Le nouveau musée du cacao et du chocolat va ouvrir ses portes très bientôt dans la ville de Cusco au Pérou. Visitez notre site Web : ChocoMuseo Peru
The new Cacao and Chocolate Museum will soon be available in Cusco, Peru. Check out our website : ChocoMuseo Peru
El nuevo museo del cacao y del chocolate va a abrir sus puertas en el mes de febrero en la ciudad de Cusco en Perú. Check out our website: ChocoMuseo Peru
Se acabó, se acabó!
Se acabó... Un año entre Mexico y Costa Rica, un año de aventuras (un poco), de encuentros (muchos), de realizaciones (bastante!).
Se acabó casi un año en Nicaragua... No encuentro las palabras para describir cuanto estamos emocionados, talvez el mejor es dejar hablar el poema de nuestro amigo Eduardo Fernandez Carrasco..
Adios Nicaragua Nicaragüita.
Fue un placer conocerte y disfrutarte,
...Gracias por regalarme tantos momentos:
Me encantaron tus volcanes y tus lagos,
disfruté y descansé en tus playas caribeñas,
me presentaste a tus huespedes,
los monos, las ballenas, las tortugas, los pajaros, ...
y me sorprendiste con la diversidad de tu flora
Me diste de tomar tu sabroso café
y de comer nacatamales, bigorón,
gallopinto, gallopinto, gallopinto y
mas gallopinto.
Me abrazaste en la ciudad de [Granada],
y me sedujiste con sus frescas [brisas]...
Me enseñaste a vivir la vida de otro modo,
de un mondo mas humilde,
como tu gente humilde
Me invitaste a tus fiesta
Te pude cantar:
¿Quien causa tanta alegria ...?
La concepción de Maria
Me has presentado a buenos amigos,
a los que has alojado tambien en tus tierras
suenan los tambores, fuego y danza ....
porque gabotea [España], gabotea Italia, gabotea Suiza,
gabotea toda centroamerica y gabotea con fuerza tambien [Francia]
... y como no, gabotean los nicas,
a su manera, pero tambien gabotean
Palabras como chigüines, tuani, chavalos
Expresiones como sos un caballo o me vale verga
solo tu me las enseñaste
Adios Nicaragua Nicaragüita
nadie me creera cuando le diga
que tienes un lago dentro de un volcan,
a su vez dentro de una isla,
a su vez dentro de un lago,
a su vez dentro de un pais,
Nicaragua ......
Pais del famoso y escondido guardabarranco,
te echare de menos, pero eso ya lo sabes,
por eso te digo hasta luego y no adios.
Se acabó casi un año en Nicaragua... No encuentro las palabras para describir cuanto estamos emocionados, talvez el mejor es dejar hablar el poema de nuestro amigo Eduardo Fernandez Carrasco..
Adios Nicaragua Nicaragüita.
Fue un placer conocerte y disfrutarte,
...Gracias por regalarme tantos momentos:
Me encantaron tus volcanes y tus lagos,
disfruté y descansé en tus playas caribeñas,
me presentaste a tus huespedes,
los monos, las ballenas, las tortugas, los pajaros, ...
y me sorprendiste con la diversidad de tu flora
Me diste de tomar tu sabroso café
y de comer nacatamales, bigorón,
gallopinto, gallopinto, gallopinto y
mas gallopinto.
Me abrazaste en la ciudad de [Granada]
y me sedujiste con sus frescas [brisas].
Me enseñaste a vivir la vida de otro modo,
de un mondo mas humilde,
como tu gente humilde
Me invitaste a tus fiesta
Te pude cantar:
¿Quien causa tanta alegria ...?
