Ronda Mas

May is Guacamole Month

2008-05-01T07:19:00.000-07:00

The avocado tree in our backyard is ready for harvest! The avocados are buttery and delicious and I'm eating a lot of guacamole since Eric is not really a big fan.

This is Jose, our friendly neighborhood security guard. He's from Catarina and knows a lot about everything flora related. He kept 3/4 of the haul and is coming back in a week to collect the remaining fruit.

The curtain rod picking device was already in the backyard when we moved in but Jose brought over the little blue sack to attach to the end of the rod to catch the falling avocados. They are hard to reach in such a big tree - they grow on the underside of a branch, in the shade of the leaves.

They each weigh about 2 lbs!
More photos here

Casa del Soul

2008-04-05T09:49:00.006-07:00

Eric enjoyed the floating cooler Sunrise over the bay (the view from our room)
We spent a very relaxing weekend away in San Juan del Sur. I found a new place to stay one bay north of the San Juan del Sur bay. It's a beautiful house owned by a really nice american guy named Randy. He built it as his home/B&B. The perfect place to stay in SJDS when you have a truck (vital to climb the cliff and reach the house) and want to be a little out of the way.
Casa del Soul photos

La Chureca, Managua, Nicaragua

2008-03-27T08:41:00.002-07:00

Like most cities in developing countries, the dump is an essential part of the economy. Eric's story for Bloomberg about the crisis at La Chureca in Managua appears here.

cows, pigs, vultures, dogs, children
an entire community
boys men
fires vultures

JK Visit #2! 2008

2008-02-11T09:38:00.005-07:00

Our good friend Jeannine came to visit us for a week after her eco-adventure in Panama. We were far less eco and more Flor de Cana but it was really fun, as usual. We did make a few side trips including a canopy tour over a crater lagoon in Managua (only she has photos), a visit to El Brujo-Chocoyero where almost 1,000 parrots nest in the cliff walls and the weekend in San Juan del Sur. We miss you Nano!

off for a hike.

JK and I did the canopy tour at the Tiscapa Laguna at the last minute. We were the only customers that day and received a lot of attention. We both wanted to be paired with Enrique but no such luck. He rode alone.

Someone could have told me to fix my hair.
More photos here.

We 'heart' MGA

2008-01-21T12:06:00.013-07:00

Despite Eric's best efforts to find things to dislike, we both can't help but love living in the city that everybody hates. We have yet to be robbed in broad daylight and contrary to popular belief in Granada, it is MUCH cooler here. Our house is perfect and we have already hosted many visitors. There is a lot to do in our neighborhood, Altamira, especially at the mall (haha), and we are lucky to live within walking distance of all of the most important things.

This is our street

Our front patio area

Our beautiful Masaya hammock

The cat in an irresistible pot

More photos of the house here, including before and after shots of our kitchen.

Corinto. That was weird...

2007-07-27T05:54:00.007-07:00

Children playing on the beach near our hotel.
Corinto is in the northwest corner of Nicaragua in the department of Chinandega. It is actually an island linked to the mainland by a small bridge and an isolated road for the freight trucks carrying cargo to the port. To us, the town was a cross between Bluefields and Granada - a funny little combination. The whole area is part of a beautiful estuary which we happened to travel through extensively (in a tiny and totally inadequate Suzuki Alto) due to bad researching. We didn't see any other tourists while we were there and I was told approximately 10 times by very kind citizens that I was likely to be robbed and attacked while Eric was working and I was by myself on the beach. I stayed close to the restaurants so they could keep an eye on me although I didn't feel threatened for one minute.
We originally went up north so Eric could cover a US Navy Medical Ship that was stationed off the coast to perform surgeries. Here is Eric's story on the medical ship.
We traveled to a really high end hotel that essentially services people with yachts. It was very hard to get to over land. I watched an amazing sunrise the day we had to leave since we were forced to leave at 5 am to make it home before dark!

Lizzie's Despedida

2007-07-16T07:01:00.001-07:00

We had a rather scandalous party this weekend and the sala still reeks after 3 consecutive days of mopping. not an easy task when the water is cut off around 8 am.
Anyway, it was a great party and I already miss the guest of honor, Lizzie, a volunteer who had been here for 6 months. You can see more photos of the pinata, our friends and the Nicaraguan conservative party vice presidential candidate in the last elections here

Anne and Joan's Visit

2007-06-15T08:09:00.000-07:00

Our friends from New York, Anne and Joan, came for a visit this week.
It was so great to see them after so long. They came to relax but we dragged them all over Nicaragua. We hope they had fun!

