Blog of Julio Mendez

Landlord problem has been resolved, almost

2005-10-13T18:55:00.000-07:00

Well, it's been a while since i've written about my Nicaragua adventures, and I suppose I've had a couple more. One, is the ongoing saga between me and the landlord. I am currently in Miami, via Dallas, I have been here in the states for almost 2 months now, but plan to go back to Nicaragua soon.

The day before I left, I notified my landlord that I was going out of town and that I would be back in a few months, I let him know that my girlfriend would be taking care of the house and would be paying the rent. He was ok with it, and with that, I took a taxi to the airport and was gone early the next morning. When I got to the states, I had an email waiting for me, about what happened the next day.

Apparently the landlords wife went psycho! The next day my girlfriend and an uncle of hers went to my house and were met by the landlady who began to yell at them and told them that I said I was never coming back and that they couldn't stay in the house. She apparently pushed my girlfriend's uncle and then went inside to get a knife!! She threatened both of them and then proceeded to throw all my stuff out! My girlfriend was shocked and was pretty freaked out by the whole thing, but somehow managed to gather all my stuff, gave most of it away, but that's fine.

So, temporarily, the issue of the mean nicaraguan landlord has been solved, she threw my stuff out on the street, and apparently didn't want the rent money that was coming to her in 3 days. The most recent developments are that my girlfriend is pressing charges against the lady, who has apparently pulled the same stunt with other people! Anyway, will write soon, the next entry will be about my 4 day bus ride from Granada to Dallas Tx!

Today was a good day

2005-04-26T09:50:00.000-07:00

Today was a pretty good day. I noticed traffic on my website had gone up the past few days, and quite a few msn keywords appeared on the report. Well, I go to check, and wow, i'm the number 1 listing on msn.com when you do a search for "granada nicaragua"!!!!!! Try it!!!! MSN.com. Woooohooooo!!!!

Anyway, so i got to checking, and i'm now around page 46 on google, page 6 on yahoo. That's all i've checked so far, don't seem to be showing up on other search engines, but for now, that's not bad, especially the MSN thing.

THE BIGGEST CAPER of my life!!!!

2005-04-24T10:04:00.000-07:00

Well, i woke up this morning thinking it would be a pretty interesting day, i just didn't know I was gonna do the craziest thing i've ever done in my life! I had to go into Managua to renew my visa which is interesging because the bus stops by the UCA, which is the University where all the bus burnings, tire burnings and protests were happening. I packed my camera just in case, and hopped on the bus to managua.

When we got there traffic was being redirected away from the mall, which is where i had to go. I got off the bus at the intersection and took my first picture, one of the busiest intersections in Managua. Empty. At the corner, across from the mall and next to the Exxon station, i could see people hanging out, looking down the street towards the University. As I got closer I could see the cops and the mortars going off close to them. Holy shit, this is where it was happening!! I got as close as i could thinking, "Hmmm, there's people here watching, there's people selling ice cream, water, and there's reporters and photographers, it can't be that dangerous. So, I got as close as I could and took the following pictures.

One of the busiest intersections in Managua, empty

Mortars going off, and the police closing off the area

A mortar lands next to a cop

Ice cream anyone?

One hot mama

Yes, I have proof that i was actually there!

As you can see, it was pretty cool to just be there and get to see this, since nothing like this ever happens in dallas. I guess the freakiest thing i saw was the mortar that almost hit the cop. Anyway, i hung out there and took a bunch of pictures, and when i was bored of it, i decided to go look for a taxi so i could finally go to immigration and renew my visa.

I walked back to the intersection where they were redirecting traffic and waited for a taxi. Apparently taxis were rare that day because the protested targeted taxis and buses as well, so I stood around for about 25 minutes when i noticed that students were coming and going from the direction of the University. Holy shit!!! They're having classes while this is going on!!! Well, that must mean that the cops can't be shooting anything back and that it's not that dangerous! I'll go look just to be sure!

