Boots

Now that I am finally home, I can reflect on my trip. The CENAC Spanish School and their instructors were excellent, the police officers, prison officers and lawyers I meet were very professional. I respect the Nicaraguan people as they are resilient, resourceful and have purpose in life, that is to make a new and productive society. Most of the 'norteamericanos' and Europeans I met were nice, some misdirected, but had most had good intentions, others had an excellent sense of Nicaragua and the people, kudos to them. The university staff from Michigan were doing an excellent job of innovation and assistance, I liked what I heard and saw. Unfortunately some of the people I didn't like were overbearing, full of themselves gringos who could not make it in their own country so they came down here to try to be a big fish in a little pond! My only advice is - 'go home'. Things that work in the first would may not be suitable for the 3rd, Nicaragua needs Nicaraguan solutions.

As I sit hear in my kitchen drinking organic Las Diosas coffee I reflect on what I saw and heard. Nicaragua has a good future, education will help, the children and young people are their future, I guess I do have to go back to see how things will turn out. For now I have to clean and blacken my combat boots, find my uniform and get ready for training on the weekend. At least all summer I will have the best coffee on base!

Airborne

I had to get ready for 1 am in order to leave the city of Esteli to be at the Sandino International Airport on time for checking in. I packed all my bags (lots of coffee!) the night before and I was supposed to get some sleep but of course that never happened. Roman was picking me up and we needed to take our time driving to Managua as the roads are treacherous at night. Lilliam got up at 1 to say goodbye. As I was getting my bags outside ready for pick-up the house hold dog ran through the door after a cat! So after tracking the dog 2 blocks in the middle of the night and carrying her home I was ready for the drive to Managua!

The drive uneventful but slow. As we wound our way down the mountains we came across all sorts of people still up from partying the night before. I was surprised at the number of cars still on the road at that time of night and we only had to detour around one dog, one cow and a drunk in the middle of the road! After 3 hours of driving we arrive safely at the airport. Surprising I meet a number of Canadians returning to Canada, some after a vacation and others to visit family and friends as some of them had previously moved to Nicaragua. One guy was rescuing a young pup and taking him home to Calgary.

The flight was relaxing even though it was delayed by an hour, but the Miami airport was a nightmare., I must have walked for miles to get to passport control, then I had to pick-up my bags go through customs and then drop them off for transport to Toronto. By the time I found my gate, the entire process took two hours and I had one hour to eat and rest before continuing on my journey. The fight to Toronto was full and we had a little turbulence but it was fine. I caught up on a little sleep. My daughter, her girlfriend and my granddaughter met me at the Pearson Int'l Airport and I am always happy to return home from my trips.

I drove from the airport to Burlington and kept thinking that the grass is so green, the roads very clean and the van was driving on a surface of glass as the roads were very smooth compared to Nicaragua, however there was a twinge in my heart that said it was not the same and something was different or missing. So after my summer of military training I guess I'll have to go back! :)

Saturday in Estile

I woke at 5am, still tired from the night before, but I have a lot of stuff to get done. I decided to go out shopping early at 8:30, the sun was already bright. I was looking for a specific store, do you think I could remember where it was and which street, or which end of town! Finally after wandering around for about two hours and doing some shopping I came across the store. I was pretty well sunburned bu 11 am Saturday. The sun is really intense. After lunch I went to the Internet cafe and sent some e-mails t. I got home just as it started to rain. It rained real hard, literally a lake in front of the house and a raging river on the side street. It never really stopped raining on Saturday. After Lilliam got home from University we went out for dinner to a small cafe downtown by the 4 corners of banks, cannot remember the name, but the chicken sandwich plate was very good and I had the best coffee I have had in Esteli all month. Even though it was still raining it was a good evening. Afterwards I decided to get some sleep around 9 pm to get ready for Sunday which would be a long day.

Saturday 23rd 2009 Esteli

It rained hard yesterday, real hard, I had to wait about an hour at the school before I could leave and had to take an alternative route home as my street for the most part was literally a river. And it figures I left my umbrella at home!

