In pursuit of paperwork...

Flexible…I think if I had to pick one word to describe a necessary attribute to living here, it would be flexible. Although a sense of humor and patience would definitely be close to the top of the list. It’s 5:30 a.m. and I’ve finished my quiet time, taken my shower and have already had to change the plans for today. Hadn’t planned on changing plans and didn’t pray for patience during my time with the Lord, so how is it that a whole day’s worth of plans can change so quickly in the quiet, early morning hours? A broken door lock.

We were scheduled to meet our friend, Roger, in Jinotepe this morning at 7:30 at the police station. Sounds ominous, doesn’t it? It’s not. We are in the process of trying to get our car ready for us to make a trip south to Costa Rica for our mandatory out-of-the-country visa time. Because we are not residents, we are required to leave the country every 90 days for a supposed period of 72 hours…I’ve heard that’s often flexible. But in order to do this with our car, we have to have all kinds of paperwork.

Yesterday, we spent the entire day chasing rabbits. Roger came up and met us to take us through the process as he said it is a hoop-jumping experience and we would definitely need help. He had to have some work done on his car, so we dropped it off at his mechanic’s and then we headed over to the other side of town to get our emission’s check done, a requirement to going south. This was a relatively painless process as there was no one in line when we arrived. We pulled in to the proper “bay” and Jim had to show his driver’s license and the car’s circulation card, which is equivalent to registration in the States. We waited while the man typed up the info on the form and when he was done, we paid him 120 cords (about $6). Another guy had a gizmo that he held up to the exhaust while the first one started our car. Evidently, our car cooperated by not belching out billows of bad stuff ‘cause we were given the mandatory window sticker and form and off we went.

So far, so good. Our next stop was down across from the turn off in to one of the city’s big market areas. This is a very congested part of town, with heavy traffic all the time and tons of people on the streets. Watching someone try to cross the road is like watching a real-life game of Frogger. There are several big bus stops along this street so there are always lots of buses stopped which makes the traffic flow even worse. Then you have the non-stop parade of taxis, honking for fares, weaving maniacally in and out of traffic, making three lanes out of two. I love going down that way as it’s spell-binding trying to take it all in…Jim’s never quite so enthused as he’s the one having to navigate the dicey drive.

We actually made it in pretty good time and turned in to the place where we could get the mechanical inspection done on the car. This place was busy as they also do air conditioning repair…a definite money-maker in this city! Although there were a few chairs outside, the receptionist, encased in a tiny little office, asked if we wanted to wait in there. We thanked her for the offer but decided to wait outside, where our car was and where we could see the comings and goings on the street…cheap entertainment for the wait.

One of the employees there is a young man named Nestor (or Raymond…seems like a lot of Nicaraguan young men use a second, more American-sounding name with gringos - we stuck with Nestor) who is a Christian and is a friend of Roger’s. Roger has talked with him many times about the Lord and has prayed with him. Because we were friends of Roger’s and Americans, he was very friendly with us and spoke to us in English…a lot! He told us he is taking English classes and his dream is to preach a whole sermon in English. He is studying to be an electrical engineer and is working at the garage doing all the cars’ electrical work. He was a really pleasant young man and we enjoyed talking with him.

Meanwhile, the secretary was filling out all the required paperwork. It seems that there was a hitch. We bought the car from a car lot and we have the contract and the bill of sale and it’s all been notarized, but we don’t have a “release” from the prior owner. This one threw me and it’s a bit confusing. Apparently, there has to be paperwork releasing the car from the prior owner to a new owner when the seller lives in one department (like a county or state) and the buyer lives in another…even though the car is legally ours, it’s not completely ours. When I asked Roger what we paid all that money for when we bought the car, he laughed and said to use it. Somehow, the humor escaped me.

When we bought the car, Susanna had said that we would need to go to Jinotepe (like a county seat) to get some paperwork done as the prior owner lives in the department of Carazo. She said she knew a man that would have to go with us to help us with the paperwork but there wasn’t any rush on it and we could do it at any time. We have talked about it several times since, but it seems as though when we asked Susanna about it, that trying to get this fella to find the time to go just hasn’t worked out. Susanna assured us it wasn’t any big deal. And it wasn’t…until now! We had to have the last leg of the paperwork to get the final inspection.

So, here’s where it really starts to get interesting. In order to get the transfer paperwork completed at the police department, we have to present a form stating the car has passed inspection….but then, once we have the proper release or transfer paperwork completed, we then have to have the car inspected with the new correct paperwork…what a racket! I’m sure there must be relatives somehow involved in all this…kind of like a Mechanical Mafia. It does no good to get upset over these things as it is what it is. We knew at that point, we would be able to continue our relationship with Nestor as there was obviously going to be another visit in our near-future.

