Nicaragua's newest city, and its oldest

Greetings from sunny Nicaragua. Today we visited with the "alcalde", or mayor, of Municipio Ciudad Sandino, a very new city on the outskirts of Managua. We spent over an hour with the mayor, who is curiously named Roberto Somoza. He shared with us the new city's plans for growing their infrastructure and developing their ecomomy. Some of the environmentally sustainable initiatives sounded very progressive for such a poor area. Thanks to Luis, one of our Mangaua Tiscapa Rotary hosts, for arranging this interesting meeting.

Yesterday, we visited Granada, a colonial city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua. I can understand why there is a growing American enclave there, as it is a charming place reminiscent of San Miguel de Allende in Mexico. We took a boat ride to visit the famous "islitas" (little islands) in the lake. Only Naomi was brave enough to play with a monkey on one of the islands. We were hosted by perhaps every Rotarian in their small club. They were gracious and proud hosts, eager to show off the various Rotary projects recently completed in the area.

Rolando, in Managua, Nicaragua