Surprise Concert and Party!!

A group of Cusmapa musicians and friends surprised us at our door with music last night....they arrived with a couple guitars, a guitaron, a little mini guitaron, a trumpet, and seven loud singing voices. This was one of the best surprises of my life: seven loud and happy serenadors. After coming into the house, after we watched and listened to the first song at our doorstep, they continued to play for more than four hours into the night. A surprise concert in my very own living room. I just never know what is ahead of me in this country; what wonderful surprises are coming. With a sigh, I acknowledge daily just how lucky I am.

Granada with My Family

The visit with my family was great....short, too short, but full. Full of trips to Laguna de Apoyo, Masaya, Esteli, Las Isletas...exploring Granada, Managua a bit. Six days of visits. Six nights of being spoiled rotten by yummy food.

And in that time I got to experience Granada a bit, enough for me. The place is not at all like the rest of Nicaragua. If you saw only Granada you would never understand the way the rest of the country lives. There are restaurants, hotels and shops everywhere catoring to toursits. It is clean, at least much cleaner than any other place here I've seen. It doesn't smell of burning trash. There are still street dogs, thought less of them, and they are well fed. There are people, including lots of children, everywhere selling trinkets on the street, and begging. It feels insincere. It feels like a facade, I think Granada is like a shiny box that is full of rusty and neglected trinkets.

((((The colonial architecture is beautiful. The eaves are carved wood, the roofs are all tile. The main park is pretty and the cathedral beside it is better kept than others in Nicaragua. It is hot and humid, but bearable...not like Managua. The shore of Lake Nicaragua is right there, and the Isletas right off the shore are beautiful. Laguna de Apoyo is very close and is a stunningly beatiful place...a volcanic crater lake. The water is slightly salty from the minerals and feels great on your body when you're in it. Comfortable vacations spots to be sure. ))))

Por Fin!

Yes, yes, my darlings, I know I have neglected you. I have been so busy traveling around this amazing country I have had no time to sit and write blogs....surely you understand. Even the times I wanted to, and had time to, my few days at home these past two months....I could not for lack of internet. So, in hopes of making it up to you, there are several new entries below. Eat them up, and for desert, check my flickr site for lots of tasty pics of my fabulously Nica adventures.

Buen Provecho!

Reflecting on the Loss of Max

01-12-08 Reflecting on the loss of Max

Max was a driver and transportation guru for Fabretto, a go-to guy for when you had a problem, the ex-mayor of Cusmapa, a happy beaming man always with a smile on his face, a man with many women and many more children. Max passed away this week, unexpectedly, of a suspected heart attack. His funeral was in Esteli to accommodate his spread out family. Two bus loads of people from Cusmapa came to pay their respects. A bus load of people came from Managua, and family flew in from the States. The Cathedral in Esteli was full. He was loved and respected, and mourned dearly.

His various women were in the front of the Cathedral with his many children, twelve or so I believe. I wonder how it felt for them sitting together up there, mourning the same man, the man that was not really ever any one of theirs; a man who had families in every big city along the Pan American Highway running from Managua to Cusmapa.

I think the hardest part of going through the ceremonies of his death was witnessing the devastation of his children. He had seven kids in Cusmapa; kids I did not realize were his until his funeral. They crowded around what would become his tomb at the cemetery as speeches were made over his casket, dropping flowers into the earth. Many of them are within a couple years of each other, they are friends and classmates. They all mourned together with tears and hugs, I saw no resentment, though I wonder if it exists between them.

As a beaming character in the community, a star of Fabretto, and a patriarch of many, he will be greatly missed by all.

Rancho Tranquilo, my favorite beach on this earth

01-09-08 Rancho Tranquilo ........Los Zorros...........Tina, Dennis, and Jairo

If you take a bus an hour and a half north of Chinendega to Jiquilillo you will be just below Los Zorros where Rancho Tranquilo lies near the Padre Rama Estuary. Rancho Tranquilo is the home of Tina the Gringa, who moved there from San Francisco when she discovered paradise.

And it is paradise. The beaches are long and untouched. The sand is soft on your feet and there are abundant shells to search through. The waves roll into the shore in long stretches and are soft enough to play all day long, surfable too. The water stays shallow enough to touch until just beyond the breaking pointing of the waves, and if you swim beyond there you can just float and let the waves wash under you. It is a forty minute walk up the beach to the mouth of the estuary where the fresh water from the river dumps into the ocean mixing with the salty sea. There is a long sandbar that stretches out into the opening and is a hang-out for storks standing on their long legs in the shallow water.

Walking or riding a bike down the long, peaceful beach you encounter cows or running horses as often as you do people. The people you do encounter are small groups of kids combing the sand for little crab-crawfish-like animals they use to make soup.

