¨new york: bad things happen when you leave¨ but i never dreamt it would apply so well to nagarote.
i was on the bus ride back to nicaragua (we were stopped for 2 hours at the border while the nicaragua police strip searched our bus as they were on a drug lead-nothing turned up, that we know of...) when ronnie called to tell me she had more bad news (the center was broken into as well when i was gone). turns out that a TORNADO ripped through nagarote july 21st around 5pm. this was an absolute historic event as no one can remember the last time there was a tornado around here. one man was killed, about 300 house roofs were torn off and an estimated 35 families lost their homes all together. i arrived back to town this morning after staying over at the tica bus terminal hotel last night, not wanting to venture out into that neighborhood in managua at night. when i arrived to town early the next day, i walked around with everyone accessing damage...the army and the equivalent of the national guard are all here...it´s all over national news. strange that when i was in san jose, i went to buy my ticket on monday for the following day and was told that there were no more early morning buses, so i reserved my spot in the 12:45 bus. i came back to pay for it and they told me a spot had opened up in the early morning after all, putting me back in managua and nagarote around 5pm. by then, heidi and i had already made plans to have breakfast so i passed on it. the tornado came right through the center of town, our neighbor´s roof ( a board member) was completely removed. it was a very strong tornado that cut straight through town. the tortilla place was leveled...the women were in shell shock when i talked to them. the man who was killed had just come by to buy from them and they saw it all...he was struck by flying sheet metal. the stadium where the montlhly festival is takng place was also basically destroyed. we´re lucky that it was the only day that no major event was taking place there.
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