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.

Tola

On may first we successfully made the move to Tola. It was a great help that my Brother in law was able to come with his truck and we could pile everything in there so as not to move all our belongings using the chicken bus, which would have been challenging to say the least.

Our apartment in Jinotepe was fully furnished, so one adjustment has been moving into an empty house. We had to get chairs, various appliances, and somehow find a place to store our clothes and other things. We still have our metal grid that snaps together that we got as a wedding gift, so that worked for the clothes. Right now we're working on getting some concrete blocks and planks to make other furniture such as a counter top and a bench/couch. I may post pictures later on, depending how good (or bad) it looks when I'm done. We may also try with palates, although apparently in Nicaragua used palates are not cheap since they are so sought after that no one gives them away for free.

So far we are enjoying our new town. We are close to the street so we have some traffic noise at busy hours but otherwise its a very quiet town. Going in service is amazing, as we have mostly rural territory, and since we are a now in a Spanish congregation we don't need to do search work. This means long walks through the jungle going to farms and plantations, and also witnessing to staff members at beach side restaurants.

Getting internet here was not too difficult either. We tried with CooTel first, which is a new company in Nicaragua. They offered a wireless router with speeds up to 1.5 mbps upload and download unlimited for $20 a month. This is pretty great, since upload is the one that really matters for teaching online. We had a $50 per month deal with Claro in Jinotepe which gave us 3 mbps download, but only 0.3 to 0.5 upload (we were paying for 1 mbs upload which is the fastest they offer). Unfortunately the signal did not reach our house and we had to take it back. I asked very clearly several times and made them confirm that if it didn't work I would get my money back. Imagine my surprise when we took it back and they said they would not offer a refund. So now I am the proud owner of a useless orange box with an antenna on it.

Reluctantly, we went to the Claro office to see about getting a contract for internet, having in mind all the horrible customer service experiences from the past, and the constant, sometimes month long service outages of the Atlantic coast. Happily though, they surprised me this time. Apparently the company is under different management in each department, and the Rivas department of Claro runs a very different kind of business. We filled out the papers in Jean's name (I could have done it in my name, but they wanted a larger deposit for a foreigner than for a local). On the way home we stopped for Ice cream, and then continued walking. We were passed by a small white van with a ladder on top and we started joking that it was Claro on the way to our house to set up the internet. When does a cable company ever come the same day, right?

Well the van pulled over next to our house and then Jean's phone rang. Guess who?

Within about an hour we were set up with the fastest Internet I have ever had in Nicaragua. We are paying for 4 mbs down and 1.5 mbs up, we get about 5 and 3 mbs, regardless of the time of day. Along with that package we get cable TV... if only we had a TV. So next to our router there is a lovely coil of black cable waiting for a TV to appear so it can fulfill its life purpose.

Moving again!

When I was younger I wanted to travel and never stay in one place for too long. I wanted to see and experience as many different places as possible. Now I'm tired and moving seems like more of a burden than adventure sometimes... With that in mind we are hoping to become more stable and stay in one place, and more importantly one congregation for a longer period of time. HOWEVER, before that happens we're moving again. I won't say this is the last time and I won't make any claims about how long we are going to stay in our next location because I learned that is something we can never predict. Circumstances change.

We have enjoyed our last 6 months living in Jinotepe a lot. The weather has been great and everyday life here was a lot easier than on the Atlantic Coast. We really, REALLY miss Corn Island though, and if they had reliable internet we would probably still be there. According to Claro's website they do have coverage on Corn Island, but when you go to the office to sign up you are met by three... individuals... sitting down chewing gum, who respond with phrases such as "We no have change." or "Ova there no got connekshan" or even simply "nah".

Anyways... My sister along with her husband and two children have moved down to Nicaragua and we would

like to be in the same congregation as them. They are now settled in the municipality of Tola, which is in the Rivas department. The town of Tola has a brand new congregation that still meets in a private home, and a very large and very responsive territory. After some consideration and investigation of what life would be like in Tola we have decided to move. Hopefully, this move will be more long term.

Our rent will be about half of what we are paying now, although we will have to pay the internet bill and buy furniture, but we still end up saving a lot. Thankfully, shortly after moving to Jinotepe I was able to get a job teaching English, and interestingly now make more money per hour than I ever did working in Canada. I am fairly confident that this is Jehovah's blessing and a reward for not giving up and going to Canada to work while Jean stayed behind. We still have hopes of going to Canada some day to visit if Jean is ever granted a visa, but now it won't be an emergency.

