Compas de Nicaragua

Service Trip Travel Tips

Compas de Nicaragua Service Trip.
Important Notes and Travel Tips.

Keeping Healthy:  
Due to changes in living situation, diet, physical labor, and climate, you will need to take precautions to maintain your health during the service trip.  Your own common sense health precautions are the most important part of staying healthy.  The most basic are:

• Wash your hands before eating
• Eat well
• Drink only purified water
• Never go barefoot
• Take heat seriously.  Bring water everywhere, wear sun tan lotion
• Use insect repellent if mosquitoes are prevalent
• Get plenty of rest and wear earplugs
• Get the recommended inoculations

Conditions in Nicaragua:  Nicaragua is one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere.  The degree of poverty may shock you.  Keep in mind that you will be a guest of Nicaraguans whose economic status will be much lower than yours.  An important part of the service trip is experiencing life as the extremely poor experience it, and you should approach this with understanding and humility.

In the La Primavera lake settlement where we will be working the conditions of poverty are most acute.  Families live in rusted, tin shacks with dirt floors, with plastic, walled latrines outside.  There is no garbage pick up in the settlement, and in any case, most Nicaraguans are not accustomed to properly disposing of their garbage, so we’ll be working in a dirty, garbage filled environment.  Worse of all, the settlement is next to one of the ditch drains which takes run off water, garbage, and gray water to the lake.

Host Families:  During the trip orientation period, groups will stay at the Compas visitor center in La Primavera.  The visitor center provides clean and simple lodging for service trip volunteers.  The center includes four guest rooms with bunk beds and fans, two bathrooms, an outdoor eating area, and provides a fully equipped kitchen, clothes washing area, telephone, and internet service.  The orientation period gives volunteers a chance to stay in a comfortable environment while learning about Nicaragua and getting accustom to life in the La Primavera neighborhood.  Some groups will stay at the center for the duration of their trip.  Other groups will divide into groups of two for host family stays after the orientation period.

Host families live within a block or two of the Compas visitor center.  Homes may have dirt floors, only one or two rooms, and a separate kitchen.  Cooking in usually done a two burner gas camping stove or on wood burning fires.  Many people may live in a small house.  Privacy is borderline to non-existent, although families will try to designate a private space for guests if possible.  There may be domestic animals, such as chickens and pigs, sharing the premises.  There are also lots of bugs.  (Please see below).  Outdoor latrines may be the only facilities and often times there is no toilet paper.   If your host family has a toilet and working sewage, be sure not to flush toilet paper down the bowl.  Plumbing in Nicaragua is somewhat delicate and toilet paper can cause block ups.  Put paper in the wastebasket provided. It is also not unusual for the water and electricity to go out from time to time.

It is important to remember that your presence may be somewhat stressful to your Nicaraguan family, who may have never dealt with foreigners before, and who may be shy and uncertain about how to treat you.  Host families will do everything they can to make you feel comfortable and welcome in their homes.  Please try to be sensitive to your surroundings and the people you live with.

Donations and Gift Giving:  Gift giving is a thorny issue.  The people you live with will be very poor and you will invariably wish to express your affection for your hosts by leaving things.  This can cause hurt feelings and jealously between families who are able to host guests and those who were not given the opportunity.  There are other ways to express your appreciation and love to your hosts other than personal gift giving, such as bringing home fruit, vegetables, and bread to share, spending time playing with children, listening and talking, helping out with chores or sharing a skill.  We know this is a difficult issue.  Feel free to discuss your feelings during group meetings.

Food:  

Food in Nicaragua revolves around certain staples, particularly rice, beans and tortillas.  Generally, your hosts will try and supply some vegetable and fruit, but have no great expectations about variety.  Meals may seem monotonous compared to your usual fare and you should be prepared for this.  You will have very little, if any, meat.  On the other hand, if you are a strict vegetarian, you may have to compromise.

Noise:

Nicaragua is a vibrant and lively place, especially in the neighborhoods of Managua.  Nicaraguans like to listen to their music, television, and radio at all hours of the day and really loud!  Nicaraguans are also animated communicators!  There are also many roosters, pigs, and dogs.   This can make for a pretty loud environment.   Don’t expect to find too many quiet places for reading or writing in your journal, but take advantage of the quiet moments you find.  Make sure to wear earplugs at night to sleep.

Bugs:

Nicaragua has lots of bugs and creepy crawlers that you may not be accustomed to.  Among them, there are huge spiders, scorpions, cockroaches, and most dangerous of all, mosquitoes.  However, in Managua, it is pretty rare to run into most of these critters.  Nonetheless, it is best to take precautions whenever possible, like checking in your shoes for scorpions, spiders and the like before slipping them on.  While working, best to wear long pants, gloves, and rugged sneakers with socks.  During the day, wear sun tan lotion, and at night, sleep beneath mosquito netting

Work:

Usually, the labor performed during a service trip is physically intensive.  You may feel uncommonly tired during your stay due to working in the heat.  Make sure to take rests while working and to drink lots of water (see below).  Be sure to wear a sun hat, sun tan lotion, sturdy sneakers, and to drink lots of water.

