Boys are Amazing

So we had a visitor at the new home site the other day.

Believe me, he didn't want to be there.


A group of boys from the home in Managua were sleeping in one of the new houses at night during their school vacation (just a week long in July, 'summer' vacation is December and January) to give us feedback on how it feels to live there. And true to their reputation as, well, boys, they managed to come across and collect things I had never seen on the property before.


They also, in their infinite boy wisdom, decided that the best environment for the snake was Managua and so they tied it's mouth shut with string (although it wasn't poisonous, it kills prey by compression, it still did bite), put it in a bucket and hopped the bus for home.

Unfortunately, they didn't manage to remember to take the snake off the bus.

I actually only know what happened because the nightly news reported that the snake (left by persons unknown to the news) caused quite a disruption when discovered by some very surprised passengers and was taken by MARENA, the environmental agency of the government, to the local zoo.

I think he's a happier camper now than he was last week. But it just goes to show, experiences with NPH will never leave you the same!

Oh, and I think the boys let the bunny go free at the property, at least that's what I'm going to choose to believe.

Electric Avenue II

Looking from the beginnings of our elevated water tank, you can still see the temporary electrical line to the right stretching to the homes in the distance

As you may remember from the original "Electric Avenue'' post, our electrical network left a lot to be desired, but functioned (most of the time). BUT... it was still time to get another system going.

Crane installing one of the several 9 meter concrete light poles trucked in from El Salvador (apparently the place to go for quality light poles)

So we've gone and gotten ourselves a primary network which will actually support the whole home of 500 kids and even more staff someday!

Permanent medium tension electrical on the left, temporary electrical pinned to the palm tree on the right.

The final pieces are being put together with a visit from Union Fenosa in the works before it will be energized. But we're excited to be on the cusp of having electricity in the home like normal people!

Isn't it beautiful? Ok, honestly, yes, underground system would have been better. But if we'd gone with that, we couldn't afford to build houses, so.... it's worth it.

And the gardens have been started as well. These are flowers in front of the concrete wall of a house.

The World is Beautiful

Just a dose of happiness for your day. I love it when things make me feel not so far away from everyone. For more info click here.

Joining the Modern World

So I have gotten direct TV.

Since moving to the house that Germans built (the owners built the house 15 years ago and are from somewhere in Germany (I've been advised by those who know that their dish ware is East German)), I've been living what I would call a much more normal life. When I'm done with work, I actually leave.

Part of the normalcy now includes a television that gives me more than this:


In case you can't tell, that is a playoff game between the Celtics and the Lakers.

This is an example taken last night from the movie 'Water' by Deepa Mehta about the practice of girls in India going to homes for widows (and basically being cut off from society) if their 'spouse' (the boy they have already been promised to) dies. I've been wanting to see it since 'Earth' by the same woman was so emotionally provoking.


Yeah, it's nice to see what's going on!

This is my first time buying cable/direct TV type service, normally what's free is good enough for me, but there's a couple different factors this time.

First, free isn't really anything. You can't really see much, but also the programs, well, it's either bloody bodies on the news (they show EVERYTHING) or soap opera telenovelas.

Second, as wonderful as my experience is here, sometimes it's nice not to notice I'm in a foreign country (I get so relaxed, I actually wondered (for a split second only!) why the commentators for the European Soccer Cup championships were speaking spanish).

Now I'm going to go live my normal life and fix spinach crepes with cheese for dinner after a run on the beach. Ok, maybe it's not that normal!