So I start to follow the next kid that gets off a bus and has a backpack and a couple of books and in a few minutes i find myself.... In the university... The first thing I see as i turn into the parking lot is a ton of kids running away from something and towards me. Apparently the cops were driving trucks as close to the kids as possible and throwing tear gas into the crowds.

Well, here I was in the middle of a ton of kids, covering their faces with tshirts, bandanas, looking like terrorists, firing mortars at cops, burning buses and harassing anyone in a vehicle. It was amazing to me that i did not stand out to these kids, i did have my backpack with me, but i guess i just looked like another student. So i started taking pictures.

It was crazy!! My heart was pumping, kids were running around, someone was directing everyone, telling them to go to certain areas, to cover their faces, to take mortars to someone. It was just like a war!! Anyway, not to carry on forever, here are the pictures I took....

Run for your lives, notice the kid with a tshirt around his head

People shooting mortars from the roof

A kid gets hit in the face by shrapnel from a mortar

The kids gets taken to the ambulance

Anyway, these are some of the pictures, i'll add some later. Have to go to lunch now, will continue this entry later.

Burning buses, and slimy landlords

2005-04-23T12:07:00.000-07:00

today was an interesting day. First I went to managua for the day, and spent a couple of hours at one of the universities. I was a little worried because of the protests and bus burnings that have been going on. Apparently, the protersters take the day off on Saturday, so it didn't turn out to be a big deal. I did get to see some gorgeous nicaraguan women though, even better.

Anyway, my rent was a day late, and as soon as I walked in the door, the phone rings. Apparently, the neighbor called her sister to tell her I was home and for her husband to run to my house so i don't skip paying the rent. Well, he walks in and the second i hand him his $150 for the rent, he lets me know that the bill for the power came, and that I owe him 60 cordobas, about $3.63. Well, wow, that's nothing i thought, shit, i thought they were gonna try and rip me off and charge me hundreds of cordobas, ($10 or $20).

Well, before i can reach in my pocket and pull out the money, my girlfriend says, "Well, do you have the receipt?" The landlord looked quite perplexed by that , and then said that his sister had the bill (we share the power with the neighbors). "Well, lets go get it!" says my girlfriend, as they walked out, the man leaves and goes back to his house, and his sister comes out a little upset. Aparently, the bill came out to 38 cordobas ($2.30), which is even better, wow, that's cheap. So my girlfriend negotiates with the sister, and it's made clear to her that we only pay half of it, so the final bill comes out to....... a whopping $1.15!! Wow, that's great, i'm glad i have her on my side.

30 minutes later, the landlady calls to speak to my girlfriend and to find out why we didn't want to pay the electricity bill. After a heated nicaraguan discussion, the lady said her husband just got things confused and that's why he initially said 60 cordobas. Also, it was made clear to the lady that we didn't mean to offend her by asking to see the bill, and she was warned that in the future, we would also like to see the bill. Well, i was a little pissed that they tried to rip us off, but, i knew it was coming.

Anyway, the day was not over yet. It started to rain like a mofo, and after having seen the movie, "The Ring 2", it was amusing to see the water coming into the house and running down all the walls. I laughed a little, then got to mopping. To quote Ray, "Good times, good times".

Mean argentinian lady who sells expensive argentinian rags

2005-04-22T12:48:00.000-07:00

Well, my girlfriend and i are having a nice walk, when we decide to sit on the steps of an argentinian clothing store, right on a corner that is perfect for sitting and relaxing. I knew what the store was because I had put some flyers in there for my website. As we are sitting there, this lady walks up and goes up the steps and starts unlocking the door. Ok, so she is the argentinian lady who sells argentinian clothes, from Argentina I suppose. My girlfriend and keep talking, and i can hear the lady behind us jiggling keys, opening locks and making a lot of noise, i thought it was funny that it took her about 10 minutes to get inside the store. As we are talking, i hear her go inside, and i hear about another 5 minutes of locks, keys and bolts. Wow, this lady is pretty paranoid. Anyway, my girlfriend is giving me directions to the university in managua when the lady comes out, and just stands behind us. She rudely interrupts us and asks if we are waiting for someone. Nope, we reply, and go back to talking.

