Towards the end of the 80’s, a Chinese restaurant called Yang Tse caused furore in Chihuahua; the reason for this “uproar” was a simple architectural idea: A small pool was built around the restaurant, a pool in which Koi fish lived (Koi are the typical orange fish we know from Chinese or Japanese films or restaurants).
Even though I was only 7 or 8 when the Yang Tse opened, I clearly remember ordering my food as quick as I could just to run outside the restaurant and see the fish with Carla, my cousin and childhood sidekick.
In that restaurant my sister always had Cantonese chicken wings (fried with ginger and soy sauce) which she loved dipping in a red sweet-sour sauce.
The Yang Tse, as many Chihuahuan Restaurants in the 80’s and 90’s, offered live music on Sundays, this meant a pianist playing cover songs from 1 until 4 p.m.
One Sunday, the whole Castro family (the maternal fraction of my extended family) went there to have lunch, and while eating, my granny (mamá Bertha) asked me to deliver a message to the pianist: He should play “Ballade pour Adeline”, this is the oldest memory I have from that song.
I love picturing these moments; situations in which the best elements in one's life are included: People I love, places which no longer exist and food. Yes, I adore nostalgia, maybe that’s one of the reasons I no longer live in Mexico, to love it and recall it as an old, romantic memory.
In the Teatro Nacional Rubén Darío, I saw the man who sold 22 million copies of "Adeline"; the concert was amazing, although I have to admit that at the beginning I was slightly disappointed when I saw Mr Clayderman on stage playing a black piano wearing black trousers and a blue blazer; however, my frustration vanished instantaneously when I hear the magnificent playback coming out of the speakers. Imagine my situation: I was sitting with my mom in one of Latin America’s best theatres (the acoustic elements are German/Austrian). We were on the 12th row, the curtains opened as esoteric tones were played, synthesizers, wind instruments and harps. Then, the best came: a deep male English voice announced that Richard Clayderman was going to play variations of Titanic. The entire theatre was on seventh heaven.
Through the entire concert there were several incredible moments, all of them unforgettable: He performed a disco version of Beethoven’s 5th Symphony (only comparable to the one featured in Family Guy, know that one?), he also played a medley of “Don’t cry for me Argentina”, “Love story” and “Chariots of fire”. If we exclude the best piece of that evening “Ballade pour Adeline”, the evening’s crown was Ricky Martin’s “Living la vida loca”.
People, believe Wikipedia! Richard Clayderman IS the most important pop pianist alive. The Rolling Stones did creative and good stuff, but 50 years ago, however they are still important, they are a “living” legend and they have influenced more than one generation with their music; Richard Clayderman did a similar thing with the perfect blend of pop-music-covers and kitsch arrangements all this on a grand piano. Richard Clayderman rocks.
My mom’s visit lasted only a week, and it went by very fast, I wish she could have stayed longer, but I’m pleased she came; it was great having her and Helena as guests. I am already looking forward to see the entire family in eight weeks, at Tita’s wedding in April.
About my work? Yesterday I had one of my last project presentations, I was well prepared and the presentation was good received. From now on, the countdown to leave Nicaragua has started, in less than four weeks I will be back in Innsbruck.
P.S. I will upload videos and pics from the concert this summer!
sábado, 13 de febrero de 2010
jueves, 4 de febrero de 2010
a summary of my two lifes
Currently, my life in Managua consists of mainly two things: Interviewing people and cooking with the children from the SOS village. The first one is the reason I came to Managua; the second is an activity I choose because of a number reasons: I love cooking; I love kids; and the most important one: I want to be part of the SOS Village. I prefer to be called by my name rather than being the Mexican guy who lives at the guest house.
One of the best things I’ve experienced at the village is when a child or an SOS aunt or walks by and say ¡Hola!
On weekdays after work I often play and cook with the children and each night, Felicia, the village director, and I talk for hours about the funny, the weird and the difficult things from each other's work.
In Managua I spend my time either at the office, chatting with Felicia or playing/cooking with children; while in Innsbruck I live a completely different life: After work I go home, cook and dine with Marina (my flatmate) and one or two of our usual dinner guests (Hannes, Verena or Isabella). At night I work a while on the los gurkos activities, which is mainly organizing electro-pop gigs and a yearly short-film festival. I also attend several concerts, about 2 or 3 a week; actually, I don’t care much about the music style as long as it’s good, but I have to say that I can’t stand salsa and funky jazz, not to mention music involving the most hippie instrument of all time: didgeridoo.
