Community Outreach

The last day finally arrived. At this point I was sad to be going, but also ready. I love to travel, but I also like spontaneity. Highly structured trips have their pros and cons. I would not have been able to do or see so much, at such a good price, in such a short time, if it hadn't been so planned. The only con is that I really wanted to see more of Southern Nicaragua and the beaches, but you can't do it all in a week. I also wanted to focus on the rice research opportunities that I now had. I had so many thoughts at this point I was up at 5 am writing down ideas and looking up journals online. We did have a fun filled day ahead of us though, and I wanted to make sure I enjoyed it to the last.

We started with breakfast at the hotel as usual. Gallo pinto for sure, one last time. We got the breakfast for free, but looking back I wish I had gone into the street to see what would have been available there. I hardly ate any street food on this trip. Then we went to the open air market. It was very similar to Senegal. People selling from booths and the filthy ground. Meat sitting outside and that awesome flesh and fish smell.....I felt a little bad for those that had stayed out late! Our goal for the morning was to get as much food as we could with just $40. There were some required items like beans, rice, coffee, and sugar. The rest we could choose. Cristina was my partner. She is from Venezuela so we had zero issues with language barriers. The other students had to struggle a little more. Cristina and I were able to get a lot of additional things for our money like plantains and garlic. She was really familiar with things they could use in the dishes they usually prepare. It was amazing how far $40 went there! We then all met back at the hotel and shared what we had gotten. It was interesting to hear the other groups describe why they got what they did. Myra and Brad got toothbrushes. I hadn't thought about the fact that most families would not spend their money on that, and it would be a nice treat.

Finally, we put all the food in the van. Lorenzo took us to a poor area on the edge the city and we handed out the food to families in need. I feel like we were finally seeing how many of the people live there. We were out of the tourist area and experiencing the real lives of Nicaraguans. It felt nice to give them something. People were very happy to have food to put on their tables. the kids were pretty cute too. This was not a sustainable method of helping people, and it probably made us feel better more than it actually helped them. I hope that they at least had one good night of eating until they were full.

Check out these videos of the morning.

Next, we went to a lakeside restaurant and had a traditional fish dish called "Gapote" with "tipitapi" sauce. It was a whole fried fish, and was really good. The view was amazing, and we enjoyed discussing our week and making jokes. I fed a little kitty some of my leftover fish. She reminded me of Kiki (whom I was missing just a little).

This wasn't an alligator. I didn't understand what they said it was. Maybe a caiman?

From lunch we went to a school where we talked to little kids. I'm not really a kid person. I would have passed on this. I'm glad I couldn't though because regardless of how I feel about them, kids seem to love me. It's like when a dog senses you're afraid of it, and comes after you. We had a good time chatting in the classroom, and then played some soccer. You should never run barefoot on the hot cement. It will literally burn your feet off (see my bandaged feet below). It was a rough way to end our last excursion. I hobbled back to the hotel and tried to bandage them up as well as I could for the trip home. 

I have a video of me popping the blisters later, but I'll spare you all.

We took some pictures with the kids and left them enough vitamins for a month. These will be distributed with their lunches. I felt bad that it was only a month, and others in the group felt the same. After we got back Chelsea and I decided to try to get them vitamins for a year. If you want to help these cuties check out our Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/pages/Nicaraguan-Nutrition-Project/414370228769909?fref=ts

We hung out at the hotel for few hours and then it was time to go. The other students wanted to try Tiptop, the fast food chicken I tried on my first day, so on our way to the airport I had more Nicaraguan fast food. A sad last meal, but it was unique. That cole slaw..."kinda weird, but I dug it." We had some time to hang out in the airport together before we had to go to our separate flights. Then it was all over. All of a sudden I was headed back to the U.S. with a load of memories, new friends, and future research opportunities. It was a great trip! Thank you to everyone who was able to make it happen!!

Our last moments in Nica. What a gorgeous crew!