Sarita en Nicarasweeta

The Tribulations of Animal Lovers in Managua

2011-10-17T21:32:00.008-06:00

Living in Managua has its ups and downs. I have days where I feel like I own the city, sun shining as I driving down the palm-lined boulevards, running into friends every place I go! Warm nights spent dancing under the stars and talking with good friends drinking Flor de Caña, with the sweet smell of midnight-blooming jasmine in the air. And then there are the not so good days, which almost always involve people being extremly stupid or inconsiderate and I usually encounter this on the road and sometimes in the malls and always in the movie theater. I also often get flushed with anger whenever I have to wait in ridiculously long lines, which is any time I go to the bank or the super market. Call me crazy, but I dont think an hour of my Saturday should be spent waiting in line to cash a check! And then there are the inexplicable rules like only one person is allowed at the banking counter, so Ivan cannot come up with me..which is the only one that comes to mind right now, but believe me there are many more!

But all that does not compare to the poverty I drive by on the streets every day...in a way you need to almost become numb to it, or else it will eat you alive from the inside out. It is so hard not to give money to the kids out working the street in the hot sun, or playing in traffic when they should be tucked into bed. But what really gets to me is the animals. I know some people might say its horrible to care so much about animals when humans are suffering just the same, but thats one of the reasons why I love Albert Schweitzer so much. He made it okay to care for all living things, "A man is ethical only when life, as such, is sacred to him, that of plants and animals as that of his fellow men, and when he devotes himself helpfully to all life that is in need of help". I guess what touches me most about animals is that they are so innocent, even more so than the children, who sadly have to lose their innocence very quickly. Animals, especially dogs, have been bred over tens of thousands of years to depend on humans and crave their love and attention. I wonder if dogs on the street are ever able to feel real contentment without the companionship of a human. And its not just the street dogs, its the cute little puppies in cages, being sold on the side of the road. I know most of those dogs won't be going to a good home. Dogs are something that a lot of the upper class in Nicaragua have, but I dont know why. Often times when I go to their houses the dogs are leashed or penned up in the backyard. They say they have to keep them tided up because they are too hyper and run and jump all over everything. But they just cant see that the dog is that way because it is tied up all day! It needs exercise, training and a lots of love and attention.

In my 3+ years here I have seen many cases of completely hopeless dogs and like I try and save birds that fall out of nests, I can't help but try to take care of the dogs and cats. There was this one dog next door a few years ago with puppies that we would feed every day, but I think it was too late and they all ended up dying from a disease. The puppies were shacky when they walked, like they had a neurological disorder.

The guards at Ivan's work have adopted a street dog there and called her Canela (Cinnamon). They were so excited when she became pregnant. Of course Ivan asked them, who is going to take care of all those puppies, you guys can barely feed Canela? I guess that is the common reaction here, to be happy when someone gets pregnant, even if they cannot support themselves. So Ivan is the one taking care of Canela now, buying her food so she can produce milk for her 7 puppies. Ivan has also taken up a collection in order to get Canela fixed as soon as she can leave her puppies and he is working on finding good homes to adopt the little guys as soon as they are ready. So hopefully that story has a happy ending.

We also have this dog at the end of our street. When I first saw her several months ago, I thought she was a good looking dog, looked more like a Boxer than a street dog. She had puppies and they were running around for awhile. Then we started to see this ghost of a dog walking around, the same dog, only skin and bones. It would break my heart just to look at her. I felt so bad looking away, but sometimes it was all I could do, because what could I really do? Well the other night Ivan and I saw her and decided to bring her out some food, since we have dog food now to feed Canela. Her body is thin and frail and her face so sad. Looking into her eyes made me cry. Tonight when Ivan went out to feed her he spoke to the people down the street that she supposedly "belongs to". They said she was old and had a disease. When Ivan asked how old, they said they didnt know...I am sure she is not only, just sick and very very thin. Ivan thinks they stole her, although I dont know why they would when they cant take care of her. But she is more than just a street dog because her ears are clipped, which leads me to believe that she is a pure bred and belonged to someone before. They said that she eventually killed her puppies, probably because it was wither their lives or hers, the more they nursed, the thinner she got. Ivan told them that he was going to take her in to get put down. It is so hard to "play god", but really is there a more humane option?

We also started feeding some cats in the neighborhood, well actually a cat and her two kittens. And it looks like the momma might be pregnant again. The kittens are cute, the calico one is really mean and doesnt let his sibling eat, so we have to feed her from another dish. I dont know if I should be happy he is so tough or sad that he is a bully.

Ivan found a kitten outside his office a few months ago. I was thinking about getting a pal for Luna, so I was happy that Ivan just found a kitten. She was young, eyes had just opened, but something was wrong with her eyes. We fed her some milk with a syringe and image her mom must have abandoned her because of the problems she was having with her eyes. The vet said she had a common cat disease which causes blindness and that she was in pain. He said it could be possible with a lot of treatment for her to survive, but she would be blind. We made the hard decision to put her down and shared some sad moments with the vet.

As I said, living here has its ups and downs. Its downs are usually when I let the reality of it all sink in. I much prefer the reality of my apartment, where little Luna is treated like a princess and she has no idea what a big bad world it is out there, and hopefully never will!

Rio San Juan: 100% Nica

2011-07-14T15:35:00.010-06:00

All over Managua on signs, bumper stickers, graffiti, radio stations, tv ads, even a song, you can see/hear something about el Rio San Juan and how its 100 percent Nicaraguan. Why the obsession with what percentage the San Juan River is Nicaraguan? The river serves as a natural boundary between Nicaragua and Costa Rica, atleast for some of the border. But throughout history this border has been disputed and Costa Rica has wanted a piece of it. This is only part of the story of the bad blood between these two countries. They are not political enemies by any means, but there is a hostility between the people, much like the relationship between the US and France. Recently the conflict has been renewed and Costa Rica and Nicaragua again argue over the San Juan River, troops have been sent to reinforce the border. So the people in Managua (and I am sure other places of the country, but Managua is what I know) are very adamant about this river being theirs. The sad part is that many people have never been to this place that they claim so unyieldingly as their own, including myself, until last weekend!

Many people have not been to Rio San Juan because of the trip, it is a bitch! There are basically 3 ways to get there: by air (which is generally too expensive for most Nicas and travelers), by boat (which is a 16 hour ordeal across Lake Nicaragua/Colcibolca), or by land (a 300 km bus trip which cost about $8). Now clearly the land options seems to be the way to go, but until recenly those 300 km took 9 hours or more, as described in my Moon guidebook on Nica "the road disintegrates entirely and your bus is left to batter its way at walking speed for hours through gulleys, rutted tracks, and mud pits". Woohoo! Luckily the road from Managua to San Carlos (the port town located where the river meets the lake) is almost finished, so the ride is not so bad. We still passed over some bridges, so narrow and without side rails, where when looking out the bus window all I could see was a straight drop to the water below! Yikes! For some reason, the bus ride still took about 8 hours, our driver made prolonged stops and chatted with his buddies along the way. Unfortunately, we left in the wee hours of the morning and so I slept most of the way, but when I was awoken to my head banging against the bus window, my hazy eyes caught some breath-taking views of green mountains, distant volcanoes and lots and lots of green pastures. The music on the bus was horrible, for one it was insanely loud, and it was some sort of 70s, early 80s disco music that I had never heard before. There was also a guy behind me playing his music with speakers and singing along! The whole thing made me feel gross, so I put on my ipod and found a more appropriate soundtrack for my journey.

As I mentioned before, the bus was not express, and many people were not going from Managua to San Carlos, but rather to two places in between. Once when I woke up a found myself sitting next to a rather handsome old vaquero: cowbot hat, boots and all. Several times the bus had to stop because a herd of cows was in the road...of course this is a common happening in Managua as well, but in any event, we were in cow country! Finally we arrived in San Carlos, in the pouring rain no less, and caught a cab that took us rather indirectly (picking up and dropping off 2 other people first) to the boat terminal. We did get to see the airport along the way, which consists of little more than a short, overgrown runway. I think I would fly down in the future, but only if my dad comes with me and can take over if anything goes wrong!

I guess by now I should have mentioned who I was traveling with...Tressa pretty much organized the whole thing. She is a fellow teacher at Lincoln, originally from Michigan. She has a very soft, calming voice and I have always wanted to observe one of her classes to see if she can maintain that same voice when teaching, that would just amaze me! Tressa's friend from college Vicky also came along. She had been volunteering with Manna Project all summer and took some time to travel at the end of her service. She is in medical school at Vanderbilt and her mom is Chinese, but was born and raised in Puerta Cabazas Nicaragua, so she has strong ties here.

The three of us boarded the panga (boat which holds about 50 people) to travel 2 hours up the San Juan river. The journey was beautiful and flew by! I listened to my audio book (since I get motion sick) and watched the lovely scenery pass by. We arrived on the small docks of Boca de Sabalos, a small town along the river and our hotel boat crossed the river to come pick us up. The hotel was right on the river and was basically a huge deck with rooms on it. We could hear the splashing under us, even while in our room. I treated myself to a crayfish for dinner, I was starving, we hadnt eaten all day! I also had the most amazing ice cream for dessert. I forgot to ask more about it, because it is hard to find good ice cream in Nicaragua, and certainly didnt expect to find it two hours up the San Juan river! We retired to bed early after killing about a thousand small moths that snuck into our room when we opened the door. The new room rule: never open the door at night when the light is on...that eliminated the problem.

