Mary in Managua

I celebrated Nicaragua’s Independence Day in the mountains about 4 hours north of Managua.  Claudia, her 16-month-old son, Adiel, her mother and I piled into the car and drove to visit Aunt “Tia” Candida.  We enjoyed a smooth ride along the newly expanded and repaved Pan-American highway, courtesy of the USA’s Millennial Project.

Visit to Villa Camilo

I got to know Tia Candida when she lived with us for about a month after Adiel was born. She came specifically to help take care of Claudia and the newborn. I came to love her as family during that time and hoped to visit her hometown one day. Hurray for a long weekend!

Little did I know that Tia Candida’s family makes up about half the town she lives in! We stayed with one of her daughters, who is known for being the town’s skirt seamstress. Over the last 2 weeks she had made about 50 pleated uniform skirts in preparation for the big Independence Day parade. The sewing machine she used is the one pictured below.

My second day in Villa Camilo began earlier than expected when Tia Candida came to the house at about 8AM and said she had already finished grinding corn and making the masa (corn dough) for various items we were apparently going to bake that day. So, off I went to learn from the expert! We started off by making corn tortillas on her firewood burning stove.

We had many visitors throughout the day, and not all were humans. We were constantly shooing the baby pigs, dogs, and chickens out of the dirt floor kitchen. The kitchen is ample-sized with wooden counter-tops and is enclosed by rustic brick walls and topped with a red-shingled, obviously leaky, roof.

We baked ALL DAY LONG! Rosquillas, Rosquetes, Pan Dulce, and Ojaldras. Tia was so patient with me as I fumbled around her kitchen trying to help! It became evident to me that she is famous for her baking as multiple neighbors arrived throughout the day asking if the baked goods were for sale yet. It seemed she had most of the goods sold before they were out of the oven. I also learned that she gives away almost more than she sells. I’ve said it many times before and I say it again, I’ve learned a lot about generosity from observing the Nicaraguan lifestyle. I have noted them regularly praying for and giving to others that may not have food to put on their table. I am humbled…especially as I learned today that Nicaragua is now ranked the poorest country in Latin America.

For more photos from Independence Day check out Picasa Web Albums.