Edit: I am pleased to report that within an hour of my contacting the realty company, they had deleted this picture from their site and apologized. Nice actions!
THE BEAUTY AT FALSE BLUFF WITH CAYMAN ROCA ON THE HORIZON
30 May 2014
EDIT TO "CAUTION: NOT FOR SALE"
I just located this online. Although there are other properties pictured by "Discover Real Estate," this picture shows my property at False Bluff which is not for sale.
Edit: I am pleased to report that within an hour of my contacting the realty company, they had deleted this picture from their site and apologized. Nice actions!
Edit: I am pleased to report that within an hour of my contacting the realty company, they had deleted this picture from their site and apologized. Nice actions!
29 May 2014
ENEL 4
The process of moving the electric poles from Kukra Hill to our front yard at False Bluff was repeated day after day after day, until all the poles that were needed in this section of ENEL's huge undertaking were waiting to be set in place somewhere in the clearing that stretched more than twenty five miles along the coast.
22 May 2014
Money, money, money
Nicaragua's money is the "cordoba," with the accent on the "cor." At least that's how cordoba's pronounced in much of Nicaragua.
But in Bluefields most everybody pronounces cordoba like the word is spelled "car-d'ba."
The United States has nicknames for some of its coins. For instance the word "quarter" is used for the coin that equals one-quarter of a dollar. Nicaragua just tells it like it is. A five-cordoba coin is known as "five cordobas," and a twenty-cordoba coin is known as "twenty cordobas" and so on...nary a nickname.
Nicaragua's bills are different colors, according to each bill's face value. For instance, the five-hundred-cordoba bill is red. But my favorite is the fifty-cordoba bill: it's a really pretty shade of violet!
I only had the green bill and a few coins for this shot (and yes, there's a little window on a lot of the bills).
But in Bluefields most everybody pronounces cordoba like the word is spelled "car-d'ba."
The United States has nicknames for some of its coins. For instance the word "quarter" is used for the coin that equals one-quarter of a dollar. Nicaragua just tells it like it is. A five-cordoba coin is known as "five cordobas," and a twenty-cordoba coin is known as "twenty cordobas" and so on...nary a nickname.
Nicaragua's bills are different colors, according to each bill's face value. For instance, the five-hundred-cordoba bill is red. But my favorite is the fifty-cordoba bill: it's a really pretty shade of violet!
I only had the green bill and a few coins for this shot (and yes, there's a little window on a lot of the bills).
19 May 2014
ENEL 3
After long months of clearing the right of way, the utility poles that will carry electricity were moved to False Bluff, ready to be put in place. So boat captain Jimmy Anderson began to bring not only a full crew of men each morning, but as many as ten treated utility poles as well. Pulled along behind his loaded boat, crew and poles came from Kukra Hill through the lagoon and up our creek. Captain Anderson stayed on site with the boat during the day and he was needed from time to time for emergencies.
The creek is only about ten-feet wide and twisty as you can see in the pictures in the December 22, 2011 blog post. It makes for a beautiful transition from lagoon to Caribbean. But it is not navigable by a nearly forty-foot long boat trailing ten utility poles behind like a dog's tail. So just inside the opening to the creek from the lagoon, crew members jumped out of the boat and pulled each pole, one by one, for the half-mile long slogging trip up the canal to our dock.
Then the crew got the poles, one at a time, out of the water, onto the dock, up the walkway and into to our front yard, ready and waiting for placement.
The creek is only about ten-feet wide and twisty as you can see in the pictures in the December 22, 2011 blog post. It makes for a beautiful transition from lagoon to Caribbean. But it is not navigable by a nearly forty-foot long boat trailing ten utility poles behind like a dog's tail. So just inside the opening to the creek from the lagoon, crew members jumped out of the boat and pulled each pole, one by one, for the half-mile long slogging trip up the canal to our dock.
Then the crew got the poles, one at a time, out of the water, onto the dock, up the walkway and into to our front yard, ready and waiting for placement.
15 May 2014
ENEL 2
What Nicaragua's national electric company, ENEL, is doing along our section of Nicaragua's Caribbean Coast is a huge undertaking. The inland areas in which the work is being done is accessible only on foot. A boat can get men near where the work must be done, but only their feet can get them to the exact locations. We at False Bluff gave ENEL access to the beach via our canal, and the use of all of our facilities: docks, land, wells, and building.
Except for chainsaws, all the work is done by hand: clearing, getting the poles on site, installing the poles and running wire....
Various crews from various localities do various jobs. The first job was to hack open space for installing electric poles. To do this along the coast near False Bluff, nearly thirty men with machetes came south from Kukra Hill by boat through Smokey Lane Lagoon and up our canal every morning. Using our place as a staging area got them close to where a big chunk of their work had to be done. The men in the crew carried water and food in addition to their machetes and their machete sharpening equipment; and a few men brought chain saws to cut what the machetes wouldn't, which wasn't much.
