Starting the Leveling and Backfill

 Beginning the process of bringing backfill onto the lot to level it up and then begin to extend it.

Leveling After the Demolition

 After the house was demolished the rubble was leveled to provide a solid base to put backfill onto.

Demoltion Day

 The house purchased in town was built on a rubble foundation and would not be suitable for building onto.  The house was demolished and the lot is being extended to provide a large area for a new house / port which will allow for better access back and forth to False Bluff.

Demolition Preparation

 

Bit of Nature from the October Trip '24

 

False Bluff Project List and Southern Farms Tour

 

Trip Out to False Bluff on My Last Work Day

 

Finding Contractors, Finalizing Decisions, Finally Rain

 

Measuring out and planning for the new house build.

 

 

Seems like the harder the work, the hotter the day.

Clearing and Cleaning the Pointeen Lot

Beginning work on the Pointeen property.

 

 

Short video about shopping for supplies to get ready to clear the Pointeen lot.

Day Two from MGA to BLU

 Finally in town and starting to get everything ready to get some work done.

Pointeen Work

Work will begin soon to fix up the Pointeen property in Bluefields.  This will give a good place to come and go to the beach from.

Getting things done...

In the United States the bad economy has been painful world-wide in the last few years:  the cost of food is way up, owning a car has become more expensive from repair to insurance to fuel, heating or cooling a home is more costly.  Even cooking your food is more expensive.  

And the cost of housing is way up...  

There's a shortage of 'affordable housing,' the cost of purchasing either a new or old home has risen in both purchase price and financing, and there are very high prices for materials to build or repair existing stock.

But someone in the small Caribbean town - where I spend time when I'm not actually at False Bluff - has tackled the housing problem in a unique way. 

On a large verdant lot with Bluefields Bay not far in the distance, someone has built half of their house now:

 

Nicaragua...beautiful on both sides

Information and 'news' from Nicaragua is more often bad than good.  Part of that may be deserved like media coverage of any country; but much of it seems to be from a combination of a lack of knowledge and a lack of context.

However, a recent newsletter posted at the French site 'EnVols' touts 'The 5 most beautiful towns in Central America you need to visit'

Of the eight countries in Central America, only four are listed:  Guatemala, Nicaragua, Panama, and Costa Rica.  

The five listed towns are Antigua, Granada, Panama City, Leon, and San Jose.

Doesn't quite add up, does it.  Four countries listed in the story but '5 beautiful towns.'

Turns out two of those towns are in Nicaragua...on the western side, but beautiful nonetheless:

https://www.en-vols.com/en/getaways/travel/beautiful-cities-central-america/

When the world shut down...

 ...so did tourism and Nicaragua's domestic airline, La Costena.  Not really.  La Costena kept a small number of flights to carry its small number of customers.  But the airline cut one flight that is critical to many of us who routinely head directly from Managua to the Caribbean coast, specifically Bluefields.

La Costena has increased their number of flights including that critical flight, the second flight of the day - what is fondly known as the 'late flight' - which goes to Bluefields.  That flight now seems to be available most days.

Tourism is an important part of Nicaragua's economy. Of course Nicaragua isn't the only place where tourist dollars are important. Many cities in the United States count on tourist dollars and 'the pandemic' had a devastating impact on travel and thus tourism...NYC, Charleston, San Francisco, Seattle.  For some of the cities in the US that were tourism hot spots, the end of 'the pandemic' isn't seeing the increase of tourism.  It's just that the reasons tourists aren't visiting have changed.

But Nicaragua has not been as directly impacted by either safety or the lack thereof - and tourists are returning in droves.  And why not.  Nicaragua has it all...beautiful architecture, natural features that are pretty close to perfect...the Pacific coast on the west and the Caribbean on the east, wonderful people and it is nearly the safest country in Central America - of course no country in Central America beats El Salvador which went from about the most dangerous country in the world to the safest in the western hemisphere.  But Nicaragua is probably just behind that.

This link provides a good look at tourism in Nicaragua: https://www.statista.com/outlook/mmo/travel-tourism/nicaragua#sales-channels

And this is a link to La Costena, with Corn Island at the top of the destination list and Bluefields at number 2:  https://www.lacostena.com.ni/Content/Page/Destinations

Amber...on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast

Amber is a fascinating nature-made product and has been around longer than any of us.  I grew up thinking all amber was 'Baltic amber' which is certainly, even now, the type of amber that is best known among causual amber admirerers like me.  That may be because Baltic amber comes from so many different countries along the Baltic Sea: Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Germany, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Russia, and Sweden.  Lot of countries for amber to form.  