The next morning we woke up at a leisurely hour, had a hardy breakfast, and did some riverside yoga to stretch out from the long bus ride the day before. We, at a very relaxing and leisurely pace, made our way up the river about 30 minutes to the town of El Castillo. El Castillo is so aptly named for the castle, or fort that was built during the Spanish Conquest. The fort is strategically placed on a hillside where you can see a far distance up and down the river. We paid a small amount to enter the museum and castle ruins (although it turned into a predicament because the ticket lady had no change, as is quite normal in Nicaragua, but nonetheless annoying). The museum was actually quite impressive and tells the history of the river which is full of tales of pirates, conquistadors, rum, gold, power struggles and people getting eaten by crocodiles and fresh water sharks! The river was/is the passageway from the Atlantic to the interior of Nicaragua and the important city of Granada. This was also almost the location of the Panama Canal, which obviously would have had a different name, probably the Nicaragua Canal. There would have been a lot less digging, only a short distance between Lake Nicaragua and the Pacific Ocean, but in the end Nicaragua did not want to give the US complete control over the waterway and so Panama now famously has the canal. Yet another time when Nicaraguans were not willing to give up the precious San Juan River, and who can blame them? Although my mind does get lost in the possibilities of what could have been for Nicaragua if they had this important conduit of maritime trade...The museum also stated that the area of Rio San Juan is the second biggest oxygen producer in the world, which is cool and hard to believe!

Exploring the castle was fun! A photographers dream, besides the obvious gorgeous view from a semi-refurbished colonial fort, there were lots of great colors textures,and angles. I did the best I could to capture some good shots in the limited time we had there, as they closed for lunch and we had to catch the boat back to the hotel at 2. So we wandered around the very clean town for a bit and got a home cooked meal in a comedor, which is basically someones house, with some tables set up out front and you eat whatever they prepared for lunch or dinner. Later that night we set up a tour from our hotel to go caimen hunting (searching not killing).

After sunset we head out in a boat with two guides. One stood on the front of the boat with a flashlight. He could spot the eyes of the caimen because they glow in the dark. The bigger ones disappeared pretty quickly once we got close, but the smaller ones didnt know any better. Julio Cesar, the guide, captured one and brought it on board for us to see. It was so cute, about a month old and pretty calm. He squirmed a bit at first, but then let us poke and prod at him, poor thing. The entire trip, which lasted a couple of hours, we asked Julio Cesar all sorts of morbid questions like, "How many people get attacked by crocodiles or sharks a year? How often does the river flood? How many people die drowning in the river each year? How many boating accidents are there?" HIs answers were kind of boring...seems like a pretty safe place to live. I think he thought we were crazy Managuans, or worse, crazy gringas! We went down this really beautiful tributary, it was calm and quiet and quite enchanting. We saw this really huge fish surface, the guide said it was a prehistoric-type fish. It was a magical evening.

The next morning we took an early morning canoe ride down the tributary through the town of Sabalos, which is on both sides of the river bank. It was quiet and peaceful. We saw some beautiful birds and even a pair of monkeys climbing high in the tree tops. Later we went to an Organic Cacao Cooperative in Sabalos. They get the cacao seeds from many small cooperative farms along the river. They ferment and dry out the seeds. I am not sure if they roast them, or if that is done by the chocolate manufacturer. The guy who showed us around was a cacao genius! He says he does not drink coffee, or alcohol and does not smoke in order to keep his taste buds in their best condition to taste test the cacao. The fermenting process was kinda gross, but later we were able to toast some seeds and try them out and it was delicious. When the guy tasted it he closed his eyes and said all the flavors he tasted and the % in which he tasted them. Kinda like one of those wine tasting snobs. But he must be super healthy, besides laying off smoking and booze, I saw (on Dr Oz maybe) that cacao is the 2nd best thing you can put in your body after water, I don't know if its true, but I would like to believe it is! Anyway, their biggest buyer is a German company called Ritter Sport, which I have seen before. It is amazing how so much of delicious "European" chocolate we buy is really from Central America originally. I was also amazed how this little, almost kind of primative cooperative is able to produce so much quality organic cacao. They were really organized and meticulous about what they did, which was especially impressive to me because I feel like I don't often see that in Nicaragua and did not expect to see it in the countryside.

I was sad to leave and hope I can return again. The people at the hotel were so kind and helpful. The people were soft spoken, yet warm and friendly. Very different from what I am used to in Managua, but I guess this is true of anywhere you go, city people are more hard and cold, country people are more kind and welcoming. Unfortunately this kindness does not seem to extend even to San Carlos, which is by no means a city. Before getting on the bus in San Carlos, I tried to find a bathroom. I had just been on a boat for 2 hours and had a 6-8 hour bus ride ahead of me, a bathroom was essential! I asked around a few places near the bus and they turned me away. Finally I found this comedor/hostel type place and the guy outside said there was a bathroom. But when I kindly asked the woman inside she turned me away, even after she surely saw the desperation in my face! Vicky, taking pity on me and needing a bathroom herself, set off to see what she could find. She eventually convinced the same woman to let her use the bathroom, and I was able to go back again, and she let me in as well. This did not leave a good impression of San Carlos on me! Apparently, others feel the same way, my Moon guidebook says people "try to make their stay here as short as possible" and quotes writer Eduard Marriot in saying San Carlos is "a place where the air smelled sour...where dead animals lay unremarked in the streets for days; where each day felt hotter than the last; where things of all kinds felt near their end" and I will add, where people reluctantly let you use their bathroom, even when its an emergency!

The bus ride home was much quicker than the way down. We only made one long stop along the way. The music was better as well, it was again insanely loud, but the driver was playing rica bachata, atleast until it got late and I wanted to fall asleep, then he started playing obnoxious rancheras. Ayyyyyy! The important thing is we got back to Managua safely and had an amazing trip. I am excited to share Rio San Juan with my next visitor! Who will it be?

Worst Airport Evah!

2010-10-05T22:37:00.007-06:00

So I land in Miami, not too excited to be back at this airport. After a long taxi we stop. After waiting several minutes the captain informs us that we are just waiting for a plane to taxi out of the way so we can get into our gate. We wait more. Then the captain tells us that the plane we are waiting for needs to be towed out, and they are waiting for a tow to come and get it. Waiting, waiting, waiting, 35 minutes after touchdown we are able to taxi to our gate.

Welcome to Miami, I knew you would be good to me!

As I am trying to make my way to immigration there are two women who work for the airport pushing two men in wheelchairs, walking side by side, chatting and taking their time. No one can pass them because they are walking side by side. Finally a way around in sight! One of those speed walker things, but in Miami I guess they move a little slower, the thing was packed, people we walking slow and the thing seemed to be moving slow. Now the ladies pushing the wheelchairs are moving faster than us! So still stuck behind the wheelchairs by the time I get off!

Luckily the lines at immigration are not too long. I get up to the stand and the boarder patrol officer has a low, raspy voice, kinda like Moto Moto, the hippo in Madagascar 2, but not sexy at all.

BP Officer: "So you live in Managua?"
Me: "Yes"
BP Officer: "What would you do there?"
Me: "I am a teacher"
BP Officer: "What do you teach?"
Me: "Social Studies"
BP Officer: "Oh so you speak Spanish?"
Me: "Yes, but I teach in English"
BP Officer: "Oh so you speak English?"
Me: "Ummm...yesss"
BP Officer: "So you were born in Hawaii?"
Me: "Yes"
BP Officer: "How was that?"
Me: "Goood??"

I have never been asked about being born in Hawaii, ever, until I came through Miami. Last month when I came in through Miami they were questioning me about that too. He asked, if my middle name is Hawaiian? And then did I know what my middle name means? And then he asked me, "ok, what does it mean?" He then told me he used to live in Hawaii. It was a strange conversation, come to think of it maybe it was the same officer....

Anyway, it was kinda fun looking around when going through customs, there were all sorts of people getting searched and questioned and taken into back rooms and waiting in strange unmarked lines, I feel like I don’t see that anywhere else. So that part was exciting!

I make it through immigration and got my luggage and dropped it off, which was much better then when I did this a month ago and the place to drop off my luggage was just two people standing in a corridor with a sign saying drop luggage here. I felt lucky when my suitcase made it to Toronto, I had walked away thinking I was tricked into giving random people my luggage.

Unlike my last visit, there was actually a screen to check my gate. And the security entrance and terminal were clearly marked! Yes! Except for the 35 minute tarmac delay and the weird immigration encounter, this may not be so bad!

So walking to my gate, D57. Wow, it is far, all the way at the end of the D concourse, took me a good 15 minutes to get there, well kinda, so I get to D55 and then there is a sign to go down the stairs to D60, I think maybe D56-60 are all down there, but no, it is just D60, but with several gates, going to different places.

Confuse me!

So I go back upstairs and confirm that several destinations are flying out of one gate D60 and so where is my gate, D57? Yes it is D57. But it just skips D56-59. So I retrace my steps and go back to see if there was some strange turn or arrow, or up or down stairs area to these mysterious gates. Nope. Again feeling lost in the retched airport! I look at their nearest screen, Boston D8. What...D8? Desde cuando? I checked like 3 times and it was D57. And certainly I couldn’t have confused an 8 for a 57, maybe 51 or 75, but not 8!

Alright, so I guess I am going to have to walk all the way back down this looong-ass concourse. Only the terminal didn’t start with D1, so in order to get to D8, I have to walk upstairs and board the freaking sky train in order to get there! As I board the sky train I hear a familiar accent and see some big Irish boys wearing old-school Patriots hats and I know I must be on the right track.

