nicaraguan entertainment

According to Leslie, the average American uses 40 gallons of water a day. According to the United States government, we used 80-100 gallons. That kind of waste does not happen in Nicaragua. Why? Number one, who wants to stand for a half an hour in a cold shower? Number two, the necessity of water purification. And Number Three, Nicaraguans are more aware that their water is not of an infinite supply.

This is particularly shown in the manner of washing clothes: by pila. A pila is a washboard, basically. Most households have an upgraded version, where the pila is formed of cement in a pila/sink combination. Leslie taught me how to wash my clothes on the pila.
1. Soak the clothes in a bucket with some soap
2. Bring up one piece of clothing to the pila and rub bar soap on the particularly smelly spots
3. Scrub against the ridges, scooping water from the sink to create more bubbles
4. Rinse while scrubbing, until the water runs off clear
* DO NOT DIP CLOTHING INTO THE SINK WATER
This last note is the most important, and the most often disregarded by newcomers to Nicaragua. The sink holds the clean water, and you take water from it to rinse your clothing.

Anyway, after pila instruction and consequent washing of clothes, we went to the spa. Well, we say spa in English, but I don’t know what I’d really call it. A Nicaraguan man had gone to Guatemala and studied Mayan medicinal techniques. He came back and opened up a sauna, perhaps, in the Mayan tradition. It is a small hut, a “chu” in Mayan, with a hole on the floor in the center into which they place hot from the fire rocks. You go in and place freshly picked leaves such as mint and lemongrass on the rocks and then pour water on top. The creates a wonderfully smelling steam that purifies your pores as you sweat enthusiastically. After a few minutes, you come out of the hut and dip in a pool of cold water. We did this four times, and let me tell you, it was refreshing.

Then, we covered ourselves in mud. It’s funny, since we had all just finished getting the last of the mud from the volcano hike off of our feet, that we then payed to put mud back on our bodies. But it was fun, and we all looked like Amazon women, or Martine Sheen when he comes up out of the water at the end of Apocalypse Now. After scrubbing all of the mud and dead layers of skin off of our body, we enjoyed herbal tea while resting in the beautiful garden. All for a the low low price of $10.

To complete our total body happiness, we went next to an organic food restaurant. I had spinach lasagna and a brownie with vanilla ice cream. Leslie was feeling bad, because our entire day was spent doing things that only a “rich American” could do. We were perpetuating the stereotype of tourists who come to Nicaragua and take advantage of the relatively inexpensive entertainments while avoiding the real issues of the Nicaraguan people. This was especially difficult for Leslie, since she lives as a Nicaraguan on a regular basis, and her salary in many ways reflects this.

It was St. Patrick’s Day. So we celebrated. Emily, Leslie’s roommate, made chicken and chick pea curry, Leslie made some Sangria, and Caroline came over before we all went out to the only Irish Bar in Managua. While a Nicaraguan beer cost 10 cordobas, a Guiness in a can cost 72 cordobas. I splurged. We hung out with foreigners and Nicaraguans, listening to local musicians. We followed a few members of Lenin’s band down the street to a salsa bar where I learned to merengue until the early morning hours.