In Innsbruck I am more involved in cultural activities and have a considerable social network, but in Managua I live a more quiet life, which I truly enjoy. I love the evenings on the porch, the nights zapping on cable-TV (I don’t have a TV in Innsbruck) and the fact that I have ninety cheeky and funny neighbours.
My calm lifestyle will change within the next 24 hours: My mom is coming along with two friends and will stay for a week. It may sound awkward, but I really enjoy being with her; it is surely different as when I’m with Tita and Tomás, but it’s still cool. The best part of her visit will be Richard Clayderman’s concert this Saturday. I can’t wait to see his half-long blond hair waiving besides the red roses over his piano...
…I just received a phone call from a not-identified number and they hang up before saying anything. I hope that was no warning call from the jealous boyfriend. Today I saw Ericka, she was in the village and I said “hello” to her, maybe this triggered the macho-beast inside his fiancee…or are they already married?
P.S. Noticed the new pic? That's me with my best friend under 5, Martin and two other guys from the village in Estelí
One of the best things I’ve experienced at the village is when a child or an SOS aunt or walks by and say ¡Hola!
On weekdays after work I often play and cook with the children and each night, Felicia, the village director, and I talk for hours about the funny, the weird and the difficult things from each other's work.
In Managua I spend my time either at the office, chatting with Felicia or playing/cooking with children; while in Innsbruck I live a completely different life: After work I go home, cook and dine with Marina (my flatmate) and one or two of our usual dinner guests (Hannes, Verena or Isabella). At night I work a while on the los gurkos activities, which is mainly organizing electro-pop gigs and a yearly short-film festival. I also attend several concerts, about 2 or 3 a week; actually, I don’t care much about the music style as long as it’s good, but I have to say that I can’t stand salsa and funky jazz, not to mention music involving the most hippie instrument of all time: didgeridoo.
In Innsbruck I am more involved in cultural activities and have a considerable social network, but in Managua I live a more quiet life, which I truly enjoy. I love the evenings on the porch, the nights zapping on cable-TV (I don’t have a TV in Innsbruck) and the fact that I have ninety cheeky and funny neighbours.
My calm lifestyle will change within the next 24 hours: My mom is coming along with two friends and will stay for a week. It may sound awkward, but I really enjoy being with her; it is surely different as when I’m with Tita and Tomás, but it’s still cool. The best part of her visit will be Richard Clayderman’s concert this Saturday. I can’t wait to see his half-long blond hair waiving besides the red roses over his piano...
…I just received a phone call from a not-identified number and they hang up before saying anything. I hope that was no warning call from the jealous boyfriend. Today I saw Ericka, she was in the village and I said “hello” to her, maybe this triggered the macho-beast inside his fiancee…or are they already married?
P.S. Noticed the new pic? That's me with my best friend under 5, Martin and two other guys from the village in Estelí
viernes, 29 de enero de 2010
This weekend may be crap, but next Saturday will be memorable
It's Friday night. My second michelada is almost gone (Michelada is beer served on ice with lime juice and salt) and I am thinking of having fun next weekend. Do you think this sounds strange? I think it’s pretty sad; Tomorrow, I will wake up at 8 and leave for Ometepe, where I will meet a group of children I am supposed to interview on Sunday, right after that I will travel back to Managua. Sound amazing isn’t it? This weekend will be so short and shitty, that even writing these lines with sarcasm is not helping…
Ometepe is the volcano island in the middle of the Nicaragua Lake. It is in fact a beautiful spot, but going there to spend the weekend in front of a microphone and a questionnaire takes away all the charm. Yes, Saturday and Sunday will be the golden crown of a terrible week: I had 16 interviews and it was hell to conduct them; I transcribed several interviews into text documents; and finally, I prepared and chaired a meeting with my project’s consultative group (representatives of SOS, Universities and other NGOs).
This week was really hard and I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted, each day I woke up willing to stay longer in bed, but…duty was calling
I just finished my michelada and with it, the remaining drops of fun just vanished.