So, to recap: my plane landed at 11:40am, and I arrive at my gate at 2:30pm. So much for getting lots of paper correcting done! Thank god I didn’t have a close connection! And as I sit here at the gate, every other announcement is a gate change. Way to be Miami airport, living up to your sucky reputation like nobody’s business.

Addendum: After I wrote this and boarded the plane, my flight got delayed an hour and a half (ok not the airport's fault). The guy next to me is on the phone going on about how much Miami airport sucks, and how there has got to be a better way to get into and out of Florida, and how he must have walked over a mile in the airport! I feel you buddy! You were looking for D57 too, huh?!

How Have I Been Here for Almost Two Years and Not Known About...

2010-06-08T13:37:00.008-06:00

ZAPOTE?!

I went to visit my drive-up fruit guy today to buy pitahaya (dragon fruit), it just came into season and I am so happy about it. In addition to the pitahaya and limes that I bought he asked if I wanted some zapote. I said I didnt know what it was. He seemed surprised and went to get one. Leaning into the passenger's side window he showed me this round fruit with a rough brown exterior. He cut out a slice to reveal a bright, dark, rich, orange flesh, with a beautiful dark brown seed, much like that of an avocado. I tasted the slice and then quickly told him I would buy it!

The texture of the fruit reminds me of a cross between an avocado, banana, papaya and a yam. The taste, I cant quite describe. I keep eating more and more of it to try to put my finger on at least one thing it tastes like. It is sweet, mild and kinda creamy. One website said it has a "berry-like" flavor, which I disagree with because it is in no way sour or tangy, as many berries can be. It has some soft strings, not like a mango, more like an avocado and they have a stronger, more fragrant taste, that tastes some how familiar. Ooooo and I am discovering as I eat more and more of it, that it actually has three pretty seeds in the middle and not just one. I haven't been able to find too much about what health benefits the zapote provides besides the obvious high level of anti-oxidants that many bright colored fruits have, as well as a good source of fiber.

Zapote is now my new obsession, and I am sure will make for some fun new shakes and dessert ideas!

Mass Murder of Ants

2010-02-21T17:49:00.002-06:00

Since we have moved to the apartment behind our old apartment we have been invaded by ants. Now ants were always a problem, Sabine used to complain about them in her spotless kitchen! We have the same problem, although our kitchen is not always spotless but, once the lights go out, the ants take over, its gross, but there's not much that can be done.

This time the Leaf-cutter ants attacked my bougainvilleas. It went from a flowering, green leafy plant to a bunch of leafless branches in what seemed like a day or two! We can always see ants walking in their little line, carrying bits of leaves, hard at work. It never really bothered me that much until they took all the leaves of my plant! So I went to the hardware store and got this poison. The guy told me to sprinkle it in their path and they will pick it up and bring it back to the nest (or whatever the place ants live is called) and die. It seemed easy enough. Ivan and I went outside and found the line of ants and sprinkled the little green disks along their path.

We watched as they started picking them up and carrying them along their way back home. I was amazed that it worked so fast, the ants immediately picked them up, but then I started feeling guilty. I was tricking them and they were carrying off poison that would kill them all! I have never liked killing living things. Ask my dad who I would call up into my room when there was a spider, but then ask him to capture it and bring it outside instead of killing it. I would often do that myself, if I was brave enough. Although here the insects are sometimes a little too big and scary to do this and Ivan doesn't go for capturing it and putting it outside. So I have had to get used to the killing of little and big insect alike. And just to be clear, I think cockroaches are the only thing I don't care about killing. I cant decide if they are more gross dead or alive, I certainly dont like killing them because of their gooey insides and but I have no remorse for them when they are gone.

I was surprised that Ivan was saddened by our massive ant murder as well. At first I thought he was just making fun of me, but then he suggested even cleaning up the poison we had left out and said that we were messing with the circle of life. It is true. When we went outside tonight we only saw one ant on the ant road, poor thing doesnt know where all his friends went. I dont know, maybe I have watched too many of those movies, "Antz" or "A Bug's Life", but both Ivan and I were feeling pretty bad about the whole thing.

No Thanks! No Time!

2010-02-21T01:45:00.002-06:00

(The title is for you, Cales!)

The past two months have been busy, busy, busy and have flown by! The week after starting school again after Christmas break my Master's classes began. Framingham State College has some sort of international program, I am not sure if it is only for masters of teaching or if they offer other fields of study, but it is a pretty cool program. The professors that have come have taught courses all over the world. It is kinda nice too to have people from Massachusetts come, some of them have accents and it is enjoyable to listen to.

So I started one class last summer, classes were offered in Jan and Feb and then two again in June once classes got out. I didnt do the classes in Jan and Feb last year because I was too stressed out with the day to day pressures of school in general. Now I wish I had at least taken one course. The program takes two years (9 courses). So I will finish next summer. And since I decided to stay another year, I though I should take advantage of this opportunity. Well actually it was one of the reasons I decided to stay another year too. The master's is technically in International Education, which I am not sure will hold up in public schools in the States, but it will at least look good, maybe help with private schools in the States and definitely be great if I come back to teach in Managua again, or anywhere else. The school that hosted the Teacher's Conference I went to in the Dominican Republic in October was really, really nice. Maybe I will become an International teacher and just teach my way around all the places I want to visit in the world!

The first course was Technology in the Classroom, which was an awesome class and I learned lots of new ways to integrate technology in the classroom and learned how to make little movies, which was the best part of the class. There was also a nice atmosphere and classmates were supportive and class was fun and went by quickly. Classes are held from 4-7 M-F and 8-5 Saturdays for two weeks. During the first week of class I was on a cleanse diet. I had seen a lot about them on talk shows around New Years time, saying that people should do them at least once a year and they sounded pretty great. Plus, just the week before I suffered through 2 days of food poisoning from some tacos I bought on the street. Not fun! So I thought it would be a good time to clean out my system and what a perfect place to do it where there is endless fresh fruit and veggies for cheap! But, this diet requires a lot of prep. When you eat only raw fruits and vegetables, you are basically eating constantly, and so each night I was up late chopping and preparing tupperwares full of papaya, pineapple, melon, carrots, celery, etc. The diet was nice, I didnt notice some of the promised effects like brighter, whiter eyes, or luminous skin. But I did feel good every day.

After that class ended we had a one week break to catch our breath and then the next class started with the same schedule. The next class was Special Ed in the Regular Ed classroom. The class was interesting, and I learned a lot, but the class over all just had a really bad feeling to it. We started off class with a debate over inclusion of a downs syndrome student in a regular classroom. It was a great way to learn about the pros and cons of this issue, that is a hot topic, but some people seemed to take the debate personally and had strong feelings about it and there just seemed to be this lingering animosity for the remaining two weeks. The professor wasnt very dynamic and the class seemed to drag on each night.

Also during this time Ivan and I started Salsa Casino classes, which we have been wanting to take since I moved here. Ivan of course has a natural feel for dancing salsa, and I had lessons a few years earlier in Leon, but I dance rigidly, 1, 2, 3, forward, backward, side, side. So our salsa styles werent quite compatible, but it is something we both enjoy doing, so we thought taking a class together would be great! Classes are Tues and Thurs from 730 to 9. So after my masters classes ended at 7, I would go meet Ivan and usually have to change in the car so we could be on time for classes. After class, we would eat a late dinner and I would have to stay up late doing homework or writing a paper.

On top of all of this I found out that I need to apply for the Master Program, duh, seems pretty obvious, but, big surprise, the school never told me and I had asked them about it and they said I just need to take the classes. Well that isnt the case, as I found out from some others in the class. I was supposed to matriculate before taking my third course, but this was impossible as the application needs to be mailed to the school, it cannot be sent digitally. I got an extension until the end of Feb, and luckily Ivan's Uncle was visiting from Miami and so after I ran around and got all the letters of rec I needed and wrote an essay, etc, etc, I sent the package home with Ivan's Uncle, who will mail it along for me.

So now classes are over (YAY!), Ivan and I still have salsa classes, which are nice to be able to go to with more energy. I am playing a bit of correcting catch up and enjoying those extra hours I have each day.

Merry Christmas and Happy Purísima!

2009-12-23T22:49:00.004-06:00

December is a month of celebrations in Nicaragua, the Purísima (see my Dec 08 post too) is to celebrate the conception of the Virgin Mary and the miracles she has performed. My good friend and Nicaragua expert, Miguel, was telling me, on a recent visit to Leon, that the Purísima is to give thanks to Mary for stopping a volcanic eruption that was threatening a Nicaraguan city. I have not found this explanation anywhere else, but I will keep asking around about it. La Gritería (The Shouting) happens on the Purísima's Eve. People go around to houses with alters made to Mary and sing to her and the people in the house then hand out treats such as sour lemons, chicha drink, sugar cane, molasses based candies and noise makers. Its almost like trick or treating and Christmas caroling put together. I wanted to go to Leon to see the celebration (because like most things, Leon does it better than anyone). But Ivan and I ended up being busy with work that weekend, so we didnt go :(

Ivan and I did go out during La Gritería to see what we could see.

I enjoyed hearing stories about when Ivan was young and he used to partake in the festivities and get all the sugar cane that he could! Ivan is also quite the traditionalist and hates to see how commercial the holiday has become with households now giving out candy bars and such. Most of the people participating are very poor and carry around large sacks to collect all they can. Others however are devout Catholics and of course lots of kids. The government also sets up alters downtown and hands out beans, rice and oil to the poor. Ivan and I drove through downtown after it had ended and it was horribly amazing to see how much trash was littered all over the streets. It was jaw dropping.

One of the best parts is the firecrackers everyone sets off at noon, 6 pm and midnight. It is really fun to hear hundreds going off at once and it last for 10 minutes or so too!

