Itinerary - Day 1

Buenas Dias Amigos!

Dinner last night was wonderful. Simple, tasty, filling.

Soup - Cold Gazpacho Andaluz

Salad - Nicoise

Entre - Grilled Chicken in an Orange Sauce, White Rice, Steamed Vegetables

Now, to be fair, I was hungry, but it was delicious. I have never had a piece of chicken prepared in this type of sauce. Lovely, tangy orangey flavor. If one of the better restaurants in our area had this it would be a signature dish. No jive.

So, now that I am rested it's time to set things in motion. Time for bullet poimts
1. Light breakfast
2. Arrange car rental
3. Contact Edrulfo Rodriguez and Jairo Zelaya, my local hosts in Jinotega and Sasle, respectively
4. Repack and load car
5. Familiarize myself with travel plans and my GPS unit
6. Shove off (hopefully by 11 am local time)
7. First stop - Nostalgia de Nicaragua Cigar shop
8. Second stop - Estancia Don Francisco, Jinotega

Once I get there I am not sure whether I will try to head up to Sasle or just stay put. Part of that will depend on Jairo and Edrulfo.

See you later - wish me luck.

Twilight in the Tropics

One of the things that is seldom appreciated by folks in higher latitudes is how quickly evening descends the closer one gets to the equator. There has been a slow gentle rain falling since earlier which kept me from my swim. I have been here in the room either getting things prepared, writing emails or doing postings. A few little glitches remain to be smoothed out. The room is small but comfortable and adequate.

The restaurant is part of the central courtyard and is outside, but covered. It begins serving dinner at 6 and I am quite hungry. Aside from the nourishing bag of pretzels on the plane I haven't eaten today so dinner (whatever it may be) will be well received. I think after that I will crash. Yeah. I think so.

Soft Landing

OK. A picture is worth a thousand words. Maybe. But there is something to be said...

2:24 am - Hurley

6:05 am - LaGuardia

2:00 pm local (4:00 pm EDT) - Managua, Nicaragua

The hotel is an absolute charmer. Very small, very intimate, very old world. Very Spanish. The building is a classic rectangle surrounding a central courtyard with a lovely pool and fountain; the small restaurant is at one end of the rectangle; the opposite end opens to the garden and swimming pool. I will let the pictures speak.

 

I was really dying to go for a swim (I am really exhausted but want to try to get to a normal schedule without a nap) and the continued tour of the pool area did little to discourage that idea. 

 

 

Note, however, the skies are looking a bit...ominous...

I had just finished taking pictures when it started to pour. Just like it does down here in the tropics. That's fine with me. I have enough things to do. If it clears later I'll go in then.

Nicaragua Bound

I think I have everything. Probably have too much. I will need to find a new patch for the vest. Time to rock and roll.

Not Nispero

For those of you who have been following for a while, you may recall that we used an amazingly dense and hard wood down in Panama called Nispero. We actually have researched it and know its physical and material properties for construction uses.I have brought a number of samples of it back and even used it as the base for Chip Kilduffs scorpion award.

 I thought of this today while was out in my back woodlot. For the past several days I have been clearing out some of the deadfall as well as some standing dead wood and using it in the little fire pit I have. One of the trees that has fallen is a beautiful red cedar that must have been uprooted several years back in a storm and is upright though clearly dead now and at a 60 degree angle vertically. I have started to remove some of the boughs which are fairly good sized and they provide lovely wood.

 Not only does it burn evenly and hot, it produces a delicious aroma. Most of this will be used in the fire pit (el pozo de fuego) but I cut a nice thick section that I plan on keeping and milling along the grain in maybe 1/4" - 1/2" thickness in a 6" long plate. We shall see.

Life is good. Oh yeah.

When Staying in Nicaragua

Hi there. As this is my first time visiting Nicaragua I am going in "cold". I have reservations at two places. My first night I will be staying at the Hotel Los Robles then heading up to Jinotega where I will be staying for three nights at the Estancia Don Francisco. I head back to Managua and spend the last two nights at Los Robles. They both look nice in their on-line photos. I also put very little stock in the stuff on trip advisor (too many flaws in their sampling methodology for it to be even remotely meaningful - total selection bias, both for and against. If you get a chance, check them out and feel free to post comments back here.

Adjustment of Plans

Not unexpectedly I received a call in the very early morning hours from American Airlines informing me of the cancellation of my flight. It was a connecting flight with a layover in Miami so this came as no surprise. I went back to sleep and dealt with it at the slightly more human hour of 6:30 am. Rescheduling the flights was fairly straightforward and I am set for Sunday morning with the slight annoyance that I fly out of LaGuardia rather than Newark, which I much prefer. The complicated part was rearranging my lodgings which was spread out over two hotels in three parts (first night in Managua, 2nd-4th in Jinotega, 5th and 6th back in Managua). Despite the fact that my conversational Spanish is quite adequate I always get nervous when I make arrangements by phone as I can't be sure whether I am being understood (you know, those quizzical glances you get when you order "a large bottle of tractor") and where I will be sleeping is at stake. Anyways, it seemed to go well - Nicaraguans seem to speak rapidly but clearly. Very lovely people at the other end of the phone. I think I am pretty much re-set.

I intend to travel pretty light. Heaviest stuff going down will be some basic surveying toys and some gifts for the people of Sasle. Upon the very good advice of the EWB-USA coordinator for the region, Edrulfio Rodriguez, most of the stuff I have will go to the students or the schools.

 

As for my stuff, I have really tried to learn from the difficulties we encountered in Panama. One thing that became painfully clear is that you can NEVER have too many measurements or photographs. Aside from my camera (with a fresh memory card) I am packing some basic stuff  I already had - compass, tape measure, old GPS unit, plus some new toys.The new stuff includes a laser measure, a laser level and a distance wheel. The only other things I plan on bringing are ziplock bags, tape and a sharpie to collect soil samples. 

 

That's about it for the moment. Oh, yeah, cool thing about the hotel in Managua - when I was calling them earlier today, the on-hold music was Bach's Praeludio to the Suite in E for lute. It is one of my favorite pieces and this was a lovely version of it. That has to be a good omen! I will post more about the hotels later.