Odds and Ends of our Nica Lifestyle

A daily run-down of our Nicaraguan life…

Our days here in Nica are passing by pretty quickly considering the slow pace of life here. We’ve fallen into a familiar schedule (which we learned doesn’t take long for us to develop in new places) and look forward to each day. Days begin early when we wake up before 7:00am to take our cold showers. We have our own little shower in our room, which is quite a gift as it adds to the privacy we have here, despite the fact that we’re living with a family. We head out to the dining area of the house around 7:30am, where Javiera has our breakfast ready and brings it out to us at the table. There is no typical breakfast here, as she tends to bring something different out everyday. I was really excited the first day when we had yogurt, corn flakes and fruit- my breakfast of choice at home. I thought for sure we’d have that or something similar everyday, but we’ve only been served yogurt one other time since then. Sometimes we get a piece of buttered bread with Nica cheese on the side, other times we get a sandwich of sorts containing the tiniest piece of ham I’ve ever seen. Twice we’ve been served a tasty scrabbled egg dish (our favorite), and three times we’ve been served only a plate of fruit. We really never know what to expect for this meal, but we do always get a cup of Nescafe. Oddly enough, even though we are living amongst coffee farms galore here in Central America, instant coffee is what is served everywhere. We just learned why this is, and it is of course due to the price of the coffee beans- the beans here are mostly grown just for exporting, where as the locals get what they call the “leftovers,” because it’s more economic for them. Apparently the same goes for rice. The good rice they grow gets exported, and the Nicas consume the leftovers. This just doesn’t seem fair to me!

After breakfast, we head out on the street and take our short 7-block walk to our school. The first 2 hours of instruction are usually spent in conversation, then we take a short break. Travis and I have found a cute panderia (bakery) a few blocks away and head there each day for delicious and cheap pastries. They know us there now and are always friendly as we place our order. It’s not quite the same as our favorite morning café in Madrid (I especially miss the coffee!), but it’s a perfect replacement for now. If there are other students at our school, we’ll usually spend a few minutes getting to know them as well during these breaks. But, with the economy as it is and the recent political situation in Nica due last month’s election, tourism is down and so is the number of students at Casa Xalteva. This week it’s just the 2 of us and one other person!

After another 2 hours of instruction (these hours focused more on grammar lessons and verb conjugations), we’re assigned our homework and head home for lunch at 12:15pm. This is more than 2 hours earlier than we ate lunch in Spain! We’re used to it now though, and are always starving on our short, but hot, walk home. Again, all we do is walk in the door and within moments our hot meals are placed at the table. We’ve asked many, many times if we can help in any way (even if just by bringing out the food to the table), but we’re always turned us down and served instead. Javiera dishes up portions personalized to each of us (based on size and what she remembers from what we’ve ate in the past), so we have no choice in how much of each type of food we’d like to eat. Instead, we try to eat what in front of us and that’s that! Regardless of whether it’s something we love or can hardly stomach, Travis and I have both done a pretty amazing job at consuming some very unique foods that we’d rarely eat if we were cooking on our own. (More on what we eat later…)

After lunch, Travis and I have about 10 minutes to catch our breath before we head back out the door just before 1pm, back to Casa Xalteva to do our afternoon volunteer teaching. We teach our first class of intermediate students together, with our focus mainly on conversational lessons and games based on different conversation topics. In this class we have 4 students- 3 of which are in their early 20’s (2 are Spanish teachers at Casa Xalteva) and one 11-yr. old named Gregory whose English is too high to be in the lower-level class with kids his age. Gregory actually speaks at a level higher than all four. Although this little age difference forces us to get a bit more creative in finding applicable conversation topics for everyone, we make it work by keeping it simple and having enough planned to allow for a lot of variety. Because I have needed some extra time this month to work on my psychology graduate school applications, Travis teaches the 2nd English class on his own. This class has 3 younger kids (9-13 yrs.) who are at a much lower speaking level, so it is a little bit more challenging to teach them. However, Travis of course plans highly engaging and structured topical lessons for them each day, and I’m more than sure the kids are probably having a great time learning with him.

