Nicaraguan feeling

 (This is the part where I get sentimental and drop electronic tears onto this blog, be aware)

What has spending 2 weeks with the Nicaraguan people taught me?

Get on with life, it won't wait for you. If your cab breaks down in the pouring rain, you call your mate to come get your passengers. If you are disabled, then you use the available resources and become independent. If you are deaf, nobody can stop you venturing to university.

Walking around the streets of Jinotepe, one is not greeted by forced American cheesy smiles but by a sort of internal resistance, a cold shoulder. After a violent history of military coups, natural disasters and dictatorships I see why. It is a strong knit community that is ever weary of new comers, they have suffered together and now are moving on together. There is no need for fake friendliness, that luxury has already been ripped away by foreign hands. All remaining space is taken up by reality, the battle to survive and make ends meet. If as a foreigner and a tourist you cannot respect that, then you've come to the wrong country.

Nicaragua is a country in transit. If we're getting geographical, I believe it is stage 3 in the Demographic Transition Model. This is the idea that each country will move through stages of development with economic, social/political and environmental factors influencing Birth rate and Death rate. The problem is in the name, it's a model. For example to be in stage 3 it's birth and death rate must be falling, however with poor pre and post natal care, Nicaragua has a relatively high infant mortality rate. There is also great diversity in the country, the cities are pulling the lagging countryside into the 21st century. Corrugated iron as a roof and plastic sides is typical whilst patches of wealth can be found in cities. Income inequality therefore must be a sign of under development. It is definitely one of the poorest Central American countries, however I get a sense that change is on the horizon and that it will be speedy. This is due to the animalistic determination of the people and their rabid hunger for change.

If a horrendously poor country can have fairer equal rights for people struck down by disabilities than the majority of seemingly developed countries in Europe and Asia, then the future looks bright.