Christmas in Nicaragua is celebrated on Christmas Eve. Families get together and have a late dinner (around midnight)open presents and set off fire crackers. I will see this tradition first hand tomorrow night!

In the meantime, here are a couple good articles from Times magazine about Nicaragua and Christmas:

Nicaragua: Where Everyday is Christmas
Have Yourself a Sandinista Christmas

Merry Christmas!

Democracia Si, Dictadura No!

2009-11-21T10:06:00.007-06:00

Last night I woke up around 4:30 and I thought it was strangely quiet. The parrots and other tropical birds started chirping around 6 and Ivan's friend arrived at the apt around 8:30. We watched some news coverage and all seemed peaceful. They left here around 9:30, dressed in white shirts, and planning on meeting up with colleagues from work. They arrived back here around 12:30, they were excited but exhausted. Ivan said it was an amazing feeling to reach Carretera Masaya and see a river of white.

Now, we are being forced to watch the Sandinistas "celebrating" one year since the victories of the municipal elections, which they just so happened to schedule for the same day. At first none of the channels were covering the "celebration", just channel 4 (the one owned by the sandinistas). But now all channels must be mandated to show it, because they are all showing the same feed and without commentary or anything.

Here are some videos I took of news coverage:

"

Here is a video of what I could hear from the apt:

Sandanistas Back to their Old Tricks

2009-11-19T16:05:00.005-06:00

Last month Nicaragua's constitution was violated, changing the law that will now allow Ortega to run for re-election. Since that time there has been some political turmoil, but not as much as I would have imagined. It actually seemed to happen without people blinking an eye. It certainly was expected, but doesn't make it any more acceptable.

The biggest outrage was seen when Robert Callahan (US Embassador to Nic) made a statement, making it clear that the US State Dept was concerned about the recent changes to the constitution and more so how it was changed. Sandinista turbas (basically street bums paid by the Sandinista's to cause trouble) were outside the fortress that is the American Embassy destroying signs, light fixtures, and trying to throw things over the wall. Police did little to nothing. I think it is sad how these people openly destroyed property and were never arrested or detained. There seems to be absolutely no justice-no one has to take responsibility for their actions. And I see this every day in school as well. It is amazing to me how such behavior, mainly unaccountability, committed by those that are seemingly social deviants, is the same type of behavior that I see some of my students display at school and sadly sometimes behavior I see administrators display as well. The school is a microcosm of the society. And I am sorry to say that from my point of view, displays of such behavior are not only made by deviants, but normal members of society as well.

Anyway, there has been a protest, a march in the works for several weeks now and it has turned into a three ring circus, as most things in Nicaragua do. It started off as a march against the change in the constitution, and then people said they wanted to march against the fraudulent elections that happened last year, and then the liberals said they were marching and different unions are marching and of course, the Sandinistas are marching against the march! What was supposed to be a peaceful protest now is billed as being the 2nd Revolution!

The opposition march planned their route and gathering places in advance and cleared it with the police and such. Now the Sandinistas are saying they are marching the same route in the opposite direction. The police, at first, told the Sandinistas that they needed to change their route, but now, since they are in the government’s pocket, the opposition in now being told they need to change their route.

This is all supposed to take place on Carretera Masaya, which is about 3 blocks from my apartment, and the starting point will be at the Mall, less than a 5 minute drive from my house. There is no worry for me though, because our road is not a main road and only traveled by those who live here. There should be no rabble rousers on our street.

There has been a document released, and the validity of it has been questioned, but it is supposed to be the Sandinista plan to impede the Opposition March. They are trying to use fear tactics, as always, to keep people from marching, saying that they are going to take over all main traffic routes of the city, fire off mortars, burn tires, throw rocks, generally terrorize, to keep people from coming out. Ivan has decided not to march, which of course I am happy for, because I would not want him out in that madness, but I am also a little upset as well. He should be able to go out and protest this travesty done to his country and speak his mind. It is all very sickening.

Here is a great article from the New York Times that explains things much more eloquently than I. There is something about this situation that leaves me at a loss for words at how wrong it is.

I will most likely be posting information here on Saturday, as it happens. Ivan teases me that I think I am a breaking news source or something.

Recent Seismic Activity

2009-10-01T20:13:00.006-06:00

This week there has been lots of moving and shaking in Nicaragua! I am sure it is all connected to the earthquakes in the South Pacific, we are all part of that "burning ring of fire".

Monday I came home from work and took a shower, a thunderstorm had started and I thought, I should get dressed right away instead of lounging around in my towel for awhile, just in case there is an earthquake. A few minutes later there was a 4.4 Richter scale tremor. It felt stronger than the first one I had felt here and seemed to last longer, only a couple of seconds. I think I had the little premonition because the first time I felt a quake here was in the afternoon, around the same time during a thunderstorm too.

Adrienn, friend and 6th grade science teacher, commented today during a rain storm, that earthquakes often happen at that time, when a drastic change in temperature happens. And it was really hot today! I don't know what temperature has to do with plate tectonics, but people have often said here that earthquakes happen when it is really hot, which to me it always seems really hot. Maybe it is an old wives tale, or maybe I know nothing about earthquakes, being a New England girl and all!

Tuesday night there were two small tremors, I didn't feel them, but Ivan felt one and my students were talking about it in class. Last night there was a noticeable one as well. I am told that lots of small tremors are good! Small releases of pressure instead of pressuring building up and resulting in a large earthquake. They say when there hasn't been tremors in awhile, they start getting nervous. This makes sense to me, but I also feel like small tremors are warnings to something more to come, like signs before a volcanic eruption.

Anyway, I have been checking up on the Nicaraguan Seismic Monitoring website and there have been quite a few tremors each day (25 yesterday!), many too small to feel. Most are originating from near Volcan Apoyeque, which is on Lake Managua, not far from the city. But the stronger ones we have felt, have been from near Puerto Sandino, which is closer to Leon on the coast.

I am wondering if there are similar movements happening further up the ring in San Francisco and Seattle...Ceilidh, Mom, Dad?

Mariposa Means Butterfly

2009-09-16T22:43:00.004-06:00

There have been so many mariposas around lately, and it has been such a welcomed sight. After a tough class I start walking to the teacher's lounge all hot, sweaty, and frustrated and then a little (or big) butterfly crosses my path and makes everything all better. Sometimes they fly into my classroom or hover around the many flowers on campus. They come in all colors and sizes. I like the black and blue ones the best. I wish I could carry around a little camera to capture their beauty, unfortunately I always seem to see them at school and therefore don't get pictures.

Dragon Fruit Fun and Other Fruit Smoothies!

2009-09-14T21:05:00.020-06:00

Its dragon fruit season (or pitahaya season as its known as here)and I am enjoying experimenting with its deliciousness! Dragon fruit either has a white flesh or red flesh (red is the type we have here) and is the fruit of a cactus. Its flower is lovely and of the midnight blooming variety, I wish I would see one here. It has a mild and delicate flavor, and is often compared to a kiwi although I dont think it is as strong or sour.

As you can imagine by its color, it is loaded with antioxidants, vitamin C and lots of other good stuff. Here in Nicaragua it is commonly enjoyed as a refresco (or fresh juice) like everything else! Although I thoroughly enjoy all the delicious "frescos" I can get here, sometimes I wonder if that is the only thing people know what to do with fruit here! I use Sabine as my inspiration, when faced with too many mangoes to eat, dropping each day in her back yard, she made mango pie, mango salsa, mango sorbet, mango smoothies.

First I made the pitahaya refresco, which was delicious. The seeds kinda get ground up in the juice and gives it a flavor like oily but not bad, kinda like omega-3, avocado type taste. When I was in Leon this past weekend, I had pitahaya juice, but the seeds were still in tact and had a little bit of the gelatinous fruit still around it. It was like the best bubble tea ever! And it didnt have the oily-ness that some people don't like. Ivan's mom said in order to make it like that you have to mash the fruit and then mix it with water instead of blending it. I will have to try it next time.

After making juice, I wanted to see what else I could do with it. I found lots of good recipes online that I am excited to try, one of which is a pitahaya jelly, which I think is more like a jello, I need to see if I can find gelatin here. The sorbet recipe seemed doable, so I tried it today, since I have a long weekend! The ingredients were simple, water, sugar, lime and the fruit from 2 pitahayas. I also added a couple of drops of tequila and triple sec. The hardest part was waiting for it to freeze and I am not sure if it will ever freeze completely with our crappy freezer. But it did get frozen enough to have as dessert and it received good reviews!

Ivan has also been up to new things in the kitchen. He is on a smoothie making kick after watching one being made on a cooking show. I have been really enjoying it. Each smoothie has had the base of papaya, which I am starting to like, if it is not too ripe. Also papaya tica (from Costa Rica) is much better than any others I have had. Added to the papaya is fresh dragon fruit juice, fresh granadilla juice (part of the passion fruit family), fresh passion fruit juice, mango, strawberries, kiwi, and lime, Yum! Today he made papaya, cantaloupe and grapefruit (which we thought was an orange until we opened it. It was also delicious!

Managua's Mayor Commits Suicide

2009-07-01T09:11:00.006-06:00

Managua's newly "elected" mayor, Alexis Argüello committed suicide with a shot to the chest around 1:30 this morning.

He was a three-time champion boxer, only to have all his riches stolen from him in the 80s by the Sandinistas, as they did to many of the wealthy in Nicaragua at that time. He more recently joined the Sandinista Party and "won" the office of mayor in an election that most believe to have been highly fraudulent.

