Everyday Nicaragua

I went with a student group down to Nicaragua--we raised money for the supplies to build latrines (it ended up being for 12 families). Here is the almost finished product (missing the front door). For some families they needed a new one, for some they didn't have one, for some they were sharing with 5 other families. It was project picked out by the community for the community. The families did most of the labor in constructing these (mostly because they knew what they were doing!) The families dug holes. We provided the bricks, mortar, lumber, and siding. Each family then beautifully laid down a brick lining in the hole (this was to control seepage--the water table is quite close to the depth of the latrine), attached the "banco" to the slab, and then built the surround.Though lush vegetation abounded (despite being the dry season), there were no yards to speak of. The spaces around the house were mostly dirt (I can't even imagine what that must be like during the rainy season). They were very well maintained (you can see Esmira sweeping her side yard below). Almost every property had a barbed wire fence around it to keep animals out/in.One of the most shocking things in the Nicaraguan landscape was the trash. I did not take a picture of the piles and piles of trash by the main roadside, but it was everywhere. This is a new development and one that needs future consideration--typically they burn their trash (see below). This works fine when your trash is food, dead leaves, wood, paper, cloth, etc. The chickens and dogs like to pick at it too. But with the addition of non-combustibles like glass, rubber, and especially plastic (bottles, bags, containers) to their everyday lives...these remain after the burn is done and the wind blows them all over the place. In the second photo, you can see a 2 liter of coke sitting on top of the trash pile.

Laundry was done by hand using the washstand/sink seen below. Water was pulled from the well and clothes were scrubbed against a concrete washboard surface. They got everything super clean, but the clothes wear out quickly.

To dry, clothes were hung on barbed wire clotheslines. No need for pins...just poke and wrap around the wire one time (also hard on the clothes).Cooking: We had the luxury of having all our meals prepared for us by two wonderful ladies. We ate very well. Every meal had rice (cooked over a wood fire), red beans, some variation of plantains (boiled, twice fried, or the best...chips), en salata (shredded cabbage, carrots, and tomatoes topped with lime juice or some fresh cheese) and some beverage (coke or handmade fruit coolers--a blend of ice, water, and fresh fruits like pineapple, watermelon, cantaloupe, oranges, tamarind, papaya, mango, etc.). Variations included meat (kebab style goat, chicken, or pork), stews (with squash or chicken and tomatoes), sometimes handmade tortillas, bread and fruit for breakfast, fried egg, and even a version of "spaghetti." From what I understand, a typical rural Nicaraguan meal would consist of just rice, beans, and plantains. In the back of this picture you can see two women cooking over the wood fire. The well is in the foreground and young plantain trees have been planted in the middle ground.

This is the cooking shed (other houses would have their wood fire in this shed). It was always a separate detached room from the main house. This also had a concrete sink placed to the right of the cookstove that drained through a pipe in the wall onto the ground outside. The cookstove seemed to be used to boil water to make coffee (which I actually tasted and thought was excellent--lots of sugar helped). Scraps would be put in bins similar to the fruit basket and dogs would be shooed away all night. We would eat our meals on the porch (just to the left of this shed) and slap mosquitoes all night.