Day 3

­­­­­­This is morning we had pancakes and fruit for breakfast. I absolutely love fresh pineapple! We left  in a 16 passenger van to visit the Masaya volcano around 8 am. I was really car sick today, and couldn't seem to cool down. I think it is going to take some time to get this Minnesota girl used to the tropical climate and city traffic.

After driving for about an hour, we went to Volcano Masaya. We walked through the museum, although I didn't read as much as I normally would because I was still feeling sick. After walking through the museum, we took the van to the mouth of the volcano. Because of the elevation it was a lot cooler and more breezy and I felt much better.
After visiting the mouth of the volcano and hiking to the top of the neighboring crater, we went to the restaurant, Mi Viejo Ranchito. I ordered a grilled chicken quesadilla. It was so good! I had a mochito? or a cacao/milk drink with my meal that was really good too--you can't see it in the picture, because I finished it before my meal came. (oops). I am not a huge fan of rice, (don't tell) but hopefully I will learn to like it. Ignore the French fries--plantains just aren't as good...

History Lesson of the Day:

Volcanos are significant to Nicaragua, but this is just a quick overview of the one we went to today. Masaya is one of two volcanoes and five craters. The volcano last erupted of April of last year, although from what I could tell, the eruption wasn't as large as I thought. Indigenous people and the Spanish conquerors feared the volcano and titled it,  "The Mouth of Hell". They sacrificed humans to keep the volcano content. In the 16th century a priest put a large cross near the mouth of the volcano. Ever since then they stopped human sacrifice.

In the afternoon we went to Apoyo lagoon. It was so pretty and we hiked down to get a closer look. It was so pretty and the hike was good exercise. It wasn't too hot because we were still in high elevation. I was really excited to see monkeys! I held our coordinators 2 year old son, and it gave me a good chance to practice my Spanish. We walked around the market for a while but I didn't see anything that I had to have. (Feel free to comment Christmas present ideas). After that, we got back in the van and drove back.

I am so thankful for internet access. I have been able to get some work done, return some emails and catch up with what is happening back home. Overall, I am feeling great, and very excited for tomorrow.

Thanks to my friend, Angie, for the panoramic picture of Volcano Masaya :)



Day 2

We woke up this morning and had breakfast of eggs, bread, watermelon, papaya, and cereal. We spent the morning learning about the program and getting to know the members of our group. For lunch we had chicken, rice, beans, and juice from cactus flowers. The afternoon we went over the syllabi for each of my classes. I am taking four classes and a practicum this semester.

1. Worldview and Societal Transformation

2. Service-Learning/Practicum

3. Nicaraguan History and Culture

4. Cross-Cultural Exploration

5. Spanish Language

6. Ag in the Developing World

I am so excited for the service-learning practicum. I will be working with my friend, Danielle, and we will be assisting Carlos in a research project about BioCharcoal for sustainable development. Danielle and I will do an economic analysis and come up with marketing strategies to market BioCharcoal in Leon, (the second largest city) in Managua. The first few weeks we will learn about BioCharcoal and the weeks after that we will work on our analysis and marketing strategies. We will establish a sale price and attempt to market the BioCharcoal. I am so excited to learn more about this aspect of agriculture. This is a quick overview--more to come :)

I am also excited to learn Spanish. I have practiced a little, and it is nice that my friends on the program know more Spanish than I do so I can practice on them. We are still becoming familiar with Managua, but will meet our host families on Sunday. I am so excited for this semester!

 I am also excited for the Ag Class--Ag in the Developing world that we will be taking. The semester includes visiting the US embassy, visiting a pineapple farm, coffee farm, sugar processing plant, world renew, and a cattle ranch. Hopefully my Spanish will be good enough at that point that I can speak directly to the owners and employees. I can't believe that it is already the end of the second day!

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Day 2: "The Gang"

Day 1

Day 1: I flew from Sioux Falls to Denver, from Denver to Houston, and from Houston to Managua. When I booked my flight I overlooked the 15 minute layover between flights. I was trying not to stress about it, but knew that I should be prepared to find my gate quickly. When the plane landed in Houston everyone stood up. We were on a huge Boeing plane and I was sitting near the back. I tried to grab my bag quickly so that I could get off the plane as fast as possible. (That didn't happen) After waiting for almost ten minutes to board the plane there was an announcement that we were in the wrong location and that everyone needed to find their seats again. I heard multiple people complaining that they were going to miss their flight. The flight attendant was trying to get us off as fast as possible, but it was nearly impossible. By then, I had only moved up about 3 rows from row 27. I looked at my watch. It was 6:17 and my flight had started boarding at 6:08. I finally got off the plane at 6:25 and had to get from terminal C to terminal E. My checked bag was overweight, so I had transferred all of my books into my carry-on duffle. I probably looked like a crazy woman trying to make my flight--but I made it! The head of our program picked us up at the airport and we loaded a van and had a forty-five minute drive to the place we were staying. We had a quick meeting to go over the plan for the next day and then we headed for bed. It was still in the 80's when we fell asleep around mid-night.

 

 

Introduction

Introduction: As a farm girl from Minnesota, I have seen many aspects of North American Agriculture. I have ridden in the combine with my dad on late fall nights, and gotten up early on Christmas morning to milk cows. I feel that my background has given me a good background to understand agriculture. However, I have always felt that there was a much different side of agriculture that I have never experienced. So, I boarded a plane to Nicaragua. During the three months that I spend here, I hope to understand more about agriculture in a developing world and understand the challenges of agriculture in Central America.

 

Through this blog, I hope to communicate the information I learn in my classes, interaction with people, and farmers, and my business practicum to give readers in North America a new perspective on a side of agriculture that they may not have seen.

                              Nicaragua is located in Central America, about 3,400 miles from Minnesota.