A few years ago, I was raising money to go on a mission trip to Nicaragua with my church. It didn’t work out. Political and social unrest caused us to cancel the trip, and the next year we went to Germany. So when I heard that our last country on the race would be Nicaragua, I was beyond excited. It felt as if God had finally the door opened for me to enter this country. I kind of love this place, because the people make it worth it. One smile truly can change the trajectory of an unpromising day, and the Nicaraguans smile a lot. So, I decided to write a quick blog explaining a few things about Nicaragua.
- They drink from plastic bags here. Once we went to the tienda (corner store) with a few of the local staff and their purchase was ingenious. They bought a 2-liter coke and several plastic bags. They poured the coke into the bags, tied a knot at the top, then ripped a corner of the plastic out to suck the liquid out. I’ve also seen straws poking out of the bags before. On almost every street you will see a group of women selling brightly colored frescas (juices) in tupperware boxes, which they will ladel into plastic bags for their neighbors. Cheap, practical and fun.
- Hospitality. It’s more than just a word here. If you walk into a house, chairs of various colors and qualities will be immediately produced for you to take. And when you sit, you stay for at least an hour, listening gossip and chatter and complaints. More than once, I’ve walked out of a home with ice cream (served in a plastic bag of course) a mango from one of their trees, or a bag of churros (cinnamon-fried tortilla chips). It’s best to just accept and move on, even if you are afraid of eating a strange sticky fruit that was opened by a machete.
- They love it when you try to speak Spanish. I took 4 years of Spanish in high school, but I am nowhere near the confidence I need to be to actually carry on a conversation. I am so used to being laughed at, and then later encouraged to practice my slurred lingo.
- “On time” means something different here. This ministry has Americans on the leadership team, but they have pretty much assimilated to the culture of “an hour late is right on time”. It isn’t rare to get to ministry at the time you thought you would finish, or to make a few unanticipated stops along the way.
- Speaking of ministry, it is fully acceptable to ride to it on the back of a pickup truck. Every day, the squad piles in the bed of Julio’s silver Toyota and hangs on for dear life as we speed through the uneven streets of Granada. It was scary at first, but now it’s fun, you just have to make sure you take your hat off in case the wind knocks it off and you have to go back (true story).
- There are a lot of gringos (white people) in this city. It’s really big on tourism. So, there are a ton of touristy vendors, asking if they can take you on a boat tour, following you with a box full of off-brand sunglasses, or offering hot dogs from a bucket. “No, gracias” has become my most used word whenever we go to town. I bought a woven backpack from one of the vendors, but turns out there was a tag that confessed that its origin was in Mexico. That’s embarrassing.
- Most people know Jesus. I guess I expected when I went on a mission trip to encounter more unbelievers. Most of who we meet just need a little encouragement and direction. It’s actually really encouraging to see so many people following Jesus in conditions like this.
- Horses are everywhere, and we don’t know who owns them. Animals roam free here, and horses are just on the side of the road, chomping on grass as if they didn’t have anywhere to be. The same with dogs and cows. They might have humans to claim them, but most likely not. Just don’t pet them and you’ll be fine.
That isn’t the end of the things I’ve learned about Nicaragua, but I also haven’t lived here for very long. When I get home, and people ask me what my favorite country was, I will insist that I don’t have one, but in the back of my mind, I picture Nicaragua as closest to my heart.
