The Mouth of Hell

I'm trying to add some pictures, unfortunately the batteries in my camera went dead today. This is a picture of the street I live on.

THE MOUTH OF HELL

I had a free day so I headed up to a shooting range I was told about—in hopes of being able to fire a machine gun. It turned out they had no machine guns, so I settled for a couple of pistols and a hundred rounds of ammunition. I shot the metal targets and thought about the fact that just two decades ago gunfire was going off aimed at more animate objects. During my time here I have learned some of the more horrific details of the civil war that raged in the 70’s and 80’s. Sadly the United States, in an effort to stop the spread of “global communism” turned Nicaragua into a bloodbath with no objective of winning. Millions of taxpayer dollars were spent funding angry citizens and hiring mercenary forces to attack and pillage villages on the borders. I know many of you reading this may revere Ronald Reagan, but his policies although theoretically noble were violent and fatal for many innocent people.

MOVING ON FROM WAR TO A HORRIFIC SITE OF A DIFFERENT SORT

I went to Masaya Volcano National Park today. Named the “Mouth of Hell” in the 16th century by Spanish conquistadors. The information guide states that Father Franciscode Bobadilla literally believed it to be an opening to hell—upon my arrival I could understand why. Once I made it to the top the air was filled with volcanic smoke choking my lunges and making my eyes water. When the wind shifted and the smoke was blown out across the open fields I could see a magnificent crater where incandescent lava flows and smokes creating a continuous white cloud that floats up filling the sky.

I spent a few hours at the top hiking around. I ran into two Korean Americans—brothers from California—on one leg of a motorcycle trip around Central America. We walked and talked for a few minutes watching the smoke fly and trying to avoid it’s chocking shifts.

The pre-Columbia indigenous people venerated the site. They viewed its eruptions as acts of an angry god. The informational guide said that women and children were sacrificed as appeasements when eruptions took place.

I shared the top with a gaggle of Nica school children dressed in their trademark blue and white uniforms. When I would pass a group of them with my two Korean friends I felt like more of a spectacle then the volcano.

While I was typing this post two kids from the local UPC church came by my window offering to sell me a Nica tamale, a fundraiser for the church. I bought one for 12 Cordobas and it currently sits steaming in front of me, I’m not sure I have the stomach for it, but I appreciate their effort.

Weather and Weekend

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

This coming weekend I am traveling with some of the young ministers to San Marcos, to a leadership-training seminar hosted by the UPC of Nicaragua. I feel very fortunate to be invited along to these events and I have tried to economically assist some of the young men who can often barely afford to make these several hour journeys.

Most of the churches in Nicaragua have five services a week, lasting between two and three hours. It’s also not uncommon for them to host special dinners or youth functions on the free nights. The expectation on converts is very high and most of the people I have become familiar with in the churches, completely arrange their lives around church scheduling.

I find it hard to attend more than once or twice a week. Although I find it a great benefit to be connected with the congregation, I also struggle with the length and bewildering speed with which the sermons are preached. I often leave with a pounding headache exhausted and unable to study for my early morning Spanish lessons.

The weather has softened in the last few days constant rains have provided a cloud cover, which is a welcomed barrier from the glaring sun. However, the Nicaraguans are starting to complain; one person told me that the clouds and cool weather is making it hard to dry clothes—drying machines are virtually unheard of. I offered that if it stays cool washing clothes becomes less necessary since one doesn’t drip with sweat from just walking the block. But I have a feeling that I might sweat a bit more than the Nica’s do. My two main complaints mosquitoes and the heat don’t seem to pose much of a problem to the locals. I would be delighted to have just one day of snow, but it’s just slightly less likely than finding an A/C apartment here.

Picture

Some of the members of a Drug Rehab I have been trying to help

The Elections

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

I’m not sure how many people are reading this blog regularly, but some must be wondering where I’ve been for the last few days. I was traveling around the end of last week. This week, the power has been out for most of the week and on Tuesday the Internet cable went down, so I have been unable to get a connection for several days. It’s all part of life in Nicaragua.

My dad is coming to visit next week. He’s going to preach at the local church and I’m going to take him around the countryside for a couple days. It means a lot to me that my dad is coming down. He will be my first and probably only visitor and he’s not a big fan of third world living, so I understand that this trip for him is an act of love.

The elections are approaching. On November 5th Nicaraguans will go to the polls to elect a new president. In a strange turn of events, it looks as if the former President and leader of the Sandinista Party —the communist revolutionary government from the 1980’s that gave Ronald Reagan a fit—is leading in the polls. However, Daniel Ortega’s promises this time around seem far from his former communist policies in the 1980’s. From some of my research talking to Pentecostals from around Nicaragua (mostly UPCers) there is strong support for Ortega in the evangelical and Pentecostal churches. To many in the US this seems an odd reality —and I personally don’t care much for the guy— but from the perspective of those who live in abject poverty a politician promising zero unemployment against four other contenders who have little presence in the campaign or represent the extremely wealthy of the country, Ortega seems the likely choice. Ortega has also repaired his breach with the Catholic Church and is promising to outlaw “therapeutic” abortions —whatever that means.

I’ve been talking with the election monitors from The Carter Center in Atlanta, who are here to make sure everything is fair, and it looks as if I might be able to be apart of the volunteer poll monitors. It’s not often that one gets the opportunity to watch up close an election as contentious and possibly destabilizing as this one.

Oh and if anyone wants to email me they can do so at marcustrammell@hotmail.com. If you send me an email I will do my best to respond quickly.

Leon

Questions, comments, concerns? Please feel free to E-mail me!

I missed a couple days, -sorry. The power was out on Thursday and this weekend I was traveling in the northern part of the country. I spent yesterday and part of today in Leon, another provincial city north of the capital. Beautiful colonial architecture and a wonderful coastline just outside the city.

Just across from the main cathedral in the center of Leon, is a large theatre that has been converted into a Pentecostal Church. The Catholic Cathedrals in town where all shut today, apparently no mass on Sunday, however the Pentecostal church service could be heard from across the street. I was walking with a group of people, I meet at the hostel the night before, when we heard the noise of the service. Most of these people were European travelers and they usually have very little time for religion. But one English guy turned to me and told me how much he loved the sound the music and the prayers. He said, “You can feel something.” I agreed. I told him I was Pentecostal and he asked a few questions. He knew almost nothing about it. But he was much more interested then most.