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Lucas “LazyLegz” Patuelli

Your Questions Answered #2 - Access in New York

By Craig Grimes

Traveling to New York: Email from Germany, Sunday 28th October

Question: My husband is in a wheelchair and we would like to go to New York. We where wondering if you have been to New York and if you could be so kind and give us any helpful tips. Also we want a Hotel that is for disabled people, do you know anything? Maybe we also had the idea of renting an apartment for the time we are staying there, do you know any addresses for renting apartments for wheelchairs?

Answer:

I’ve never been to New York, however, as I work in the travel industry I have lots of contact with different disabled people and travel agents that do have this information. Here’s a list of useful contacts for you:

Individuals:

Scott Rains:

Scott has massive experience of traveling in a wheelchair and I’m sure that he’s been to New York! You should also look at his blog as there may be information there: www.rollingrains.com

His email is: srains@oco.net

SATH (Society for Accessible Travel & Hospitality)

This society is based in the USA and they will know many more specialist travel agents than me. You should contact them on: sathtravel@aol.com or info@sath.org Their web site is www.sath.org

Specialist American Travel Agents

Wheelchair Escapes: www.wheelchairescapes.com

Flying Wheels Travel: www.flyingwheelstravel.com

Other Travel Agents

AAA Travel

I don’t think that AAA Travel is specifically for disabled people but I’ve arranged things for their disabled clients in Barcelona. Maybe they will be able to help.

Regina: rzayas@njac.aaa.com

Stephanie: Slarrieu@aol.com

Posted in FAQ's, USA, Accommodation, Travel | No Comments

Your Questions Answered #1 - “Living in Spain with a Disability”

By Craig Grimes

I’ve started receiving a few emails through the blog recently, which I’m really pleased about because it means that people are actually reading it! I’ve decided that I will post the questions and answers to the emails so that I can try to share this information with more people. Here are two to start with, the first is about living in Spain with a disability and the second is about traveling to New York. If you have a question that I may be able to help with, please do not hesitate to contact me: craig@craiggrimes.com

I’ll start a new category for these blogs FAQ’s (frequently asked questions) so that they are easier to find in the blog.

Living in Spain with a Disability: Email from Holland, Thursday 25th October

Question: We currently live in Holland and my family and I would like to move to Spain but my husband is Spinal Cord Injured. What medical assistance is there and will the government give us financial assistance?

Answer:

Spanish Medical Assistance:

As a European Union Citizen you are entitled to free health care in Spain. In order to receive this you first have to register that you are living in Spain with the local Town Hall and you will receive a certificate. Then you have to apply for your National Insurance Number (NIE). Once you have the NIE you can go to the medical centre and register with a doctor. You will then be entitled to free health care in Spain and receive prescriptions for the things that your husband requires such as tablets, catheters, sheaths etc. depending on his situation.

I must warn you that you may not be able to get exactly the same things from the doctor in Spain that you would get from you doctor in Holland. For example, I use leg bags and the brand that is available in Spain on prescription is terrible. Therefore, I made the decision to buy the lag bags that I prefer separately which costs about 55euros for a box of 10.

Spinal Cord Injury Centres:

Spain does have specialist centres for spinal cord injured people and the best is called the Institut Guttmann(Guttmann Institute) and is located just outside Barcelona in a town called Badalona. Here they can give specialist care to your husband if he ever requires it, you should register with them as soon as possible when you arrive in Spain. They will also give your husband an annual check up to make sure he is healthy! You can find their web site at: www.guttmann.com there is some limited information in English, they also have some consultants that speak some English.

Benefits in Spain (money received from the government to help disabled people):

I have never received any help from the Spanish Government with regards to them giving me financial assistance due to mt disability. As far as I know, as a foreigner, you have to be a resident in Spain for 5 years before they will even consider helping. Maybe the Dutch Government will help?

I am very aware that English is your second language, therefore, I have also sent this email to a contact of mine that lives near Barcelona. His name is Ruud Brahms and he owns a company called Creu Costa Catalana. This is a care company for disabled people, but more importantly, he is Dutch and therefore, will be able to explain all of this in your own language! His email is: info@adcc.cat and their web site is: http://adcc.cat/holandes/holandes.htm

Posted in Medical, Spain, FAQ's | No Comments

Nicaraguan Curiosities

By Craig Grimes

In every country and culture we find lots of curious things that are different from what we are used to. I thought I’d do a quick entry about some of my observations here in Nicaragua. I think that some of these things may be influenced by the USA, but as a Brit that has spent the last 6 years in Spain, I find them kind of funny, here are my top 5, in no particular order.

