Wandering Shepard: Villa La Vida Loca

I have officially spent and survived my first week in site, in my new home in fact, in Villa El Carmen. That feels wierd to say, my new home. It makes it sound much more permanent. This past week was hectic and action packed, but it sort of felt like a vacation because it was a break from training. The Peace Corps decided to take the handcuffs off the handcuffs for the first time since training, and let us roam free in our new sites and new communities. Training by the way is very structured and we're very limited in what we can and can't do. But that's the life of the lowest level of government employee. So when I do return to site in three weeks after swearing in, I return to my permanent home, and I really haven't had a permanent home in five years or so, between school, the vineyard, my brief stint in Frisco, and my time spent in Niquinohomo. I'm looking forward to a room I can call my own, and I'm stoked to return and start working.

The long, lonely road to one of my schools, which is located a couple clicks off this highway on a dirt road

Now this entire week I was supposed to be introduced to all of my schools by a Tecnico provided by the Ministry of Education (MinEd), but when I showed up at MinEd on Tuesday morning, they weren't expecting me and were too busy with mid year evaluations of all the schools in the municipality. Which meant I was on my own to visit and introduce myself to all 7 of my schools, and 5 of the 7 are in particularly rural areas in the municipality, and not too easy to find. Finding the schools proved to be easy. It was the introductions that proved to be interesting, because essentially I was showing up unexpected to each of these schools. Monday I had made a schedule with my counterparts, but as it turns out, they were so anxious to leave our day long charlas in Managua, that they didn't put to much effort or thought into the schedule, and either a) no one knew I was coming or b) the times I was suppose to be there didn't coincide with school or teacher hours. Super frustrating, but it's part of life down here, and I have to get used to being patient. However, at each school I just "popped" into, I got very warm welcomes, and to my surprise my Spanish is good enough to get by in these impromptu situations. So I got that going for me, which is nice.


Casey and Nicole, in front of their banner in the Villa

At the schools that have been working with the Peace Corps, I had the help from the current volunteers in Villa El Carmen, who I'm replacing. Casey and Nicole (a married couple) are leaving a week from Wednesday, and they couldn't have been more helpful with me in their advice and wisdom. They turned their farewell parties at their schools into an opportunity to introduce me to the community, and were just all around All Stars. I owe them a lot, and wish nothing but the best for them on their return to the states. Banners were put up in the town saying how much they'll be missed and one couple is going to name their new born child after them, depending on the sex. So I have some big shoes to fill, and two pairs. I'm looking forward to the challenge.

I also have the opportunity to work with the "Fab" Fab, Fabio Zamora. Fabio is a direct product of the enprendedurismo class, and just recieved a $7000 grant from USAID to build a local and start production. So I will be working with him from the ground up on the development of this business Naranja Agria. There are many orange farms in the local area, and Fabio had the bright idea to create an orange extract for cooking, that apparently is absolutely delicious. And all of you must buy a batch once production is done. Fabio, by the way, is 17 years old, and just started at the University to become a lawyer. The kids driven, and I look forward working with him. I could care less about working with NGO's, it was working with local entrepreneurs, and thats what I got. It's gonna be an exciting couple of months working with Fabio, although I really need to brush up on my business vocab; I struggled getting my point across on the more technical stuff.
The town itself is much smaller than I expected, My site packet says 6800 in the town center, but I find that a little tough to believe. It's essentially a one street town, with a couple of pulperias, one "restaurant", one bar, and an Ice Cream Shop. And I live in the Ice Cream shop, which is in the center of town, which is owned by my new host family. I realized this week that I will miss Dona Ivone and my family in Niquinohomo, but I'm getting a pretty good deal in Villa El Carmen, a good substitute. I have a 27 year old sister, who wants to teach me how to dance salsa (watch out ladies), and a 23 year old brother who I share a side of the house with. It seems like a pretty good dynamic in the house, and I'm excited about the things to come. They tell me that the town is super safe, and that I never have to worry about personal safety. And normally it's a real quite town, but I caught the start of their Festival Patronales, which is a big deal in every Nica town, and it's an excuse to party hard for three weeks, so I'm just missing it. Bullfights, Marching Bands, Rodeos, and lots of Rum. Everything you need for a good weekend. Here's the opening ceremonty the Tope de Toros, which passed right through the center of town. It consisted of about 50 cowboys herding 7 or 8 big bulls through town to the bull ring, and these two guys dancing in front. And the tall women costume really weirded me out.

Some of my pc friends are in bigger sites and large cities, but I'm loving the small town feel. If I wanted to volunteer in a big city in Nicaragua, I would have stayed in the United States; you feel like you've never left. And if the small town ever gets to small for me and I feel the need to escape, the beach is 30 minutes away, with some excellent swell. At first chance I'm buying a board, and start ripping. Here are some pictures of da beach at Masachapa, but for those who want to hear more about my adventure, you'll have to email me at sam.shepard12@gmail.com Some things aren't meant for all ears.

Looking back at the week, it feels as though the site chose me. It seems like a perfect fit, and I'm excited to get back. I will definitely miss the proximity of all my friends, but this is what I've been wanting to do for years now. And now that its so close to being a reality, I'm chomping at the bit to get started. But until then, it's time to take advantage of my last three weeks of training and have some fun spending my time exploring the area with my new close friends. Should be a wild last three weeks!