Perdito Paradiso

Lost Paradise....
Each time we come to Nicaragua, we find it is paradise all over again. 
Our main mission this year is to start construction on our property.  Not all at once, and not to be finished this year, but our aim this year was to make a start.  
First order of business is a well, next the septic,  maybe some plant material, and then a small structure to make it all possible to be at the property...with a small semblance of comfort.

This is our property, without any of the above mentioned options.  The trees provide a shade canopy from the sun, and most if not all of the ground vegetation has been removed.  If it was not, it just gets overgrown and becomes a jungle of a mess, and very hard to walk through. 

Adding hammocks was a good thought.   Best to do it right away because when it gets so hot it is hard to do anything else. 

And before we could start on anything, JD wanted a swing to entertain himself.  Doesn't he look happy?

New Years Day

While passing an idyllic day at our property on the first day of the new year we found ourselves in the middle of a beach party.  First one truck arrived carrying twelve passengers in the back, then a motorcycle with an entire family.  Next came two buses, more trucks, and then my chin dropped as a tractor trailer pulled in and backed into the brush.  Out came the people, the hammocks, the chairs, the food, the children, and it was an all day beach party.  For the entire day there was a continuous stream of people, and vehicles coming and going. 

Our lot is fenced, and we have a sign indicating it is private property, but there is a public access road to the beach upon which all these people were gathered in a manner not unlike a typical night in the volunteer camping area at the Hillside festival in Guelph (meaning...it was mayhem everywhere and people were tucked into any available vegetative space upon which to hang a hammock and settle in for the afternoon).
This phenomena answered a lot of questions for JD and I.  We constantly see a lot of garbage through out the property and along the beach access road and have often wondered where it comes from.  Since we are in a relatively remote location we assumed the garbage was being washed up on the shore from the ocean.  Little did we know that we have a coveted spot where all the folks from miles around come to enjoy the day at the beach and get away from it all.
But there is a price to pay.  Not many Nicaraguans have figured out that a clean place is a better place.  Garbage is an issue..at our lot, in town, on the sides of the road, basically they leave a trail of garbage everywhere they go.
So, being grossed out by it, we attempted to set an example.  We pulled out some garbage bags, and started picking it up.  We only made a small dent in the flotsam and detritus but it was a start.  Many Nica's giggled at our efforts and thought we were a wee tad strange and perhaps even laughed because they thought it was futile.

However, we continued and started two fires to burn the garbage.  Over the course of two hours we burned about twenty full bags.  Much has still been left behind, but we have devised a plan to hire the locals kids to help clean up and will eventually set up a couple of garbage bins with a sign "Welcome to MiraFlores, keep it clean"
I guess we will only be able to tell if it helps when we return in years to come. 

El Fumador - Part II

El Fumador has become a good old friend.  We have had our fair share of stories already, just by having bought the truck, so we thought we would share them with you.

The very first trip he took us on we were left at the side of the road in the middle of nowhere.  I now think he was testing us, seeing how we would react, if we were worthy companions.  The situation was easy to figure out.  We ran out of diesel even though the gauge said 1/3 full.  We were back on the road within an hour after being rescued by a gringo named Mike, and then buying a windshield fluid jug of diesel from a guy with a tractor.

Next issue was the lack of get-up-and-go power and excess smoke coming through the floorboards.  It was a  sickly sweet mix of diesel smoke and burning brake linings.  When I stopped and determined the front wheels were hot enough to fry eggs it was time to get help.  In Masachapa, Pascal rebuilt our master brake cylinder and while at it noticed that we had a leak in the gas tank.   So we had him weld all the holes in the gas tank.


We then set off to Matagalpa.  We made it in one piece but this smoking thing was getting completely out of hand.  Carol-Ann, bless her soul, spends a lot of the time knitting while we are traveling.  It was made much more difficult while her head was out the window trying to get fresh air.



Also, by the time we had climbed our way into the mountains we had blown all the exhaust gaskets and it was too loud to even talk to each other.   The kids, by the way, were oblivious to all this and having the time of there lives in the back like it was a never ending hayride.  They are very aware that you cannot even think about doing this in Canada.




Upon arrival in Matagalpa, we went in search of the muffler shop (pretty easy actually if you saw CA's kitsch post) and Armando gave us a new pipe, front to back.  The old pipe (on the left) had been welded so many times that it was about the same size as a drinking straw.  Old smoky no longer suffers from emphysema as the new pipe (on the right) allows for enough air intake.