La concepción de Maria
Me has presentado a buenos amigos,
a los que has alojado tambien en tus tierras
suenan los tambores, fuego y danza ....
porque gabotea [España], gabotea Italia, gabotea Suiza,
gabotea toda centroamerica y gabotea con fuerza tambien [Francia]
... y como no, gabotean los nicas,
a su manera, pero tambien gabotean
Palabras como chigüines, tuani, chavalos
Expresiones como sos un caballo o me vale verga
solo tu me las enseñaste
Adios Nicaragua Nicaragüita
nadie me creera cuando le diga
que tienes un lago dentro de un volcan,
a su vez dentro de una isla,
a su vez dentro de un lago,
a su vez dentro de un pais,
Nicaragua ......
Pais del famoso y escondido guardabarranco,
te echare de menos, pero eso ya lo sabes,
por eso te digo hasta luego y no adios.
A run in Granada, (mentally) partnered with a friend
A letter to my dearest friend, Branch
Do you remember our latest jog together?! Whaow! That was something!
We left for a 60 minute run. You know we count in minutes because there is no map we can rely on to check the mileage..
I know you did not want to do hills, but here in Granada there is no other option... And one step after the other, we went through the landscape just fine.
So we left in direction of "La Polvora" (a fortress built 250 years ago to store gun powder), a 11 minute jog on a light upward slope. We crossed from east to west "Calle Atravesada", the city's main street, where you can find the popular market, and, by the way, "our" hotel. Do you know the owner is a New Yorker? He's from Milan (I remember it because of his cap, but I believe in reality he's from Red Hook). Made a fortune in Finance (merger and acquisitions).
Anyhow, we went trough this not-so-bad neighborhood, in a soft pace so that to spare your knees (or maybe because starts are always hard for me).
Next checkpoint: The cemetery. Few minutes away from la Polvora, in a less lucky district, very close to the school we volunteered at. Here wewere :) A nice all white cemetery - actually in central america cemeteries are usually a lot nicer, with tombs painted in various vivid colors.
Now we started the easy section: downhill all the way on "Calle Nueva". There are little houses on each side, workshops (car repairs, soldering, key copying...) here and there, a place where you can play pool, and so on. We reached "Calle Atravesada" again, and crossed it the other way.
And then came the hard piece.. A 2 minute hill, with the sun right into your eyes and the exhausting heat to beat as well.. Oh, but the restaurant "Las Colinas" (it did not chose its name by accident...) finally appeared, and our pain was over! We could now see the lake in the horizon, by which we would be running soon. So ahead of us lied a long downward slope. We crossed the worst neighborhood of our route, houses built with wooden planks, without access to water or electricity, but whose inhabitants took good care of the surrounding garden.
Ok, now we were getting to the "touristic center", signalized by the huge portal. Hm, you may have found it a bit disappointing - I totally agree... The lake is darken by the grey waters that are flushed into it, the beach is dirt with cans, plastic bags, old shoes (and we cannot blame the city this time: There ARE a lot of waste bins here), ... But still, you see it has been developed to attract tourists: numerous bars, discos, places for local vendor stalls, walk (or jog, in our case!) paths, playgrounds, etc.
So we made a right (to the south, you could have guessed), and continued our way under the trees. Flat. Good news. So to your left, there was the lake. And a tour center where you can book kayak trips to "las isletas", hundreds of islets (some would tell you 365) very close to the shore and to each other. They were created after the volcano erupted in ... well, 20,000 years ago! I prefer the story that says that they are the children of 2 gods, their mother's breasts being the 2 volcanoes on the Ometepe Island, inside the lake, twenty miles away.
Sometimes here the lake looks white and you cannot distinguish it from the smoggy sky. There are a few canoes and a horse on the shore, and you can also see the first islets to the far right. Oh gosh how I love this picture. Strangely the only 2 times the lake took that look was during our 90 minute jog (maybe then we're so exhausted our mind gets confused...).
Finally, we reached "la Cabaña Amarilla", our landmark: That's the dead end where we turn back. We made an effort to run past the statue (I believe it's a fish inside a life buoy) and go around it because we like not only to achieve goals but also go beyond them. (I can hear you, yes, like the last hill on Langley lane that we used to do twice.)
