Our Man in Granada

A quick break

I'm going to be away from the internet for the next three weeks.

After that, all going well, I'll be boarding the plane and heading for Nicaragua.  In the meantime, here's another movie to whet your appetite.

Mark Twain on Ometepe

"Out of the midst of the beautiful Lake Nicaragua spring two magnificent pyramids, clad in the softest and richest green, all flecked with shadow and sunshine, whose summits pierce the billowy clouds. They look so isolated from the world and its turmoil - so tranquil, so dreamy, so steeped in slumber and eternal repose. What a home one might make among their shady forests, their sunny slopes, their breezy dells, after he had grown weary of the toil, anxiety and unrest of the bustling, driving world."

More here.

More Ometepe info here.

Erik Winkler - an Ometepe-based blogger

That reminds me...

...when in Nica, always shake the sheets before getting into bed.

Goooooooooooool Nicaragua!

Love it.

Not least, because while I have had a longing to return to Nica ever since a fleeting trip in 2002, I am aware that Nicaragua has one real flaw.

It is, it seems, the only country in Central America where baseball is king - not football/soccer.

The film is, from what I can make out, an old game against El Salvador.  Meanwhile the Nica Boys have just picked up a win against Belize.

The sports news link above explains:

"Emilio Palacios scored three goals and gave Nicaragua a 4-2 victory over Belize Monday night, earning it a berth in Thursday's fifth-place game at the Central American Cup and an opportunity to become the final team in the Gold Cup."

It doesn't really expand on that so I am still unaware as to exactly how both the Gold Cup and the Central American Cup work.  But I am chuffed above the result.

Oh and a hell of a lot of digging has unearthed a football team in Granada which appear to play in the second division.

Nica Guru Joshua Berman on his Go To Nicaragua forum was able to offer the following advice in terms of unearthing a live football experience.

"The soccer capital of Nicaragua, Carazo, is not that far from Granada, so you may be in luck. If not, then take a bus to Diriamba or Jinotepe and track down a pickup game."

Hmmm.  Certainly sounds like a plan.  Unless anyone can give me more information about soccer (I hate calling it that) in Granada.

Nicaragua bans public hospitals from charging patients

"The Nicaraguan government on Monday issued a decree, banning the nation's public hospitals from charging patients for better-than-average services."

More here.

Best Blog Yet

When I first started OMIG, I thought that English language blogs were virtually non existent in Nicaragua.

Then I ran into a whole cluster of Peace Corps bloggers who I have duly linked on the right.

But the best yet, with some beautiful writing, is Picasso Dreams.

While so evocative of Nicaragua, it also reminds me very much of my life here in Vietnam.

One month from today, I will also be in Nicaragua. 

The good, the bad and the ugly, from Picasso Dreams:

My Beer. My Blood!

Not sure what the hell happened to the sound.  But it does make me want to drink Tona.

Join the Victoria or Tona debate on Flickr. 

According to NicaLiving, in their adult beverage vote, the answer is neither.  You're better off with Flor De Cana.

More beer info here. They're not impressed with Tona:

"... I don't believe I've ever seen a more colorless liquid with alcohol levels in the range of normal beer. It's unappetizing to look at with a sickly, anemic appearance that reminds me of starved mongrels, with mangy fur clinging to their bones."

Aww, it looked so good in the commercial.

Learn Spanish the Smart Way

Language teacher and blogger Simon of Amstelladagain who writes of "life, linguistics and laphroaig" in Hungary has been giving me some tips on getting to grips with Spanish.

The following was originally in my comments section here but deserved a post of its own.

The pic is of me in Antiqua, Guatemala, four years ago when I spent a week doing Spanish lessons at the outset of a Central American tour.   I have to admit, I was hopeless.

Café Society: The Rise of Consumers with a Conscience

From The Independent:

Over the past 16 years Nicaragua has been undergoing a silent revolution, led by one of the most impoverished sections of society, the peasant farmers, or campesinos. It is a revolution that fundamentally challenges the traditional free market and its neo-liberal economics, which favours paying farmers the lowest price possible, leaving them powerless to do anything but sell direct to the multinationals at prices they dictate.

It is a revolution that has allowed a group of people to produce, market and sell their produce on their own terms and in so doing challenge the multinationals that still dominate the trade.

Continue reading here.

My Future Home.

Granada, Nicaragua, originally uploaded by retro traveller.

Included simply because I can't wait to get there.