Going to a Remote Village

Tuesday, Jan. 29, 2013--Side Trip to San Ramon

I finished reading Maps for Lost Lovers by Nadeem Aslam last night.  It's the story of a family of Pakistani immigrants who settled in a particular part of London.  In my own mind, it's mainly the story of a mother from HELL and  the consequences of life when it is dictated by religion.  The story line is interesting.  The author, however, relies too much on similes and metaphors.  My guess is that he thinks he is good at them and has been collecting them as they popped into his head.  Anyway, the impression is that he tried to put every one he has ever collected into the book with the result being an average of 3-4 PER PAGE!!!  That brought the rating of the book down 1/2 of a star to 3 1/2 stars (out of 4).

Yesterday, I also left my laundry with the woman here at the hotel.  Today it was returned to me.  They had charged me only 5 US cents per shirt to wash, dry, and fold them!

My goal today was to make a side trip to the small town of San Ramon in the mountains.  It's known as a "cowboy" town, and I saw horses hitched to railings in front of stores.  It's also known as a place for tourists who want to explore the small, remote native villages in the area.  There's a local agricultural cooperative that coordinates the plan, and each village allows homestays with families or has special, basic tourist rooms built to accommodate them.  I just went to explore the town and the immediate area.

It took only 30 minutes to get there by bus.  I walked the streets exploring.  It's obvious that they were not surprised by a tourist.  Also, there was a large hotel-restaurant building under construction apparently to serve the tourists who want to come there and stay.  They have several nice parks, including one with statues of a cowboy, a native with a bow and arrow, a teacher with a pupil, a man reading on a bench, etc.  They have an amazingly nice baseball stadium.  I never saw a soccer stadium at all, though.  It's interesting how popular baseball is here.

I followed one road to the edge of town, then I continued following it as it became just a path used by walkers and by motorcyclists.  It went back into the mountains.  After a while, I turned back.  There were no homes along it, and I would have had to walk very far to have the scenery vary from what I had already seen.  Back in town, I sat at one of the parks and read for a while.  After 4 hours there, I caught a bus back to Matagalpa.

I was disappointed tonight.  I had been thinking all day that I wanted to return and have the same sweet corn tortilla with salty goat cheese for dinner.  The woman wasn't there.  I walked around the blocks in the area hoping she would arrive.  I saw others approach her place and ask about her before walking away.  For some reason, she didn't make it tonight.  As an alternative, I went to a bakery and bought a pastry stuffed with ham, cheese, and jalepenoes and another with a pineapple filling.