Adios Nica!

Our days in Nicaragua have speedily come to an end. It is very hard to believe we’ve been here over three months. After reading Travis’s closing thoughts on this country, I’d have to say I wholeheartedly share his sentiments and don’t have much to add that would be different. Instead, I’d like to ponder three characteristics I have experienced in the Nicaraguan people that have moved and inspired me. From what I’ve seen, these characteristics are not easily replicated in other countries and I’m curious if they are unique just to Nicaragua. What do you think?

TRUST
The power of giving your word goes a long way here. From day one in Nicaragua, Travis and I noticed the lack of detailed paperwork, contracts or the typical necessity of giving out personal information. We first experienced this signing up for our original language school at Casa Xalteva, as no credit card information was needed to reserve our classes or accommodation. This has also been the procedure for every hotel we’ve made reservations at in this country. We call ahead and give our desired dates to make the reservation, and all they ever ask for in return is our last name. It’s always fun to hear Travis spelling it with the Spanish alphabet. (He was doing this yesterday for a hotel in Guatemala and I think the lady had him repeat the spelling like 8 times. I got a kick out of listening to him patiently handle this accent and language barrier.)

At the video store in Matagalpa, we rented many DVD’s without ever needing to open an official account. Again, we just said our name, promised to bring the movie back and we were good to go! No fines or penalties were given if we kept the movie for several nights. We actually saw about all of the Oscar-nominated movies this last month because of the huge market of pirated videos here. Who would have known?

The most amazing example of trust though was displayed in the rental of our house. Truly all we did was meet our landlady, take a tour and tell her we wanted to rent it for 2 months. Never did we sign a contract, give her our passport numbers, or even have to share an emergency contact name. The good thing about this is that if she isn’t happy about how we left things, she has no way of finding us! (No worries... we left it in perfect condition.)

Oh yeah, one more… at the Academia Europea where we’ve taught this whole time, we never signed a work contract, gave an address, or anything along those lines. However, they held out to their promises and we still received our paychecks on time.

RESPECT
The formality of respect we’ve encountered here has been a welcoming surprise. During all greetings, whether it was an official introduction or just a passing on the street, it is always customary for the man to extend his hand in a warm handshake. This was true with our friends, our students, many of the waiters in restaurants, and even sometimes with complete strangers.

A big surprise to us was the way our students treated us with an elevated, almost reverent level of respect. Besides never using our first names and only calling us "teacher," our students never dared to walk in our classrooms late without asking us for permission to pass first. It was so bizarre to me to see my student standing by the door waiting for me to allow them entry. Despite the fact that they were tardy, it was very considerate. I just felt so official having to ask them in!

HOSPITALITY/KINDNESS
One of the best parts of long-term travel as opposed to a short one-week trip, is the opportunity it’s given us to invest in the people and develop culturally rich relationships. Typically on a vacation, most of your time is spent in hotels and restaurants, sharing moments with just your traveling companions. In Nicaragua, we spent more time in people’s homes than we did in the tourist hot-spots. This gifted us with an overflowing river of authentic cultural insight. There’s nothing liking sitting at the dinner table with a Nicaraguan family, speaking in Spanish and eating their food with them. Of course, as we’ve shared in earlier blogs, not all of the meals hit our taste buds with the most savory flavors, but the experiences outweighed the taste. One thing we learned is that Nicas LOVE their country, and they LOVE to share it with others. Never during a conversation here were we asked about our lives in the USA, the topic always centered on Nicaragua and life here. I think they were generally thrilled to have us living among them, and wanted to make sure we were getting the most out of our time here.

I have two quick stories to illustrate the Nica hospitality and kindness that happened just this last week. The first was on Monday afternoon, when Mario and Carlek, our language intercambio friends, came to our home for our last meeting. For the last two months, we’ve met twice a week for conversational language practice. To our surprise, this week they came to our door with smiling faces and their hands full. They brought along with them all the homemade fixing’s for “enchiladas Nica” and another traditional fried plantain dish, which they prepared in front of us to share together. We had a lovely little fiesta talking about our favorite Nicaraguan moments.

The second story gives a perfect example of the kindness that’s been displayed. Travis and I set out to find the post office to mail a package home containing a few things that were weighing down our bags. (The post office system is a story in itself, but I’ll leave that be for now.) We successfully located the office and prepared our items for shipping, but we needed a box and packaging materials in order to send it. Unfortunately, the post office didn’t have these things, so they told us to go to a store on the corner where we might find them. We were expecting some kind of paper product/box store, but found just a small little book and gift store. The storeowner saw us step in and asked what we were looking for. (Every time we entered a store here we were always sought after within seconds and asked “Que busca?”…. “What are you looking for?”)

I showed the woman our package contents and tried to explain to her in my Spanish that we were hoping to buy a box that would fit these items. Before we knew it, she called over one of her employees and sent her to the back to find us a box. We patiently waited several minutes, and when the employee brought us back a box, it was too small. So, the owner again took charge of the situation and made it her quest to help us out. She quickly picked up our package items and asked us to follow her to a neighboring store. Being that she had our stuff in hand, we dutifully went with her. Within the next five minutes, we watched the employees of this store put together cardboard to make us a perfectly sized box and package up all of our items with care (and a lot of tape!). Travis and I didn’t have to lift a finger; everything was taken care of for us. All this, and they wouldn’t accept our offer to pay them for the box or for their help! We were deeply moved, and realized this demonstration of their kindness was just a typical part of the people here. Although we felt like we were making them go out of their way to help us out, they were really just treating us as they would any other, without putting thought into it first. This was an excellent lesson on the value of the golden rule: “Treat others like how you would like to be treated in return.”

In conclusion, the spirit and warmth of the Nicaraguan people is something I plan to cherish for a long time. As we go tomorrow to Guatemala and leave this place behind, our hearts are filled with anticipation and excitement to meet new faces from a new culture, who supposedly are as hospitable and kind, if not more so, than their Nicaraguan neighbors.