Note:  Fake amber can be and is currently manufactured for sale

I'm assuming most people know that amber is very old tree sap, the most valuable of which is clear and has 'inclusions.'  Inclusions refer to the fact that some sort of usually prehistoric artifact was caught inside the sticky stuff when it oozed from a tree...bugs, lizards, bark, leaves, and so forth.  

Some of the creatures caught in amber are known only because they were caught in amber.  A simple search online will bring up some amazing photographs of amber with inclusions of all sorts.

Prehistoric bugs don't survive thousands of years to be found by paleontologists quite the same way that dinosaurs have.  And even dinosaur remains haven't done too well over the eons or there would have been lots more found.  

The color of Baltic amber is usually in the yellow family.  But then within the last year I read a story about amber from the Dominican Republic.  The most common colors of amber from the Dominican Republic are yellow and green but there is a rare blue amber which can react to ultraviolet light making it glow very brightly...a stunning show.  Again, I'm not going to include photos here because a simple online search will turn up too many to choose from.

But my curiosity about amber sent me on a search for the possibility of amber in Nicaragua...could amber have floated to the Caribbean coast?  Yes.  But best yet, Nicaragua's Caribbean coast has its very own amber, not just something that floated in.  

I stumbled across Amber International, a commercial firm in New York which now includes more than just amber.  But the site has an "about amber" section which is loaded with good information, listing more places amber is from than I could have imagined:  

https://amberinternational.net/about-amber/

And one of the places is in regard to a 'newly discovered amber deposit' as follows:  

"Amber from Nicaragua

18 to 23 Million Years Old: Found in sandstones at the Caribbean sea-shore of Nicaragua Age: 23-18 Ma. (Early Miocene period) Mother-plant: the Hymenaea tree Colours: varying from transparent yellow to red Inclusions: only a few up to now Special characteristics: newly discovered amber deposit."

Interesting to note that something so old is new to the rest of the world.  I've been looking for weeks for a photo of Nicaraguan amber and have even written to Amber International.  I've not found any photos and I've not gotten any reply from Amber International but will provide an update if I get any information.

...and I'll be looking as I walk our Caribbean beach at False Bluff.

A change at the Pointeen House

When Hurricane Ian rolled over Bluefields in 2022 it left damage throughout the small city, including to our house in the Pointeen neighborhood.  The winds pushed several trees flat but worse than the trees that fell into the yard were the tree-sized limbs from a tall breadfruit tree that landed smack on top of the roof.

There aren't a lot of roofs anywhere that can withstand that kind of hit and our house doesn't have  one of them.  It took hard work to get the mess cleaned up and hauled off.

....house, meet breadfruit tree:

In late 2023 the situation inside the house had deteriorated to the point that the couple who had been 'caretaking,' were told they had to find a more hospitable environment.  

...and then our staff moved in to remove what was left of the roof.

Even in its damaged and deteriorated condition, almost all of the material coming off the roof is being stacked and saved.  Most of it will be used to make forms for pouring concrete when the second iteration of the house begins.

I commend our excellent staff!

Just how miserable are you?

If you live in the United States you're probably more miserable than you would be if you were living in Nicaragua right now. 

Every now and then researchers somewhere do a nearly world-wide "Mental Wellbeing" study to tell us just how miserable we are...or aren't.  

The Oxford dictionary defines wellbeing as "the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy" or "an improvement in the patient's well-being."  Both of the above portions of the definition apply since, essentially, we all have recently been patients of one sort or another.   

Non-profit Sapien Labs released a post-pandemic wellbeing study not long ago.  The results of these studies, no matter who authors them, are always a bit of a surprise to me.  I spend time in two countries that are routinely scored for mental wellbeing and so have actual experience of the wellbeing of the people who live in each of those areas since I live among them.

Inflation has hit everywhere but despite inflation and a poverty we in the United States cannot understand, Nicaragua routinely scores more highly than the United States in mental wellbeing studies.  In this study the Dominion Republic has the highest score of all with the United States ranking at number 29.

Nicaragua scores number 23 in being "comfortable, healthy, or happy."

If you are at all interested you can use the test that Sapien Labs used in their calculations to see just how miserable you are:  

https://sapienlabs.org/mhq/

Note:  In reviewing similar studies I came across one that found a correlation between being altruistic and being "comfortable, healthy, or happy."