Picking Coffee

Nicaragua's tourist industry does not focus exclusively on the development of high end resorts; or even eco-tourism... but is also developing rural and alternative tourism. For example, in Matagalpa we were told of a Coffee Cooperative that hosted tours of the coffee fields.

We drove up to the mountain village and for less than $10 each we were guided on a short hike up the mountain (with our English speaking guide pointing out the names and attributes of various plants along the way); taken to pick coffee for an hour or so and told more about coffee than I'd ever known before; (Did you know that the pulp surrounding the coffee bean inside the berry is quite sweet? I tasted it!) and served a plentiful, if plain, typical peasant lunch.
The skies opened up just as we sat down to lunch so we had a pleasant hour sitting on the porch, digesting our lunch and watching the rain pour down on the lush mountain valley.

Biblioteca Movil

San Juan del Sur's public library operates a mobile library that distributes books to local schools in the 'campo' (country). They invite volunteers to come along on these trips to visit with the kids; help with the crafts projects; assist the kids to pick out books; play sports with them etc.

I was pleased to have two very good friends from Vancouver visiting with me. I know B & G from library circles as they were both librarians. So... the 3 of us decided to spend a day going out with the mobile library. I really enjoyed the day, and hope I will make the time to do this more often. While it would be easy to find fault with the program: not enough books; the books are mostly in bad shape; not enough of the kids take advantage of the program; the teachers don't seem to support reading; the library staff don't seem to know anything about the books... the fact is it isstill doing SOMETHING... and the kids who DO use the service obviously appreciate it and enjoy it, and I believe will ultimately benefit immeasurably from it.

See: http://www.sjdsbiblioteca.org/

Miami Beach

In October I went back to Toronto for a brief visit with my daughter. My flight routing took me through Miami, so on my way back to Nicaragua I decided to spend a few days in Miami Beach. While the largest renascence of the fantastic art-deco architecture in Miami Beach began in the 70's and probably reached it's hey-day in the 90's, renovations continue, and we saw many buildings covered in scaffolding.


We didn't stay in the beautiful, yet slightly unreal, Miami Beach for our entire visit - but visited downtown, Little Havana, Coral Gables, the Cape Florida State Park, and drove through a variety of suburbs and neighborhoods. Miami has a bad reputation... but I kind of liked the place. Like many cities built on the ocean, it offers beautiful views and reasonable access to beaches... what's not to like?

For detailed information on the art-deco architecture of South Miami Beach see: http://www.miamibeach411.com/news/index.php?/news/comments/southbeach-artdeco/

The Rainy Season

I was sitting on my step watching the rain one day last month and thought it might be cool to try and capture it. Downpours like this were a pretty regular event for a couple of months, but right around the first of November, the clouds cleared and we have had pretty clear skies ever since. I guess the rainy season is over!