Travis joins me back at the house around 3:20pm, when I put the computer away and we plan our afternoon excursion. Because we did a lot of organized touring the first week with our school, we’ve spent the last few weeks exploring on our own (which is truly our preference) on foot or by bicycle. It’s been so fun for us to be back on bikes again after 3 months. We found a nice rental shop where we can rent for $1 an hour. Sure, the bikes are very decrepit, used and rusty, but they do the job and the squeaking of the chains just adds to the adventure. We’ve quickly established our favorite routes that include the following criteria for us: great scenery, wide streets to allow for room and safety from traffic, semi-level terrain and safe areas for “gringos.” Of course, just like in Spain, we’re always stared at as people here find it strange that we would actually take a walk or a ride for exercise. This is especially true in Central America as for most, walking and riding bike is the main mode of transport. Many Nicas like to yell random comments out to us to use the small amount of English they know. It’s not surprising for us to here things like “Hey gringos…. What’s up…. Hello…. Good-bye….” etc. When I’m alone, the comments double, but that’s why I’m not alone often.

Around 5:00pm we return to our casa, take another quick cold shower, and settle into our 2 plastic chairs. Here we aim to get our homework done before dinner, while at the same time watching a little American teli in the background. We actually have more cable channels (about half in English, subtitled in Spanish) on the TV in our bedroom than we did at our apartment in Pasadena. Around 6:20ish every night Javier calls us and says “a la cena” or something like that (It’s time for dinner). So, we head to the dinner table where, like at lunch, our pre-served dinner is sitting there waiting for us. Dinner is getting increasingly difficult for us to consume. Mostly, because it’s about the same every night with maybe a little variety in the way the same food is prepared or presented. Like, instead of the beans and rice being served together as the traditional gallo pinto, they’ll be served separately side-by-side. Or, there will be cream and hot sauce on the table to put on top of the beans and rice. Sometimes, we’ll get a tortilla with it, other times a hot dog bun (random). If we’re really lucky, we’ll get a tiny little cabbage salad. For the last week, I’ve taken 2-3 tomatoes along with me to eat with my dinner because I’m dying for some nutrients from vegetables. You’d think Javiera would get the hint and give us more veggies, but I guess this is just not typical in her family. Oh well. They cost about 20 cents from the vendors on the street, about a block from our casa. Dinner is definitely the small meal here… lunch is a much better portion.

We finish our day by heading out each evening to one of our two favorite coffee shops/wireless internet cafes in town. We’ve found there to be great coffee and ice cream at each (as well as food which we sometimes have to order because we didn’t get enough to eat at dinner), and we’ve even made a few Nica friends with the coffee clerks (Xisis is our favorite- she even invited us to her house for Christmas Eve). The other day they asked if I could help them out with another costumer. I wondered what they might need, and it turned out they needed a translator! I was so excited that they actually considered my Spanish to be decent enough to ask me to translate for another couple. It was a joyful little moment of pride for me (however, don’t ask how jealous Travis was that they didn’t ask him… I know it had nothing to do with our Spanish levels, it most likely was because I’m a girl and they’re girls… you know, a bonding thing… at least that’s how I reassured Trav!).

So anyway, at the internet cafes we catch up on the outside world, finish any homework, plan our English lessons, and research our next travel plans. We typically shut down the place each night when they close their doors at 9:00pm. Although these cafes have been great havens for us, we don’t necessarily love being among the gringo clientele there. Not the best local scene- strictly the traveler and backpack scene. I guess it is somewhat interesting to see where these tourists are coming from in the world (we’ve found there to be more Europeans and Canadians here than Americans, and many more girls traveling in big groups than guys), but we still prefer to be among natives rather than the traveler crowd. I think that if we were taking a traditional vacation something like this wouldn’t matter, but with this year’s goal to live among the people and the culture, when we’re in an “Americanized” coffee shop it sometimes feels just a little too comfortable and familiar.