Taxis- I know that this happens in quite a lot of countries but I had never experienced taxi sharing until I arrived in Nicaragua. Coming from Europe, it seems strange that my taxi stops when I am already in it, to pick up other random passengers in the street. Even if you phone a taxi to come and pick you up for home or a restaurant, more often than not, it will turn up with other passengers inside. The other curious thing is that when you are wondering through the streets there is the endless beeping of taxi horns as the drivers let you know that they have space and try to encourage you to get in for a ride. The noise pollution is incredible but at least you know when a vehicle is coming up behind you, so that you can get out of the way.

Toilet Paper- Because the waste disposal pipes are so narrow in Nicaragua you do not throw toilet paper into the WC. Instead every bathroom has a bin next to the WC for used toilet paper, a bit disgusting, but hey it’s better than blocking the pipes and getting a backwash into the bathroom!

Cigarettes - Cigarettes not only have a health warning on them but they also have a best before date on them! I’ve never seen this before and I find it kind of strange, maybe it’s an American influence?

Alcohol- Something else that may have come from the States - Alcohol with a health warning on it, the basic warning is that “too much consumption of this product may prejudice your health!” I know that many of my family would give a different warning “not enough consumption of this product may lead to stress!” I think it’s a good thing to put a health warning on alcohol but they could have come up with something a bit better, maybe, “too much consumption of this product may lead to you making a complete idiot of yourself.”

Loudspeaker Announcements- I’ve already mentioned about the beeping of taxi horns contributing to noise pollution in Nicaragua, however, there is something much more annoying… There are cars of all shapes and sizes trundling along the streets with loudspeakers on the roof and back blurting out adverts and announcements at full blast. The announcements vary from funerals and wakes to warnings that if you don’t pay your water bill it will be cut off. All of these announcements are accompanied by very loud reggaeton or techno music!

Posted in Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments

Daniel Ortega declares national emergency in Nicaragua

By Craig Grimes

I have written on several occasions about the amount of rain we are getting at the moment due to tropical storms at the end of this wet season. I wrote an entry about some of the issues in “The rain in Nicargua falls mainly on Matagalpa” on the 8th October. The situation has continued and even got worse, the Rio Grande in Matagalpa burst its banks a couple of days ago washing away homes and flooding many others. Several people died in the town as they were swept away by the river.

Although Edurne and I are safe and sound, many other people have had their lives destroyed and disrupted. Edurne sent me this email from the Nicaragua Network so I thought I’d post it.

	Nicaragua Network


www.nicanet.org

Severe Flooding Hits Nicaragua!Tropical Depression Brings Devastating Floods to Nicaragua!Nicaragua has again been hit with a natural disaster. Ramón Arnesto Soza, head of the National System for the Prevention and Mitigation of Disasters (SINAPRED) said that the tropical depressions of the last two weeks have brought an average of 6.4 inches of rain each day, a total rainfall greater than that of Hurricane Mitch in 1998. Yesterday, President Daniel Ortega declared a state of emergency saying that special measures were called for. He ordered all government agencies to put together plans to confront the emergency in the affected areas which, as reported in the Nicaragua Network Hotline on Wednesday, includes almost the entire country.

SINAPRED Director Soza said that the Rio Grande de Matagalpa overflowed its banks in the city of Matagalpa when four inches of rain fell in less than an hour. All the neighborhoods near the river were flooded. Over 1,700 people were forced out of their homes in the city. Nelson Artola, former mayor and presently director of the Emergency Social Investment Fund, said that two neighborhoods had practically disappeared with most houses losing even their foundations to the river.

In the entire country SINAPRED estimates 213,000 people have been affected by the flooding. Soza said that Nicaragua cannot effectively respond to these recurring natural disasters without international assistance and called for help from the community of nations.

