2021 - Fresh crap...

[KeyWestPirate]

".... . But being the eternal pessimistic optimist I see stagflation kicking all of North America in the nuggies . . . "


I see the country falling into recession (hopefully beginning the decline before the mid terms).
As interest rates are raised, investment will dry up.
The infrastructure money is being spent of soft infrastructure,, free laptops and internet for black kids,, etc


I remember the time of 12% mortgage rates (my first house), and 20% car loans (Shelley's Porsche).
I had a 17% second on the house.

Nothing was happening. I had just started my first business, a printing & publishing outfit in Thousand Oaks, CA..
People wandered in my door every day,, desperate for any work.
I remember one guy I hired,, looked middle manager, to work the front counter.
He stole $400 from me the first day. Trying to save his house,, possibly.

This has to affect the remesas to Nicaragua. And Mexico. And everywhere else.

I had a banker friend, a loan officer, who spent his time having lunch and playing golf with his clients.
He didn't have any money to lend.


Reagan dug us out of that hole.


If Putin doesn't pull this off,, Russian will be paying to rebuild Ukraine,, possible for decades.
There will be plenty of oil and natural gas on the international market.

If Putin pushes the wrong button,, Russia may cease to exist as an independent country.

[bill_bly_ca]

So the redemption was done, cash sent and metal paid - It is dropped off Monday

Lafise - Could not send the first amount without your bank withdrawal slip, so some less went with them

The rest was to go via BAC Credimatic - They could not send the rest because of some error screen

So in the end the other bit went to BanPRO

I am happy and relived the steel is all ordered. We will price out Convitec while we are there and see how willing Jimmi is to continue on the 2nd floor that which would give us a similar to "Dried in" status to up here.

The release of funds for the roof was done with our "Advisor". The "or" is important up here an "Advisor has no fiduciary duty to work in your interest - A Financial "Adviser" with the "er" does - We do not have enough cash to attract an Adviser so we use the advisor with a lot of oversite on our planning. The lady who does both our retirement stuff and Tax free savings is pretty good though. Canada has a "Tax free savings account" but it need not be a "savings account", it is just a gains free of tax account where you can plunk up to 5000 bucks a year. Much of the cash for the house have been cash passed through there - Growing by 6 to 12% and then we with draw as needed to build without a tax hit.

The lady doing all of the cash management is pretty good so far - She laid out a plan on how some of our retirement money will start to move around in 5 yrs (when we are 61) to be the supplement to Canadian social security we may start to draw on when we turn 62. All in all she says we are doing better than plan but being the pessimistic optimist I still have some angst.

Another task is to open a bank account for Chilo - One that makes transfers from Canada easier.

Chilo is far more anxious than before on this upcoming trip - She quit her full time Job Feb 28 and still has not been able to unwind.

Myself, in this last 11 months of full time, I am finding feelings of remorse - I see this week people lined up at my desk 2 deep, with another yelling over the cube, and two emails popping in at the same time asking what should be done. I will miss that sense of worth for solving problems when it is time to switch to part time.

[el duende grande]

We are truly in interesting times. If NATO or the War Party in the US Congress pushes the wrong button a bunch of countries may no longer exist, starting with Ukraine and Poland. Zelensky should have stayed in show biz where his motor mouth would be more appreciated. The War faction may split the Repubricat Party and hand the election to the Democrats.

Gas may get pricey and trigger more inflation than was anticipated as the cost of everything goes up due to shipping costs. The sanction countries may go around the USD and set up some type of alternative.

Nic, of coarse, will have gallo pinto y remesas. So far China has been pinche.

[bill_bly_ca]

Well that was quite the rig a ma roll

Get appointment for PCR all set up

Buy Tica bus tickets

Shop, buy, print parking

Get set up with Nicaragua immigration on line

Get set up with Tico immigration on line

DL, save, and print Canadian COVID vaccine codes

Get TicaBus hotel set up.

