmas he saw all that Managua has to offer (not much) and we went to other places. We saw the oldest city in the American continent, Granada, and took a tour of the islands there. The next afternoon, we went to Chinandega. Chinandega as a province has the dubious honour of being the place where there are the most teen pregnancies in Nicaragua. But, other than that, it is actually quite a nice place. Philip played soccer with Nicaraguans, they tried to recruit him, and we went to the beach. We also stayed in a hotel that didn’t have sheets (well, to cover the mattress, yes, but only blankets to cover us. It’s Nicaragua. No one needs blankets!) or a door to the bathroom (but a curtain for the shower).
Then we were off to Guatemala. The land of customer service. (This is something Nicaragua will probably never be known for). The first day we were there we stayed in a somewhat not so nice hotel but the people were very friendly and helpful. Then, we went to Antigua in a school bus. In Antigua, we found a nice hotel, and then just wandered around. We saw some ruins and on the Sunday we saw a parade! Every Sunday in lent they have one, and then in Holy Week I think they have one every day. It was kind of crazy! They make these carpets out of coloured sawdust and flowers that are quite stunning. In Guatemala, we also went to Semuc Champey, a beautiful series of limestone pools and a waterfall. The trip there was hilarious. First, we take a Greyhound style bus to Cobán. Then, we stay in a hotel, which I had called two days earlier, but apparently had no reservation. (The lady was a bit “off”). Then, we tried to find something to eat. There were no normal comedores so we ate at pollo campero. And a lot of baked goods, but much to my brother’s sadness, no pupusas. By the time we saw them we were already full. Then we woke up early and expected a bus to come and pick us up at our hotel (we had arranged it the night before). Now, in Nicaragua I never expect things to happen early, but apparently this bus filled up and didn’t have room for us. Then why did you tell us it could pick us up? Did you even call the guy? Ah yes, communicating in a way such as to avoid embarrassment is always fun.
When we got there, they showed us into this very large room (for about 5 people) and then when we were about to pay it was very expensive (for Central America) and I said, lady, we want a room for two people, not for five, and she said, but it is for two people, just with their kids. And I was like lady, that’s not two people any more. Anyway, we got a room for two people. The next morning we left at 5 am and once again were in a very very full microbus. It even had people on the roof. Oh my.
Then we stayed at the nicest hostel imaginable in Guatemala City. I would recommend it to anyone. It was about twice the price of every other place but it was well worth it. While we were there, since we were in a schwanky zone of the city, we only saw American eateries, and so we ate at Little Caesar’s. It was two for one pizza! What a lovely surprise.
Honduras.
The next day we left for Copán Ruinas, Honduras. On the way our bus broke down. But, we did get the sweetest bumping up on our next bus ride with the company. (Who knew you could sleep on a bus). The ruins were cool. We got to climb on them. Our hotel was nice. Then we went to Roatán. You should google this place. It is a very beautiful beach. We stayed in a nice hotel and saw one of the nicest beaches I have ever seen. I think perhaps Cuba had nicer ones but I am not sure. My memory fails me. Then we came back to Managua. We ran some errands and then on Holy Wednesday at 4 am Phil left the MCC office and I went to the beach (well, about 6 or 7 hours later).

Lesson 1. Cell phones are annoying
In a future blog post I will tell you, my faithful readers, about my wonderful trip through Central America with my brother, but for now, let me tell you about my Holy Week. Once again, thank the Catholics for their love of the whole week off, which allowed me to go to the beach. A few weeks prior I had almost invited myself to go with a friend and his family to Jiquilillo (pronounced Hek-ee-lee-o) and told him that I would call on Wednesday. I meant two weeks from then, but he thought it was the next week. Needless to say, he tried to call my cell phone but being out of the country and then left behind by me and I assume subsequently stolen by someone else it was a bit of a challenge. Anyway, when I got home, the trip planning began. Actually, that is not true. I called him, left a message, but he was out of cell phone service. Cell phones are not actually as useful as they seem! Are they even useful at all?

