To Bluefields, by land and river

Andrew and I took a pair of days for an out-and-back trip to Bluefields for a mix of reasons: some groundwork for an upcoming learning tour, visiting a Mennonite church (Convention) to share about MCC work and youth service opportunities, and visit MCC's partner Acción Médica Cristiana in Bluefields.  This was my first time out this direction (Rebekah's been out twice already) and our first time to travel by land, which also means traveling by river, for the last 1.5 hours of the trip.  There have been some roads in process relatively recently, which, when fully completed will make the east coast significantly more accessible to the rest of the country.

We began with a drive out to the town of El Rama, where the road ends.  We met Abel, youth pastor of the church we were visiting, who took us around town and told about some of their churches social project, including support for the local Maternity House (Casa Materna) and the local prisoners, and reforestation initiatives.

Where the Rio Siquia feeds into Rio Escondido.

Crossing the suspension bridge over the Rio Siquia to get to INATEC, the tech institute that has a nursery where seedlings are made available for reforestation efforts.

This young guy belted it out to lead the music at the church. We appreciated hearing Pastor Miguel's long history with the church and MCC's involvement in the area.


Next morning at 6:00 we got on the first boat to head towards Bluefields. This is regional transportation.

We arrive in Bluefields.  With Saúl outside the AMC office in Barrio Nueva York.

The central park in Bluefields.  The momument recognizes six ethnicities of the region: Miskito, Rama, Kriole, Mestizo, Mayagna/Suma, and Garifuna.

This was a land of pirates and Rey Mosco.

Most of the old wooden structures were taken out by Hurricane Joan in 1988.

The Moravians set up strong schools and churches many years ago.

Fish, turtles, etc.

Back to the pier, we start the long journey back to Managua. So long for now, Caribbean.

Climate Change and Migration: Nicaragua

MCC's Latin America/Caribbean Advocacy Blog has a series running on the many forces and directions of migration. Here's our contribution to the blog from MCC Nicaragua on how climate change is contributing to migration, particularly in the dry corridor. Special thanks to Nicolás for sharing his experience.

https://lacaadvocacy.org/2016/05/04/climate-change-and-migration-nicaragua/

Intl Labor Day Weekend: Trails at Chocoyero and Mombacho

I remember being surprised by the May 1st Labor Day celebrations in the central plaza when I was in Santa Cruz, Bolivia back in 2004.  What were all these chants honoring the Heroes and Martyrs of Chicago? Later I read some about the Haymarket Riots of Chicago, which have led more than 80 countries to recognize everyday laborers on May 1st each year. However, they say President Cleveland didn't want to draw extra attention to the Haymarket Riots and picked a September date. Interestingly, the rest of the world remembers these events better than the U.S. does.

Anyhow, we took advantage of a three day weekend (four days for the kids) to do some hiking and swimming around Granada.  Beautiful time.

Hike 1: El Chocoyero.  A nice 1 hr loop outside of the town of Ticuatepe that is most famous for its cliff with péricos verdes (green parakeets) that fly out in masses early in the morning and return late in the late afternoon.  We were going to be there late morning, but were pleasantly surprised to see a few swarms fly back and forth.  There's a nice tall waterfall there as well.  Lia spotted the national bird, the guardabarranco, (apparently translated as motmot) as we were driving in, sitting on a fencepost along the dirt road.  It flew away as I was backing up to take a picture. We saw another one later, but farther away and not as easily photographed.

 The guardabarranco.

 The waterfall and green parakeet cliff.

Hike 2:  Volcán Mombacho - 1 hr Crater trail.  This is a popular tourist destination, and we had a frustrating start to the day when we were misled on by some signs pointing the way to Mombacho, which turned out to be the name of a small development on the outskirts of Granada.  After significant backtracking, we made it to the park entrance and caught ride up the steep roads (looking back, the Hilux would have done fine on these roads, but we were low on fuel and the kids loved these big 4x4 truck/buses).

