Chagas and Texts

While researching Nicaragua before arriving here, nothing terrified me quite as much as learning about chagas.  It is a disease most often transmitted by bugs we call chinches in Nicaragua.  The bug will bite its victims while they sleep, usually on the face, and then leave their feces in the bug bite, because why just be satisfied with sucking the blood of your victims when you can defecate on them as well?

All this is rather unpleasant, and the bite will cause some mild flu-like symptoms, but that is not the terrifying part.  Oh no.  That comes ten or so years later, when the parasite has wrecked havoc on the body's nervous and digestive systems, as well as the heart, which will sometimes just go into arrest.  Imagine it, getting bitten by that bug, not realizing what has happened, and then dying of a heart attack years later.  Now imagine going to live in a place where those bugs live too.

Luckily, my department has a very low rate of chagas, and not many chinches, so I've never worried for my safety...but I still don't like the idea of them being around, which is why I got worried when my friend and fellow volunteer sent me the following text:  I think we had a chagas bug in the house :(

The rest of our conversation went something along the lines of:

Me: Did they take it to the centro to see if it was infected [with chagas]?
Her: No.  Should we do that?
Me: Yes, take it to the health center, you didn't squash it did you?
Her: Yeah, someone took a shoe to it after we chased it outside.
Me: Just don't squish it more, you need it kinda intact for the test.
(five minutes pass...)
Her: It got ran over by a car after they squished it.

At that point, I just started laughing, because of course, that happened.  My friend did eventually take it to the health center for the test to see if it had the chagas parasite in its gut, this is what she said:

On closer inspection, its head is much more rounded.  I showed nurse at the centro the remains and asked if this type of bug carries chagas.  She said no.

And all was right again in the land where death-bearing bugs are run over by cars on a daily basis.

Moroso Desgraciado

The hardest working man in all of my town, and possibly Nicaragua, is the arroz con leche man.  He walks all over town selling newspapers and rice pudding that he carries in a giant tupperwear container on his head, from sun up to sun down.  His shirt is almost perpetually soaked with sweat all the way to his waist, and if you sit anywhere for more than twenty minutes, you will see him pass at least twice, announced by his nasal cry of, "La Preeensaa.  Arroz con leeeeecheeeee."  A few months ago, I saw him walk by with a piece of paper taped onto his plastic container saying, "ya pronto, LISTA DE MOROSOS."  I suppose I should not have been surprised, seeing how hard he works, but I was indeed surprised to see that people had accumulated enough debt with him that he felt he needed to make a list of their names to shame them into paying up.

Are you unsure about your excessive use of exclamation points?  Just make them look like question marks, and add some uncertainty to your enthusiasm.

For that is what a lista de morosos is; a list of names of people who are in debt to a business.  Buying things on credit is pretty common here, whether someone has the credit or not to do so, which naturally leads to a lot of debts.  Businesses will often talk to the debtors, trying to settle things, but if that doesn't resolve anything, they know that shame will always work wonders.  That's where the lista de morosos comes in.  They will post it in the largest lettering possible, in plain view of everyone, so the whole town will know who is a moroso desgraciado.  Some will even include details of particular morosos, like where they work, or how much they owe.  I can't even imagine how mortifiying it must be for someone to find their name up on that list, and I know I would pay up immediately to have my name erased as soon as possible, if it ever happened to me.

It seems that all the arroz con leche morosos felt the same way, and payed up when they saw their names would be on a lista de morosos for pudding, none the less.  I suppose that is why I never did see the arroz con leche man post his list - everyone settled their debts, not wanting to call his bluff.  He knows what he's doing that arroz con leche man.  Well done sir.

Chanchito de Plastico

The past week or so, I've been frantically typing on my computer, trying to finish work of the health sector.  It all relates to our goals and objectives that would probably not be interesting for anyone not involved in it, but part of it is compiling arts and crafts activities that volunteers can use that will related to some of those goals.  So I thought I would share one activity, and how it relates to our project...in Spanish.  Hey, don't complain, we have google translate, and I am doing all this work in Spanish to begin with, and damned if I'm spending more time translating it back again.

Here is how to make a piggy bank out of a plastic bottle, and how it can be used to get kids thinking about making future goals.  *This craft has been around for a while, I didn't think it up, just put pictures to it*

I. Motivación

Con un lugar para guardar su dinero, se plantea la idea de planear para la vida.

Una actividad de reciclaje también refortalece la importancia de cuidar de nuestra planeta.

Materiales:

Botella plástica con tapa

4 tapas de botella

Cuchillo

Tijeras

Pega silicona

Marcador

Pintura (opcional)

II. Información

• Se corta la mitad de la botella.

• Con el cuchillo, se corta un hueco en el parte anterior de la botella.

• Se pega los dos extremos de la botella.
• Del plástico de la mitad, se cortan dos triángulos para hacer las orejas.

• Se pegan a la botella.

• Se corta un pedazo para la cola, y se enrolla para que se vea rizada.

• Se pega al trasero del chancho.
• Se pegan las tapas para hacer las patas del chancho.

• Se dibujan la nariz y los ojos.

• Si quieren, se puede pintar el chancho.

III. Practica

·         Esta manualidad debe de ir acompañada por una charla sobre la importancia de pensar en el futuro/tener metas.

·      También se puede hablar de la importancia de pensar en el futuro del planeta, y cuidar el medio ambiente.

  

     IV. Aplicación

     Que los participantes ocupen sus chanchitos para guardar dinero para cumplir sus metas futuras.

Birthday Video

I really wanted to post a video I have of everyone singing Las Mañanitas on my birthday last year, but it appears to be too big.  I wanted to see if I could post some videos on here though, so here is a very blurry video of Lindsey breaking open the piñata she, Sarah, and Sophia (the other PCVs in my training town) got for me during my first Nica birthday.

Edit: Has anyone actually gotten this video to play?  I've been waiting for a while now, and there is nothing more than the spinning wheel of death.  Does blogger even really do videos?  I no long believe they work on here.

This was the beautiful aftermath:

Las Mañanitas

A little more than a week ago I had my 26th birthday, or I "completed" my 26th year, as you would say in Spanish.  This would make my fourth birthday I've had in Nicaragua, since my first was during training, and the other three during my three years of service.  Each one has been special, this year's included, but last year's birthday was especially memorable for me because of the surprise my Nica friends cooked up for me.

As in many places in Latin America, it is tradition to wake the birthday girl or boy up with a song called Las Mañanitas.  It can either be blasted through the house on a stereo, or sung in person, but it has to be freaking early in the morning, to be sure that it is the first thing they hear as they wake up.  Since people in the campo tend to wake up early, around 5am, to begin with, this means that you have to wake up really really freaking early here if you want to do Las Mañanitas right.  Which is why, last year, I was woken up at around 4am to the sound of singing and guitars outside my room.  

I had thought that I would be safe from Las Mañanitas, since my room was in my host family's backyard, and the logistics of going through their house to get outside my door would have been complicated.  I had underestimated the tenacity of the local Catholic youth group.  The day before, they had conspired with my host mom to let them in early, and then swore her to secrecy.  

Ronny playing the guitar.

After the Mañanitas, it is also tradition for the serenaded to then give the serenaders coffee and bread as a thank you.  Luckily, my host mom and sister had me covered on the coffee, and I cut up the cake everyone had brought me to share with the group.  All in all, a very nica birthday.