"Ummmm, could you guys wait accross the street?" she asks. Hmmm, i wondered, this is gonna get ugly, my girlfriend is nicaraguan and is always looking for a fight.

"Hmmm", anielka says, "do you think we're going to break in and stal something?"

"No, but i would like you to wait accross the street" says the argentinian lady. "It's because the night watchman comes and puts his bike here."

At this point, i am irritated, and say, "Are we really bothering you just being here??"

"Yes" says the argentinian lady.

"Hmm, I see" as if trying to figure out how we are bothering her, says the nicaraguan.

"Well, can we just move when the night watchman gets here?" says the mexican.

"What's the difference, if he's here or not" says the argentinian.

"Well, if it makes no difference, then why can't we just stay here" says the mexican.

"Because I want you to sit and talk on the other side of the street." says the argentinian.

"Is there any particular part of the street you would like us to stand on?" asks the mexican.

"It doesn't matter, i just don't want you to sit here, this part belongs to me" says the argentinian to the native nicaraguan and the mexican

"Ok, well, does this part belong to you?" jumps in the nicaraguan, standing and moving to the sidewalk.

"No the sidewalk does not belong to me" says the argentinian.

"Well, then we will just stay here and talk, thanks." Says the Nicaraguan.

At this point, my friend Bosco shows up, cussing up a storm because a dog is following him and won't leave him alone, at the same time checking out and eyeing the argentinian lady. This seemed to annoy the lady. It was great.

Anyway, That's all. If you're ever in Grabnada, Don't go sit in front of the argentinian rag store.

STATE OF EMERGENCY IN NICARAGUA

2005-04-20T13:12:00.000-07:00

Stay away from from Nicaragua declares the US government. And for those of us here, make sure you register

This week has been interesting, apparently, what's going on is this: oil prices have been skyrocketing, gas prices have been going up, and therefore, taxi rates and bus rates have gone up. Well, the students in Managua, at the UCA ( University ) don't like this, and decided to protest the bust rates, and to burn a few buses while they were at it. The next day, police were called in, and the bus drivers decided to hold their own protest. Students came back and a small war ensued, rocks were thrown, mortars were fired, and more buses were burned. This is on tv all day, so it's kinda interesting to watch. The country is in a state of alert, but has not yet declared a state of emergency. In reading some reports, it seems that the media wants you to think that there is a full blown war going on, and that the violence is going to erupt everywhere. Here people know better, and the violence has been reduced to 3 main spots, the government has sworn to patrol these parts, and the president says government buses will be going out on Monday. We'll see if this intimidates the students. Anyway, due to a lack of funds, i have not gone into managua in over a month, and my visa is way past expired, i definitely have to go next week. Hope i don't get hit by a rock, and that i get some cool pictures of busess burning.

Anyway, i guess any of us here can help bring down the prices of oil, stop the rock throwing, and encorage tourism here by registering with uncle sam. Good luck.

2005-04-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Well, here goes, i finally started my website, FinditGranada.com. Wish me luck and i hope it does well, i'll be updating this regularly with stats.

2005-02-27T12:27:00.000-08:00

Well, in talking to anyone here, and asking them what they think about nicaraguan people, you will hear one of 2 things. A tourist will say, "oh, they are great, they are very nice to us, and I can't believe they are so poor, and yet so happy". Yes, I actually heard someone say this once. Someone who has lived here for a while will tell you that nicaraguan people are sneaky, and that they will rip you off any chance they get. I have heard a ton of stories of people who do silly stuff here, like try to charge you to much, and then threaten to call the police, someone told me once, that he had a nicaraguan guy do some work for him, he paid the guy, and then took him to lunch, "order anything you want" said this guy, and the nicaraguan guy orders a hamburger, 2 drinks, a slice of pizza, and a desert. The guy's point was that "Nicaraguans will rip you off any chance they get!". Maybe his point should be that when offering someone something, you should be precise.

