March 19th: Mark's Perspective

Up at 7:00am, no way our bodies let us sleep in.  We say our goodbyes to Roberto, our main host for Nicaragua, and we are off with Rosa Marina and other Rotarians.

We are brought to a site for a future pedestrian suspension bridge.  We first were wondering why we were here, standing in front of a dried up river bed and no evidence of a project: there is a school on our side of the river.  They tell us that in the rainy season the river swells and is dirty, deep and dangerous.  Because of this, the children on that side of the river cannot cross to go to school (300 students at this school and half are affected by the river).  There is a bridge 500m up river but it is old and will not last many more years.

The Rotary club has joined with an American organization called Bridges to Prosperity.  This organization builds bridges from donated material.  The proposed bridge to be built at this location is being designed by students at Notre Dame and will be a suspension bridge made of old cables that were used to tie ships to docks.  The total cost of the bridge will be $15,000 - majority of the cost is associated with shipping the material.  First thing I thought of was recycling the strandjack cables that Western (company I work for in Canada) must scrap after every 5 uses;  pretty awe-inspiring if we could contribute to bettering communities by building infrastructure they need with our waste.

We move on.  We go to a school (today is Saturday) to meet the children, play piñata and listen to their needs.  Playing with the kids is what we turn this experience into...

 

Back to a Rotarian's house for lunch, presentation outside on the porch, and some Curt Dunlop entertainment. Curt sings a few songs, then the guitar is passed to Rosa Marina.  She sings traditional Nicaraguan songs and all the fellow Nicaraguans in the room join in ~ awesome!  They tell us that their tradition is that if someone sings, then someone else must sing back or tell a joke.  Curt is jealous of this cultural exchange and points out that the 4 other Canadians in the room did not sing along with him.

Tour of Managua then at the hotel to pack; last few hours in Nicaragua.  Kim's body has been fading out all day and once we get back to the hotel, Curt can't be too far from a bathroom... Hope they are better for the 3:30am wakeup call and 10 hour bus ride in the morning!

MC