Blogs

Some decades of intermittent gardening, grandparents and a uncle who farmed and some books are the background for this.

In particular, people interested in gardening or farming here might want to take a look at:

The Resilient Gardener, by Carol Deppe -- your land is not my land and what works one place won't necessarily work in another. Twenty years of survival gardening by a Harvard Ph.D. in molecular genetics.

http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/economia/270167-cafe-momentos-dificiles

Coffee, the main export product of Nicaragua, faces tough times. A rust attack has endangered at least 10% of the 2012-2013 cycle, and the international price per quintal is below U.S. $ 145.

The most disturbing news is that in Central America, Nicaragua has one of the lowest yields of grain production per acre planted.

View Infographics: http://www.elnuevodiario.com.ni/infografia/353

Back in our hot cocoon in Leon, jodido, watching 'cronica' news on channel 8, I realized I'd returned to the other world, the other culture of a different time-zone. A woman in the hills of Matagalpa departamento had filed a complaint with the police. Her neighbor had gotten 'intimate' with her sow. It wasn't just her claim. The old man of 70, also interviewed on TV, didn't deny having sex with her pig. The problem was that the pregnant sow miscarried afterward. She claimed the old man owed her 3,500 cordovas, or 500 per piglet still-born.

My young friend repaired a digital camera with it successfully. All the time he had it, I thought about Dr. Who's sonic screwdriver, and should introduce him to that series as he learns more English.

The health department came back to fog and I went over to Paquita's and found out that the little vendor who cheats gringos also cheats Nicaraguans (watched Paquita run her off and then asked, "mas caro" and what I made out was that tomatoes should never cost that much.

World Toilet Summit

http://www.worldtoilet.org/wto/index.php/our-works/world-toilet-summit

World Toilet Day

http://www.worldtoilet.org/wto/index.php/our-works/world-toilet-day

I, sorry its such a S#^%%y post

One of the health department women came by, put the granules around, and explained to me in Spanish what the symptoms were, and I got at least some of it and explained that I'd read in English what the symptoms were and if sangre started coming out here, here, and here (pointing), I should get to the departmento de salud quickly or they would come for me (not clear about that particular bit). It's still all over the city, including this barrio.

Official Rate (Bank of Nicaragua) for 22nd November 2012:

1 US$ = 24.0004 Córdobas

Do you remember what it was first time you were here?

I think we're both relaxed that we're not going to have to look for a different place to live anytime soon (landlady can always change her mind again, of course). It's a burden off me that I hadn't been that aware was there, just as after getting Lola, I realized how much having a watch dog stopped the subliminal worrying that I'd been doing without really being aware of it (I had been burglarized here by another expat's now ex-boyfriend). Lola and their little girl are great amigas.

This post is inspired by the comment at http://www.nicaliving.com/node/20737#comment-116151 which, right or wrong, illustrates an issue worthy of discussion.

John suggests that Marxists don't like Carlos Pellas. It may be true categorically or it may be more like the assumption "lesbians don't like men". Let's start with the common ground.

Friends and I go to Matagalpa once or twice a month and see that there are visibly more tourists in Matagalpa than Jinotega, more restaurants with English-speaking waiters. Jinotega gets about a tenth the tourists that Matagalpa gets. The rule seems to be no more than two hours from the international airport (I've seen this mentioned as a guideline even for beach resorts).

As of January it will go from U.S. $ 35 to U.S. $ 42 and will make Managua Airport one of the terminals with the highest rates in Central America.

Up to August this year, 379,598 foreign passengers entered through Managua, a 10.6% increase compared to the same period last year.

This year Nicaragua expects 1.2 million tourists and revenues exceeding $ 400 million.

...with the promise that they're going to take the house off the market. I had been paying C$1700 a month which went from $75 a month to $71 a month with changes in the exchange rate. I thought that eventually they would raise the rent if they hadn't sold the house and they haven't sold the house. The new rent for both sides of the house will be US $100 each. How the neighbors will take this, I don't know, but hope that they stay since they've been very good urban neighbors over the last two years.

Sometimes I become aware that I am not ready to be Nicaraguan. The past few days has made me very aware once again. Don't think of this as a complaint -- just a reality check.

A timely reminder to make sure you are legal.

A few people in San Juan del Sur have recently had to spend big bucks (at 50 cordobas per day fine) to legalize their position.

We are talking about folks with 1 year to 4 years here without a 90 day visa stamp.

Given what the USA would do to Nicaraguans in the same position, I think Nicaragua was very generous to some of them, but out of 5 that got busted, we have one confirmed in the Immigration detention center in Managua and another suspected to be also in custody.

This is a big deal for us hahaha...but we had a delightful guest, a witty, smart travel writer from the New York Times Travel magazine who was trying to get to LCI during the height of the Crab Festival. Of course all the flights were (over)booked so she and her traveling companion had to go the loooong way. Makes for an interesting story at least but really, fly if you can!

I blogged about her stay and linked to the actual article on my blog, posted here:

http://www.elportonverde.com/2012/11/09/off-nicaragua-a-quieter-caribbea...