On December 30th, I touched down in Managua, Nicaragua with my traveling companion, Tim. We shuffled through customs, exchanging $10 for a stamp in our passports, picked up our baggage and walked out into the stuffy Nicaraguan air. Rachel, a friend of a friend, was waiting for us, along with the mechanic from the Fe y Esperanza Lutheran church (Arnaldo), who drove. Rachel was reserved but warm, which is typical of Nicaraguans (although Rachel is American..). We exchanged biographical information with her as we swerved through the cities car, bus, bicycle, pedestrian and animal traffic. My first impressions were of a land alive with color and commerce, a people who are comfortable living in close proximity and a country that didn't clean up after its history. Many of the people along the road were selling goods and services - fruit, snacks, gadgets, parts. Bright pink political advertisements for the FLSN and PLC were painted everywhere, leftover from the elections two months past. We drove through what used to be downtown, but was never rebuilt after the 1979 earthquake.We arrived at Rachel's church and I gave her an envelope containing, among other things, a thousand dollar check from their sister-church in Baltimore, where my friend Dave Schott attends. Delivering these items served as a useful "in" with Rachel. She helped us flag down a coyote on the street and exchange currency. Then we went back to the church, where she was scheduled to play her flute in a wedding. Tim and I spent some time in a cybercafé, and then sat in rocking chairs outside the church. Waiting for the wedding to start, we played "school" with a delightful 3 year old girl named Brittany from the house next door. The wedding started a good half hour late, and they keyboardist had to play "Here Comes the Bride" three times before the bride came. The marriage was between a Swiss man and a Nicaraguan woman. They had already been married in Switzerland, but they came back to perform the ceremony again for the woman's relatives. Offering baskets were passed around as the couple left and the attendees pulled out purple flower petals, tossing them into the air as the twice newly weds got into their car and drove away.
After the service, we caught a cab to Rachel's house, where we met Martin, her housemate from Germany. For dinner, we all walked to a neighborhood "Fritanga," an outdoor street café. Fritangas serve traditional fried Nica dishes - I had Gallo Pinto, Tacos de re-pollo, and fried planchas from the grill, with a delicious blended fruit drink. I also ordered a salad, which was not advised by the Johns Hopkins travel clinic, but washed to satisfaction according to our server and chef. It may have been the cheapest most filling meal of the trip. A warm night, good conversation. Martin, we learned, is associated with the Bavarian Lutheran Church and is completing a mandatory period of volunteer service at Fe y Esperanza. All young Germans must serve in the armed forces for nine months, or else choose some alternative ("Zivildienst," i.e. civilian service). Interestingly, conscientious objectors outnumber those who join the armed forces in Germany today. Martin has been working primarily with the church's youth group, who we would meet later in the trip.After dinner we made our way past some kids performing with a drum, trumpet and a big dancing puppet. It was a distinctly Nicaraguan scene. They were having fun, I think, but they also presented me with my first opportunity to either shuffle past or reach into my pocket for some cordobas. Walking, we found a shop that sold Toña in half liter bottles, stocked up, and spent the rest of the night on the back patio, talking. Tim and Martin ended up dominating the conversation, discussing the merits of various American seminaries that Martin is interested in applying to. Rachel and I politely pried our way out from the circle as the evening wore on and went to bed. As I lay on the guest mat on the floor, with a comfortable night breeze blowing through the window, I was tired but very happy to have been greeted in this new place with such hospitality.
***Promised Martin I'd email him names of seminary contacts. Martinwag@gmx.net***
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