Swimming in the ocean is the most incredible at night under a thick dome of stars. We would go out to the beach as the sun was setting, as the colors move above and around you and the colors of the beach slowly subdue and turn to black. In the black dark, when the stars peak their way out of the sky, even brighter for lack of electricity in the little town, and the electric lights of little fire animals in the water light up the water underneath you - you are surrounded, entirely, by sparks. They stick to your body and shimmer, twinkle, in your eyes. Then you can just dive, and feel every wave wash over your entire body, emerging every time into the sparkling wonderland of the Los Zorros night.

Rancho Tranquilo itself is a rustic home made of bamboo trunks. The wind blows through the cracks and through the entire house; sometimes a pleasant thing, sometimes not. The floors are all sand. There is generally no electricity, not for lack of wiring, but for the electricity rationing all over the country. There is a well for water, all showers are bucket showers. Water for drinking comes daily on a bus from Chinendega. The toilet, Hotel Chucaracha Verde, is a latrine out the back of the property.

I think next time we go, which we definitely will, we will bring a tent. We will save $1 a day and I think it will actually be more comfortable than their rooms. The charms of the place, the fun of it, are the people. Tina and her boyfriend Dennis are amazing people, and their cook and friend Jairo, is fun as well. Everyday Tina teaches a three hour long English class to a group of people in the community. There are people passing through to say hello all day. Staying there, you feel like part of the community, they invite you to see their homes, to walk with them, talk with them.

Jairo is a Nicaraguan who spent fourteen years in Los Angeles. He speaks Spanish slowly and clearly so I can understand him, and he speaks English with an LA accent. He’s big and fat like a buddha, and has one long dread coming out the back of his shaved head. He cooks fabulous vegetarian food, and makes his own yogurt and cheese curds. The cheese curds are a substitute for eggs in the morning for Tina, who is a strict vegetarian, and they are delicious. His family lives on Omnetepe where they have an organic vegetarian restaurant, he has invited us to go and stay there, an opportunity we will not pass up.

In almost two years of existence, Rancho Tranquilo has had sixty guests (we were numbers 58, 59, and 60). I hope the place stays quiet, though I worry it will not be for long. It sounds as though the man who bought up lots of property in San Juan Del Sur, to turn it into the tourist trap that it is, is doing the same in Jiquilillo. I hope that the transformation that is to pass in the future will be one that is environmentally and community friendly. I hope the locals are employed and paid fair wages, and I hope the beaches are not destroyed or divided. I hope that in the end it will still be tranquilo and totally Nica.

Don Gutierrez, tio mio

12-20-07 La Garnacha and Don Alberto Gutierrez

La Garnacha is in the Tissey nature reserve just above Esteli. It is a small farming cooperative that was begun in the Sandinista era and has transformed as needed to survive. They grow vegetables there that are hard to find in many parts of the country (lettuce!) and they also have a cheese making program. The cheese is delicious, and not at all like Nica cheese. They make swiss, gruyere, and raclette.

There are several cabins in La Garnacha where groups can stay for as little as $10 a night, and there is a small comedor where you can have all your meals. From the view point at sunset, you can see San Cristobal, the volcano near Leon, and Momotombo, the volcano near Managua. The view is sweeping and dramatic. The cabins have running water, but it so cold up there (colder and windier even than in Cusmapa) that the thought of a shower is frightening.

Just below La Garnacha, maybe a half an hour walk back towards Esteli, is the home of Don Humberto (sometimes Alberto) Gutierrez. Don Humberto began carving the rock mountain side above his home over thirty years ago to combat his alcoholism, and has not yet stopped. His life’s work, the sculptures come out of the mountain side as animals, religious imagery, scenes from cultures around the world. He says he wants to bring ideas from around the world to Nicaragua, where most people are never introduced to other cultures. The carvings wrap around the mountain. Some are painted, some have text. They are dynamic images, twisting and moving.

He recites poetry to you as you walk and take in the art. He talks almost nonstop the whole time you are there, explaining and describing. His sister, who he lives with, will offer you a cup of coffee as she beams in pride for her clean kitchen. He has many preliminary drawings tacked up on his workshop walls; they are as interesting as the sculptures. His place is a hidden treasure, perhaps my favorite Nicaraguan adventure thus far. I was amazed, and speechless.

Marcos and Christian

12-20-07 Marcos and Christian

Christian, the twelve year old younger brother of my friend and student Marcos, told me today that Marcos has started working. He is helping to carry things up the mountain. Marcos is the oldest of six kids in his home, his father abandoned their family.

Christian, who I met for the first time today, is two years younger than his brother though he is larger and looks healthier. He has his brother’s dark complexion, wide and narrow eyes, and bright smile. He has the same rough voice.

I worry for these kids. There are such bright lights in their eyes and smiles, but in the older ones, the older they get, the more they turn to a soft stare that is deep and dull. Marcos is a smart and creative young man, but sometimes I look at him and feel the weight of his poverty; it seeps out slowly and dully from his eyes. It sits heavily in his expression.

I do not want to believe that at fourteen years old he is beginning what is to be the routine of his life. I do not want to believe that he may never be able to explore his creative potential. I wish I could provide him with the resources to alter his destiny. I feel absolutely idle in my inadequate abilities to create change or momentum.