And bit by bit the miles of 'bush' got chopped away, leaving an opening about eighty-feet wide like a ribbon through the jungle.
Once again, here's the crew for the day heading from their boat/taxi across our front yard on their way to work.
A bit difficult to envision a negative, but this newly opened space disappearing into a curve to the north is where electricity will travel.. and it's a very small part of the twenty-six miles that's being cleared. The stick at the foreground is where an electric pole will be planted.
Chain saws at rest at the house.
Except for chainsaws, all the work is done by hand: clearing, getting the poles on site, installing the poles and running wire....
Various crews from various localities do various jobs. The first job was to hack open space for installing electric poles. To do this along the coast near False Bluff, nearly thirty men with machetes came south from Kukra Hill by boat through Smokey Lane Lagoon and up our canal every morning. Using our place as a staging area got them close to where a big chunk of their work had to be done. The men in the crew carried water and food in addition to their machetes and their machete sharpening equipment; and a few men brought chain saws to cut what the machetes wouldn't, which wasn't much.
And bit by bit the miles of 'bush' got chopped away, leaving an opening about eighty-feet wide like a ribbon through the jungle.
This picture doesn't give a good perspective of the boat that ferried men and equipment to False Bluff. The boat's between thirty and forty feet long.
Once again, here's the crew for the day heading from their boat/taxi across our front yard on their way to work.
A bit difficult to envision a negative, but this newly opened space disappearing into a curve to the north is where electricity will travel.. and it's a very small part of the twenty-six miles that's being cleared. The stick at the foreground is where an electric pole will be planted.
Chain saws at rest at the house.
08 May 2014
Fresh fish for dinner
Cayman Roca is just that: rock.
About 2.5 miles out into the Caribbean, in front of False Bluff, is a small rock island inhabited by birds and some grass (see the 10 April, 2011 post for pictures). Fishing trips are no big deal!
About 2.5 miles out into the Caribbean, in front of False Bluff, is a small rock island inhabited by birds and some grass (see the 10 April, 2011 post for pictures). Fishing trips are no big deal!
Rinsed and set to dry at the end of a successful trip.
Proud of his part of the catch.
The fish is onto a plate with rice, beans, cassava, and rough lime.
03 May 2014
01 May 2014
Culantro
Tasting much like cilantro, 'Eryngium foetidum' has lots of names, including 'blessed thistle' from the French 'chardon beni,' and 'spiny coriander.' This biennial herb is indigenous to continental tropical America and the West Indies. I've grown it in Richmond where it's only an annual.
Used throughout the Caribbean as well as the Far East (check it out in some of Richmond's Vietnamese restaurants), it's rich in calcium, iron, carotene, and riboflavin; and is widely used in herbal medicines. The leaves are a bit tougher and the flavor stronger than that of the cilantro most of us are accustomed to. It dries well, retaining its color.
We grow a lot of it at False Bluff and use it raw in salads or cooked with many different foods. Good stuff!
Here's a small patch between pineapple and sugar cane.
Used throughout the Caribbean as well as the Far East (check it out in some of Richmond's Vietnamese restaurants), it's rich in calcium, iron, carotene, and riboflavin; and is widely used in herbal medicines. The leaves are a bit tougher and the flavor stronger than that of the cilantro most of us are accustomed to. It dries well, retaining its color.
We grow a lot of it at False Bluff and use it raw in salads or cooked with many different foods. Good stuff!
Here's a small patch between pineapple and sugar cane.
This picture shows the spiny leaves.
25 April 2014
Garbage
In the 11 July 2013 blog post I called this stuff 'Beach trash.'
An article on Earth Day in Huff Post Green calls it garbage. The headline reads 'The Tragedy of Ocean Trash.'
The United States (surprise, surprise) is cited as the largest contributor. Here's a link to the article that outlines the life cycle of this crap and tragedy it is.
Happy Earth Day!
An article on Earth Day in Huff Post Green calls it garbage. The headline reads 'The Tragedy of Ocean Trash.'
The United States (surprise, surprise) is cited as the largest contributor. Here's a link to the article that outlines the life cycle of this crap and tragedy it is.
Happy Earth Day!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2014/04/22/plastic-ocean-garbage_n_5191294.html
23 April 2014
ENEL
The Nicaraguan Electricity Company (Empresa Nicaraguense de Electricidad) has been an almost daily presence at False Bluff for months. Various crews have been working on a project which has a side benefit of bringing electricity to about twenty-six miles along the Caribbean coast...something no one thought would happen for decades...or at all.
There will be several posts with pictures of various phases and changes this is making for us.
There will be several posts with pictures of various phases and changes this is making for us.
A 'clearing' crew on the way to work.