He is known to have a history with drug and alcohol addiction, which may be an indicator of underlying depression that could have led to his suicide. This is merely my speculation, no news has come out as to why he might have done this yet.

This is of course very sad news. Although I was not happy about his election, I saw him mostly as someone the Sandinistas could easily manipulate and felt sorry he was so easily taken advantage of. He appeared to be a soft-spoken and kind-hearted man. My thoughts and prayers are with his loved ones.

Alexis Argüello 1952-2009

Coup in Honduras

2009-06-28T11:09:00.009-06:00

I bet you didn't know there was a coup d'etat (golpe de estado) in Honduras today! That's because the US media is barely covering it. Here is the New York Times coverage, and the coverage was much better on CNN.com, but you really had to look for it and finally it was a headline on Fox News

So basically this is what is going on, from my understanding: The President of Honduras, Mr. Zelaya, wants to be able to be elected for another term, but the constitutional law in Honduras only allows for one 4 year term. There was supposed referendum held today in Honduras to measure the popular support for this change. The Supreme Court of Honduras ruled that the referendum was illegal. Last week President Zelaya fired the head of the military because he refused to aid in conducting the vote. There was some unrest and the airport was shut down for a day.

This morning the military kidnapped the Zelaya and sent him to Costa Rica. Supposedly the ambassadors of Nicaragua and Venezuela were also kidnapped, but that is unconfirmed at this moment. The coup was a drastic way for the judiciary branch to enforce their ruling that the vote was illegal and Zelaya was breaking the law by going forward with the vote. From what I can understand from the press conference that is on right now, Zelaya will be coming to Managua tomorrow with President Arias to meet, GREAT!

The Congress in Honduras just read a bogus letter of resignation from Zelaya and it seemed that the majority of the Congress voted to accept it. This is yet to be confirmed.

I have been meaning to write about the political situation in Central America for a couple days now and share my thoughts and then this happens! I will write more soon about the dangerous bedfellows here in CA and how it connects with Iran.

I just found a video on CNN, it looks like they are finally picking up the story! (We will forgive the former ambassador for mispronouncing coup)

Avocado Update

2009-06-08T21:55:00.007-06:00

So I mentioned in a previous post that I was so excited to have spotted an avocado tree in a neighbor's yard. Now imagine my reaction when the landlord pointed out that their was an avocado tree in our front yard! I cant believe we never noticed it, it is directly to the left as you walk out the gate, but up on a higher piece of land. There was even a huge, huge avocado hanging low.

Ivan and I kept our eyes on it, and no one seemed to be picking any off the tree. So one lazy sunday Ivan and I went out to harvest some avocados. Ivan was armed with a very long piece of lumber with a bent nail at the end (to pull the avocados down) and I, with a basket with a pillow inside covered by a towel (to pad the landing of the sweet, sweet avocados).

Well, things did not go very well at the beginning, as it turns out I am only a natural-born avocado eater, and not a NB avocado picker! The avocados are huge, hard and fast falling and I was afraid they were going to break my glasses :( I mean it is a very vulnerable position to be in, looking up, trying to catch a big, heavy object falling through leafy branches and you have about .002 seconds to make sure it will land in the basket that is only inches from your face! So anyway, I missed many falling avocados, I think I caught only one! We took video of the event, unfortunately I missed capturing my big "catch", but I did however capture something much more entertaining! Please be advised that Ivan takes the sport of avocado catching very seriously and he was not very happy with my performance, however, I have not yet been traded for a more talented avocado catcher (which he could probably grab any guy off the street).

Despite the slow start, we ended up with many of the creamy, mild and delicious fruit we call avocados and enjoyed sharing them with friends and family. I hope avocado season never ends, as I could easily get used to having one with every meal!

It has been close to a year since I moved here, so I have experienced almost all the fruit seasons. Here is a list of the ones I have in my yard:
1) limes (always seem to be ready to pick)
2) nancite (not one of my favorites, smells like old cheese)
3) marañon (which is the fruit of cashews and the nut actually grows on the outside)
4) mangoes
5) avocados

Life is pretty good as far as fresh fruit goes. Speaking of which, I had a dream the other night about picking strawberries. My subconscious knows it is almost time, too bad I will be visiting home just a little too late for it.

Fixing the Problems that Need Fixing -or- Money, in Every Color of the Rainbow (you pick the title)

2009-06-02T15:44:00.011-06:00

As we all know there are many sad problems here in Nicaragua: extreme poverty, high unemployment, hunger, clean water, pollution, education, basic plumbing and electricity, poor infrastructure, flooding issues, tropical diseases, corrupt police force, I could go on and on. With so many problems, choosing one to begin with is like trying to find out what came first, the chicken or the egg? How can you have clean water without first stopping pollution? How can you stop pollution without educating the people? How can you educate people when they are starving? How can you feed people without clean water? It is a vicious cycle. Families can't afford to sent their children to school, instead they are put to work selling gum in the street and therefore they will not get an education and the same thing will happen in the next generation.

Aww, but the Sandinista's, they know where to start...MONEY! I would say with them its all about the GREEN, but here we have what I like to call monopoly money...it comes in shades of red (500 cord bills), blue (100 cord bills), lavender(50 cord bills), orange (20 cord bills) and the ever popular green (10 cord bills)and of course good ol' American greenbacks are always welcome! So money...no Mr. Ortega didn't just pass a bill investing more money in education, or poverty relief programs, instead he thought he would spend a bunch of money to print some new money! What do you do when you don't have money? Just print more!

So there are some new bills on the money exchange scene...don't worry, they are still the same color, but waterproof, made out of some sort of plastic-y material. The coolest feature is the circular translucent spot, seemingly made so you can see what is underneath your bill (Is that the floor or my foot? Now you can know for sure!) They also have new illustrations, no longer is Jose Santos Zelaya honored on the widely used 20 cordoba bill (who was that dude anyway?). Now the 20 honors the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua, because we all know how much the Nicaragua government loves and appreciates the Caribbean Coast, a people that are often discriminated against and an area of the country that is virtually forgotten and barely represented in the government.

Last night on the news (after they showed the bloody dead people in the street), they said there are more new bills to come!!! Not only will they start printing the fancy, new, plastic-y bills for the 100s and 500s as well, but they are also making a much needed 200 cord bill! Thank goodness! EVERY, SINGLE, DAY, I think about how handy it would be to have a 200 cord bill, and now my dream is coming true!!!

It is already very difficult to get change for a 100 cord bill (equiv. to $5), don't even think about getting into a taxi without asking if they can make change for it! Poor Cezanne, finally making it home after a long afternoon of errands, found the driver coundn't make change. After a short argument she had to get back into the cab and go to the closest gas station so she could get smaller bills. Oh yeah, and then the cabbie called her a bitch because she was upset that he didn't have change! The good news is she didn't get mugged, which you should fall on your knees and thank God for every time you get out of a cab safely.

And 500 cord bills (the red ones) don't even think about paying for anything with one of those! Most people in Nicaragua are lucky to make 500 cords a day, no a week, rather a month, so trying to pay for something with one is nearly impossible. The minute you get one in your hand, start worrying about where you can break it down into 100s. And then do the same thing once you have the 100s....but that will all change now with the 200 cord bill right???

It is clearly tax money well spent by the Sandinistas!

I wonder what color it will be? I guess, the only color left in the rainbow, YELLOW!

I felt the earth move under my feet

2009-05-28T21:10:00.003-06:00

I have many firsts in Nicaragua and today was my first earthquake, little earthquake. I got home from work just before a thunderstorm and torrential downpour began. I was enjoying the loud booms of thunder and downloading some pics onto my computer when an especially loud boom of thunder seemed to shake the apartment and even the couch I was sitting on. At first I thought that the building had been hit by lightening, but then I realized it must be an earthquake! And I realized the loud boom of thunder must have actually been the sound of the earthquake.

I spoke to Ivan soon afterward and he confirmed it was a little quake, registering 2.5 on the Richter scale, a surface quake, that's epicenter was 4 K outside of the city. There was a pretty big quake in Honduras today and since I have been here we have often seen and heard of large earthquakes in Costa Rica and Guatemala, it is only a matter of time before a large earthquake hits here.

One of the contributing factors of Nicaragua's downfall to one of the poorest nations in the hemisphere, besides the Sandinista Revolution, was the Earthquake of '72, which hit Managua very hard and much of the "old city" was never rebuilt due to mismanagement of funds by the government. In fact, many directions here are given by prominent landmarks that were there before the earthquake, "go down to the corner where the BAC building used to be, and then go two blocks toward the lake".

Anyway, Managua is long overdue for a big earthquake. So Ivan and I have an emergency evacuation plan, "get out!" And like my dad always says, "I'll be in Idaho that weekend" referring to my worry of Mount Rainier destroying Seattle...I guess I will have to say "I'll be in the States that weekend".

Help I can't get out of Nicaragua! Awww yeeeah, I got myself an Exit Visa!

2009-05-13T22:00:00.009-06:00

So now that I am a legal resident of Nicaragua (I have my very own cedula (Nic ID card), as of March) apparently I have to get an exit visa to go back to the States! So Ivan and I went the Foreign Migration office this weekend to get it sorted out.

We waited in line for about 15 minutes(which is not that bad compared to other stories I have heard), and the woman at the counter told us that we had to get copies made of several pages in my passport and my cedula. I also had to fill out this form, which I had to pay a few cords for as well! So we went to a copy place and got the photocopies taken care of, filled out the form and waited in line for a bit again.