While up in Matagalpa installing bio-filters, Pedro's brother, Arnesto, specializes in rebuilding injector diesel pumps,  and El Fumador had open heart surgery.  He lost a lot of oil, but now we have a first class machine that should keep ticking for a while yet.  On the road again, heading back to our property, the drive took a whole lot less time, and we were proud parents when we could accelerate without puffs of smoke coming out the rear.

We thought all our troubles were over....until we stopped in Rivas.  We tried to put the key into the ignition but it just would not go in.  We poured a wee bit of oil into the ignition receptacle (leftover from the surgery in Matagalpa) and hoped for the best.  Not good enough.  So we rifled through the glove compartment, found a screwdriver and Carol-Ann's leatherman (thanks to her father's fortuitous gift 20 years ago when she embarked on her bicycle tour from Canada to Mexico) and a tire iron from behind the back seat (score!)  I took the steering wheel off thinking I could disable the steering lock, but found out I could assess the ignition tumblers and start the vehicle with a screwdriver. Elsie's paisley pink duct tape proved useful to put it all back together again.  I guess thirty years of dust and sand had rendered the key mechanism unoperable. 

Don't think that with all these stories that El Fumador is a pile of junk and without its many uses.
It has managed to keep us moving from destination to destination and along the way we are able to take many things. 
We bought eight blue barrels to line our soon-to-be-dug well, and since they were all empty we thought it might be a good idea to fill them with plants too. 

And, on one trip we picked up the ice-cream guy who needed a lift to the next town.  Bought some popsicles at the same time too.  How perfect is that!

Mombacho Canopy Tour

I thought I was done with adrenaline rushing excitement and even went so far as to say so only a couple of days ago.  Apparently, I lied. 
We stopped at the Mombacho Volcano today.  We opted out of driving up the 1344m above sea level to hang out in the cloud canopy and walk around the craters.  Not to worry, the volcano has not been active since 1570, or so I am told. 
Instead, we stopped only part way up and engaged ourselves in the zipline/canopy tour.  Wow!. 


Look! It's a bird...
it's a plane...
it's super(wo)man! 

and who is her sidekick flying upside down? 

Hey, JD, your legs look a little too small for your body.  Weird!

 Ahh, Nora.  The girl who did not want to go on her own when we were on the ground but once in the air, she took to flying like a bird with wings.  Doesn't she look stylish, even in the air?

Averyl, you should shave your legs!

Irregulars

JD's friends are just as odd and eccentric here as they are in Canada.  Santiago, aka Jim, has had a long history  with JD spanning three counties and two decades, as mentioned in previous posts, and he now lives on the outskirts of San Juan del Sur, the backpacker and surfer magnet town of Nicaragua.  Santiago has moved out of his bus, and into his newly constructed house, is still married to Queen Fairy Gwendolyn, yet again a reference to a previous post, and together they have a newborn baby boy named Thomas.  But not to worry about the bus...if you need a place to stay it is set up as a guest house. 
Santiago is a character and a regular at the local watering hole called Big Wave Daves, not unlike someone someone else I know who is a regular at the Apollo 11 Restaurant for breakfast.  Recently, Big Wave Daves renovated the premisis and hired a local artist to paint a mural on the side wall of the building.  The wall is adorned with Marilyn Munroe, Sophia Loren, Clint Eastwood, Morgan Freeman and many others.  But saddled up to the bar with all these celebrities are the true to life likeness of Santiago and his friend Backhoe Pete.

I had Santiago pose in front of the mural.  Perhaps you can see the likeness of the guy in the hat (on the right) with his real life persona (on the left)

And wee little Thomas...with his elated parents.

Feliz Navidad 2013

For the past week we have been kept up to date on the ice storm that has struck Southern Ontario.  Loss of power, freezing rain, and trying to keep warm are the common themes.  Throw all that into the hustle and bustle of the holiday season with the desire to travel and cook a Christmas meal has really created havoc in all the pre-planned schedules.
Thankfully, we chose a good year to travel!

Here in San Juan Del Sur, everyone takes to the streets to celebrate on Christmas Eve.   We watched a mini parade with a marching band, a dance troupe and a firetruck making their way through town.  We caught the end of a play being performed in front of the local church.  And here were people everywhere and firecrackers...which sounds like gunfire They are all home made using gun powder wrapped in newspaper.  The dogs don't even flinch.  Our doggie Ursa would be under the bed and would never be able to crawl out due to extreme fear.

And Christmas morning...the girls found their pinata and took a good long time whacking it to find their presents inside. It was the closest thing we could come to a tree.  This just might become a tradition with us.