If you are able to make another donation (we know we just asked you to donate for the victims of Hurricane Felix) we will send your contributions to the Ernesto Gonzalez Foundation in Matagalpa with which we have been working since the bottom fell out of the coffee market in 2001. They will use the funds to buy urgent supplies for those who have lost their homes. Send a check made out to Nicaragua Network to 1247 “E” Street SE, Washington, DC 20003. Write “Flood Relief” in the memo line. Or go to our new web page at www.nicanet.org and click on “Donate.” Then click on “other” and write in “Nicaraguan floods” so that we will know what your donation is for. You can also call us on Monday, October 22 to make a credit card donation over the phone.

Posted in News, Central America, Nicaragua, Politics | No Comments

A wet day at La Selva Negra

By Craig Grimes

Today we caught a taxi to La Selva Negra which is 12km outside Matagalpa. La Selva Negra was named after The Black Forest (Swartzwald, as on the sign at the entrance, above) by the Germans that own the land. La Selva Negra is now a Hotel and Coffee Plantation. I’ve been planning on visiting here since I decided to come to Nicaragua to try to see the Howler Monkeys and Sloths. However, we managed to pick a really wet rainy day!

The forest is located high in the hills surrounding Matagalpa which I have been told gives great views on a clear day, all I could see were clouds, rain and more clouds! We went anyway and had a coffee on the terrace at the hotel next to an artificial lagoon. The cloud did clear away a bit for a short while to reveal the beautiful scenery.

After coffee and cake we looked some of the rooms at the hotel and also one of their cabins. Unfortunately, the rooms and the cabin that we looked at weren’t suitable for wheelchair users as the bathroom doors were too narrow, as were the bathrooms themselves. I’m going to go back when it’s a bit dryer to look at some of the larger cabins to see if they are more accessible.

There is a track around the lagoon which may be accessible for wheelchair users but it was too wet to check it out. The paths in gerenal were either dirt or cobbles, not ideal, but managable for many people with mobility difficulties. I think it’s either a case of adapting the environment (as when wet the cobbles are also slippery and dangerous for people that can walk) or adapting wheelchairs so they are more suitable for the terrain.

I didn’t get to see any howler monkeys or sloths but I did see red squirrels and a guatusa, which is like a large rabbit. We also passed by the church at La Selva Negra and some spectacular trees.

On the way back from La Selva Negra we had the opportunity to see Matagalpa from a different perspective. It looks so tranquil from the vantage point high in the hills.

Posted in Accommodation, Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments

Establishing Inclusive Travel In Nicaragua

By Craig Grimes

After working on AccessibleBarcelona for the last 3 years or so and having many satisfied customers (many of which are now friends), I’ve decided to try to do something even more challenging. One of the reasons to be here in Nicaragua is to attempt to set up accessible tours for disabled people throughout the country. This poses many issues as it is a developing country and there is very little in the way of facilities for wheelchair users or anyone with any type of disability.

There are two major issues right from the start; transport and accommodation. I haven’t yet seen any vehicle resembling even remotely accessible since I arrived here over three weeks ago and upon asking Nicaraguans and ex-pats that live here about the issue the response is always negative. I’ve approached a local tour company with regards to excursions and sightseeing. We’ve also discussed the issue of transport but it’s always a “chicken and egg” situation. As we all know the cost of adapting a vehicle can be very expensive, so they don’t want to spend thousands of dollars on this unless they will see a return on their investment (which is totally understandable from the perspective of a small company). However, before we can offer the tours we need an accessible vehicle!

I think that we have come to a compromise in that I will see if there is any interest in the tours and at the beginning offer them to people that can transfer into a standard vehicle. Once we have an idea of the number of people that may wish to travel to Nicaragua we can see if adapting a vehicle is commercially viable. The tour company are being very supportive and they love the idea of setting up accessible tours in Nicaragua, it’s a case of cash flow as usual.

