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Paul took the masthead picture at the Malecón, a block and a half from our home, and it shows the Laguna de Masaya and Volcán Masaya.
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Recently there has been an epidemic of volunteers' computers crashing or being stolen; I think one of the things that they have been most upset about is that they lost all of their pictures. That would a disaster for us, so I decided it was time to get everything backed up and uploaded just in case something bad happened. After a lot of hours spent weeding out, organizing, tagging, naming, and titling all of our pictures using iPhoto, we finally have all the pictures (and movies) of our time in Nicaragua uploaded to Flickr. Not only are they all there for safekeeping, but Flickr lets you do a lot of awesome things to organize the pictures:
In our time in Nicaragua, we have met all sorts of creatures of various sizes . But now to our list of lizards, spiders, chickens, tarantulas, beetles, ants, cockroaches, and mice, we have a new addition: a big scorpion. 
Sunday night we were all getting ready to go to sleep when Dora seemed particularly interested in something back by the bedroom door. Paul saw it first and, fortunately, pulled Dora away and stuck her on the bed for safety. We didn't really know the best way to kill and dispose of a scorpion, but we feel no shame in saying we took the coward's way out: we used a heck of a lot of Raid on that thing. Though Raid is designed for cockroaches and flies, we were pleased to find out that it works just as well on scorpions. We also learned that scorpions' tails uncurl when they die.
This was another creature that we wanted to kill first and photograph later, so this is it once it was already dead (its tail isn't curled anymore). We also tossed a córdoba down to help judge the size... we realize it's less than ideal because most people don't know how big a cord is, but it's about the size of a quarter.
We had hoped that by moving into a different house, all the animals whose family members have perished by our hand would be unable to track us down to get revenge; unfortunately, we seem to make small yet venomous enemies everywhere we go.
We have been dreading October since November 1st of last year... last year it rained heavily just about every day the entire month. We missed school and wrote letters in protest, and we've been anxious about October since then, particularly since we now have a dog that doesn't take rain days from needing to go outside to use the bathroom.
Now that the month is more than half over, I feel comfortable saying that this October hasn't been as bad. Last year was a particularly bad year because Hurricane Felix seems to have hovered near Nicaragua for the whole month; this year it still rains just about every day, but it's been mostly limited to a few hours in the afternoon or raining during the night. Even though it hasn't been as bad, though, doesn't mean we're not going to complain...
Now since we've moved to a different part of town, even a relatively small amount of rain can cause quite a bit of disaster. On this side of town, Masaya slopes downward with all the water running to the Laguna de Masaya... we live two blocks from the lagoon, so quite a bit of water has accumulated by the time it gets to us: 
This picture is from last Sunday. I went to a counterpart's house to plan for this week's classes and there wasn't a cloud in the sky. Just as we were finishing our plans, the sky turned a dark, menacing gray and I decided that it was time for me to leave. I hopped on Paul's bike to come home just as it started to sprinkle, pedaled as fast as my little legs would go, and arrived home about 5 minutes later; by that time, it was already a downpour the likes of which I've only seen a couple of times in Missouri. I unlocked the gate, brought the bike in, and grabbed the camera to take a picture: this was what our street looked like probably 10 minutes after the first raindrop fell. You can see the tiny stripe of street that remains unsubmerged, but otherwise the water comes up to the sidewalks.
A few blocks "up" from our house, there's a big interestion (with a stoplight!) that is hands down the worst area for flooding that I've ever seen. Two weeks ago I was walking from school to a pharmacy near our house to get my antibiotics for my bacterial infection (I'm all better now!). It started sprinkling as I was walking, and I very foolishly decided to stop in to my favorite store "Everything for a Dollar, More or Less" to see if they had any new dog toys for Dora. When I walked out of the store a few minutes later, the one intersection that stood between me and the pharmacy was completely flooded with water up onto the sidewalks and entering the buildings that lacked a high step up. I considered rolling up my pant legs and fording the river, but a man told me it was too dangerous and that the water would drain soon. The "Todo por un Dollar, Mas o Menos" people shepherded me back inside the store to wait out the rain, and I ended up spending an hour and 15 minutes sitting cross-legged on the floor waiting for the rain to slow enough that cars and buses were willing to drive across the intersection.
I finally got home at 4:45 and my community class begins at 5:00 across town near where we used to live. Last year Paul and I rolled our eyes at classes being cancelled due to the rain, but I have a confession to make: I cancelled class, changed into dry clothes, and had some hot chocolate while I spent the evening watching t.v.
We haven't had any official unofficial rain days at our schools yet, but if that day comes, I'll gladly sacrifice my moral high ground in order to stay high and dry myself.
Last year, San Jerónimo's parade came as a surprise to me. This year, we were ready. Masaya's fiestas patronales began a couple of weeks ago with the hipica horse parade and the running of the bulls (we stayed safely inside the house for that one). Then last Tuesday there was no class because it was again time for San Jerónimo and sidekick San Miguel to go parading up and down every street in Masaya. Tuesday came and went with no parade, so Wednesday I went off to school because my counterpart had said that there would be class. I arrived at school to find about 4 teachers and 15 students, so had to turn right back around to go home. When I made it home, the streets were completely full with people and one of my students (who knew better than to go to school) told me that San Jerónimo was just about to pass. I went inside, grabbed the camera, and took a few pictures.
Here's the loud band passing by.
Here are the obligatory beer carts and mobile barbeque stations.
And here is a (loud!) video of San Jerónimo passing by with the huge crowd running behind. Paul thought the video had been sped up, but they really were running this fast.
Just as quickly as they ran by, everyone disappeared and the street was quiet again. Filled to the brim with trash, but quiet.
For the most part, I think Paul and I don't really complain about missing the comforts of home that we lack here... the most notable exception to this is the washer and dryer. I have no idea what I was complaining about even when in college I had to carry my laundry all the way to the laundry room and then I had to be in the laundry room as soon as the washer or dryer finished to avoid some other laundry zealot taking it out and stealing my machine. I would now be happy to have to fight for my right to put an extra quarter in the dryer.
There was once a plan to create a guidebook for new volunteers by volunteers but like most great ideas here it never really materialized. I spent some time writing this, though, so I thought I'd share it with the Internet.
The Castle-like old market is a nice place to browse but you can find almost everything you need in the new market.
The new market is actually the dirtier market but the handicrafts section is pretty well stocked, though.
The Laguna de Apoyo with Volcán Mombacho in the background.
The mirador overlooking the Laguna.
Read more...
Dora and I took a long walk the other day and she seemed thirsty so I went into a store near the market and got this bowl. She didn't really want to drink out of it, though. She mostly wanted to wear it as a hat so I indulged her. 
Every once in a while Dora goes crazy like this. She had even been for a really long walk and a ball-throwing marathon at the park. Even though we're terrified/annoyed/amused when it happens, there's nothing we can do but wait it out until the inevitable conclusion when she just collapses in the middle of the floor.
Sorry that the videos are poor quality; it's really tough to properly light wild animals in their element.
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