Last night was fun, a few of us went out to Mocha Nana Cafe for the Friday night concert, it was a type of Cuban music. Very good. I had dinner there as well as a couple of ¨Tonia´s¨. I think the girls had a good time. I would recomend this place to anyone.

Today it´s real hot and it looks like it will rain shortly and that should cool things off. In the central park there is a fesival today and there is dancing by different girls groups from the surrounding country side I guess and some of the songs are based on the revolution. The 30th anniversary of the revolution is coming up shortly in June. It´s just another day in Nicaragua.

Earthquake

This morning’s paper reported an earthquake in the magnitude of 4.7 with an epicenter only 7 kilometers from Managua this morning. Good reason to live in the northern part of Nicaragua as the volcano range is still very active. Apparently you can enter the volcano mouth but you take your own life in your hands. Exciting, I need to do that next time!

Volcano Momotombe

As I was driving through the valley of volcanoes I tried to get as close to the volcano Momotombe as I could as I was told you could climb it. On one of the volcano's you can snowboard down. Most of them are still active. I followed a road to where the turn off should have been but there were no signs, so “in for a penny in for a pound” as they say, I decided to follow it. Shortly thereafter it turned into a dirt track that was very rough and lots of ruts. After about an hour we started to see some Fincas and a few haciendas (rather like shacks). People were far and few between. I was not sure if I was on the right road but I kept the one mountain range to my left and headed towards the volcano. The area was very dry and I would not want to be strande3d out there without water or fuel. Fortunately with a diesel engine it uses very little gas. After a while I came across a hitch hiker, an older gentleman with a 50 pound bag of rice. So I gave him a ride in the bed of the truck. We must have driven for almost an hour before he signaled he wanted out to walk down a side road. Who knows how far he really had to go. Shortly thereafter we came across a young boy about 10 on horseback herding some rather large bulls by himself. I have to say the Nicaraguan people are hardworking and very resilient.

We carried on towards the volcano until it was starting to get dark. So instead of driving up to it on this trip I decided to try to find the main road that would lead ups back towards Estelí. I was sure we were headed in the right direction. We came upon a small farm that had a lamp post outside so I knew we must be near a small town. After another 45 minutes we came across a few boys on bicycles herding cows down the road. We followed them until the outskirts of a small town. It seems that every town is laid out in a square pattern, and if you can find the church you can determine direction as the entrance is always facing west. So after some trial and error we found the main street and followed it out to the highway that lead us back to Estelí after about another two hours drive. After we got back to town I decided that our success of travelling to the Pacific Ocean and back deserved a dinner at Dough Pizza!

Tour of Leon

We arrived at the Cathedral in Leon in time for mass. It appeared the Bishop was in residence and was just starting to conduct Mass when we got there. It is an impressive church, very grand with beautiful statues throughout. I was impressed with its size. Apparently in 1860 the Pope named it a Basilica and that the church is the largest in all of Central America, I think it was built in 1745. Surprising there were a number of tourists (pretty well all Nicas) taking photographs in the church. The famous poet Ruben Dario id buried inside the church and is marked by a golden lion.

We then walked around the central park and met a street vendor selling post cards of Leon, she offered to take us on a walking tour of the significant revolutionary sights, and since Lilliam speaks perfect Spanish I said ok. She lead us around to look at the wall murals and to point out significant sights such as the spot (marked by crosses) where the National Guard executed protesting university students and then into a building that had been Samoza’s favourite restaurant to show us the bullet holes. Afterwards we walked to the Park of Poets and then the Park of Heroes and Martyrs.

Afterwards we got into the truck for a city tour to a 300 year old tree where the last tribal chief (Adiact) was hung by the Spaniards. We then went to a large older cathedral , Los Catedral de Subtavia, that is referred to as the indigenous church where the priests placed both Christian worship items and native worship items (a large sun god) inside to draw both crowds in the same time. It predates the main cathedral by 160 years. Afterwards we visited the ruins of another church (Las rainas de Veracruz) built in 1560.

