I left the hotel in Miami around 8 AM, and by 10 I was on board an Airbus 380 headed for Managua. I spent most of the flight immersed in David Gullette?s ?Gaspar! A Spanish Poet/Priest in the Nicaraguan Revolution” It?s a fantastic read ? more on that later.
After arriving in Managua, paying my $5 visa fee, retrieving my bags, and clearing customs, I still had an hour or so to kill before meeting up with the other Boston folks I was riding to SJDS with. So I took the opportunity to pick up some Cordobas from an ATM and purchase a very low-cost cell phone that works in Nicaragua. The phone cost roughly $17, with around $5 in prepaid calling included. I also grabbed lunch at the food court consisting of pescado frito (fried fish), gallo pinto (Nicaraguan red beans and rice), ensalata de lechuga (tossed salad), y plantanos (in this case, carmelized in sugar, although they can be prepared in many ways.)
Around 1 PM I met up with the rest of the Colleges of the Fenway folks with whom I was hitching a ride to San Juan del Sur. These included:
? Simmons English professor David Gullette, who is leading a class of around 8 students on a service learning trip.
? A group from the Simmons school of Health Sciences, which will be working with clinics here in Nicaragua
? Wentworth professor Jerry Hopcroft and his wife. In addition to a vacation, Jerry is back in country to pursue the Wentworth bridge project, which has been repeatedly delayed. (More on this later.)
Simmons Professor David Gullette.
Gullette had hired a pickup truck and driver from San Juan del Sur to transport the piles of luggage the group had brought, and by the time the last piece had been loaded the bags towered over the cab. He had also hired two fifteen passenger vans to transport the group.
Gullette proved an entertaining tour guide on the 2+ hour drive from Managua. He detoured down the main street of Tipitapa (site of one of the libraries we visited last time), stopped at an Esso for snacks, made another stop to buy honey from a woman who sells honey in recycled coke and liquor bottles. (I picked up a tequila bottle of honey for a few dollars.) He also pointed out various other sites ? especially the multiple volcanoes and myriad nurseries around Catarina.
Despite the rumors we heard last summer that the road from Rivas to San Juan del Sur would be fixed ?after the rainy season,? it is still a bone-jarring ride ? drivers must swerve between potholes and piles of loose rocks, while looking out for others doing the same. David says that kids sometimes can be found by the side of the road with shovels, pointing to the potholes they just filled in and holding out their hands for ?propinas.? Amazingly, we did come across an actual road crew with a steam roller on one section ? but there was little visible improvement.
When we arrived in San Juan we piled out of the mini busses in the main park in front of the church. We were met by the man whose family I stayed with briefly on my last visit ? fondly nicknamed ?Crazy Bird (Pajero Loco)? and who I?ve since learned (from David?s book) was a confidant of Gaspar, the local priest killed in the revolt against the Soomoza dictatorship.
Once my luggage arrived ? including the large suitcase full of craft supplies and other items for the library, I set off up the street toward Jane?s hotel. I stopped into the lobby, and said hi to Mike, Jane?s business partner, Patricio, and Juan, two of her other employees. I was just pulling out my laptop to find Jane?s cell phone number when she walked in with Edwin, our driver for much of the last trip. We greeted each other warmly, and I set to work unpacking the suitcase of supplies. (Unfortunately, the few candy canes I had ill-advisedly tossed in the suitcase had shattered in transit, and I had to spend some time wiping peppermint bits off of each item in the case.)
Jane informed me that the library staff Christmas party was being held at a restaurant on the waterfront, and invited me to attend. I gladly accepted the offer, and after a bit more unpacking I headed for Inez ? which I later realized was the same restaurant we ate at on our last first night in SJDS last August.
Biblioteca Movil staff Christmas party
Jane had also invited three other visitors to the party: Maxine Shaw and her Cuban-American husband — long time veterans of the Brookline-Quezalguaque sister city project, and Jenina, one of two full-time librarian in the massive new library built by that project The trio had come to San Juan to observe Jane?s library (especially the movil project) in action and look for ideas that could be applied to the library in Quezalguaque. (More about this library later ? in fact, I?m now hoping to pay it a visit before I leave Nicaragua.)
The staff party included everyone associated with the library and their families. Most participants were familiar faces (Ruth, Heidy, Nelly, Julio, Ricardo, Edwin, etc.) There has been a bit of turnover on the staff, though, so there were a few new faces as well.
After a fine meal (I had Brocheta Mixta ? or mixed kabobs of pork, chicken, and fish), we moved on to the ?regalos? or presents. Jane gave gifts to each of her staffers and their children, and then the staff gave secret santa gifts to each other ? offering testimonials about the person they had picked.
I also gave some of the librarians framed photos that we had taken last visit, and Jane and her staff gave me a hammock and a card signed by the group.
After dinner, I returned to the hotel, where Jane, Ruth, Richard, and the Quezalguaque crew sat and talked for a while.
Tomorrow Jane is off to Managua for some medical tests, and I?m hoping to visit the library, talk more with Jenina from the Quezalguaque library, begin developing plans for the video I?m going to shoot, and perhaps work some on the web site tasks.