Tola is an interesting place, very different from other parts of Nicaragua in regards to landscape and climate. It is part of the area known as the "Emerald Coast" of Nicaragua. Right now in the dry season it looks very dry but has a lot of trees and large forests. The town itself is quite small, I'm not sure what the population is but its bigger than Pearl Lagoon and smaller than San Marcos. For some reason it reminds me of some small towns in Saskatchewan that we would drive through on the way to visit my grandparents when I was a kid. Maybe its the kind of trees or the way the countryside looks.

In other news, as a new feature of my blog I will now start including videos when I can. You may notice that a few older posts have had video clips added to them. On my same Youtube Channel you can find some other random videos that I have uploaded that are not related to any particular post, Some sights from Corn Island for example, and also some silly/stupid things I did for fun. (bottle rockets)

Here is a link to the channel:
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UChr_gi6q-sCFl40y8M0BWJw

The Cost of Living

The number one question that people want to know when considering a move to another country is always "What does it cost to live there?" Well recently I was discussing this with my family and we were looking at some online tools that show cost of living. At least with Nicaragua, there seems to be no agreement between online sources on what it costs to live here, also when you ask people who are here that question the answers vary greatly. Some say you need more than $1,000 US a month, whereas others say that with $100 you will have money left over at the end of the month.

Of course, people's expectations of comfort and their lifestyle have a lot to do with this. Obviously Nicaraguans who make $150 a month with a full time job are not starving, but they also rarely pay rent. Anyways, in order to make these calculations easier, I have made this list of real prices of every day things here in Nicaragua. With this information you can make your own budget and figure out for yourself what you would actually spend in Nicaragua.

The food prices are taken from our own grocery receipts from Pali, which is the most common grocery store in Nicaragua, its a branch of walmart and all the locals go there for nearly everything. Prices are in Cordobas and USD

Ramen Noodles -------------- 7.75   - $ 0.26

Head of lettuce --------------- 15.00  - $ 0.50

1lb rice ------------------------ 11.00  - $ 0.37

1lb beans ---------------------- 14.00 - $ 0.47

1L of Milk -------------------- 27.50 - $ 0.92

1lb Carrots -------------------- 9.00  - $ 0.30

1lb Potatoes ------------------- 13.00 - $ 0.44

1lb Onions -------------------- 11.00 - $ 0.37

1lb Tomatoes ----------------- 7.00  - $ 0.25

Avocados indv. --------------- 30.00 - $ 1.01

Bottle of wine ---------------- 130.00 - $ 4.37

Loaf of Bread ---------------- 37.50  - $ 1.26

Big package of cookies ----- 44.00 - $1.48

bag of chamomile tea ------- 3.00 -  $ 0.10

Pineapple jelly --------------- 21.00 - $ 0.71

Tang package ---------------- 5.00 -   $ 0.17

1 lb garlic -------------------- 55.00 -  $ 1.85

1 lb flour --------------------- 12.50 -  $ 0.42

1 lb cane sugar -------------- 10.00 - $ 0.34

200g sea salt ----------------- 3.00 -  $ 0.10

6 pack of local beer --------- 126.00 - $4.26

bag of coffee ----------------- 99.00  -  $3.33

bag of pasta ------------------ 7.50    -  $0.25

All of these prices include the sales tax in Nicaragua which is 15% on everything. Most stores include it in the price so you won't even notice it. Here are some prices of other things that we have paid in the past.

Rent:

2 bedroom house in the city

furnished

internet/utilities included

$300/month (reduced after long term)

1 bedroom apartment in the city

furnished

internet/utilities included

$250/month

2 bedroom house in a small town

unfurnished

water/electricity included

$140/month

Internet:

Claro (the worst internet provider on the face of the earth)

$30-$70 per month depending on speed. (0.2 mbs download to 10 mbs download, upload speed is capped at 1 mbs for all packages)
The only reason to ever use claro is because there is no other provider in many parts of the country

CooTel (patiently waiting for them to set up in Carazo and Rivas)
$20 per month OTE (over the air, 1.5 mbs)
$25-110 per month fiber optic (2-20 mbs)

Taxis

In most parts of Nicaragua, Taxis charge a flat rate stipulated by the government. Some towns they are allowed to negotiate, like San juan del sur and Managua, in these cases the price may be according to your skin color and how lost you look. Prices are per person.

Most parts of Carazo, Rivas, Granada, Masaya - 10 cordobas ($ 0.34 US)
San Juan del sur - around 30 cordobas ($1 US)
Managua - 50 cordobas average, 80 if going across the city ($2-4 US)

Hopefully these numbers can be useful for you to make your own calculations of what it costs to live in Nicaragua. Of course rent can vary from one town to another by quite a bit, but Pali for example is the same everywhere.