Go for COVID tests ($339 CDN total with taxes - UGG)

Upload COVID vaccine codes to Tico site

Enter arrival info to tico site

DL, save and print tico codes

Upload Covid codes to Canadian airline

Get codes from Test tomorrow and print and attach to Nicaraguan immigration page (If form is processed)

And then do the check in with the airline tomorrow and DL, save and print the boarding pass.

With all the leg work (Going back to actual flight shopping) I bet I have 20 hours into it total.

I would say flying in this time sucks - But sometimes sucking is good - This bites...

[el duende grande]

NSS, at least Hotel Valerie in Bolonia was nice and about a 12 minute walk to the covid site.
Avianca was great, what a surprise. Death trap in Miami, my cell provider had just cut off 3g. Ended up spending my vacation day getting a new phone. Anyone coming up make sure you have at least a 4g. Messaging still works on 3g.

The big suck of the whole trip was AA. In the race to the bottom they have now come up with seats that don't recline. Painfull on a 5.5 hour flight. Pricks.

I guess my hopes for a Ruskie Madrid to MGA flight have gone up in smoke. Pooh. Maybe whoever stole all those Ruskie airplanes will fly them?

[Jonh]

We are truly in interesting times. If NATO or the War Party in the US Congress pushes the wrong button a bunch of countries may no longer exist, starting with Ukraine and Poland. Zelensky should have stayed in show biz where his motor mouth would be more appreciated. The War faction may split the Repubricat Party and hand the election to the Democrats.

Gas may get pricey and trigger more inflation than was anticipated as the cost of everything goes up due to shipping costs. The sanction countries may go around the USD and set up some type of alternative.

Nic, of coarse, will have gallo pinto y remesas. So far China has been pinche.

Reminds me of the '60s song by Ed Ames...

...And if a secret button's pressed
Because one man has been outguessed,
Who will answer?

[bill_bly_ca]

So I did get an email that we are "Approved" to enter Niclandia as long as our PCR test are valid at time of crossing

We have about an hour buffer - Oh it is going to be tight.

[bill_bly_ca]

And we just got acceptance of the Covid forms

So todos es con dios...

[el duende grande]

you have the tiger by the tail, all you can do is move forward. It sucks, my trip up cost more than my RTs in the past, not to mention the stress and hoops to jump thru.
And the pricks at American Airlines.

[bill_bly_ca]

you have the tiger by the tail, all you can do is move forward. It sucks, my trip up cost more than my RTs in the past, not to mention the stress and hoops to jump thru.
And the pricks at American Airlines.

We made it through security enjoying our $40 B-fest of Burrito coffee and Juice

Chilo is having kittens after forgetting her makup trips up the security and she forgot the necklace.

Onward and upward

[el duende grande]

Weird security theater in Miami. went to check in to my vegas flight and was warned to come 2 hours early for domestic flights because of security crap. Asked front desk lady at hotel what was up. Seems the tourists were back and airport didn't have enough staff.
Got there to see a humongous line but quickly noted that the line was moving incredibly fast. they were waving the shoes, belts, and trays. They said put all your stuff in your carryon and getterdone. It worked just fine.

[bill_bly_ca]

Everything is dropped off - Edward has his trinkets and his cash, 3 other bundles were dropped off in Managua yesterday. This is the first time ever we has all of the assorted muled items done by the 3rd day.

A lot of shuttered stores in both Managua and Masaya. A lot of empty billboards

Daniel keeps going on about how a recent study shows Nicaraguans are hte happiest in the reagion, but with no work, little opportunity etc etc etc - (Basically calling the reports garbage.

I made up some coffee yesterday and "Tubed" it as well..

[bill_bly_ca]

So we went down to San Juan for a Saturday aft to Monday aft stay.

Saturday

Bus from Masaya (Chicken) was PACKED - Chilo did get a seat about 30 min in though, I stood for the entire trip. The bus to SanJuan was just 30 foot away in the Rivas Market. The Ride to SJDS was uneventful.

