The Joy of Music (Nicaraguan-style)

Nothing like the sweet sound of traditional Nicaraguan music to stir the soul.

Only one tiny little problem.

My soul really isn't that interested in being stirred at 5:35am in the morning !#(*$#&#@!!

A Different Point of View

Once in a while, a volunteer "from a strange land" lands in Masaya. Most of the time, these aliens are University students from the United States, but they can come from other places as well.

They come for a three to six month period. My understanding is that more often than not their volunteer gig is associated with their program of studies back home.

Or they come to gather experience for their resume. Or, they come to do some "development" work.

It doesn't really matter why they come. But they come.

I see them in the streets sometimes.

(ASIDE: The funny thing is that usually not a peep is exchanged when we cross paths. Kinda weird. But back to the story . . . )

Anyway, I always wonder what they think of this place; you know, like what exactly is going on in their heads. After all, Nicaragua is very different from the U.S. or Canada or Germany or Holland. VERY different.

Difficult to know.

Until now.

I stumbled upon the blog of Chris Rhodenbaugh, where Chris documents his recent 2 1/2 month stay here in Masaya, Nicaragua. (He volunteered at one of the schools BECA works with. Sadly, I never met the guy.)

And talk about an insightful, dense read. Such detail!

I especially enjoyed what he has to say about his work on a couple of "sustainable" projects he spent his time on.

So, when time permits you, and for a change in gears from my brief, opinionated rants, I highly recommend his post Summary of My Work in Nicaragua.

For the alien point of view.

Number 11

Much fanfare about that Newsweek edition the other week. The one about the World's Best Countries.

A few people walking around a little incredulous that the U.S. came in 11th place. (Omigod!)

I don't pay much attention to these kinds of analyses.

I harken back to my statistics professor telling us the old adage about "Lies, damn lies, and . . . statistics."

And that was the professor talking! Ha!

However these survey things do inspire some lively discussions.

And talking about surveys, allow me to point you in a slightly different direction: The Happy Planet Index.

Number 11 looks pretty good after taking a look at what those Happy Planet people have to say. (Eeek!) They lump Gringolandia in the same happiness territory as Chad, Nigeria, and Madagascar. Yep, not so good.

Interestingly, Happy Planet gives some of the highest marks to Central American countries. Costa Rica finished first. (I lived there for a couple of years. Yeah, I guess they walked around smiling quite a bit. )

Moreoever, Nicaragua finished a helluva lot higher than the U.S. Go figure. (Funny quirk: Nicaragua came in at number 11!)

I'm not sure what to make of all of it. I did read a very interesting point of view here.

I'm not going to stick my toe into this debate.

But I'm very happy to tell you about it.

Stepping Back (a little bit)

A very subtle change on the website today. The "Official BECA Blog" link on the top menu no longer directs to my blog (this one).

Why? Well, I began to realize that BECA is beginning to take on a life of its own. Which isn't a bad thing.

But it does mean that a blog littered with my personal opinions and rants can no longer masquerade as "official" anything.

We'll try to post only relevant news items and announcements to the new Official BECA Blog.

And you'll have to return here for the dribble.