Achievement

We did it! This past Monday we received our 1 year residencia for Nicaragua! Yahoo! All the efforts of planning and organizing paid off. It was a great relief and we had great assistance from our lawyer Luis Boniche. Anyone interested to recieve their residencia, let us know and we can give you his info!

Now that we have this opportunity to stay in the country for 1 year, our next plan is to head to the Corn Islands. These are 2 little islands on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua located in the Caribeean ocean. We are really looking forward to our adventure. We are planning to stay at Casa Sunrise and we looking forward to being in a new setting especially on the beach!


This morning here in Managua, we also discovered this super place called Tonelli. It is a women's coop bakery and the atmoshphere, food and people are wonderful. Can you believe that it is only 2 blocks from where we have been staying and we just discovered it today. We would definately return to help support the ladies and the coop.


We also learned about this very interesting product created from a tree called El Ojoche. It is extremely high in vitamins, minerals and proteins. We are really intrigued to learn more about this and we will keep you posted! Here is what it looks like...





Karl s corner:
Je magasine les tickets pour aller a corn island ce matin.Je pense que nous allons faire le voyage en autobus et bateau ,autrefois un trip risque ,12 heures d autobus et 3 heures de Pangas jusqu a bluefield et ensuite un autre 3 heures de bateau en mer ,on economise 100 $ et on verra du pays.Je sais que je n aurai pas le mal de mer ayant fait un peu de chaloupe dans les dernieres annees ,pour ceux qui savent ce que je veux dire, mais je suis moin sur du sort de Monika ayant le mal de mer sur le traversier entre Victoria et Vancouver,enfin on verra. J espere pouvoir vous donner de supers photos de plages et decors paradisiaque.Saludos

New Activities & Friends

My first day of school...Spanish school that is! I am taking a one week intensive course at Viva Spanish School. It has been going well and I feel like I have re-enforced my base of Spanish. Now, I just need to practise speaking!! I think that speaking and listening are the 2 hardest skills to develop. I really understand and can appreciate how our students at FCLI felt learning English! Learning another language is not easy, but I have to say I am having a good time experimenting and trying. I am also feeling better about Managua and feeling more comfortable about the neighborhood and the people that are in it!

We also had th opportunity to be able to see a worker owned free trade sewing coop in action in a city just outside Managua called Cuidad Sandino. This coop was created after Hurricane Mitch to help the families living in the area earn money to support themselves. This buiness is different in that it is the first worker owned coop where the workers make most of the decisions with regards to production, ordering and salaries. This is not a sweat shop...it is just the opposite...a sweat free shop! To learn more about it visit their site at http://www.fairtradezone.jhc-cdca.org/index.htm or contact us for more details. We were able to have this opportunity by going to Miraflor the previous week and meeting a wonderful family...Paul, Becca & Averling. Becca works at the coop assisting with some of the communication in English for the plant and Paul designs and makes furniture. Averling who is only 4 months is working on her skills and she is pretty cute :)



They also invited us to their home in the small village of Cuajachillo. It is located pretty much in the middle of nowhere, but the people around them and the views are awesome! We were also curios to see their house as they constucted it from rice straw! It is a beautiful piece of art and they are a beautiful family! Thanks again Paul, Becca & Averling!


Karls corner: On commence a s installer,se faire des amis voir d autre monde que des touristes.C est special le feeling d etre un etranger et de sentir que les gens te regardent comme si tu etais previlegie et eux non. Nous avons passe du bon temps avec Paul et Becca,de voir Paul m expliquer comment il a batit sa maison en detail,comment il s approvisionne en eau , comment il a trouve chaques materiaux et ce qui est difficile et ce qu il est moin.Ayant passe plusieurs annee a batir toute sortes de patentes je peux vous dire que ce que j ai vue ici etais comme un reve.De retour a Managua ce matin ,on en profite pour repondre a nos email et se preparer pour notre rendez vous de demain au ministerio extranjera. Nous posterons surement sur comment le tout s est deroule. A la proxima

