Election Day

A picture Jess took of a girl who attended a recent event of ours. Jess has some incredible photos of Nicaraguan kids. One day we'll have to do a blog post of them...


Jess and I were able to go to a large city near Somoto, Estelí, to watch the presidential elections. Here in Somoto we have friends with CNN in Spanish at home, but we really wanted to watch the elections in English. It turned out several other volunteers in the area had the same thought. So, we ended up spending the night at Luna International Hostel, where we got a private room for $16 a night. About 25 Peace Corps volunteers and a few foreign travelers all huddled around a tiny TV, flipping back and forth between CNN, Fox News, and BBC News. To be honest, most Peace Corps volunteers in Nicaragua are Democrats, so it turned out to be a pretty good time. The Hostel is owned by a British woman who cooks excellent food at a café across the street from the rooms. Jess and I enjoyed meat lasagna, a hamburger and French fries, a side salad, and a bottle of Nicaragua’s newest beer, Victoria Frost, while waiting to hear the results.

It was great watching the elections with (a) people who have the same politics as us, (b) people from all over the country who could tell us what it’s like to vote in Indiana, Virginia, and Tennessee, and (c) people who are experiencing the same sense of disconnect that we are. I try and check the headlines on news websites every time I have a chance to get on the internet, but we all missed the kind of energy that you can feel in the States during an election. Some people had been back home recently and talked about seeing all of the campaign signs on people’s front lawns, or the bumper stickers on the highway. Most of our news and information from the outside world comes second hand from other volunteers or from Nicaraguan newspapers, where we are reading speeches in Spanish that were given in English and then translated to Spanish. You can imagine that a little bit of the luster is lost in the process.

Overall, it was a fun night for everyone, and, thankfully, it actually ended fairly early. We were all in bed by 11:30 (remember, we’re an hour earlier that EST down here).

When we got home on Wednesday, we were reminded that Nicaraguan elections are also taking place this week. While the president isn’t being elected this term, all of the mayors around the country are up. They serve for a 5 year term and cannot run for reelection, so the system is a little different than ours in the States. While Nicaragua has several major political parties, a law was recently passed prohibiting most of the smaller parties from participating, so this year it’s going to be a showdown between the long-time and very bitter rivals, the Liberals and the Sandinistas.

The Liberals, despite their name, could probably most easily be aligned with the US Republican party. They are pro-business, pro-trade with countries like the US, and tend to be against social programs. They really don’t talk about “moral issues”, as they do in the States. Things like abortion and gay rights are prohibited by the Catholic Church, and therefore not even up for discussion. Things like stem cell research won’t be taking place in Nicaragua for a good long while, so there’s no need to discuss it.

The Sandinistas are the remnants of the party that famously overthrew a (Liberal) dictatorship in 1979. They ran the country for 10 years, and then were ousted in 1990 by an alliance of opposition parties. The Sandinistas, and their leader, Daniel Ortega, have been fighting ever since to gain back political power. They’ve always been in control of Nicaragua’s agriculture and transportation sectors, as well as the army, but they haven’t held the presidency since Ortega lost in 1990. Well, in 2006 Ortega won again, but chose not to live in Nicaragua’s Presidential Palace because he felt that it was “El Pueblo, Presidente” (the people are the president), and therefore he didn’t deserve the luxurious mansion that more than twice the size of the US White House. Most people say he didn’t want to move because his house is nicer.

Anyway, the Sandinistas are big into social programs and used to embrace Communism to the utmost extent. Their heroes are Fidel Castro, Hugo Chavez, Sandino ( a local boy and the origin of the name), and the ever-present Che Guevara. While they toned it down a bit for the last election, the Sandinistas of the 80’s promoted Cooperative living and farming and managed to build in army that could field 250,000 soldiers if needed. Today’s Sandinistas have strong ties to Venezuela and Bolivia, but still are on good terms with the US as well as the European Union, both of which give millions of dollars in aid every year. They tend to promote social programs that work towards equality of socio-economic classes and poorer rural communities.

