Glimpses of Ordinary Life

Here are some pictures of ordinary things around the house, things that are a little different than what we're used to back home, whether it be in the USA or Finland.

Here's our dishwasher. Well, that's mostly me, but there is a technique to it, that I have to admire. Requires a lot of water tho, and elbow grease :)

So, you have a sponge and a tub of dishwashing soap. You grab some soap on the sponge and wash the plates and all under the running water, at the same time rinsing them. We have a drying rack, so we don't have to towel dry them, at least. This method is fine when it's just a few plates and things, it'd be a lot more work for a whole family! Oh, and there is no hot water, everything is tepid.

Another tidbit about living in Nicaragua. Most of the plumbing here is so old and the pipes so small, that you can't throw your TP in the toilet, but put it in the wastebasket. Luckily here in San Juan del Sur, trash is collected everyday, where we live, many times a day.

The maroon toilet set was purchased by our landlord (editor's note).

With so much poverty in Nicaragua, it's important to keep your items and home safe.Therefore, even the poorest houses have wrought iron bars on the windows. 

Because there is no postal delivery in town, and the newspaper can only be bought in the store, advertising is done more creatively.

All sorts of cars, here's just one example, drive around town with loudspeakers on top, playing recorded messages from our advertisers. We don't understand much of it yet; what we thought was an animated, high-pitched political speech from a Hitler-wannabe, turned out to be an ad for a circus coming to town. The only ad we have understood was our friend Bonnie's for El Timón restaurant. It was in English.

Electricity is a little sketchy here as well. Sometimes you have it, sometimes you don't. Like with the rainy season upon us, and the thunderstorms we've been having, the power goes out more often than not, during those storms. Here is an example of a power pole in our 'hood.

Made you go "no wonder" huh? :) 

My life is a dream tho, especially when I found a local store that actually carries Diet Pepsi, or Pepsi Light, as it is called here! Party on!