No, I didn’t decide to stay in California when I went to visit my family for the month of May. There were too many work projects that needed my attention upon my return to Nicaragua.
I moved to the original casita at the Gúzman Family compound where I lived when I first moved here full time several years ago. Carmen was kind enough to store my necessary items in the casita while I was in the US. My condo 1B is rented until mid-August.
Living in the village has it pluses and minuses. The first three weeks the water supply to the casita was not consistent. Fortunately I always have a 5 gal. bucket of water in the shower to use for emergencies, of which there were quite a few. Carmen finally got a separate reservoir tank that is perched in the tamarind tree behind the casita with the water flow dedicated to this casita. I rent the casita part of the building but Carmen’s new law office is attached to the front of the building so she wanted constant water there as well. I can take a cold shower everyday if I drum up the courage. Most days I opt out for putting my whole body under the shower head. Although I must admit, it does feel good when it is hot and sticky as it has been the past week. Rain is on the way for sure.
Back to chronology, the week after I returned to NI, Raman Basha arrived for the Basha Health Clinic in Nicaragua. We spent one week working at Carmen’s Spa where we worked for the past two Clinics. The second week Basha and I traveled to Pacaya Lodge and Spa at Laguna Apoyo to hold the Clinic there. Both weeks were a financial bust. Almost the whole week in Limón #2, it rained. The few ex-pats who were here wouldn’t travel through the muddy roads from Rancho Santana without a 4×4 vehicle. Basha who is the Energizer Bunny personified treated the locals and Gúzman family members gratis so there was some reward to him for NO surfing and very few paying patients.
The second week at Pacaya was like a vacation. Again, there were only two paying clients in a week. However, we were busy everyday treating Pacaya staff and their family members gratis. It was rewarding for sure since none of these individuals would ever be able to pay for acupuncture treatments, if they knew where to get them in Masaya or Managua. Basha and I enjoyed the wonderful rooms that we had and felt like it was a vacation for a week. Basha and I took the Pacaya shuttle to Granada one day. He took over 300 photos of the architecture. We took one of the horse drawn carriages—first time I have acted like a tourist in Granada—and had a great history lesson from our carriage driver to accompany the photos Basha took. The next day Basha went back again to Granada without me. I was waiting for my friend, Jan Lowrey, who came to stay with me at Pacaya for two days enroute back to her home in Mexico City. Jan and I, who love to adventure together, took Basha to San Juan de Oriente where he took another 200 + photos. Basha and Jan both came home with two ceramic pots each made by two published artisans. I paid for the commissioned ceramic pot Miguel Maldonado, one of the published artisans, made for me. Miguel is keeping my piece of art in his studio/store until I have a proper place for display in my new house.
It is a good thing that I had time on my hands at Pacaya because it took me almost four days to get the online application for exit visas for the mother and child who went to NY and Shriner’s Hospital in PHL almost three years ago. Hengel has grown and needs an arm prosthesis change plus he was promised a less primitive version at this visit. Let me tell you trying to do anything online with a government agency is a chore. There is almost more BS and redundancy than I can tolerate, although my goal was a successful appointment at the US Embassy for their exit interview. I finally accomplished the task and we all, Yajaira, Hengel, Bayron–yes this is the spelling–my driver and I went to Managua to the US Embassy for a 7:00 am appointment that meant we left Limón at 4:00 am. The appointment went well, thanks to our prayers, since both parents are supposed to attend and the father couldn’t get there. They got their visas and with only one other MAJOR glitch that required another trip back to Managua to the Nica Immigration office for a stamped visa page on Hengel’s passport. This is required for any child leaving the country under the age of 18. Since I didn’t take Yajaira and Hengel to the airport for their first trip, I wasn’t aware of this rule and Yajaira failed to tell me when we were at the US Embassy. Now I know the rule and next time the process—should I endeavor to undertake it again—will run smoothly. Live and learn, right. Just received a text from Yajaira, the two of them arrived safely in Newark and are enroute to their dormatory for Hengel’s July 19th appointment at Shriner’s Hospital in PHL.
My consulting work with Gail and Success Nicaragua is progressing. I decided not to pursue property management and stick to helping Gail with real estate (RE) sales as a Buyer’s Representative. The first project is my condo. It is listed with Sotheby’s Nicaragua and is posted on four websites including Sotheby’s. I have a couple of other RE projects that I am working on so everyone cross your fingers for me to consummate some of these deals.
My Guasacate house has the most enormous retaining wall and water retention system that rivels some community projects in the US under construction. When it gets done I should never have to worry about water at my house there. If I can I’ll attach some photos. (My photo library is a mess and impossible to find anything. There are photos all over the place in files and folders.) Someday, I’ll get help for photo storage. In the meantime, I am surprised when I actually find a photo I want.
It is beautiful here now, so green and trees growing like Jack’s Beanstalk. We need a lot more rain as some of the local rivers are still dry.
Rancho Santana has begun the first steps toward energy independence. There are 13 rows of solar panels being installed very near the Desarollo and condo area. I am thrilled to see this project finally becoming a reality. Next thing is for me to convince Ron Urroz that we need to put solar panels on our houses in Guasacate. Don’t worry I’ll win on that count.
So much new here, it is impossible to write about it all. So I’ll stop.
Everyone take good care of yourselves, your families, and your surroundings. YOU are the good fairies who accomplish it all.
In order: Raman Basha and our sign in the Pacaya Guadabaranca restaurant; Hengel and I after their first PHL visit–hopefully the new prosthesis will look different–; the front of my terrace, metal is standing where the apartment will be when the house is finished; Ron standing in front of their portion of the Great Wall; Great Wall in front of my terrace;
Margie Fincham in Nicaragua 