The End

The week that I just spent in Sabana Grande showed me the three following things:

One: Being placed in Managua was the worst thing that could have happened to me on this trip, and is directly responsible for ruining the trip's incredible potential. Don't get me wrong, I don't regret coming here or anything, I just feel as if I've wasted an incredible amount of time.

Two: If I had been placed in Sabana Grande, I would be content to never leave. The village is wonderful, the landscape is breathtaking, the weather is pleasant, and the people are amazing (you can also breathe the air without feeling like you're sucking on a tailpipe).

Three: I have to come back to Nicaragua.

Just as a comparison and summation, I'd like to list the things that I've done in each respective place.

Managua:

-1 week of cutting rebar with a hacksaw

-7 weeks of sweating profusely, sitting at my computer doing nothing.

-2-3 days of work designing an air conditioning system for a building, only to find out that they didn't have the funding to do it anyway, and that the air conditioner company would have done the analysis (more accurately) for them.

-Played frizbee with Kevin, Kevin, Elias, Denis, and Jason

-had 250 dollars worth of my stuff stolen

-lived with Dona Claudia, her daughter Karelia, her mother Dona Carmen, and all the other students. This was the best part about Managua, and I really enjoyed my time in the house. It was fun to talk to some of the students, especially Edwin and Karelia, and Dona Claudia's incredible gift for gab easily tripled my Spanish comprehension abilities. The only downside was that most of the students were always busy with schoolwork or eachother, and thus we didn't make many close connections. Oh yeah, that all and the fact that Dona Claudia is a pastry chef. Mmmmmm.....

Note: While based in Managua, I did complete one week of PV system installations. These were incredibly educational, and are responsible for my seeing an enormous portion of the country. I don't count these as something that I accomplished in Managua, because I could have easily lived in Sabana Grande, and travelled to Managua in order to leave for installation purposes. In fact, we were very close to Ocotal during our week of intstallations. In fact, there are other volunteers in Sabana Grande right now who have plans to go on installations with Suni, while living in Sabana Grande. (Ocotal is 10 minutes from Sabana Grande)

In 6 days in Sabana Grande I:

-Repaired a malfunctioning wind turbine. (It later tore itself to pieces, and since there was no funding, could not be further repaired.)

-Layed the foundation for a paper recycling program. Rebecca, a business volunteer from England had the idea that instead of buying paper to label their solar roasted coffee, and other products, the village women could use their paper waste. The women liked the idea, so she came to me and asked me if I knew anything about paper recycling. I didn't, but I spent a few days playing around with a bucket, a drill, and some water, and figured it out. After making a bunch of test sheets that met standards, Rebecca and I went to a local trade school and talked to an administrator, who loved the idea and said that they would start saving all of their clean paper waste for us.

-Plowed a field by hand. This is the kind of work that everyone should be required to do for a month or two of their life. It gives you a hell of a lot of respect for the people who do it all day, every day, especially the old ladies and 8 year old children.

-Went adventuring in the woods with Donald. (Donald is one of David's host brothers, and reminds us very much of Bart Simpson)

-Played frizbee with Rebecca, Donald, Giovania, and Wendy. (Giovania and Wendy are Rebecca's 12 and 14 year old host sisters)

-Taught Luis Miguel some Taekwon-do (Luis Miguel is Donald's older brother...I think.)

-Got my butt kicked by an old lady (Susan knows Aikido)

-Played soccer with David (another volunteer from Texas) and the gang of local boys, including Donald and Luis Miguel. David and I got our butts thoroughly kicked, and marvelled at the incredible feats of athleticism that these kids displayed, either in flip-flops or bare feet on sharp quartz gravel bordered by barbed wire fences.

-Watched a baseball game between two Sabana Grande teams. This was the most entertaining baseball I've ever seen in my entire life.

-Explored a waterfall in Dipilto with a bunch of the volunteers, led by none other than the intrepid Donald himself.

-Watched the Nicaraguan police beat the heck out of a drug dealer (not in Sabana Grande, but on the road to Dipilto, many many miles away).

-Helped a group of 22 primary school teachers move into the village and settle down. Nothing like a convention comprised of 22 copies of my mother to motivate me to run off into the woods with Donald. (i love you mom)

-Played Uno with Scarlet, our 12 year old temporary host sister, who consists of laughs, cuteness and pure awesome rolled into a bundle.

-Developed a close relationship with Rocky the dog, whom I semi-purposefully whalloped across the face with my shoe (he probably has fleas, and I didnt want him jumping on me), and later fed a tortilla in apology. He then began to always sit at my side, and follow me down the street.

So anyway, I'm back here in Managua, looking at 4 more days before that big bird home, and I cant help but feel a bit disappointed with how this entire summer went. I feel like i could have accomplished so much more, learned so much more, and enjoyed myself so much more if I had lived up there.

At the same time, I'm still glad that I came, and overall I'd still say that it was a very positive experience. If nothing else, I now have a knowledge and appreciation for a part of the world that I previously knew nearly nothing about, and a desire to someday return.