Thursday, May 24, 2012- Managua

Today was a very long day. I got up really early and went to Managua with Alvaro, Dennis, and Bianney. The original plan was to spend the mornings in meetings and then spend the afternoon shopping. However, it did not turn out that way. We got to Managua a little bit late after having stopped for breakfast along the way. Then, we had to drop some barrels off at the Peace Corps office to be used for ovens. They were already welded and ready for use. However, we got lost and couldn’t find the office.

At this point I would like to make two points. The first is that nearly everyone is always late here. No one ever seems to be in a big hurry. They say they will meet you at nine, but they will really show up between 9 and 10. I try to be ready as scheduled but compensate for their lateness by reading a book. The second point I would like to make is that cities are incredibly hard to navigate. There are no street signs or street names for that matter. Addresses are given in relation to major landmarks within the city or by the name of the neighborhood it’s in.

Once we dropped off the barrels at Peace Corps, we made our way to the FUNICA office for our second and last meeting of the day. FUNICA is a large non-profit organization in Nicaragua that helps other groups with projects. EOS has a drip irrigation project with them. The purpose of the meeting was to show them our reports on funds and progress. However, we showed up at the wrong place (their office rather than the hotel where everyone was meeting), and from my understanding, the financial part of the report was in the wrong format. We ended up being there for the rest of the day to fix it.

I did get to see the large mall in Managua when we went to the bank. My ATM cards worked, which was a huge relief to me! I even bought a couple of books. I bought “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas” and “The Little Prince” both in Spanish. Alvaro and I did not leave Managua until 7:30 that night, and we still stopped for barrels in order to make more ovens for Peace Corps on the way home.

EOS truck loaded down with 15 barrels!

Christopher Faye, Me, and Alvaro in front of the truck