The Hipica Aug 2008

Ride 'em Caballero Thursday, August 14, 2008 August is a busy month here in Nicaragua, lot's of political anniversaries from the revolution as well as Dias Patrias , los hipacas are a little like a rodeo or state fair. Last Sunday we had the running (dragging) of the bulls and this Sunday all the rich landed Nicas bring their horses to town and prance around on horseback. Lot's of cowboy outfits and drinking. There is a pretty god sized parade too. The central park is crowded with carnival style games, flip a coin into the tray and win a bike. Most of the prizes on display were faded and the cardboard boxes held together with yellowed scotch tape. There are wheel of fortune type wheels set up as well. Seems to be straight out gambling but I couldn't follow the game's payout and they freaked out when I tried to snap a photo. I went to the crowded El Quixote bar and watched as one mounted cowboy, a few back packer types and a hundred drunk and stoned street kids chased, prodded, beat and dragged some un enthusiastic young bulls down the street. With enough name calling, spitting and water tossing the bull would lunge at the nearest abuser and cause 30 seconds of panic in the crowd. But the tired and confused bull just wanted to "chill" in the shade of the Gran Francisca Restaurant with the last two bulls who by now have caught up. It was after three in the afternoon, the temp was well over ninety and the humidity was off the chart as the daily afternoon thunder storm loomed in the east…The sweaty drunken cowboys and the crowd went ballistic, screaming, whistling, tugging on the rope, prodding with an electric cattle prod, throwing rocks and bottles, finally the reluctant mini herd took off again headed off the last few blocks down to the lake (and the carneceria)…Some of the tourists in the bar looked bewildered and disappointed in this not so noble, not so Hemmingway like moment of animal cruelty… It's hard not to root for the bulls and 12 people got sent to the hospital. Including a 72 year old woman, on her way home when the bulls and the crowd drove her into the pavement… Last week there was a horrific fire in the giant sprawling Oriental Market. This is the biggest market in Nicaragua, maybe even Central America. It's about 20 square blocks of shops surrounded by narrow streets turned into shops as well. 2x4s and tin roofs, rabbit warren or rat maze. Hot, confusing, crowded and crazy. Lot's of hot merchandise and pawn shop outlets…Every tour book says to stay away. But when you need to find anything here the answer is always to look in the Oriental.. The fire burned for over 24 hours, estimates of 1500 shops and vendors out of biz…Some where around 8-10 acres of market burned. Nobody seriously hurt but their debt for the merchandise still exists even if the store and contents are in ashes…The local Managua tv stations had lots of live coverage…There was little to none water pressure, merchants waited patiently to fill up buckets of water to wet down their shops. The fire dept has tanker trucks. Old 1950s-1960s trucks from carotidal over the globes, all to big to navigate the narrow crowded streets around the market. So the bomberos strung leaky hoses for blocks…Losing pressure every foot along the way… As a large part of Managua's business community burned to the ground. The town people danced and paraded in the streets to celebrate the Festival of Santo Domingo. Apparently Santo Domingo years ago appeared near Managua as a diminutive figure giving advise and nowadays they have a life sized 11 inch tall statue under glass. They dress up as pre Colombian Indians but they look more like comical 1950s era stage play African natives with pierced noses, bones in their hair and they paint them selves black…. The local business scene here was brightened with a new thrift store. It looks like they took an entire thrift store in middle town America and sent it south. Ski jackets, quilts, baby training toilets and electric bun warming trays are just some of the unknown treasures. It is probably the largest single store in town and right on the main street less than a block from central park. I was there opening week and in typical Nica style they had a huge sound system inside the store with a DJ spinning mind numbing loud reggeaton (foul macho Latin Rap) and a staff out numbering customers.. three to one. They have two uniformed guards with billy clubs and hand held metal detectors to protect the overpriced cast offs. I did buy a baseball hat with nothing written on it, a rare find.. Later that night I talked myself into the chair cushions and went back the next day to find them gone, there is not a soft seat in the entire country.. But the still live dj was quiter in the morning and I could shop around a little….It looked like Sunday afternoon garage stuff, couldn't sell it in the USA and expensive…the white button down Polo dress shirt was priced at ten bucks (120 Cords)! And the used picture frames were 75 cords! Yikes…But still, it's on the way to my usual breakfast place and it's fun to look. I wonder if they will ever replenish the stock? The other exciting thing is the LaColonia Super Market is due to open this weekend. Just five blocks from my house… LaColonia is a privately owned chain of international style grocery stores. Right now in Granada, cheese as example there is only two kinds. An expensive fake bright yellow plastic like cheese individually wrapped sold at the Pali or quejada a home made salty white cheese made locally. Living in the tropics, food storage is a problem. And this cheese is an answer to how to save milk, it's not about "cheese"….I took some some smoked quejada home and soaked it over nite in water to reduce the salty taste then fried it up…It was still nasty. LaColonia stocks white cheddar from New Zealand and Swiss from the Quaker farms in Costa Rica…They have a deli section and a health food aisle….Hopefully they will stock my brand whole peanuts and hence save me a long arduous bus/taxi ride to Managua.. I have really been losing weight since I returned from my USA trip in May. Maybe 3-4 inches off my waist…I attribute this to my Nica diet…No dairy, little meat, lot's of rice and beans, fruits and whole grain corn tortillas. This with the heat is an effective weight loss plan. It's easy not to eat meat after a trip to the meat aisle in the Mercado around 10-11 in the morning…La Colonia sells recognizable cuts of meat chilled and pre wrapped in plastic and there is a butcher staff too…with a deli dept….Good thing I still have my fat man pants…pues hasta nos vemos…adios