Myth: Roosters only crow at sunrise

This is my shower…the bucket is in the lower left hand corner and my goal is only to use half a bucket of water in order to conserve!

This is the bathroom, shower and laundry room all in one.

This is the rooster that wakes me up all the time.

This is a concrete washboard where I wash all of my clothes. I use a bar of soap and scrub!

I can definitely say that roosters do not crow simply at sunrise. In fact, they crow all night long. Once one rooster starts to crow the other neighborhood roosters decide to join in the fun. Around 2am I hear the call of the rooster, and again at 3am, and 4am, and finally my wake-up call at 5am. In addition, the rooster at my house likes to jump on the roof of my room and walk around. The roof is made of zinc and therefore when the rooster trots along it makes a lot of noise. We’re still in the rainy months and when it rains at night, the sound of the rain hitting the zinc sounds like a hurricane is about to blow through my roof. However, since I have been here for a while I am getting used to the noises and tend to sleep through most of the rooster crowing but not the rain!

This week is site selection, which means my location/town for the next 2 years will be selected by the beginning of next week. The next step will be to visit the site and in a few weeks move to my new home. I am excited and nervous because there are a lot of options and I could be placed anywhere around the country on the Pacific side (Peace Corp does not place any volunteers on the Atlantic coast due to dangers associated with drug runners).

My little brother Oscar has been helping me learn more Spanish vocabulary and in turn I help him with his English. He is only 6 years old but is very bright and likes to share. I never thought I would have a 6 year old teaching me but it turns out that Oscar makes a very good professor. It is a very humbling experience.

The thing I miss the most and will not find anywhere in Nicaragua is cheese. They do have plenty of cheese here but it is very different from cheese in the states. It is very salty and has an interesting after taste. I miss sharp cheddar! The good news is there is a pizza place that serves a pretty decent slice of pie but even the mozzarella cheese they use has a slight aftertaste. I did inquire into how they process their cheese but no one I asked was quite sure. Maybe if I get placed in a farming community I will be able to see the cheese making process.

This morning my breakfast was awesome…a typical breakfast consists of scrambled eggs with ham, beans and rice, avocado, banana, freshly backed tortilla and tea or coffee. For lunch I receive shredded chicken with onions and tomato and a salad of beats, squash, tomato, avocado, and some kind of green veggie (that doesn’t translate into English) and fresco to drink (the frescos vary from fruit juice to iced tea). Dinner is usually a small meal of ham or chicken and tortilla. The main staple food here is beans and rice.

The electricity has been going out a lot more frequently lately and whenever the electricity and water is out my Nicaraguan mother gets very upset. She has a small business in the local school (un bar). She sells drinks, sandwiches, and snacks. However, when the power and water go out it makes her business very unproductive. The drinks are not cold and the kids do not buy the drinks when they are warm. Therefore, she loses business. The morale of the whole town diminishes when there is no electricity (even though it is a frequent occurrence) and when the electricity is restored people are cheering in the streets. My mother also told me that 30 years ago there was no electricity or running water. To do the laundry people would walk several miles to a Laguna where there were concrete wash boards lined up side by side. Although the cloths are still cleaned on the same concrete wash boards, the people have the wash boards located in their backyards and do not have to hike to the Laguna for water. The conditions have obviously improved but it is still very difficult for my family. All 3 of my brothers are university students (but they also have full time jobs) and at night is when they study. When the electricity goes out they are forced to study by candle light. As far as the water goes, it stops working everyday throughout the day. My family stores water in giant buckets. Water is needed for laundry, drinking, cooking, bathing, the toilet, and the animals. It is all about conserving water, which is difficult to do when it is needed for so many everyday tasks. We have gotten very close to running out of water, but luckily the water always turns back on when we are in need of it most.