They’ll be voting this week all over the country, and while the Liberals seem to have a good chance in the Southern cities of Managua, Granada, and Leon, they really don’t have a snowball’s chance in a microwave of winning in the north, where we live. Just to give you an idea, in the last mayoral elections (2003) 9,000 Sandinistas voted in Somoto. What to guess how many Liberals? 3,000. You can imagine who won.

Elections are run much differently here than in the States. There are rallies and posters and t-shirts, but they also love to drive up and down the streets in caravans to show support for their candidates. We had a Liberal caravan go by on Sunday and the car horns, music, shouts and fireworks all coming from the backs of pick up trucks was pretty unbearable. Jess and I sat in our patio, where most of the noise couldn’t reach us. Poor Astro had to hide under the futon for most of the day. He doesn’t like fireworks.

Sandinista rally participants.

The Sandinistas rode by today, and the pictures below were taking right outside our door. The Sandinista caravan probably had about 200 motorcycles, 50 bicycles, 75 cars, and 40 busses and trucks. Each one seemed ready to topple over with all of the weight. It was an experience for sure. We’ll be sure to fill you in on who wins in Somoto once the results have been counted next week.

OK, ANSWERS TO THE QUESTIONS FROM MRS. LYTTLE’S CLASS

How is Astro? Can we see more pictures of him?

Astro is great. He has fully healed from his car accident, although the toenail hasn’t grown in completely yet. He amazes people in the streets with his ability to “speak” both English and Spanish. We’ll try and get some more pictures up of Astro and his antics. He has a lot of dog friends here because he is a very friendly dog. Unfortunately, most of the dogs here are abused and malnourished, so they aren’t into playing as much as Astro is.

Astro was going to run for mayor, but he didn't meet the height requirments. Here he is with a few local supporters.

One of Astro's newest friends.

This is one of Astro's best friends, Hubert. Hubert and his mom, Humphrey, like to eat the weeds that grow next to our house.

Pondering life's mysteries...

What do you do all day long?

Matt spends his mornings in the local health center working on new bulletin boards for the different health posts. The themes are things like diabetes, breast feeding, and HIV. In the afternoons he goes to a rural community around Somoto and has meetings with groups of kids from 10 to 20 years old.

Jess recently finished writing and illustrating a health guide for youth living on the Nicaraguan border with Honduras. The guide covers a lot of things from communication between peers to teen pregnancy, which is a big issue here. She is starting a new project that will hopefully re-work the health class curriculum in the schools in Madriz.

What sports to people play in Nicaragua?

People here love soccer and baseball. They are the long standing traditional sports of Nicaragua. There are even a few Nicaraguans in Major League Baseball in the US. Sports like volleyball and basketball are growing. Older men love billiards. People ride bikes all the time around here, but it’s really just to get around.

What’s up?

Things are normal around here. Jess and I are going about our lives and looking forward to Christmas. We’re going to try and get to a beach for a few days sometime in November. Astro is going to come, too. He’s never been to the beach. It’s tough to believe we have been here almost a year. We pass a lot of time reading, watching movies on our laptop, and walking in the countryside. We also cook a lot of breads and special recipes that we share with our Nicaraguan neighbors.

Are there lizards in Nicaragua?

Yes, a lot. Some are very big (2 feet long), and others are about the size of a mouse. They mousey sized ones actually live in all the houses. On any given night Jess and I see about 5 on our walls. They eat bugs like mosquitoes and make a very loud “CHIRP CHIRP” kind of noise. There are also fun birds like the guardabarranca, the national bird, and even roadrunners!

Lizards that climb all over your walls and eat mosquitos!

Bigger lizards are all over, too. This one lives by a pool at a hotel in Managua.

What do you eat?

Jess and I eat a lot of the stuff you eat in the States, but we have to create a lot of it from scratch. We have started eating a lot more of the Nicaraguan staple meals, like beans and rice, because it is a lot cheaper. In an upcoming post we’ll outline food in more detail.

OK, that’s all we’ve got for now. I hope this posts aren’t too long, but we’ve got a lot to say!

Matt at a recent event.

Jess and a few other Peace Corps volunteers with a local counterpart at a recent event.