Our last day here is wiled away, not much of anything. I wrote out
who we need gifts for and we decided all but one of the presents can
be Nicaraguan rum, so there's not really much shopping to do...
Two interesting wanders. One, an organic restaurant run by this
American PhD nutritionist lady. Pricey and delicious isn't surprising
or particularly noteworthy, but talking to the lady who started it is.
We tell her about Amanda's natural cleaning products business, some
of my ever-expanding list of green things to build, etc.
permaculture-y miscellany. She's interested in getting more frequent
information and how to advocate permaculture here, so we'll forward
her the details for some of Austin's green listservs. She'll be more
than sated with sustainability spam:)
Two, a memorial to peace commissioned by the first female president in
Central America, who was also the first non-Sandinista in power after
Somoza. It's cement almost but not quite fully concealing a tank and
many many assault rifles (probably all U.S. and U.S.S.R. supplied, as
one of many hot spots in the Not-So-Cold War). Hopefully these stay
cemented in Nicaragua's past, but don't be so sure: our taxi driver
doesn't rule out current gas prices / the transport strike leading to
President Ortega's government being violently overthrown. My Spanish
is sub-shaky, but Amanda translates to ~ "Everybody over 40 knows how
to use handguns and all kinds of other weapons. It's not like we
haven't done it before. When food runs out in Managua (commercial
trucks have largely joined the strike) if this isn't resolved in 2
more weeks, things will get much worse." Disconcertingly ready for
violent rebellion, but at least your average taxi driver here seems to
give half a flying fuck about what's going on in the world. Et tu,
U.S.? Or are we all too busy buying bigger flat-screen plasma TVs to
watch Brittney (sp) Spears shave her head?
Enough rant. Ending on a positive note, I'm not ending this trip like
I have others. There isn't a cubicle I'm dreading waiting to devour
my soul, nor are there classes I'm about to sleep through. I've got
ideas to work on and other adventures to plan. Yeah, spending needs
decreased, I may do some bartending, and I have laughably little
actual skill at all things engineering-, constructing-, and
adventuring-related. But it's all part of the adventure. I leave
Nicaragua not dreading return but right into more adventures, come
hell, high water, or even electrocution from malfunctioning attempts
at innovation:)