1st: The international airport in Tegucigalpa is among the 10 most dangerous in the world because of its short runway and location.
2nd: We got very cheap tickets on Spirit Airlines from NYC to Managua. (Note: Spirit Airlines does charge for everything and you can no longer buy one way tickets out of the US. You need a return ticket, luckily we got to the airport in time to buy a fully refundable return ticket on another airline
so they let us pass go.)
3rd: Why not see more.
So here we are in Nicaragua!
We arrived in Managua at 2am this morning. Moses welcomed us with open arms into his windowless Range Rover that looked like it survived the revolution. I was floored by how calm and quiet the capital is (after sunrise it was busier, but not overwhelming). Almost no cars or people in sight. Just the perfect temperature, great vegetation and latin american style houses, shacks, and buildings.
We stayed not far from the Plaza de la Revolución which is home to the monument to The Nameless Guerilla Soldier (El Guerrillero sin Nombre).
At 10am we were woken up because our ride to Mulukuku arrived 2 hours early. Unheard of in this part of the world as far as I knew.
Danilo y Haddington patiently waited while we shed some pounds of luggage and loaded Dyani up with software and materials to take back to San Juan del Sur for the school she started down there called 'Barrio Planta Project' (and where I'll be helping out next month after Petri departs).
http://barrio-planta-project.blogspot.com/
The ride to Mulukuku was amazing. Beautiful serene scenery illuminated by the a light that felt clean and warm without the harshness of a grueling summer sun. The road was lined with an artistic variety of homemade dwellings, floral trees, vultures, egrets, cows, pigs, horses, children, more children, women balancing things on their heads, and rocks and trees painted black and red, some with contrasting outlines of the figure of Sandino stenciled on.
We picked up a couple and their two-year-old along the way. He was returning home from his fifth surgery. He survived being shot 5 times. At quarter to six in the morning while feeding his pigs and chickens six men came and shot him. He is sure they were sent by a rival politician in the area where he was a candidate for office. How he survived I'm not sure. When I asked if he'd continue to pursue politics after he finishes the four surgeries he still has left before a full recovery he replied he´s thinking about working for the church since he considers it a miracle to be alive. A story I wish I could follow up on. But we dropped them and their new dog off at their new house.
We got to Mulukuku after sundown and were warmly greeted by compañeros from the collective. They showed us around and walked us across the street to the outdoor dining area where we were served a delicious meal of beans, rice, egg, some vegetable I couldn't identify, succulent tomatoes, cheese, and tortillas.
We were joined by two American med students who are here volunteering and now it´s off to bed.
Tomorrow we´ll be touring the radio station.
Stay tuned to find out about this women´s cooperative we are visiting in Mulukuku....
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