Cuarta visita: From the brick pile to the sand pile

Márlon is his name. I heart him.

Cuarta visita: Bathe the kids on the work site?

That's how we do it in Nicaragua.

Cristian Fernando

Cuarta visita: Fotos from the first few days

A new baby of a family who received a 4W house in 2012

My good friends Elesier and Marlon on the right, with Tomas, on the left. They are all volunteer workers on Doña Leonora's house

Vivian and Pepe walking home from work

Cristiana, Kela, and Kela's brother, playing outside the house where I live

Cuarta visita: Doña Sebastiana

Today I got information about the family I will be working with next week.

Doña Sebastiana is an elderly woman who lives in a house made of plastic. Also in the house lives Doña Sesbastiana's daughter, Miriam, and grandson, Fernando. During the rainy season they had to find another family to live with because their house flooded badly. Water rushed in from the street and also seeped up from the ground. Currently they have bricks laid inside the house to create a sort of walking space and protection from the wet ground. Miriam works in whatever she can find, often washing and ironing clothes for other people, to support the family.  

Fernando

Three members of the 4 Walls comité interviewing Miriam and Sebastiana.

Tercera visita: Me and my chiminea

This is Alfonso who's on a campaign to get smoke out of people's houses. I'm helping him. A lot of poor families still cook without chimneys.

Tercera visita: Aura Guadalupe and her big sister, Carolina

In front of the Santuario del Señor de Esquipulas, the famous church in El Sauce.

Tercera visita: sudar

sudar

verb

Ella sudó como una chanchita. (She sweat like a dirty little pig.)

to sweat, perspire, swelter, be damp

Tercera visita: How to sharpen your pencil

machete: tool of many uses

Tercera visita: What to do if you want chicken for dinner

Tercera visita: My team

From the top left: Pepe, Reina, Ricardito, Elyeser, Richard, Andy, Frances, and Colleen

Tercera visita: Still cannot figure it out

I puzzle over this every time I visit. How do they get their clothes so clean?

Tercera visita: Carritos

A present from the dollar store

Tercera visita: Lunchtime

Tercera visita: Sweet Juan

I wondered what he was up to today when I heard him bargaining in the street. He came in with this and told me it would be good for me in the heat.

Tercera visita: We are quite ready

And we are also quite red.

4:50 AM. Andy and I board our shuttle from the Red Roof Inn to the Baltimore Airport.

2d visit: What is this tool?

¿El mico o la escoba?

2d visit: A Rubén

"... and in the sea of his psaltery he mocked the cemetery with a verse on each cross."

__________________________________

2d visit: I can't stop going back

“Es un lujo,” said Pepe.

I didn’t know the translation, so asked him to elaborate so I could get the context. He tried several times. It was frustrating not to figure it out. I made a mental note to look up lujo when I got back to my host home. I had a Spanish dictionary there.

Of course I had a Spanish dictionary there. I had other things there too: a fancy headlamp, water-resistant sunscreen, well-designed underwear that dried quickly, chewable imodium.  I had everything I needed to be an intrepid traveler in Central America. Lugarteniente, lugarejo, luir -- I skimmed down the column and found it. Opulence, the English word for lujo.

My conversation with Pepe made me think about the opulence that swaddles my life. It made me also consider the things we trade for opulence: things like resourcefulness, spontaneity, and generosity.

I have come to love the simple way that people live in El Sauce. Because they live without opulence, they solve problems without spending money. They know how to fix things, not just replace them. They have parties that are more about dancing and laughter than about wine-pairings and color schemes.

The people of El Sauce remind me of a lifestyle that existed a long time ago in the U.S., a lifestyle that was not about stuff -- about lujo. The people of El Sauce are the reason I can’t stop going back. I admire their values. They give me hope for humanity. There is so much to learn from them.

2d visit: At the airport in Managua

Going home

Without my burden

Going home

Behind the curtain

Going home

Without the costume

That I wore.

(More here.)

2d visit: Johana's house is finished!

Here is Johana and some of her family. The photo was taken last October when the committee in El Sauce chose them for a house.

New house in front of the old house.

Pepe adding the 4 Walls logo at the front door.

Dinner served inside the new house. We had flowers on our table.

2d visit: "Por favor. Una foto con la virgen?"

This is Daniela. She is six. Yesterday she was baptized at the church in El Sauce, the Shrine of the Miracles of El Cristo Negro de Esquipulas.

2d visit: It’s been hard to blog on this trip

Last year I found the little town of El Sauce and fell in love with it. I wrote about what that was like -- the Spanish language, the amazing food, the friendly people who were never angry, the fun of working on a 4 Walls house. When I planned this trip I worried that it couldn’t be as satisfying as last year's. I was right.

Yes, I’ve done what I loved last year. I’ve blushed when people told me my Spanish was good. I’ve gorged on my favorite foods with my favorite people. I’ve hauled bricks, blown my nose on my collar, and stunk of sweat. But, no. These six weeks in El Sauce have been hard. Unsatisfying. 

The staggering disparity of wealth between me and them makes me sick. I don't know what to do with it, except cry a little and try to figure out my next step.

The little girl who needs notebooks has a mom who needs an asthma inhaler. A baby has diarrhea and not enough diapers. A visa application to the U.S. costs $160 and everyone wants one. Friends who planned to go to the beach bow out because they can’t contribute for gas. A guy works in his bare feet. There are pens with no ink and classrooms with no blackboards. There is a new bank with an ATM, but only gringos use it.

Many people know me now and call me by name. Es feo to write about them from my shiny MacBook.

2d visit: On this Monday, February 18, 2013

• I awoke to roosters and tropical birdsong.
• I answered questions from people who need houses.
• I read a book in Spanish.
• I ate watermelon, papaya, banana, and avocado.
• I planned a trip to Matagalpa.
• I drank exquisite ice water carried reverently to me by this woman, Doña Maria.