October 2, 2018

We spent a whole three months in Pearl Lagoon, our plan was to stay there much longer. At least a year was our idea. We kept ourselves busy while there, and I hardly had time to write anything for this blog. We've kept on with our struggle to stabilize our situation, only to be continually let down by the system. At least we are in good health and still together.

We've kept on in our attempts to get into Canada. Its been more than 4 years now since I left and I haven't been back even once. I am not willing to go without Jean. The political situation in Nicaragua still has not affected the brothers in the Atlantic coast significantly so this wasn't a concern for us. We decided to keep on pursuing the possibility of me getting residency in Nicaragua so that we could both be legal permanent residents of the same country. After going through lawyers, spending money we didn't have to spend, lots of visa runs, and fixing papers that the judge had filled out incorrectly we finally had everything in order.

Unfortunately, now there is no way for me to get residency in Nicaragua even though I am married to a Nicaraguan citizen. The reasons are unclear, but I know I'm not the only one in this situation. I met a man with his lawyer in Managua who had just been told to start over again because all the requirements have changed. Furthermore, immigration told me that I have to leave. I am no longer allowed to cross the border into Costa Rica and return (even if longer than 3 days) because I have been in Nicaragua too long. They wanted me to return to my country. In effect we are being forced to leave Nicaragua. Obviously, we leave together.

Since Canada is also making it impossible for us to go to my country, we've decided to consult the internet for a list of countries where both of us can go without a visa. The number of options was actually quite surprising and encouraging. There are a lot of exciting, interesting, and beautiful countries (affordable too!) that will allow us to live there at least for a time without having to worry about immigration papers. This should give us enough time to finally get the papers for Jean to come with me to Canada.

Because the country we are currently in doesn't enjoy the same level of safety as Nicaragua, I'll be deliberately vague on our exact location. But its cheap, the food is amazing, and I'm wearing a winter jacket while typing this. And the town we live in does have a reputation for relative safety.

I'll admit i'm surprised how difficult its been for me, a 4th generation Canadian citizen to bring his own wife into the country, even after being married for three years. It isn't impossible, in theory we can go eventually. The problem is the first two times we tried to go, our intention was not to stay in Canada. We wanted to return to Nicaragua after a quick visit with my family. So naturally we applied for a visitor visa. It was denied both times, for reasons that I couldn't understand at the time. Interestingly though, there is a provision where Canadian citizens can demand information pertaining to them from the government. Its similar to the United State's "freedom of information" act.

Imagine my surprise on reading the immigration officer's personal comments to his supervisors that were written on my wife's application. He didn't read it. He saw "Nicaragua" "Canadian husband" and denied it. He saw a clever Nicaraguan trying to cheat her way into Canada to steal jobs, with a fake marriage to a Canadian that doesn't exist. Its very disappointing to be called a liar by your own country, to be denied the right to go home by someone that might not even be a Canadian themselves. I did some digging, the application was processed in Mexico, and in Mexico just like Nicaragua most of the embassy workers are locals. The only person working at the Canadian embassy in Nicaragua for example can barely speak English at all.

Our only option now is to go for the complete Canadian residency. Jean can apply for this from outside the country and hopefully they actually read this one. For this one we only have to prove to them that we are really married. Maybe the fact that I haven't come home for four years will convince them? Or maybe they will even read this blog. It would be a nice change of pace if they started reading things they're supposed to.

In any case were having a great time where we are. We are high in the mountains at an altitude of over 2,000 meters. Thats right, meters. The first week or so we felt short of breath but now we're feeling normal again. Actually, with the cool weather we feel like we have even more energy to get things done. The city we live in has a reputation of enacting "street justice" on thieves and as a result the crime rate is surprisingly low. Its common to see people walking in the street at night, unafraid to use their smartphones in public. The cost of some things is higher than in Nicaragua, as its a more developed country by far. However the cost of food is much lower, probably due to the amount farming in the area, especially of green veggies and fruit. In the end we spend less overall, and we have the opportunity to go places like McDonalds once in a while. There is even a Walmart here.

Mek wi get fahn here

It is now June 3rd, 2018 and we no longer live in Tola. We spent one entire year there, and it was time to move on. It was definitely worthwhile to spend the time in a Spanish congregation and become much more comfortable with the language. After a while though we started to feel like it was time to go back to the Atlantic coast.

There isn't a congregation in Nicaragua that doesn't need more brothers, but Jean has relatives in Pearl Lagoon, and my family are no longer in Nicaragua. If they do come back it won't be to the Pacific. So after weighing our options we decided to move back to Pearl Lagoon.

We had left Pearl Lagoon initially for a variety of reasons, one being that we were newly married and wanted space. Another being the need for online work. Taking Jean back to Canada requires jumping through endless and seemingly impossible hoops. Thus, since I am unwilling to live away from Jean for months at a time we must support ourselves as other "digital nomads" do, by making our living off of the internet.

A few years ago, you could forget about getting a stable internet connection in Pearl Lagoon. Or even stable electricity for that matter. Things have changed a bit. A few new telecom companies have made their way into Nicaragua and brought some stiff competition for the existing internet providers. This has encouraged the well established ones to provide better services in more remote areas. The result being that one can now get a DSL broadband connection in Pearl Lagoon. It isn't cheap, but it works. This gave us the opportunity to go back "home" to the place we first met, and where both of us had spent most of our time in Nicaragua.

