a la finca

Hello from Nicaragua.

I am at my friends' place in Ocotal, elevation 2000 feet, with beautiful yard, getting ready to head up to the 9 acre farm outside of town which will necessitate a taxi to a river which may or may not be crossable by car, hence walking the last 15 minutes uphill on rutted road to the farm with my 50 lb. pack and some left-at-the-church type directions. I was going to be accompanied by a local person with a phone to call the farm when arriving, phone service to which is spotty anyway, but she is ill, so I think I am on my own. All of which makes for prospects of a fine adventure.

I have few anthropological speculations arising, as I mostly have just been traveling, arranging practicalities and such. I already have scheduling conflicts as to whether to meet Anglo volunteer type folks in town or just be at the farm. The former option could offer some good networking possibilities and local contacts, like a visit to a women's cooperative and natural building workshops through them coming up next week. The latter farm stay I have already put off a day, so I am inclined to not do that again, but rather head up this morning as planned. There is rumor Chilo, the farm manager, will be enlisting me in digging a well through massive rock the next few days, and I am not sure if he has a large mechanical drill or a couple shovels. And I am also not sure which seems less promising! But I am nevertheless excited about doing something.

I am again unable to upload any images from the groovy photos here. Facebook me if you can at Michael Polera, there are a couple nice folders worth already up.

Managua was very fun, diverse and quite friendly, not at all scary, and I could see spending more time there, particularly to catch the local folk music hero, Carlos Mejia, of Nicaragua who plays twice a week there. Ridiculous Central American bus station scene with a million vendors and people and dirt and noise and color, bags being strapped to tops of buses, people loading stuff in at the last minute while the bus is pulling out...and then a four hour bus ride into the mountains.

Alright, it's onto la finca a while--