Afterwards we went to a restaurant in an area I was not sure of but it turned out to be a very large restaurant and very nice. I police man looked after the parked vehicles outside (for a free meal!). It seems that a number of local families come to this place (Lobito Bar) on Sundays. There were at least three mariachi bands coming in and out of the place asking for $3 Cordoba’s per song (15 cents). It was pleasant and different. The food was excellent. Afterwards I dropped off the tour guide and we then tried to figure out how to get out of the city. I continued to follow a road south and we ended up in a small town on the beaches of the Pacific Ocean. A number of people were in the water as the waves were quite high. I went in up to my knees and the water was very war. Lilliam does not know how to swim so she refused to go in! The beach was nice and clean and the local people friendly. After a while we started to head back north.

Trip to Leon

We went to Leon for a day to tour the city and the churches. On our way I missed the road I wanted. The Nicaraguan government fails to post adequate signage on the highways and rods, so unless you have a very good sense of direct, don’t drive any distance in this country or you’ll end up in Honduras or Costa Rica! So I just took another road, it should have been hard pavement but it seems that on Sunday they decide to do ‘mucho’ construction. Dirt, gravel, ruts, etc. What a drive. At some points I was driving through famer fields (a loose term here) to follow the detours. Thank goodness I had a sturdy truck. The drive from Estelí to Leon took about three hours. I figured we would stop for breakfast along the way but I had to wait till we got to the ESSO service centre in Leon. It was identical and as modern as any ESSO service centre in Canada or the US.

The trip to Leon was similar to driving the High Plains desert in the western US. Very dry, somewhat mountainous and a lot of scrub bush. I am not sure how the people survived there as it did not look like it would sustain life very well and water appeared scarce, but the Nicaraguan people are resilient. Along the way I passed through small towns and past several pottery studios and businesses where they make the bricks and roof tile by hand. It’s an ancient method used throughout the world in third world countries, whereas they dig the clay, mix it with sand and sawdust or other material, then build the bricks into their own kiln and fire them. It seems everyone uses them for building everything from bread ovens to houses. They are very soft and rough compared to the bricks you can get in Canada.

After some very rough driving we made it to Leon but had to ask for directions to the center of town to find the Cathedral. It’s about 100 degrees F today in Leon!

Montezuma’s Revenge

It finally happened, I am sick with the “Montezuma’s Revenge”! It was bound to happen and I have been waiting almost four weeks for it to occur. My family has given me some local remedy but it still hits in the middle of the night. However I’ll just use the Imodium that I brought with me and hopefully that will help. As long as it does not turn into the violent illness I got from the jungles of Honduras a few years ago. That was quite an experience for a few months, LOL. After a multitude of tests the tropical disease specialist basically said that sometime they never know what it is but if re-occurs again to come back. Hopefully this will go away in a day or two!

Well it has not gone away and it’s been a couple of days so I went to the pharmacy and they gave me something that should kill a horse! I take it for two days and then one month later, it should do the trick. I have to stay away from frijoles (beans) and all milk products for a few days. I guess I’ll do a follow-up with my family doctor once I return to Canada. It’s interesting, the box is clearly marked to be obtained by prescription only but here that means “over the counter”, LOL.

Return to Esteli

Since we were touring the hghlands all day we decided to try to get home before it was dark. Taking the road that Eddy suggested was fine until we got to a small village, I was not sure after looking at the road that literally disappeared into a rocky uneven trail! Taking a break we went to talk to some raod side vendors that were selling flowers and vegitabes. I bought a large bunch of beets and carrots off of one lady and then we saw chidren working a flower stand with no adult. We went over to talk to them and take their picture, the oldest was about 10 and the other girl was about 6. Then a girl about 12 came over to assist, we took pictures of the kids with the flowers and I decided to buy some, after negotiation, to understand exactly what I was buying and for how much, I ended up with a dozen Lillys that were almost three feet in length for the equivalent of $1.25 CAnadian.