Lesson 2. Plan ahead but don’t stress too much
At any rate, on Wednesday morning, some six hours after my brother left to go home, I was on yet another bus. (We spent many hours on a bus during our trip. One even had pigs on the top of it.) I went to see said friend and other acquaintances in Chinandega and one friend’s mom fed me a lovely lunch. My friends Wilber and Jorge told me they had a place I could stay at the beach. But how was I going to get there? Good question! Wilber thought we should hitchhike. I wasn’t so enthused, but this is apparently a normal Nicaraguan activity, especially in small towns where people know each other. However, after some minutes of waiting and all the cars passing us being quite full, I began to get impatient so we took a taxi with some acquaintances (well, not mine). Then, when we finally arrive at the beach, the hoped for accommodations are not available, so we go to these people’s house there I place my hammock. (Actually not my hammock.) Hammock? Did you say I have to sleep in a hammock? Oh no.

Lesson 3. Relax. Enjoy. You’re 20 feet away from the beach.
Despite some awkward moments it was really a lovely couple of days.

Lesson 4. Hitchhiking Nicaraguan style
Several times during this trip I hitchhiked. Sounds scary, I know. The first time I hitch-hiked I was actually en route to an MCC retreat! Our bus broke down and so since we (me, fellow SALTers and other MCCers) were close to our destination (we thought!) we began walking. And then, thankfully, a pickup truck gave us a ride. (If you know Spanish, in Nicaragua to hitchhike is pedir raid—ride with Spanish pronunciation). He also gave us candy, actually. So, with that first experience under my belt I was ready for this weekend. The best way to hitchhike is by knowing people or apparently looking helpless. One time this weekend I was trying to get from one part of the beach to where I was staying (about a 3 km walk) I asked a police officer which direction it was in. Since she saw I was by myself, she told me it was dangerous and she would get me a ride (it was about 11 am). So she did. Another time, I was trying to go somewhere in the evening (I was not by myself) and Wilber helped this truck back out of a tight spot and so we got a ride to where we wanted to go, even though the truck was not exactly going there. The last time I hitchhiked was when I was leaving. I woke up, ate breakfast (this was already Saturday) and bade my farewells to my hosts. Doña Mirta insisted that she wait with me for the bus. As it turned out, she knew some people who were going the way I was going so they gave me a ride. In a Soviet (or possibly East German?) Jeep. They also fed me the food that gave me my first experience with Nicaraguan health care, but that’s another story!

Lately I have been doing a lot of thinking. I think that many people who go overseas find themselves pondering their role in the world, the way the world works, and why their new home is the way it is.
This month at the Center is Gender Equality month. Just over a week ago a woman in the neighbourhood was brutally murdered by her husband. Said man is now in psychiatric treatment. About 50 women are killed by their husbands or partners every year in Nicaragua. Clearly there is a need for gender equality.
At home I thought that feminism was something that was only for really out-there way-too-liberal-for-me people, who wanted to be better than men. Here in Nicaragua I see it as a necessity, and have come to understand that feminism is just the desire for equality between men and women. (I always knew that, but I just didn't see the point. Isn't it obvious that all people are equal?)
The root cause of violence, apparently (I have been doing some research on it) is a power imbalance. Acts of violence are based on the desire to have power over another person, or occur because a person has power over another. There are some obvious times when one person should have some level of power over another, but I am talking about too much power. The nature of Nicaraguan culture is such that men naturally have power over women and both men and women have power over children.
Here at the Center we talk about how we can stop the violence that happens in every single house and on every street, to greater or lesser extents. Managua doesn't have real gang problems, when compared to other places, but violence is not owned exclusively by organized crime. I hear women in their 40s and 50s, who work at the Center, talk about how revolutionary one of the Center's founders was, just by telling women they were worth something. Not because of anything they did, how many children they have, that they are married or not, just because they are people. This is a message that unfortunately is not disseminated to every person in Nicaragua (or the world for that matter).
The Center has done a lot of work with women about self-esteem and domestic violence but yesterday we talked about how we can work with youth and with men about violence. (48% of Nicaragua is under the age of 18, and about 70% is under the age of 30) This is an important group to work with and men are often not part of social change movements, but often part of political parties.
There are many things to think about.