Weekly Photo Challenge: Ruta de Evacuacion

The Great Escape? Thanks to a comment on my blog by Frizztext, I have to add another Weekly Photo Challenge to my interpretation of escape.

You see, we have an active volcano in our backyard. Ruta de Evacuacion signs are posted all over the island in case Vulcan Concepcion decides to wake up from her three-year hibernation. Yes! You heard right! It’s only been three years since she erupted. These evacuation signs are hysterical. They are posted in every business, along the roads, and even in the cattle fields.

Ron and I are ready, though! We figure that we can kayak off the island until the coast is clear. When Concepcion erupts, she burps ash. It’s scattered like a thin dusting of dirty snow over everything. The great escape? We’re prepared!

Where ya gonna go when the volcano blows?

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Escape! Go Fly a Kite

“Throw your dreams into space like a kite, and you do not know what it will bring back, a new life, a new friend, a new love, a new country.” ~ Anais Nin

Escape…dream…release…disappear…
When one yearns to run away..to slam the door on reality…to shut out the stresses of everyday life…
Go fly a kite…throw your dreams into space and await the wondrous surprises.

“Imagination is the highest kite one can fly”~ Lauren Bacall

“True courage is like a kite; a contrary wind raises it higher” ~
John Petit-Senn

The optimist pleasantly ponders how high his kite will fly; the pessimist woefully wonders how soon his kite will fall.

~ William Arthur Ward

Thanks to my son, Cory, for the above photo. Isn’t it incredible?

Weekly Photo Challenge: Storytelling Patterns

“Creativity involves breaking out of established patterns in order to look at things in a different way.”
― Terry Tempest Williams, When Women Were Birds: Fifty-four Variations on Voice 

 

Living abroad has increased my creativity. I’ve broken out of established patterns enabling me to look at the world with eyes without borders. I have become a storyteller, seeking tales in patterns of life.

“Humans are pattern-seeking story-telling animals, and we are quite adept at telling stories about patterns, whether they exist or not.”
― Michael Shermer

Weekly Photo Challenge: New Life From Above

“The trick to forgetting the big picture is to look at everything close up.” ― Chuck Palahniuk

And, I might add….from above. Mama hen stepped off her nest to get a bite to eat. While she was gone, a chick hatched.

Life is all about perspective. The little chick could have thought this:

“The hens they all cackle, the roosters all beg, But I will not hatch, I will not hatch. For I hear all the talk of pollution and war As the people all shout and the airplane roar, So I’m staying in here where it’s safe and it’s warm, And I WILL NOT HATCH!”~ Shel Silverstein

Instead, the chick thought this:

“Ready for a new life” ― Sylvia Plath

Meanwhile I thought this:

“If you want a new life,  first give praise for having the old one!”
         ― Stephen Richards

Weekly Photo Challenge: Parades of Culture

If you really want to experience the culture in Nicaragua, then go to a parade. Bombas burst, drummers rat-tat-a-tat, horns blast soulfully, and vendors shout enthusiastically. Vibrant colors assault the eyes, while smells of perfumed flowers and freshly shampooed hair swirl through the crowds. Sweat drops on freshly pressed costumes, children lick  melted drips of ice cream from their chins, while La Gigantona entices the crowds with fruit laden hats and remembrances of traditions of long ago.  Everyone loves parades in Nicaragua…and I’m no exception.

Faces of Los Ramos

“Family faces are magic mirrors looking at people who belong to us, we see the past, present, and future” Gail Lumet Buckley

 

Faces in the community of Los Ramos. Thanks to Santiago and Ever for the photos.

 

“Masks beneath masks until suddenly the bare bloodless skull.” ― Salman Rushdie, The Satanic Verses

“His dress told her nothing, but his face told her things which she was glad to know.”
― A.A. Milne, Once on a Time

“For a moment at least, be a smile on someone else’s face.”
― Dejan Stojanovic, The Sun Watches the Sun

“Age should not have its face lifted, but it should rather teach the world to admire wrinkles as the etchings of experience and the firm line of character.” ― Clarence Day

Keep your face to the sunshine and you cannot see a shadow. ~Helen Keller

“When I look at the smiles on all the children’s faces, I just know they’re about to jab me with something.” Dan Castellaneta

“Every child needs a champion.” ― Hillary Rodham Clinton

 

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Heads Up!

