Nicaragua: Fire was burning

While working with my seventeen-year-old students as they are in the process of developing products and forming new businesses, one of the questions I always ask them is, "What makes your product better than the rest? Why will people want to buy your product versus a similar existing product?"

The majority of the time I receive the following answer, word-for-word exactly the same, no matter which school I am at: Because our product is 100% natural. It doesn't have any chemicals, and everybody knows that chemicals are harmful.

Producing natural goods seems to be the Nica claim to fame.

And that brings me to a small reflection on one of the perks of my life here. I have access to fresh fruits and vegetables galore. The beans, corn tortillas, and eggs which I eat here have not been genetically modified or induced with hormones. My diet is simple and mostly free of processed food-like substances which I am more likely to eat (knowingly or unknowingly) in the states. 

Next week I am headed back to Minnesota for the first time in sixteen months, and one of the top priorities of planning my time back home involves the food I am going to eat. I am compiling a list of restaurants which I would like to visit, foods I want to bake in the oven, and food I wish to buy at the grocery store. I have a feeling that adjusting temporarily to the food in the states may take its toll on my system. We shall see. I may just have to stick to a diet of strawberries and blueberries while back.