Back Lolli's homepage Léon, Nicaragua September 17, 1998
Greetings:
I always knew Léon had an active anti-mosquito program, even though
mosquitoes here aren’t bad. (This could be because they work at it so
consistently.) The rains have been heavy the past several days, eliminating
their Independence Day parade, even. It was pouring down at about two inches of
rain per hour when the parade was scheduled. Ordinarily they would go ahead and
march in the rain, but this was a deluge.
There’s been a lot on TV about malaria and dengue fever and don’t-leave-any-standing-water-outside-for-mosquitoes-to-breed-in. But today I saw the ultimate in mosquito control.
The weavers were still eating lunch when a guy came in and told us we were going to be sprayed in 20 minutes. “¡Vamanos, Elenita, vamanos!” Mirna packed up my stuff and we went out one door as a guy in a mask came in the other with a spray gun fogging the building. Inside!
We went up the little street where a woman brought out chairs for us to sit on until, in a matter of minutes, the masked man went up the road, walking into each house and fogging it until all the openings had spray fog pouring out. Sometimes people came piling out of their houses just as the sprayer went in. They couldn’t tell them not to do it.
It sounds drastic and is certainly the most intense spray program I’ve ever seen, but I don’t fault them for it. Malaria is so prevalent here, and now they say dengue; they have to do something.
Lee Cruz is going back to the states after 12 years working in Nicaragua. He’s going to be missed here. This morning he brought out his successor, Harold Chavarria, to meet us. Harold is Nicaraguan and doesn’t speak English, but they’ve hired an interpreter to work with him. He’s had experience working with this type of enterprise before. He’s charming and interested and I’ll be getting better acquainted with him because we’ll be having meetings starting next week.
I’m staying with Mirna’s family now. This is my first time at her place. This family is really poor. Though the house is the biggest one I’ve stayed in, it has fewer amenities. I’m staying in Mirna’s room, and I was touched by some little decorations she did to enhance it. One and all, if these women lived in our houses, they would be lovely and they would be clean.
My current room has a dirt floor, although the room at the front has a concrete floor. My bed is a link-springed metal cot. The mattress is pieces of not very thick foam rubber pushed together, covered with coarse feed sacks and topped with a sheet. I sleep just fine.
They don’t have a flush toilet and one has to hook up the shower every time one wants to use it. I feel somehow honored that Mirna felt comfortable enough with me that she wanted me to stay with her family.
They are evangelicos, and I went to church with them Tuesday evening. It’s the Filadelfia sect. I liked the minister and even understood a funny story he told about a norteamericano in Matagalpa. There were people in church that I’d met before, and relatives of some of the weavers who knew who I was so I felt right at home. It was like going to the Church of God when I was a kid: lots of music fast and loud, lots of testimonials, lots of men (surprise!). I’m really glad I had such varied church experiences as a youngster.
Many of the bicycles here have side-saddles. A side-saddle is a long contraption about four inches wide that fits on the crossbar between the seat and the handlebars. I suspect it’s the invention of some guy whose wife jawed at him all the time about having to sit on a piece of pipe. Or maybe it was the woman who invented it. It’s really a practical item. There are many more bikes than cars here, unlike in the US. You’ll see dads taking three little kids to school on a bike: one sitting behind the seat and two sitting on the bar in front, or on the side-saddle if they’re lucky.
Sunday Mirna’s God-father took us, a half-dozen kids, and a couple of young women (I didn’t get the relationship) out to his mother’s place in the country. It was lovely – there was a creek behind the house and we went for walk in the woods along the creek. Later we walked to another part of the river where there is a lovely swimming hole and several groups of teenagers were swimming. The boys joined them right away. The river divides around a giant spread of rock – on one side is the quiet pool with a narrow stream flowing out, on the other side is a running stream piling over and around rocks that made me homesick for Putt’s Creek in Crown Point, NY, the spot near the fish hatchery. It was beautiful to listen to and to watch. It wasn’t my idea of Nicaragua at all, so I learned something else new.
This family has one of those rope and wheel pumps (a Bomba de Mecate). The
little boys were pumping water for washing clothes, and they let me try it. I
was surprised at how easy it was to get a good stream of water coming with the
pump.
As I understand it, they are installing pumps like this all over Nicaragua.