Life is a balancing act. You need to keep your head up and your feet on the ground, while allowing your heart to go wherever it pleases! ~Susan Gale

I spend entirely too much time with my nose to the ground in Nicaragua. There are hidden dangers lurking in the forms of scorpions, red ants, and biting centipedes. Yet, I need to remember that life is a balancing act. There are beautiful surprises awaiting when I choose to hold my head up high!

Coconuts, the life force of Nicaragua.

Hidden among the fronds are vampire bats.
Our Peras are ripe. A new batch of apple sauce and Pera pie is on the way.
The bananas have a couple of months left before they are ripe.
If we can only keep the Howler monkeys from nibbling on the bananas!
Our orchid is blooming, strung high in the nancite tree.
Marvin’s welding mask is strung high in the water tower. Our new water supply is almost finished.
My new Moroccan lamp shines colorfully in the darkness reminding me to keep my head up and my feet on the ground, for life is truly a balancing act.

My heart will always be free to roam, wherever it pleases. Thank you, my precious Nicaragua.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Opening Colorful Doors

Follow your bliss and the universe will open doors where there were only walls.~Joseph Campbell

Weekly Photo Challenge: A Good Friday

Ron returned from the states yesterday bearing gifts for all. This morning, after completing my outdoor chores, my two favorite girls came to visit. Lourdes wanted to make cupcakes for Semana Santa. So, I sent her to the side porch to see if there were any eggs in the box. “Dos huevos,” she shouted. “Perfecto,” I responded. Just enough for cupcakes. She mixed, blended, and gleefully decorated two dozen cupcakes.

Then, Johnson and his girlfriend arrived. Last week, Johnson came to my house to visit. He pulled a plastic bag out of his backpack and said, “I have a present for you. It is something for your house.”  His gift to me was his Survivor Run trophy mask. “Johnson, are you sure you want to give your trophy mask to me?” I said kind of teary eyed because I was so touched that he would give his trophy to me. “Of course,” he responded as if I had asked him if he wanted a glass of water.

Johnson is the most humble and gracious person I know. He never complains and works extremely hard to better himself. His goal is to be in the 2016 Olympics as a marathon runner representing Nicaragua. Yet, he has no good running shoes. “Johnson, come here,” I said as I directed him to my laptop. “Pick out a pair of good running shoes. I’ll order then online and Ron can bring them back from the states.”

Today, Johnson tried on his new running shoes. They fit him perfectly. I am so grateful that I can do just a little thing to help him meet his goal.

Next, Marvin and his daughter, Lauren stopped by with a warm, delicious bowl of alvimer. It is a traditional Semana Santa dish of sweet mixed fruit. In exchange, we gave Lauren some Mardi Gras beads that Ron found at his sister’s house in the states.

Soon, Cory, Tina, and Sam arrived. It was a hot afternoon. We are on our second day without running water. AGAIN! It was either go swimming or eat watermelon and play spoons. We opted for both. After teaching all of our Nicaraguan visitors how to play spoons, we joined the crowd swimming on our beach.

At sundown, we watched to cormorants chatting with each other. Then, everyone headed home. Ron and I settled down to a light supper of toasted cheese sandwiches. We still don’t have any running water and I didn’t feel like using my bottled water to wash any dishes.

This evening, I voted for my Cradlepoint Entry. I was trying to win a mini-iPad for Ron, but he bought a new laptop in the states. Now, I have a new goal in mind. I’m trying to hep my young friend, Ever, win this mini-iPad. Ever is the head guide in the Los Ramos rural tourism program. He really needs the internet to communicate with tourists interested in the Los Ramos cultural immersion programs. Presently, my son does all the communication. So, if you can find it in your heart to vote for Ever, please go to this Facebook page to vote. You must have a Facebook account to vote. You can vote every 24 hours until April 12th. Thank you so much for your help.

I’m working on my Weekly Photo Challenge post..a day in the life of…while Ron is passed out on the couch watching basketball games.
It has been a good Friday. Full of love, friends, gifts, and fun. It would have been perfect if we had running water! Feliz Semana Santa!

