Salutations From The Sea

Kisses from the sun
Whispers of the wind
The gentle caress if the disintegrating hand
Salutations from the sea.

Visions of time paused became reality as the moon was revealed
through the passing sprinkle,
To stay, to listen, to notice
To realize the peace in being still
The harmony of the waves, the chorus as one.
Secrets of life in the land to unfold
Beautiful treasures to be found though confident in their common majesty,
resting where they lay

We try to conceive the excellence of simplicity while receiving the
incredible gift of silence
As the ocean speaks of its travels, it roars then waits while reflecting the glorious hues of brilliant elegance.

Salutations from the sea.

Reflect, Realize, Redirect.

I was inspired by visual masterpiece at “La Playa Flor” and the incredible “charlas” given by Dora and the turtle reserve worker at the beach. Many times I used to go to the beach as a place of pondering and meditation. I had no idea about the bushels of lessons that could result in one night at the beach. Our turtles are so harmless and are a danger to no one yet they are endangered. They have a god-given home and a place to lay their eggs but humans have taken advantage of their docile nature and robbed the sea turtles of it basic necessities. Because of this, it is our job to replenish what has been stolen and help these animals stay safe. It is so great that the laws have been passed for the eating of these eggs to be prohibited.
We have an incredible view and many lessons of tranquility to be learned in just looking
and listening at the beach.

Ley de obligatureidad

If there is one thing I have learned from being here in Nicaragua is that I take a lot of things for granted. I never knew how lucky I was to have a plate of food on my table everyday or even to have the money to buy food when I was hungry. Although food is very important there is something else that I have taken for granted and that is my education.

I could remember waking up everyday hating and wishing that I didn’t have to go to school. Always complaining to my mother and telling her ¨why do I have to go. I don’t need to learn. When am I ever going to use division or science? ¨ I could even remember skipping class my last year of high school. I´m not going to need gym or biology, why should I have to waste my time! That was my way of think.

Now I’m here in a country where there are 15 year old in 3 grade who done even know how to multiply and who aren’t really obligated to go to school. Most of them don’t know how to even spell their own names. It’s sad but the only thing that I could think of is that I had all these privileges and didn’t even know it or didn’t even enjoy it. I always complained about how I needed to learn and here there are these kids that want to learn but cant because they’re stuck in a class room with 49 other kids and can’t get the attention that they need and deserve.

Not only are these classes overcrowded but the president wants to make it mandatory for all children to go to school. Which is very good but there is nothing backing this up. When I say backing this up I mean they are not making the effort of educating more people or helping people on becoming teachers. They are also not building more schools. It is not a complete package.

I believe that if the government wanted this to work they have to build more schools. Educate and give better salaries to the teachers here in Nicaragua because they live off of about 100 dollars a month and also give more money to boost the education system as a whole because from what I have seen the education here in Nicaragua is not that important. This is probably why we see 6 and 8 year old kids out on the streets at 8 o´clock a night selling cigarettes when they should be home sleeping or studying.

I see that it’s a good thing that they want to pass laws to make kids good to schools. This might help with the literacy problem that there is here in Nicaragua. In order to do this you have to have a package deal. You just can’t make a law and assume that everyone can obey it especially when there financially unable to.

Sea Turtles

At first it was hard for me to get us to being here in Granada. I must admit that it was a big adjustment to what I was use to in the United States. I was even more afraid when my teacher told us that we were going to go camping. Not because I haven’t been camping before but because I had never been camping in a different country. I think I was mostly afraid of the spiders because believe me no matter what anybody says to me there out there waiting to bite.

When we got on the bus we were told that it was only going to be two hours. That turned out to be a little more like four but I must say that it was all worth it. I had done a little reading about what we were going to be doing and seeing on our trip but nothing could have actually prepared me for what I experienced.

I read about the Sea Turtles in Nicaragua and I thought to myself who cares there turtles. It’s not that interesting. I was even thinking about going to sleep early because I was not interested in seeing them at all. I thank God that I didn’t. The reading talked about the beach that we went to called La Flor located in Rivas and how they were trying to help save the sea turtles. On this every page it went on to explain how sometimes thousands of turtles would come all at once. This would be called arribadas.

Most of this seemed to me as boring, until I met with Marlin, the director of the refugee. He was explaining to me how he had a serious problem with his beach because he was getting proximally 186,000 turtles a year laying their eggs but only 315,000 babies were being born. Now this might seem a lot to you but it’s not. In the reading Sea Turtles in Nicaragua on page 4 it states that a turtle can lay an average of 90 eggs. If we go the math about 4% of baby turtle are being born on average per year. This is not a good number.

