4 hours later the blog is finally figured out! Yeah Levi. Not an easy task in the tropics. The 95 degree temperatures have saturated our WI and NC brains. Managua is a city of many people. Pueblos are wrapped in barbed wire topped cement bars. Families sit behind steel chicken wire eating, reading and playing. Careful... the wash water gets thrown out on the streets.
The beautiful lake is polluted in layers. Some eat the fish to survive. They don't worry about the cancer they may get in 20 years... they have to live through the night. Beggars of every age sell their goods on street corners. Some elderly, some in diapers. Many alone. Children walk with blank stares, their glue sniffing has quieted their fears.
The Quaker house is a safe haven. Lillian, her son Trevor and Lilly are delightful people. They are acutely alive as death and life play out in full color all around them. Living here is intense. The rest for your soul must come from within.
Flowering bushes mingle with dried up branches of once green trees. Roosters crow. Dogs bark. Sirens blare. Street vendors yell. The scent of dust permeates every pore. One thing remains constant. The people have beautiful smiles. Dark hair, dark eyes and beautiful smiles. I am blessed to be here in Nicaragua.
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Just wanted to point out that the Nica entrepreneurs selling their wares on the street corners and in the streets are not beggars. They are working for their living, in a time-honored Nica way. Those boys in clown suits, juggling balls for drivers waiting for the light to change could be out breaking into houses or sniffing glue, so I always give them a good tip. The people selling water and newspapers and fruit bought their goods from a wholesaler and are reselling it at a higher price, just like any good capitalist.
ReplyDeleteBeggars are those few who ask for something while offering nothing in return, except perhaps the opportunity to make merit with Buddha.