We stopped in at the market for Lunch after we got off the bus - Fried fish for Chilo, Sopa de Marisco for me. Prices were fair, but inflated like the rest of the world.

Dropped off our stuff at Rosita. Said Hi to Sailor John and spoke a bit how things were. He, like all of us, is older with more aches and pains. A nap proceeded and we woke at 4. A short walk found us at "The Hip". The hip is a reference to a Canadian musical institution, The Tragically hip. If you are Canadian The Hip is up there with (but different genres to) Stomp'n Tom, Anne Murry and Rush. We made friends with Mike the Bar Keep (Nicaraguan) . That fellow Bonzie who did a video with Fuckle Chuck a few weeks back was there as the only patron. We sat and talked with Mike for about an hour and asked for Hockey Night in Canada to be turned on. Bonzie had left and 3 ladies cam to sit down. A short time later another fellow who does some sort of tourist dentistry (or so I could gather from his SJDS FB posts and recalled his name on his base ball jersey as they walked in) . Beer at the Hip was C$70 a pop so we left at the end of the first period of Hockey for Cervesia.

Cervesia was empty as well (Approximately 6PM) save for one lonely patron nursing a Cervesia blond beer.

We ordered up a hoppy version (C$100) and then I tried their sampler @ C$120. The blond, a steam, the same hoppy beer and a passion fruit. The first 3 were quite good. The passion fruit not so much. We also had the wings @ $C240 - Very big portion, Good balance of hot and sweet. We spoke to the bar keep for a bit . He said the Penga drops cans were brewed in Managua, not at the Cervesia and shipped tothe US, and, surprisingly, China. I would have never thunk it. We then talked about family and the like. We left there at 8 To return to the Hip. In that time only two ladies came in to buy some shirts.


We then returned to the Hip. At 8 the Hip was a hopping place - By that time there were about 50 patrons. I believe the McKays were there (the folks who run the SJDS FB page) and some other familiar faces. The band was really good and we caught 4 or 5 songs before they wrapped for the night @ 9:30ish - About 1/2 of the Patrons cleared out, of which were were part of.

We then stopped at "The Social" which is a nice place but seemed disorganized. We had one there and off to bed.

Sunday

Late next morning we went for B-Fast at the market at the same place as yesterday's lunch. Some one must have PO'ed the lady working tables as she was none to happy to take any orders (us or others) but we did get our meals in the end. There were no other Chele's in the tables, but a few were walking the market.

A quick walk down the ocean front (about 12:30/1) found pretty well every one empty, but there were a bunch of buses down the main road. Upon looking at eh buses it became apparent that they were co-op buses from various cities to spend a day at the beach. Leon, Managua Jinotepe etc etc. Many of these groups have their own food take with them hence there were not many in the beach front restaurants. We stopped at one place and like usual were were the only ones there. Had a couple and looked at teh menu and seen they had Shrikp in Garlic and Lobster in Garlic. Said to the follow we would be back at 2 for lunch, then went out for a long walk to the end of the dock. There is a new place there called "Dock Side" which has draft beer. I tried a draft version of the IPA "Wanky Yang" from the Miropetente (Sp?) folks up in Esteli. It was better than the bottled version. We made plans from Dock side to hook up with Mel at the 2nd floor of Iguana.

Iguana had no one on floor 1 but the 2nd floor was about 50% full. We talked with Mel for about 3 hours and headed out for the shrimp and Lobster. The waiter razed us about 2PM vs 4PM and we razed back - This was almost 5PM and there was not another person in this restaurant (or the other few we passed from Iguana to here) We ordered our shrimp and Lobster ($C500 a plate) and watched the sun go down - There was one other table that came and went while were were there, only ordered drinks.

We went back to the room for a rest bit and back out at 8:30

At 8:30 as we walked around, Cervesia had one table of 5 patrons, the hip had about 8 patrons. We sat at a place Mel mentioned, Tio Milton.. The staff was prompt and attentive. While they did chat amongst themselves they were attentive to our stay and we never needed to hail them for when a refill was needed.

