Unfinished business.

Posted on June 20, 2018 by Leontien Reedijk

Image by Aaron Burden on Unsplash

My (R)evolution, part 12.

The decision has been made, there’s no way back anymore in my mind. I am leaving the island, leaving Nicaragua, the beautiful country that has been my welcoming home for 13 years.

In the weeks running up to my decision to pack up my life and leave, I’ve been keeping track of the news, which keeps showing more of the same: more peaceful protest marches of people demanding that the president and his wife step down. More police violence, more deaths every day. A National Dialogue with representatives of all groups involved, not coming to any kind of resolution or agreements. The situation isn’t improving, but also not escalating dramatically. Just slowly deteriorating.

Tourism in Nicaragua has come to a grinding halt. Businesses are laying off people, closing down.

Our little island at this moment probably is still the “liveliest” when it comes to tourism because it is a relatively safe place that people can reach by air, avoiding all trouble on the mainland. But it’s only a handful of unfazed travellers that makes it down here.

We’re running low on supplies, and nobody can guarantee us any deliveries any time soon, with all the road blocks being maintained firmly in place on all the major roads on the mainland.

The future has started to look pretty grim, when it comes to sustaining ourselves in the tourist industry, which is my only source of income too.

Continue reading “Unfinished business.” →

One Life-changing Decision.

Posted on June 20, 2018June 20, 2018 by Leontien Reedijk

Image by Lacie Slezak on Unsplash

My (R)evolution, part 11.

On June 4, I am still asking myself: “Should I stay or should I go?”, as I described in part 6 of My (R)evolution.

In the afternoon of Tuesday June 5, we have a community meeting about the island’s sustainability project. I go to the meeting, although I’ve totally lost my enthusiasm for the project, as I already described in My (R)evolution, part ?

The atmosphere during the meeting is subdued, quite depressing. It’s obvious to everyone that we aren’t going to be able to push this project forward under the current circumstances of a country in revolution. Most of the time I am not even listening.

At the end of the meeting, one of the members of the organisation tries to cheer me up in a pretty helpless way: “You’re not giving up yet, are you? You’re not packing up and leaving us yet, are you?”

Continue reading “One Life-changing Decision.” →

Revolutionary Thinking.

Posted on June 20, 2018June 22, 2018 by Leontien Reedijk

Image by Benoit Gauzere on Unsplash

My (R)evolution, part 10

When I first wrote this it had been more than 7 weeks that Nicaragua, my country of residence, had been in a state of social unrest, political upheaval, or let’s just call it a revolution.

I’d been blogging almost daily for a while, feeling a strong urge to put my thoughts to paper, since there were so many, and sometimes it was so hard to make sense of my own mind.

My thoughts were swerving back and forth, left and right, sometimes like a drunken man winding his way through an empty street. At other moments more like a puppy, or a kid, always out to explore and figure out the world through play, trial and error. There’s a philosopher in there too, asking questions and giving smarty-pants comments. And an eco-warrior, never letting up her drive to improve the environment. Every now and then (but thankfully not very often), there’s a hunted deer, frozen in its fear.

I gave all of them free rein, letting the drunkard sway, the puppy and the kid play, the deer startle, the philosopher muse, the eco-warrior dream.

I let my thoughts unfold.

I watched them with curiosity, allowing questions to surface, even though some of them are scary. Others are downright hilarious.

Here’s an assorted sample of them.

Continue reading “Revolutionary Thinking.” →