Then we headed down the road, if you call it that! After negotating several big ruts and holes in 4 wheel drive and going around, up and down on what I consider an ox cart trail we came across a bus headed for Esteli with people sitting on top with their goods! I have to give that driver credit as I woud not have traveled on the road without 4 wheel drive! After about an hour on the trail we came across a metal bridge with a couple of young guys and their broken motorcycle. So we loaded the mortorcycle into the back of the pickup truck, Toyota desil Hilux, and drove on. After about another 45 minutes of very rough road we came across a bus stop! A lady asked if we could give her daughter a ride into Esteli. So sure, why not. After about 20 minutes she pulls a parrot out of a box to show us. We finally arrive in Esteli just as it was getting dark and were glad to get off the ¨road¨. We dropped the boys in one of the poor neighbourhoods and the girl at the Shell Gas Station. Then headed for Dough Pizza, the best pizza and calzone that I have had, eventhough it had sliced hotdog in it! Just another day in Nicaragua!

Madagalpa Nicaragua

Well I broke down and rented a truck for a few days. Toured the highlands where they make the best coffee in the world. It is high in the mountains and the coffee I sampled was the best I ever had! On our way further north we stopped in at Selva Negra which is a finca that is owned by a family that immigrated to Nicaragua in the late 1800´s. It was like visiting Barvaria with all the chalets and gardens. wiener snitzel was even on the menu. The food was excelent, a walk around was cool and refreshng. Everything at this place was designed around no waste and ecological sustainability. All the food is organic.

After our lunch and tour we headed for San Rafael Norte where we wanted to visit the museum of Sandino´s wife however it was clsed. A tour of the local cathedral was surprising, one of the most beautiful churches I have ever been in. The wall murals and painted celings were inspiring.

After the church tour we headed back towards Esteli towards a road that Eddy Kuhl, the owner f Hotel de Montana Selva Negra recommended, he said I may have to use the 4 wheel drive but the view was inspiring. On our way out of San Rafael we picked up 4 women hitch hiking and gave them a lift about 10 miles out of town.

Police!

Since I live with a Police Commissioner I have been interacting a little with the local police. Some speak a little English, most none. Policing is completley different here in Nica Land than back in the world but the principle is the same, catch ¨the bad guy¨. Drugs and gangs are not a big problem here. Most street kids are wana-bees but there is not the type of gangs as there are in El Salvador. Most areas of town are ok to walk in at night. There is some drug dealing but not to the extent as at home, most Nicaraguans cannot afford the cost of the drugs. I did saw the big drug dealer yesterday as he is easy to spot, he drives around in a camero, painted pink with the Pink Panther logo, talk about being a target! LOL. The majority of drugs are passing through to the US and almost every day some smuggler is getting busted with either pounds or tons of drugs being shipped through. It is taken seriously here.

The police I have met are pleaseant and contrary to what people may think of 3rd world policing, they are very honest for the little pay they get. The equivalent to a first class constable in Nicaragua gets $150.00 US per month (compared to a Toronto officer who recieves about $6,000 US/month!). Policing is split into two sections, Transito Police and Public Security. The Transito Police look after the highways and are the only ones that can issue speeding tickets and they also look after the drivers licening etc. The Public Security Police do everything else. Some do not even have guns but a fair number carry AK-47 machine guns! None wear body armour. They cannot afford it. There are special drug (Swat) enforcement police. There is one modern police car in town, the rest either walk or drive around in pick-up trucks and transport prisoners in the back of the truck to either the jail or the court house. There is no death penalty but a maximum sentence of 30 years (looking at the jail the other option may be better!).

Coffee Factory & Mountain Tour

On Friday, 08 May I went to a coffee plantation to see the process of coffee making. I was interesting even though this is not the season for coffee, but Senior Castillo hyad several different coffee trees in various stages of development for show. The coffee bean starts as a pretty flower and then when the bloom drops they seed pod develops. It is then picked over several months, dried, chafe removed, sorted by size and quality and they roasted and ground. Senior Castillo and his wife have operated the business for over 47 years. It was interesting that he is also a 50 year members of the Lions Club, it’s very big here in Nicaragua! I think I bought the equivalent of $80.00 ro more of premium coffee for 200 Cordoba’s ($10.00)!