Sun and Water:  

In Nicaragua, the sun is very hot and much more directly over head.  Even on a pleasant day, when the sun doesn’t feel hot, the burn factor is very high. Best to always were sunscreen and sun hat and glasses.  Water is critical.  You cannot drink enough while you are here and especially while working.  Drink before you feel thirsty as dehydration sneaks up on you and can bring with it severe headaches and other sicknesses.  Always bring a full water bottle with purified water with you at all times.  Managua’s water is considered potable, but it contains lots of chlorine.  We’ll be buying purified water for the trip, so best to always drink this water during your stay.  At restaurants, be sure to ask for drinks without ice, as the ice is usually made with regular tap water.

Machismo:  

You should be prepared for machismo, or sexism.  Nicaragua is a very patriarchal society.  Many visitors have felt frustrated when they find that within their host families that the sons are given freedoms and preferences that the daughters are not given.  Women are sometimes treated as second-class citizens and there is double standard.  Women carry the burden of Nicaragua’s poverty.  Their double and triple burden of working outside the home selling items on the streets, keeping the household together and caring for children, are keeping families alive.  Meanwhile, with unemployment around 60 to 70%, alcoholism is a serious social problem among men.Women visitors have felt uncomfortable by the unwanted attention they receive from men who call to them while walking in the streets. Women should be aware that flashy, revealing clothing could cause a certain amount of male enthusiasm.  Be sensible about the clothing that you wear.

Group Living:  

While participating in a delegation, many unplanned situation may arise.  You should consider everything as subject to change.  Please strive for flexibility, patience, openness, and unity.  We will live and work in a collective environment, different in many ways from what you have experience before.  There will be inevitable stress as people adjust to a radically new environment, demands of a full working day doing manual labor, and a general lack of privacy.  We need to pay conscious attention to the well being of our group as a whole, respecting and being sensitive to each other.

Money and Valuables:  

Given the economic situation, there are a lot of desperate people and theft is a common problem in Managua.  Money and valuables such as passports and plane tickets will be kept in a safe place at the visitor center.  Visitors should not wear jewelry or other valuables while working or out in the streets.  Please keep all personal money hidden, preferably in a money belt.  Also, keep your possessions confined to your closed suitcase while living with a host family.  We will exchange personal money for your use during your stay.  Currently, the exchange rate is $1 to $C26.70 (Cordobas).  The all inclusive participation fee covers almost all in country expenses.  However, you will want to bring some spending money for cold drinks, snacks, and souvenirs at the market.  Beautiful hand-made arts and crafts can be purchased for about $5 to $20.  If you wish to buy snacks during day trips, 100 cordobas (about $5) should be enough.  You will also want some extra money to do a zipline in Managua (repelling over a volcanic lake--$12 per person) and for an evening out for dancing or live music (about $20 per person).    $100 to $200 in spending money should be more than enough to cover these extra expenses.

Personal Safety:  

Nicaragua is the second safest country in Central America.  For a big city, Managua is relatively okay as well.   However, as mentioned before, there are a lot of desperate people looking for any way to survive and feed their children.  As poverty increase, so does crime.  In Managua, this has meant more robberies; youth gang activity, open drunkenness and glue sniffing, mostly among men young and old.

In general, the group will be traveling together during all of the service trip planned activities. However, during free time, always listen to your Nicaragua host family about personal safety issues and travel with them when you can, and in pairs of two or more, especially at night, when you can’t.  We will set up a buddy system so someone is always watching out for you.  Never venture anywhere on your own and when leaving in pairs of two or more, always let trip leaders know.

Have fun:  

These impressions are meant to prepare you for some of the more difficult aspects of life in Nicaragua.  You will also have fun, make wonderful friends, and share in some truly interesting and heartwarming exchanges with the people with whom you will live and work.  Enjoy your time here.  Nicaragua is a great place!

Other Considerations:  

Photographing: 

If you take photographs, respect the Nicaraguan’s privacy and ask permission first.  Most are happy to have pictures taken.

Alcohol: 

You may be invited to socialize where alcohol is served.  Please use discretion and moderation, even if your hosts do not.

What you can do when you return from Nicaragua

1. Talk to people about your experiences.  Plan a slide show.  Try to disseminate information that your friends and family will never receive from the mainstream media.
2. Help Compas sell coffee and gourds.  Selling coffee and gourds supports farmers and Women in Action members with vital “Fair Trade” income.
3. Plan a trip to Nicaragua.  Plan your own trip to Nicaragua from your school, community or work place.  Help give others a life changing experience.
4. Plan a fund-raising event.  

Compas needs your support!  Ask Compas for fundraising materials.

Contact information:

Compas de Nicaragua Visitor Center
Address: KM 6, C.N., de los Lab. Ramos, 6 C al lago, ½ C abajo.  (Just show a cab driver the written address)
Phone number: 011-505 (when calling from U.S.) 8545-6883
E-mail: michael@compas1.org