Not liking the thought of having to do this all over again for my visit home this summer I asked about multi-exit visa. I could pay a few dollars more ($10 total) for a 3 month exit visa. So I did that :) I was excited at the thought that I wouldn't have to pay $5 to get back into the country, as they say the $5 is for your 3 month "tourist visa" but the woman told me I still have to pay that too, apparently my cedula is only good for allowing me to stay in the country for longer than 3 months without being fined and I am able to legally work here. So I guess I will still get my passport stamped with a tourist visa, which confuses me a bit, but I guess it just doesn't matter.

All and all, although I feel like it is a little strange that I need a visa to leave the country, because I am a resident, but still have to pay for a tourist visa to come back even though I am not a tourist and just giving my money away to the Nica gov't...it would be MUCH more difficult for me to live and work in the USA if I was a foreigner, not to mention WAY more expensive! I think it cost a Nicaraguan $100 just to apply for a US tourist visa and most applications are denied!

I am glad the US will always take me back for free...I just will have to pay a little money to get out of Nica :)

Now I am off to Danielley's College Graduation!

The rain is back, Yay! or not.

2009-05-08T15:49:00.006-06:00

So the last couple of weeks it has been really humid and when I say humid, I mean I dont think anyone has ever felt this kind of humidity before, EVER! Its humid when you wake up, all day long and still when you go to bed. Finally, a few days ago it rained, no, it poured! And with that rainy season is back. It was a welcomed homecoming for the rain, after six months of dust everywhere, seeing people watering the dirt to keep the dust down, burning fields, brown foliage and hot humid days. But after just a few days of it, I think I am good with the rain for awhile.

First thing I hate about rainy season is that our landlord shuts off the internet router at the first drop of rain cloud or distant boom of thunder and then never turns it back on. I feel so disabled when I dont have internet. Plus twice this week our power has gone out which makes it impossible to get any work done and you cant even sleep because it is so hot without the fan. You would think the rain would cool things off and sometimes it does, but other times it makes it feel more humid because the sun starts to burn off the rain that has just fallen.

Things have already begun to smelly musty again and I am really not looking forward to the mold that will be growing on the clothes in my closet and having it take 3 days to dry the laundry, just to have it feel wet again from all the humidity.

OH! Dont let me forget the flying ants that have invaded the house. It is like a horror movie, they are literally coming out from behind the electric outlets and falling from light fixtures! Ivan says they always come with the rain. Sabine predicts that since we are seeing the egg-laying ants that soon there will be larvae and then millions of ants everywhere! I, no-joke, killed 79 ants (with or without wings) when I was on skype with my parents on Sunday. They were crawling up my legs, on the table, falling onto the computer, awwww!

With all those negative things, I will never complain about the sound of rain hitting the palm trees at night, big big thunderstorms and the orchids that seemed to bloom overnight outside my apartment!

Semana Santa...Holy Week...Easter

2009-04-23T17:42:00.002-06:00

I was quite the lucky girl this Semana Santa! The World Traveler, Ms Jennifer Healy made her first and long awaited trip to Nicaragua.

After a half day of school on Friday, Jen and I joined Cezanne and her mom and aunt on a day trip to Mirador Catarina, zip lining at Volcan Mombacho and the city of Granada. The next morning we left early for Corn Island. It was a girls only trip, again with Cezanne's mom and aunt. After a long check-in at the airport we hopped into a little plane and we were off on a hour and 20 minute flight to Corn Island, an island off the Caribbean coast of Nicaragua. By 8:30am we were eating breakfast in front of the crystal clear turquoise waters of Corn Island. Although I put on sunscreen, I got a super bad burn while walking the beach with Jen on the first day. We dined each night on fresh seafood and had fruit and coconut bread for breakfast in the morning. Jen and I went to a baseball game with our cab driver, that we used the entire time we were there. The game was Managua vs the Atlantic Coast. It was an exciting game with lots of interesting plays and the Atlantic Coast came back to win the game in 6 innings (not sure why that many). The tickets cost $1.50, I bought a ticket for the taxi driver as well! There were tons of families there, babies, little kids, everyone enjoying popcorn and ice cream.

The next day we took a small boat over to Little Corn Island. We had hoped to go snorkeling there, but they were all booked. Instead we met up with some people we had met on the plane, Carmen and Theo. They were from Corn Island and owned a large piece of property on Little Corn Island. we hiked their property and ate fresh sugar mango and drank coconut juice. It was interesting to learn a little bit of the history, culture and politics of the Islands and the Atlantic Coast, which is far different than the rest of Nicaragua. The population is mainly black and the official language is English. The population is small, giving them little political representation, but the land area is huge and the natural resources rich.

The ride back to Big Corn Island was really rough, the waves we big and we were sitting in the front on the boat. Jen got some bruises :( We enjoyed our last morning in Corn Island and caught the afternoon flight back to Managua.

The next day we went on the night tour of Volcan Masaya, were we were able to climb the crater and have a great view of the surrounding cities by moonlight. We also went into a bat cave and saw lots of bats leaving for the night and the little babies they left behind. We were supposed to be able to see some lava too, but conditions werent right for it.

The next day Jen headed back to the States and Ivan and I prepared for another couple of days at the beach. We went back to Playa Hermosa, where we spent last Semana Santa. We arrived late Friday morning and the friends of Ivan's family who own the house (along with their kids who go to Lincoln) left on Saturday morning, so we had the place to ourselves for the rest of the weekend. The water was a little rough, but we were able to find some calm times each day to take a swim. We also spent hours exploring some really cool tide pools full of colorful ocean wonders.

Overall it was a relaxing week off, watching 9 beautiful sunsets over the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans. Check out my album to the right ----->

Avocados and a Humming Bird

2009-03-06T18:29:00.005-06:00

So I have these experiences here and I am always thinking how I can write about in my blog and I write all these great blogs in my head and never get around to doing it.

So one lovely Monday morning, about a month ago, I was sitting in my classroom during Virtue class. You would think having a once a week class on good virtues, these kids would behave better, but that's besides the point. This class I teach with a co-teacher and we switch off weeks because she doesn't speak english and I dont feel comfortable teaching in Spanish, so it would just be a mess to teach together.

So my co-teacher was teaching class, when a little, precious humming bird flew in. It was so cool to see it flying around and get a good look at it, since usually they come and go so quickly. But after awhile it couldnt seem to find its way back outside. It kept flying into the lights and every once in awhile would get get its long beak stuck in the medal borders of the ceiling tile, it would then stop flapping his wings and just be hanging by his beak until he would wiggle himself free and start flying again. I turned off the lights, hoping maybe he would try to fly toward the light outside, but it didnt seem to help. The co-teacher was upset by the children no longer paying attention, but didn't seem to want to do anything about it. So I went out and got one of the gardeners at the school and he came in and tried to catch it. For awhile the humming birds was perched on the crucifix (that are in each classroom) which would have been a great picture, but then it was finally caught and released by the gardener. In LA class I had the kids write a story about the whole thing and I got some really great and funny stories. I wish I still had some of them to share with you. Anyway, I felt it was one of life's small blessings to have that little humming bird fly into my classroom.

And avocados! Yesterday I was hanging clothes out on the line and I looked over toward the neighbor's yard and saw one tree, taller than the others and hanging off the top were, you guesses it, AVOCADOS! There is no one living in the house next door. There are mangos all over the backyard. So now I have to find a way to get those avocados....I will keep you updated.

Hipicas de Diriamba

2009-02-06T18:15:00.003-06:00

A few weekends ago Ivan, Ali (Ivan's friend), Augusto (our neighbor) and I went to Diriamba for the Hipics. The town is famous for this festival which takes place in Managua in August. Ivan and I did not go to the one in Managua because it was just too crowded.

The Hipics is basically a big horse parade and a bunch of people that have pretty horses come and march them down the street. The horses look like they are dancing to the loud music that is playing on every corner, it is amusing and nice to see big, healthy horses here! i have gotten used to seeing the small, sad skinny ones that don't have a healthy, shiny coat.

I had never been to Diriamba before and I really liked it. It looks like a small Leon, only cooler temperature wise. There are lots of houses painted in bright colors and I found myself obsessed with taking photos of the houses with cars or people wearing the same color in front of them. I played around with lots of different functions of my camera, but none seemed to capture the colors as vividly as they really were.

We had a front row spot to view the parade, but it was a little scary at times. Some of the horses march to the side and seem to be out of control, while other horses march straight. Ali said it depends on their breed. There were a few times when we had to get out of the way very quickly. Ivan could not believe that I had never seen horses march. I said, I don't think they do that in the States...but I could be wrong. I never considered myself a big horse person, but I grew up in the country and have been around a lot of horses. So check out the pictures and videos below and horse people, let me know if this is strange to you or not.

Not So Super Market

2009-01-24T11:36:00.009-06:00

So Ivan and I decided to spend our Friday night doing something super cool, grocery shopping! We were 2 of about 7 total people there including a couple and their young son, and two old men, because here in Managua, no matter how old you are, you go out dancing and drinking on the weekends. It is one of the nice things about here, going out to a club and seeing older couples dancing salsa among the younger crowd. There doesn't seem to be that generational dislike of each others music either. Salsa and merengue will never go out of style and the older folks don't even seem to cringe at the bass busting and sometimes indecent reggaeton.

Anyway, I am off topic, so we were at our local supermarket (again at 8 pm on Friday) and we needed a few basics: milk, bread, chicken, cheese, baking soda, brown sugar, etc. Well we were able to find most things, except for baking soda and brown sugar! Now brown sugar has been something I have been on the hunt for since Christmas, when we were unable to find it to make the beloved sticky buns for Christmas brunch. They had said they were out, but I haven't been unable to find it at any super market in Managua since that time! I mean, this is a super market in a capital city people! Brown sugar is a staple, something that should be found at any market, but certainly a SUPER one! Even dear, old Matthew in Anne of Green Gables was able to buy 20 lbs of brown sugar (and a puffed-sleeved dress to boot) at the local market in Avonlea at the turn of the 20th century!