The next chance to enjoy the company of another human being will be next Friday, when my mother and Helena, one of her best friends, land at Managua’s airport. My mom is visiting me, and that’s great! But that’s not all, on Saturday we are going to see Richard Clayderman live. Can you believe it? The world’s most known pianist is performing at Nicaragua’s National Theatre, and we will be attending this glorious event.
Sincerely, I don’t like Richard Clayderman at all, but how often can one get the chance to hear “Ballade pour Adeline” (the most kitsch ballad of all times) performed live on a grand piano? Just to think of Monsieur Clayderman on a glitter suit playing on his white piano takes me into an almost spiritual voyage. Oh yeah!
This weekend may be crap, but Mr. Clayderman’s concert will be memorable
Ometepe is the volcano island in the middle of the Nicaragua Lake. It is in fact a beautiful spot, but going there to spend the weekend in front of a microphone and a questionnaire takes away all the charm. Yes, Saturday and Sunday will be the golden crown of a terrible week: I had 16 interviews and it was hell to conduct them; I transcribed several interviews into text documents; and finally, I prepared and chaired a meeting with my project’s consultative group (representatives of SOS, Universities and other NGOs).
This week was really hard and I didn’t get as much sleep as I wanted, each day I woke up willing to stay longer in bed, but…duty was calling
I just finished my michelada and with it, the remaining drops of fun just vanished.
The next chance to enjoy the company of another human being will be next Friday, when my mother and Helena, one of her best friends, land at Managua’s airport. My mom is visiting me, and that’s great! But that’s not all, on Saturday we are going to see Richard Clayderman live. Can you believe it? The world’s most known pianist is performing at Nicaragua’s National Theatre, and we will be attending this glorious event.
Sincerely, I don’t like Richard Clayderman at all, but how often can one get the chance to hear “Ballade pour Adeline” (the most kitsch ballad of all times) performed live on a grand piano? Just to think of Monsieur Clayderman on a glitter suit playing on his white piano takes me into an almost spiritual voyage. Oh yeah!
This weekend may be crap, but Mr. Clayderman’s concert will be memorable
lunes, 25 de enero de 2010
A backbone-massage, the fish-recipe and Tomás' two-day journey back to Mexico.
The last days with my brother in Managua were very relaxing. I was very tired of my holidays; when still in Chihuahua, I had no time to rest. I was, either visiting family and friends, going to Christmas parties, or cooking. From our first day in Nicaragua on, we were always busy driving through the country, walking around or on boat trips.
The day my sister flew back home, was also the day I returned to the office, January 4th. Tomás stayed four more days with me. Since he already knew Managua (he was here with Allison, his girlfriend, in summer 2008), we had no longer interest in sightseeing. We just enjoyed the evenings doing little; we even went to a shopping centre merely to get a massage. The two masseurs (male and female) give a 10 minute backbone massage and charge only 3 Euros! We went twice there, the second time we switched masseur only to conclude that the guy had better hands. This long-haired masseur has big, firm hands, but knows when to apply less pressure and loosen his hands – I know this may sound gay…massage
Another evening, we had ceviche at a small place opposite from the SOS Village (it was actually a garage which went through a rough adaptation), these guys serve an amazing ceviche! It was a pity that Tita was not with us; she, as a member of our family, is a connoisseur in ceviche matters.
New year 2008 fish story: Two years ago, we picked up Playa del Carmen (Mexican Caribbean) as our New Year’s vacation spot; during our stay, we tried different ceviches each day, ten days in a row! The best prepared was in Tulúm, on a palm-roofed cabin right on the highway.
New year 2009 fish story: Last New Year's Eve we were in Brussels, and also had raw seafood for dinner: Oysters and scallops with lemon juice and salt...mmmh!
If you don’t know ceviche, I describe it as a hybrid between Gazpacho and Sashimi. It consist of raw fish (white flesh), cut in small cubes and marinated in lime juice until the flesh acquires a cooked-similar texture (and the fishy-smell disappears), then chopped fresh tomato, red onion, cucumber, celery, coriander are added, Voilá!
Tomás left on a Friday, bad timing! I wanted to take advantage of his presence to party in Managua. Actually, going out in Managua is really an issue for me, I have been here for almost 4 months and went out only two times. Once to see that Afro-Caribbean concert (I hate rastas), and last week; I went to a salsa-bar (I hate salsa) with people from the Village: two youngster and their youth leader, this is the one I cannot call any longer, the one marrying my potential murderer in 10 days.
