I don’t know why I hate the idea of me being rich. Maybe its because I don’t like people who flaunt money, or because I’m jealous I never will be rich, or because I’m a good-old America-hating socialist. Whatever it is, that label was put upon me recently. It made me really u[...]
Archive for the ‘Nicaragua’ Category
Bye, Bye, Bias
I went to Nicaragua for Semana Santa, the Holy Week before Easter. When I told my Costa Rican students, they asked the same question: Why? Everyone sounded shocked. They thought it was dangerous, that the people weren’t nice, and there always seemed to be a story about dangerous dogs. Then, when I[...]
Nicaragua to Alaska: An Unlikely Duo
I joined the ranks of La Vida because I am an idealist. I believe that, in one way or another, it is our duty to give back what we can. I believe in the right to energy, clean drinking water and education. I believe that idealists who volunteer can make a direct impact and pay [...][...]
April 26th, 2010 - 6:08 pm § in In the Field, Nicaragua
Water is What Water Does
Last Thursday, Earth Day celebrated all methods to conserve our natural resources and how we as citizens of the world can help do so. One of the surprising facts I’ve learned while volunteering with blueEnergy is how desperate developing nations have become for clean, filtered and pure sources of [...]
Productive Uses Create Sustainable Energy
There are many steps to help create energy independence within blueEnergy’s mission. One of the final stages is to create ways in which our communities can use the wind turbines, solar panels and other energy systems we provide for productive uses. Broadly speaking, productive uses refer to projec[...]
Two Questions I Don’t Like to Answer
Every once in a while somebody here in Solentiname will ask me if I believe in God. This has become my second least favorite question to answer. My very least favorite question, however, is how much my digital SLR camera costs. After I realized that my camera alone (excluding my lenses) cost as much[...]
Pan Doesn’t Only Mean Bread
Recently, I read “At Some Point I Became Lorena” by fellow blogger Lauren Foukes, and her post brought my adopted nickname to my attention. I thought her post was very clever, and an example of how names are not always easily translatable. I was always under the impression that I had an [...]
Living a Double Life
I have been stuck for two months now, not knowing how to write this post. I am currently in the States, having come home to network and fundraise for the organization that I am working for in Nicaragua. It has been a successful and invigorating two months, but as I sit here in the airport, [...][...]
Two Weeks into a Year’s Worth of Photography Classes
I’ll never forget watching my first group of photo students in Solentiname walk away from me to shoot some of their first pictures. I was standing inside of the poorly lit classroom with a massive smile on my face – I could hardly contain my happiness – and reminded them one las[...]
March 5th, 2010 - 2:33 pm § in Around Town, Nicaragua
I’m on a Boat: Joys and Sorrows of Pangas
A panga boat ride is similar to when your best friend takes dad’s Porsche out for a spin: fast, unnerving, uproariously fun with fist-clenching close calls. This is the Caribbean Coast’s main mode of transportation, and how blueEnergy can access our communities. Our two-hour panga ride on a rece[...]