Stopped back at Rosita's and had a Cigar outside, after befriending a local Cat.

Monday

For B-Fast we went to Mel's suggestion of Simon Says - An eclectic place with a real good platter for 300 Cord which fed both of us well.

Grabbed the Rivas bus. The San Juan to Rivas bus blew out some teeth on the rear differential (or at least that what it felt like) in the last 1000m to Rivas market so we had to hoof it into the market. Then took the Granada bus and then the Masaya bus

Lessons learned -


Mel says there are _a lot_ of Canucks with small kids coming to town and surrounding areas.
Restaurants are DEAD - I am not sure how they pay their bills.
Hotels are still way down from 2019 which itself was way down from 2017 (won't even mention 2018)
In Rivas, first check if Rivas Managua bus has seats, then pick Rivas - Granada if Rivas - Managua is full - Granada bus has only a 2hr sched between buses while Rivas Managua appears to be hourly.
All of SJDS can be seen in 2 days.

[bill_bly_ca]

Revised - A little more detail....

====================

A run in to Managua




BIL was busy today and the builders (welders) did not show up by 11 so off to Managua




First was Metro Centro. In the 18 yrs we have been coming here we have never gone, just to the Galerias for our rare pokes back into first-world living/shopping




Metro Centro is currently a full mask, temperature check, hand sanitizer facility




A browse of Siman was made - For Canadians, you may equate that to "the Bay" - A little upscale but not too much. Prices of first-world items (Shoes, perfume, appliances TV's et al) were typically 15 to 20% higher than Canadian prices.




In the mall in general, people were browsing and it also looked like people were making purchases as well. There is a Radio Shack in the mall, the 3 big appliance retailers, a few opticians, a very large Colonia, many clothing and shoe stores, English training for call center school, a buffalo wings, and the food court. The food court has all the familiar names (BK, McD's subway etc) we ate at Haydee with your typical Pork, Rice and beans and tortilla. My guess is about 8 in 10 stores were occupied (15 to 20 empty Wikipedia says 120 stores) There is a movie theatre as well. I mentioned to Chilo that it opened in '74, she said before I mentioned it she never knew it existed and have never been there before. She left in '84.




Specifically, we are looking at a full size 30" range (6 burner gas) a mid-size 10 to 12 Cu/ft fridge (with water chiller) , a small chest freezer, and a clothes washer. All are of these items are within the $500 to $650 each price range. The interesting thing is that the same stove at the same seller in Masaya is $200 more than in Managua and at Simon is less than that Managua reseller.




The one thing you do have to be aware of is additional IVT on some items. It will be printed on the sales tag. Things like Minisplit Air conditioners are one item that has a very high IVT, up to 100%. So if you are shopping for AC (and if you are shopping for AC mini-split should be the only thing you look for) be sure to account for the 80 to 110 % IVT on that AC. Yes, it will put the AC just under or over $1000 - But with the cost of electricity here you really really want a mini-split with an EEER of 17 or more. It will pay itself back within 24 to 36 months of power consumption.




Surprisingly, Chilo ran into a cousin in the mall. With the masking, I was really surprised she recognized her but then thought that big Chele standing beside familiar eyes must have been a dead giveaway. Even though they had not spoken for almost 15 yrs they (Chilo and her cousin) started talking. I followed as best I could (When a new voice is in the mix my comprehension tanks down to 20% until I can get a bearing to get back up to 80%) She (the cousin) then started talking about her ailing grandfather and cancer and operations et al. She asked for some cash. Chilo handed her $C50, she looked insulted, took the 50 cord and walked away.




Every trip we run into a long-lost family member and it ends exactly the same way..




It seems that Chilo finds that contact follows cash. The more cash, the more contact. :-)




Daniel (BIL) says the same about drinking. As soon as he stopped drinking (and going to bars to drink) about 6 yrs ago the amount of "friends" he had dropped precipitously. i.e. they only wanted free drinks from the northerner.




