November 26, Thursday - Happy Thanksgiving

To

Enrique trying to leap onto the cross of noodles in the pool. I’m looking on outside of splash proximity.Last time I was here the vendors were all selling paintings of people sitting on toilets. For some reason, someone thought that amusing. The toilet masterpieces are gone and now all the kiosks are selling shredded T-shirts. They should go back to people in the loo. Above photo of the vendors along Parque Central trying to clean up after a particularly heavy downpour. And the girl who cooks “revueltas” in the street on my path home. Masa dough filled w/ cheese. Wrapped in a banana leaf. So hot I have to wait to eat it. But worth the wait. The ladies with their snack carts park themselves outside the schools. They know their way around post-lesson hungry children. The once-movie theatre has been transformed (well, a small part of it) into a dry cleaners and a 7/11 type mini-market, and now the narrow once-lobby is a Taco Stop. I’d been pressing Daniel to go. Regretful decision. Dreadful food. My hard taco tasted like it’d been sitting on the counter for a month. Daniel’s burrito was no better. And to top if off, my Chase credit card for a grand total of $8.24 was declined by the credit card company. Every time I leave town, I enter a Travel Notification with my credit card companies. I’ve been in Nicaragua for almost 7 years and they decline an $8 charge. I called and yelled. It must be horrible to work in Customer Service. I only had one class yesterday due to summer school beginning for the little children. My students were all occupied except Javiera. During that ONE class of the day, the city electricity went out. No fans. I was wearing skimpy clothes and was sitting near the door because the office is still jammed w/ cardboard cartons. I grabbed the battery-operated fan birthday-gifted to me by Pam for some relief. I offered Javiera a frisbee-shaped plastic fan but she demurred saying, “No tengo calor.” She was dry as a piece of paper while sweat literally poured off my face. My eyes had already been itching and my nose dripping because I’m allergic to something in the office. Must be the dust from the cartons. And Javier wasn’t hot! Then I walked through the teeming marketplace to get some groceries. I finally got home and walked directly through the pool on the way to a nap in the cool bedroom. I’m done cooking. I can’t bear the market. Off to my Nica Thanksgiving.