"Twenty pounds of brown sugar!"

And baking soda...do I even have to explain how basic and necessary baking soda is? And not just that but the magnitude of its multi-purposefulness: its a baking ingredient, a cleaning agent, an odor absorber (which is what we needed it for in the fridge), its what you brush your teeth with if you run out of tooth paste, its what you put on a bee sting! If they don't have baking soda then they might as well not have tooth paste, or cleaning supplies or air fresheners! If interested click here for a link to 75 extraordinary uses for baking soda.

Although, two things they do have, which are quite delightful, are plain yogurt and mango nectar. Mix those together in your new Cuisinart™ blender, and you get a killer smoothie, which I am enjoying at this very moment :)

Creepy Critters

2009-01-02T10:54:00.009-06:00

Since one of my fears is creepy critters and I seem to write a lot about them, I thought I would share some photos of those I have encountered here. They include: geckos (which I am not afraid of, but as my sister found out they can be startling at times)the geckos here come in all sizes, including very, very small, which is my favorite and there is even one that lives on Matt and Sabine's car and we seem to see it every time we are getting in or out. I named this particular gecko (in the photo) Fred; locust which I included a video of and luckily this locust came alone and not in a huge black cloud of other locusts; unknown weird flat bug which I saw crawling across the floor one night and Iva swiftly ended his life. We are not sure how it got into the house, as all of the windows have screens, but I guess as we learned with the tarantula, an open door will let just about anything in. The weird thing with this flat bug was that when it was killed a lot of goo came out, I am not sure from where; and lastly the tarantula, this was not the one we saw in our house, but I guess it could be, it was about the same size and color and Ivan spotted this one across the street as we were parking the car one night.

Thankfully there has not been any cockroaches or scorpions in the house (knock on wood), but in addition the big, scary and strange ones, the red ants are everywhere and super annoying, crawling into glasses you are drinking out of or left overs you are about to heat up. And there are also these gross little grey cocoon like things all over the house, which I have seen a little worm or larva in it once, but they seem impossible to get rid of.

The Holidays

2009-01-01T14:03:00.014-06:00

Oh! Where to start!? Well Danielle arrived a day after I started my vacation and was greeted with a surprise! After we arrived home we were enjoying some fruit in the kitchen. We left the door open to let some of the cool night air in, when we returned to the living room I noticed a tiny little bug that I had never seen before and was pointing it out to Ivan when Danielle said something to the effect, "thats nothing compared to that huge spider" We looked up and saw a huge tarantula, just a few feet away from us standing in the doorway. Now just to be fair, maybe it wasnt HUGE as far as tarantulas are concerned, but it was a huge, black, hairy spider nonetheless!

So I ran into the kitchen (and stood on a chair, of course) while Ivan killed it with a broom (but not before he made a run for it around the living room). Needless to say it was difficult to fall asleep that night picturing that spider in the apt.

Danielle and I took it easy for a couple of days, she got to meet Sabine and Matt before they left on their honeymoon and we went to a concert at a famous live music venue here in Managua. Then we hung out at Laguana de Apoyo, a beautiful lake in a volcano crater.

A week after we picked up Danielle, we were back at the airport to pick up Mom and Dad! We saw Maura (a teacher at Lincoln) and her husband there again (we had seen them when picking up Danielle as well). Maura was busy going back and forth to the airport because she was having her wedding ceremony over the holiday break and all her friends and family were flying in!

Christmas Eve was the next day and Dad and Ivan went to find a rental car while Mom, Danielle and I went grocery shopping for our Christmas meal. We could find all the ingredients to make all of our favorites, but we were able to get almost everything. We had a great Christmas Eve dinner at Matt and Sabine's house (where my parents were staying while they were away) Ivan went to his mom's house to have dinner with his family. We watched Its a Wonderful Life, opened presents and listened to the firecrackers everyone set off around midnight. Ivan came back around 1 am. In Nicaragua Christmas Eve is the big day of celebration. Families go to church and then eat dinner close to midnight and then open presents after that.

On Christmas day we went to the Mirador Catarina overlooking Laguna de Apoyo and then drove a very, very steep decent down to a nice place on the lake and spent the day swimming, relaxing and eating. The next day we went to Leon and had lunch with Oscar and Eira and then headed to the beach. The road to the beach was under construction, so the driving again for Ivan was very treacherous. The waves at the beach were strong and fun to frolick in. After a lovely sunset we headed back toward Leon and then on to Chinandega where my Dad's friend is living. It was nice to see even a little bit of Chinandega, as I had never been there before. We had a nice dinner and a great time visiting with Mike, who reminded me and Ivan of our dear friend Corey :) The ride home was long and we stopped part way to look at the bright stars.

On Saturday we got up late and then headed to Volcan Mombacho to go zip lining. Their credit card machine was down so Ivan negotiated a discounted cash price and we headed up the volcano. We had a ton of fun and got some great pictures and videos! We then went into Granada, walked around the park for awhile and had some vigoron (a delicious dish that Granada is famous for that has yucca, pork rinds and a vinegar-y, spicy cabbage and carrot salad on top. Then we headed down to the pier for dinner with a lovely view of the lake (yes another lake, Nicaragua is the land of Lakes and Volcanos).

After dinner, as we were heading out to the car, Mom was holding a doggy bag with my left overs in it when a street kid came up and ask her to give it to him. When she said no, he grabbed it from her hands and ran away and started eating it. We were all pretty upset and Ivan went over to yell at them. They told him that she gave it to them and Ivan told them that they stole it and asked them how would they like it if someone had stole from them and then he took their basket full of gum and cookies that they sell and started to run away with it. The kids got very upset and he again tried to tell them that stealing was wrong. These children were very brazen and seemed to have no fear of authority, nor care about the fact that they did something wrong. The waiters then came out and began to scold the boys as well. I felt bad about the whole thing, they are poor and hungry and dont get the love and affection they deserve at home (I imagine), but my Mom and Ivan were right, they need to learn their lesson, because if they think nothing of stealing food now (and if people pardon their behavior because of their situation) then they wont think anything of mugging someone when they get older, or worse!

The next day we brought the parents to the airport super early and rested the rest of the day. We went to Volcan Masaya on Danielle's last day and enjoyed a short hike to the top and some lovely views. Then we went to a nearby restaurant that has a lovely view of another lake and got to watch the sunset behind Volcan Masaya while we had beer and ceviche.

Then sadly, it was time to say goodbye to Daniellie. So that in a nutshell, was the wonderful vacation I had with my family! I am of course enjoying the rest of my free time before school starts again next week. But I cant help but feel a little dread as each day brings my vacation closer to an end and the long 3rd quarter begins, with no long weekend holidays insight until Easter :( Oh my!

Pochomil and Purisima!

2008-12-14T23:01:00.010-06:00

Last weekend Ivan and I went to Pochomil beach with Sabine and Matt. It was a wonderful and relaxing day! I made some fruit salad with fresh cantaloupe, watermelon and pineapple. Sabine and Matt brought some snacking treats from Trader Joes (sent by Sabine's mom) and of course we had lots of beer, limes and salt!

We were able to drive the car right up to our spot on the beach. There was a little hit with table and chairs and a few hammocks to lounge in. We spent the day snacking, drinking and chatting. The water was lovely, and we found a bunch of real sand dollars (I have never seen them alive before!) I will need to look up some information on them, because we have been to this beach before and never seen them, but this time they were everywhere, I wonder why.

Sabine and I took a nice walk down the beach and looked at all the pretty houses and discussed how we both like Nicaragua a lot more whenever we leave Managua. We got back in time for sunset and then it was time to hit the road, as it gets dark very quickly here and the road back is not the best to drive on at night (or any time) due to its poor conditions. Matt was great at avoiding the pot holes!

As we got closer to Managua we had a glimpse at the Purisima celebration. This is a very Nicaraguan holiday where they celebrate the emaculate conception of Mary. We had been celebrating it at school as well. Basically people make an alter to Mary outside their house with lights and flowers and a statue of Mary. Then people walk to these houses and stand outside and sing songs for Mary. After they have sung a couple of songs the people come out and give them treats like sweet lemons, traditional Nicaraguan candies and corn drinks. It is a little like trick o treating only with a different meaning. People also set off fire crackers at midnight and noon for a couple of days. It was kinda cool to hear the sounds of hundreds of fire crackers going off all at once for a few minutes, but it got old after awhile since people here are crazy for the Purisima, some could not wait until midnight or noon to set off their noise maker.

At school we had a Purisima assembly where they gave the students candy and whistles! The entire school was in the assembly hall and every child was blowing their whistle, it was the loudest, most horrible sound ever! When we got back to the classroom I closed all the windows and doors and did not allow any whistle-blowing in my classroom while they got their backpacks and left.

The Sandinistas continued their occupation of all the traffic circles and handed out rice, beans and oil to people lined up there. I thought it was nice at first but Ivan was very upset by it. He said they are ruining the very Nicaraguan tradition of Purisima. They are not handing out traditional treats, instead they are trying to buy the votes of these poor people by giving them a bag of food. the tax payers are the ones paying for all that food that is being passed out and it is not really helping the people by giving a hand out. We were watching people going through the lines on TV and people would show up with all their kids and they would give every person in line a bag of rice, beans and oil. And there didnt seem to be a system of making sure people didnt go through several times.