Anyway, I had heard a ton of stories like that, and since i lived at someone's house and wasn't responsible for anything there, i had never run into that. Well, I am now responsible for a house, paying rent, bills and phone. And here is my first story. This week, i happened to be mopping the floor, the mop was dry since i was just dusting the floor. (that is one of the most common problems here, unbelievable amounts of dust coming into the house). Anyway, I go out side and shake the dust out of the mop, once, hitting the top of the mop on the cement, and what happens, the mop goes straight thru the cement! My first thought was, there goes my deposit, hahaha. Anyway, as i start looking, it looks like all the pipes meet together and then everything was cemented over, sloppily i might add. Then i think, ok, so it looks like we are sharing water, i already knew that we were sharing electricity. Upon further investigation, i found out that we don't have a meter, according to the landlord, the meter was stolen! What someone would do with a stolen meter, i have no idea, but to me, it just looked like it was cemented over, sloppily i might add. Not only that, but it was supposedly, next to their meter, which was buried in mud.

HMMMMM, what's going on here? Well, apparently, one way people get away with paying their full bill, is to break their meter! If your meter doesn't work, you get charged whatever you paid the last month that the meter worked. So now, you can use up all the water you want! That's all, this tells me i need to be careful and see what happens later and how they try to bill me for the utilities.

Anyway, the interesting part of this all, is that i had my first, 'nicaraguan's try cheat you any chance they get' story. But, it gets better and funnier.

My landlord knocks on the door one day and says, "I forgot to add something to the contract you guys signed, i added it to my copy, and i was wondering if you could trade me for your copy." Ok, so i look at the contract and sure enough, he added something, right there over the notary seal. So what did he add? Well, according to his contract, if i decide to leave the house at any point in time, i am responsible for paying for the entire year!!!!!!! I told him thanks, and that i would have my lawyer look at it before i trade him. Well, yup, they think i'm just a rich foreigner who has a ton of money, and has enough to pay for the entire year. Anyway, i have no intention of paying the rest of the year.

Started my

2005-02-23T13:57:00.000-08:00

Well, i finally arrived in Granada, I just got the see the place that my girlfriend rented out for $150 a month. It´s not a bad deal, the house is pretty big, has about 3 bedrooms, bathroom, kitchen. Then only problem is that the house is straight, meaning you have to walk in through the front door, past the bedroom, the batrhroom, the dining room, the living room etc. to get to the kitchen all the way in the back. I guess that´s not a big deal, but we´ll see how it turns out. Not bad for $150 a month.

Interesting Characters here

2005-02-22T13:26:00.000-08:00

Well, in all my time here, just over a year, I have met a ton of people. I would like to tell you about some of the more interesting characters here. Some of the names will be changed in order to protect the identity of that person.

Bosco
Bosco is a pretty cool guy, he can be annoying to women, and can be loud and obnoxious, but he is a hell of a guy. Bosco is the ex nicaraguan chess champion. This is the only article i could find on the internet about him. Anyway, i met bosco one night at the fabrica, and we started talking computers. He told me about some common computer problems, and how you can never really delete anything from a computer, about how the tracking code for your computer is determined by how you use the computer, no 2 people use a computer exactly the same way. Anyway, except for the geeky part, bosco was pretty cool, he tried to talk to just about every gringa he met, or that i met. Anyway, i see bosco around all the time, and hope to get into some misadventures with him.

Bob
To me, this guy represents what a typical retiree here might represent to anyone. He found himself the perfect nicaraguan woman, who happens to be less than half his age, and who i personally met while she was 'visiting' one of my friends in his bedroom, a week before her marriage to Howie. ( hope he doesn't read that ) Anyway, there are a ton of people like that here, who live of their social security, meet a young nicaraguan woman, and just hang out at the gringo bars, and discuss hookers and their talents. Anyway, it's common here to see old gringos with young ( really young ) nicaraguan women.

I'll be updating this entry with more interesting characters later......