land of lakes and volcanoes

5.16.10
we've been here a week so far in managua (the capital of nicaragua), staying at the hotel casa san juan (a guest house). i've already learned so much in the short time we've been here and am excited to see what else we'll learn in our remaining 2 weeks. it's been really cool to see how what we're learning builds upon and compliments what i learned this past semester on the africa trip. there are many of the same issues here as in southern africa, as well as many problems which are different or have new twists. it's interesting to see the parallels and contrasts.




our guest house has been a great place to stay. the eating area is open-air, there are little courtyards, beautiful pink flowering trees, mangos dropping on the roof, bright blue and buttercup walls, and sweet, friendly staff. the food has been so fresh and delicious. beans and rice are definitely a major staple, especially for breakfast (which i've actually gotten really used to and miss them on the rare occasion when we don't have them). avocado, mango, pineapple, papaya, and tortillas are other frequently served foods.


we have had between one and two speakers almost every day we've been here, teaching us about everything from nicaragua's history, politics, economic situation, geography, ethnicities, and agriculture, to water quality, pollution, health care, and other major issues intertwined with poverty. we have visited several ngo's and learned about their efforts to search for sustainable ways to improve conditions here in nicaragua and to partner with poor communities to empower them to work to improve their situation. we have visited informal settlements and rural communities, seeing some of these innovative projects for ourselves. one day we visited a waste water treatment facility.


one of our first days here, we took a trip out to the masaya volcano, explored a bat cave, and hike up to a breathtaking overlook point. yesterday, we went to the beach at pochomil (my first time in the pacific ocean!). several people from our group rode horses along the beach, but i just walked down the shore with andrea a bit and relaxed in the sand. we had so much fun and met a precious family. neither of us knows much spanish, but we definitely got some practice trying to have a conversation with them. they were so kind and friendly and patient with us. they bought us bracelets that say nicaragua on them and gave us their address so we could email them our pictures we took with them. most of the people i've met here have been so welcoming and friendly.


we've been to one of the local markets, and to a cafe and several restaurant-bars. it has been hot every day and night, sometimes not too bad, but never cool. it's nice when there's at least a breeze. it has rained very briefly a few times, but the rainy season has not yet begun full force.

the pace has been so great, with such a good balance of formal learning, experiential learning, meeting new people, relaxing, reflecting, building relationships, and having fun. i've met so many awesome people, from others in our group, to students from other study abroad groups, to the staff here at the guest house, to ngo workers, to other locals.


i'll try to keep you guys posted every several days, or at least a couple more times while we're here- we'll see.

sarah

time

after my africa study abroad trip, i spent 3 weeks on campus (at furman university), finishing up classes, doing projects, writing papers, and taking tests. amidst all this academic chaos, i did my best to catch up with people i hadn't seen in months, fill out more applications for internships this summer, meet with my advisor, and squeeze in a couple concerts, plenty of coffee, and contra dancing, all the while still trying to readjust to life in the states. i was back to sleeping in a bed, inside, with no more wild animal noises echoing in the darkness and no need to pee in a 'pee-pot' inside my tent. i was back in the land of 'efficiency,' where time matters-- where, when someone says something will happen at a certain time, they mean that time at not 30 minutes to 4 hours later; where schedules, calendars, and planners have our lives sectioned off into 15-minute segments; where there is no time to just be, to explore nature, to sit around the dinner table for hours telling stories and playing cards, to gaze up at the most beautiful starry sky you've ever seen...

now, a couple weeks out of school, i am back in a place where time is a bit more fluid, where i have the time to reflect, to ponder, to imagine. i have left my 'time-conscious' country once again for the more flexible, always tentative, pace of nicaragua. i am here with a group of about 14 from furman to study the connections among the environment, poverty, and the health of communities.

echoing thoreau, i came to nicaragua 'because i wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach... i want to live deep and suck out all the marrow of life ... to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms, and, if it proves to be mean, why then to get the whole and genuine meanness of it, and publish its meanness to the world; or if it is sublime, to know it by experience, and be able to give a true account of it...'

leavin' on a jet plane

3.30.10

hello from maun, botswana! it's hard to believe we're leaving the day after tomorrow. we arrive in atl around 7am fri and in gsp at 10:40 am! i'm so excited to come home and see everyone, but sad the trip's almost over. it's been amazing in so many ways. can't write much cause i'm on a random computer at a campsite in botswana (strange, in and of itself), but i'll tell you fun stories i'm sure when i get back (if you want...)

we saw victoria falls in zimbabwe on what we dubbed 'failed state friday.' we also had lions strolling through our campsite. shower count has been low, but that's not much of a surprise. i should be studying for our final test right now... 

can't wait to see all of you! 

