Arriving in Managua from Minnesota this time of year is like jumping from winter straight into summer – 80 degree heat, sunny, everyone is wearing sandals and t-shirts. I arrived in Nicaragua yesterday night after an exhausting week in frigid Minnesota of frantically compiling all of the materials and procedures necessary to make twenty of our solar lamps, about four hours of sleep in the last three days, and the death and funeral of my dear grandfather.

Despite tradgety and hardship, I am happy to be here with my good freind and long time cohort on the project, Mario Aleman. We have been working for two years to be able to work on the accomplishments we hope to achieve in the coming weeks. I am happy to feel sunlight on my face and to see dust clouds disapear with out a trace, to put it in the words of U2. If you have ever heard the song, “Where the Streets Have No Name,” which according to Time Magazine is often linked to Managua since the streets quite literally do not have names, you might remember the line, “I want to reach out and touch the flame…” I think I know what that came from – driving through the city late last night, there they were – the familiar sight of small garbage fires on the side of the street in every other neighborhood. The first time I saw those years ago they surprised and somewhat disturbed me – now they look so familiar that they comfort me in a way.

I wanted to take this opportunity to post a picture of Mario in his office here in Managua – as a young entrepreneur he runs his small imports service business from here. To me it symbolizes the begining of our journey because we have been able to use this small space today to budget and schedule for the next month. I am writing this post for the moment now as he had to go to a job interview for an engineering position. Later today we will be purchasing the remainder of our supplies. Be well and until next post…