As I was saying, my brother flew to Mexico on a Friday, but arrived home on Sunday. This situation started getting complicated when the night before flying, he noticed that his ticket was to San Jose, in the American California, and not to the San José in the Mexican California. The next morning we bought a new ticket from San Jose (US) to San José (Mex), but he missed his connecting flight in Houston. To make a long story shot here is the list of airports he visited on his odyssey back home:
1. Managua
2. Houston
3. San Francisco
4. San Jose, United Stated
5. Los Angeles
6. San José, Mexico
The guy in the new pic is Austrofred, the Viennese version of Freddy Mercury
The day my sister flew back home, was also the day I returned to the office, January 4th. Tomás stayed four more days with me. Since he already knew Managua (he was here with Allison, his girlfriend, in summer 2008), we had no longer interest in sightseeing. We just enjoyed the evenings doing little; we even went to a shopping centre merely to get a massage. The two masseurs (male and female) give a 10 minute backbone massage and charge only 3 Euros! We went twice there, the second time we switched masseur only to conclude that the guy had better hands. This long-haired masseur has big, firm hands, but knows when to apply less pressure and loosen his hands – I know this may sound gay…massage
Another evening, we had ceviche at a small place opposite from the SOS Village (it was actually a garage which went through a rough adaptation), these guys serve an amazing ceviche! It was a pity that Tita was not with us; she, as a member of our family, is a connoisseur in ceviche matters.
New year 2008 fish story: Two years ago, we picked up Playa del Carmen (Mexican Caribbean) as our New Year’s vacation spot; during our stay, we tried different ceviches each day, ten days in a row! The best prepared was in Tulúm, on a palm-roofed cabin right on the highway.
New year 2009 fish story: Last New Year's Eve we were in Brussels, and also had raw seafood for dinner: Oysters and scallops with lemon juice and salt...mmmh!
If you don’t know ceviche, I describe it as a hybrid between Gazpacho and Sashimi. It consist of raw fish (white flesh), cut in small cubes and marinated in lime juice until the flesh acquires a cooked-similar texture (and the fishy-smell disappears), then chopped fresh tomato, red onion, cucumber, celery, coriander are added, Voilá!
Tomás left on a Friday, bad timing! I wanted to take advantage of his presence to party in Managua. Actually, going out in Managua is really an issue for me, I have been here for almost 4 months and went out only two times. Once to see that Afro-Caribbean concert (I hate rastas), and last week; I went to a salsa-bar (I hate salsa) with people from the Village: two youngster and their youth leader, this is the one I cannot call any longer, the one marrying my potential murderer in 10 days.
As I was saying, my brother flew to Mexico on a Friday, but arrived home on Sunday. This situation started getting complicated when the night before flying, he noticed that his ticket was to San Jose, in the American California, and not to the San José in the Mexican California. The next morning we bought a new ticket from San Jose (US) to San José (Mex), but he missed his connecting flight in Houston. To make a long story shot here is the list of airports he visited on his odyssey back home:
1. Managua
2. Houston
3. San Francisco
4. San Jose, United Stated
5. Los Angeles
6. San José, Mexico
The guy in the new pic is Austrofred, the Viennese version of Freddy Mercury
viernes, 22 de enero de 2010
If I get killed, it was the jealous boyfriend
Perhaps you have noticed that some of my entries do not correspond to the situation and events immediately happening before writing my blog. For example: my airport blog-entry was written in Mexico City and in Chihuahua within a span of 36 hours; the stories on our Nicaraguan trip were written two weeks after Tita and Tomás left; and right now, I have decided to once more break the chronological storytelling order and write about today’s events (Jan 22nd) and not about Tomás’ last days in Managua, as I have promised on my last blog.
