Month: May 2016

Hipicas is the roving horse show that comes to most of the major and minor cities throughout the year in Nicaragua. It is a reason for a town to have a big party, and although it comes with pickpockets and thieves from the big cities and plenty of beer, it is also a great time to watch people, get dressed up, and see some amazing animals!

Today was Hipica in Masatepe and it did not disappoint! The idea is to watch a parade of big, beautiful, well-groomed horses sidestep and dance their way through the city. You could feel the anticipation in the town on the days leading up- whitewashing of the curbs of the parade route, stores closing early, and the Tona (local beer) entourage coming down our street last night complete with a large mechanical bull and scantily clad dancing women.

The rumor was that it started at two, so at three we went to find our place on the curb a few blocks down. We waited about another hour before we saw the beginnings of the parade. During that time we were entertained by people dressed up in their best western clothes, many of them strutting through the parade route hoping that others would see them in their finest.

At the same time that we were watching, we were definitely also being watched. We tend to stand out and this was no exception. At one point a rather gregarious drunk man was about to walk past us, then caught Stephen out of the corner of his eye and yelled, “Chele!” (This is the polite way to say “white boy”.) He welcomed us to his country, and spent the next few minutes talking very loudly at us.

The noise is a main part of every Nicaraguan celebration we have been a part of; at one end of the block are six speakers playing music, and in intervening locations there were two mariachi bands playing at full volume, horses are coming through, and people are talking loudly. I usually come away from any event- church or party with a bit of a void in my ears.

These horses really are amazing! They are huge Clydesdale types (different Spanish breeds), and they are such a contrast to the boney work horses that we see daily pass in front of our window. And in a celebration of the well-dressed and beautiful horses, you also see the poor old woman collecting empty beer cans in order to make a little money.

As the parade continued, storm clouds were building in the East. It went from a few big drops, to a total downpour in a few minutes. The rain equals the playing field between the wealthy and the poor. We grabbed our plastic chairs, put them on our heads and made our way back to our house, glad we had experienced a bit more of Masatepe!

 

 

Our House

When we arrived in the beginning of February, we thought that we would look around Masatepe for a few days, find a house and settle in. We were wrong. Many of you remember that we were “on the farm” for the first month and a half before we settled into our present home.

We are very thankful for this house, which is just 4 blocks down the road from the café and office that we work in. It is spacious, has a garage, and the front room is a great shade of blue.

I think the quirks of the house, though, are a lot more interesting.

We have a white, shiney, tile floor. This would be a wonderful thing if I lived by myself, in an air conditioned house with a maid, but the reality is that we have a neighbor who makes sawdust which waffs into our house on a daily basis. I also have a husband and two cats leaving tracks in the dust, until this week when the rainy season started; now they are tracks of mud!

The back wall of our bedroom and the side wall of our kitchen are actually the retaining wall of our neighbor. This house was built to exactly fit into the space that was left. Our kitchen has one wall that slants out by three feet, making the kitchen kind of an optical illusion!

Before Stephen added another breaker, we had lights that would flick on and off throughout the night, and we could not run the fan, the widow maker in the shower and the electric frying pan at the same time. Now we are down to just not being able to shower and cook at the same time!

Stephen describes our back patio as the outside facility for solitary confinement. It is a 20 by 10 foot space with 12 foot high walls and barbed wire. It is the laundry facility, workshop, plant growing, cat box, and water tank location.

Our water tank is a wonderful blessing because when the city turns the water off daily, this is our backup water. If we forget to close the tank, it will run over causing what sounds like torrential downpour in our back patio.

A few other tidbits: Our bedroom has no window making it about 5 degrees warmer than the rest of the house, we rarely flush toilet paper (L), we have a sink with running water that does not have a drain, we have one bathroom where the bats hang out (we don’t use that one!), our front door has six ways to secure/lock it, our windows are barred but they are also always open, an orange cat can fit through the glass slates just perfectly, allowing him to bring birds into the house, and a grey cat enjoys taking the metal drains out if the showers at night for entertainment!

In closing, just one more thing: The other day, I called a local business to have them deliver three large bottles of water. I had not given my name, but was starting to give them directions. I was interrupted with the question (in Spanish of course), “Are you the teacher of Iris?”

I said, “Yes”, and they replied that they knew where to deliver it. Now that is service (and small town living)!