~sarah

pit latrines, elephant dung, and albino peacocks

3.13.10
hey from namibia! (note: a sign in the airport read, 'you in namibia.' gotta love it.)

internet has been sparse lately and is about to get sparser, but i at least have the chance to send out this update email before that occurs.

we made it safely to namibia, arriving in the windhoek airport (deja vu of 11 years ago, when my family arrived in africa for the first time). we stayed several nights kind of out in the middle of nowhere on the outskirts of the city at a place called penduka. we visited informal settlements, USAID headquarters, TB clinics and DOTS points, schools, a market, a women's empowerment activist organization, and an organization seeking to raise awareness and prevention of AIDS. we also broke into small groups with guides and visited different things in the katatura community. my group visited an art studio and a shop with all these hand made items, which were both really interesting. (sad news: i left my nalgene with all the stickers in the taxi and didn't realize till it drove away :( it is unhealthy how attached i get to my water bottles...)
we had the opportunity to go to megameno house (where a women has taken in twenty-some orphans from the community) three different times to hang out with the kids and love on them. the kids were so precious, and dr. maher said they've made huge strides since furman first started visiting megameno a few years ago.

we were split into pairs for 3-night urban homestays with families from windhoek. kasey and i were together with an adorable family. we went to a soccer game, china town (what the heck?), a "country club" (which was actually a casino with restaurants and a pool) just to walk around, and supermarkets/ outdoor markets. 

one of the most memorable stories of the weekend: the last night, our mama started telling us about her gall bladder surgery that she had back in '87 and whipped out a jar from under the sink full of all her gall stones!! then she proceeded to yank her dress up so we could see the foot and a half scar on her torso (underwear = slightly lacking/ could've used some situating). it was marginally horrifying.  

on another note, i got to visit the flat where my family used to stay when we lived in namibia 11 years ago and saw an old family friend, which was so surreal and exciting!

we then drove to the north for our 3-night rural homestays near khorixas. hannah and i were together and had such an interesting experience. we stayed in a room made out of a framework of big sticks covered in cow dung, slept under the mosquito nets we brought, and adjusted to the SLOW pace of life there. for the first 5 hours, we sat around with ouma (grandma) who didn't speak english and her 6-year-old granddaughter (beyonce) who wouldn't offer the little english she did know. after being offered some tea, at the bottom of which i found a spider, i started making some dinner with ouma over the fire. finally the daughter arrived with her baby son from khorixas, the nearby town, dropped of by usher. she was great, and her english was wonderful.

we went on a few walks, saw where elephants had recently left their mark, listened to jackals, played with baby turtles, kept an eye out for scorpions, peed in a pit latrine (or a bucket in the room if it was the middle of the night), had clicking lessons, and watched unbelievable sunsets. our mama braided my hair. her first attempt at braiding a white person's hair turned out impressively well.

we learned how to make pap, aka maize meal, or as i decided would be appropriate, 'cream of corn'. it made me think of my mom and her lumpy cream of wheat. i've never had so much of it in such a short amount of time. we would eat pap with salt, pap with milk, sugar, and cinnamon, pap with bbq flavoring, you name it. we also learned how to make fat cakes, aka 'olie bolle' ('oil balls') -- essentially donuts (like the beignets we used to have in benin).

one day hannah and i went out to try to milk the goats. it was tedious, between having to hold the goat still, not letting it kick the milk pail, watching out so that it didn't poop in my face, and getting milk up my nose. 20 goats later, we had about 3/4 cup of milk, complete with dirt chunks and maybe a couple goat hairs.

we spent the night after our homestays at a lodge in khorixas which had all kinds of game out in the open, right on the other side of this wire fence, including springbok (which are so cool to watch leap around), a huge ostrich, another kind of bok, and peacocks which would come over the fence and roam around a few feet away from us. one was albino! they had a "hot" tub, which was about 1 degree warmer, if that, than the pool, which had a cool waterfall and algae on the bottom. i can't leave out that there were germans in speedos too, adding to the atmosphere. 

today we drove about 8 hours to swakopmund on the coast of namibia. tomorrow is our free day, and a group of us are going sand boarding on the dunes! in a couple days, we're off to windhoek for one more night, botswana, and zimbabwe to see victoria falls!