This was our first family volano hike!  Rebekah and I hiked Volcán Santa Maria and Volcán Pacaya in Guatemala several years back. The crater loop had limited views of the crater itself, since it is well grown-over by now.  The lush vegetation was beautiful.  There were some nice views out over Colcibola (Lake Nicaragua) and Laguna de Apoyo, even if it was a little hazy.  Lia liked putting her hand in the fumarolas, these holes where warm sulfuric vapor still seeps out from the volcano. Early on in this hike, Silas tripped and hurt his knee and was not very cheery. But a highlight for everyone was right at the end of the trail seeing a mother sloth and her baby hanging beside the trail.

 

We hiked around one of those little craters that is at the top right hand side of the model.

The islets of Colicbolca.

The view down into the crater.

 The lollipop wasn't enough for Silas and the scrape on his knee.

One of the fumarolas.

It's a little hard to see the baby sloth in this picture, but he's there somewhere.

An impromptu family picture in a restaurant in Granada with mirrors on the ceiling.

Wiped out and watching Netflix.  The pool and the AC were nice too.  Back to work on Tuesday.

Escape to Selva Negra (with Clair and Beth)

It has been great to have parents/grandparents Clair and Beth around for the past week, which is also Semana Santa (Holy Week). The kids have off from school for this week and some of next week as well.

Being the hot time of year that it is, we have generally planned all our activity together around staying cool. So far, we've introduced Clair and Beth to the pool, the crater lagoon Laguna de Apoyo, a few air conditioned restaurants with indoor kids' play areas, and varieties of ice cream and smoothies.

But our favorite escape is heading toward the mountains around Matagalpa.  In January we went here with my parents, staying in the city of Matagalpa and traveling one day to hike around the coffee plantation and lodge of Selva Negra. Between the long sleeve pull-overs, the trails, and the restaurant's food, we were fairly confident we'd be back.

With temperatures in the upper 90s every day this past week, we went with Clair and Beth to enjoy the better part of three days, staying in a cabin at Selva Negra this time.  It was great.

New this time: seeing howler monkeys, deer, an agouti, hummingirds, ticks on Clair and Rebekah, a fat lip and knee scrapes on Silas, more delicious food, staying in great little cabin up the hill, reading time, and new trails.  Between our two visits we've now hiked all but one of the trails across their mountainside.  Trail #9, we'll be back for you.

Encounter in Guatemala: Advocacy and Connecting People

At the end of February and the beginning of March, I (Derrick) had the chance to go with our Connecting People Coordinator (Andrew) to Guatemala City for a regional MCC and partners encounter.  It brought together a significant span across Latin America: Bolivia, Colombia, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, Guatemala, El Salvador, Mexico, and the U.S. and Canada.

Day 1: as participants trickled in from many different directions, I joined a group organizing a taxi-van riding down to the main square.  Rebekah and I were here back in 2007 and it was interesting to be back.

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Days 2-4: The first half of the week was partner-focused, sharing experiences and ways of working with advocacy and change among the many different, but often related, contexts.  It is humbling to think about the effort and commitment represented in this group: struggles for rights among indigenous communities, work within the context of war/violent crime/political turmoil, struggle to protect natural resources, risking personal safety to promote understanding, and more.  In addition to the sessions, another highlight for me was evening supper conversations, hearing stories and perspectives from different country contexts.

Anna Vogt

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Anna Vogt

Ted and Katherine Oswald

Days 5-6:  During the second half of the week we were joined by staff working with Global Service Learning: the SALT, YAMEN, IVEP, Seed, Learning Tours, and other programs. There was opportunity to have some good conversations to improve and close some gaps in some of these processes.  I enjoyed the chance to meet again with some people we had been with in the orientation and others who I had not yet met beyond Skype and emails.  This is really helpful for future conversations that happen at a distance.

Anna Vogt

Anna Vogt

Anna Vogt