17 April 2014
A favorite beach find
I enjoy walking the beach and the always changing collection of stuff that washes up. A previous post dealt with trash, the cleaning of which is an ongoing task; but there are treasures to be found as well. This seed is sort of like snow flakes (without the cold that comes with snow): no two are alike.
Usually I only find the individual seeds and if they're not found soon after they wash ashore further 'washing' and exposure to the constant salty breezes dulls them. But every now and then I find a pod. Tough as dried leather, they're worth the effort to break open.
Usually I only find the individual seeds and if they're not found soon after they wash ashore further 'washing' and exposure to the constant salty breezes dulls them. But every now and then I find a pod. Tough as dried leather, they're worth the effort to break open.
10 April 2014
03 April 2014
Surprise!
Expect the unexpected because there's something beautiful/interesting/unusual everywhere you look.
27 March 2014
20 March 2014
Shades and shapes
Pumice is a volcanic rock that's so porous it floats with the tides onto the beach at False Bluff. During its time in the water pumice is worn into all sorts of different shapes. I have no idea what causes its different shades.
(Pen didn't float in with the piece below.)
13 March 2014
Nature's decorations
Last year I was at False Bluff when the sea grapes ripened. During my latest visit the grapes weren't ripe but from the looks of things there will be a bumper crop. Difficult to see in the first picture, but check out the second one. The sea grape is loaded with what looks kind of like tinsel on a Christmas tree.
06 March 2014
That beautiful palm tree, part IV
The 'nuts and fronds we're dealing with now are from mature trees, trees that were already on False Bluff when this project began. The maintenance issue's going to get much worse when the 400 or so newly planted trees begin to bear. The loss of mature trees from time to time don't make a noticeable difference in grounds maintenance.
Some Bluefields residents who visit me at False Fluff exclaim how pretty the place is, and then chastise me in a quiet aside that the coconut trees I've planted won't bear to their fullest potential because I've planted them too close together. I'm just hoping some agriculturalist somewhere develops a coconut tree that doesn't produce 'nuts!
27 February 2014
That beautiful palm tree, part III
I really like the look of the trees but I'm tired of almost everything else about them. A coconut tree doesn't produce just a single crop of 'nuts a year, the way apple trees produce apples. Ripe coconuts are falling or being picked off a tree at the same time baby coconuts are being formed.
None of the tree's debris rots quickly. Piles of husks that were decades old were a big part of early clearing and cleaning at False Bluff (all those stolen coconuts). Now, on a daily basis, we collect fallen 'nuts in a wheelbarrow for stacking in one pile and drag the fronds to another pile for burning. In the recent past we spread coconuts in a shady spot to sprout for later planting. But I've planted more than 400 young coconut trees since I started this project so the overwhelming need for baby plants has decreased. Now the piles just get bigger, and the coconuts get used 'as needed' around the house or are given to visitors.
None of the tree's debris rots quickly. Piles of husks that were decades old were a big part of early clearing and cleaning at False Bluff (all those stolen coconuts). Now, on a daily basis, we collect fallen 'nuts in a wheelbarrow for stacking in one pile and drag the fronds to another pile for burning. In the recent past we spread coconuts in a shady spot to sprout for later planting. But I've planted more than 400 young coconut trees since I started this project so the overwhelming need for baby plants has decreased. Now the piles just get bigger, and the coconuts get used 'as needed' around the house or are given to visitors.
The fallen fronds from a mature tree are twelve to fourteen feet long and really heavy. They don't fit in the wheelbarrow so we end up dragging them long distances...who wants a pile of coconut fronds in front of the house?
20 February 2014
15 February 2014
That beautiful palm tree, part II
Unless the coconut's going to be used right away, people who harvest them don't take the whole thing. The outer covering, the husk, is removed first, a procedure that makes them much easier to pack and move, since at least half their weight is the husk.
I'm sure there are places where husking is done by machines but there's no place like that near False Bluff. It's done by hand and it's pretty labor intensive work. I recently gave coconuts to a man who works for me, telling him to take every coconut he could pick up or knock off a tree. He and two helpers harvested, husked, and bagged more than a thousand over a three-day period and piled the husks for burning. Two days after they'd gone with all those coconuts, more ripe 'nuts were falling from the trees..........
I'm sure there are places where husking is done by machines but there's no place like that near False Bluff. It's done by hand and it's pretty labor intensive work. I recently gave coconuts to a man who works for me, telling him to take every coconut he could pick up or knock off a tree. He and two helpers harvested, husked, and bagged more than a thousand over a three-day period and piled the husks for burning. Two days after they'd gone with all those coconuts, more ripe 'nuts were falling from the trees..........
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tcLipm4hf5Y
Palm trees old, palm trees new, and coconuts waiting to be put in a pile somewhere.
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