Reflections on Nicaragua: What an experience!!

It’s amazing to think back on how quickly our time in Sabana Grande, Nicaragua went by. It only took a short plane ride…and a not-so-short bus ride to reach our destination: SABANA GRANDE.

 

 

Our bus stopped, all eight of us shuffled to the front, gathered our backpacks, and crossed the Pan-American Highway towards to the Solar restaurant.  Everything seemed so surreal! All of the pictures we had seen, our weekly meetings, the countless emails, had lead us to this point.

 

As we walked past the outside gates, you could see the Solar ovens we had heard so much about, off to the right was the new Solar classroom, and behind it was the side of the mountain where organic farming techniques were being implemented. It was all there, except this time WE were there too!

 

 

We were only an hour ahead of CA but it felt like we were in a completely different world. Life in Sabana Grande was led at a slower, richer pace. Our days started early—with the sound of hands clapping preparing the morning tortillas, or with the sound of roosters crowing and cattle mooing. Not once did I need an alarm, I always knew when it was time to wake up.



After meeting at the Seba, we went off and tackled our tasks for the day—whether it was surveying community members, gathering fecal samples, or joining Hilario or Myra (local animal and human health workers, respectively); each day had something new in store. But, we soon realized that we would need more time if we wanted to get everything done. Our sense of urgency, fortunately, never rubbed off the community members we were working with. We would only be able to accomplish as much as we could (and was physically possible), at that was ok.

Two weeks, that was it. Just before I could really wrap my head around everything we encountered, we were back in Managua, getting ready to board our plane back to CA.

 

In two short weeks, we came and went. There was so much that we were able to accomplish and yet so much that we simply could not fit in. Now back in Davis, it’s back to work! As we move forward with this project, we’re excited for our next trip and ready to tackle what’s to come.