cosas de la sociedad

Taking a rest today, after a couple days in the cool and rainy mountains outside of Matagalpa at http://www.fincaesperanzaverde.org. Amazing place, amazing staff.

I don´t have any fotos today, at least not yet, as I can´t really download on this computer. Just a brief commentary that there is much our country can learn from the Nicaraguans. Over and over I have observed an immense patience and fortitude in the people here no matter what part of the country I have been in. It is a culture that offers the comfort, especially in the rural areas, of needing fewer words to establish and maintain connection. Up at Esperanza Verde, often a shared smile was all that was needed to express a shared serenity in the moment.

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Despite being the second ¨poorest¨country in the western hemisphere, it now challenges the much more wealthy Costa Rica as the safest place in Central America. There is much to speculate on regarding this, but as a friend of mine pointed out to me, the people here not only overthrew a corrupt dictator in the 70s but then successfully stood up to the US invasion through the 80s.

They WON their democracy. Despite mistakes and struggles along the way, the society expresses a solidarity to this day in bettering the conditions for their communities and country. They have been able to process the trauma of the wars by expressing their agency in the values their communities will live by.

The US has not processed the same Contra War at all. It remains shrouded in confusion, and all but forgotten about in public consciousness. Yet that does not mean it went away. On the contrary, it was very much the beginning of the era we see today, which is defined by a complete lack of accountability by a government to the people´s will. Observe the dubious elections, corrupt bank-run corporatocracy, endless wars without purpose, increased surveilance and threat to free speech, and a fourth estate (press) that has lost nearly all independence.

And realize much of this concretized during the initial rise to power of the Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld clan, as described in their Project for a New American Century (PNAC). The Contra War was their first project in their quest for world domination, but unfortunately not their last.

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To finish on a lighter note, while this is ostensibly one of the most socialist countries in the world, it is also the first time I have been exposed to the reality of what a FREE MARKET economy looks like! Street vendors are everywhere. Bus stations are teeming with colorful goods of immense variety, my favorite so far being Guaneca just down the block from me here in Matagalpa.

There is no sales tax on things you buy, and I suspect no income tax on people either. No FICA is removed from paychecks. Anyone can open a shop in their house along a country road in the middle of nowhere, and sell cokes for what they can get. Or homemade cheese or the onions from the garden. The American dream IS alive and well, it just happens to be in Nicaragua!

One fascinating free market phenomenon: Salespeople regularly step onto public buses and offer a short presentation of their wares, available for a few pesos. Among the goods I have seen offered so far are lip balm, a book on natural health, candy, fruit, cooked chicken, live ducks, and the list goes on. I bought some AAA batteries I needed at a great price. You are free to ignore them completely or not. Usually a couple items are sold, and the salesperson steps off, ostensibly to turn around and repeat the process in the other direction.

Aside from food vendors at the stations themselves, who can sometimes be a little pushy, it is all done very respectfully, and even offers a certain pleasure. The bus drivers seem to know the salespeople, who express appreciation at the opportunity to board, which is up to the discretion of the driver. I´m guessing if someone is too aggressive, they will be asked to leave.

But it´s hard to imagine such a confrontation. In my month here, I have seen very, very little aggression, if any, across this entire country. Blessed be--