The Three Week Stove

When you want an item here, you do not just go and purchase it. It is not fitting with Peace Corps budget or with Nicaraguan mannerisms. With a month into site I was feeling like I had started figuring things out, but the search for the stove proved there is much I have yet to learn!

Today I put together my gas stove and what a happy moment when the little burner flickered! Getting that stove (even though in itself it is a rather simple thing) was about a three week process and involved sweat and tears but I know it will be worth it!

Now some of you may be thinking I am being dramatic (which I am very well known to be from time to time) but the thing is that you need to remember I am doing everything in another language and in a place I am totally unfamiliar with…It is like when I was searching for school supplies in Toronto and kept asking people where Paperclips was (because I mixed it up with Staples), accept now it is in Spanish and BOILING hot outside! So how did I get my gas stove???

Well first you need the stove stop and while I was in a bigger city called Matagalpa ( for a doctors appointment where they diagnosed me with scabies- a fun skin disease where little critters build tunnels under your skin) Anyway, I saw a really nice stove top there for a great price, so I said I would come back next week. When I came back a week later… it was gone…but another volunteer told me he was sure I could get one in the market in Jinotega, so I walked around searching and looking at prices, I had found some in surrounding stores but they were all way over a peace corps budget, so finally I braved the market, which to be honest I have kind of been avoiding because it smells, and has all these loops that I get lost in, also there are never prices so you have to know which price to start bargaining at.  In the market people kept directing me to different places, just by someone’s name “go to Juan Ramon’s booth, I think he had some…” (this happened to me so much throughout this process and I think the torture of it lies in the false hope of thinking that you may finally have encountered what you are looking for- only to find that it is actually Juan Ramon’s uncle who has them and he lives on the other side of town---but not to worry because Juan Ramon’s brother-in law has a taxi and can take you for a small fee) Anyway when I got to my final booth where I ultimately ended up buying my gas stove- the women assured me that this guy Nathan had them, but he wasn’t there right now- “Well, when will he be back?” I said “oh, latter” well I was fed up and just about to leave- who knew what later could mean so I went to get to my bus thinking that I would have to come back the next day and spend an outrageous some of money, but my bus had already left – and by chance I went back hoping he would be there- he was and he gave me a great price and his store had couches which I relaxed on until my next bus. Before I continue I just want to say that even though the experience was stressfull it wasnt the fault of the people helping me, they were all really nice and patient and didnt give me higher prices just cause I was a froeigner, the frustration lied in my mentality and inability to work the system here.

Now I had the stove top and just to get the gas tank, fill it, and get the tube and a bulb thing to control the gas in take.

The gas tank, was lent to me by a neighbor which is so nice because they are really expensive to put a deposit down for, and I never would have been able to get my gas stove this month if I had to buy it. The only thing was that the neighbours didn’t have it at their house, it was at an aunt’s house in the city, once again chasing the family connections! J This family is really sweet and one of the daughters went with me into town to go pick up the cylinder, which was relatively easy because she could explain everything and didn’t get lost all the time, like I do. The only thing is, in Nicaragua you don’t just walk in to someone’s house and get what you need and leave. You visit! A lot! And then go visit the neighbours and then take a walk through town so they can show you their nieghbourhood. By the time we had wrapped everything up (a full day of visiting) I didn’t have time to get the tank filled, so a volunteer who lives in the city was nice enough to let me store it at her house (I could have stored it at the Aunts house as well but then I would have had a whole other day of visiting to look forward to). I got the phone number of a guy who will come by and fill your tank for you and we left for home.

Finally, yesterday, I decided that I was going to do whatever it takes to get this gaint cylinder of gas on to my bus and take it back with me (something I had been dreading) The thing is buses are REALLY full here, but they also don’t say no to anything, they carry big milk jugs, giant bags of rice and beans, huge wooden beams, they will stop and pick up anything but they will charge! Little did I know taking my gas tank on the bus would be the least of my worries, when I did finally show up for the bus 3 minutes before it was scheduled to leave they looked at me, asked me if the tank was going to Sisle (I guess they know my on the route- even though I have trouble remembering which of the yellow school buses with ribbons and music blarring- is my school bus) Anyway they grabbed the super heavy container effortlessly and put it on the back as pulling away, and i was running to jump on so my cylinder wouldnt leave without me. then when I got on a young guy from my town was there and he carried it on his shoulder to my house.

But the challenge of today was not the incredibly heavy, bulk gas cylinder, it was the 1 meter piece of tubing and bulb cap for the gas tank, small but incredibly hard to find. People I asked told me to go to the main store which sells everything you could need for your house (and where I got my bed), it is called Gallo mas Gallo and literally means Rooster more Rooster- it is always my land mark in town because it is a big blue sign that rises high into the street and has an obnoxious looking yellow rooster on the front. Anyway, they did have some types, but there are three types of gas tanks here and apparently they all have different bulbs and tubes and as she informed me multiple times I got the least popular one and I wouldn’t be able to find it here. Well I did find it but she was right it was very difficult. Someone gave me directions for a place on the otherside of town that carried my type of tube and bulb. The way they give directions here is hard because they assume you know where things are “Walk up to the hospital and then one block before the park turn west and go for two blocks until you hit Adelia’s store and then go up to the second park and the GASZ is half way between there and the church” after pouring down sweat and walking up to several wrong houses (the store’s are mostly in houses which also makes them hard to tell apart) I found it!!! In the store where I got directions the first time, I came back three times after being lost and the third time they drew me a map. Then on the street when I had walked to the health center instead of the hospital a guy walked me the 8 blocks to the hospital. Then when I got to a store that was NOT the GASZ and almost cried when the lady told me she didn’t know what I was talking about, she went and asked someone and gave me directions. Once again the frustration was all mine, and not the fault of the icnredibly patient and friendly Nicaraguans.

 It was heaven on earth when I reached that room full of gas cylinders (they carried all three kinds, red blue and green) The room was nice and cool and there was just one guy watching t.v., there were no shelves and no cash register and for a split second I thought they wouldn’t have the damn tubes and bulbes but only the cylinders, I was ready to fall to my knees- but when I asked him, he knew exactly what I was talking about- pulled out the tube and the bulb and it was done!

Finally, I called to have my gas tank filled and called a taxi to take me to the bus, when I got in I gave him the wrong bus station and when I realized my mistake he said, “don’t worry love” and turned around without fussing about missed fairs or wasted gas…the laid back culture can can work in your favour when your not trying to get something done in an anxious state of mind!

When I got home and set it all up (with the help of my neighbours) and they were so impressed and thought it was so beautiful I realized how strange it must be to them that I have been so impatient to gt this gas tank set up and to rush back to town today to get some utensils, vegetables, and a pot, when they have done without it for their whole lives and even though they would love a gas stove and convienient food in packages, they can not afford it. But here I stress out because I wonder if my living allowance will get me through all the new purchases I need. I am starting to come to a realization that I am not living at the same level as them, even though I am living with them, and I often feel a lot of guilt for this. It is a strange internal battle of missing the conviences from home but seeing how much more convienet my small income here makes my life in comparison to the members of my community, who look for wood everyday, make tortillas by hand every day and eat the same three staples everyday if they can afford them. As I was walking around town feeling frustrated I realized, this was a lesson just like all the development work projects, and maybe not getting what you want right away (which people here are pretty accustomed to) is one of the bigger lessons I will learn here- but who knew it would be a lesson learned while trying to buy a stove.