On the Bus

And on the plane. Three months of travel coming to an end. I´ve been from Nica to NYC and around the States to Mexico and Guatemala and now I´ll soon be heading home to Cusmapa. In the states I saw many old friends some that I had not seen in years, and family when we got together to see my little sister graduate from UNLV (!).

The couple months through Southern Mexico and Guatemala that I was planning to do alone changed just weeks before I got on the plane when my dad accepted an invite to come along. We weren´t sure how long he´d stick to it, maybe a week, maybe two, maybe the whole two months, whatever it would end up to be I took it as a good sign he was up to going without a plan. Seven weeks later he´s still with me and we´ll fly together to Managua in a few days to meet my mom there before we all head up North to Cusmapa.

And so the trip really started, Dad and I flew to Mexico City. We spent a couple weeks there and nearby before heading South to Oaxaca, then to the beach and East through Chiapas before crossing into Guatemala. Mexico has always been for me a land of colors and magic, a place that somehow sits high in the land of my imagination, and a place that rarely disappoints on the delivery of stimulating experience. So it was in those weeks; Mexico delivered in full with all its shouting and crumbling sidewalks, its overwhelming odors and loud colors, its living history crashing through its tumultuous present all inside its vast and varied landscape.

In week five we moved on into Guatemala, straight to Flores and Tikal then to the Caribe and down to the volcanoes around Antigua, the black sand beaches on the Pacific and on to Lake Atitlan. I was surprised at all the little things that reminded me so much of Nicarauga right away (all of you in Nica will apreciate some of these). To start, the chicken buses that seem to always be playing either Michael Bolton (Central Americans just love that guy, it must appeal to their Latin romance) or ¨Baby te quiero-o, Baby te quiero-o-o-o...¨, and also that I am constantly hearing ¨puchica!¨in the streets (I haven´t heard the word chunche yet though). The diet is more maize, beans and rice, and they use vos, which I didn´t know until I got here.
It is a beautiful country, the textiles are amazing though the abundance of them is overwhelming. I wish I had more time here to explore the rural areas, I imagine I would enjoy them more than the more touristy places we´ve been. I have been really surprised at how touristy it is here, overwhelmingly so in many places.

The trip has been great, I have enjoyed it all, but I am ready to be home in the quiet mountains of our North Nica home. All my pics are on my flickr.com page, search for people, my name there is logoody.

You mean, dictator?

And now Chavez can be president for life. Do you think Ortega would like the same?

War

Yesterday one of my high school students asked if the United States is at war with Venezuela.

Interesting right?


Also, I recently celebrated my one year anniversary in Nicaragua, wow how time flies. I have many a reflection to share, though as we all know I am terrible at updating this thing.

So I went to Mexico

And living Mexico has all the magic that the Mexico of my dreams has. The smells, the sounds, the colors, the food! I love it there. Though, as much as I do love it, when I was there I missed Cusmapa. I don't think anywhere, no matter how magical, contains the magic that Cusmapa does for me. This place is my home, and how lucky I am to be able to say so!

Guadalajara is a lively and fun city, all the old is mixed in with the new, I could live there I think. Unfortunately, it seems that lithography does not exist there outside of a very basic undergrad program at the University of Guadalajara. Though, if I were going into my undergraduate studies again, it would be an amazing place to study...the fine art center there is incredible! And the art of Mexico! I miss art when I am here in Nicaragua.

We're Really Shaking it Up

In Casa los Mangos we recently hosted the first, of what will hopefully be many, Fiesta de Mujeres Libres. Its a small group of women, half Nica, half American, that get together and have drinks, snacks and talk, dance, have fun. We made a big sign declaring: "Arriba las Mujeres del Mundo!!!" that is taped to our kitchen window. What we didn't anticipate, but really love, is that since its on the window (it was the only place the tape would stick) people that walk by the house outside can read it too. Now we've got passers-by hollering: "Arriba! Arriba las mujeres!" "Arriba todo el mundo!" or, "Arriba las mujeres del mundo????" Either way, it's out there.

Saturday we dressed up with fifteen kids and marched through the Cusmapa streets with home-made instruments and signs declaring "Viva Cusmapa" "Celebramos Alegria!" and other banners of the like.
Sunday we took a group of women to the park at the center of town to knit in public.

In both occasions the people passing by were very surprised. People stared at us in the park. People rushed our of their homes to see what the noise was passing by.

We're going to do it all again this weekend, and we're hoping to double our numbers.
Ooooooo what fun and ruckus!

It's a Craze!

When I started our women’s knitting group once a week I never imagined knitting would be so popular in Cusmapa. Our group that meets every Wednesday evening for two hours started a couple months ago as three women, it is now about 15. There are also a handful of sisters and cousins and nieces that come those evenings. The women bring many knit squares every week to contribute to the blankets we are making to donate to the Casa Materna. One girl in the group, who is actually a high school student of ours as well, has begun to make little hats to donate. I love that the women are all positive about the community side of this project.

Even more incredibly, all the little boys in our neighborhood are knitting now too, them and many of their cousins and siblings and friends, maybe twenty kids all around the age of eleven. Now that they have all gotten into knitting, the word is really spreading fast. Everyday kids I’ve never seen before come knocking at the door asking to learn. Students come to me asking to learn, or to inform me that some friend or cousin or sibling of theirs wants to learn.

There are too many requests now for me to fulfill them all. I’ve asked that all the more advanced knitters teach the new knitters so that I only have to teach more difficult stuff. Little Memo, who lives across the street, is happy to help and yesterday taught four little girls the basics. I think this will work out great, it makes it all more community oriented, which was part of my initial goal.

So, now that you all know how this project of mine is succeeding, that it is inspiring and teaching so many kids in Cusmapa, that it is snowballing quickly, I will tell you I am almost without supplies. I’ve told all the kids they have to knit with pencils as needles, which works great in the beginning until they become more advanced and want to make bigger things, or more complicated things. Our supply of yarn is quickly depleting and the people here have no money to buy such luxuries on their own.

ANY money or supplies you or someone you know would like to donate would be greatly appreciated and put to good use. Callie will be in the States in a month, so she could carry supplies back with her when she returns to Nica. Monetary donations can be wired here to me, or sent to my parents who can deposit them directly in my bank account. Needles can be made from dowels, a pencil sharpener and some sand paper, and it is much cheaper. Plastic needles are fairly inexpensive especially if large sets of multiple sizes are purchased. Sometimes yarn can be found at second hand stores, garage and estate sales, and craigslist is a good place to look too.

I have to say, I think this knitting craze in Cusmapa is one of the most important things I’m doing here. I think my classes are super important, but the people involved in the knitting are INTO it. Who knows, maybe we’ll see a small cooperative grow from this that can help provide a little income to some families. That would be absolutely incredible.

I arrived back Managua yesterday. I can not get back to my happy mountain home, however, because there is a national transportation strike. No buses are running in the whole country, the non-union taxis take you on these crazy back-alley routes to avoid union taxis throwing rocks through their windshields. A Fabretto truck was going to take me up but during strikes they don't take the vehicles out in the Managua area because cars get set-fire. So, here I am, stuck in the capital, and I miss Cusmapa. Oh well, asi es, as they say.

In other news, I have a new piece of body art that I love. It is a tree as seen by my friend Marlon in Cusmapa, he is nine years old.