One week in Managua

Today we left my Mom at the airport for her return to the States. It's been a full time, juggling tourism with getting settled in my new home.

Since last Saturday, we have:

- gone to la Isla de Ometepe, where we spent 2 nights at the Villa Paraiso Hotel (our favorite spot on the islands)
- watched a few members of a Zarzuela troupe from Spain, who performed at the Casa de los Tres Mundos in Granada
- saw our first procession of the Purísima (Immaculate Conception), which is a big deal here
- hosted a party at our house with some of our musician and other friends
- visited the Reserva Natural Chocoyero, a nature reserve that protects the nesting area of local parrots, as well as a large number of other wild animals--we saw a family of monkeys and guardabarranco del monte (Nicaragua's national bird)
- went to see a concert of Duo Guardabarranco, and were lucky enough to hear them play my favorite song, el Colibrí. You can find the words to many of their best known songs on the site; I've copied here the lyrics to Colibrí:

COLIBRI (Salvador Cardenal)
En el jardin de Dios creció una flor
que un colibrí sintio
voló sobre la tierra
campos de paz y guerra
pero no encontro su flor

El colibri volo sin ver atras
hacia el jardin de Dios
la flor del arcoiris no era la que buscaba
ni la de mas noble olor
ni la de increible olor

El colibri lloró detrás del sol
por su adorada flor
pero habitaba adentro
de su corazoncito y no la podia ver, no
y no la podia ver
la del nectar del amor

After Mom passed through security at the airport, Paulo & I went over to the Centro Cultural Batahola Norte to see their end of year graduation. In addition to the awarding of graduation certificates to the students, the theatre, music and dance groups gave presentations. For theatre they presented the Grasshopper and the Ant, the old fable about the importance of work. The kids did a great job, especially the girl playing the Grasshopper. Quite the actress!

Tonight we'll see another concert related to Guardabarranco, with multiple performers honoring Salvador Cardenal. With any luck we'll get to the film festival tomorrow, showcasing Nicaraguan short films produced over the past 10 years.