The Pierces arrived at the Pacific coast town of San Juan Del Sur.  We’ll stay here for a week or so in a two bedroom apartment we’ve rented with a great view of the bay.  Then we’ll be meeting the Scofields at the airport in Managua and head back to Mata de Caña.

Photo here.

The following is a rank-order list of nations compiled by the World Bank by per capita gross national product at purchase price parity. The information is for 2009. Mira and I like to use these numbers when we argue about who is poorer than who. BTW, it surprised me that Bolivia ranks higher than Nicaragua. Note the world average of $10,706, which includes Macedonia and everyone above. I guess everyone in the US making less than $46,436 is not taking his/her fair share.

Rank	Country	Intl. $
—	World	10,706
1	Luxembourg	84,003
2	United Arab Emirates	57,827
3	Norway	55,672
4	Singapore	50,705
5	United States	46,436
6	Ireland	41,278
7	Netherlands	40,715
8	Australia	39,231
9	Austria	38,748
10	Canada	37,946
11	Sweden	37,905
12	Iceland	37,595
13	Denmark	36,762
14	United Kingdom	36,496
15	Germany	36,449
16	Belgium	36,048
17	Finland	34,650
18	France	33,655
19	Spain	32,545
20	Japan	32,443
21	Italy	31,909
22	Equatorial Guinea	31,825
23	Greece	29,663
24	New Zealand	28,723
25	Israel	27,674
26	Korea, South	27,168
27	Slovenia	27,004
28	Trinidad and Tobago	25,705
29	Czech Republic	25,232
30	Portugal	24,021
31	Saudi Arabia	23,429
32	Slovakia	22,356
33	Croatia	19,803
34	Hungary	19,764
35	Seychelles	19,615
36	Estonia	19,451
37	Poland	19,059
38	Russia	18,945
39	Antigua and Barbuda	18,805
40	Lithuania	16,745
41	Libya	16,526
42	Latvia	15,411
43	Argentina	14,559
44	Saint Kitts and Nevis	14,548
45	Gabon	14,440
46	Mexico	14,337
47	Chile	14,331
48	Romania	14,198
49	Malaysia	13,982
50	Turkey	13,905
51	Uruguay	13,208
52	Montenegro	13,113
53	Panama	13,091
54	Botswana	13,078
55	Lebanon	12,962
56	Bulgaria	12,888
57	Mauritius	12,858
58	Belarus	12,569
59	Venezuela	12,341
60	Serbia	11,612
61	Iran	11,575
62	Kazakhstan	11,526
63	Costa Rica	11,122
64	Macedonia, Republic of	10,822
65	Brazil	10,427
66	South Africa	10,291
67	Azerbaijan	9,652
68	Saint Lucia	9,618
69	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	9,167
70	Dominica	8,896
71	Colombia	8,870
72	Peru	8,647
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8,529
74	Dominican Republic	8,445
75	Grenada	8,374
76	Tunisia	8,284
77	Ecuador	8,280
78	Albania	8,245
79	Algeria	8,184
80	Thailand	8,004
81	Jamaica	7,620
82	Turkmenistan	7,252
83	China, People’s Republic of	6,838
84	El Salvador	6,721
85	Namibia	6,457
86	Ukraine	6,327
87	Angola	5,789
88	Jordan	5,691
89	Egypt	5,680
90	Maldives	5,459
91	Armenia	5,286
92	Bhutan	5,120
93	Swaziland	4,966
94	Georgia[8]	4,778
95	Sri Lanka	4,778
96	Guatemala	4,749
97	Syria	4,737
98	Fiji	4,560
99	Paraguay	4,529
100	Morocco[9]	4,503
101	Tonga	4,472
102	Vanuatu	4,445
103	Bolivia	4,426
104	Samoa	4,412
105	Congo, Republic of the	4,248
106	Indonesia	4,205
107	Honduras	3,849
108	Cape Verde	3,649
109	Iraq	3,553
110	Philippines	3,546
111	Mongolia	3,527
112	India	3,275
113	Vietnam	2,957
114	Uzbekistan	2,879
115	Moldova[10]	2,858
116	Nicaragua	2,665
117	Micronesia	2,664
118	Pakistan	2,625
119	Solomon Islands	2,550
120	Yemen	2,473
121	Kiribati	2,470
122	Djibouti	2,323
123	Kyrgyzstan	2,287
124	Papua New Guinea	2,285
125	Laos	2,259
126	Cameroon	2,227
127	Sudan	2,201
128	Nigeria	2,150
129	Tajikistan	1,975
130	Mauritania	1,953
131	Cambodia	1,913
132	São Tomé and Príncipe	1,823
133	Senegal	1,806
134	Côte d’Ivoire	1,707
135	Lesotho	1,613
136	Kenya	1,572
137	Ghana	1,511
138	Benin	1,510
139	Zambia	1,431
140	Bangladesh	1,420
141	Gambia, The	1,417
142	Tanzania[11]	1,358
143	Chad	1,347
144	Comoros	1,306
145	Uganda	1,219
146	Burkina Faso	1,189
147	Mali	1,187
148	Nepal	1,156
149	Haiti	1,153
150	Rwanda	1,071
151	Madagascar	1,050
152	Ethiopia	936
153	Mozambique	886
154	Malawi	859
155	Togo	852
156	Sierra Leone	809
157	Timor-Leste	806
158	Central African Republic	758
159	Niger	676
160	Liberia	397
161	Burundi	393
162	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	320							1000px-Average_GDP_PPP_per_capita.svg

