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Lauren O’Malley, Low Entropy Volunteer Writer

For 30 years of my life, I lived in an industrialized nation. It wasn’t until I broke away from work for a winter that I headed down to a new community with my partner. I had visited this place for a week once before, but I had never lived there for an extended period — Playa Maderas, Nicaragua, what a beautiful place. I was expecting surf, sand and sun, but this community gave us so much more than that. We came from the busy city of Toronto, Ontario, a community filled with diversity and many different cultures. It was a significant transition from a big city to a small community in a developing country. Toronto opened up my perspectives and educated me greatly on different cultures’ values and beliefs, but Toronto was a culture I was accustomed to living in. Living in Playa Maderas showed me what it meant to be a community member, and how people come together to help each other simply live their lives. 

My partner and a friend bought a property and built a house in Playa Maderas at the beginning of 2021. We were ready for a break from Toronto when the second winter of the pandemic hit. We decided to take the winter off and go down south. We packed our things into a storage unit, and we were off. The house waited for our arrival there, but it was just shy of livable. We only had water by gravity from a tank on the roof, a bathroom sink and an outdoor shower. We were no longer in Toronto or anywhere like I’d ever lived. I quickly realized how much this community leaned on each other, as we now needed support from others to settle into our new home.

Necessities had always been readily available in Toronto. Getting our new house in a livable condition was a big setup. We had to figure out our water tank, get appliances, install a kitchen sink, buy a bed and couch, and install hydro and wifi. To top it off, I didn’t speak Spanish! Luckily my partner learned a decent amount while building the house, but he was not fluent. Many people in Playa Maderas were English-speaking like we were, so it was easy to get by day-to-day without knowing Spanish amongst the community, but when it came to talking to the local hydro, water and internet providers, speaking Spanish was necessary.

Getting to and from town could be a challenge too. Our community was a 20-minute car ride from the closest grocery store. There were only dirt roads in Playa Maderas. Some people had vehicles, but a lot used motorbikes. A couple of small markets between Playa Maderas and town could hold you over, but I preferred to get food a different way — the fruit truck! It was a truck with a speaker, listing off the fruit and vegetables they had for purchase while driving through the valley. I loved it when I heard them coming. 

The biggest thing to get used to was how we obtained and used water. Our house water ran from our water tanks, which were filled from a well. We used this water for things like showering and flushing the toilet, and we used bottled/filtered water for drinking. It was a habitual change not to use tap water to brush our teeth. How to navigate and maintain these necessities was a big learning curve. Having the community there for us to ask questions significantly helped with the transition. Most of us came from backgrounds in developed countries. It was usually a significant shift for everyone when they first arrived. Having others’ experiences and support is what got everyone by.

A lot of travelers passing through Playa Maderas come for the great surf that is there. I thought I would become a big surfer when I was there for that winter, and oh, did I try, and I will keep trying! But when I left to return home in the spring, it wasn’t the surf I looked back at and valued the most. The presence of this community is what keeps us coming back. Compared to Toronto, Playa Maderas is slow, and I have time to appreciate everything and everyone. I have time to value what I take for granted at home, like clean water or readily available transportation. Without the busy material things at home that distract us, we have time to live presently and be genuine. Every day I walked to the beach, I would run into someone I knew and say hello. It is such a contrast from the big city, a place where I can pass 1000 strangers on the street and not say hello to anyone. This community allows us to be authentic with each other. We all, at some point, were vulnerable coming into this community, making a transition into this unfamiliar way of living. This sense of community let me learn more about my true self, as I had the opportunity to be present with other people and for them to be present with me. We all are there for the same reason — to slow down, reset and be reminded of what’s important. It’s not materialistic things or having everything you think you need available at your fingertips. People are important and keep communities going, and I am humbled to have found and become a part of this one. 

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[Bio]Lauren O’Malley was born in St. Catharines, Ontario, and moved to Toronto in her mid-twenties, where she works as a critical care registered nurse. Lauren loves her RN job, but aspires to educate and help people in other ways. Writing is one of them. Lauren values time with her family and friends, and loves to chase sunsets.