i took a second trip to nicaragua in april. this time brent nix (the mystery 4th in our group) and john headed down as well. it was john’s 3rd trip and we were taking a look at a couple of places that he had visited before as well as some new places that peter wanted to show us. first we visited a school in tipitapa. these ladies work at the school. the students weren’t there that day, though, b/c the teachers were on strike and the town pump was out so no one (including the school) had any water. in case anyone’s unaware, it’s consistently mid-90’s there with extreme humidity. needless to say, being without water isn’t a treat. our tour giude that day was marcia who is a councilwoman in the area.
these kids were just sitting in a trash pile on the edge of town.
and here a little dude in his drawers peddles his bike down the street.
at the end of day 1 we visited a park that looks down on managua. there they had this giant tom landry statue. we thought it was cool that nicas are cowboys fans.
on day 2 we went and visited peter’s lot at the beach. this beach is about and hour or so outside of managua.
when you have a lot at the beach in nicaragua, your neighbor may have a big hog in his yard. it’s a little different than los angeles, but not entirely unlike gulf shores.
we stopped at a road side stand to get some quesillos. it’s pretty hot during mid-day, so the dogs were just chillin out on the floor.
it’s pretty common for kids to work down there and here we’ve got some kids running cattle down the street.
the next day we visited matagalpa. we visited a community on a mountain side that had some of the most extreme poverty i have ever seen. here a woman washes her children in a bucket.
we went to a school about a quarter mile from there and met the school president (who we gave a soccer ball to). when asked what they wanted most, they said a soccer ball, a door and windows. we’ve gotten them 1/3 of the way there and are working on the rest. these kids also used to have a latrine at the school, until a church built over the top of it. good work guys. : (
this is the tienda of a woman who is the community leader for another community in matagalpa. these people two were oppressively poor, and were forced to their location (near the sewage pond) b/c their former community had been washed off of a hillside nearby.
here are some kids in that same community.
this kid was hitching a rid on a truck into matagalpa.
a picture from outside a women’s clinic in matagalpa.
we headed to esteli to stay that night with our good friend maricella at cuallitlan. she has a great little place there and wonderful food for phenomenal prices. also, she was an especially welcome find on our first trip out there when john and i were still struggling with our spanish due to her perfect english. here we are with her the next morning.
on the way out of town we stopped at la casita. here we encountered some kids enjoying the swings there.
i took this shot of some flowers at la casita as well
the next day we headed out to leon to check out this “sister city” of granada. this dude wanted to talk to the girl here, but just couldn’t quite get up the nerve.
here is a building on the streets of leon.
here is a little girl inside a church there.
and a woman carrying a tired little one home.
we ended up going back to esteli for one more night with maricella and then went out to hit a slot canyon she had recommended. this was a bit of a sketchy experience as you basically turn off a road and have people running up to you offering to be your guide. now, you see NO ONE else there who’s visiting the canyons, and you’re pretty deep in. we figured we had at least 90% odds of surviving and 80% odds of our truck being there when we got back from the canyon. we took the odds and went with my trademark approach: be sure to reference that we’re visiting people with fabretto and mention that we will likely be sending others to come visit the same place.
here we are with our guides.
and here was a woman washing clothes in the river there.
john and i paused for a team photo in the canyon.
now for the “animals” portion of this posting.
after the canyon we went back to esteli for the opening of some new buildings with fabretto’s esteli center. the japanese embassy had contributed substantial funds for the opening and they had some ambassador (who looked tremendously like one of john and yoko’s kids) there for the ceremony. here’s a picture from the new building at the center of a house across the street.
here’s a picture of one of nicaragua’s famous “widow maker” shower heads. the water is heated in the shower head, and yes those are electrical wires sticking out of the shower head.
that is from a hotel on top of a hill in matagalpa.
we went back there for one night to meet with maricia (john may have to correct me on a couple of names) and to get a little better feel for the city. here we are out to dinner with her and her kid. he and i function at about the same level, so it was a pretty fun dinner.
here’s a church in granada “in the gloaming”
and here’s another church in town.
a side public service announcement. the number of beggars and hookers has doubled in the last year down there. this is a direct result of american and european tourists giving money to both groups of people. i would challenge any of you who visit here or anywhere else to give money to organizations, not individuals there on the streets. there are obvious exceptions, but in general giving people money in the streets just encourages more people to hang out in the streets and ask for money. at a minimum, it is better to provide a bottle of water or a banana versus a dollar. that’s my brief visit to the soap box. anyway, back to the pics….
this guy was just driving around on his way out for a date.
so, i might as well mention that we set a new record for getting stopped for driving while white (or DWW). we were actually pulled over four times and bribed our way out of it twice (once with five bucks and once with a bottle of water). there are three potential “outs” for one when pulled over for DWW. one is to pretend you have NO understanding of what they’re saying and hope they get frustrated and leave you alone, one is to try and rebut everything they say and the final option is to pay a bribe. john and i always went with option two until it became obvious that option three was necessary.
anyway, we spent one last night in granada visiting el club (http://www.elclub-nicaragua.com/) and polishing off a bottle of flor de cana.
as you might imagine. we were pretty beat by the end of the trip, but not as tired as this guy.