Now, if we were in good shape, 26 minutes would lead us back home. It would be flat for the first half, then slightly going up for the last 12 minutes. We quickly attained the crossroad where we had make a right earlier (at the doors of the touristic center), but we went on by the lake. Here during "Semana Santa", before 6am the beach is filled with local families, water toys sellers, food and drink boots, ... and here, after Semana Santa, you could get a lot of money by selling all the empty bottles left on the sand (beers, Flor de Caña - the national rum or Coca Cola and the likes), among the other stinky garbage...
But that day, except for 1 another runner and soccer players, "el Malecon" was empty.
Past the little soccer field, by the way, is where we cross the other doors that close the touristic center. Just after the corner, where we took a left, we would just need 12 minutes to finish our run. But it started ascend again... But I like this street. That is where stand several mango trees. Sometimes with Alain we stop our run to pick up handfuls of them (if we had forgotten to bring a bag from home). The friend that offered us twice pre-filled bags of them shows up there every morning. That day he did not fail, and we greeted him. I should go there once to share a pie with him.
And there was the most charming church of Granada: Guadalupe. Sometimes we run on its left, all the way up "La Calzada", the street full of bars, restaurants (though not the best ones) and tourists shops. But today we decided for the "regular" route, on the right of the church. After that corner, ..., 8 minutes left!
But it was still hilly. Sometimes on this street we meet Doña Maria Luisa, the housekeeper, on her way to the hotel. After several blocks, we made a left on "Calle Santa Lucia". I've showed you a little blue house with a golden door frame to our right: That was were I've worked a couple of weeks on web design. And the 2 story house started being close - do you guess? 4 minutes left!
But noooo! Now we were so close we wanted to go faster. A right before "Hotel Con Corazon". Flat portion. But there was the bridge: 30 yards of steep slope, with all our strength. Now that light slope up one of the last blocks seemed too easy. Left on the road to Managua, past the police station, right to our street! Here we were! Home in 58 minutes...
What a nice run! We would discuss it over a Mango smoothie for breakfast!
Do you remember our latest jog together?! Whaow! That was something!
We left for a 60 minute run. You know we count in minutes because there is no map we can rely on to check the mileage..
I know you did not want to do hills, but here in Granada there is no other option... And one step after the other, we went through the landscape just fine.
So we left in direction of "La Polvora" (a fortress built 250 years ago to store gun powder), a 11 minute jog on a light upward slope. We crossed from east to west "Calle Atravesada", the city's main street, where you can find the popular market, and, by the way, "our" hotel. Do you know the owner is a New Yorker? He's from Milan (I remember it because of his cap, but I believe in reality he's from Red Hook). Made a fortune in Finance (merger and acquisitions).
Anyhow, we went trough this not-so-bad neighborhood, in a soft pace so that to spare your knees (or maybe because starts are always hard for me).
Next checkpoint: The cemetery. Few minutes away from la Polvora, in a less lucky district, very close to the school we volunteered at. Here wewere :) A nice all white cemetery - actually in central america cemeteries are usually a lot nicer, with tombs painted in various vivid colors.
Now we started the easy section: downhill all the way on "Calle Nueva". There are little houses on each side, workshops (car repairs, soldering, key copying...) here and there, a place where you can play pool, and so on. We reached "Calle Atravesada" again, and crossed it the other way.
And then came the hard piece.. A 2 minute hill, with the sun right into your eyes and the exhausting heat to beat as well.. Oh, but the restaurant "Las Colinas" (it did not chose its name by accident...) finally appeared, and our pain was over! We could now see the lake in the horizon, by which we would be running soon. So ahead of us lied a long downward slope. We crossed the worst neighborhood of our route, houses built with wooden planks, without access to water or electricity, but whose inhabitants took good care of the surrounding garden.