There were some snags in our move. We had some things we wanted to take with. We had bought our own furniture in Tola and didn't like the idea of losing on all of that. So we looked into hiring a truck to drive us there with all our furniture, now that the road is much better as well. We also didn't want to make the cats endure a 10 hour bus ride in the heat and in a tiny carrier.

The truck ended up being too expensive, so we considered renting a truck and hiring someone to drive it for us. I can legally drive in Nicaragua with a Canadian licence, but I wasn't comfortable doing this because of how foreigners are seen by police.

Then a couple interested in visiting Pearl Lagoon offered to drive us and our things in their own truck. This was by far the best option, but the plan was "mashed up" when Nicaragua was hit with a wave of political unrest. Although we haven't been affected by the protests that are going on right now directly, there are roadblocks on the major roads from time to time and this would add some major delays to a cross-country roadtrip. After having delayed our trip for an entire month we decided it was simply time to go. We had found everything we needed in Pearl lagoon: A house to rent, an internet connection, and even furniture. So we sold everything and bought a plane ticket.

We hired a taxi, driven by a local brother from Rivas (who by the way was a fantastic driver, well done Jose). Who managed to sneak by every single roadblock by going down back roads and through small towns on the way to Managua. We skirted around Granada and popped out near Tipitapa, bringing us to the Managua Airport without coming across any trouble or entering Managua itself.

Nicaraguan cat carrier

We spent that night in a nearby hotel and the next morning flew to Bluefields. The cats absolutely hated the trip. It was hard to find nice carriers for them, will definitely try to find something better by the next time we travel. Also the tranquilizer was too small of a dose and didn't do anything. They seemed to prefer the backpack we carried them in to Managua more than the airline approved carriers we got from the vet in Managua.

Just in case our trip sounded too easy, our panga from Bluefields broke down twice for a combined period of half an hour. The words "throw the anchor" are not words you want to hear when you're tired and eager to get home.

Everything we own

Whiskey in "his" hotel room

Roadblocks? Where we're going we don't need roads!

A surprise layover in Paradise

Our first meeting back home in Lagoon

The new building used as a Kingdom Hall in Pearl Lagoon

But in the end, we made it and its good to be home! We found a place to rent that was furnished with all the things we had to leave behind, and our cats Whiskey and Brandy are settling in well.

Whiskey helping me get back into blogging.

March 22nd, 2018

I haven't had much time to post on the blog lately, that tends to happen once one is married and working full time while also trying to spend as much time as possible in the ministry, But this post will be a little update on whats been going on with us in Tola.

We've moved to a new house, as we were finding that our old place was just too noisy and that was threatening my ability to work. Processions and loud parties are pretty common at 5:00 AM in Tola... who would have guessed? Its pretty hard to explain that to my students when teaching online as well. I'm not sure I know the answer to questions like "Why do people have pigs if its in the city? Why are they having a party at 5:00 AM? Why don't motorcycles have mufflers there?"

Anyways, our new place is on the far edge of town, close to the graveyard. So far its been quite a bit calmer. Now that the dry season is back we have the new challenge of rationing water. We get running water now only for a few hours each day, from 3:00 AM to 11:00 AM. Sometimes for an hour or so in the late evening around 9 or 10 PM but not every day. I'm not sure if this is to "save" water or if its because of problems in the water lines, I suspect the latter.

Fun fact: The room is being lit in this pic
by a light connected to this same battery.

With the dry season also comes wind, and more power outages as a result, so we've made an upgrade to our UPS. After watching some youtube videos, learning to solder, and voiding the warranty we've upgraded it with a 12 volt deep cycle car battery in place of the smaller 12 volt battery that came with it. With the internet router, laptop, and LED lights for the workspace running at about 50 watts total I shouldn't have anything to worry about if I get up in the morning without electricity. 

I'm always impressed with how willing people here are to try new things mechanically, especially things that go against the user manual of any given device. The results are often even more impressive. I would have been afraid to try something like this before but following the example I've been able to find all kinds of fun DIY projects that have made life a bit easier here. My next goal is either upgrading to solar power, or maybe some kind of backup water system so that were not left having bucket showers (AKA the original ice bucket challenge) after 11 AM.

We also squeezed in a trip to Pearl Lagoon. We had to fix some of our marriage documents for any future residency applications we may make, so this required us to go and visit, which was something we had been wanting to do anyways. It was really nice to be back in the Atlantic coast, and it still amazes me how different the two sides of this country are. Pearl Lagoon has come a long way as well. The road into town is now mostly paved thus making the trip a lot shorter. Kukra Hill, which is a town less than an hour away now has a bank, so going to the ATM no longer requires an exhausting river trip to Bluefields. Kukra hill used to be a much bumpier ride before the road too.

I think what I miss most about Pearl Lagoon and the atlantic coast is how its never dry. Dry air and low humidity is my worst enemy. I have sore throats and I'm uncomfortable all the time in dry places. Tola is still more humid than even the raniest days in Alberta, but Pearl lagoon gets rain all year long so things never dry out. Its always green too, VERY green. The trip took us two days each way, so now were taking a few days to rest and recover.