Marimba y mas

Well hello there all 2 of my blog readers! Sorry that it’s been a while. I had a great visit with Billy. He took to the crowded minibuses, fried food, and warm weather, and managed to speak and understand a lot of Spanish. We dug into the local ethnomusicology and tried to find out the mystery of the marimba’s origin in Masaya, Nicaragua’s indigenous folklore capital. We spoke with some real, live marimba experts (Billy took 2 lessons and bought an instrument) and participated in a night of traditional music and dancing that took place in private homes. We saw the local volcano, had dinner with Blanca, went to a jazz club where Billy sat in, had a Thanksgiving dinner at the Ola Verde, AND made it to Laguna de Apoyo, Leon, Granada, and Isla Omtepe. It was really nice to show him the library and my aunt’s farm, and the howler monkeys did not disappoint!


Billy carried the ayote!


I promised to write more about the library, but I think posting some pictures will do better than words. To give a little background, the Library was built 5 years ago in memory of my Aunt’s father. It is located in a rural town (about 50 families) located about 7 kilometers from the paved road. Most of the families live in houses that resemble shacks, and make their living from agriculture. The town has one 2 room school for preschool, elementary and middle school. Any kid who wants to go to high school has to walk at least an hour and half to the nearest school. The library has offered painting classes, dance classes, and computer classes, and continues to offer arts and crafts and reading activities. There is a group of about 10 children ages 7-10 that come almost every day to play and read. The most amazing part is how comfortable they feel in the Library- they kick off their shoes, make forts out of the sofa cushions, and play make believe games.



arts and crafts


a student's house


playing restaurant


reading with Karla

Since Billy left I’ve been working on job applications, a book of my photos and interviews, and revisions to the grant proposal, but I feel like time is already short! Rebecca gets here on Thursday and on Saturday we are going to the Caribbean coast for 5 days. When I get back, my Aunt Sally and cousins Grace and Jack will be here for a few days, and then I only have about a week and a half before I leave for California. Tomorrow I’m going to the library with a group of Blanca’s classmates from her postgrad class on evaluation of social programs. They may decide to do their class project on the library, which would be exciting.

Tonight I went with Blanca to Managua to celebrate the Griteria, which is a culmination of a 9 day celebration of the Virgin Mary. It’s kind of like a mix between Christmas caroling and Halloween, since groups of people stop at each house that has an altar and sing traditional songs about the all powerful Mary (perhaps personifying the pre-colonial Goddess?) and then the people in the house give out sweets and fruit. The yelling part is when people get to the house, they yell “Quien causa tanta alegria?/Who causes so much happiness?” and the response is “La Concepcion de Maria!/Maria’s Conception!”

I hope that everyone tenga mucha alegria! Happy Hanukah!