Ok, now we were getting to the "touristic center", signalized by the huge portal. Hm, you may have found it a bit disappointing - I totally agree... The lake is darken by the grey waters that are flushed into it, the beach is dirt with cans, plastic bags, old shoes (and we cannot blame the city this time: There ARE a lot of waste bins here), ... But still, you see it has been developed to attract tourists: numerous bars, discos, places for local vendor stalls, walk (or jog, in our case!) paths, playgrounds, etc.
So we made a right (to the south, you could have guessed), and continued our way under the trees. Flat. Good news. So to your left, there was the lake. And a tour center where you can book kayak trips to "las isletas", hundreds of islets (some would tell you 365) very close to the shore and to each other. They were created after the volcano erupted in ... well, 20,000 years ago! I prefer the story that says that they are the children of 2 gods, their mother's breasts being the 2 volcanoes on the Ometepe Island, inside the lake, twenty miles away.
Sometimes here the lake looks white and you cannot distinguish it from the smoggy sky. There are a few canoes and a horse on the shore, and you can also see the first islets to the far right. Oh gosh how I love this picture. Strangely the only 2 times the lake took that look was during our 90 minute jog (maybe then we're so exhausted our mind gets confused...).
Finally, we reached "la Cabaña Amarilla", our landmark: That's the dead end where we turn back. We made an effort to run past the statue (I believe it's a fish inside a life buoy) and go around it because we like not only to achieve goals but also go beyond them. (I can hear you, yes, like the last hill on Langley lane that we used to do twice.)
Now, if we were in good shape, 26 minutes would lead us back home. It would be flat for the first half, then slightly going up for the last 12 minutes. We quickly attained the crossroad where we had make a right earlier (at the doors of the touristic center), but we went on by the lake. Here during "Semana Santa", before 6am the beach is filled with local families, water toys sellers, food and drink boots, ... and here, after Semana Santa, you could get a lot of money by selling all the empty bottles left on the sand (beers, Flor de Caña - the national rum or Coca Cola and the likes), among the other stinky garbage...
But that day, except for 1 another runner and soccer players, "el Malecon" was empty.
Past the little soccer field, by the way, is where we cross the other doors that close the touristic center. Just after the corner, where we took a left, we would just need 12 minutes to finish our run. But it started ascend again... But I like this street. That is where stand several mango trees. Sometimes with Alain we stop our run to pick up handfuls of them (if we had forgotten to bring a bag from home). The friend that offered us twice pre-filled bags of them shows up there every morning. That day he did not fail, and we greeted him. I should go there once to share a pie with him.
And there was the most charming church of Granada: Guadalupe. Sometimes we run on its left, all the way up "La Calzada", the street full of bars, restaurants (though not the best ones) and tourists shops. But today we decided for the "regular" route, on the right of the church. After that corner, ..., 8 minutes left!
But it was still hilly. Sometimes on this street we meet Doña Maria Luisa, the housekeeper, on her way to the hotel. After several blocks, we made a left on "Calle Santa Lucia". I've showed you a little blue house with a golden door frame to our right: That was were I've worked a couple of weeks on web design. And the 2 story house started being close - do you guess? 4 minutes left!
But noooo! Now we were so close we wanted to go faster. A right before "Hotel Con Corazon". Flat portion. But there was the bridge: 30 yards of steep slope, with all our strength. Now that light slope up one of the last blocks seemed too easy. Left on the road to Managua, past the police station, right to our street! Here we were! Home in 58 minutes...
What a nice run! We would discuss it over a Mango smoothie for breakfast!
Tout a changé!
Coucou à tous,
Désolé d'avoir mis tant de temps a donner des nouvelles mais voilà ces dernières semaines les choses ici se sont bousculées un peu.
On a fêté l'anniversaire de Clara-Isabel fin février dans notre nouvelle maison : Ah oui on loue une grande maison (3x plus grande que notre appart a Paris pour 4 x moins cher...) On a un salon, une grande cuisine, 2 chambres et un jardin au fond avec de belles plantes que l'on doit arroser tous les soirs :-)
Désolé d'avoir mis tant de temps a donner des nouvelles mais voilà ces dernières semaines les choses ici se sont bousculées un peu.Alors voilà pour ceux qui ne le savent pas, Alain est devenu Manager general de l'Hotel Spa Granada (www.HotelSpaGranada.com) (
Et ici une photo d'une des chambres de l'hotel : Cette chambre s'appelle Corazon (coeur en espagnol) - petite touche que l'on a ajouté, chaque chambre a un nom et un petit dessin sur la clé, ca apporte un charme fou lol..