Once again we return home and ring the little doorbell to our house to be let in. That is at least if our family is not sitting out on the sidewalk in their rocking chairs (5 out of 7 nights they are). After a brief day’s end Spanish conversation, we retreat to our nice private room in the back of the house and settle in for the evening. And that is the day-and-the-life of T&T in Nicaragua! Of course, we only have one more week of this lifestyle, and have yet to finalize our next steps in Central America (still haven’t chosen what country we’re living in next). As always, we’ll keep you posted as soon as we know ourselves!

A few tipico (typical) mealtime traditions when living with a Nica family

We can’t leave Nicaragua until we tell you a little bit more about the food we’ve been eating. Although the variety is not vast here, it has definitely been unique and different enough to make for a blog entry. I’ve already shared with you about breakfast, so we’ll start with lunch…

**Lunchtime is the main meal of the day here, so if we are going to be served meat during the day, it would be at lunchtime. Therefore, if we’re not served meat, we know that it might be a “hungrier” day for us because dinner won’t have it either. That might mean stopping at a hot dog stand later in the evening to keep Trav’s tummy full. (Oddly enough, hot dog stands are everywhere here! Just like you’d see at a baseball game. Being that baseball is so popular here, that’s a big reason as to why it’s the same with hotdogs.)

**All meals are served with homemade “fresca” (freshly made tropical juices) to drink. And this does not just mean one type of juice per day or week, this means a new, fresh made juice at every meal! Apparently, it is similar to an insult here if you only serve your guests water. Nica’s want to “show their best” in their hospitality and serving fresca is a must. Additionally, if juice were not served, it would reflect that the family might be poor and of course the family does not desire this image. We’ve learned there are a few exceptions to the “juice rule” though- you never drink juice with soup (just water) and with fish you drink coca-cola (“Mr. Big” is the popular coke brand here).

**Lunch is always served with platanos (plantains- a savory type of banana). This is true in every household in Nicaragua. We are lucky that our family prefers boiled plantains rather than fried, because most families consume the latter. Although I couldn’t handle eating this fried food everyday, the fried ones are excellent and we’ve enjoyed them a few times at restaurants here. Although you wouldn’t think a banana-like food would go with every lunch, I’ve grown quite fond of them and enjoy the bit of sweetness with my meal. Travis has had a harder time finishing his lately, but hey, it has been over 3 weeks of them already…. Wait till we get to the cheese.

**Many meals are served with this typical slice of Nica cheese. I don’t really know how to explain it so I’ll use Trav’s description: “It tastes like moldy socks.” It has a similar consistency to feta cheese, but the taste is very sharp and strong; it can overpower all the food on your plate. This cheese is not kept in the refrigerator, and is sold outside in the fresh air markets covered only with a small piece of saran-wrap (if you’re lucky) to keep away the flies. Just having that image in your mind when it’s sitting in front of you on your plate makes it a little hard to consume. We’ve guessed it’s served so often because it’s a very cheap alternative to serving meat. Therefore, it often shows up with our beans and rice at dinner. Again, this cheese is most enjoyed by Nicas when it is fried up and served with your meal. However, the one time Javiera did this we did not clear our plates- so I guess she got the picture and has not prepared it this way for us again. I’ve surprisingly developed a taste for this cheese and I think it flavors up the beans rather nicely (especially with a little hot sauce added). Travis on the other hand is “tapped out-” he doesn’t even worry anymore about possibly insulting them by leaving it on his plate- he just absolutely cannot stomach it. It’s actually pretty funny to watch him roll his eyes when he continues to see it on his plate everyday. This time, Javiera is not getting the clue. He tries to pawn it off on me just as I try to pawn off any of my extra food to him, but even though I like it, my portion is more than enough!

**Gallo Pinto! This is the most famous dish of Nicaragua. Basically, it’s beans mixed with rice, but it’s flavored well in the way it’s cooked (with onions and spices). Most Nicaraguans eat gallo pinto every night. In fact, it’s pretty typical to always have 2 warm pots stewing on the stove each day- a pot of beans and a pot of rice (this is absolutely true in our house). Oh wait, there’s also the pot cooking the plantains. Anyway, the beans are of the red/black variety, and the rice is your basic white grain. Surprisingly, although we’re served this meal for about 5 out of 7 dinners per week, it still tastes pretty good when we’re hungry and the carbo load definitely fills us up.

