The calm before the storm

There is a quiet sense of calm, against a background of pending storm. Here I refer not to the weather, but to the upcoming storm on the CO2 Bambu business front. We expect by month end to (finally) get a significant Nicaragua order. This will require a significant ramp up and creation of a bamboo processing center in the region of RAAN (North Atlantic Coast of Nicaragua, indigenous communities). Our vision has been to be “bi-national”, with a balanced customer base in Nicaragua and another in Haiti. September will be pivotal for both customer sets.

So what constitutes a “calm period”?

First, let’s update the animal situation. Peta was tempted to keep ALL 5 kittens, till I reminded her that when we travel it would be difficult to have someone stay in a house with 8 cats! So the widdling down process has started. First, all the kittens had to be neutered before they could be placed in new homes.

Here is a parting family picture of the 5 gatitos.

And Peta’s favorite “Gingy” is in the first two to go… Here he is with Pablo.

Then, we did some reshuffling of Peta’s paintings in town, as a hotel on our street asked to show what they recognize to be their dog in one of Peta’s “Stray Dogs” series of paintings…

Then, another “run” to the beach to go pick up more beach stones for our studio bath tub. It’s always nice to get that shot of nature on the week end… This time, we go to one of the beaches we had not seen before “Playa Yankee”, known as a good surfing spot. It turns out however to be pretty isolated and really tough to access. We are using the CO2 Bambu truck which is temporarily “in town” from the Atlantic Coast where it typically is used. It’s only 4 months old but it looks and sounds like it’s 10 years old! We didn’t have the money to buy a $35,000 Japanese pick up truck and tried our luck with a Chinese version and let’s just say that Chinese auto production isn’t yet up to par with the Japanese. Still, it works and we are happy to have it.

The roads are particularly tough this week end as we are in the middle of the rainy season and we have had a lot of rain. The roads, once you are off the Panamerican Highway, become “dirt roads” and when wet become mud baths. Then the mud dries and creates a VERY rough terrain, akin to driving at the bottom of a river. The rivers are full and we need to cross at least a couple of large rivers to get to the beaches “off the beaten path”.