editor´s note

This blog is an attempt to right the wrongs of past blogs. I have thought of a few things that need either correction or clarification.

Number one

The water and electrical outages in this country.

At first I thought, because I heard, that it was all Daniel Ortega´s fault. Not so. Apparently the problem is one of privitazation. Nicaragua´s former president, Bolanos, sold the country´s power to a Spanish company which, in order to cut losses, cuts the lights periodically instead. Different parts of the country have outages at different times, which explains the no water phenomenoa.

If there is electricity but no water it is because the elecricity has been cut off in another part of the country and the water can´t be pumped to Granada.


Number Two

The uncovered manholes in the streets.

Desperate people do desperate things. In other words, people steal the metal covers and sell them to smelteries to make a little extra cash.

Which reminds me of when we were painting the mural on the side of the school. We had an old plastic tarp to catch paint that dropped on the ground, and a man from the community was begging me to give it to him when he was done so he could use it as a wall or roof for his house. Every material is of value here; both plastic and glass bottles are picked up by beverage companies and reused (not recycled), most soft drinks come in plastic bags (perhaps to cut down on waste) and food waste is unheard of. Needless to say, Nicaraguans are very resourceful.

So, forget recycling....start reusing!