The house is fine, but where is the kitchen?

This house is in the rural village of Sitio Historico, a few hours east of the city of Matagalpa. There were quite a few identical houses dotted about (like the one pictured above), built of brick rather than wood and with a tiled roof rather than tin. We were told they had recently been built by a European NGO. It's easy to imagine the designer in Europe very pleased with how the design looked on paper, but out here things are a bit different and it's equally easy to imagine the Nicaraguan family entering their new abode only to glance around and say, 'donde esta mi cocina?'. Naturally, the new houses were designed with an internal kitchen but most Nicaraguan campesinos find this concept completely alien. Hence the fact that every single one of these houses now has a rustic wooden lean-to shack annexed on to the side or a few paces away at the back of the house. Not only that, but for most of the day the entire family can be found choosing to sit in the kitchen, leaving their beautiful new houses empty until bedtime.