Nicaragua: Boaco, Managua

14 julio Boaco, Managua (Solidarity Conference), Boaco

4am came quickly. I had some difficulty getting out the door because it closes and locks from the inner receptionist area. The bus to Managua at 4:30 takes mostly students. I’m amazed at the hours and expense that studying 2 hours away from home must entail. Got to Managua and got a taxi ride from a 72 year old man who told me all about his diabetes on the way, including specific figures of his pharmaceutical bills and inability to pay for injections. While walking into the conference, met with the New York film-making crew that was documenting the conference.
I assumed I wouldn’t know anyone at the conference, but almost immediately I met up with the group from the Baltimore/Esteli Sister City Association who had stayed at the Quaker House with us. We had an interesting discussion about micro credit, as it turns out someone from the group was going to present a lecture on the subject. Then I saw Lizzie Fussell! She’s working in Chinandega to bring health services to women on banana plantations. Apparently there is comparatively more promiscuity in the plantation communities which leads to higher incidence of STDs. Since the medical services are provided by plantation owners who only have a view to increasing productivity, STDs tend to go unchecked and proliferate as does ovarian cancer caused by the highly toxic pesticides. Fascinating and horrifying to learn about chemical treatments that not only contaminate wells and lend to skin burns but also chemicals that dry out harvested areas and, as a minor side effect, the drinking wells.
Lizzie, Narcissa and Frasier let us cop some territory at their booth, and my 50+ annual reports went like wildfire. Talked to a number of folks, including ones who were interested in becoming involved in projects in Boaco, someone interested in University partnerships, and possible event partner.
The keynote speaker for the conference was a former mayor of Bluefields. His basic premise was that we need to raise our own consciousness about the living disparity between Nicaragua and the United States. One of his representative statements went a little something like this: “Think about what your breakfast cost when you were in the States last week, and then, when you leave today, look at a child on the street and ask when the last time was that he had breakfast.” A woman sitting next to me got up quickly and said that she just wanted to thank everyone for being here to foster solidarity. When she came back from the microphone, she expressed that she didn’t agree with his statements, that the people who came to this conference were not the ones whose consciousness needed changing. Everyone seemed to have a different opinion of his speech (my $.02: I think his speech did more to separate the participants into two separate groups than to invite solidarity and collaboration, though the truth of his words was undeniable). Afterwards came a panel of speakers; the one that seemed to get the whole group humming was a fellow from Bend, OR who talked for just a few eloquent minutes about the difference between charity and solidarity. I decided to accost him at lunch.
Met Hannah and Keith who already know about GE and were thinking about moving to Portland (thought my theif-proof methods of securing money on my person was pretty hilarious). They helped make the conference happen and would like to meet with us for volunteering, etc. when they get into town. We mentioned our shared, abiding love for the Distinguished Gentleman from Bend and attacked him together.
Tim has a weekly radio show and is involved with the Bend-Condega Sister City Association with his very funny wife named Daisy. Gave him our Annual Report and we talked about a possible event in Ben focusing on community development.
Caught up with Lizzie and kibitzed about funding thoughts for her project as well as a possible volunteering venture with AsoFenix for website and brochure creation and re-entry into Portland.
Bus back to Boaco. Either the drive train or the acceleration cable snapped out of kilter, rendering us stationary for about ½ hour. Luck was with us, however, and we made it back safe and sound. After trying to find the gang (who ate at a loud mariachi place), I had dinner with a fellow named Daniel who lives in a colonial house in town with his sister and father. A small parade with puppets on stilts went by as part of the ongoing festival. Daniel said that the town was expected to double in the next 10 years due to a highway project. Met up with the others thereafter and learned of their exploits which Anna will assuredly recount.