Sip of sauvignon blanc…
Today I conducted my last interview in Estelí; do you remember? I am in Nicaragua to interview over hundred people. After this interview I immediately fled to Managua. I wanted to go to the sushi bar I always go to, but when I was at the restaurant centre I decided to try something different and went to a “Mediterranean & fusion restaurant” (fine recipes, but awful cook). After ordering my meal, I realised that I have left my mobile phone on the taxi. Do you know what it is to forget your mobile in a Taxi in a country outside central Europe? Last May I forgot a Laptop in a Taxi in Hannover and got it shipped back to Austria although I was in Mexico, but I was sure this was not to happen in Central America…I was a little bit calmed when I called my own number and the taxi driver, in fact he answered, he drove back and gave me back my mobile phone. I no loner have a no doubt about it, I am a luck bastard…
On my way back to the SOS Village, my only Nicaraguan friend called me; her name is Ericka, you may have spotted her on my Facebook pics from Nicaragua: she’s very small (up to my waist according to Fritz)…and has an incredibly jealous boyfriend, the bad thing about it…he hates me. He detests me so much that today he suddenly asked Ericka to marry him (in two weeks), the main reason? Only to be her husband before I leave Nicaragua! The sad thing about it is that she asked me today to call her a maximum of one time every four weeks! Apparently, once a month is not too much for her boyfriend.
…two sips of white wine…Now, I am no longer allowed to call my friend until February 22nd; this was my first close encounter to Latin machismo since I experienced a very weird situation back home with my sister and her ex-boyfriend four years ago…
I will not further write about Ericka’s boyfriend. You know, I am actually a little bit scared about this guy, he could easily track down this blog…I am not kidding! He already tracked Ericka’s incoming calls to see how often I was calling her…yes he is a real psycho, no doubt about it!
People, if I am killed within the next hours, please tell the police that I was most probably murdered by the Ericka Saldana’s jealous boyfriend. If the police asks for details or distinctive signs, please tell them he is (probably) not well equipped ;-)
Sip of sauvignon blanc…
Today I conducted my last interview in Estelí; do you remember? I am in Nicaragua to interview over hundred people. After this interview I immediately fled to Managua. I wanted to go to the sushi bar I always go to, but when I was at the restaurant centre I decided to try something different and went to a “Mediterranean & fusion restaurant” (fine recipes, but awful cook). After ordering my meal, I realised that I have left my mobile phone on the taxi. Do you know what it is to forget your mobile in a Taxi in a country outside central Europe? Last May I forgot a Laptop in a Taxi in Hannover and got it shipped back to Austria although I was in Mexico, but I was sure this was not to happen in Central America…I was a little bit calmed when I called my own number and the taxi driver, in fact he answered, he drove back and gave me back my mobile phone. I no loner have a no doubt about it, I am a luck bastard…
On my way back to the SOS Village, my only Nicaraguan friend called me; her name is Ericka, you may have spotted her on my Facebook pics from Nicaragua: she’s very small (up to my waist according to Fritz)…and has an incredibly jealous boyfriend, the bad thing about it…he hates me. He detests me so much that today he suddenly asked Ericka to marry him (in two weeks), the main reason? Only to be her husband before I leave Nicaragua! The sad thing about it is that she asked me today to call her a maximum of one time every four weeks! Apparently, once a month is not too much for her boyfriend.
…two sips of white wine…Now, I am no longer allowed to call my friend until February 22nd; this was my first close encounter to Latin machismo since I experienced a very weird situation back home with my sister and her ex-boyfriend four years ago…
I will not further write about Ericka’s boyfriend. You know, I am actually a little bit scared about this guy, he could easily track down this blog…I am not kidding! He already tracked Ericka’s incoming calls to see how often I was calling her…yes he is a real psycho, no doubt about it!
People, if I am killed within the next hours, please tell the police that I was most probably murdered by the Ericka Saldana’s jealous boyfriend. If the police asks for details or distinctive signs, please tell them he is (probably) not well equipped ;-)
domingo, 17 de enero de 2010
The funny danger
After spending the night in Managua we left for León, a colonial city north from Managua. Our hotel was a majestic colonial building with huge white walls; our room walls were actually 4 meters high. On the first day we visited the “hervideros of San Jacinto”, hervideros can be translated to “the boiling spots”. Once I read on the web that this place was like (I quote) “…Yellowstone without the security fences”, well, I have never been in Yellowstone, but I think it is like the hervideros without the amusing risk of melting your feet!
The hervideros is small area (smaller that a soccer field) near a volcano, and it is full of holes in the ground, in these earth-cracks there is bubbling clay and loads of steam comes out of them. I made no photos in San Jacinto, but I shoot some videos with my mobile; only in video one can see the “funny danger” I mean. It was funny how our young guides (local children) took the warning sings away, in order for us to pass and take a look to the risky areas of the place.
