9/1/09

There are some things that people prefer not to mention here. The 80's and 90's were a very traumatic time for Nicaraguans, especially the Saucenos.

People will make offhanded remarks about conveniences they had before the war, especially the train that went to Leon - but there is a period of time that people just won't bring up.

The people who are willing to bring up this period of time seem to be the teens - I guess that's because they don't really remember all that much about this time period. Today, one of the tour guides showed me the grave of her uncle who died during the war and went on to tell me about how El Sauce has changed since her childhood. I was surprised to learn that up until the late 90's, there were only about five telephones in the whole of El Sauce!

Our peers are especially reluctant to talk politics. I can't imagine how hard it must have been for them to grow up in that sort of an environment. It's hard to imagine all of that instability, violence, and isolation happened in the El Sauce I'm getting to know today.