granada

day of wonders.

thunder to shake the world. thunderheads like marching giants siluhetted against the volcano. school clan in good humor and such progress! Carla my professor is endlessly patient. massage after musicl chairs at the school and claudia my massus is a wonder with massage amid art and a german yoga teacher transplanted to Managua and many insights into the arts community here. the art in ceramic and textiles so tempting. with 70 percent unemployed and many of them invisible so hard to spend on luxuries and arty impulses. nearly arrested a gent whipping his tiny pony with over 20000 pounds of rice in a cart behind. the merchant in the cane backed chair across the path commiserating and pantomimeing throwing hand cuffs on the wretch. his eyes are all aglaze....can-t be normal and put such a delicate cavallo to such a test. my heart aches for these scrawney ponies.

cab and pate at the lovely lovely hotel on the cathedrañ square. so many wow inspiring inns ' gardens and carved beams and uniformed staff so elegantly attentive. i sit and contemplate cigars while horse carts trip to and fro...

music in the cathedral by a vocalist to rival carerras...with guitar, acordian and rattles....my heart fill with tears and the devoted offer their homage too....we meet at 3 for a boat tour of the isletas ' tiny jewels off shore from granada on the endless lago....so abused. we reach the boats via one of the horse carts right out of the trolly fairy tales. our driver ' not the demon i presumed as he shares the history of this little city. segregaton of indigenous from espaniol, walker and teh torching of the churches.,...the tunnels that run below groung to connect churches and offer sanctuary of the locals from that american napolean of years past. trash and trees girdled. people do not understand what is at risk as they are scraping thru the trash for survival.

mansions, monkeys and rockwork to awe on little island jungles.

carla and i meet at the grandest of all the hotels and order cab to ease our last two hours of study. we just converse and one sentence leads to a lesson or new area to discover. sociological, political personal....we cover it all and learn thru it.

home late and my little family is concerned. they are puttng their home up for sale because their little shop of convenience foods is failing. not owning a dime on this sweet place ----little veronica´s college reserve- in spanish we explore what it will take for them to hold the place. convert it into a duplex and rent our the half that i now enjoy.....$250! that is it! can i do anything but ofer my help to fund the necessary bano they need>

how is it that this always happens----

joyful independent free spirited and vividly alive...huge rainstorm, fresh air today and body wonderfully worked by claudia. i´ll be back monday for another massage and somehow pack these miraculous treasures for the trip north...çç

walk in the night and i wisk thru alleys with a sence of knowing this little place like my own in just a few days. travel feeds life...