Back in our hotel, we went swimming and had something to drink, Tita was not in the mood for a drink, but Tomás and I were; he had a Gin and Tonic and I went for a Macuá, Nicaragua’s national drink, it is made with fresh Guava and Lime juice and white rum. I didn’t know Macuá until Kamil a.k.a Bert (one of the two registered followers of this blog) told me about it while chatting back in November.
The day after, Benito Rivas and his lovely wife took us to the beach, Benito is the national director of SOS Children’s Villages Nicaragua and he is from León. After a quick walk along the beach (the heat was unbearable), Benito took us to a very nice beach-restaurant. Benito asked for a grilled fish (he chose it at the kitchen), his wife ate breaded prawns - they had a wonderful appearance, Tita ordered shrimp ceviche (prawns marinated in lime juice, tomatoes, onions and coriander), Tomás had breaded fish loins, and since I was hungry as hell, had fish ceviche and lobster (5 small tails for 8 dollars, that’s less than 6 Euros!).
After this feast on the beach, we drove back to Managua; Tita started packaging her stuff, then we talked until late at night. It was sad to know this was Tita’s last night in Managua.
The next day, The Children’s Village driver, Don Isidro, drove use, the three Germes, to the airport. Tita checked her luggage, bought cigarillos from Estelí as a souvenir and we embraced her good bye. I am happy to know that I am seeing her in only three months. She is marrying Víctor, her fiancé, on April 17th in Chihuahua.
Sometime during this week I will write about the following days in Managua with Tomás, and after that, this blog will get its peculiar irony hint back. If any of this blog’s readers miss the masochism in my entries, I promise you good stuff in the coming days, well, as long as until then nothing changes in my non-existing social, love and creative life.
Time to stop writing and change the radio station: They are playing Venga Boys…
P.S. I will upload the videos (Youtube) of San Jacinto when I am back in Austria
The hervideros is small area (smaller that a soccer field) near a volcano, and it is full of holes in the ground, in these earth-cracks there is bubbling clay and loads of steam comes out of them. I made no photos in San Jacinto, but I shoot some videos with my mobile; only in video one can see the “funny danger” I mean. It was funny how our young guides (local children) took the warning sings away, in order for us to pass and take a look to the risky areas of the place.
Back in our hotel, we went swimming and had something to drink, Tita was not in the mood for a drink, but Tomás and I were; he had a Gin and Tonic and I went for a Macuá, Nicaragua’s national drink, it is made with fresh Guava and Lime juice and white rum. I didn’t know Macuá until Kamil a.k.a Bert (one of the two registered followers of this blog) told me about it while chatting back in November.
The day after, Benito Rivas and his lovely wife took us to the beach, Benito is the national director of SOS Children’s Villages Nicaragua and he is from León. After a quick walk along the beach (the heat was unbearable), Benito took us to a very nice beach-restaurant. Benito asked for a grilled fish (he chose it at the kitchen), his wife ate breaded prawns - they had a wonderful appearance, Tita ordered shrimp ceviche (prawns marinated in lime juice, tomatoes, onions and coriander), Tomás had breaded fish loins, and since I was hungry as hell, had fish ceviche and lobster (5 small tails for 8 dollars, that’s less than 6 Euros!).
After this feast on the beach, we drove back to Managua; Tita started packaging her stuff, then we talked until late at night. It was sad to know this was Tita’s last night in Managua.
The next day, The Children’s Village driver, Don Isidro, drove use, the three Germes, to the airport. Tita checked her luggage, bought cigarillos from Estelí as a souvenir and we embraced her good bye. I am happy to know that I am seeing her in only three months. She is marrying Víctor, her fiancé, on April 17th in Chihuahua.
Sometime during this week I will write about the following days in Managua with Tomás, and after that, this blog will get its peculiar irony hint back. If any of this blog’s readers miss the masochism in my entries, I promise you good stuff in the coming days, well, as long as until then nothing changes in my non-existing social, love and creative life.
Time to stop writing and change the radio station: They are playing Venga Boys…
P.S. I will upload the videos (Youtube) of San Jacinto when I am back in Austria
martes, 12 de enero de 2010
The Germes’ road trip in Nicaragua
Tita, Tomás and I initially visited the bay town of San Juan del Sur, a small town in the pacific coast. We had dinner at a nice beach restaurant, the place was so chic that it had mini-pool located aside our table, its water seemed so tempting with the pool’s blue mosaics that Tomás and I nearly walked back to our hotel room to get our swimming trunks. We shared Wahoo Carpaccio, my sister had grilled calamari kebabs served on salad, Tomás ordered fish and chips (for the best outside Camden!) and I tried the yellow-fin tuna (very rare cooked) covered with black sesame and wasabi.