looking forward to seeing everyone back home in a few weeks,

barton

goodbye south africa, hello namibia

3.01.10

it seems like so much has happened since I wrote last.

we just flew into capetown about a week ago and have been staying in an anglican guest house. (on the way in, they served us lunch on the plane at like 9:15, which was weird, unless you consider chicken sandwiches breakfast...) the place we're staying is so peaceful and all the rooms open up to the center courtyard, which is fun. the city is beautiful. the water is soo blue, and their are mountains right nearby.

our time here started out rough, as a couple thousand bucks and dr. maher's computer were stolen within the first hour or so. at least no one was hurt, and they didn't take all the money. we went to the slave lodge museum shortly after our arrival, which was eye-opening. we had a marathon class then sat out in the courtyard area of where we're staying for a long time hanging out.

the other day, we visited a museum about the forced removals from district 6, talked with a TAC (treatment action campaign) activist, had a lovely traditional meal, and walked through a township. then some of us went to a market, where they had SO many cool things. tonight a group of us are cooking at the mission, which should be fun.

a few days ago, we took a ferry to robben island, where mandela was imprisoned (we visited his jail cell). we saw seals, little penguins, and impala or springbok (i think, still not great on the whole antelope identification thing...) and got to take pictures of the gorgeous coastline. 

that afternoon, we went to table mountain, which juts up right beside the city, forming a drastic contrast that is so unexpected. we took a revolving trolley to the top and then hiked around. there were so many amazing photo ops. the views from all sides were unbelievable. you could see the ocean from the top, and the water was the most beautiful shade of blue. the mountain is actually one of the most biodiverse places in the world.
that night, we all went out for dinner and a show, which was fun. it was a tragi-comedic play about a couple in poland during ww2. i really enjoyed it. that night, people started dropping like flies, throwing up and getting diarrhea. i didn't have it too bad, but bad enough to have to stay home with the sick crowd the next day while the rest of the group went to cape point, saw penguins, and heard from bishop peter storey. it was good to be able to chill and rest though. i got a quality hammock nap in. (i just left it up in the courtyard and everyone has been taking turns chillin/sleeping in it.) by now, most everyone is doing better, but we still have a couple who aren't feeling on top of their game. :(

that night, 4 of us decided we wanted to grab dinner on the waterfront. it was a decent walk, and on the way, victor had a guy come up asking for money. he showed victor his knife to threaten him to give him more money. the rest of us didn't even see that the guy had a knife, he was so sneaky. luckily no one got hurt and the mugger left us alone after getting about $15 out of victor. it was scary though. (we took a taxi on the way back). we had dinner right on the water with live music. it was so much fun, other than the mugging part.

yesterday was our free day. a few of us took a picnic (and by picnic, i mean we took some produce and bread with us and ate it on a street corner on the steps of some building), went out shopping at the open air booths, and got so many fun things. once we got back after that long and painfully hot, but rewarding, shopping trip, we got word from ali that the fair trade indaba design expo thing that a few of them were at was incredible. sarafina and i headed back out to go to that. it was one of the coolest things i've ever been to-- a huge collection of amazing artisans/designers from the area who were displaying and selling their stuff. i bought a couple things, but it was so incredible to just walk around and look at everything. 

as we had an exam for dr. maher's global health class this morning, last night was a crazy study time. we were all together throughout the guest house/ courtyard, and needless to say, were getting so distracted. we had some tasty watermelon and took turns in my hammock. it was really fun (and almost worth the late hours of actual studying).

we have been on tours of a couple different townships since my last email, including one today. we also visited the bo-kaap museum (which describes the history of muslim life in cape town), and visited a spice market, which was interesting- i've never seen such huge quantities of spices in my life. afterwards, we went to a home in the area for a home-made middle eastern lunch. we got to each try our hand at making samoosas (little pastry-type triangles stuffed with meat and vegetables). the food was so delicious and different from other home-cooked food we have had on our trip. 

tonight, we are going to africa cafe (original, i know) for dinner, which is supposed to be really good. tomorrow morning, we leave around 5:30 am (ugh...) for the airport to go to windhoek, namibia.

it's crazy to think we've already been here about a month...

