These are our first visions and sounds of Nicaragua. Almost immediately after crossing the border you see the two conical shapes of Volcano Conception (1610 meters) and Volcano Maderas rising up out of Lake Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. The constant winds caused by the “lake effect” of Lake Nicaragua make it a perfect place for wind turbines, the site of which reminded us of home and the drive east on the 10 Freeway through Palm Springs which is essentially a wind tunnel caused by the heat of the desert combined with the location of the surrounding mountains creating another perfect spot for a wind turbine farm.
At first site it was a surprise, how could such a poor country be investing in alternative energy when the United States is still struggling with the concept? I wonder if this is foreign investment, who manufactured and maintains these turbines...we never did find out. Interestingly, however, we quickly learned that notwithstanding attempts to generate power, electricity was a heated topic in Nicaragua. The electricity problems played a very vital role in the 2006 elections where the Sandinista supported party won in the democratic elections in part based on promises of fixing the electricity problem (which basically was an issue of unrealiable or no electricity as the company which had control of generating the power, a company from Spain, did not believe it was worth its trouble to solve the problems with their service in Nicaragua.) Once elected, the new government quickly negotiated a new contract and the power went back on …intermittently that is. But now the issue is dispersed-literally-as there is generally power except for random hours during the day .. Or night .. If you call to complain, it could miraculously go back on .. Or not. Essentially the people get a “little” more electricity and reliability, but a higher bill that apparently is not based solely on usage and certainly does not change because the power is unavailable. In other words, it is still a huge problem.
Politics - we were to soon to find out was a a much discussed topic of conversation with Nicas. More on that later, back to our first sights and sounds of Nicaragua. “We don’t need no education, we don’t need no thought control. No dark sarcasm in the classroom. HEY TEACHER, leave us kids alone.“ Pink Floyd, Another Brick in the Wall is a catchy tune, but it becomes almost surreal when it is booming from the speakers of a run-down taxi with a cracked windshield through the Nicaraguan countryside. The speakers might have been worth more than the car. I guess he assumed all Westerners played their music at eardrum crushing volume. We caught this taxi in the town of Rivas where the bus dropped us off, en-route to San Juan del Sur and some clases de espanol. I only wish I had a photo, or better yet a video clip of this little trip!
