Business then Ometepe

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Two orders of business today: deliver three suitcases of school supplies, toys, and clothes to La Esperanza Granada, and visit the house we rented for a week after our return from Ometepe. Then it's off to Ometepe by bus, taxi, and ferry.

Victor and Katya, the hotel owners, are worried that the house is in a "bad neighborhood". I asked Pauline, the expat director of La Esperanza. She reassures me that bad guys don't attack families, and never use guns. We should just use common sense. After we visit the house, we're not worried. True, it's not a great neighborhood, but there are plenty of people around, and we can always take a taxi after dark.

Pauline tells us they can't just deliver donated stuff to a school and expect it to reach the children. (If they do the staff will take it all for themselves. She compared it to employees in developed countries stealing office supplies.) Instead, they send a volunteer to give it directly to children. I thought about the time on the street in Istanbul in 2001 when I tried to give the candy directly to the little girls, only to see the big boys just snatch it away.

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Photos

La Esperanza Granada
Delivering the supplies we collected at home.

Imagine Cafe
The Beatles are very popular here. That's a good thing.

Uncooperative Subject
This is the level of cooperation your humble photographer often received from his subjects.