Johnson’s trophy mask

Johnson and his nephew, Dustin

Lourdes makes cupcakes

My two favorite girls

The cormorants chat on a branch

A crowded ferry passes by our house

A chicken in a box

Yummy alvimer

Teaching our visitors how to play spoons

A Semana Santa beach day

Johnson’s new running shoes

Writing my Weekly Photo Challenge

Sound asleep

Lauren’s Mardi Gras beads

Picking jicotes

Vote for Ever

Weekly Photo Challenge: The Future of Water

This week’s phoneography challenge is to freeze a promise of things to come. As we celebrate UN World Water Day, March 22, 2013, I am advocating for the sustainable management of freshwater resources.  Sealed in amber, my phone photos represent a peek at our future of water, unless we take steps to conserve, reuse, and manage our freshwater resources responsibly.

Lake Cocibolca is at record lows. Fishing boats are stranded in mud flats. To complicate matters, we have not had any running water in our homes for four days.
Our beach resembles a moon-like surface. Although we are surrounded by a sweet sea, our water is poorly managed and becoming increasingly scarce.
Without running water, we are forced to wade beyond the shallow, warm, algae infested water to bathe, wash clothes, and perform other necessities of life.
Aquatic midges, known locally as chayules, feed on the algae. When the wind blows from the lake, they swarm our house blanketing everything in a dust of carcasses and an odor of dead fish.
We are the fortunate ones. We can dig a well, buy a pump, and build a tower to hold a large water tank. But, most of the locals don’t have the means to buy an alternative water source. They continue to haul water, sometimes for miles with babies clinging to their backs.

Water facts in Latin America and the Caribbean
1. 32 million people without water access in Latin America and the Caribbean
2. Sewage from less than 14% at houses is treated at sanitation plants.
3. Major financial constraints restrict the abilities of national and local governments to address all of the water needs simultaneously.
4. Many major lakes and river basins are under great strain from growing populations and decades of agricultural run-off, including Lake Cocibolca, the 11th largest freshwater lake in the world.
5. The periodic effects of the changes in the Pacific ocean current, known as El Niño, alternately brings large-scale droughts and more severe storms. ( We are in a drought period, now. Two years ago, we had severe storms that flooded the lake.)
6. Transboundary water issues require diplomacy and management models that can provide rational water allocation, while respecting country sovereignty. Costa Rica and Nicaragua have battled over water rights to the Rio San Juan for decades.

What can you do?

Take action, spread the word, and create an awareness of the future of water.

 

Three Little Kittens

Last July, we had a rat problem in the garden. We didn’t want to use poison because we have ten free-range chickens, plus all the neighbors chickens and other critters come to our gringo house to graze.  Instead, we contacted a friend who lives in Granada to see about getting a cat.

We consider ourselves to be dog people, and we weren’t too familiar with the ways of cats. We only wanted one cat, but things didn’t work out that way. “Will you take two kittens?” Carol asked. “They are brother and sister. Poor babies were thrown in the Granada dump,” she pleaded. I relented. What’s one more kitten?

A few days later, the foster mom of our two kittens called. “I just got another kitten about the same age as the brother and sister,” she said. “They love one another. This little kitten was thrown over a wall in Granada and left to die,” she pleaded. I relented again. What’s one more kitten?

When the kittens were old enough to be spayed and neutered, our foster-mother took them to a free clinic in Granada operated by Donna Tabor. See her blog here with heartwarming stories.

Last September, we became full-fledged cat people. Our cats have adjusted to life on Ometepe Island. There is never a dull moment with Black Jack, Queenie, and Ocho.

Ocho loves to fish

Their first ferry ride

Curious kittens inspect the construction site

Ocho curls up in my pottery shards

Sleeping between our laptops

Always sucking on one another

Chickens? Oh boy!

Time to relax

Queenie is the queen of the finca

Bringing the kittens home

Naptime

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: Hora de Almorzar

The weekly photo challenge is all about lunchtime. Check out the weekly photo challenge HERE. All of the photos, except the vegetable truck, were taken with my new-to-me iPhone 3Gs. It’s lunchtime on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua! Everyone helps to prepare lunch, the largest meal of the day for a Nicaraguan family.

The vegetable truck comes to our door every Friday. We choose the freshest veggies, all homegrown on the island.

