in which we buy more than we ever planned to

We have had quite a full day, met some amazing people, and bought some wonderful things to bring home. It all began with a huge feast of fruit, gallopinto (a Nicaraguan dish of rice with beans), tostones, pan dulce, jugos, eggs, tamales, and quite a few other options.


After breakfast, we piled into our 15 person van and drove through Managua to Codice, a beautiful gallery of art and handicrafts owned by Juanita, a friend of a friend whom Lyndsey was told she must look up while visiting Nicaragua.


Codice is housed in what was once Juanita's home...


And was full of beautiful pottery, paintings and crafts.



After meeting Juanita and learning about how she came to know many of the artists in Nicaragua, and asking her what she thinks of Obama (she's excited), we hopped back into our van and drove to Masaya.

On the way we passed a volcano...

The Masaya artisan market was an overwhelming bazaar of souvenirs geared for tourists. We had lunch, did some shopping, and met Frankie, who talked his way into our hearts and pockets.


While half of the group stayed in the mercado to shop and have lunch, the rest went to Hamacas O & M, a hammock "factory" in the home of Oswaldo and Martha Suazo.

Third generation hammock makers, they assemble the hammocks in their shop from pieces made by workers in their homes.

At 13 dollars for a small chair hammock, some of us just couldn't resist. The hammocks were divinely comfortable after a morning on our feet.
After leaving the fabrica de hamacas, we had snacks at the amazing house of Susan Wyss, a retired archaeologist who now owns a English and Spanish language bookstore. We saw this beautiful rainbow from the top of the hill she lives on.

The view was great, even on such an overcast afternoon. We relaxed and learned all about Susan's adventures digging up old Managua and joining the Peace Corps in Ecuador.

One of the many pre-Columbian artifacts in her personal collection. She has an amazing library, too...


After the bocadillos and sangria, we went to Susan's bookstore to meet with a Nicaraguan economist who answered our questions about finances in the country. At the store, most of us bought books by Sergio Ramírez, hoping he will sign them when we have dinner with him tomorrow.

And after that, we went next door to the newly opened Italian restaurant Pane e Vino. The puttanesca pasta was delicious, as was listening to all the local expats' gossip!

Here we are in front of Susan's bookstore, Frontera Books.



We'll be up early tomorrow to go to the American Embassy, visit some libraries, and have dinner with Juanita Bermúdez (from the gallery we visited today) and Sergio Ramírez at the Casa Mejia Godoy.

Here's a video, taken at lunch in the mercado, of some musicians performing a marimba version of the song Caitlin taught to everyone else in the van today, Nicaragua, Nicaraguita.