~sarah

hindu temples and bus rides

2.14.10

hey guys! we finally found an internet cafe with cheap and working internet which is very exciting (but as always, no coffee...).

since i last wrote we have traveled around quite a bit. we left joburg for kimberley (about 6 hrs away). There we went to a diamond mine/ museum and saw 'the big hole' (the largest hand-dug (i.e. not machine dug) hole in the world. it used to be a volcano, diamonds were mined, and now it has beautiful blue-green water at the bottom-- pretty cool). We visited the africana library where we did archival 'research' from primary sources, had a tour, and learned all about document and photo preservation. we also had a tour by this old guy with a cane wearing a trucker hat, a diamond mine polo, a camo vest, and navy sweat pants. he was pretty classy. dinner at the halfway house (this famous bar/club) took an hour before we could order and another hour to get our food, but it was still fun-- c'est afrique.


another 9 hour bus ride brought us to pietermaritzburg. the ride was pretty enjoyable-- breathtaking scenery, ostriches, impala/ springbok-type animals (i always get them all confused), and zebras!

we're in a hotel right now, which has been very nice. yesterday we went to a shembe service outside. we had to take our shoes off and sat on little mats in the shade, segregated male and female, and surrounded by hundreds of shembe followers. it was really interesting. they all were taking pictures of us on their phones, haha.

last night several of us went to a club at this casino because the owner made a deal with one of our guys to get us in free and get vip privileges, haha. it was a special valentine's night thing and a really funny experience. we were the only ones there for a while, so we just had our own party and chilled in the vip section. finally, once people got there, we were almost the only non-indians there. it was a pretty tame club and some of the music was hilarious. it was fun going out with our group.

today, we went to a hindu temple, which was fascinating. the religion is so complex. (interesting fact: i've now seen 3 penis statues in my short time in south africa - yes, 3.) we also went inside a mosque and ate at an indian restaurant decked out in cheesy valentine's day decor. i ordered a seafood platter, which turned out to be enough food for about 5 people! that was embarrassing/ funny, but i got to give the rest away to some hungry guys later, and they started jumping up and down they were so excited.

we took pics with gandhi's statue today, which was cool. he apparently started his non-violence here. i also saw alan paton street and got excited because he wrote cry, the beloved country, a book i've actually read. he was born here, so i'm told.

anyway, tomorrow we're off to the mountains around giant's castle, where we will have some time to relax and hike! apparently there are lots of monkeys around (mom, i'll do my best not to get scratched this time).

~sarah

still alive

2.08.10

we’re all still alive and doing great. we’re still crazy busy every day, but it’s been good. we just got back from our 3-night homestays. we were split into pairs and placed with families in soweto. my family was so precious. they took us to the mall, to 3 “kitchen parties,” to credo mutwa (sp? check it out online- crazy; art and sculptures of this guy’s prophecies; tower to see all of soweto; traditional zulu huts), to see the movie skin (highly recommend it!), and other exciting things. my house “mama” bought me earrings and treated all of us to kfc soft-serve. haha.

today we went to see the cargo of dreams. there were so many excited, adorable kids climbing all over us.

we’ve been to the hector pieterson and apartheid museums and been all over soweto. we’re headed to kimberley (to see the mines), durban, and cape town here soon. they don’t really tell us what’s going on much ahead of time, so I’m not really sure exactly what’s going down when.

by the way, i have 2 of the biggest bruises of my life right now. oh man. one is a random one on my arm that i got right before we left (no idea what from), and the other is from hitting the seatbelt when i was getting out of the van. classic.

communication is super sporadic and expensive, but i'll do my best to write more later,

sarah

beginnings...

2.04.10

we made it safely to johannesburg. the flight was super long, but good. we've been super busy since we've been here, but are learning a lot. i hope i will have time later to send more personalized emails, but the internet cafe is supposed to already be closed at this point...

so far, we've just been visiting museums, talking with activists, visiting towns, etc. we're staying at an anglican guest house/mission, which has been lovely. it has not been nearly as hot as i was expecting. it rains every evening, which is so beautiful. we're doing 3-night homestays this weekend.

i will write more later!

sgb

the blog

this blog is a rather spontaneous endeavor, created on this hot night in a guest house in managua. frustrated with my inability to leave and go into town at this hour unless accompanied by others, as it could be dangerous, i have decided to create a blog. this blog is a blog of musings, observations, stories, and ramblings. it is a blog of travels-- at least for now, and while i hope i will continue to have travels to speak of, i cannot speak for tomorrow. 

as i just returned from a study abroad in south africa, namibia, and botswana (with a little lesotho and zimbabwe thrown in), my blog will begin with my ramblings from that trip, with entries taken from emails i wrote while on that diverse, breathtaking continent. 

thus, as i sit here with a fan blowing in my face, listening to mangoes pelt the tin roof as they hit their ripening point, i attempt to create a blog...