Blogs from Northern Highlands, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 20

When we landed in Managua bleary eyed nearly three months ago we had been told that we would be granted the normal 90 day visa. However, whilst in the bank changing money three weeks post arrival we made the unexpected discovery that our little piece of visa paper which had cheerfully been handed to us my an immigration official in the airport in fact stated that we had only 30 days. Having then made a hurried dash to the immigration office in Managua we were fortunately reassured that we did indeed have the all clear for 90 days and they had just run out of the correct visa papers in the airport when we landed. Anyhow all this meant that we needed to either pay some exorbitant fee to extend our stay beyond ninety days or ... read more

When you try to picture a birthday party for a twelve year old in a rural Nicaraguan village you might visualise some silly games and lots of excited chatter. Well this was what we had in mind when Yelba (the mum of our host family) told us she had a surprise party planned for Skarleth (the daughter of our host family). What unfolded on the evening of November 12th was unforeseen. Yelba had invited all the family around (about twenty five people). In such a small community every week seems to reveal a new unexpected family connection so it was good to have everybody in the same room so we could finally get the complete picture. When we got home at the end of the day party preparations were in full swing Skarleth had donned a ... read more

Back in Esteli. God mi madre´s food here is so good. Interesting to hear about everyone´s site visits. This week is so full. Like, day after day of fullness until we leave for Managua. And that kind of blows. So read that Michael Crichton died when I was crying and laughing and listening to Barack´s speech on Wednesday. That sucks. But you know, I only read .State of Fear. I loved watching .Jurassic Park. though... Also, how am I 26 years old and JUST discovered the brilliance of John Steinbeck? I am currently reading .East of Eden. And by currently reading, I mean currently obsessively reading into all hours of the night. I have watched .Of Mice and Men. and I loved it. In fact, I still cannot watch a movie with John Malcovich and take ... read more

Remarks of President-Elect Barack Obama-as prepared for delivery Election Night Tuesday, November 4th, 2008 Chicago, Illinois If there is anyone out there who still doubts that America is a place where all things are possible; who still wonders if the dream of our founders is alive in our time; who still questions the power of our democracy, tonight is your answer. It's the answer told by lines that stretched around schools and churches in numbers this nation has never seen; by people who waited three hours and four hours, many for the very first time in their lives, because they believed that this time must be different; that their voice could be that difference. It's the answer spoken by young and old, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, black, white, Hispanic, Asian, Native American, gay, straight, ... read more

We must seem often quite backward to our host family and the people of Sabana Grande. The classic example of this has been clothes washing. In these parts there aren’t any of those fancy washing machines to stick your smalls in and select programme D. Here you have a stone washing board of some ilk, detergent, soap and a lot of elbow grease. When we first declared we needed to wash our clothes and were directed towards the washing equipment and we felt confident. Well we had just spent three months in Spain using wash boards and being pretty much washing machine-less. However, as we were to discover the Nicaraguan style of clothes washing is something of a fine art. If is fair to say we were not able to quickly to adapt to the ways ... read more