With regards to accommodation, I need to find hotels in 4 or 5 distinct locations, namely:

Managua (the capital city of Nicaragua)
Matagalpa (or the surrounding area)
Granada (Nicaragua’s oldest Spanish city)
Leon (another of Nicaragua’s oldest cities)
San Juan del Sur (A town on the Pacific coast)

I have visited a hostel/hotel on the outskirts of San Ramón (near Matagalpa) which has beautiful panoramic views of the village. The hotel is run by “Fundación el Sueno de la Campana” (sorry I don’t have the Spanish “n” on this keyboard), which literally means the “Dream of the Bell” and is a Catalan Foundation based in Tarragona. I’ve been to meet with them twice and their philosop hy and ideology seems great (I’ll go into this in another article). They are also very open to providing facilities for disabled people and we have been discussing how to adapt one of the rooms. I think that when we are finished it will be one of the most flexible adapted rooms that I have ever seen!

All photos below copyright of Fundación “Sueno de la Campana”.

Eric Shiozaki from “Go With Wheelchairs” in Costa Rica has also provided me with some very useful information about accessible hotels in Granada which I will be visiting very shortly.

I have in mind that in the beginning we will offer two tours of 1 and 2 weeks with an option for staying longer if the client wants to. The basic itinerary would be:

Day 1: Arrive and transfer to an accessible hotel in Managua

Day 2: Sightseeing in Managua before traveling to San Ramón, Matagalpa.

Days 3 - 5: Sightseeing in and around Matagalpa including:

La Selva Negra (The Black Forest) - where you can see Howler Monkeys and Sloths
A visit to a local coffee plantation
A trip to a butterfly farm
Meeting Nicaraguan disabled people through one of the local foundations.
A trip to one of the many volcanoes in the area

Day 6: Drive to León with a sightseeing stop along the way

Days 7 - 9: Sightseeing in and around León

Day 10: Travel to Granada with a sightseeing stop along the way

Days 11 - 13: Sightseeing in and around Granada

Day 14: Final farewells and transfers to the airport

Whilst in Granada it may also be possible to visit San Juan del Sur as mentioned earlier. There is also the island of Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua which may be a possibility if we can find a reasonably accessible boat. The options are endless and I would like to maintain the philosophy of AccessibleBarcelona which is to provide client driven independent travel that is flexible and accessible.

All in all the plans are going very well and the basic tours in a standard vehicle (not adapted) will be available from December 2007. Hopefully we will have the adapted vehicle by March 2008 so that we can offer tours of this amazing country to people of all types of mobility impairments.

I’m sure I’ll be writing more about this in the blog, if you would like to receive more information by email please contact me at craig@craiggrimes.com

Posted in News, AccessibleNicaragua, Accommodation, Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments

Culitas, Cheles and Children (Voy a ser Padrino!!!!)

By Craig Grimes

We’ve had a great weekend which started on Friday afternoon and continued through to Sunday evening. On Friday we caught a taxi to San Ramon and stayed with Estebana and her family. Janet (one of the daughters) took us for a walk around the village and then we sat down for dinner, which was more like a feast. The culitas part of the title means “bums” which is what the girls (Silvia, Janet, Marta and Edurne) say to each other, referring to what great bums they have! Chele, refers to a white skinned person i.e. Me and a Spanish guy called Jaume from Mallorca who is currently staying with the family.

The children part of the title refers to the following day when we went to visit Ruth and her new born baby and her younger brother Isaac. The baby now has now been named as Alexander and Ruth has asked Edurne and I to be God Parents. Obviously we jumped at the chance of this honour. We’re not sure when the ceremony will take place but rest assured I’ll be taking lots of photos. We stayed with them for a while and then Isaac came with us to have lunch at Estabana’s. I showed Isaac (age 11) how to use the camera and now he’s obsessed with it, in fact the above photo of the “Culitas” was taken by him. I also took some more photos of murals and political propaganda which you can see in the photo-log page.

After lunch we visited ”El Sueno de Campana” a Youth Hostel run by two Catalans in San Ramon to look at the accessibility for disabled people. One of the projects that I would like to set up while I am here is organising routes and trips for disabled people that want to visit Nicaragua. The first part of this is to find relatively accessible accommodation and a means of getting there. As of yet I haven’t found a company that has accessible vehicles, so maybe in at the beginning I won’t have that option and I will have to use standard vehicles. El Sueno de Campana is located on the top of a hillside overlooking San Ramon with spectacular views. Although the rooms are not yet 100% accessible and 0% adapted, the owners are more than open to making the necessary changes to make it wheelchair user friendly. It’s a case of money as usual, but they are very aware of disability issues and have some facilities at their cultural centre and they also work with a local disability organisation “Los Pipitos“. I’ll have to keep you posted on the progress with the Youth Hostel and I should be meeting with them again later this week, first education, then action….