**Regarding vegetables, I miss them! I’m not sure if it’s just our Nica family, but to find one vegetable in this house can be a challenge. There’s two occasions in which we have vegetables. First, if they are included in the preparation of a meat dish. For example, a chicken or pork cooked with onions and tomatoes to add to the flavor. Second, if we’re lucky enough to be served a tiny Nica salad on the side. The Nica salad is diced white cabbage, a few thinly sliced carrots, slices of a green pepper (a variety I’ve never seen before), dressed with a tart vinegar dressing. Sometimes it’s served on top of a cooked yucca (a thick squash) with fried pork rinds- this dish is called “Vigeron.” We don’t mind this salad (without the yucca and pork), but wish it was bigger and contained more GREEN veggies. I’ve had the hardest time dealing with the lack of veggies in my diet, since they are among my favorite things to eat. Oh well, you can’t change cultural traditions…. And I’m pretty sure Javiera wants to show us her Nica cooking in the most authentic way (not in a way catered to our veggie-craving diets).

**A sampling of a few meals: (sorry I can’t remember any of the true Nica names in Spanish for these dishes… I can’t even understand them when Javiera tells us what they are. I just get the gist of what’s inside, how it’s prepared, and why it’s a Nica favorite)

-Vigeron: Granada’s most famous meal. As explained before, it is a boiled yucca (spongy potato-squashy thing) placed on a plantain leaf, topped with thinly sliced white cabbage, chopped native grown green pepper, and fried pork rinds mixed together in a vinegar flavor. We’ve had this served to us several times at the table, but also at our “padre’s” kiosk in town where it’s among one of the 50+ places in Granada where it’s sold.
-Greesa?: It was called something like that. It was this chopped up white squash that resembled a zucchini- was boiled and mixed in a cream sauce with spices. This was served for lunch with rice and plantains.
-The spaghetti and rice day: This was classic- when have you ever been served pasta and rice on the same plate for the same meal? Anything goes here- a type of spaghetti mixed with a white sauce and some onions, served with rice next to it. Talk about a carbo load.
-Carne and vegetables: We’ve had many lunch meals with some type of red meat or pork that’s been stewed with a tiny selection of vegetables, served again with rice and plantains. Each dish has it’s own special name as Javiera brings it proudly to the table and gives us the title. Although the first several dishes of this type of food tasted like great comfort food, we’re noticing now that regardless of the different meats or veggies used, it’s all starting to taste the same. Oh well, it still fill us up and home cooked meals are definitely better than any other more expensive alternative!
-Bean soup: Probably my favorite dish. The beans here have actually been the tastiest beans I’ve ever had in my life. Much preferable to me over rice. Beans have never been a big part of my diet or a favorite of mine, but now they are a staple in my daily intake and I actually crave them when dinner time roles around. Something about the savory way they are prepared flavored with sautéed onion, seasonings and salt, makes them just right. Anyway, one day Javiera made for us a soup with the traditional beans pureed, and it was delicious. It was topped with sliced white cabbage and cheese. The surprising thing about it was when I took my first bite; I discovered a fully in-tack hard-boiled egg just below the surface (shell off of course). We had a great source of protein that day!
-Pollo Asado: Travis’s favorite. Simple chicken grilled to perfection. Usually served with fried plantains and a cabbage salad. We haven’t had this in our casa, but it’s Trav’s favorite to our when we’re out at a restaurant.
-Sopa de pescado/pollo/vegetables: My favorite. I love the huge bowls of soups here, again served in the restaurants not typically at our house, filled with tasty broth and many vegetables. My favorite is at this local little joint where for just $2 I get a huge bowl full of veggies. We sometimes stop here before or after dinner time to get our nutrients.

This about sums up our daily eating habits in Nicaragua… Would you say we're eating like the locals, or what?