First time: I've been to the mountain top

This is Los Altos de Ocotal, a place I visited on Sunday.  Until I figure out words to describe it sufficiently, all I can do is post a few pictures.

(Mas fotos en Facebook.)

First time: Logo

A plaque identifies every 4 Walls house.  Pepe took me to visit some houses that were completed recently and also gave me a souvenir to take home.

First time: Such beautiful doors

First time: Mariposa

First time: Teaching poetry

For two Thursdays I pretended to be a poetry teacher at the English Class in El Sauce.  We read Seamus Heaney and Sherman Alexie, and also wrote a little.  Some examples:

  

The sea and sky are blue

Like my bottle of glue.

I like my bird because it flew.

And God is love, that’s true.

Summer

Hot fun

Swimming, surfing, eating.

Enjoy the better way.

Bikini!

First time: Comida deliciosa

Mango.  Have you ever heard one hit the roof in the middle of the night?  I thought it was the battering ram.

Cashews.  Just roasted.  Still hot.

A citrus whose name I cannot remember.

First time: Sitting in the calle in the evening

It’s the thing to do. People gather at their doorsteps to catch a breeze and maybe some gossip.

Hilda is Xiomara’s (my hostess’s) mother.  She’s the comic in the crowd.

First time: Here it is!

One snug little house, capable of withstanding the rains when they begin in May, 

• Four walls
• 6 metres by 4.5 metres by 2.25 metres.
• 1600 bricks
• 3360 litres of water
• 23 bags of Portland cement
• A giant pile of sand
• Rebar and baling wire
• Tools: hammer, nails, level, plum line, axe, wheel barrow, gloves, plastic bowls, tape measure, sifter, serrucho, manger, escuadra, barr, pala, reglas, piocha, alfajillas, cucharas, liensa, grifas, cegeta, tablas, prensas
• 90 mason’s hours
• 310 total man hours

 The roof and doors won’t go on until after I am gone. Bummer!

First time: Machete

Refusing to believe that a woman could live 60 years without seeing a machete, Jerson posed with his.

First time: Sunday at the beach

I did not go on this bus

I went with students from the English class and some of their kids.  This beach, about two hours from El Sauce, is called Las Peñitas. You can stay here for six bucks a night.

First time: Lunchtime language lessons

I teach English.  Pepe teaches Spanish.

The dictionary problem has been solved

First time: El presidente, la reina, y el general

So named by Richard

First time: Day 9 of construction

Walls = shade!

16 trips like this every morning to get water for the mortar

Little wire ties cut and twisted by me

First time: Asentaderas

Look it up: http://translate.google.com/. Mine ache.

The ride in the morning is over ruts and rocks while dodging every kind of animal, tractor, truck, and person.  The rules of the road seem to depend on where the shade is.