More photos!

Double Riding

2007-06-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

Today was a big day for me. I rode all the way home from school along the highway on the cross bar of a stranger's bike. I also double rode my first passenger! A student (my favorite) needed to go home due to a massive inflammation of his eye (most likely pink eye) and someone needed to speak to his mother.

For those unaware of this amazing mode of transport, a brief description. You may place any number of people on your bicycle in various locations. Women ride side saddle on the cross bar, regardless of the sex of the driver. Men can ride astride the cross bar or standing on specially installed posts on the back tire of the bike. Any number of configurations can be assembled on one bike at a time and you will regularly see entire families on one bike. Mother side saddle holding baby (or babies), older children at the rear. My personal favorite is a man with a toddler balanced on his knee so the baby/toddler moves up and down with the rhythm of the peddling.

Yes, it all appears very dangerous and your legs tend to fall asleep but you get used to it. Really.

Jeannine with Winston, one of my favorite boys in Granada, at the isletas

Christy with Winston

2007-05-31T12:30:00.000-07:00

So, you ask, what have we been doing for the last year? Here we go...
We moved to Granada

We took spanish lessons and lived with a nicaraguan family

We rented a vacation house in Granada

We endured daily power and water cuts until Ortega came into power in January 2007

We went to Las Isletas on Lago Colcibolca

We visited Masaya and the huge crafts market

We climbed Volcan Mombacho and saw howler monkeys

Christy began volunteering with La Esperanza Granada

We visited the volcanic islands of Ometepe

We spent many blissful days at la Laguna de Apoyo

We found a kitten in the gutter

We left Granada in September 2006 to travel to Esteli, Matagalpa, Jinotega, and the Selva Negra

Eric took a full time position as a reporter for the Nica Times and freelanced for the SF Chronicle
We returned to Granada in October and rented our second home for a year
Since then we've been working and volunteering and gardening. Michelle came to stay with us for 3 months and Christy's parents were here for 2 months - January and February. Jeannine and John, friends from NYC, came to visit us as well and more are welcome and scheduled to arrive!
And now that we are really settled, we promise to be better about emailing and updating our website - as long as the power stays on.
love, c & e

Sacuanjoche

2007-05-29T09:34:00.000-07:00

Plumeria (common name Frangipani; syn. Himatanthus Willd. ex Roem. & Schult.) is a small genus of 7-8 species native to tropical and subtropical America. The genus consists of mainly deciduous shrubs and trees. P. rubra (Common Frangipani, Red Frangipani), native to Mexico, Central America, and Venezuela, produces flowers ranging from yellow to pink depending on form or cultivar. From Mexico and Central America, Plumeria has spread to all tropical areas of the world. In Nicaragua, the plant is known as Sacuanjoche and is the national flower.

April 26 - tiny buds!!

May 8

May 15

May 22

May 23

May 26

Plumeria is related to the Oleander, Nerium oleander, and both possess poisonous, milky sap, rather similar to that of Euphorbia. Each of the separate species of Plumeria bears differently shaped leaves and their form and growth habits are also distinct. Plumeria flowers are most fragrant at night in order to lure sphinx moths to pollinate them. The flowers have no nectar, and simply dupe their pollinators. The moths inadvertently pollinate them by transferring pollen from flower to flower in their fruitless search for nectar.
May 27

Volcan Masaya

2007-03-17T09:14:00.000-07:00

Volcan Masaya is an active volcano located outside of Granada. My family and I, along with Michelle, took a night tour to view parrots, bats and a lava hole that was created in the last few years during a minor eruption. Enjoy the photos!

Bluefields

2006-12-10T17:32:00.000-07:00

Bluefields is located on the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua in a river delta where the Rio Escondido meets the ocean. It's a great, run down town full of music and a blend of at least 3 cultures - Creole, Miskito, Mestizo. We took a grueling almost 12 hour bus and power boat journey to get there. And then we flew home in less than 2 hours door to door. We met some local reggae stars, drank beer on the water and listened to country music - a very strange but popular import. More photos here.