After supporting our digestive systems by walking along San Juan’s bay, we went to our hotel and tried to sleep, that wasn’t easy at all since our hotel was located in the middle of the night-life district; the clubs played their music very loud, but we were lucky: there was a general electric blackout short after midnight, so finito, the music beats were gone.
We spend the following two days in Ometepe, an island formed by two volcanoes in the middle of the Nicaragua Lake (one of the largest in the world). We stayed at an eco-lodge on the slopes of the Madera’s volcano, during breakfast we enjoyed the restaurant’s magnificent view: Concepción, the island’s highest volcano. At night we could even hear howling monkeys from our cabin.
On December 31st we moved on to Granada, we stayed at a charming boutique hotel, there Tita and I had a cold beer with lime and salt (Since there is no prosecco or good white wine available in Nicaragua, I am drinking beer until I fly back to Austria), after that, we headed to the pier and took a boat-ride at the Nicaragua Lake. We visited a few of the tiny islands formed by an eruption of the neighbouring Mombacho volcano.
New Year was nice, warm and full of fireworks. As far as I’ve seen, Nicaraguan men love loud crackers, those noisy fireworks start at the size of a beer can and some were as big as a 1,5 litre PET bottle (and loud as hell!), nearly all of them triggered car alarms when exploding. Nearly all “beautiful” fireworks (the ones exploding in several colours) were either lit by tourists or women.
I think I am conservative when it gets to fireworks, I prefer the spark and bright ones, rather than those blasting ones, nearly provoking tinnitus; these are treasured by Nicaraguan men.
On the first day of 2010 we hired a private car, a beautiful Russian Lada 1200, to drive us to the Masaya volcano, an active one. Being on top of the volcano made me a little dizzy, it was surely caused by the strong sunrays and the intense smell of sulphur coming out of the crater.
We arrived in Managua at night, the Sushi bar was closed, so we had only pizza and salad instead. My sister’s last weekend before flying back home had started…
Here are some pics of the road trip.
After supporting our digestive systems by walking along San Juan’s bay, we went to our hotel and tried to sleep, that wasn’t easy at all since our hotel was located in the middle of the night-life district; the clubs played their music very loud, but we were lucky: there was a general electric blackout short after midnight, so finito, the music beats were gone.
We spend the following two days in Ometepe, an island formed by two volcanoes in the middle of the Nicaragua Lake (one of the largest in the world). We stayed at an eco-lodge on the slopes of the Madera’s volcano, during breakfast we enjoyed the restaurant’s magnificent view: Concepción, the island’s highest volcano. At night we could even hear howling monkeys from our cabin.
On December 31st we moved on to Granada, we stayed at a charming boutique hotel, there Tita and I had a cold beer with lime and salt (Since there is no prosecco or good white wine available in Nicaragua, I am drinking beer until I fly back to Austria), after that, we headed to the pier and took a boat-ride at the Nicaragua Lake. We visited a few of the tiny islands formed by an eruption of the neighbouring Mombacho volcano.
New Year was nice, warm and full of fireworks. As far as I’ve seen, Nicaraguan men love loud crackers, those noisy fireworks start at the size of a beer can and some were as big as a 1,5 litre PET bottle (and loud as hell!), nearly all of them triggered car alarms when exploding. Nearly all “beautiful” fireworks (the ones exploding in several colours) were either lit by tourists or women.
I think I am conservative when it gets to fireworks, I prefer the spark and bright ones, rather than those blasting ones, nearly provoking tinnitus; these are treasured by Nicaraguan men.
On the first day of 2010 we hired a private car, a beautiful Russian Lada 1200, to drive us to the Masaya volcano, an active one. Being on top of the volcano made me a little dizzy, it was surely caused by the strong sunrays and the intense smell of sulphur coming out of the crater.
We arrived in Managua at night, the Sushi bar was closed, so we had only pizza and salad instead. My sister’s last weekend before flying back home had started…
Here are some pics of the road trip.
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