Getting Settled

Greetings from Rivas, Nicaragua! I arrived here on Monday afternoon, and I am currently living with a community of three Dominican Friars. I am extremely grateful for this community and the way that they have accepted me like another brother in these past couple of days. Below are the three friars from left to right: Fray Carlos Aldana, the principal of the school Santo Domingo de Guzmán, Fray Fernando, a teacher at the school and a Ph.D. student, and Fray Carlos Irías the president of the Dominican college that is next to our house.

Before I write anything more about my experiences thus far in Nicaragua, I think chronologically speaking it would make more sense to address my travels here. On Sunday afternoon about twelve hours before I was supposed to go to Logan Airport, I received a WhatsApp message from Fray Carlos Aldana saying, “It would be best if you could postpone your trip for 15 days because there are road blocks, and it is difficult to access the airport.” Unfortunately after reading this message I was not shocked. Since April 18th, the political situation in Nicaragua has been rather tense with thousands of Nicaraguans protesting in the streets. Because of these protests, Fray Carlos thought that it would not be possible for him to get to the airport to pick me up.

Despite this initial request from Fray Carlos for me to postpone my trip for two weeks, I still really wanted to go to Nicaragua the following day, so I decided to look into an alternative travel plan that I had discussed in the past with the Fellowship Selection Committee. This would involve me flying into Liberia, Costa Rica, crossing the border, and finding my way the 79 miles to where I would be staying for the next six weeks.

So, I called Fray Carlos, and he told me that there were not any protests happening to the south of Rivas. Then, after a brief conversation with a member of the Selection Committee, I booked my flight for Rivas. For the next couple hours, I researched a bunch of different options to get to from Liberia to Rivas and in the end I decided to take public busses to arrive. After my two flights, I would need to take three connecting busses.

Although I woke up Monday morning pretty nervous for the day of travel ahead of me, all of my travels somehow went extremely smoothly thanks to a couple Costa Rican and Nicaraguan friends that I made on the busses helping me carry my suitcase, helping me cross the border, and helping direct me to my next bus. Fray Carlos was waiting for me when I got off the bus at the supermarket in Rivas, and he took me to the Dominicans’ beautiful house where I have been staying these past few days.

Yesterday I got a tour of the school where I will be working for these next few weeks. I was also introduced to each class of this school that has around 1,400 students, so this first day was quite a whirlwind. Next week I will begin to have a regular schedule in the school, helping out with English classes and with the school’s ecology work to help develop the environmental conscience of the students.

On Wednesday, Mother's Day was celebrated here in Nicaragua (Love you Mom!), and because of this holiday, there were no classes at the school, so we went to eat in beautiful Nicaraguan city on the Pacific Coast called San Juan del Sur.

We also got to play a brief game of catch with the frisbee that I brought from home. Miraculously, the frisbee didn't get thrown into the water. We played on the shore of Lake Nicaragua with the volcano Madera in the background.

There will be another update to come next week! I am very safe here in Rivas, but please pray for a peaceful resolution to the political tension that is happening in the capital, Managua, so that life rather than violence can prevail.

¡Hasta la próxima!

Jack