So by now we know to expect lots of noise and then more noise.
But New Year’s eve is a local affair – it’s a time to bond with your neighbors, some of whom have lived on the same street for 40 years. Every one knows everyone, every child has grown into an adult under the watchful eyes of neighborhood elders. Every happy and sad event is shared with the street. This will be again be the case tonight, so read on…
On the 31st, we had a visit from the neighborhood girls who wanted to bang on Ben’s piano.
The rumble started slowly with sparklers, nothing too ear-drum damaging.
Then came the Hula hoop competition. Ain’t no problem here as there is plenty hip movement in the sub 10 year old category.
Peta couldn’t quite escape the enthusiastic encouragement of the kids, so she threw herself into the hula hoop frenzy, under the amused eyes of the adults sitting on their porches.
But anything that doesn’t go bang or offer at least the potential for 3rd degree burn, just isn’t festive enough. So out came the Nicaraguan practice of setting fire to make-shift effigies of bulls. 
The boys demonstrate how this is done by racing up and down the street as the “bull” catches fire and they come dangerously close to innocent by-standers.
At this point in the evening, things got a bit “intense”. Two police cars, filled with policemen in riot gear, come high speed and stop smack in front of our door. In a SWAT like flash, they climb the stairs of our next door’s neighbor. Loud noises and yelling, and next thing we see is the man of the house carried off, one limb held by each of 4 cops. Once in the car, the cops high five each other in front of the gathering crowds. What was this all about? The rumors are flying, different congestures, but the kids eventually set the story straight. It seems that the father of Karin, one of our regular girls, got a bit too drunk and got violent with his 20 year old son, hitting him over the head with a glass bottle.
Within minutes, calm returned to the street. Onward with the pinata bashing activities. Here, the snowman pinata wears a sash that says “last year”. If Peta “had” to do the Hula, I “had” to hit the Pinata. And yes, that involved some form of dancing in public – just what I like, NOT!
A big “muneca” is a full size effigy of a “man” scare-crow like, who is filled with fire-crackers. He is lit at exactly 12 midnight, to herald the new year.
Thus ended 2009. Stay tuned for 2010 Nicaragua stories.