Stuff to Bring to Peace Corps

Right around this time last year I was freaking out trying to gather everything I needed to move to Nicaragua for 27 months. No, who am I kidding? I started packing at around 8pm the night before I had to catch a 7am flight. BUT I imagine that normal people WOULD be freaking out. Sure, Peace Corps Nicaragua sent me a list of things I should bring – underpants, flashlight, deck of cards etc. It reads kinda like a list of what to take to summer camp. But this particular summer camp lasts two years and three months. In addition, I recently found out that a dear friend of mine will be arriving in Nicaragua to serve as a Peace Corps Volunteer next month, so this list started as an email to her and I thought that it might be helpful to others as well.

•Exercise stuff! – You’re going to be here for two years, there are no gyms, you’re eating rice and beans and everything is fried. That means that boys lose weight and girls gain weight (usually). So, bring your yoga mat! You can use it for tons of things (including a bed) and I’m sooo happy to have mine. Also, books or dvds of workouts are nice, as well as a good pair running shoes.

•Tea – It’s impossible to get good tea here so it has to be imported.

•Spices – Sure, you can get normal seasonings but if you like curry, or turmeric, or that sort of thing you should BYO.

•Seeds – to plant your own herb gardens. I have sweet basil, lemon basil, mint, and cilantro growing.

•Your favorite jeans – I know, the PC list says to bring business casual and that jeans are not acceptable. But guess what? They are! I wear jeans almost every day as does every other professional in my community. Basically, bring clothes that you like.

•Dress-Up Clothes – Um, Alicia, we’re going dancing. So bring something cute. I can lend you something if you want. Also, you can buy stuff down here. But probably bring your favorite high heels.

•Photos – Of you, of your family, of your house. Everyone wants to know where you come from and what you’re about!

•Laptop – I use it all the time. There are cyber cafes everywhere but most of them don’t have skype and you can’t download onto them. Also, it’s nice to be able to watch movies and listen to music at home.

•Ipod – I ride the bus A LOT and I can only listen to so many hours of reggaeton and cumbia. Also, when you’re feeling down or lonely it’s nice to be able to listen to music.

•Anything else that you need to be comfortable! – No one will judge you if you bring a blow dryer for your hair, for example. If you want it, or plan on wanting it in the next 27 months then bring it!

I’m sure there are things that I’ve forgotten and things that you’ll only miss once you get down here, but this is a short list of things that I’m really glad I brought or had to have sent to me. Also, if anyone else out there has questions on what to bring, or anything else for that matter, feel free to email me! Also, this is a photo of my neighbor pig. Don’t grow too attached, he’ll be eaten soon.

The Crazies

Ventura and I have been co-habitating for 5 days now and we already have our routine down perfect. No, I haven’t taken a live-in boyfriend, or roommate. Ventura is the town crazy who has decided to take up residence on my front stoop. His reasons for preferring my stoop to the stoop of others have led me to start a town-wide stoop analysis. As I go about my daily life, I take note of the other stoops throughout town. What makes my stoop different from the others? One would be quick to point out that, clearly, the fact that it is, for the time being, a North American stoop. Okay, I can see that. But why would he care? The thought process could have included him thinking, “Well, the white girl has more money and might therefore give me more food.” But in 5 days he has proven this theory to be incorrect.

Our day begins at 5am when he starts yelling from the stoop, to me, to passersby, to the chickens, “¡Quiero café!” At about 6:30am we have our first encounter as I am sweeping out the previous days dust, depositing it back outside so that it can spend the day thinking of ways to outsmart me and come back in. Ventura looks at me with a hint of sweetness in his eyes “Quiro café” he repeats more politely. To which I patiently explain to him that I do not drink coffee but instead tea. His face never fails to reveal his emotions as he becomes downcast at the news. On day 2 of his stay I offered him tea and he eagerly nodded and smiled a toothless smile. I made him a cup of Earl Grey and he took one sip and spat it out on my. He asked for sugar. I gave him honey. He still didn’t drink the tea. He asked for tortilla. I explained to him that I don’t eat tortillas but that I would be happy to share my melon with him. He nodded delightfully but later I found the melon, untouched, and hidden in a corner.

As I leave the house to go to work I wish him a good day and he in return giggles a little and smiles shyly. I return for lunch to find Ventura sleeping on the porch, his boots with no laces set neatly next to him and his tattered red blanket covering his body. My porch is shaded most of the day until late afternoon when the sun’s rays are strong and unrelenting. He sleeps through everything and looks peaceful.

He wakes up again in the early evening and leaves – I assume looking for dinner. He walks through the street muttering incomprehensibly under his breath and looking for treasures in the gutters – bottle caps, rocks, sticks. Sometimes he loses his pants and wanders naked. The good people of my town take him in, bathe him, dress him, feed him, and send him on his way. Everyone knows him; everyone gives him what they can when he asks. I hear him again in the early morning, before the chickens wake up and long before my neighbor women start making tortillas. Its 1am, 2am, 3am, and he’s alone on my porch cackling loudly, yelling angrily, and sometimes crying. His dementia torments him when the rest of the world is sleeping soundly.

I’ve tried talking to Ventura, I wanted to know how gone he really was.

-“Ventura, when is your birthday?”
-“Who knows.”
-“Ventura, how old are you?”
-“Who knows.”
-“Ventura, where were you born?”
-“Up in the mountains. I want coffee.”

And so, I explain to him again patiently that I have no coffee and instead bring him a banana, a compromise for the both of us.