My teacher believes that Marlin might have something wrong with his beach. His PH might be too high. He believes that there aren’t enough males waiting for females out in the ocean once they are done laying their eggs or that the females are laying eggs that are not fertilized. We don’t know exactly what they problem is. These are just hypothesis. What I do know is that La Flor needs more biologists to who are willing to come down here and help study the turtles.

Be Green

In this day and time where we are suposidly so concered about the enviornment. Many people are talking about ¨going green¨, recyling and resuing. We need to add one more cause to our list of causes to support. Many people from the US probably don´t even think about it because it´s not part of our daily life. As some say ¨out of sight out of mind¨. This should not be true for our harmless docile turttles and our depletign forests. They are in great danger of being extinct. The turttles are one of the only animals we have left that date back to the prehistoric times of the dinsour. If we don´t protect the sea turttles who will?
We are all conected. We live on the earth along with the animals and plants. As we protect them they not only do some provide us with sustance but most with vital information about what we need to do. One of the many incredible points that stood out in our reading The Naturalist and our ¨charla¨with Dora was the concept of polycultural farming. While studing the palnts we can understand why farmers planted the way they did. Many plants were planted in one area to protect each other. One plant would attract certain insects and another would deter them. This would create a natural pestidcide producing an organic enviornment for various crops. Not only was a natural pesticide implemented but polycultural planting encouraged the maintence of rich soil. This soil that nutured many crops could be resused because the minerals were not depleted.
If we fully implemented this system into agricultural systems world wide we wouldn´t lose so many trees, soil and animals. Especially here in the tropics, when trees are cut down to create more farmland, wooden crafts, furniture and other ¨neccesities¨ animals die from lack of shade. Others loose thier homes and some loose thier food. What are we thinkng?
We share this earth with the plants and animals. There are so many ways to protect the earth. Let´s all pitch in and do our part. Support polycultural farming, proctection of the sea turttles, and reforestation projects.

It just makes sense if you want to stay on this earth as long as possible.

Primer dia en Granada

Integrarse a una cultura nueva y acostumbrarse a sus costumbres puede parecer fácil pero no lo es. Fui asignada a una mujer maravillosa con el nombre de Raquel. Su casa es hermosa y muy diferente y distinta a las casas que yo estoy acostumbrada a ver en los Estados Unidos y en la República Dominica. Con todo esto no puedo dejar de sentirme mal y un poco enferma por estar lejos de mi familia, Esta reflexión plantea como es difícil integrase a la cultura y costumbre de Granda.

No puedo negar que estaba un poco nerviosa cuando conocí a mi madre aquí en Nicaragua. Pero desde que entre en su cada ella me ha tratado muy bien. Mi madre, Raquel me estaba diciendo que es abogada y que hasta recientemente estaba ejerciendo su profesión. Raquel es de piel blanca como detalla Jaime barquero en pagina 129. La población de piel blanca solamente aproxima 17% de la gente de Nicaragua. Es más común ver a personas mestizos como la persona que viene q limpiara la casa cada dos días. El mestizaje aproxima más o menos el 70% como se detalla en la misma pagina en la lectura de Jaime Barquero. Como estaba diciendo Raquel no esta ejerciendo su profesión pro el gobierno actual como no es del partido no puedo trabajar. Ella tiene un niño de 4 anos que es un amor. Ella trabaja con estudiantes dándoles un sitio adonde quedarse mientras están estudiando aquí en Granada. Actualmente hay dos estudiantes mas quedándose con nosotros.

La casa de Raquel es hermosa. Es muy diferente de las que yo conozco. Cuando entras a la casa te encuentras con la sala formal. Después sigues a otra sala donde se puede a preciar un jardín muy lindo. Aquí también se encuentran las habitaciones y el comedor mas atrás esta la cocina y el baño. Lo que encontré muy interesante es que las paredes del baño no llegan hasta arriba y que la bañera y el inodoro no están juntos. Me encanto tanto esta casa.

Can todo esto no puedo negar que estoy un poco triste. A noche no pude dormir y no era porque no tenia sueno sino porque realmente me sentía mal. Estaba incomoda y nerviosa porque no conozco bien donde estoy. Extraño mucho a mis niñas. Hasta estoy pensando que cometí un error grande con venir para acá. Se que tengo que esperar unos días para que se me quite este dolor de estar sola en un país extraño. Es que todo paso muy rápido y fue un choque muy grande para mi. Ojala con los días este sentimiento pase.

Granda es hermosa con personas bellas y casas totalmente maravillosas. Conocer y vivir con mi madre Raquel va a ser una experiencia extraordinaria. Espero que me guste que todo salga bien para mi y para todos que vinieron conmigo.

Tatiana Castillo