Que Barbaridad! Pigs Snortin' in the Morning, Corn Puddin' at Night, and a 10 Mile Hike in Between!

El Corozo

So, below you find a bit of a photo essay. I took so many photos that I wanted to share as many as I could! I returned from my first trip into the "campo" late Thursday afternoon and am taking it easy this weekend before leaving for another trip on Monday.

My four days in El Corozo were beautiful, challenging, and very different. I stayed with the family Cleysi, one of the young journalists I am working with, in their house made of earth, wood, tin, and grass. My bed was a cot surrounded by a mosquito net, which I was thankful for as every night I heard a high pitched chorus of the little buggers just dying to get past the netting and to my skin!

It is a lot cooler up in the mountains, especially at night, and it makes for some of the best star gazing there is- tons of stars clearly shining through! In the campo, there are no real bathrooms. Instead, there are outhouses or "latrinas." Except, the latrine of the family I was staying with was out of use because it is still full of water from the rainy season. SOOO...it was into "to the woods" whenever nature was calling. The whole experience felt like I was camping, but had a house instead of a tent.

Each meal was cooked an open topped wood burning adobe fireplace and consisted of coffee, corn tortillas, beans, rice, and "cojada" cheese- a dry and salty cheese made fresh from the cows outside the house. You CAN'T get any fresher than that! The corn tortillas, like everything here, are "hecho a mano" (made by hand) every day by grinding corn kernels through a hand powered corn grinder 2 or 3 times through. After that, you take the fine "masa de maiz" and pound it into a flat tortilla. I provided everyone much amusement when I tried making a tortilla by mimicking their fast circular motion that looks very easy, but is apparently a skill yet to be acquired by yours truly. Petrona and the women of the campo turn out perfectly round and flat ones in seconds, while I fumbled along with cracks, tears, and uneven thickness in mine...perhaps it is like riding a bike: once you "get it" it stays with you, but it takes a while to get to that point!?! It was fun, regardless.

On Tuesday, the first of my two full days there, we hiked around to various houses in the community so that I could check in on and see their solar panels. All the people I spoke with said that they like having the electricity and light at night so that they can do more...kids can do homework and women don't have to use candles and kerosene to see what they're doing (and therefore kerosene is no longer an accidental ingredient in their food!). The men like watching the news, and the whole family likes watching the "telenovelas," Spanish soap operas, on the TV. I am sure as I visit more houses and communities I will think of better questions and perhaps be able to go a little deeper into how their lives have been affected otherwise...what else they might be able to do with this electricity. Regardless, it is obvious that they appreciate being empowered!

The goal of the second day, Wednesday, was to go to the community of "El Plan" to take a picture of an 80 watt solar panel that had been installed, and to talk with the family who owns it. I was told that El Plan was close, no more than a 1.5 hr hike to get there. So, Petrona (host mother), Antonia (another journalist), and I set out at 6:30 a.m. after waking at 5 a.m. (I woke between 5 and 6:30 every morning and was asleep by 9 or earlier every night. You are very in tune with the natural light rhythms there!).

Well, we didn't reach El Plan until 10:00 a.m., after 3.5 hours of hiking. Our journey was lengthened substantially because all of the paths are very rocky and messy from the rainy season, slowing down our every step. Tired and hot, we got the picture of the panel and hung out in El Plan with Petrona's cousin for a long while. We even got to cool off in the river nearby! It was quite funny: there I was, bathing in the river in the middle of the mountains with two Nicaraguan women I had met but a few days before. Petrona, the mother, laughed loud and joyously as she swam in the shallow waterfall pool, amused that while other women were in their houses working and cleaning, she was chilling in the river :) She didn't want to leave!

Our journey back to El Corozo was no easier, despite taking what was supposed to be an easier and shorter route around the other side of the valley. Though it took took us but 2 hours this time, the last hour of it was treacherous. We had been hiking over an hour when we got to the final steep ascent over a mountain top. Problem: When we got further in the thick of the forest, the path disappeared- it, too, had been washed out by the rain and was turned into a crevice in the earth with boulders, rocks, fallen trees, and a bit of water trickling down. We had no choice but to keep going though, so onward we went! The whole time I was watching for falling rocks since in that situation, a rockslide could easily happen. I had flashbacks to when I was climbing a primary stream in Costa Rica and small boulder nearly landed on me. Thankfully, all stayed put as we scrambled up the mountain side. I was in awe of the strength and energy of Petrona as she balanced a large bag of bananas that her cousin gave her on her head throughout the ordeal!!! I think the women of the campo are some of the strongest physically and mentally out there!

When I reached the crest of the mountain, the afternoon sun was beaming down and the valley was large, green, and inviting. I felt that if there is a God out there, or whatever entity it is, he/she/it was there!!!

Now, to fill you in on some other parts of the story, are my pictures. Hope you enjoy them and that they give you an even better idea of what life and nature is like in the Nicaraguan mountains.

This is Cleysi, one of the periodistas, on her horse. He helped me get up the mountain when I arrived by carrying my 2 gallons of water. I rode for a minute, but when it got super rocky on the path, I had to hop off!

Hiking to El Plan from El Corozo- last leg of the 3.5 hour hike

The adorable and hammy niece of Antonia, another periodista, who also lives in El Corozo.

The 80 watt solar panel in El Plan. It apparently is having some issues with it's controller, but otherwise good to go. I had to balance on a tall ladder to take this photo. It was scary!

A shot of one of the "fincas" (farms)

It is corn harvesting season, so all the farmers have large cloths full of corn kernels drying in the sun outside their houses. The next crop to work with will be coffee, come December.

Here are some of the hombres shucking the corn and picking it off the cob in order to put outside for drying.

This my little friend "chocolito." He sat on my shoulder the whole time I visited his family and didn't want to get off when it was time to go! I met him last year when I visited this community. We go way back :)

Blue sky. Mountains. Trees. Tin roof. Sunlight. Solar power!!!

Feeling accomplished (and exaughsted) after scrambling up this rocky crevice of earth that used to be a path before the rains washed it out. I was praying to whatever larger entity is out there to reach the top safely. And that I did!

Almost there. Hola!

Sunset from the mountain top.

Antonia's sister as she separates the red kidney beans from their green shells.

2 year old Luis Miguel and his older cousin Yaser play "farmer" together, planting CORN!

No, these are no longer tools or objects of their original use. That rusty machete, broken corn grinder, wooden board, sardine can, perfume bottle, belt buckle, iron, and all else that you see here are Luis Miguel and Yaser's TOYS. They were very excited to show me....

Cleysi and her horse by the wash basin. The rocks around it are bleached white from the soap!

All the cousins together!

Petrona, my host mother, was very excited to make me some "atol," like a corn pudding made from, well, boiled corn, fresh cows milk, cinnamon, and sugar. Though I am lactose intolerant and it made my stomach hurt, it was worth it for the taste, and how happy it made Petrona to serve it up. A nice warm porridge after a loooong day. (It was breakfast the next day too)

The kitchen, and the whole house, is made of mudd, grass, wood, leaves, and tin roof with good natural sunlight beaming in. That's Cleysi to the right, grinding corn for tortillas.

Another beautiful vista :)

And a cute li'l puppy to round it all out. There are lots of baby animals all over!