The power cut at 2:30ish PM at Metro Central and everything closed within 3 min. It was like they had practice :-)




Other than lunch we did not buy anything at Metro Centro so on to the minibus back towards Masaya, stopping at Walmart.




Walmart as well is a full mask, temperature check, hand sanitize facility




Walmart had a good grocery section. A good meat counter (Tomahawk steaks, eye of round, even filet mignon etc) but I did not see brisket. Their spice and salad dressing section was quite well stocked. Their appliances section was very weak but TVs and the like were OK - Prices on par with Siman and the rest.




They had the new Flor De Cana expresso which I have only seen pictures of, not any place where you can actually buy a bottle. So we bought a bottle of that which I will try in a coffee shortly. :-).




As I type this I forgot to check the tools section. The last visit in 2019 found the tool section filled with many many trooper <expletive> tools.




We decided to walk from Walmart to Pricemart, stopping at Plaza Once - It is a 1/2 finished plaza with a Colonia, a Buffalo wings and a few other shops. Nothing to see there, so off the other 400m to price mart.




Pricemart




Pricemart was a bit of a disappointment. In 2019 we were welcomed to browse without a membership with no issue at all. On this trip they would not let us look without a valid membership, so we wished them a good day and took the bus back to Masaya. When we are here more regularly we will but a membership from what we did see here in 2023




Takeaways




If you are looking for a standard appliance you will almost always get a better deal in Managua.




Update - FDC expresso is DANGEROUSLY good... Kahuala like. If there is a babbling string of incoherent posts from me tonight (Which some may say is typical to me) blame the FDC expresso :-)




While living the Masaya life is nice - I can see us going to MGA at least 2 times a month once we are here long term, just to be "first" world for a day.




We will get a Pricemart membership within days of our first extended stop visit.




From the appliance shopping I have done (Solo, with BIL Daniel and with Chilo) it appears they are on the same month-end to cover the line of Credit treadmill as many northern retailers. I bet (and that is our bet) is that you walk in at the end of the month (or end of quarter or year if you can find out when that is) you can cut a good deal with good ol' US greenbacks and a suite of purchases...

[cookshow]

I bought all my appliances at Siman, even after shopping around they were cheaper and they have some great sales. The stove I bought had a small dent (no big deal as everything shipped to the Coast ends up dented) negotiated a great deal on it. Tons of friends have bought there after shopping around, always finding it cheaper, plus is a lot more comfortable than Oriental if carrying cash (I do love Oriental though).

[bill_bly_ca]

Posted on Da Faze book - To lazy to reedit it for here

===============================================

Loss of Canadian Passport
======================
You never really want to know how this is resolved, but there are times you need to know
Passport was lost about 14 days before travel (last seen) and the loss was realized 10 days before return travel.

Complication - Holy weekend.

Time needed - 3 business days minimum - 4 business days typical.

So what transpired?

About 14 days before we were to leave we made a stop at a BanPro branch - That was our last recollection of seeing the passport.
On a Saturday, 10 days before we were to leave, I logged in to Ticabus to buy return tickets to San Jose to fly back on Apr 20. We could not find one of our passports to enter the required information.

The passport could not be located over the entire weekend. An email (MNGUAG@international.gc.ca) was sent to the Canadian Embassy/Consulate in Managua, Sunday, that it was believed lost.
A phone call was made (Skype / VPN) to the emergency line in Ottawa (1 613 996 8885) Sunday to see if anything else could be done before the Managua office opened on Monday. There was nothing. that could be done before then.