Friday evening Lilliam, Jerrie and I went back to the Mocha Nanna Café for more local Nica music. It was good and Jerrie convinced me to try the local rum. She says it is her favourite, she was right it was very good, it comes either aged for seven years or 12 years!
On Saturday I went motorcycling into the mountains around Estelí. It was a rough ride up into the mountains as the roads were dirt and some covered with a gravel that waqs the size of your fist! After an hour or so we went to a natural park area and had to hike about a kilometer down into a valley to view a very beautiful waterfall. Afterwards we continued to the end of the road and had to hike up a steep pine forest to the top. It was quite windy and very cool on top. From there we could see the surrounding mountains and look down on Estelí and in the opposite direction we could see the remains of an old volcano, it was great.
Once we came down off the mountain, the small village where we parked the motorcycles had a small café and do a limited amount of eco-tourism. We had breakfast and I had the best beans and eggs I have tasted since coming to Nicaragua! Paying for breakfast for two and I also bought four sets of handmade earrings, the bill came to $130.00 Córdoba’s ($6.50). The ride back was bone shattering and a little too fast going down, we had to be careful not to hit too many large rocks and I had to be careful from chipping a tooth as the bike just shook constantly. Overall it was a great day.

Esteli Cigar Factory Wednesday 06 May 2009

Today four of us went to a local cigar factory in Esteli to see the process of making cigars. Apparently it is big money in this area and the factories employ numerous people. The tobacco is dried at the local farms for three months before it is shipped to the factory. At the factory everything is done by hand. The leaves are graded for colour, size, scent and quality. The stems are removed and the leaves are flattened out and stacked. The leaves are then weighed and dried for up to a year in the storage area. The small leaves and broken parts are mixed regardless of colour and stored in a box to ferment and essential change to a uniform colour though heat and time. Once a specified type of tobacco leaf is needed it goes to the wet room where it is soaked and then placed in a humid room for several hours, this softens the leaf so it can be rolled. The second grading stage is where the leaves are separated into two halves, only the quality parts are used for the outside roll, the rest are used as the filler leaves. Once the tobacco is graded it is assigned to workers to make into cigars.
The workers work as teams, one does the rough rolling and the other the finishing and rounding the end to the specified type. The cigars are placed in a press before the final roll and shaping. They are inspected before being accepted for storage. Any pieces or rejected cigars are placed in bin to be recycled and the parts that cannot be used are shipped back to the farms as fertilizer.
After inspection and storage for about one month the cigars are sent downstairs to be labeled and packaged and then boxed for shipment. Most of the work is done by women workers. The cigars are not usually sold in many places as they are made under the Central American Free Trade Agreement and are shipped all over the world. So I bought some cigars for very close friends and I will not say what ridiculous price I paid for them!

Tuesday Evening 05 May 2009

Today after class I was going to up into the mountains but it started to rain at 2pm and has not stopped since. Apparently once the rains start the mountain roads can be rivers of mud and water so I have put it off, later next week I’ll rent a car to go to Condega to visit some coffee farms and the pottery studios.
It was funny the last few days in class as I had a different teacher, Elsa the past few days. She was very nice, but her English is very limited which I think Maria the school director wanted; she keeps saying to me ‘no English! LOL. However I think I was being interviewed at times other than learning Spanish as a lot of the questions revolved around if I was single or married, how many kids I had, what religion, what I did for a living, how much do we make in Canada vs. Nicaraguan etc. Elsa is married and a professional forensic auditor (master degree and she told me all about her family, her father is a police commissionaire further north and all the women, her mother, two aunts and four sisters are all professionals, dentists, lawyers, archaeologists and psychologist etc, and out of all of them only two are married the rest single, divorce3d or separated. This seems to be typical of Nicaragua because of the machismo of the men. The women seem to be more educated than the men as they need it to find good jobs to support their family or other relatives. I had to laugh today as Elsa explained her mother was very beautiful but her aunt who is in her mid-40’s and an archaeologist is ‘mucho bonita’, even more beautiful and that they all get together on Sundays. I have to be careful or I’ll get invited for dinner on Sunday, I have been warned about this by some of my friends in Nicaland! LOL.
I have to laugh about these things however I have found everyone at the school (CENAC) very professional and it is an excellent place to learn Spanish even for a stubborn person like me. Anyways I should be ok as my regular teacher is back, however he is not as good looking as Elsa!
I have found the average Nicaraguan very friendly and polite, some are reserved but even the little old ladies will smile and say good morning. It’s an interesting lifestyle but I think the quality of life overall here is good even though there is still some economic and class differences. Apparently more Canadians and Americans are retiring to Nicaragua because of the quality of life, how the dollar stretches and the good weather. I am disappointed that I missed the trip to the north today. Hopefully the rains will stop for a couple of days and I can make the trip.