Clara-Isabel de son côté travaille en free lance comme webmaster pour une agence de location de maisons de vacances encore une semaine. Elle a aussi fait le marketing web de l'hotel. Déjà les propositions de projets se bousculent (ouvrir un musée du chocolat, être responsable approvisionnement et finance d'une start up qui construit des maisons en bamboo, être coordinatrice de volontaires...) Les opportunités ne manquent pas.
On a fêté l'anniversaire de Clara-Isabel fin février dans notre nouvelle maison : Ah oui on loue une grande maison (3x plus grande que notre appart a Paris pour 4 x moins cher...) On a un salon, une grande cuisine, 2 chambres et un jardin au fond avec de belles plantes que l'on doit arroser tous les soirs :-)Voici une photo de la cuisine :
Du coup, on va rester jusque fin juillet a Granada et vous êtes bien entendus les bienvenus dans notre nouvelle maison. Granada est hyper sûr, donc il vous suffit d'acheter des billets d'avion pour Managua (la capitale) ou San José (au Costa Rica) et après il est vraiment facile de rejoindre Granada et de faire tout un tas d'excursions. Donc ecrivez-nous et venez nous voir ca nous ferait plaisir.
Donc je disais on a fait une belle fête pour l'anniversaire de Clara-Isabel où elle a recu tout un lot pour être une vraie artiste peintre avec les canvas pour les tableaux, la peinture, la palette, tout tout tout. A suivre. Voilà une photo d'une partie de nos amis ici, dans l'ensemble ils sont nicaraguayens, espagnols, americains et francais.
Sinon on avait aussi organisé le Berrinche Ambiental (elberrincheambiental.
On continue un peu nos voyages : aux alentours de Granada on a decouvert une réserve privée géniale où l'on accède par bateau. On peut y faire des randos géniales à pied ou a cheval et aussi se baigner dans des eaux thermales tout seul en plein milieu de la nature.
Pour finir on a donc prevu de rentrer le 20 Aout en France et de repartir le 15 Novembre pour le Costa Rica pour continuer notre voyage vers la Patagonie et la Terre de feu avec des petites escales en Colombie, Bolivie et au Chili. Donc on sera en Europe en septembre octobre et on espère bien vous voir à ce moment la. Le 26 septembre on a prévu de courrir le marathon de Berlin, donc on s'entraine a fond tous les deux jours le long du lac et samedi on va courrir le semi-marathon de Jinotega dans le Nord du Nicaragua.
On vous fait de très très gros bisous. Donnez nous de vos nouvelles s'il vous plait que l'on se rapproche un petit peu virtuellement.
Clara-Isabel et Alain
qui pensent tres fort a vous
En plein dans le Berrinche Ambiental !!!
Artistes, tambours, soleil, sourires, accolades, protection de notre environnement, poésie, chants... Le Berrinche Ambiental a débuté depuis 2 jours et déjâ tous les artistes sont conquis. Chaque jour le programme est chargé mais tous les matins, tous les artistes se réveillenet avec la même envie, le même désir de faire changer les choses et de vivre dans un monde plus humain fait de relations simples et amicales.
Plus de 150 artistes venant de Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Belize, Guatemala, Colombie, Argentine mais malheureusement pas du Honduras (nos amis d'ArteAccion se sont vus refuser l'acces au territoire nicaraguayen) participent â ce festival. Jeudi commencent les spectacles publics et le travail dans les communautés. De nouveaux moments de communion et de plaisir en perspective.
Le monde est simple quand il est vu depuis les yeux de nos artistes...