And the pinata is now a source of costume attire.  We are off to the beach!!

Bio Filters

We have done many things in this country over the past 6 years, but this is the first time we have volunteered.  What a truly wonderful and rewarding experience.  

Through an established organization we were able to connect with a man named Pedro.  Pedro was born and raised in Matagalpa, in the mountainous region of Nicaragua.  He and his family have been helping his people for many years with the introduction of clean drinking water to those families most in need.  Pedro recently learned english, and can speak it with such fluency that he has become an interpreter for many volunteers such as ourselves who venture down to assist in the work.

   

On our first day there, we helped make two biofilters using steel concrete forms and a handmade mix of concrete.  The girls especially were good at coating the forms with crisco!  Each biofilter made takes two days to cure in the forms, and then another ten days to cure in the open air.   With a generous donation from Marvin Betz, the girls grandfather, Pedro had the funding to have some biofilters ready for us to install.

The following day we loaded the truck and went up into the hills.  Pedro had already spoken with the families who were to receive the bio filters and provided them with basic information regarding how the unit will be set up and how it is to be used.   We made the trek in from the road to our first house.  carrying the concrete bio filter, two different grades of gravel, and a full bucket of sand.  

Here is the first house we arrived at. Typically, barbed wire fences are everywhere in Nica.  Everyone had a job to do.

Once the biofilter was placed in the house it was necessary to fill the cavity with water and then take a reading of the flow rate of the water, without the gravel and sand filters.   Then again after the filter medium was added.  Averyl and Elsie were great at this.

The girls then took turns filling the bottom of the filter with course gravel. Levels were checked often to ensure the filter would function properly.  Nora sometimes needed help with the heavy buckets!

Here is Elsie checking the level of the gravel before we could add in the sand.  She would check with a marked stick.  Finally a diffuser was added to the top and a galvanized steel lid.


Installations are being done inside the homes with the idea that they will be used more than if they were outside where they would also be too near livestock.

We learned that concrete is used for the filter instead of a much lighter plastic bucket ( which would work equally as well) because often the plastic bucket would be dismantled and the very useful bucket would end up being used for some different purpose.  This was a sand  filter sent down after hurricane Mitch and is now being used as a water bucket.

And this little cutie, with her brother and dog in the background, are overseeing operations.   I think she will be happy to have a drink of 'sweet water' as the Nica's call this clean water.

Kitsch

KITSCH
noun:  something of tawdry design, appearance, or content created to appeal to popular, or undiscriminating taste.  Origin: German, derivitive of kitschen meaning to throw together. (dictionary.com)

Here is the beginning of my compendium of Nica Kitsch....

Vulcanizadora (The Tire Store)

Se Dobian Tubos (The Muffler Shop)                                

Ding Repair Shop

The Zapata Family from El Zapote

Marlon Zapata is the cuidador we have hired to live on our lot - to keep random unwanted people from living on our lot while we are not here.  This is a necessary and traditional job for many locals.  Marlon is young, but happy to have a job, and his family are very close as they too are cuidador's for other nearby properties.  

We have met Marlon's entire family.   We cannot figure out who is related to whom, but they all seem to have the same father and sometime introduce themselves as cousins.  Let me be clear, this is not a language barrier.  

Marlon's sister Laura (or cousin, or neice) graduated from middle school today and we went to support the family.
Here is Laura with her Grandfather Zapata.

Zapata has also been introduced as the father of Marlon.
Are you getting the confusion?


All schools in Nicaragua are painted the traditional blue and white national colours.  You can see the school in the background.

And since we were there, driving El Fumador, we gave everyone a ride home, plus their bicycles in true Nica fashion. 

Reserva Natura

Things are picking up in our 'neighbourhood'.  There is now a national park which boasts two fresh water lakes, a tree nursery and species protection program for birds, amphibians, and trees. 

The park was originally created an owned by Navinc, the sugar cane company.  They created the lakes to act as reservoirs and water supply for irrigating their sugar cane fields.  Four years ago they handed over the ownership to the country and a national park was established. 
We were there for the day and went on a guided tour of the property, saw the tree nursery, and learned about the native tree species. 

Averyl was asking about going for a swim, but learned that at sometime in its history crocodiles were introduced to the lakes.  We did not see one, but apparently they are approximately three metres long.  So, nope, no swimming.  And since the park is now a national park and crocodiles are on the endangered species list... the crocodiles stay.  Seems odd, to have this beautiful area with two clean fresh water lakes to be off limits, but that is very typical for life in Nica...nothing makes sense, you just accept what is.