Saturday, November 14

Vacation! We’re going on a vacation! We rented a car and we’re just going into Managua for the night but one would think Disneyland, Disneyworld, Las Vegas, and Fiji are in my future this weekend. Daniel hasn’t had one free day since I arrived. He asked for time off (from the job that doesn’t pay him) and we have so many plans and not enough hours. We’re going to the movies, we’re going to McDonalds, we’re going to Jimmy Three Fingers for dinner, we’re going to the port for a drink, we’re going to have the Intercontinental’s sumptuous breakfast….bacon!!!!! I didn’t see him for 3 days. He was stuck in Diriomo with the circus. Why? One night he didn’t have any money for gas for his motorcycle to travel the 45 minutes back to Granada. He’s been working all this time and he didn’t have gas money. They seem to toss him a bit of money here and a bit of money there but he hasn’t received his salary in weeks. The other two nights it was raining so hard it would have been dangerous on the highway on a motorcycle. I HATE THE CIRCUS! The overgrown black butterfly I was so afraid of is called a pipilacha. My student Juan Carlos auditioned yesterday for the Nica equivalent of “America’s Got Talent.” J.C. sings karaoke every weekend at O’Shea’s Bar. Daniel’s a couch potato and I haven’t been able to get him to go to the bar with me to see J.C. yet. I went to a rock concert alone last night. When I arrived a few minutes after the start time of 7 p.m., the band was roaring and I’d wished I’d brought my earplugs. I was astounded they’d started on time because this is Nicaragua; nothing starts on time. Then they put down their instruments, turned off the lights, posed for a lot of selfies, and hung out with their friends for the next hour. At 8 p.m., I gave up. I’d obviously witnessed a warm up and the real performance was going to start sometime in the future. Without me. The appetizer wasn’t enough to convince me to stay for more.