Summer Research Begins

"My country is very happy" Luis tells us as we zoom through the streets of Managua. Judging from the kids playing in the street and the families sitting together in front of their homes he seems to be absolutely correct.

The group of us, myself, Aria (a good friend from the University of Michigan), Scott (a law student from Fordham law and a good friend from our trip here together last summer), as well as two other law students Jenny and Katie, is here researching access to justice in a country with a long history of exploitation, war, and extreme poverty.

Despite this past of violence, Nicaraguans are some of the warmest and most open people I have ever met. (Case in point, as I write this the woman we are staying with just brought a plastic pail one of my favorite Latin American soups, mondongo, from a few towns over because she knew how much I enjoy it).

We're done in the capital of Managua for now as we head up into the hills of Miraflor to work with a coffee cooperative.