Esteli - revolution town.

I've been in Esteli for about 24 hours and I don't imagine that I'll want to leave tomorrow but I have to get to Costa Rica fairly soon. I've been sat in Cafe Luz and have stuffed myself with fajitas and drank way too much coffee today. It's run on a not-for-profit basis to support the local voluntary sector and is run by an English woman, Jane Boyd, from Leicestershire. It's got a really nice atmosphere and has an 'adjoining' hostel which is just across the street from it. It's about two pounds fifty a night for a relatively comfortable bed in the dorms and I feel very much content here.

I like being in what feels like a Nicaraguan atmosphere with a little English influence from Jane. She's been here on and off for about four years and has a pretty good knowledge of the local voluntary sector which is struggling but getting by. The political situation here sounds quite interesting with a solidly left wing government that is trying to deliver with very limited resources. I don't feel like trying to deliver community projects here myself but I'm sure some experience of how this can be dealt with may be truly appreciated if anyone gets themselves into a position to do this in the near future. It's going to be appreciated anywhere in the whole area of Central America if this type of experience is offered.

Though I feel content with the situation I've got in Nicaragua, I'm far from content about my life in the UK, prospects of staying in the UK long term and the state of the world etc. I started trying to write just a little about the way things go in relation to for instance, my experience working on the New Deal for Communities in Kings Norton, Birmingham. I didn't find it that easy an experience to adjust to and found I was not able to deal with the workload adequately. What was interesting talking to Jane was that there are parallels with some of the people who enter politics in this country who don't get a thorough enough grounding through their training or education to deal with all the complications of politics on either a local and national level. I don't know for sure but I want to try to find a few levels where I may be willing to deal with the situation so I can advise a little better on a personal level if I meet people who may want to volunteer over here. It would be interesting to find out the reasons for the training and education that is made available to politicians not working that well in this region and trying to develop some training from the experiences that some have had in relation to their political failings and putting together a far more challenging training programme for anyone who's considering entering government in this region.

I've finally managed to get a few slide shows finished on flickr and there's links to go through if you're interested in seeing shots of the blockade as I came across the border into Nicaragua (picture above shows two striking drivers resting during the course of the action), the shots of Atila Bars, shots taken from La Ceiba to Trujillo, from Trujillo to Tegucigalpa , Tegucigalpa itself. Haven't spent any time on youtube in the past few days which makes me feel a little better than normal - what a waste to be here and spend all your time doing that, I'm glad I'm off the Goodies. Now I can concentrate on politics - but everybody wants to rule the world.

The Trujillo to Tegucigalpa set of shots doesn't have just the typical scenes of the Honduran countryside, I've tried to include some of the shots I took from buses of typical dwellings and those under construction to give some idea of the type of development in the area. The process of urbanisation that it underway as you'd possibly imagine includes redevelopment of inner-city areas, the development of suburbs and as the one shot of a concrete edge city town springing up on the outskirts of La Ceiba shows, the development of towns in rural areas within commuting distance of the larger cities. I don't know if La Ceiba will remain Honduras's party town but it certainly was undergoing significant development. I put forward an idea to the Honduran tourist board that they may make more of the journey from Trujillo to Tegucigalpa and try to create a stronger identity for the main stop off towns in order to increase tourism. I guess ideas like this are put forward all too frequently and many of the towns would probably wish to resist the process or tourist development that places like Antigua, Guatemala and the towns on the Ruta de Flores in El Salvador are undergoing. It's a shame the countryside was spectacular as some of the shots show.