Tuesday May 5th, 2009

Today was garbage day, it’s interesting to watch, no garbage truck but a dump truck donated by the European Union. Garbage is picked up then thrown into the back of the truck. The hombre up top dumps the garbage from the rice and bean/onion sacks then throws the sacks back into the street for anyone to pick up. Thank goodness they do not do this with the plastic bags! The dogs pick up any scraps.
There are no such things as dog cookies, I looked, and people find it strange I feed the strays at night Ritz crackers.

I had my first bank experience this morning. I went up to the bank at 9 am to exchange some US to Cordobas. $140.00 USD gave me just over $C 2790.00. The bank had an armed guard inside and one with a shotgun outside. Inside there were 20 cameras that I could count for only 6 tellers, but cameras were everywhere. I had to use my passport for identification and spoke Spanish to the teller, she then asked me where I was staying, apparently she needed it to input into the computer. I said I was staying with “mi familia”, the response from her was ‘donde’, where? This place is similar to other parts of Nicaragua (and probably Central America), no house numbers and very few street names. So I just told her three ‘cuadros’ (blocks) east of the bank and two cuadros south. That was good enough, that’s Nicaragua for you. Maybe next time I’ll just use the cash machine, but I am told the money exchangers give you a similar rate on the street. I then went to the pastry shop and bought some pastry (don’t know the names) about 8 pieces of good looking bake goods for $C 50.00 Cordoba’s. (About $2.50 CDN)

Hoy es lunes 4 mayo 2009, Esteli, Nicaragua

Class today has been moved to 1:30 for some reason, possibly because there is supposed to be a group of university students from Michigan coming into the school this week. That means I’ll not be done until 5:30 and is the hottest part of the day! So I hope the classroom has a fan. So I am at Café Luz, but for some reason I cannot get on the internet, I’ll have to try elsewhere. I am across from the ‘Hospedaje’ hostel where all the European backpackers tend to stay; the shop is starting to fill up with gringos (t-shirts, sandals, shorts) so I won’t stay too long. After coffee I will mail all my post cards and letters then look for a 3-prong extension cord. They are hard to find here. At 8 am the sun is already hot, but with a breeze it’s not too bad. I try to stay in the shade as I walk around. Fortunately today I remembered my sunscreen

Hoy es el domingo, 3 mayo 2009

Last night was a cool evening; it rained around 8 pm for about a half hour. It was nice and refreshing after the sunburn I got from motorcycling around the city yesterday. I guess I got my Spanish/English mixed up last night, LOL. Lilliam asked me if I danced (bailar) and through a little dictionary work I thought she said we would go at 8 pm. Ok with me it’s Saturday night. At 7:30 she told me she was going for a walk. Lilliam returned around 8:40 on a motorcycle, I thought she had said it was her boyfriend who brought her back. We sat for about 5 minutes listening to the street noise and then she said something to me, asked me a question or two, I what she said, could not figure it out. She then got up and put Hector to bed (Geovanny’s son). I didn’t say anything about going out because of the boyfriend and then I am not always sure of the translations LOL, still trying to figure it all out. I noticed she went to her room early and I did not see her the rest of the night. It was ok with me I just enjoyed the cool air and tried to listen to the conversations at the cantena next door.
In the morning I felt that she was distant and I thought maybe upset about not going out. So I decided to go for a walk to the church (la iglesia) and around town. The church was not very full for the 7 am mass, but apparently more people show up to the later mass. It seems that people are not religious in that they identify with the Catholic Church but do not attend except for special occasions. In the paper this morning there was an article on the problems between the government of Daneil Ortega and the Nicaraguan Bishop. I try to read some of the paper each day.
During my walk I had to step aside for a cowboy on horse) carrying packages in the early morning and had to barter with a street vender for 4 avocados. I got confused over the price. He was asking for I thought seis (6) Cordoba’s but he was asking sesenta (60) Cordoba’s! After a little negotiation I finally worked it out. LOL. I am trying to develop an ear for the lingo.
So when I returned to ‘la cassa’ I had a talk with Lilliam over coffee. I found out that the hombre on the motorcycle which I thought was her boyfriend was her cousin and that she does not have a boyfriend (better watch myself LOL). I basically said if she wanted to go out she should have said something but I keep forgetting about the “Latin culture”. I am just interested in experiencing all types of event. Communicating with a dictionary is a lot harder than people think. For lunch (2pm) we had soup (la sopa), it was made form yucca, baby corn, some sort of other root, spices, leaves of something and beef knuckles! It was ok, nourishing, but different for sure. It seems that people buy beef on Sundays and Thursdays as that is when it is fresh. I think I’ll cook for the family next Sunday!
Its quiet now, Hector and Geovanny are resting and Lilliam has gone to catch a bus to visit her cousin in the ‘Sadinino barrio’. Maybe in an hour when it starts to cool I’ll go for another walk.