The following is a rank-order list of nations compiled by the World Bank by per capita gross national product at purchase price parity. The information is for 2009. Mira and I like to use these numbers when we argue about who is poorer than who. BTW, it surprised me that Bolivia ranks higher than Nicaragua. Note the world average of $10,706, which includes Macedonia and everyone above. I guess everyone in the US making less than $46,436 is not taking his/her fair share.

Rank	Country	Intl. $
—	World	10,706
1	Luxembourg	84,003
2	United Arab Emirates	57,827
3	Norway	55,672
4	Singapore	50,705
5	United States	46,436
6	Ireland	41,278
7	Netherlands	40,715
8	Australia	39,231
9	Austria	38,748
10	Canada	37,946
11	Sweden	37,905
12	Iceland	37,595
13	Denmark	36,762
14	United Kingdom	36,496
15	Germany	36,449
16	Belgium	36,048
17	Finland	34,650
18	France	33,655
19	Spain	32,545
20	Japan	32,443
21	Italy	31,909
22	Equatorial Guinea	31,825
23	Greece	29,663
24	New Zealand	28,723
25	Israel	27,674
26	Korea, South	27,168
27	Slovenia	27,004
28	Trinidad and Tobago	25,705
29	Czech Republic	25,232
30	Portugal	24,021
31	Saudi Arabia	23,429
32	Slovakia	22,356
33	Croatia	19,803
34	Hungary	19,764
35	Seychelles	19,615
36	Estonia	19,451
37	Poland	19,059
38	Russia	18,945
39	Antigua and Barbuda	18,805
40	Lithuania	16,745
41	Libya	16,526
42	Latvia	15,411
43	Argentina	14,559
44	Saint Kitts and Nevis	14,548
45	Gabon	14,440
46	Mexico	14,337
47	Chile	14,331
48	Romania	14,198
49	Malaysia	13,982
50	Turkey	13,905
51	Uruguay	13,208
52	Montenegro	13,113
53	Panama	13,091
54	Botswana	13,078
55	Lebanon	12,962
56	Bulgaria	12,888
57	Mauritius	12,858
58	Belarus	12,569
59	Venezuela	12,341
60	Serbia	11,612
61	Iran	11,575
62	Kazakhstan	11,526
63	Costa Rica	11,122
64	Macedonia, Republic of	10,822
65	Brazil	10,427
66	South Africa	10,291
67	Azerbaijan	9,652
68	Saint Lucia	9,618
69	Saint Vincent and the Grenadines	9,167
70	Dominica	8,896
71	Colombia	8,870
72	Peru	8,647
73	Bosnia and Herzegovina	8,529
74	Dominican Republic	8,445
75	Grenada	8,374
76	Tunisia	8,284
77	Ecuador	8,280
78	Albania	8,245
79	Algeria	8,184
80	Thailand	8,004
81	Jamaica	7,620
82	Turkmenistan	7,252
83	China, People’s Republic of	6,838
84	El Salvador	6,721
85	Namibia	6,457
86	Ukraine	6,327
87	Angola	5,789
88	Jordan	5,691
89	Egypt	5,680
90	Maldives	5,459
91	Armenia	5,286
92	Bhutan	5,120
93	Swaziland	4,966
94	Georgia[8]	4,778
95	Sri Lanka	4,778
96	Guatemala	4,749
97	Syria	4,737
98	Fiji	4,560
99	Paraguay	4,529
100	Morocco[9]	4,503
101	Tonga	4,472
102	Vanuatu	4,445
103	Bolivia	4,426
104	Samoa	4,412
105	Congo, Republic of the	4,248
106	Indonesia	4,205
107	Honduras	3,849
108	Cape Verde	3,649
109	Iraq	3,553
110	Philippines	3,546
111	Mongolia	3,527
112	India	3,275
113	Vietnam	2,957
114	Uzbekistan	2,879
115	Moldova[10]	2,858
116	Nicaragua	2,665
117	Micronesia	2,664
118	Pakistan	2,625
119	Solomon Islands	2,550
120	Yemen	2,473
121	Kiribati	2,470
122	Djibouti	2,323
123	Kyrgyzstan	2,287
124	Papua New Guinea	2,285
125	Laos	2,259
126	Cameroon	2,227
127	Sudan	2,201
128	Nigeria	2,150
129	Tajikistan	1,975
130	Mauritania	1,953
131	Cambodia	1,913
132	São Tomé and Príncipe	1,823
133	Senegal	1,806
134	Côte d’Ivoire	1,707
135	Lesotho	1,613
136	Kenya	1,572
137	Ghana	1,511
138	Benin	1,510
139	Zambia	1,431
140	Bangladesh	1,420
141	Gambia, The	1,417
142	Tanzania[11]	1,358
143	Chad	1,347
144	Comoros	1,306
145	Uganda	1,219
146	Burkina Faso	1,189
147	Mali	1,187
148	Nepal	1,156
149	Haiti	1,153
150	Rwanda	1,071
151	Madagascar	1,050
152	Ethiopia	936
153	Mozambique	886
154	Malawi	859
155	Togo	852
156	Sierra Leone	809
157	Timor-Leste	806
158	Central African Republic	758
159	Niger	676
160	Liberia	397
161	Burundi	393
162	Congo, Democratic Republic of the	320							1000px-Average_GDP_PPP_per_capita.svg

