BLUEFIELDS!

I'm moving to BLUEFIELDS! Its located on the southeastern Carribbean coast of Nicaragua and is the capital of the southern autonomous region, R.A.A.S. I'm super happy and excited! Its a really interesting place because the culture there is completely different from the Pacific side of Nicaragua. It was used by Dutch and English pirates in the 16th and 17th centuries, hence how it got its non-spanish name. There are two additional languages spoken, Miskito and Creole English, and there are also people of African descent. The culture is definitely creole and I'm really looking forward to experiencing it and seeing the differences and similarities of the creole culture that I know in New Orleans.

Bluefields is very foreign to most Nicaraguans because of its inaccessibility. In order to get there from Managua, I have to take a 7 or so hour bus ride to a city on the Escondido River called El Rama, and then take a boat down the river, the rest of the way to Bluefields another 3 or so hours. Sounds like an an adventure, right? You could also fly, but Peace Corps won't pay for that. Traveling by boat is more fun anyway!

There is a lot of public health work to be done in Bluefields,especially in my sector. It had the highest number of maternal deaths last year and all but one were preventable. Because of this, I will be doing A LOT of promoting for the casas maternas.

Stay tuned for pictures because I am headed to Bluefields tomorrow morning and will stay until next Wednesday! Today at, "Counterpart Day" in Managua, I met my Nicaraguan counterpart and we discussed how I will spend the week getting to know my site. I'm super excited!

Shout out to NOLA on Mardi Gras Day

I hope everyone is having a glorious day in beautiful New Orleans! Yall are in my heart and soul. As for news from Nica...yesterday we were assigned our sites and you´ll NEVER guess where I´m going to live for the next two years. Stay tuned, I can´t post it on my blog until I´ve told my mom first :)

Ahuevo!