Update on Old Friends in Nicaragua

I recently sent this 'epistle' to some friends back in Toronto who like to stay in touch with developments in Nicaragua:


Hello everyone,

Some of you may know that I am spending this winter in Nicaragua. I have not visited the country in 18 years and had more or less lost contact with all of my friends here. Well.... I am happy to report that I have been able to meet up with some of them. You all probably know from your own reading etc. what the economic and political situation is here, and of course it is even more complicated 'on the ground' so to speak. However, I am happy to report that it is still a land with beauty in both it's landscape and it's people.

I had lunch with Ramon Meneses last week. Ramon has been working with Save The Children (Norwegian branch in Nicaragua) for the past 11 years or so. He is the Communications Director there. The last time I saw Ramon was in 1994. I was about 7 months pregnant with my daughter and volunteered to drive Ramon to various meetings he had with NGOs etc in Toronto. After his business was completed Ramon asked me to take him to Toys R Us so that he could buy birthday party supplies and gifts for his twin girls birthday. I believe they wanted an Aladdin theme. Well, those girls are 21 now. Both of them are studying business administration; one here in Nicaragua and the other one in Calgary Alberta (although she wants to transfer to a university somewhere in Ontario next year). Ramon also has an 8 year old son with his current wife. Last night a friend and I attended the Mercedes Sosa concert in Managua and went out for drinks and a light dinner afterward with Ramon and his wife Dignia after the concert. They seem happy and healthy and we look forward to seeing them again later this month - probably during Semana Santa when they will be down this way. (We are living in San Juan del Sur)

Last Tuesday I was chatting with a friend here who publishes the local newsletter (see http://www.san-juan-del-sur.com for the e-version) and we got to playing the "do you know so-and-so game". Turns out he knows Nick Cooke, as do most people in this region as Nick is a bit of a fixture here. He makes his living editing, translating and writing; is still married to the same lovely woman and has two children who are busily trying to decide which corner of the globe to attend University. One will be 18 this spring and the other is a little younger. Nick also owns a wack of land on the pacific coast here and apparently his beach barbeques are legendary. See http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/feb/12/11 for a recent article that features Nick and other 'Sandalistas'.

We stayed in Managua overnight after the concert last night and were able to arrange to meet Rosa Chavez for breakfast this morning. Rosa has been working for American Airlines here in Nicaragua and is now the Director General for American here in Nicaragua. As luck would have it her youngest son, Allan, who is currently living in Toronto and studying dentistry arrived home for a vacation last night and so joined us this morning. The last time I saw Allan he was about 6 years old. He was dead cute then and he still is - very chatty and well spoken much like his parents. You may remember that Rosa was married to Walter Porras. Because Allan had just arrived, Walter was eager to see his youngest son so also joined us for breakfast. I had not been able to make contact with Walter, so it was a surprise for both of us to meet at breakfast this morning. After breakfast Rosa needed to get to the office, but Walter was eager to show both Allan and ourselves his office, so we had a quick tour of the place where Walter is the head of over 1600 employees! He is the Director General de Ingresos for the government of Nicaragua. Walter translates that as being the equivalent of the head of Revenue Canada! Rosa and Walter's other son is studying engineering at the University of Toronto, while their daughter remains here and is the mother of a 3 year old girl and is expecting her second child this summer. I am hoping to meet them all soon.

I have just sent an email off to Danilo Cedeno and hope to be able to see him too while we are here. Danilo runs a very successful furniture and cabinet making business. See the website at: http://lamuebleria.biz/in_index.htm

Aaste and I are happy and healthy and loving life in Nicaragua. Our Spanish is improving as well. You can find out more about our travels at our blog: http://travellingwithteen.blogspot.com (Note that you will likely find a copy of this letter on the blog soon, but I wanted to let you all know this information personally as I thought some of you may be particularly interested.)

Best regards,

Sandy Iverson

Road Trip(s)

Last week we took a break from school and did a bit of wandering in Nicaragua. We went to Managua to do a few errands and to have lunch with an old friend (see post on old friends). We rented a car there and toured around a bit, visiting Masaya, Granada, and a few other towns. My camera was acting up during this time (I think it may have gotten some sand in the lens) so unfortunately I don't have any pictures of us peering into the active volcano in Masaya. However here are a few other pics:


View of Concepcion volcano on Ometepe Island. This is one of the many active volcanoes in the country. It smoked a ton a few weeks ago, but hasn't dumped any ash in the area recently.


The road to a lovely sand spit beach out into Lake Nicaragua from Ometepe Island.

We spent a night at an 'eco lodge' in the hills north of Masatepe. This is the main house. It is owned by a very friendly couple. He is originally from Denmark, she is Nicaraguense.


That's our little rental car. It made it on the back roads, but just barely! We stayed in one of these very comfortable cabins overlooking the Lago Masaya, which is a lake in one of the dormant volcanoes. We went swimming in another one of these lakes - Lago Apoyo. The country is full of these wonderful lakes.

Aaste relaxing on the porch of our cabin. She may have liked the hammock, but she wasn't too crazy about the spiders, and the incredibly loud sounds of crickets and other night creatures that 'sang' us to sleep that night.



On Ometepe Island this jungle 'oasis' swimming pool is called Ojos de Agua (Eyes of Water) and is a wonderful fresh water swimming hole. Note the kids swinging out over the water on the rope! What a wonderful way to spend a lazy Sunday morning.


