After a month of sweat, hard work, and overcoming frustrations, we have finally finished our monster of a bridge! Once we put the wood onto our bridge, the rest of the construction was pretty smooth sailing. The installation of our Wind Guys, which are the lateral bracing on our bridge, took a little over a day to complete. While not terribly difficult, the process still included tasks like pulling cable, cutting down parts of trees with machetes, and utilizing Jon Barry’s super-strength to tighten the cable clamps. The rain delayed us a little bit, but of course it was no match for our determination to finish.
After this installation, our only remaining task was to install the chicken wire fencing onto our bridge. As our eight-year old friend Axel advised us earlier in the week in Spanish, “The bridge looks good, but you should think about putting a fence on the side.” This was already in the plan, of course, but we were happy to give him credit for the idea. Putting on the wire was a very easy but tedious task. The bottom of the fence was to be nailed using “U-nails” onto the planks of the bridge; since the height of the fence was taller than the height of our bridge, we folded the excess fence over the top cable and tied it to the rest of the fence with wire. Had our team (and the masons) worked on this alone, which had been the case for most of the week, it would have taken us more than a day to complete. However, much to our delight, a crowd of people gathered on the bridge and helped us out!
It was really nice to see Nicaraguan men, women, and children alike help finish off the bridge. A lot of our frustration during this trip was rooted in what seemed to be local indifference about the bridge. While we had occasional help to carry cables and mix concrete, we spent most of the construction working with just the masons and ourselves. This was frustrating because we know that the locals lose at least 60 days of work when the river level is high (the level rises to about six or seven feet starting in September) and thus have a lot at stake with this bridge. Additionally, we were told by Bridges to Prosperity before arriving that we would have a large amount of help from the locals during construction. Better late than never, though, and it was nice to see the people bubbling with excitement as they finished off their bridge.
Our last day on site, Thursday the 23rd, we had an Inauguration Ceremony for the bridge. The ceremony wasn’t as intimate as we would have liked, as “bigwigs” from organizations we occasionally worked with during the design and construction process, such as Gran Pacifica, the municipality, and the local University in the area, led the ceremony. Nonetheless, a large number from all communities were present and we had a great time relaxing and spending time with them without having any unfinished work in the back of our heads. We hung out in the community well after the ceremony ended and well after nightfall came. The kids loved taking pictures with our cameras and having us throw them into the air for as many times as we could. “¿Cuantos quieres?” “¡Veinte!” Once the kids went to bed, we hung out with the masons, Everto and Yaris, and a woman named Maria, who worked at the farm that helped us a lot throughout the month.
It was definitely bittersweet to leave Nicaragua. Most of us have been in the States for almost a week now, but we all still have the communities and the bridge in our minds. While we knew this would happen, our month helped us appreciate all the luxuries we have in the United States, such as the ability to shower and wash our clothes at home (and not in the river). It helped us appreciate that we have easy transportation to any place we want, unlike the locals in our community who could not even walk to work for two months out of the year. Our time there also helped us to appreciate the simple life that the Nicaraguans have as well. We spent a lot of time playing with marbles and slingshots with the children after school. We enjoyed our time chatting with the masons as they drove their oxen to carry stones. We loved the warm everyday hellos from the women in the village as they carried clothes down to the river. Despite the challenges we faced, we will always look at this experience as one of the best in our lives. Not many people will experience what we have over the past month. While building this bridge was the fulfilling and worthwhile goal of this trip, it definitely wasn’t the total scope of our Nicaraguan experience. Until we meet again, Nicaragua, you will always be in our hearts.
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