Policia ( aka my visit to a Nicaraguan jail )

My adventure begins on the road from San Juan del Sur to Grenada. It was a bright sunny day I was riding in the taxi of my host family in San Juan del Sur. In the back of the car was my friend Benjamin ( student from Washington State studying Spanish).

We were riding along and came to a road block. Not an un common thing in Nicaragua. Specifically since the road we were traveling on is part of the Pan american highway. Anyone going from parts south to places north must go through this road. Alternatives are, to say the least dangerous.

At this road block there are police and their job is to ensure that the movement of the people in the country is legal and blah blah blah. So we stop and hand over our passports like very law abiding people. Benjamin. He gets his passport back no problems no questions asked. For me . He starts flipping pages in my passport.

I'm cool, thinking maybe there are just a lot of stamps. I know and he just needs to find the right page. But then the conversation starts.... Mind you this is all in Spanish.

Police: How long have you been in Nicaragua?
Me: About 20 days.

Police: You arrived in the country 20 days ago?
Me: Yes ( thinking that I had just told him that)

Police: How did you get here?
Me: A plane. ( now wondering what is going on)

Police: Where is the stamp that shows you got here 20 days ago?
Me: In my pasport. ( very politely but nervously)

Police: Show it to me.

So he hands me back my pasport and I start to flip pages. Thinking this is the dumbest thing in the world. Is this guy blind or what! I am looking and I find the page with the stamp from my previous visit in 2004, and there before my eye a stamp that looked like 2005. Now I was confused. Wondering what year it was. And then I started to get nervous. Very.

Police: Please step out of the vehicle and follow me into my office.

So here I am, my beuatiful sunny day turning into a sweltering inferno as I sit in a wodden hut on the side of the pan american highway as the policeman is explaining to me that if this is just a simple mistake then it can be cleared up in immigration. And at most that would take 2-3 days. Until my status in the country was cleared I would have to stay in the custody of the police in jail. As I was questioning my understanding of what he was telling me... willing myself to translate what he was saying into something else. I tried to explain the situation.

Me: But the back of the 6 is faded so it looks like a 5 it really is a 6.
Police: I am an experet in documents and forgery and fraud. That is a 5!

Me: But look the customs paper has a stamp. Clearly that is a 6. See 2006
Police: Yes but that paper does not have your name on it.

Me: But what about this page here it has my name on it. And these numbers here match the printed numbers on the page with the stamp.
Police: - a questioning look- Your passport is not correct.

As I got upset I thought maybe "Maybe I am doing something wrong and need some more help here." So I called my Professor at the University, Dr Enrique Rimbaud. As I tried to explain to him in my spanish that was failing me and close to tears, I let him talk to the police man. I went outside to cool off. I was breathing trying to explain to Benjamin ( who cant follow conversation as well, but knew it was not good) what was going on.

There was some yelling on the phone and then it was returned to me. My professor was telling me something about having to go with them and him having a friend who was a policeman in the area and me being released into his custody while this was sorted out.... ( what....?)

I started to discociate.
That out of body experience where you feel like this is happening to someone else. I was having visions of myself a law abiding citizen of the states being finger printed and locked up in a jail in Nicaragua.
A jail in Nicaragua.?!

Where there lots of people there?
What type of food would they feed me?
Should I eat the food?
Would they feed me?
Where the men and women together?
Was it clean? Were they violent?
What about my stuff?
What about my language training?

I was standing outside bemoning my terrible luck trying not to cry. Benjamin and I were trying to decide if he should come with me to where the city was, go on to Grenada, or go back to San Juan del Sur. He was swearing loyaly not to leave me to sit in a jail by myself.

Just then the taxidriver ( Julio) came out with my stuff. The policeman looked at me had and then told me I could go. I looked at him quisically for all of half a second before I took my stuff promised to fix my papers and hopped in the cab. I did not think to ask any type of questions. And we were off.

Julio told me after we were a little bit further away that the policeman's wife had just brought him lunch and maybe that was the reason he had a change of heart. I am greatful to God that I can tell this story and laugh... his reason for letting me go. Personally I don't really care.

Grenada/ First Rotary Contacts

So Lucky! So my friend ( Marie Elena) from my trip to Nicaragua in 2004 lives in Grenada. I spent my last week in Grenada with her family. It was great. Marie Elena's mom was almost a perfect stand in. Not like anyone could take your place Mom ;-)

The lucky part is that Marie Elena's aunt Ovidia Sandoval is a Rotarian as well as a spansih/english teacher. Sweet! I have my Rotary contact, a new friend, and constant teacher in one.