Finally, it was our car’s turn to be checked. Things seemed to be going just fine until the left turn signal decided to get finicky and not work correctly. They tried to change the bulb, that wasn’t it. Then they started pulling out all kinds of wires…that was making me a little bit nervous…after all, it was only a light bulb! Before long, there were three mechanics fussing with this one little light bulb. While we were waiting, Jim went ahead and paid for our inspection, which amounted to checking the turn signals, the headlights and taillights, the brake lights, the flashers and the horn. And as soon as the connector on the headlight was fixed, we were in business. All told, the inspection came to 250 cords plus 100 cords for the plastic replacement piece for the cantankerous light bulb. So, approximately $17.50 for about an hour’s worth of time at the mechanics.

When Jim was paying, I kept hearing a rhythmic slapping sound coming from a street stall next to the mechanic’s place. I asked Roger what that sound was and he told me there was someone there making tortillas. I went out in front of the mechanic’s place out on to the sidewalk to watch, with Jim quickly following…I think he gets a bit nervous with me wandering off like that. We keep a close eye on one another and it’s just natural for us that when we’re someplace new and one is out of view, the other immediately starts looking. Americans often draw stares and in some instances, small crowds! So we still use one another as a security blanket as we continue to learn the culture, the language and our way here.

There was a young woman making tortillas with such precision that it was hypnotic to watch. I asked Roger if we could take a picture of her and so he told the woman we were enjoying watching her and asked if it would be alright for a photo. She immediately became embarrassed and flustered. I smiled at her and she nodded it was okay, but she didn’t want to look at Jim’s camera. Finally, he was able to get her to look at him and what a beautiful smile appeared on her face. Jim also took a video of her and it's great but again, until he can figure out how to get it from the files to the blog, we're the only ones who can see it! The women in the back all started laughing and teasing her but I noticed another one came out when she realized that Jim really was taking pictures and doing a small video on our camera. I asked Roger how much the tortillas were as I thought we ought to buy some and he already had money in hand. He bought 5 tortillas for 5 cords…about a nickel a piece. We thanked the lady for letting us take her picture and we left her smiling and teasing with her friends as we walked back to the garage area, eating hot, delicious tortillas.

I don’t know how the thousands upon thousands of street vendors are able to make a living here. Inflation reports just came out saying that inflation in 2008 rose almost 14%...that’s down from 2007 when the inflation was over 16%. We are learning more and more about just how poor most people are here and on how little they survive. It’s not about extras…it’s about essentials…beans and rice. Daily hunger…little hope. I don’t think we are seeing starvation like we find in Rwanda or maybe even the streets of Calcutta…but we do see hunger and we see it every day.

Even Miguel. The more we know Miguel, the more we find out just how hard daily life is for him. He usually will eat two meals a day, breakfast and dinner, although he will have lunch a couple of times a week. Breakfast is rice and beans, lunch is beans and rice and dinner is gallo pinto – a mixture of rice and beans. Extras are platanos, a few vegetables and an occasional egg. Last week I asked him how often he had chicken to eat, if it was once or twice a week. He laughed and shook his head “no”. When I asked him again, he was looking down and said 2-3 times a month. Even I was shocked at how little meat he and his family eat. I told him he had to eat more meat than that and he just looked at me and asked how? It takes money to buy chicken and it is money they don’t have…much like most people. He said Americans don’t understand what it’s like for people here…he’s right. We don’t.

And just so I’m not keeping you hanging re: the conversation with Miguel, we don’t want him to become dependent on us so we are trying to help him figure out a way he can increase their food source, whether by increasing their income or perhaps, even raising their own chickens…that’s one we’re really pursuing with him. Me and live chickens…I know it had to be God that brought us here!

I don’t tell you these things to pull on your heartstrings or play an emotional card. I tell you about them because I have to tell someone what we see here. I have to talk about it and try to make sense of it. I have to work it out in words. See, I struggle with this poverty issue every day. It’s so abundant that it’s the norm and because it’s the norm, it could be easy to forget how great it is or how destructive. It’s easy to come home to pantry shelves filled with food, meat in the freezer and a package of cookies for snacks. It’s easy to ignore their struggle to just get through another day when my struggle is getting the car paperwork right. God forgive me for my “me” centeredness…please don’t let my eyes be blinded by myself nor my heart hardened to the hurts of others.

Okay…I wanted to finish our day’s story re: the car saga…that will have to wait. I have gotten way off track here and my time is gone for now but I will continue later today, if possible. I guess the way I have to leave this right now is I will ask you to pray for the poor of Nicaragua today…that they would receive nourishment in their bodies and nourishment for their souls…and that we would never become hardened to either condition.