Nicaragua: Managua, San Jose

10 julio Managua, San Jose
The morning passed without much fuss. I had felt a little malaise had set in because we had stayed in one place for more than one day. Strange feeling! Anna read the paper and found a story about the declassification of CIA documents pertaining to the Castro assassination attempt.
Throughout our time in Nicaragua, there has been the abiding subplot of Union Fenosa. According to many, it has been a simmering issue for quite some time, but recently the problems have exploded with sporadic and unpredictable blackouts that have caused rioting in the streets. When we first came, there was a TV story about a riot in a barrio in Managua, cutting off both light and water (pumped by electricity) for indefinite periods. Just in the past few days, damning front line stories about the damaging effects of blackouts on hospitals and barrios have pervaded daily papers. Much of the graffiti we’ve encountered has been in protest of Union Fenosa. Everyone whom we ask about Union Fenosa have had pointed views about the Spanish utility company.
Went past the panaderia we love so much. What a cool lady! I want to adopt her. Then came the search for an ATM for Anna and i. I’ve determined that Managua was conceived by a centaur as a labyrinth. When we returned to the hotel, H, B & R were in deep conversation with two fellows named Steve and Juan who are doing a documentary on insecticide use and its health effects in Chinandega. They explained that the tent city set up along the roundabout is populated by the families of people effected by insecticide use. Steve and Juan promised to email us the hydrological studies and maps of Chinandega so that we can forward it on to Amigos for Christ.
Jaime came by, and we all packed into the van driven by Luiz for the 2-hour drive to San Jose, where we stayed before. The weather was bad enough to put off the assembly until the next day, so we settled in for an introduction of the project and AsoFenix.
AsoFenix’ orientation
AsoFenix’s main role is to identify communities that have both need and capacity for renewable energy systems. The organization began when a group of engineering students at the University of Managua took a separate course on renewable energy, teaching how to assemble solar dryers, cookers, pumps, etc. The group of 5 students founded AsoFenix. Jaime met Michael Royce and started a dialog about how to get sustainable technologies to rural areas. Alexis and Ain work with battery recharging stations, solar pumps and biogas. In Somoto, some communities have up to 20 biodigestors because they are far from firewood supply. B & H had seen biodigestors in Costa Rica. In Candelaria, the biodigestors might use pig dung. Now, mostly women and children have to walk 1-2km to find firewood. In areas with biodigestors, men are more likely to cook because it’s easy to light and novel to use.
After dinner (served by Nonnie the proprietess), we went for a group walk. Jaime showed us the houses that had either been bought or seriously remodeled by people who had gone to America to work and had sent money back (or come back themselves to retire), which has inflated house prices in the area. San Jose, like many communities, has one Catholic church but numerous Evangelical churches, the difference between restrictions imposed by the Archdiocese and the promulgation of Evangelical churches by charismatic individuals.
H asked a number of edifying (for me!) questions about voltage and transmission. Nicaragua uses 120 volts for normal use and 240 for industrial uses. Malacatoya started as an 8kW system but got expanded to 13kW.

Other interesting tidbits:
While we were at the dinner table (documented by Jaime for his tourism files), the television had a story about Union Fenosa and blackouts.
Cellular phones are very expensive, costing US$15 for 40 minutes usually for monthly signal, this is why people often use a cyber for phone calls, including Jaime.
Most electrical lines now use aluminium rather than copper lines because copper lines are expensive and apt to be stolen. The downside is that aluminium lines have to be thicker.

Nicaragua: Managua, San Jose, Malacatoya, San Jose

7 de julio Managua, San Jose, Malacatoya, San Jose

Jaime picked us up in his white truck about 8am, and we headed out for San Jose and points beyond. San Jose is about a 1 ½ hour trek from Managua with roads that faded from traffic to rubble and dust and culminated with San Jose’s “Samoza” blocks that run about 4-5 blocks in any direction from the center of town. stopped at a house with a swanky, small wooden spiral staircase that turned out to belong to a fellow named Jorge, the one who directs the Mayor’s agenda. the discussion went a little something like this:

there is a Committee in the north and one in the south. the one in the north seems to have less motivation or vision for development than the other.
regarding Malacatoya, the installation will take place either on tuesday afternoon or wednesday morning.
the demand is the same in most of the communities, but the applications and uses are different: some communities need energy and water, others primarily water; some can benefit from micro-hydro, others will require solar. regarding hydro-electric, they discussed how water delivery and electricity can be offered in tandem. the water confluence is pretty large, but its source is not one large waterfall but many sources that flow into the same flow. the majority of communities do not have adequate water delivery service. most have wells of some sort, but they are by and large manually-pumped and not suitable for the quantity of people they serve. the manual wells have the additional issue of claves breaking, rendering the wells unusable. Communities already identified as needing water projects were identified by name. 25 of the communities in the area have already been identified as not having sufficient water. Union Fenosa apparently has a scheduled increase of 2% annually for its utility services, which makes the system even less tenable to rural communities. Currently, water is for consumption in most communities but not for anything else like irrigation. if there was more water available to those areas, it could completely change the economic capabilities and lifestyles of the zone. just a little irrigation will allow a lot of crop cultivation. corn is a difficult crop to grow because it is expensive to buy the seeds for the first plant. it’s also difficult to ensure the quality of the seeds, and farmers have to buy the seeds every year. the priority is to provide energy where there is none, but Jorge also mentioned that some communities that have energy could benefit from a backup system because the national grid is less than reliable. there will be more rationing in future (Managua alone requires 500 mW). on Malacatoya: it is near the grid, but there is no electricity available to speak of. the only alternative is an independent system. the assembly of the turbine and generator should take place on tuesday afternoon.
we got to Malacatoya by way of San Jose (a “settled” town). along the way, we encountered a number of folks that knew Jaime by sight. he is obviously well known and liked by the community (we started calling him "Antonion Banderas"). the jeep took us as far as it could which was to the base of an incline where mud (“lodo”) prevented further driving. up and down and some slips later, we got to the site of the micro-hydro plant. the building has been constructed, the penstock about to be fitted, and the turbine and generator are sitting on the plant floor. four guys are currently working on seating the penstock, which needed an additional four metres. George is coming on tuesday to install the turbine and generator. Jaime explained that the injector controls the flow into the turbine the canal around the plant keeps water from washing against the wall and potentially weakening (?).
Anna said that she and Suzanne Adatto had been out a few years earlier when there was no building. everyone seems VERY excited at this stage. one fellow named Orlando accompanied us back to his house where we talked about the project at greater length. there was a good deal of discussion about tariffs: whether it would be by household or by appliance (a suggestion Anna made). Jaime explained that tariffs would help keep consumption down to what and when people need it. who will enforce and set up payment? the Committee. will there be a paid operator and technician, or will everyone be volunteers? Orlando explained that a technician would not be paid and that tariffs would go to maintenance. the Committee will check the plant from time to time. Anna asked about pulpadoras; Orlando has one in his backyard which we went out to see after the discussion. throughout the conversation, the women kept on the outskirts of the room. Orlando’s wife came out at one point, and the younger women came in and snuggled behind her, peeping out at the others. another worker at the plant (Tony?) came in the doorway, and his wife stood behind him and rested her head on his back. after we had gone back to the truck, we mused how amazing it was that so much change in a project could happen in such a short time.
got back to San Jose and looked for a room of which Jaime knew. needed prep, so we went down the street to a comedor. Anna turned and asked, “isn’t it funny how, in Nicaragua, the first thing you ask when you go into a restaurant is, ‘is there any food’?” it’s pretty hilarious. at Snack Brisas near the Quaker House two days before, they didn’t have rice and beans, though later they confessed to having gallopinto (which is rice and beans mixed together). we got some Really Delicious eggs and rice and beans. then to the room, then Anna and Jaime worked on a proposal while i went to a cyber and typed up notes. good reggaeton, so i stayed for an extra hour. fireworks outside sounded like gunfire. the paved streets (with “Samoza” blocks, according to Anna) and clip-clop of the horse hooves which made for good transportation made it sounds for all the world like a traditional western show. San Jose’s streets are paved well, but in some ways it feels like a town on stilts because all the roads leading to/from it seem to lead down and quickly become rubble and dirt/mud roads. the pulperias sell horseshoes right next to the refrigerators holding juice and coca-cola (“gaseosa”).
when i got back from the cyber, Anna and Jaime were just finishing up their session on the proposal, beer was requisite at this point. lot of young children out at night we found. over Tona, we mused as to whether women have any organizations or Committees or gathering places in Malacatoya. also brainstormed other ways to get statistics regarding health in communities. plan to stop by clinics or hospitals in the area of San Jose to get information including diseases, ailments, reasons for doctor trips or any issues that could relate to water or nutrition as it might relate to distance of water carrying.