Semana Santa Adventure

Central Park in ESTELI

Thursday....ESTELI

We decided to adventure outside of Managua as it was the beginning of Seman Santa. You may ask what Semana Santa is? It is the equivalant of our Easter weekend and so pretty much everything closes and everyone goes to the beach. We decided to do the opposite and head inland into the mountains of Esteli. This is a very clean and community oriented town. The people were very warm and friendly and eager to help. They are very proud and noble community of people with strong Sandinista sentiments. It is very much an agricultural community with alot of organic products as well as being into natural remedies and medicanal herbs which is something that really attracted us to come and visit Esteli. We met a fellow Victorian and we all decided to travel together to Miraflor which is a nature reserve/cooperative of the local farmers on Friday. The rest of the afternoon we spent exploring the city and enjoyed a wonderful lunch at a restaurant that served soy products and then dinner at a wonderful Italian restaurant which was really quaint.

Friday...MIRAFLOR

With the aid of some wonderful Estellians, we were able to take a taxi up into Miraflor as all the buses were not running as of Good Friday. We stayed at a wonderful homestay run by Dona Corina and she makes fabulous meals and runs a great farm with horses and a small coffee plantation. We ventured around the farm and heard some amazing sounds from the birds and animals around as well as smelled some sweet wonderful mountain fresh air. We really enjoyed our experience!

Dona Corina's farmstay experience

Now Karl s corner: Nous avons passe une super fin de semaine a explorer Esteli et ses environs .J ai senti une fierte chez les gens de cette ville que je n ai pas vue ailleurs ,ces gens ont du combattre dans les annee 80 les contras supportes par les Etats Uni . Une ville purement Sandinista.J ai remarque plusieurs magasins de produits Naturelles ,Une belle vue sur les montagnes et sa riviere qui borde cette petite ville au allure colonial.

Miraflor est a 1 heure de voiture de Esteli,C est une reserve narurel d une superficie de 206 kilometre carre,il parait qu il y a du quetzal, plus de 200 sortent d orchidees,coyotes,singes et plusieurs autres .Pres de cette Reserve plusieurs Familles ont de petites Finca(fermes) ou ils recoivent des gens ,cette fin de semaine surtout des allemands et americains venue en famille echaper a la foule des plages. Nous avons pris de magnifiques photos et du super bons temps.Nous prenons des notes sur ce que les gens aiment lorsqu ils voyagent et ca servira surement dans le futur.J aurais aime partager un peu plus avec vous ce magnifique coin de pays que voici.Saludos

Masaya! Masaya! Masaya!

We decided to check out Masaya this weekend and we are really glad we did. It is a quaint little town with two markets. One is more of a souvenir market and the other is a place where you can find everything from underwear to fresh meats. It was nice to see another place outside of Managua. Our buseta ride back was interesting as our driver and assistant decided to cram in as many people as he could...I think there were about 20 people in basically a minivan. Not really strict on their regulations :)
We also walked to the top of Volcan Masaya on Sunday. This is a volcano that has not had any eruptions since 2001 around the same time of year. The total hike to the top is around 6km and let me tell you it certainly felt much longer than 6km. It was early afternoon and VERY hot and VERY steep...we made it which felt great! It was pretty amazing to see the inside of the crater...it was also very smelly as it was steaming sulphur! We were able to hitch a ride back down to the entrance with a couple from Italy who are now living here in Nicaragua as farmers! There are lots of different people here from all over the world.
I really enjoyed Masaya and would go back there again. It definately had a great vibe to the city!

Karls corner: Masaya est moin touristique que Granada ,j ai vraiement aime cette ville. Le Volcan j etais alle en 1995 alors pour moi rien de nouveau.Incroyable le nombre de personnes qu on peu rencontre lorsqu on passe un peu de temps dans un Hospetage, les Canadiens qu on rencontre ici reste pour moi les plus friendly ,je ne commencerai pas a annalyser chaque nationnalitees . Demain nous rencontrons notre avocat pour en savoir un peu plus sur notre situation et ce qu il est possible de faire pour rester ici un certain temps. C est drole mais je n ai pas grand chose a dire aujourd hui .Salut .

