Final Thoughts

Yesterday we toured another volcano and visited the Masaya Market. Afterwards we watched a local expert make pottery without any artificial glaze or anything of the sort. It was really impressive and a few of the individuals on our tour decided to give it a try.
My final thought for the trip though, is about the image that has stuck in my mind the most. We have ziplined over the rain forest, hiked through the rain forest, white water rafted, climbed mountains, and snorkeled in the ocean. I saw many beautiful sights, and have numerous memories I will never forget. However, the one image that sticks out in my mind above all the others is one I haven't described in any of my blogs so far. On our day in Ometepe Island, we drove past a small village. There they have no washer and dryers and so they hand wash their clothes and hang them to dry outside. I saw a little pink dress, a 2 year old's sun dress, hanging to dry on a line of rusted barbed wire. They had no other choice, they lived so modestly and with so little comfort that the wire was their only option to dry their clothes. The poverty in Nicaragua is startling, especially when put in contrast with Costa Rica. In Costa Rica, there were houses that indicated a wealthy family, a majority of houses were modest middle class homes (smaller than U.S. middle class, but comfortable and well kept), and there were a few shacks of strewn together crinkled tin, the kind we use on the roofs of sheds in the U.S. In Nicaragua, I saw quite a few Extravagant, luxurious, houses that would rival some of the most well to do families in the United states, a sparse middle class, and an overwhelming number of poor individuals. It would seem from what I had witnessed that Costa Rica's wealth seems to be more evenly distributed whereas in Nicaragua it is more dichotomous. The gap is lessening because Nicaragua's tourism is starting to pick up, and so more income is coming into the beautiful country, but as of right now Nicaragua is still very much so a second world country.

linked below are my picture albums for both Costa Rica and Nicaragua. I tried to shoot a few photos of the living situations throughout my trip, and so perhaps you can get some minuscule glimpse of what I am trying to describe.

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150509344552550.388065.584287549&type=3&l=a8c783f26f

http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10150499136747550.386664.584287549&type=3&l=9169d04fe8