Progress Report

November 6-11, 2006 // CONSTRUCTION LOG #109

Contact phone numbers

Internet Phone:
New York: 315-279-6711
Toronto: 416-907-5758 // 416-461-2203

Costa Rica:
Cell: 506-305-3965
Land: 506-282-4142 Ext. 101

NOTE: the New York and Toronto numbers are "local calls" for people in the area codes; calls from outside the area code will be billed at the normal rate from the caller's area code to either the "315" or the "416" area code.

NOTE: NOW THAT THIS DEVELOPMENT IS ESSENTIALLY FINISHED, THE LOG WILL FOCUS MORE ON THE RIO ORO DEVELOPMENT. IT WILL BE INFORMATIVE TO THOSE PLANNING ON BUILDING, THOSE LOOKING FOR A PLACE TO PURCHASE OR TO LEASE, AND FOR THOSE WONDERING WHAT EXPATS DO IN COSTA RICA AND THE LIFESTYLE OF TWO ORDINARY PEOPLE.

The STORY: Granada after Elections -OUR LIVES

CONSTRUCTION

PICTURES: 126 and Rio Oro

Weather: mostly sunny with the odd overcast.

Irrigation system: no progress but moving higher on my list

Satellite TV system: The new system / technology continues working.

The new house - Unit 126: Windows trimmed, floors tiled ready for grout, walls primed.

Rio Oro Development

Waiting for survey and soil study reports. My understanding is that roadways had to be altered in several locations so as to save existing trees. The land is mostly cleared although the stream itself still needs more work-see new pictures. Application documents for perimeter walls and other minor work are ready for submission; we hope to have permission to start that work in a couple weeks. Two materials warehouses and worker lunch / change room are being built.

OUR LIVES

I took advantage of our down time and went to Granada; I needed to get my schedule synchronized with Lita's. I was there Monday afternoon just after the election results were released. On Monday night there was a street party outside Ortega's party headquarters. Probably around 500 people. Flag waving, cheering, and a band was playing. All day Tuesday trucks with loudspeakers drove through town playing an endless Spanish recording of "Give Peace a Chance". Tuesday night there was a much larger rally in the main square-probably around 1,000 people. Again lots of flag waving (red and black - party color flags), more of the same music, firecrackers, and trucks and more trucks carrying people around town and back to the square. The main time of the rally lasted from around 6-7pm after which the crowd dwindled to around 300 and went on until around 8 at which time most of the revelers had disbursed. There was the odd drunk but virtually no rowdiness that I saw; most of the revelers were youth. I was never a witness to nor victim of any confrontation although I overheard two conversations the next morning one of which claimed rocks had been thrown at his truck and the other claimed to have had the victory sign --"V" --shoved in his face with something said. Other conversations of expats living there varied-some were clearly concerned and vowed to start making plans to leave should Ortega be like he previously was, others were more concerned about what the USA might do, and others were adopting a "wait and see" attitude. The restaurants I ate in-I visited my old favorites-the clientele were not likely to have been in the park waving flags. Two Nicaraguans I spoke with were not fans of Ortega nor his beliefs and were definitely not happy with the results. With 38% of the vote and a mixed legislature, he doesn't have a strong mandate but he's been successful at creating alliances in the past (many of which were ephemeral) and has been able to advance his agenda. From a casual observers perspective, it seems like the vote was largely split along socioeconomic lines. I heard that Ortega got a lot of votes by passing out red baseball caps and based on the number of caps I saw, someone passed out a lot of hats. There were a number of foreign election process observers in well marked 4X4s-I think they rented everything driveable and rental in the country. The markings were very prominent -OEA-By the time I left on Thursday, all those cars had left Granada.

Renovation work continues in the central core of Granada although I personally have difficulty understanding the economics of it. The town, however, continues to need a lot of basic repair and infrastructure work. There were a number of back packers present but the hotels and establishments catering to the more well healed traveler were virtually empty. For example, in my hotel, the Cocibolca, there are around 30 rooms ranging from $20 to $35 per night. On any given night, probably only 5 were occupied. What was happening in the $60-$90 a night places I don't know. Regardless, there is a life and charm to Granada which is missing in towns and areas I've been to in CR. Personally, I hope Nicaragua can get it's political act together; the poverty is so tremendous and the people I know and work with certainly deserve better, much better but are victims of bad government and natural disasters.

Lita has returned to Toronto from the Philippines and is scheduled to return to CR on Monday. As of now, her parrot is still alive even though Canuk has passed on-and that I'll have to deal with when she arrives. If the reverse were the case, I'd be sleeping with Canuk.

Brian, Lita, Hugo and irreverent Vicka, the pigeon toed parrot.

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