Flyin through the Rainforest

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6-10-06


At the grocery store, we were going to buy some meat. When we arrived they were serving number 93. We took a number and were number 47. “What does this mean?” I asked in Spanish. The answer: that they get to 100 then start all over again. So we had some time, and of course that meant that we would start talking. There was this pretty cute Nicaraguan that I flirted with. It was funny because he told me to take a picture of this funny woman with huge rollers in her hair. I was just thinking that I would like to do that right before he told me to. So, I laughed and laughed. That guy knows how to do it, but honestly, the rest of these Nicas need some help when it comes to picking up women. Any one who’s ever been to a Latin American country knows what I mean, and I don’t need to elaborate.

And now I have some photos to share with you when I was in the rainforest. We just drove in a Landrover on this road from Grenada. The road lead into the rainforest and up the mountain. There were coffee plants, banana trees and cocoa plants along the way. The bad thing was that the crops were a part of a giant hacienda. The good thing about the crops was that all the plants there are organic. Also, the coffee was shade-grown coffee, so the natural rainforest trees were kept alive. It appeared to be a very eco-friendly environment and that our tour guides said, “They wouldn’t want to use pesticides in such a beautiful place” makes me feel that biodiversity is a value that many Granadans, including the capital class, it seems, hold in high esteem.

Coffee Lesson: The coffee beans are harvested once a year, from November to January. Many Nicaraguans are brought up from the town to pick the beans, and they put them into baskets, and bring them to a large cement platform where the beans will dry in the sun for some time. Every day there are people who turn the beans. The shade grown beans have a different flavor, a flavor that I believe is more highly coveted and is more expensive in world markets.

When we were in the rainforest, we got on our gear and went on the Canopy tour. We just go from tree to tree, station to station, hanging from a rope. It was a good time! At first Reynaldo and I were scared of the height, but we became more comfortable after sometime. I learned about the rainforest in elementary school, but to actually be in the rainforest is great.

When we came back home from the forest we saw the next door neighbors coming home. We talked with the neighbor Kent, an middle-aged American from Northern California who is considering becoming an ex-pa with his Nicaraguan wife and their ten year old child. He had also gone to the mountain where we went today, but on the other side. He is considering buying some property up there and building a house. The house would have a great view of the lake. He is really considering moving down here because of the price of health care, and because it is more affordable, but he has a life to consider back in the States. Hmmm, will I be making this same decision of whether to move to another country permanently sometime in my life?

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Photos

Repel much?
I apparently don´t. I was screaming the whole way down. It was a lot of fun though... kind of like those rides at Six Flags where they raise you up and drop you.

View from Mombacho
The beauty is self-explanatory

Can you see me?
I´m hanging there on a cable, going from tree to tree. Good times!

Comments

[Brother]

SWEET
I hope things are good and you are [e-mail]

[irv]

you never told me you'd be climbing trees!