Anyway, we all enjoyed the extra day off of work whether we were celebrating Mary or not :)

My dog ate my homework!

2008-12-10T15:47:00.002-06:00

Only at my school I hear, "My maid forgot to put my homework in my backpack!"

One of my students (the one with the family that practically owns Nica) tried to pay another student to clean his cubby. When I told him the world doesn't work like that and he has to clean his own cubby, he looked at me confused and said "Yes it does! When you don't want to do something, you pay someone else to do it for you, its business" I said well its not business in my classroom and here you need to do things for yourself.

Aww, only a few more days until Christmas break, so I better start correcting my exams!

Passion Fruit and Famous People

2008-11-23T18:58:00.004-06:00

Today Ivan's mom stopped by to bring us some curtains to see if we liked any of them. We ended up running some errands with her. We went to a fruit stand and I got some passion fruit! It was much different then I thought it would be, on the outside it looked super ripe, almost rotten. But the guy cut it open and let me taste some. It has all these little seeds covered in slimy, sweet stuff. Ivan's mom told me how to make juice with it, so I will have to let you know how it turns out. Its weird though, I thought you could eat it, I guess it is too delicious that if you could just eat it like an apple then that is all anyone would ever eat. I find many tropical fruits are very difficult to get into an edible form.

While we were on the way to another market to find stuffing for Thanksgiving, we came across a small march. It was a march organized by a church group who were against the recent elections. It was nice to see a peaceful march. I guess there were no Sandinistas there throwing rocks because it was small and organized by the church. Plus the Sandinistas already had their huge celebration on Friday, with fireworks and even an appearance by Ortega and his witchy wife!

Anyway, Eduardo Montealegre (the guy who lost for mayor) was in the march, and Ivan and his mom waved to him in support, and he waved back. There was also a political TV show host (who the Sandinistas forced off the air) marching. So it was kinda cool to see that march and those people in person. Then in the market we saw another TV show host, the show he hosts is called Esta Noche (Tonight) and it is kind of a Chronicle-like show, lately it has been mostly politics, but it also has had nice stories that aren't big news, but are nice public interest stories.

Lincoln "bake sales"

2008-11-23T18:38:00.002-06:00

Every now and then at school there are bake sales to raise money for charities. I was excited to see what kind of tropical Nicaraguan home-made sweets would be for sale. To my disappointment what I found at the "bake sale" was individual packs of crackers, cookies and candies, along with some hi-C! It is amazing to me with all the stay-at-home moms and maids that these children have that no one brought anything that is actually baked. I wonder why they even continue to call it a bake sale, they should call it a vending machine sale, or something like that.

Nicaragua's Elections

2008-11-18T18:32:00.004-06:00

The municipal elections happened here 2 weekends ago. Since then things have been crazy. Of course everyone knew the Sandinistas would try to steal the elections. They did not let observers in to oversee the process, many polling places closed early, results from certain polls have never been reported, and those that have been reported are suspected to be altered in some way. The Sandinistas ending up winning in the majority of the municipalities including Managua.

The person that "won" in Managua is Alexis Arguello, an ex champion boxer, ex drug addict, who was robbed of all his riches when the Sandinistas took power in the 80s. Now, for some reason, he is with the Sandinista party, maybe in the hopes of getting back his lost fortune from the Sandinistas.

Eduardo Montealgre, is the Liberal candidate, who declared himself the winner as well, claiming he had the raw numbers from the voting polls and that he was the real winner. He is a successful businessman both here and in the States> He, I am sure has his own faults, as all politicians seems to, but was the clear choice for most people I know here.

Once he declared himself the winner, violence began to break out on the streets between the two opposing parties. Despite this violence, we had school the next day. My principal seemed confused as to why I would think it was dangerous coming into school, saying that the violence was only in the barrios, which is not true, the unrest is focused around the main Electoral building which is on the main road, not too far from where I live and where many people need to drive through the city.

Every day last week, the school closed at 4, since most of the incidents in the street seem to happen around rush hour. Luckily, I have been able to get a ride with Sabine, and not worry about taking a taxi. The rabble rouser gather in the rotundas (traffic circles that are all over the city) and wave flags, set off mortar explosions, throw rocks at people and passing cars, rip down political propaganda and burn things in the street.

The votes are being recounted, but not without any observers, so they are thought to be fraudulent. This weekend was rather calm and we were able to leave the house and drive around which was nice. But today (Tuesday) there was a March for Democracy, organizer by Montealegre. School was canceled and the streets were flooded with Sandinistas again trying to impede the march. The streets were full of people in masks throwing rocks, shooting mortar, wrecking cars, etc. The Liberals gathers for the march, but it was canceled due to all the violence.

Although it is unbelievable to see what is happening on the streets that I travel everyday, it is even more unbelievable to know that tomorrow morning they will be clear and "safe" and people will be traveling to work as normal.

And just so everyone knows, the area that I live in is very safe and secure and I feel safe as long as I am home!

Check out this video I recorded of the news.

The Election

2008-11-05T16:27:00.002-06:00

Ivan and I watched the numbers come in last night at Sabine and Matt's place, with Cezanne too. It was nice to watch it with other Americanitos and Ivan was excited about it too! They also made squash soup, which was delicious and like a touch of autumn in the tropics :)

It was so amazing to see people celebrating last night. I am happy to see so many young people excited about politics again and making history. I felt like a new American going to work today, and received some congratulations on the new president, although many of my students were disappointed McCain didnt win.

Elections in Nicaragua will be on Sunday and there is a big Mayoral election going on in Managua. Work is canceled nationally on Friday and Monday because the streets will be dangerous, but since Lincoln is private they are holding classes on Friday, the only school in Managua doing so, because they say the school is in a safe area...but many need to commute across the city to get there, so we will see what happens.

I am excited for the long weekend, but sad we will not be able to do anything. It is recommended to just stay at home. Cezanne, Sabine and I are planning a movie marathon. Ivan will probably be gone all day Sunday waiting to vote. But he is unsure if he will be allowed. He applied to update his cedula (the identification card that you need to do anything here) but many of the offices have been closed down the past few weeks, specifically to prevent people from getting their updated cards so they wont be able to vote. Gotta love those Sandinistas, trying to steal another election!

Oh and I saw a rare sight today--- a pretty Bentley driving in Managua, for a moment I thought I was back in Boston, walking down Newbury Street (not really though)!

Halloween

2008-11-02T13:50:00.004-06:00

Ivan and I were invited to a Halloween party. Ivan doesn't like how Halloween is celebrated here, because it is not a Nicaraguan holiday and people don't know what it is about, they just like to get dressed up. So he has never dressed up for Halloween before. He agreed to go since gringos were hosting the party.

The hosts were Sabine and Matt, a newly wed couple who are about my age. Sabine is a high school science teacher at Lincoln and we share grievances about teaching there. Matt works for an NGO out of their apartment, which is not too far away from us!

I had the terrific idea that Ivan and I should be Lucy and Ricky, from I Love Lucy, but Ivan had never seen it! We watched some clips on youtube and Ivan was cracking up. Unfortunately we could not watch full episodes online because the websites only allow you to access the episodes if you are using the internet within the United States! A horrifying discovery! The world wide web is truly not world wide if you limit certain parts of it from being accessed from different parts of the world!

Although our costumes were limited to what we had in the closet, I think our natural attributes made us a pretty good Lucy and Ricky! We had a lot of fun at the party. We brought our neighbors along, Raina (who is from Virginia and works at the World Bank here) and her boyfriend Agusto (who is from Managua). Everyone got along really well. There was a great mix of gringo and Nicaraguan teachers there, with lots of good food and good costumes: a bat, a German tourist, Tiger Woods, a tiger, a Muslim, a pirate and his booty, among others.

We made tentative plans with Raina, Agusto, Sabine and Matt to go to Laguna de Apoyo for the day and pack a picnic and some beers. We also are thinking of planning a weekly game night. I think that would be a great way for us all to improve our language skills. Agusto speaks a little English and Sabine and I both need to improve our Spanish. Raina and Matt are both fluent in Spanish and Ivan is fluent in English. So it is a good mix of language speakers at different levels!

Rain, Mold and Mustiness!

2008-11-02T13:24:00.004-06:00

This is the first weekend in a long time that it hasn't rained, well at least it hasn't rained yet...and so with all this rain brings mold and the unpleasant musty smell. I first noticed Ivan's shoes to be covered in mold in the closet and then one of my jackets! When we went out dancing for my birthday, I was dancing with Ivan and his shirt smelled so musty, as did mine! The only clothes that do not have that musty smell are the ones that are worn and washed on a weekly basis, like my school uniform. But when I want to find a cute shirt for going out dancing, they are are musty from sitting in the closet. It seems that eventually all the "clean" clothes in the closet will have to be washed again, but not until the dry season, which should start in a month or two.

Ivan put up a clothes line through the house because it was becoming so hard to dry out clothes on the weekend, I would be running out to the line every couple of hours to collect the clothes before the thunderstorm, and then put them back out once the sun was shining again. Since the air is so humid, it takes forever for the clothes to dry and sometimes clothes that were washed on Saturday morning would still be damp Sunday night!

It is not just the closet that is effected by the humidity...when I went to use my nice bamboo cutting board, it too had a nice layer of mold growing on it. It has become hard to keep fruit from going bad, we have to eat it right away or it will be rotten. Even food in the refrigerator goes bad quickly, I don't think that has anything to do with the humidity, but it is still annoying. Milk and even yogurt needs to be consumed with in several days of purchase. The one things that does not seem to mold is the bread, which kinda weirds me out.