Sandinista victory

Looks like Daniel Ortega won the election with around 38% of the vote- Eduardo Montealegre, the favorite of the US free-trade proponents, got about 24%. The results aren't final yet. The election seemed to go very smoothly. There were thousands of international observers from all over the world. There didn't seem to be many problems, although some of the polling places closed before 6PM and some opened late. Also, people who were waiting in line to vote at 6PM did not all get a chance to vote. Sarah and I visited our friend Mauricio, a 20-year old who works at the local supermarket and is a friend of one of the kids who lives at Casa Xalteva. He was volunteering at one of the polling places, checking people's ID's and finding them on the list of registered voters taped to the wall of the 7th Day Adventist church. The line wasn't too long. Voters deposited their ballots in cardboard boxes. Sarah and I tried to vote, but they didn't believe I was nicaraguense!! Although the energy company promised, there were some electricity cut-offs throughout the country, but I'm not sure if this impeded the vote counting. I'm very interested to see how the US will respond to the Ortega victory.

The other 2 pictures here are of me and my profesor, Sergio, and me dancing with Mauricio at Cafe Nuit on Friday night- probably salsa...