First 3 weeks in Nicaragua

It's been quite the experience here the first few weeks. We have had some trouble negotiating our pay and schedule. Even though we are working for the same company we've always worked for, they've made some big changes for the job down here. Since it's international work, they've decided to create a Nicaraguan company to pay us through. It's still owned by the same parent company though. Anyway, long story short we were told we'd get raises to come work here and literally 10 minutes before we board the plane we find out that we'd actually be taking a pay cut. We've been trying to straighten that whole thing out since we got here. It looks like we've made some big progress but nothing is definite just yet.

Getting all of our equipment and sensors set up on the rig was also more tedious than usual. We were called down here several days earlier than we usually would be and there wasn't much we could initially do. But they wouldn't let us leave the job site and come back a few days later when they would be ready for us. So we were coming out and spending a lot of time sitting around, setting up a sensor when we could and generally getting in everyone else's way because they weren't ready for us. Normally it takes us one day to get everything up and running but here we stretched that out over about 5 days.

We were initially staying in a hotel and were supposed to be taking the arranged van out to work with all the other workers. The job site is about 45 minutes from town and we don't have our own vehicles. For the first week or so we were just working through the day and the van would leave by 5am to get us here by 6. We did that once and then started hiring our own driver for myself and the two guys from my company to come out around 9 or 10. Now we're living at the house for the workers and working our regular 12 hour shifts, I'm working the 6pm to 6am shift. It's not exactly ideal. We normally work 12-12 so each guy has a chance to do stuff either before or after work but we're at the mercy of what everyone else is doing because we don't have our own transportation. Hiring a driver everyday would be too expensive. My coworker and I have talked about splitting an old truck to use to get back and forth but it may be too much hassle.

The job itself is moving along. They hired a few local guys that actually go out and catch samples for us which is pretty funny. It's one of the only things I regularly have to do and they have someone do it for me. It's nice having those guys around though, they don't speak any English and it gives me a lot of time and opportunities to practice my Spanish. Between them and the staff at the house I've been speaking a lot and hopefully improving a bit.

I guess that's all for now, there's a lot more to say about these first few weeks and I'll get most of it on here eventually.

Nicaragua '10

Well it sure has been a long time since I've updated this. I feel like I need to fill in the two year gap. So briefly, the rest of the trip in South America was great. Jess and I had a great time in Uruguay, at Iguazu Falls, Mendoza and Buenos Aires.

After we flew home (she to Tahoe, I to NY) I went out and visited, we went camping in Mammoth. A couple weeks later was my brother's wedding on Cape Cod, which was awesome.

And then Jess and I drove out to California to start in San Francisco. We've been living there for about 2 years now. I spent the first year working in the Geysers and Nevada. At the end of May we went to Nicaragua for a couple weeks of vacation in Granada and San Juan del Sur. It was great, we loved the country.

Then I spent almost a year working in Hawaii on the big island, working for a few weeks and going home to SF for a few weeks. It was actually nice. The first time I actually enjoyed my job. I surfed almost every day I was there.

And then a project was starting up in Nicaragua and my company wanted to know if anyone wanted to go. I enthusiastically volunteered. And that's where I am now. Sitting in the courtyard of our company house in Leòn in the Northwestern region of the country. The job site is nestled right in and amongst several volcanoes, one of which has a constant cloud of steam rising out of it and last erupted a few years ago.