Final reflections: ten weeks in Los Tololos by Alex Smith

Project Manager and translator Alex Smith spent three phases fronting up our community project in the sleepy village of Los Tololos. In today's blog, Alex reflects on day-to-day life in rural Nicaragua, and how it felt to switch on the taps after ten weeks to provide safe, clean drinking water to over 400 people.

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Alex pictured here with Brigido, head of the local community cooportative

Life in Los Tololos normally began about 5am with the dawn chorus of roosters at 30 second intervals and the local dogs, reminding everyone that if the sun is up, you should be too. Once you’ve staggered out of bed or nearly fallen out of your hammock, Mum has thrust a cup of black, sweet coffee (better known as rocket fuel) into your hand and given you your packed breakfast of rice, beans and tortilla to take to work with you.

A typical Los Tololos breakfast

After trudging along to the pulperia and hoping that you’re not the last one to morning meeting (so to avoid the Day Leader’s punishment of press-ups), jobs are allocated and the working day begins. Being the only “cheles” or foreigners in the village, we became quite a sight in downtown Los Tololos, and people would always stop for a chat and discussion on the latest trench digging update or if anyone wanted any mangos or cashew nuts (for which the village is famous).

Daily trench digging

Once up at our worksite, discussions would begin in earnest. Arms would be waved, foreheads scratched and fingers pointed and about six people would try and talk at the same time in Spanglish. The art of talking with your hands became the most important form of communication and even as a translator, a shrug or a smile seemed to be worth a thousand words. Often some of our family members would come up and work with us, meaning that you could be easily upstaged by your eight year old brother wielding a pick axe whilst you are struggling to dig.

Lunch would then be the main focus on people’s minds as trench digging is hungry work. Once back at home, more rice and beans would be on the menu but we would get a chance to find out the latest news from the village and to be told off by our mum for not putting on enough sun cream. Tortilla-making class would then start, as you try and get your tortilla to look like a perfect circle, rather than a squidgy rectangle (I’m sad to say that after three phases, mine are still a work in progress!)

Joey helping 'mum' make the tortillas

Afternoon siestas became a popular activity with the post-lunch dash to secure your place in the hammock in order to have a little snooze. Often, there would be the pretence of learning Spanish vocabulary, or writing in a diary but really after about 30 seconds, people would be fast asleep or with half an eye open, secretly watching the Spanish soap operas beloved by all Nicaraguans.

School would then be on the agenda, as both English and Spanish classes were held in the local primary school. English classes were the more popular, with renditions of the “Hokey Cokey” and “Heads, Shoulders, Knees and Toes” to be heard around the village in broken English and the sight of Venturers and PM’s frantically trying to remember the words before class started. Spanish classes would be more an exercise in learning useful phrases such as “Please can I have that shovel?” and “Are there any more biscuits in the pulperia?” which would be accompanied by more arm waving.

Spanish lessons in the school

The local pulperia would then be the afternoon hot spot as a combination of a good gossip with the owner and a neon orange fizzy drink would be in order. Family trees would be explained, children played with and possible Nicaraguan marriage partners lined up. People would drop in for a chat, always intrigued about the project itself, and full of questions about life back in Europe. Often, a messenger would be sent to collect us as Mum had dinner on the table. We would take it in turns to collect water from our well for our showers, and then stand in awe as a full 25 litre bucket would be hoisted up onto someone´s head and carried with ease whilst we would have more water on us than in the jerry can!

Preparing for a shower!

Dinner would be eaten with the whole family watching us, Mum making sure we were eating enough, kids coming in and out between soap opera watching and animals wandering around our feet. It would then be time for bed, with us trying to work out where everyone would sleep and trying not to trip over baby chickens, piglets, parrots, puppies and kittens and to get ready to start a brand new day.

Alex and her Nicaraguan family

The project itself was a huge undertaking, but when I was allowed to turn on the tap for the first time in the back garden of a farm where I had walked past four times a day, on my way to and from the project site, I felt unbelievably privileged to be allowed to share such a defining moment in someone’s life. Having lived in Los Tololos for over nine weeks, our project has changed my life as much as the village itself as I was given a unique window into a very different world.

One of the taps in Los Tololos