What I learned today:
Be bold, or miss out on meeting people who can make a difference.
After yesterday's trek I'm looking forward to a hot shower this morning to work out my shoulder kinks. (Darn that tote!)
There is no hot water in the shower. I wait, letting it run for a minute, despite my aversion to running water for the sake of running it. Hot never comes. Not even tepid. I position myself against the shower wall and thrust one body part at a time under the spray because even in a hot climate mornings are cool and cold water won't make me feel better.
Done.
I learn from one of the owners that they paid the contractor $5000 to hook up a hot water system. He took the money but didn't do the work, which they found out the hard way. But in Nicaragua it's not unusual not to have hot water in the bathroom because cold showers are acceptable for the hot climate. Oh, well.
Breakfast: papaya and white pineapple (Never saw that before. Mild, sweet and delicious), a huge double croissant, juice and tea. I'm feeling human again.
To the pharmacy for sunscreen because two large containers were confiscated at the Philly airport by TSA. When I declined paying the $125 third bag fee for the tote I forgot the two containers in the tote. Definitely more than 3.5 ounces. The security scanner caught the containers. Gone.
Pharmacy has typical Latin country division of labor - one person serves you, another takes your money, and a third bags or wraps it. All accompanied by various pieces of paper. An advantage is that you can buy just a few of certain things if that's all you need. Like BandAids. Buy one or a box.
Decide to walk to Lake Nicaragua which sits about a mile from the start of a long wide street called La Calzada. The Calzada is a tourist hodge-podge: about as wide as Walnut St. in Philly, but with narrower sidewalks, tables everywhere, including in the street, bars, cafes, restaurants, "art" galleries (poor quality for tourists), hotels, guesthouses, noise, music, cars, motorcycles, bicycles. Your basic tourist hangout. Much quieter during the day.
It's a long, hot and humid (90 degrees) two-mile roundtrip down and back up the Calzada. About half-way back I notice a group of men congregating at tables outside a cafe. They are speaking American English. Because there no women, they look to be in the 55-and-up age group, and are coming individually from different directions I deduce that they must be retired American expat residents.
So I approach them ("Bold as brass", as the nuns of my youth would say), introduce myself, and ask if they will allow me to pick their brains for a few minutes about why Nicaragua, why Granada etc. Turns out they are the Granada chapter of the American Legion. Polo shirts declaring such, complete with AL emblem.
They are about to start a meeting but answers to my questions start flying from all sides. Why Nicaragua? The low cost of living, fairly stable government, and of course, the people. Why Granada? Authentic colonial city, livable, and the people. Why not Costa Rica or Panama, both more developed? Most of them had lived in those places and left. Some of the fellows have been in Central America for almost 20 years, when it was rough-and-ready, and not yet trendy.
When the fellow next to me hears that I'm in Central America to do mission work he immediately pulls out pen and paper and tells me I have to contact Donna Tabor, an American former Peace Corps worker who is a mover and shaker in all things community outreach in Granada. Gives me her name and number.
Boldness pays off.
By this point I have been with them for a good fifteen minutes and realize I have delayed their meeting, so I thank them and leave.
Later I call Donna. She is friendly and agrees to meet me on Friday.
Life is chances and choices. Be bold and choose to take the chance or not. I always remember the words of Will Rogers, the American social commentator: Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is.
So far today has been a fruitful one.
Be bold, or miss out on meeting people who can make a difference.
After yesterday's trek I'm looking forward to a hot shower this morning to work out my shoulder kinks. (Darn that tote!)
There is no hot water in the shower. I wait, letting it run for a minute, despite my aversion to running water for the sake of running it. Hot never comes. Not even tepid. I position myself against the shower wall and thrust one body part at a time under the spray because even in a hot climate mornings are cool and cold water won't make me feel better.
Done.
I learn from one of the owners that they paid the contractor $5000 to hook up a hot water system. He took the money but didn't do the work, which they found out the hard way. But in Nicaragua it's not unusual not to have hot water in the bathroom because cold showers are acceptable for the hot climate. Oh, well.
Breakfast: papaya and white pineapple (Never saw that before. Mild, sweet and delicious), a huge double croissant, juice and tea. I'm feeling human again.
To the pharmacy for sunscreen because two large containers were confiscated at the Philly airport by TSA. When I declined paying the $125 third bag fee for the tote I forgot the two containers in the tote. Definitely more than 3.5 ounces. The security scanner caught the containers. Gone.
Pharmacy has typical Latin country division of labor - one person serves you, another takes your money, and a third bags or wraps it. All accompanied by various pieces of paper. An advantage is that you can buy just a few of certain things if that's all you need. Like BandAids. Buy one or a box.
Decide to walk to Lake Nicaragua which sits about a mile from the start of a long wide street called La Calzada. The Calzada is a tourist hodge-podge: about as wide as Walnut St. in Philly, but with narrower sidewalks, tables everywhere, including in the street, bars, cafes, restaurants, "art" galleries (poor quality for tourists), hotels, guesthouses, noise, music, cars, motorcycles, bicycles. Your basic tourist hangout. Much quieter during the day.
It's a long, hot and humid (90 degrees) two-mile roundtrip down and back up the Calzada. About half-way back I notice a group of men congregating at tables outside a cafe. They are speaking American English. Because there no women, they look to be in the 55-and-up age group, and are coming individually from different directions I deduce that they must be retired American expat residents.
So I approach them ("Bold as brass", as the nuns of my youth would say), introduce myself, and ask if they will allow me to pick their brains for a few minutes about why Nicaragua, why Granada etc. Turns out they are the Granada chapter of the American Legion. Polo shirts declaring such, complete with AL emblem.
They are about to start a meeting but answers to my questions start flying from all sides. Why Nicaragua? The low cost of living, fairly stable government, and of course, the people. Why Granada? Authentic colonial city, livable, and the people. Why not Costa Rica or Panama, both more developed? Most of them had lived in those places and left. Some of the fellows have been in Central America for almost 20 years, when it was rough-and-ready, and not yet trendy.
When the fellow next to me hears that I'm in Central America to do mission work he immediately pulls out pen and paper and tells me I have to contact Donna Tabor, an American former Peace Corps worker who is a mover and shaker in all things community outreach in Granada. Gives me her name and number.
Boldness pays off.
By this point I have been with them for a good fifteen minutes and realize I have delayed their meeting, so I thank them and leave.
Later I call Donna. She is friendly and agrees to meet me on Friday.
Life is chances and choices. Be bold and choose to take the chance or not. I always remember the words of Will Rogers, the American social commentator: Go out on a limb. That's where the fruit is.
So far today has been a fruitful one.
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