Sabana Grande

Sorry that it has been a while since my last update.

We spent one night in Granada last weekend since the Sabana Grande people were going there. While there, we went around to some of the various old churches, and were able to go up to the bell towers of some of them for a great view of the city.

However the most interesting part was the zipline tour through mombacho volcano. Mombacho is a dormant volcano that has been overgrown with rainforest, and the tour was amazing. Eveything was very safe, and we got some great views of the forest. There were a total of 8 lines with the longest being 100 meters in length.

More currently, Tim and I are spending time in Sabana Grande this week as there was little work for us at Suni, and the volunteers at Sabana were having trouble getting everything done. So far we´ve worked on repairing a wind turbine, (Almost done, we got it to produce charge, but we still need to remount it) and developed a way to recycle paper to make labels for the solar cooked coffee that the women sell. Assuming we have time, we are going to attempt to build a vertical axis wind turbine since we have all of the parts that we need.

Volcano!

We have had a rather interesting past few days. Last week we started to clean up, paint, and set up a stall at a fair for Suni. This fair is held for 10 days every year, and any business can sell products there without tax (this is important as the tax in Nicaragua is 15%). It is a very large event drawing people from all of Central America, and includes all manner of prize animals, solar voltaic systems, even mattess companies. It is set to start on Friday, and there is supposed to be a rather exquisite opening ceremony which we will attend if time permits.

One odd experience we had was disposing of a bunch of scrap wood left in the stall. We first piled the larger pieces into a pickup, and then drove through a nearby poor neighborhood, and dumped it in the street when we found locals that wanted it for firewood. It would be the equivalent of dumping a trash bag in the middle of Akron.

The second load was wood scraps not worth burning, so we took it to the nearby Managua solid waste district. The dump was a rather sad place, as there were hundreds of people sorting through the trash, looking for scraps of metal to salvage and sell. It was very sad to see.

On a brighter note, we went to Masaya Volcano National Park this past Saturday. There are 4 main craters clustered together, 2 active and 2 dormant, along with other smaller volcanic features.

You can see some pictures from one of the active craters which is constantly smoking.

The second active crater is directly behind the other, but does not smoke.

We were able to completely hike around the dormant crater, which now has a forest inside of it. There were park rangers along the edge to guide people, and it provided a great view. At one point you are literally on a 4 ft wide trail between the 2 dormant craters, with an excellent view into both. The whole park was very interesting and well maintained, with an informative visitor's center at the base of the mountain.

All of the craters in this part of Nicaragua are shield type volcanoes, meaning that they are not overly tall, and tend to have large lava flows rather than violent explosions with more gas than lava (though these types exist here too off of the northwestern coast)

That's all for now and 21 days left!

Leon

This past weekend, Tim and I met up with the other UD volunteers at the city of Leon (pronounced lay-own) for 2 days and one night. The city had many interesting things to offer; including volcano boarding (we did not do this). We did however have a great time at the beach at las peñitas, about an hour bus ride out of the city. Once again, this was a tourist location so we had some good old American food (cheeseburger never tasted so good) and met other English speaking people. The beach itself was beautiful and you can see in the pictures.



The black sand and rocks are due to the area's volcanic origins. Pumice and other volcanic signs are common place through Nicaragua which still has many geologically active sites.



We stayed at the beach for a few hours before heading back, taking the time to enjoy ourselves and relax. That night we all went out for dinner before turning in for the night.

The next day was more or less uneventful as we had to leave early, but we first looked around some of the local markets for anything interesting, though most of it was the same type of trinkets we encountered in Granada.

I'm not sure what this next week will entail. I know at some point before we leave we want to see the volcano at Masaya which is still an active volcano with many interesting sights to offer.

Weekend in Granada

Well, we just got back from Granada yesterday; it was a fun trip for most of us (the healthy ones).
We left on Saturday after meeting Dan and Nathan at Papa John's for lunch at Galerias Santo Domingo, the really nice mall in the city. Also it should be noted that Papa John's is a nice sit down restaurant here, not just a carry out place like in the U.S.
(Pictures are of the Mall and of us in Papa John's).





After lunch, we took a cab to the mini-buses that run to Granada and Masaya. It's always funny to walk past these as the drivers shout continuously and point at passersby on the platforms as if they just might convince you to take an impromptu trip... Anyways, we arrived about an hour later in Granada and made our way to the hotel we were staying at. This place was actually rather nice by American standards and even had a small pool. We relaxed there for a bit, and then explored the central park area of the city. There were a few interesting shops and street vendors, but most of the stuff was junk, large gaudy jewelry, or other random trinkets. We went to a local restaurant to eat that evening, and even though it was a very nice restaurant in a tourist city, the meals were about 7 a person including a drink.

The next morning, Tim and I had to make a quick stop at an island in the nearby lake to assess a house that the owner wants to power with renewable energy. The lady (a resident of California who inherited the island from her father) has many different ideas of what she wants to do with the place, but regardless she wanted to have a solar/wind system. The island itself was very nice; covered in mango trees and baby parrots that willingly will let you hold them.



Following the appraisal, we rejoined the others in the city and relaxed for the day as we were fairly tired. (Pool, reading, internet at the hotel).

On Monday morning, we decided to rent bikes ($1.00/hr) and to go around the city. We saw many interesting landmarks, churches, and an old cemetery where several Nicaraguan presidents are buried. After about two hours, the sun had started to get to us and we returned and hung out at the pool.

Tim had been feeling slightly ill for the majority of the trip, but got somewhat worse that night, so we took him to a local clinic where the Doctor diagnosed him with a bronchial infection. The clinic itself was... interesting. It wasn't dirty, but it was not up to American standards at all. Either way, the medicine seems to be helping as Tim is getting better.

The following morning we returned to Managua, and I went to Suni to get a few things done while Tim relaxed and tried to get better.

I am uploading several more pictures to the slideshow above, take a look!