Ovidia helped me get connected with the Rotarians in Grenada and make my first presentation to the club here in Grenada. I am still waiting for my official host counselor who shold be helping me make contacts and set up oppourtunities for me to give talks to various clubs and organizations. A rotarian couple invited me to spend the weekend of Semana Santa with them in Grenada and help the club with a fundraiser. I have been making busness cards because I think that most of the clubs in the country will send a representative to this meeting/ fundraiser. We will see.

Canopy Tour - Volcan Mombacho

Well for all you thrill seekers and something special just for you Mom ! Today I went on a canopy tour. Basically what that means is that they find a forest, this one just happened to be over an organic coffee farm on the skirt of the Volcanon Mombacho. Then there were harnesses and cables and flying and it was great!
There are are also picks of me and some friends hanging out in Nicaragua just enjoying the scene.

Las Isletas

Las Isletas are a collection of over 350 little islands that are in Lago Nicaragua ( Lake Nicaragua). The islands were made when Mombacho ( a currently inactive volcano) was more active and literally blew its top - right into the lake. This lake is close to the city of Granada and it is the only fresh water lake in the world with sharks. These freshwater sharks are either pink or white... I am not sure but I have heard that they can be very fierce. One island is inhabited by monkeys ( Spider, and White Faced). The crazy thing is that you can own an little island if you so desire and build the house of your dreams. Starting at around a couple million dollars ( or so the boat operator said). Some of the wealthiest families in and out of Nicaragua, have houses there. While I was in Grenada I took a boat tour and had lunch at a restaurant that was Nicaraguan owned. It was all very cool.

Homestay Family in Granada

Here are just some photos of the family I have been staying with in Granada. I had a great time with them. There was Juliana ( I called here Abulita Juliana), Julio her son, and Julio´s family. His familiy included his wife and 2 kids. Julio´s daughter lives there with her 9 mo old son, Julio Cesar ( aka - terimotito). Señor terimotito is the delight of the entire family and is always in everything! I learned a lot of spanish form them talking to and about Julio Ceasar ( some good words and others not as polite). Abuelita Juliana went to great pains to make sure that I was enjoying my meals. I appreciated that very much. I just loved the way she would say ¨Buena la joven¨ when I cleaned my plate. I will miss them.
Next week is the last week of language training and I am spending the week with the family of a student that I met last time I was in Granada in 2004.

San Juan Del Sur - Spanish School

Update time!
So I have finished my 2 weeks in San Juan Del Sur. I had a great time learned tons of Spanish. I am now much more comfortable talking in and about the past ( preterito y imperfecto). Gracias mil a mis profesores ( y señor invivible- he knows who he is). I will miss them all so much and all the fun we had together. Amanda, Elieser, Ceidy, Yerlanda, George, Belkis, Veronica. Also I am going to miss my host family. Especially Maria deJesus (who was a great cook), her daughter Liana (who would watch cartoons with me) and her husband Julio Ceasar ( who help me to stay cool during an encounter with the Police). That encounter will not be posted but if you are curious you can write me directly.

There were various activities in the afternoons. We visited various points of interest, Grenada ( where I currently am); Masaya, which is famous for its artisans; Volcan (??), smelled of sulfur and was know to intermitiently spew rocks and other hot debris, and various beaches.

In addition to doing tourist type things we also had community service activities. We had a celebration complete with piñata, cake, ice cream and candy for a local orphanage and montisori school supported by the procededs from the language school. In addition we had a celebration at a local school for childern with disabilities. The students in the language program donated money to buy a toilet for the school. The director of the language school is trying to extend the scope of the language school inclde suporting this school. Another activity included giving classes in english. Myself and 2 other students volunteered our time to teach anyone who wanted to learn or practice pronounciation. Teaching for these couple of hours was very invigorating. It did however point out how much I don´t remeber about the way I learned to speak english and also how little I know about english grammar. The pictures are all from my time in San Juan del Sur.

Taxistas #2

The family that I was staying with the Father (Jose´) is a Taxi driver. The wife (Maria ) was telling me just how dificult it is for them to make money with the taxi. There are so many taxies and not enough people to ride in them. Hence the competition for passengers is fierce. In addition the rising cost of gas is affecting how much money the drivers can actually make.
She gave me an example. 2 weeks ago her husbad got 3 flat tires in one week, because the roads here are in such need of repair. In addition his head lights are not working and need to be replaced. One trip from Managua to San Juan del Sur which is on the Pacific Coast will cost you $75 usd. $15 automatically goes to gas. I think tires were $20 apiece. The cost of the new lights was not even mentioned. This human condition- struggling to provide for family and loved ones- is common the world over. Recently, I herd talk of a protest and strike by public transportation because of the raising gas prices. I'll keep you posted.