Another party coming up in a week… this one to be hosted by the very hip art magazine Hecho. They have a big party for every magazine issue to launch it and this time the party will be held in Granada with Warren and our group being invited to set the mood for the party by creating “an entrance”.
I am off with Edgar who works for PURE to find the costume maker in the neighboring small town of Masaya. Edgar is driving Warren’s truck and we make our way to the industrious and colorful town which is home to the hammock industry and the very large markets for food and crafts. I have Warren’s directions in my hand…
From the shell station past the old market, its three blocks, past the woman selling cheese and down one long block and its on the left. Hmm, what are the odds of our finding this without a street name or anything very specific. But soon I see that we are in fact in front of a woman at the corner who has a little covered cart with huge blocks of white Nicaraguan salty cheese for sale. We drive the long block and I see a house on the left towards the end of the block, with handmade papermache masks inside – the kind that are made here for fiestas.. very expressive and usually of donkeys or devils or just scary looking faces. Inside there are rows of ready made costumes, as well as all sorts of fabrics. I have my pictures ready and show them to the seamstress Dona Zepeda, with Edgar looking over our shoulders with much interest. These weird gringos! No problem to make a lion, a monkey and an elephant, but its gonna cost a bit more as these are large and take more fabric and more sewing… $22 instead of the $5 for the smurf costume. One week and they will be ready.