A half-hour before the listed opening hours of the Managua Consulate on Monday we received instructions on what had to be done.
Form 1 - pptc203.pdf (Report of passport loss)
Form 2 - pptc040.pdf (Adult Abroad passport application)
Picture - Standard passport photo of 50mm x 70mm
Flight Itinerary -(To prove urgency)
The pptc203 form makes reference to a police report on loss. Just to be complete we went to the Masaya police station - That is 3 hours of our life we will not get back - A lot of information was taken, no report number was given nor follow up received.
The above document list was sent by email to the consulate, unsigned, Monday afternoon. Printed copies were taken to the consulate in Managua on Tuesday Morning (before Easter weekend).
Details - You do need to have a Guarantor - This can be any Canadian passport holder that has known you for 2 yrs or more. This can also be a Nicaraguan professional (Lawyer, Engineer, Police chief, Doctor etc)

Two references that have known you for 2 yrs or more (They need not be Canadian) but they should expect phone calls for validation within 12 to 18 hours. Keep you list at more than 2 if the 2 that are on the form can not be reached)

The references were contacted Tuesday morning an appointment was set for 2 PM Tuesday

We attended the Consulate, made some small adjustments to the printed forms by pen, and $190 CDN paid (Processing fee, lost passport fee, one service fee) They also advised us that we would need to attend Migricon in Managua for the Mar 25 entry stamp to be replicated.

The papers were submitted to Ottawa (by the Consulate) for validation and certification.

The notification was given (Easter) Monday at 9 AM that papers were available for pick up. We picked up the Emergency Passport at 1PM.

Managua Consulate staff are friendly, knowledgable and most of all helpful - Kudos to them.

We proceeded to Migracon for the stamp, but the stamp was "refused" as they (Migracon" believed that because the passport holder was born in Nicaragua the holder had to buy a Nicaraguan passport first. After some attempt of clarification, we kinda realized it was just a ploy for some cash for the government coffers and left . The Migracon staff never actually looked at the emergency passport and never saw the details on the document. (Name, citizenship, place of birth etc etc)

We departed to the TicaBus terminal and used the Emergence Passport (With a few extra phone calls) for tickets to San Jose Tuesday morning.

The Emergence Passport caused another delay when all of the passport documents were reviewed on the bus before entering the entry Plaza of Nica exit customs (about 10 min)

The emergency passport was received by Passport control, a supervisor came, took the paper to the back room, supervisor returned with the paper and the entry date written on a separate bit of paper. The Passport control officer entered the data into the system being very apologetic for the time and went to great lengths to calm us that there was no issue.

We proceeded to the BUS and were surprised we were not the last person to attend - Two others took another 10 min longer than us.

Tico customs was "Special" . Absolute chaos compared to the Nicaraguan side. The Regular passport was received from the Tica policeman after processing, the Emergency passport arrived by another person and actually arrived 5 min before the regular Canadian passport was given back.

At the airport, there was no issue with Tico passport control.

the Emergency Passport was entered into "ArriveCan"

In Canada, the CBP agent did not know how to process the form in Toronto so we were taken to Canadian immigration. That fellow knew what was going on and we were all set in less than 2 min. BUT one more small issue.

As you leave Customs in Pearson, Peel region has a health check. Showing the green sticker on the one passport we had was fine, but as passport control "took back" the emergency passport, there was no green sticker for the second traveller and had to have a PCR test done (even though a PCR code for Vax was in hand)

Lessons
============
A cover letter explaining the Emergency Transit document (in Spanish) is supplied with the document - This is yours to keep
The emergency address (Globally) for Passports / Canadian Citizens is sos@international.gc.ca
Each email to the Consulate generates an acknowledgement of receipt email. Noce to be sure they got the message, frustrating to look for information as you have 2X the number of messages to look through.
Bring "some" sort of secondary photo ID with you - Even Expired driver's licenses and provincial health cards help.
If you lose your document less than 3 days before your flight - rebook, you won't make it before a document can be prepared.

[bill_bly_ca]

Now an addition to this was how much the Migracon staff were just being pr*cks.

The staff did not even look at the Canada document and just said "She is a Nicaraguan citizen, she has to buy a passport before we even talk to her"

We told them that she is Canadian and just needs confirmation of arrival.

They said buy a passport and we will help.

Interesting take away - If you are born in Nicaragua, and do not have a Nicaraguan passport, enter on "Some other" passport for a 90 day stay, and you over stay - You are then considered to be repatriated and must buy a Nicaraguan passport to leave - Interesting.