A wonderful mural in Jinotepe.


We took one of these carraiges for a bit of a tour of the colonial town of Granada. Granada is arguably the oldest Spanish city on the American mainland.


The old cathedral in Granada, still bears the black stains from the fire set by William Walker that burned Granada to the ground in 1856.


Picking mangos in Granada.



A normal Nicaraguan 'finca'.


Typical colonial architecture in Granada.

Our Apartment

Just a couple pictures of our apartment here in San Juan. Including a view of 'downtown' from our balcony. We also have a nice view of the mountain behind the town, but I don't have a pic of that.

Walking in San Juan

There is a surfer sub-culture here so you get some odd fellows walking around town in their barefeet and stuff. There is a medium sized ex-pat community, many of whom own businesses of course. There are more pedestrians and bikes on the roads than cars I think, and when you combine that with the fact that the sidewalks are highly unpredictable most people seem to stroll down the middle of the street half the time. The Nicaraguans are, of course, friendly and welcoming and an anti-foreigner feeling has not yet invaded this growing tourist place. Although cruise ships have begun docking here once or twice a week, it is still a small town with extremely limited commercialization.

Sidewalks in San Juan appear to be the responsibility of each land owner. Outside of every house and business the sidewalk will be more or less consistent for the length of frontage of that building. Some people have wide sidewalks, some have narrow. Some are decorated in lovely ceramic tiles, some are plain concrete. Some are about 2 feet off the ground, some are at ground level. This all makes walking extremely treacherous, and somewhat interesting. The street is often a safer place to be. Not to mention the odd hole in the sidewalk - just to keep you on your toes! One of the main streets in town, leading from the beach to the cathedral has been under construction since we arrived. This street, once complete, will be the first (I think) in town to have a consistent corredor (as I’ve been told this is what they call a sidewalk here) for about 3 blocks.

Views of San Juan del Sur

The beach in town as seen from the bay.


Looking down on the town from the top of the mountain behind town. There is a lovely hotel on this mountain and Wednesdays and Fridays they have "Ahora Feliz" that many gringos in town attend.


Another view from "La Pelican" as the hotel is called.


Also from above - Obviously! LOL


Every day brings yet another beautiful sunset.

Going to School

I've been doing the past-tense of verbs for two weeks now! I guess I'm a slow learner... at least the 'theory' is clearer in my head - now I just have to memorize the conjugations!

Aaste thinks I'm weird because I spend quite a bit of time studying (not as much as I should in my opinion). She tells me she doesn't have any 'homework'. I tell her it's not homework - it's just me trying to learn. She thinks it's because I haven't been in school for awhile that I'm enjoying this. I tell her I actually like to learn. Perhaps I have a slightly faulty memory, but I think I was this way even when I was her age - at least with the things I was interested in.

The school is terrific. It is located in a beach restaurant and the view from our 'desks' is of the sea. Sometimes people wander in and sit at one of the spare tables and eat breakfast, and after we leave at noon, it becomes a regular restaurant. The director of the school is the daughter of the couple who own the restaurant.

Each one of us has our own table, teacher, and whiteboard. The teachers seem to be, without exception, very friendly nice people. In the afternoons we often have an organized activity such as latin dance clasees, trips to beaches, horseback riding on and to a beach, cooking classes, hikes. This is when we get to spend social time with the teachers and fellow students and Aaste and I go to at least 2 or 3 activities a week.

Well... have to get back to studying now!!!!

Our new home

We move in to our new home tomorrow. There is a wide range of short (and long) term rental available here costing anywhere from $150 to $3000 dollars a month! I settled on a 2 bedroom apartment in the centre of town, but just off a main road. It is one block from the beach and about 20 metres from one of the gringo hot spots and also the best coffee shop in town. It is a brand new apartment in a two story house with one upper apartment and one lower. We are in the upper. It is really quite nice and although a tad more than I had hoped to pay... it is still a bargain. So .... I have an extra bedroom and will be here until the end of March. Anyone want to visit? The weather is grand and the town is laid back, friendly and totally NOT commercialized.

Computer Blues

Sigh.... my not-even-a-year-old MacBook is sick! I don't think it is terminal.... but it is causing headaches. On Saturday last the screen quit! The backlight on the screen will not light up. If you shine a flashlight at the screen you can see the display so I am pretty sure it is a hardware issue... not the video card - but try to tell that to 20 something year old male computer geeks!!! I think it is likely a loose wire between the computer and the monitor, which is classically a laptop weakness as we are always opening and closing the things. Anyway... I looked around here all week for someone who might be able to fix it and finally decided it had to be taken to Managua to the authorized apple dealership there.

Now... Managua is 2 - 3 hours away (depending on mode of transport) so I was NOT looking forward to making the trip twice as they were pretty sure they would not be able to fix it in one day. So.... I was very happy when I was able to talk my friend Tom into taking it in for me. Tom was also a student at the school, and he was leaving today to return home to Texas - so had to go to Managua. He had hired a driver to take him, so it wasn't too much trouble to take the computer. Hopefully they will be able to fix it fairly quickly and then I will have to take a trip to Managua to pick it up. Keep your fingers crossed for me.... as there won't be any new pics on this blog until I get it fixed.

And a BIG THANKS to Tom for doing me such a huge favour. Hugs and kisses all around!!!