Category: Nicaragua 2013
Wake up, Caroline, it’s water.
Suddenly, the sound of water. And my brain, always a little bit awake, starts shouting: “That sound is not a part of your dream and it doesn’t sound well at all.. wake up Caroline, wake up!”
I shoot up from my bed and into my bathroom, and get completely showered by water. “What is this? Is it even safe to touch the switch to turn the lights on?” The walls are wet, but not enough. I turn the lights on and find the pipe that supplies my toilet with water completely broken, the water is shooting straight out from it.
I guess these are things that happen when the pressure from the water is stronger than the pipes aimed to keep it under control.. the tap has been impossible to close completely for more than a week because of the pressure, and it’s always worse in the night and morning. Question: Does water pressure in underground water pipes have anything to do with the tide in the ocean? It’s a long shot but not completely impossible, and there’s that super moon coming up in just a couple of days.. I will google this! Haha.
So, after having the security guard run two blocks down to get the right tool to turn off the water completely in the house while I built a home-made tap consisting of 1 sponge, 1 hairband and 2 towels, (that didn’t really work but at least transformed the water-volcano into a smaller geizer) and spending more than one hour moving the water out of the house, I am having a seat.
The guard closed the pipe temporarily with a more ambitious MacGyver method involving isolation paste, a plastic bag and a stick.. (it works for now)
Today’s lesson learned: A broom is far more efficient than a mop if the aim is to move large amounts of water.
At least the entire house got a proper floor wash. At 4am in the morning. Ain’t nobody got time for that.
Twist & Panic
León, you so funny.
León was the city of rocking chairs, no doubt, Renata was enchanted and wanted to try them all.
“They remind me of my grandmother and Santo Domingo!”
Two weekends ago, Renata, Den and I travelled to León on a Friday afternoon, with no plan other than relaxing, wandering around and spending time together. And so we did. And had great food. And made a lot of jokes. And met some fascinating people who invited us to their homes, told us about their ambitions and shared their pride in their background. I took a walk by myself to the Central Market where I met a mother who had hung up a mini-hammock for her three-year-old son, Darwin, to hang in while she was selling bananas all day, every day. A young man with impeccable English was fixing watches as life in Texas had become too difficult after the economic crisis and because he had never managed to feel integrated even after living there for more than 20 years.
León struck me as a very religious city, where almost every house had a little (or huge) altar, and a church could be found every three blocks. One of the most interesting places we found was the small game court where kids and adolescents were playing soccer, skating, riding bikes and hanging out. We took a seat watching the big group of quite talented 9-22 year-olds as they were taking turns in using the five skateboards. I had a talk with one of the boys as he was waiting for his turn, 14 years old with a beautiful afro and great skating skills, the boy was studying during the days and working at a car wash in the weekends and evenings to save up for a new skateboard.
“My old board broke so I have to work for three months before I can buy a new one. The skateboards here are very expensive, they cost at least 45 Dollars, but it’s great that I can borrow my friends’ boards to skate for a couple of hours every evening. At least until 8pm, if I stay longer my mom gets angry and comes to pick me up. Haha”
On our last day, Den and I managed to get hold of Daneff and have another one of our Skype reunions. It was great fun to have a talk all three of us again, and then Den, Renata and I took a million photos and laughed our heads off. All and all, we had good fun together and I felt that we were getting along really well as our preferences were always so aligned and as we all are so used to being independent, yet warm and open. It was really sad to leave Den in León and go back to Managua, and the next morning Renata took off to the airport as well. Seriously, I can’t wait to see these two happy-faces again.
Love you, girls! “We so funny!”
Southern Pacific Coast
To all of those sending me emails and Whatsapp messages wondering where I have been..
Work here around Tola on the Southern Pacific Coast of Nicaragua has been very interesting and we have been working intensely these days. Mostly, also, we have been off the grid.
Sunset swim, then emails. I’m okay!