Needless to say we do not plan to stay more than 80 days at a time.

The Tico side of the border (incoming to tico land) is right on the edge of earning the term shithole.

[billbudsocket]

Similar thing happened to us. My son was born in the USA and went with his mother to visit grandma in Nicaragua. Migration would not let him leave the country to return to the USA until he obtained a Nicaraguan 'birth certificate' and a Nicaragua passport.

Now an addition to this was how much the Migracon staff were just being pr*cks.

The staff did not even look at the Canada document and just said "She is a Nicaraguan citizen, she has to buy a passport before we even talk to her"

We told them that she is Canadian and just needs confirmation of arrival.

They said buy a passport and we will help.

Interesting take away - If you are born in Nicaragua, and do not have a Nicaraguan passport, enter on "Some other" passport for a 90 day stay, and you over stay - You are then considered to be repatriated and must buy a Nicaraguan passport to leave - Interesting.

Needless to say we do not plan to stay more than 80 days at a time.

The Tico side of the border (incoming to tico land) is right on the edge of earning the term shithole.

[KeyWestPirate]

Similar thing happened to us. My son was born in the USA and went with his mother to visit grandma in Nicaragua. Migration would not let him leave the country to return to the USA until he obtained a Nicaraguan 'birth certificate' and a Nicaragua passport.

We had the same deal with Sebastian when we tried to return him to the US. Valid US passport, but we had to get him a Nicaraguan birth certificate first, then a Nicaraguan passport, before they would let him leave.

Our argument too,, Sebastian is NOT a Nicaraguan,, he is a US citizen. Has a valid US passport. US birth certificate.

NOT something you want to attempt at the last minute.


Sebastian has not been back, and probably will not go back now until his is much older.

The chance of being stuck in Nicaragua and enjoying an education that mostly consists of banging on a drum is a risk that we are not willing to take.

He already reads better than his brother,, who is several years older than him, and enjoyed the benefit of a Nicaraguan education.
And that is with coming to the US not speaking any English.

[KeyWestPirate]

So,, face diaper requirements still in place in Nicaragua ?

Does there seem to be a lot of COVID still ?


This has become some weird virtue signaling here in Tucson: wearing a face diaper says,, I'm a progressive liberal and proud of it.

It should have been optional from the beginning.
If wearing a mask were effective,, then the one on YOUR face should be enough.

[billbudsocket]

I made the run through Penas Blancas to Liberia airport yesterday... many people still wearing masks, mostly workers. The border crossing was really fast, hardly any tourists. No one said anything about needing to wear a mask until Liberia airport where they were handing them for free out at the entrance. On the plane they said we had to wear the mask until they pushed back the plane, supposedly due to 'international regulations', once the plane was pushed back, then they can come off. I didn't get asked for covid test results at the Liberia airport, and the CR QR code and health insurance requirement have been lifted. The Liberia airport was really busy from spring breakers.

[bill_bly_ca]

This has become some weird virtue signaling here in Tucson: wearing a face diaper says,, I'm a progressive liberal and proud of it.

It should have been optional from the beginning.
If wearing a mask were effective,, then the one on YOUR face should be enough.

A mask stops a good portion of your aerosol to get into the air. That is it.

Subtly, wearing a mask conveys a message of "I am part of this problem and solution with all of society" and "That I am not a self centered d*ck"

At every juncture I could, I asked if the person I was conversing with if they wanted me to ware a mask, and did if they asked, did not if they did not. Stores (most) you do not have an option.

If they had it, I am tripple vaxed so my outcome is good. If they did not have the vax, they had little to worry from me as if I was infected my level of virus reproduction is low.

Hence arguing it with any person just takes away from any precious seconds I have left on this earth and takes hearts beats from my limited supply with needless excitement.

[KeyWestPirate]

"Hence arguing it with any person just takes away from any precious seconds I have left on this earth and takes hearts beats from my limited supply with needless excitement."