Don Jose, our 78 year young neighbor, hacks away at our fallen tree with his machete. Our neighbors need firewood to prepare lunch.
Stephen gathers our sweet mangoes, while his grandfather cuts firewood. The mangoes will make a tasty dessert.
Meanwhile, Dustin snacks on a juicy jicote, similar to a plum. ( I had to retouch this photo. Dustin wasn’t wearing any underwear or pants. jeje)

Our chickens wait in line to lay eggs under the pollo grill. We never lack fresh eggs around the finca.
Rafaela isn’t neglected either. She’s neighing for a fresh carrot from the vegetable truck.
Black Jack, one of our three rescue kittens, inspects our produce. “Anything good to eat here?”
The avocados will have to wait for tomorrow’s lunch. They aren’t quite ripe. But, the tangerines are ready!
Don Jose stokes the fire. Lunch is almost ready. “Hora de amorzar?” the kids ask.
Lunch is almost ready. A big pot of gallo pinto, a fresh egg omelet, and lots of handpicked fruit. Everyone helps prepare lunch in Nicaragua. It’s my favorite time of the day, the hora de almorzar.

 

Weekly Photo Challenge: I Once was Lost but Now Am Found

Amazing Grace, how sweet the sound,
That saved a wretch like me.
I once was lost but now am found,
Was blind, but now I see.

In our last trip to Playa Gigante, I got lost in the expanse of the beautiful desolate beach.
Yet, hidden beneath my feet and within the broad expanse, were wondrous details.
Ancient trees told tales of weathering storms and drifting among the high seas.
Their branches pointed to places they yearned to return, as they whispered harrowing tales of long ago.
Barnacles clung to a new life.
Flowers and gently sailing leaves landed silently in tide pools, floating peacefully.
Snails left trails of tears as they meandered through the sand.
The amazing grace of this wondrous miniature world saved me. I lost my place in this huge world, but found it again through the miracles beneath my feet.  I was blind, but now I see.

Weekly Photo Challenge: Moving Forward

Advancing…always moving forward…athletes from around the world participate in the Fuego y Agua Ultramarathon Survival Run on Ometepe Island, Nicaragua

Advancing with heavy logs..pushing their endurance to the max.

Advancing with 50 pound stacks of firewood..testing their limits of strength

Advancing into possibly shark infested waters…testing their fears of the unknown

Advancing with 20 ft bamboo poles up the volcano..testing balance

Advancing through cloud forests and jungles…testing agility

Advancing with humor, kissing a live chicken for 5 miles….always moving forward with a positive and determined attitude.

Weekly Photo Challenge: When a Kiss is More Than Just a Kiss

A kiss is almost always more than just a kiss. It is a language with its own grammar…a recipe of love with unique ingredients. People actually have careers studying kissing; they are called philematologists. Kisses are classified into three categories: the “basium,” for the standard romantic kiss; the “osculum,” for the friendship kiss; and the “savium,” the most passionate kind, sometimes referred to as a French kiss.

But, in Nicaragua I’ve encountered another kind of kiss, which I’ll call “desolo” or the Latin word for abandoned. Eight years ago, I lent my camera to my 10-year-old neighbor, Luvy. Her mother was visiting from Costa Rica where she was working as a maid to support her family on Ometepe Island. When Luvy’s mother returned for a short visit, I told Luvy to record her most precious moments on my camera and I would print the pictures for her.

For most of Luvy’s young life, her mother lived in Costa Rica. Luvy’s elderly father cared for her and her household of siblings and extended family members.  At the age of seven, Luvy bent over the cooking fire preparing meals for her family, as well as tending to the daily needs of her younger nieces and nephews who lived with them.

When Luvy was a teenager, her mother returned to live with them. Sadly, Luvy still lives with a feeling of abandonment, as do most of the younger Nicaraguan children whose parents leave them to find work in Costa Rica. Luvy turns 19 next week. She is following in her mother’s footsteps by moving to Costa Rica to find work. I desperately wish we could stop this perpetual cycle of abandonment.

The photo above has a happier ending. This is Bobby’s dog, Luna. Bobby died a little over a year ago abandoning Luna. She was placed in a loving foster home for a short time, until the woman could no longer care for her. Finding loving homes for pets in Nicaragua is not easy. First, most Nicaraguans don’t understand the concept of pets. Second, Bobby pampered Luna, again something unheard of in Nicaragua.

My friend, Carol, came to the rescue. She lovingly opened her home to Luna. Last week, when we were visiting Granada, we stopped in to say hello to Luna. Very grateful and sloppy Luna kisses smothered Carol with love.

Next time you happen upon kissing, remember that a kiss may look deceptively simple, but a kiss is almost never just a kiss.