Attack of the Ants!

First, I feel the need to justify my absenteeism. The electricity situation in Nicaragua is somewhat dire as neither the monopolistic power company, Union Fenosa, nor the central government have done anything to generate power sources within Nicaragua. That means no power plants, hydroelectric plants, wind turbines, solar panel fields, nothing. The end result? All of the electricity we use in Nicaragua is bought from neighboring countries and there is not enough of it to go around to all 5 million inhabitants. So, we have nation wide programmed power outages. Recently, in my neck of the woods, they’ve been cutting the power between 5 pm and 8 pm. Or just when I get home and would like to write a blog entry. So, there’s part of my excuse.

The other part is that my best Nicaraguan friend and her husband now live two doors down from me and they recently purchased a DVD player. So, when the power is not out, you will find me at their house in the evening watching such modern day classics as Snakes on a Plane, Con Air, or any of four Jet Li movies that came together on one pirated DVD (4X1!!!! The disc proudly proclaims). Is it any wonder I haven’t had time to sit down and type?

Aside from all my excuses, life here hasn’t changed drastically nor been particularly exciting. I did get to go on a fantastic vacation for a week with Greg to Costa Rica where we visited two beaches and the Arenal Volcano. I also had the freak opportunity to meet up with my good buddy, Brad Robinson, on that same vacation as he just happened to be in San Jose at the same time. Other than that, it has been work as usual.

There have been some setbacks with the trash project due mostly to the fact that no one in Nicaragua is ever where they say they are going to be nor do they do what they say they are going to do. It can be a little frustrating working under these conditions but next week, we should finally have the household inspections underway after a one month delay. The Condom and STI Awareness Campaign is going well as we just received the boxes of “free demand” condoms that we will distribute to all the bars and hotels in my site. The doctor with whom I work and I will also be giving an educational talk about the campaign’s content to a group in an evangelical church this evening. I am not entirely sure how my wooden penis condom demonstration will go over in a house of God, but when I expressed my concerns to the organizing lady from the church, she said I had the green light to present whatever I wanted.

Also this week, I was invited to be an honored guest (this means they announced my name and I got a special plastic chair at the front) at a ceremony in a nearby school honoring academic excellence. The ceremony was sponsored by a Nicaraguan bank and USAID and consisted in giving a backpack, hat, and t-shirt with the bank’s logo to the ten elementary school children with the highest grades. The boy with the highest average even got a bicycle! My favorite student of all, Deybi, received a backpack and I took pictures like a proud mother. The biggest surprise of the ceremony was the clown that came all the way from Managua to give us a show.

Now clowns are pretty regular birthday party fare for American children and I clearly remember having at least one attend a Gregorian twin birthday party. I also remember another birthday party featuring a folk singer, which was perhaps more than anything an attempt on mom’s part to show that there was still some of that girl who slept through most of Woodstock left in her, I don’t know. Anyway, for Nicaraguan children, the most exposure they have ever had to clowns is on television. So the clown was a big hit and as an objective observer, I can say he really was quite a good clown. The little girl sitting next to me was about six years old and after about a good fifteen minutes; she leaned up and asked me somewhat skeptically “So, that’s a clown, huh?” “Yes,” I told her, “That’s a clown.” She didn’t seem entirely convinced. About five minutes later she asked, “Can’t he take that off?” Referring to his outfit and makeup. “Of course he can.” “And he can walk around like that?” “Yes, he can.” I replied. Incredulously she continued, “With those shoes?” “Even with those shoes.” Finally, she sat back content and enjoyed the rest of his show.

In household news, another rat has taken up residence and I will be forced to cover my living quarters in rat poison and wait for the smell to come in order to remove (or ask a small child to remove) my victim. Also, while watching a riveting episode of Sex and the City last night with Sanne, my little wooden house came under attack. I looked to one end of the floor and realized it was covered in a dark, moving, stain. Upon closer inspection, I came to understand that the stain was actually thousands of small ants marching in to my house. Ants are not an unusual occurrence and often, when a small group comes in to clean up a spill on my kitchen counter, I leave them to do their work. I find them somewhat fascinating: an incredibly organized and efficient army of little maids. But this was different. We are talking about thousands and thousands. It looked like a small carpet. I could not figure out what they were after nor where they came from and in the end, drew a little Raid barrier around my bed, so they couldn’t visit in the night. Sanne filmed a short video with her digital camera because we were both incredulous and wanted physical proof of the time my house came under ant attack. As always, they were gone in the morning.

I suppose now that I have vividly described the ant attack, you all will believe me when I say that life has not been all that thrilling in Sábalos. But we make do.