Everyday living in Managua

Friday morning and it is laundry day! Not much going on today...just doing our things and enjoying the heat. No plans for travelling at the moment as next week is Semana Santa which means everything is closed and everyone heads to the beach. I think we will wait until the following week when it is a bit quieter and more mellow. In the meantime, we plan on doing some day trips into Masaya and Leon which is an easier bus trip.

Karl s corner: wow ca fait presque 2 semaines que nous sommes ici a Managua,nous faisons presque partie de la famille Vanegas maintenant, J ai repare leur salle de bain hier et Monika fait du lavage ce matin. Le but etait de finaliser nos papiers avant la fin de la journee etant donne semana santa nous serions oblige d attendre une autre semaine ,ca regarde assez bien. Je pense que nous avons fait le tour de ce qu ils y avaient a voir ici,pour moi une ville est moin interressante que la nature alors j ai bien hate de plonger et de sentir la mer. Revenez nous voir.
QQue vous pensez du theme, "Venez nous voir sur notre Ile". Bien sur seulement si on s installe sur Corn island.N hesitez pas a nous donner vos suggestions ,nous sommes tres ouvert a vos commentaires.Bonne fin de semaine.

Laguna de Apoyo

We left for the laguna on Satuday morning from the Hotel Oasis. They arrange a bus to pick up and drop back off to the hotel for about $3 us/person. A bit expensive but it is right on time and drops you at the front door of our hostel Craters Edge. This is a new place that opened about 5 months ago and is owned by a Canadian from get this...Vancouver. Her name is Ann and she is a fabulous hostess and runs a wonderful business. It was a relaxing time as well as a good experience to see how this kind of business could be run.
The drive up to the laguna is quite something. Driving through little villages and seeing and feeling the climate and vegetation change is awesome. The laguna itself is a volcano that with time, filled up with water that is CLEAR BLUE! They have measured it to be 200 meters deep, but they think it is actually deeper at some points! It also contains fish that can only be found here in Laguna de Apoyo. They have created a Ecologico Projecto with studies and reports on the information in the lake as well as working on reforesting the area. They also offer Scuba diving, Spanish classes and volunteer opportunities with the children in the village. The laguna is the cleanest water in Nicaragua that provides a 6km swimming pool to the area. Here you can also see many kinds of exotic birds, monkeys and beautiful rare butterflies.

We returned to our base on Sunday afternoon as we had lots planned for Monday. Monday was the day to pick up our documents after being certified at the Canadian embassy which was a success (expensive, but successful...this was actually the most expensive part of the process so far!). We also certified our documents at the Bank and then onto the Ministeria de Relaciones Exeriores. It was a big learning curve, but alot of fun and a great sense of satisfaction after completion. We also met with a great lawyer who is assisting us with the next step of obtaining residencia as well as registering a business. His name is Luis Boniche and so far so good! We are meeting with him tonight to sign some documents for him to move forward in the process which we are really excited about.

Now Karl "s corner.

une super fin de semaine on a tout les deux pris des coups de soleil(DEUX LOBSTER).on a rencontre un quebecois a Laguna son nom est Normand ,une soixantaine d annees ,un original de la ville de Ham pres de Sherbrooke ,imagine, il connait Richard Desjardin en personne,et on avait des connaissances en commun , que le monde est petit,wow.il voyage seul comme un gypsy d une ville a l autre.Ca fait du bien de voir des gens comme ca ,ca m inspire,j irai voir son site web www.museeincroyable.com . Savez vous quoi a Managua le dimanche y a personne ca a l air qu il sont a la plage.J essaie de pas repeter ce que MOni ecrit en anglais mais ca se peut que des fois ca arrive,ha ,ceux qui me connaissent savent pourquoi.J ai parle a Eric hier soir ,ca ma fait du bien d y parler ,ca doit faire 2 ans que je ne l ai pas vue et j ai bien hate,il sera au quebec en avril . A la proxima.N oubliez pas tout est possible dans la vie.