If it were indeed just that.

But it's more. It's like mandatory seat belts. Freedom of speech.
Right to be secure in your own home. Right of self defense. Right to believe that Lia Thomas is a freak.

It's a slippery slope to the forced lock downs we are seeing in China.
What's next ?
Government toilet paper dispensers in your bathroom: "Honey,, do you happen to have a dime handy ?"

Do I object to some 300 pounder with COPD waddling down the street on his way to Popeyes wearing a face diaper ?
Absolutely not. It's a free country (or used to be).

Wear two if you like, and order the extra greasy chicken.

There was so much more that could have been done to mitigate this pandemic.
Both on a government level,, and from a personal responsibility standpoint.

[bill_bly_ca]

Today was a BFO , No not beat frequenc oscillator, it was the Blinding Flash of the Obvious.

So wind back to Chilo's lost passport and the refusal to stamp the temporary passport with out her getting a Nica passport.

Wind further back to Freddy and Wilma I spoke about last fall at SIL Herminia's youngest daughters wedding.

So Freddy and Wilma came back from Canada in mid April. The left Canada on Canadian passports and entered Nicaragua on their Nicaraguan passports. When they entered Nicaragua customs were royally hard ass on them taking laptops, cell phones and other goods they had with them and they also took their Nicaraguan passports as bond to pay the the arbitrary customs rates on the items.

They were advised they could not leave Nicaragua until the customs was paid and their Nicaraguan passports would be returned.

They had to travel 3 times from Boaco to Managua to get all the goods. All fees MUST be paid in $US.

Hence why they are hitting up people for Nicaraguan passports even if they do not reside there. It is for the cash.

That is why I say blinding flash of the obvious, as it is the cash people who travel bring into the country, not the actual "Cash" of issuing the passport.

So now it is for sure we will not get Chilo a Nica passport ever. It is kinda a good thing her named dropped the Lopez when we married so she is pretty far off the radar although that can change.

up here today ........

Diesel hit $2.45/l here today ... About $6.97 US a Gal / Gas $5.25 US a Gal

It is going to be a tough year to 18 months for sure.

Oh yea - Brisket dropped from the historic $7.99/lb in the last year down to $6.99 ($5.99 if you get a full slab) I took a 5 pounder for tomorrow. Yes Baho and rice and beans are good, but brisket is better.

[bill_bly_ca]

So Daniel got his las Passport call Friday - It looks like he will be back up here for a summer of work in June or July - He will most likely stay until October for the first frost and then head back - That affects us as it pretty well strikes out a visit in September for more house work. I hope Daniel can get Jimmi to do some Convitech before then though.


We went to an old age home yesterday to se Dona Margarita - Dona Margarita came up from the LA area in the late 80's after making their way from El Salvador to LA in the early 80's. She was Dona Rosa (my MIL) best friend for ever and until Rosa passed away in 2004. Even after that she would typically spend a weekend here with Chilo. In the past decade her two daughters took advantage of her Social Security and social assistance payment. Interesting story of Dona Margarita - She drove back to El Salvador via LA from Ontario in 1995 with no drivers license. Just got in the Camry and went. He husband (I think Don Henry) was a big loaf who never did work and passed away about 15 yrs ago by numerous afflictions all of which I attribute to lethargy. And the home was a real horror. People babbling in the halls, indifferent zombie staff, and some true neglect of families of their elders. I mentioned to Chilo that i will drive the land Cruiser into a lake before I get put in one of those hell holes. Chilo knows the bus routine and will go see her in the home again this week.

Another house on the street is activly being converted to a rental and another the street over is also being converted with a 500sq foot tiny house in hte back. Two houses over from us the people who sold in Feb for over a million have left and no sign of the new owners yet, but we are 90% sure it will be a rental as well. From the 30 some houses in our general area that were single family, now I think there is maybe 5 total. The _average_ single family detached home in Waterloo region is an eye wattering 1million Canadian - Just insane