Today's News from Bo Alfredo Lazo

There is always something exciting (by Nicaraguan standards) happening here. About a week ago the palm tree next to the house got a lightening hit. Well, today, someone (that should be the owner of Hotel Chalet but it might be the renters for Casino Las Vegas apparently decided the solution to possible lightening strikes was to cut it down.

A muchacho with a machete and a few ropes was doing the work. One rope was tied to part of my house. Ana grumbled at him. He then wanted permission to run another rope over our wall into our yard. She said no. He asked me. I said no (basically meaning if he could show me his permission from MARENA, his license to chop down trees, his insurance, ... I might think about it. Yeah, right.)

Unfortunately, two of my cameras just died so I don't have photos or a video but the palm is now down. It was lightening II here when it fell on the power line to the casino (which protected the roof of Hotel Chalet). The power line runs from the street to the side of the casino with the two hot lines taking a detour to their generator. One of the hot lines got pulled against the iron bracket that supported them--after the generator. After a bit of fireworks the wire melted and fell onto the generator building roof. The casino has no power which is ok.

The muchacho, however, must be half electrician. In order to make sure all was well, he climbed up onto the roof of Hotel Chalet where the power line now lies and threw two handfuls of sand on it. :-) As for the downed palm, it ended up falling on the roof of a storage building for the casino. With the power line breaking its fall, the building roof doesn't appear to be damaged.