Alejandro Benito Cabrera
In León, many people have transformed the entrance of their houses to little shops selling groceries, rocking chairs and cooked food. People here in Nicaragua tend to engage in many forms of businesses at the same time, and most houses have their front doors open to the street anyway to let the breeze in. I was invited to many people’s homes during the walks around this charming city and at one point, we found a little grocery shop where a man was sitting in front of a canvas filled with little dots, creating a colourful image of Nicaragua’s volcanoes. The man’s name was Alejandro Benito Cabrera, and he has been painting for more than 20 years, selling his paintings internationally. Alejandro’s wife paints too, and he pointed out some of her works hanging on the walls of the little grocery shop while the wife stood outside going through the groceries.
“You can’t take photos of my pieces, but I will let you take a photo of this specific one.”
the artist said, adjusting a beautiful painting hanging behind us. It was a painting so full of detail and things going on that it became my favourite in the little room. Alejandro didn’t mind being in the picture with it, putting on a face that was both serious and proud.
“I will visit your website”
Alejandro said as we were leaving. I hope he does.
Visit Indigo Arts Gallery, to purchase paintings by Alejandro Benito Cabrera and his wife. Try finding the little grocery shop if you are heading towards the Subtiava church from the center of León.
Images from Indigoarts.com
Datsun 510 Bluebird
León, Nicaragua 2013
There’s more where that came from. Too much to share now.
Good night, friends.
Datsun is an automobile marque. The name was created in 1931 by the DAT Motorcar Co. for a new car model, spelling it as “Datson” to indicate its smaller size when compared to the existing, larger DAT car. In 1934, after Nissan Motor Co. Ltd. took control of DAT Motorcar Co. the last syllable of Datson was changed to “sun”, because “son” also means “loss” in Japanese, and also to honour the sun depicted in the national flag, hence the name “Datsun”:Dattosan. Nissan phased out the Datsun brand in March 1986. The Datsun name is most famous for the 510, Fairlady roadsters and later the Fairlady (240Z) coupes.
Wikipedia.org
Live from the road.
Double love
I’m so happy to have my girls with me here in Managua!
Den arrived yesterday – she is traveling through Central America on her way back home to New York after studying at the University for Peace in Costa Rica. Den is Filipina, origninally from San Fransisco, and I got to know her in Brazil in 2008, when we went out eating and dancing together, spent time hanging out in the Ipanema hostel, and sat on a beach with a bunch of people while Den was singing and playing the guitar. We connected, became friends, and stayed in touch. In 2011 she came to visit me when I was living in Barcelona as part of her Europe trip and we spent a lot of quality time together walking for hours through the city, photographing, drinking absinthe, and talking about values. Den is one of those people who always knows where I am and what I am up to, we have similar ambitions and keep each other updated on our whereabouts, on opportunities, and on thoughts. Den has the warmest of smiles and biggest of hearts, and she dances hip-hop like a loca! (Don’t you think I will ever forget that night! haha)
You’ve already met Renata. We met in Barcelona in 2011 as well when working together for the UN Association of Spain, Renata lived in Barcelona for two years and we met a couple of times outside of work but never really got the time to spend time by ourselves. Our values, preferences and interests match very well though, and we have stayed in touch throughout the years. Renata is from the Dominican Republic and lives in New York. One day, two weeks ago, we were having a chat when she suddenly decided that she wanted to visit Nicaragua. I was thrilled to invite and host her here, so she arrived last Saturday and we spent some days on the beach before I had to get back to work and she traveled to Granada. Renata is a gem and we never really stop talking. Having her here has been a true pleasure and I’m thrilled to have a new amazing friend. Also – I adore her mini-fro.
I introduced the girls electronically at some point last year as they live in the same city and I’m happy to see that they are getting along really well. Actually, I’m kind of a bit overwhelmed by how valuable and beautiful they both are and how happy I am to have them here with me, and in my life.
Yesterday we went out to have dinner at a really nice middle eastern place here in Managua and shared a big plate of pure pleasure. The food was perfect, the atmosphere was great as we had a fashion show and lip syncing concert from Tercer Ojo just across the street, and the talks were just as detailed and juicy as girl talk can get when it’s at its best. It’s like a double rainbow all the way across the sky and you’re on your periodical. What does it mean?
Chhyeah!
