24 June 2009

Nicaragua Day 1

[Yes I know it's Wednesday (probably now Thursday on the East Coast), but it's been a little crazy here. There's a lot to tell, so please be patient!]

Our first Sunday in Nicaragua was a day of welcoming. La Merced evolved from a sister parish exchange with Father Castro's parish in Managua and the St. Francis parish in Salisbury. Consequently, Sunday morning found us warmly received in the mass at Father Castro's church. (I am not Catholic, so I'm sure I'm using all the wrong terms. Bear with me!)

Nancy Weller, one of La Merced's organizer, participated in the Mass; towards the end of the service, a young couple performed a traditional dance, and afterward, we were invited to a phenomenal breakfast with many of the parishioners including Father, a doctor we would be working with at the hospital, and a guy named Jerry (along with his wife) who would be taking us out for the day.





The afternoon was spent at the Masaya national park, an active volcano site not far out of the city. I wish I hadn't been so tired from the weekend; I would have captured a lot more of the natural phenomena we saw. It reminded me very much of Réunion, where Megan studied abroad for a year. (Also a volcanic island, but located in the Indian Ocean).

Like Réunion, one of the volcanoes is currently active (Masaya), sending up steam like smoke signals. A sign at the entrance to a trail leading to a viewing point warned of the gasses, and to leave immediately if they were emitted. No word, however, on how one would know. Pretty sure they would be invisible... would there be a smell? A warning siren? Any clue? The other interesting thing was everyone is required to back their cars into the parking spaces. No doubt for a quick getaway.





After Masaya, we went shopping at Mercadio Viejo (an artisan market). Really cool handicrafts, and I didn't see one 'made in China' tag. How refreshing. Especially since China (and Argentina) are supposedly cozying up to Ortega after the US pulled foreign aid from Nicaragua.

The main handicrafts of Nicaragua seem to be hammocks, coffee, really cool wood bowls and cutting boards, dolls, blouses/shirts, and woven mats.

We stopped for dinner at a great outdoor restaurant on our way back to the hotel. Notable item: the piña coladas were the best ever. And yes, it's plural. I had two!
On our way home, we made one last stop at Laguna de Masaya. It was getting dark when we arrived. It was a carnival atmosphere. Little shops lined the street approaching the lagoon. Families with children and couples were everywhere. Street musicians were performing. I was expecting to walk towards the lagoon and find a beach with people relaxing and playing in the sand.

Instead, we came to an overlook with benches placed sporadically amphitheater style. The place was indeed full of people sitting, running, laughing, and playing. But there was no sand. The center attraction: the view of the lagoon, an ancient crater, nestled among gentle hills far below.

21 June 2009

Arrival in Managua

After sitting on the runway for an extra hour in Atlanta while the crew raced around looking for H1N1 symptoms forms we all had to fill out, we finally made it. I met up with the rest of my party easily enough. They had arrived about a half hour before and were still standing in customs when I found them.

The hotel we're staying in is very nice. And there's wireless Internet. What's not to like?

The doctors of La Merced are working in conjunction with the Catholic parish in Salisbury and the local one here in Managua. Consequently, they work very closely here with the church. Tomorrow we will be rising early for breakfast and then Mass. I believe they will take us around the city after that for an overview and a bit of history.

The real work will kick in on Monday. Stay tuned. Hopefully there will be some pics to post with tomorrows.

Really, I haven't slept in 42 hours (well, except for maybe 2.5 hours on a plane), so tomorrow's post should be a bit more interesting!

20 June 2009

Fernando's victory

Nicaragua adventure begins

After leaving Salisbury at 2am this morning, and two airports later, I'm at the Atlanta Int'l airport furiously editing boxing pics from last night's fight. Hopefully the guys at The Boxing Bulletin will get them in time for their post. (http://theboxingbulletin.blogspot.com/)

5:15pm is fast approaching, which means boarding time for Managua. The last leg in an arduous day! Looking forward to meeting the rest of La Merced (the medical group I'll be working with), and getting a good night's sleep!.

16 June 2009

freeing a stuck cd/dvd from your macbook

This happened to a friend of mine yesterday. I read her cry for help on facebook. She had been burning dvds, and one just refused to eject, and her macbook wouldn't mount it.

Several other people had already offered such helpful advice as: 'pray', 'make an appointment with the genius bar' and 'first, find a tiny screwdriver...'

Here is the simple remedy: restart your laptop. As soon as the apple appears, repeatedly press the eject button, holding for about a second at a time. The disk should eject.

02 June 2009

I click with Dick Blick

Okay. This post is a shameless promo for Dick Blick. For those not in the know, he has art and framing supplies at the best prices I've been able to find anywhere on the web.

I've been hit (really, blessed) with two solo exhibitions at once. Very cool. However, that does mean I need to print and mat and frame all of the artwork for both exhibits. One involves 16 (12 x 18) prints framed to 18 x 24. The second involves 12 (11 x 14) prints framed to 16 x 20. That's 28 mats and frames in all.

For the 18 x 24, I bought mats from db for $5.12 ea. (with quantity discount), and very nice wood-based, streamlined gallery frames for $20 ea. Michael's 50% off wall frames sale couldn't beat that price.

Living in Maryland means no sales tax, and orders over $200 have free shipping.

Naturally with so many frames coming in so many large boxes, there was bound to be a hiccup. Today, when I unwrapped one of the 16x20's, the frame had come apart at the corners and was slightly dinged in. I suspect it was pulled from the wrong place, as it was not shrink-wrapped like the others. I called customer service and they are sending out a replacement right away, no need to box up and ship the frame back to them. Very quick and easy.

So, that's my shameless plug. I was kind of lost going in to this regarding where to find (and afford) everything I needed to bring these shows together. I'm sharing the info here in the hopes it will save someone else the time and research!