Catch a Nicaraguan Ride!

It was a privilege to spend four days in Nicaragua at Augsburg College's Center for Global Education.  The fourteen of us--sometimes one, two, or  a few more--rode to our meetings with officials, leaders, peasants, and educators in a comfortable, small bus.

The assortment of vehicles on the road was astounding.  We saw a few semis.  The public transportation system is mostly old American school buses (I am assuming Little Rock School District is in Arkansas, not Managua).  Lots of cars and lot of motorcycles and scooters.  There were bicycles trying to carve out room on narrow, sometimes rutted roads. 

And then there were the animal drawn vehicles like the one in this picture.  They might be pulled by mules, horses, or oxen.  All of these vehicles were sharing Nicaraguan roads and highways.  They have figured out how to merge fast vehicles with slow moving ones.  One of the school bus/public transportation buses had a bed on top of it.  If one doesn't have a vehicle, it is the only way to get it home from market!

A poor country, Nicaragua, it has been suggested, could be termed a fourth- or fifth-world country rather than a third-world country.  In spite of, or because of the poverty, there are plenty of ways to catch a ride.

But the best ride of all is the spirit of the people.  While most USA citizens would probably fold in the face of the issues confronted by Nicaraguans, the people there are almost universally focused on the future and how to improve education, the economy, and living standards.  Their sense of hope was remarkable.  We in the USA could learn much from them.  Politically, militarily, and economically, they have been pummeled for decades.  Yet, a certain grace emanates from them.

The last horse drawn vehicle I traveled in was a buggy through Central Park in New York City.  How different, yet graceful, the horse drawn vehicle in Nicaragua--a glimpse of grace.