Tour of Esteli Barrio’s by Motorcycle

La manana, Sabado 2 mayo 2009
This morning I toured Esteli by motorcycle with my Spanish teacher. I wanted to see the poorer areas or boarrio’s of the town. We toured the entire city in a few hours looking at how the locals live and in some areas it is very poor. Homes constructed out of left over building material and metal sheeting. We essentially zoomed in and out of traffic on the main streets, no ne stops at the stop signs nor the few stop lights there are. I cannot figure out who is supposed to stop at 4 ways without signs. It seems that if you are going north-south you have the right of way band east-west must stop. A lot of telephone pools are painted black and red for the Sandinista party as Esteli is the home of the Sandinistas. We stopped at a boot maker and I ordered a pair of new hand-made cowboy boots custom measured for my feet for $1500 Córdoba’s, about $75 USD, we then headed to the only bookstore and I purchased some Nica flags, and a book on the Sandinista revelation. After that we went for some coffee and refresca.

Local music & cantina

La noche 01 mayo 2009
Last night we went to the Mocha Nanna Café for some local Nicaraguan music and drinks. I tried the local beer, Tonza (?), it’s made locally and was ok for $20 Cordobas, (1 US dollar). The music was by a local couple and they were very good, not sure of the name, the only problem was that a number of young Americano students were there beside locals and they tend to smoke a lot. That is one thing I have noticed very few Nicas actually smoke in public. None of my Nica family smoke. A strange thing for a region that produces some of the best tobacco in the world. Most of these “chele & chela’s” (whitey or gringos) are volunteers in schools and on some agriculturally projects and they tend to dress like 1970’s hippies and others like to try to dress in what they think of as traditional Nica dress and hairdo’s! LOL, I should have kept all my old clothes! However one thing I have noticed is that most Nicaraguan men were long pants and regular shoes. I have only seen some youth wear shorts and no one (except women) wear sandals. Sometimes if I need something quickly I’ll walk uptown (3 blocks) in my shorts and sandals and I can tell some of the women disapprove of this type of dress!

The Dogs of Esteli

1 mayo 2009
Well at least I am on my own computer, the last post had the wrong date and I have to remember that the keyboards at the local internet café’s are different from the ‘nortamericano; ones! There are mucho dogs in the streets; they seem to be everywhere and all types if breeds, too bad as some of them look like they would make really good pets. People tend to ignore them and just go about their business like they are not there. At times they are killed by cars as they just wonder the road; there is no animal control in Nicaragua so they are allowed to wonder. Apparently there is more suffering during the dry season as they look for water as well as food. People do keep small dogs as pets but when they tire of they them they let them loose. I have already seen several dogs that if I could I would bring home with me, it makes me sad and lonely for my own dogs. I have only seen one lady who regularly feed three dogs that have taken up residence on her street, other than that people do not generally give them handouts. They are not a problem nor do they seem dangerous to the passer-by.