Getting a Rant out of the way

It is crazy what a variety of people I meet here. There are volunteers from all around the world, the local Nicaraguans who I work with and live all around me, and also a strong tourist group. Granada claims to be Nicaragua's center of tourism. This may be true, as it is a well-known and liked city, and it is also close to many of Nicaragua's main attractions. Of the 3 groups, the tourists are certainly my least favorite. I have met some that are cool and friendly, but often times they really stick out and both say and do dumb things. I intended to begin my writing today by explaining a typical day here. I am in a cafe called the Euro Cafe, which has free internet. I am not sure if it is the name or location, but it is tourist central here in Granada. The only locals in here are the workers and street vendors who wander in and try to peddle their goods. I usually have a fairly peaceful experience when I come here. There is are two open air courtyards with large covered areas which provide shade and a place for ceiling fans(this is extremely common in both businesses and the nicest homes in Nicaragua). I am still physically comfortable as I write today, but I am fairly annoyed by a group of 10 bitching Americans surrounding me. From what I can hear of their conversations, all but one are only here for a couple of weeks on some religiously affiliated mission trip. The leader is talking on Skype to someone in the states. He seems pretty full of himself. He keeps referring to the others as "my team." Those of us on computers were recently moved to the second courtyard, which is farther from the restaurant part of the cafe. I am not quite sure why, but everybody but myself seems to be greatly offended by this. Apparently free internet and a very comfortable place to sit and enjoy it is not enough for this crowd. I kind of want to tell them to shut-up, but I know it is not worth it. I have had a few similar experiences to this already. The situation that stands out the most occured last weekend. On the way down from Volcan Mombacho, we rode with a group of American tourists. They were all older and on a cruise that started in Los Angeles and ended in Miami. They had a few off-the-boat adventures such as this one. In my opinion, they should have left them all on the boat in their air-conditioning and luxurious accomodations. I should first say, that some of them were very nice and asked us questions about what we were doing and where we were from. But, this was the exception not the norm. They all were the absolute picture perfect example of an American tourist. If we threw a theme party and told people to dress like typical American tourists, these people would serve as perfect models. Most of them were bitching about one thing or another for most of the roughly 20 minute ride. For example:my feet hurt, it's too hot, why aren't we moving?, I hope I never have to go up another step in my life. All the while, we are driving by tiny houses with no windows or doors, dirty children without shoes and wearing ratty clothes playing in the ditches, run-down "schools", and numerous other signs of poverty. Do these people not see this? Are they so accustomed to their cookie-cutter lives in retirement communities that everything else is not real to them. It seems as if what they saw outside of our open-air bus was the same to them as watching t.v. I really thought, if this is traveling to them they may as well stay home.

There is something that really struck me as I rode down the volcano with these grumbling, spoiled Americans. I slowly got beyond being annoyed and started to think. I realized that I am not as different from these tourists as I would like to think. And, some Nicaraguans may make no destinction between myself and them. My life here is not nearly as comfortable as it is at home, but it is certainly more comfortable than the average Nicaraguan's. I eat a good meal whenever I need it. I have a safe place to sleep. I have proper clothing. I am in good health and can get healthcare if I need it. These are just a few of the things that many people live without here. I think it is very important for me to try to remember when I see people that I think are acting like snobby jerks, that I am a snobby jerk in many ways when compared to millions of Nicaraguans.

Well, my rant wasted my time, but it is hopefully out of the way now. I will write about a typical day here next time. Things are going quite well at the school. The turnouts are way beyond what the other schools are getting, and we have solved some of our problems(mainly just making it clear to all the students that little siblings are welcome, but they need to stay with the other small children). We have not had any fits for a couple days, though we always have a couple kids who cry for one reason or another. At some point, I will also try to describe the school and get some pictures on Facebook and passed around through e-mail.