Wanting

Our video hardware.

to give you real experience of Nicaragua, the team traveled through Nicaragua and taped the common activities and places in Nicaragua like the city markets, the streets, the vendors, and the volcanoes. Using a personal computer, we have encoded many of these films into RealVideo and set them up for you to download. There is a total of a little bit more than twenty minutes of actual playing time. If you're either very patient or you have a T1 connection, you might actually watch them all too. If you are going to watch any at all, watch the Masaya Volcano clip--it's extremely cool (or shall we say "hot").

We wanted you to be able to hear what real Nicaraguans and visitors to Nicaragua think about this nation, so we interviewed three people of varying backgrounds and have presented those interviews here in in audio and in text. Most of the interviews are in Spanish--we're in Latin America, after all--so you should read the text transcript of the interview if you are not proficient in Spanish.

Our first interview was with a Nicaraguan high school professor who has been teaching French for the last 12 years. She grew up in Nicaragua and has spent the majority of

In order to get the interviews and music off of the cassette tapes and into the computer, we cut the ends off of two headphones and then spliced them together. Then we plugged one end into the stereo and the other into the sound card's microphone jack. So much for sophisticated hardware.

her life here but has traveled abroad as well--giving her a unique perspective on Nicaragua and it's future. All interviews with her are in Spanish.

The second interview was conducted with a Cuban engineer who has been living in Nicaragua for the last 7 years and has been working as a college professor at a private Nicaraguan university. He has lived in the United States for a few years, among other places, and was consequently able to give a very down-to-earth view of Nicaragua. All interviews with him are in English.

His Excellency Miguel Obando Y Bravo, Cardinal of the Catholic Church in Nicaragua, was our third subject. He has traveled extensively in Central America throughout his lifetime and plays a very vital political role as an impartial mediator in many volatile local and international conflicts. At the time when the interview was conducted, he was in the process of mediating a doctors' strike. All interviews with the Cardinal are in Spanish.

We recorded the Mariachi music by going to a restaurant in downtown Managua and recording two of the bands as they sang at our table. Roving bands of musicians, usually consisting of two trumpets, bongo drums, an accordion, and three guitars, play three songs to the patrons for five dollars. They sing and play popular old folklore songs. Number 3 was definitely the best group -- they really knew how to jam.

Necrosis is a hard rock group from here in Managua, Nicaragua and they generously allowed us to put four of their original compositions on our site. Their songs, which are all in Spanish, usually bow to anarchist and rebellious themes. Their best song is probably Apocalipsis, which means "Apocalypse."