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Lots of progress has been made on the new school in Mata de Caña!  The perimeter foundation was set and bricks are being laid.  Since during the bricklaying process Robert can’t be of too much help (have you ever seen that I Love Lucy episode where she loses her wedding ring in the barbecue?) and it really is true what they say about fish and guests, the Pierce family has left Mata de Caña for a couple weeks to explore elsewhere in Nicaragua.  We’ll return to the village during the week of Thanksgiving.  Thanks to our host family, the Rodriquez’s, for putting us up for a week and hearing our gripes about the heat . . . and the cold.  Also, thanks to them for letting us take their daughter Anna with us for some travels and babysitting duty.

Next stop, the Caribbean coast!

Here’s some initial photos of the site and the great people of Mata de Caña.

http://picasaweb.google.com/rrpjr1/MataDeCana#

Lots of progress has been made on the new school in Mata de Caña!  The perimeter foundation was set and bricks are being laid.  Since during the bricklaying process Robert can’t be of too much help (have you ever seen that I Love Lucy episode where she loses her wedding ring in the barbecue?) and it really is true what they say about fish and guests, the Pierce family has left Mata de Caña for a couple weeks to explore elsewhere in Nicaragua.  We’ll return to the village during the week of Thanksgiving.  Thanks to our host family, the Rodriquez’s, for putting us up for a week and hearing our gripes about the heat . . . and the cold.  Also, thanks to them for letting us take their daughter Anna with us for some travels and babysitting duty.

Next stop, the Caribbean coast!

Here’s some photos!

After some pomp and circumstance, we have started building in Mate de Cana. 

After some pomp and circumstance, we have started building in Mate de Cana. 

The Pierce family finally made it to Nicaragua.  It is what we’ve been preparing for for a long time.  We didn’t get into the Managua airport until about 7 pm, leaving no time to get out of time.  So, after one night in a flea-bag hotel we took a taxi to Granada and are living it up in a fancy hotel for one night before we get picked up and go out to our village in Chinandega tomorrow morning.  Without exception, everyone we tell that we are going to Chinandega for two weeks says the same thing, “Chinandega.  Oh, hace calor.”  It’s hot there.  Which is saying a lot, because Robert is about to die from the heat in Granada.