Rosita - last look

Here are a couple of final pictures of Rosita before I move on to other topics besides the trip to the Atlantic Coast. These were taken by Andrew.

Sometimes, it can be surprisingly comfortable to be underneath a truck:

This is a serious parking job:

The Airline/Ice Cream Store

This is the place where you go to confirm your airline tickets and get a ride to the Rosita Airport. It also doubles as an ice cream parlor. Here is what it looks like from the outside.

And here is how it looks from the inside:

Notice the poster about what you're not allowed to bring on the plane, as well as the other poster with ice cream flavors.

Nicaragua's Pasttime

We went to a baseball game in Sahsa, the second I've seen in Nicaragua. Interestingly enough, the leader of the local health center, Sergio, is also the starting pitcher for the Sahsa baseball team. Baseball is one of the most important events around town, as evidenced by the fact that the baseball jerseys were completely spotless and clean before the game. Players walk around town in their jerseys sometimes, even when there isn't a game (or at least one that I know of). On this particular day, Sahsa was engaged in a heated battle against Kukalaya, a nearby village.

Boys of Summer:


Boys in Blue, keeping the peace.


Actually, while we were there, one guy got into a fracas with the police. I'm not exactly sure what happened, but the guilty party basically got embarrassed in front of most of the town. Then as the police walked away, the guy grabbed a log and started chasing after the police. The towns people shouted to the police, who turned around and re-disciplined him. There are 6 police officers in Sahsa, all of whom are voluntary.

Safety is probably a bigger issue out here than back in Leon. I wouldn't have felt particularly comfortable walking around alone at night around Sahsa. Even while we were in Rosita, I didn't feel completely safe. I was never threatened or anything, but I did see a street fight on the main drag there during my brief stay.

Bulges in the Pants

Speaking of buses, on the first bus ride, from Rosita to Sahsa, the guy in front of me stood up to put something in the overhead rack. As he did this, his shirt lifted up, and I could plainly see that he had a handgun stuffed into his pants. This discovery was a little unsettling because I had heard of buses being robbed in Peru. The bus system there is a little different in that they have buses owned by private companies, so the buses are pretty nice. Nonetheless, bus robberies in Peru had gotten so bad that most companies have all passengers go through a metal detector screening before getting on board. These public buses in Nicaragua are mostly beaten up former school buses from the United States. Sometimes people ride on the roof. Animals sometimes ride inside along with possessions, food, crops, desks, and almost anything that can fit. As far as I can tell, there aren't any security measures whatsoever, much less metal detectors. And once you're out in the middle of the campo, ain't nobody coming to rescue you.

The discovery of the gun caused some concern and I began scanning other passengers for unusual bulges in their pants, as well as trying to determine whether this situation might be dangerous. Fortunately, this guy didn't appear to be sketchy. He had just bought a snow-cone like treat for a young girl who was apparently his daughter. Just to be safe, I asked Edgar about it. Edgar says that it's pretty common for people to carry guns in rural Nicaragua. A lot of people were involved in the wars in the 1970s and 1980s and still carry guns for protection. After all, many of these folks live in very rural areas where they don't have any police protection. That made me feel better. I guess that if no one has guns, that makes you feel safe. Or if lots of people do, then you feel a little safe too because anyone would have to be crazy to try to rob a bus full of people with guns.

We didn't have any problems. On the way back, as a matter of fact, another guy had a gun in a holster that wasn't concealed at all.

The dog on the bus goes "Bark Bark Bark"

Actually this dog didn't bark, he was just a cute puppy that rode quietly on the bus with us on the way back from Sahsa to Rosita. He belonged to one of the families riding the bus, but he thought the floors were too uncomfortable, so he took over one of the empty seats.

Housing in the Atlantic Coast

Here are what some typical houses look like in the Rosita and Sahsa areas. The houses in Sahsa have been rebuilt since Hurricane Felix in September 2007 and according to Edgar it looks much better now than then.
This first house is on the way from Rosita to Sahsa.
This is a house in Sahsa.
Another house in Sahsa.

Did I say Rosita was Modern?

At first I thought this was a fake champions t-shirt because I couldn't remember the Redskins winning anything in a long, long time. And then I realized, that no, in fact, it is real, just really, really old. It is a 1992 Redskins NFC champs shirt. 1992! That's almost as old as my sister! And it still has a price tag on it! (discounted to $1.99, what a deal!) And not even a Superbowl t-shirt...this is just from the NFC title game.


Also of note in the t-shirt realm. In Sahsa, we saw a guy wearing a UNC Michael Jordan jersey. Unfortunately, we didn't feel particularly safe or comfortable taking a picture of him, but yay for UNC!

Welcome to the Rosita Airport

With heavy emphasis on the "ita" part of the name. Here is what the airport looks like, in it's entirety.


The dean of the medical school had warned us not to expect to see any buildings or anything when we landed, but I thought that that meant there would be a very few. No, he really mean that there would be no real buildings, other than the straw hut where the military guys hang out. The van in the picture is what takes you from the airport into town. Here is a picture of Edgar disembarking our plane with the runway, aka cow pasture, in the background. Yes, those are cow turds on the runway.

Turns out that the town of Rosita itself is not quite as small as the airport makes it look. It has a population of about 25,000 according to census figures, although other estimates are as high as 35,000. The main street is paved and it is pretty modern, with a musical instrument store, internet, a cell tower, and pretty consistent electricity. Unfortunately, like most places in Nicaragua, water is highly irregular.