Volcano

I finally climbed a volcano. Cerro Negro is more of a hill than a mountain. In fact, it means "Black Hill" in Spanish. It is only a few centuries old, having pushed up out of farmland over the course of a few exciting weeks. It last erupted in 1999 and supposedly erupts every eight years. Eight years on, there was nobody to keep us from entering the crater. The ground was hot underfoot. I am shielding the back of my head from sulphur fumes. In examining at this picture I am struck by this thing where my abs used to be. Is that a -- a -- belly? Someone needs more exercise! Someone needs to cut back on rice and beans!











Another group of hikers. The divide between green and black down below.












Wilbert, a friend of mine and my guide for the day. He is fluent in English, largely self-taught, and justifiably proud of this.


In other volcano news, one of the volcanoes on Ometepe Island, in Lake Nicaragua, erupted on Saturday. We're unaffected by this in Leon, and, as with the Hurricane, the locals are unimpressed. "Not a real eruption," they say. "It's just -- you know -- activity."

Back on Stage

Friday we returned to the stage. We played Via Via, a hostel operated by Belgians who don't believe in charging admission for live music. Thus, the place is ordinarily quite full. Friday it was exceptionally full (check the bottom photo). You can see pieces of a very odd mural on the wall behind us -- I have never been able to make sense of it.
Mario, Roman, Don Will, and John.

Look, I'm dancing! (You can tell I'm dancing because I'm snapping my fingers.)

Candy and Cement!

Last week was Saakje's birthday. Saakje is one of the Dutch girls living in my house, and I'm certain that I'm misspelling her name. Anyway, we bought a pinata and she beat the hell out of it with my broom but this was a very sturdy pinata, and so eventually she had to remove her blindflold in order to break it. Upon its destruction, we discovered that its insides were coated with cement.


This is Goofy, the house terror, awaiting for candy to fall from above. All the girls hate him. He bites their feet. Me, I had a soft spot for him until recently -- rather than bite my feet, he humped my leg. However, yesterday morning he pissed on my laundry. I'm still waiting for an apology.