Afterwards we picked up Ruth and Alexander and we headed back to Matagalpa with Isaac also in tow. In the evening we went to ”Venancias” the women’s cultural centre where Edurne works as on a weekend they have events, music and theatre productions. On the 12th October the Spanish celebrate the discovery of Latin America , the forward thinking folks in Latin America celebrate the opposite of this, not the Spanish conquest, but the rich culture of the indigenous people of this great continent. There were artisan stalls selling a variety of products, live music, food and of course drinks. Below photos of the group that played on Saturday night and the giant woman!

I also showed Isaac a game on my mobile phone and, as with all children, he quickly became addicted:

On Sunday everyone was up bright and early and Ruth and Edurne went out to buy a pram for Alexander (courtesy of Conxa, Edurne’s mum). Isaac and I hung out as guys do and we met the girls later at a restaurant for lunch. At the restaurant there was a strange little white cat with one green eye and one blue eye, much to the amusement of Isaac who used his favourite comment “Que bonito!” (all the photos below were taken by Isaac, he’s going to be a great photographer one day!)

After lunch we went for a nice little wonder around Matagalpa, had coffee and brownies before Ruth, Alex and Isaac headed back to San Ramon and left Edurne and I at home totally exhausted…. What a weekend!

Posted in Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments

Water, water everywhere and not a drop to drink.

By Craig Grimes

I know that this title was used by sailors when they had run out of fresh drinking water and even though you don’t really want to drink the tap water here it does seem quite apt. Although it rains almost every day in Nicaragua the tap water also gets cut off every other day. For most people this is irritating but as a disabled person it makes life very difficult. Most houses have an outside sink with a reserve of water for such events, however, for me it’s not quite as simple as throwing a bucket of water over myself on the patio instead of having a shower. If there is water I can be independent and have a shower myself, if I have to resort to the open air patio bucket throwing shower I need Edurne to throw the water and refill the bucket! Actually it’s quite a lot of fun but I’ll spare you the photos….

Another thing that regularly gets cut off is the electricity. Power-cuts occur because there isn’t enough electricity for the whole country during the working week. Therefore, in urban areas the electricity company cut off the power supply for 2 - 3 hours (apart from on weekends), the time of day depends from week to week. Last week it was from 19.15 - 21.30 hrs, which was a bit of a pain as we were sat in the dark with candles. For many people in Nicaragua this isn’t a problem as they simply do not have electricity in their homes as they cannot afford it.

There are options though if you are willing to brave the pitch black streets, which is hard in a wheelchair with the state of the roads here. I’ve ventured out a couple of times armed with my head torch to local bars where they have generators for when the power cuts occur. The best thing to do during evening power-cuts is plan ahead. We knew the time of night that the electricity would be off last week, so on some nights we would go to a restaurant or bar with generators half and hour before the power-cut and ride it out with the luxury of a few drinks, dinner and light!

Other nights we just stayed in and played music off the laptop battery and had a nice romantic candle lit evening:

The power-cuts and water problems don’t really affect tourism that much as the larger hotels have generators, tanks for storing water and bottled drinking water. I guess it depends on what kind of experience you are looking for whilst traveling in Nicaragua, I’m doing the cultural emersion type traveling and trying to experience to a certain extent what many (middle class) Nicaraguans deal with every day. Of course for many people this isn’t very confortable or possible due to their disability, there are many ways of traveling for all types of people and in the future I hope to be able to supply some of these options in Nicaragua and beyond in other parts of Central America.

Posted in Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments

A New Arrival in San Ramon

By Craig Grimes

I’m not the only new arrival in Nicaragua, Ruth one of our friend’s (who is 19 years old) gave birth on Thursday 4th October to a baby boy. This was a surprise to everyone including her family as nobody knew she was pregnant. It was also a bit of a surprise to Ruth as she suspected but she wasn’t entirely sure. We think that she was a little scared to talk to anyone about it and she didn’t have any medical check ups, so in may ways she has been very lucky to give birth to a healthy baby.

We went to visit her yesterday in the small village of San Ramon where she lives with her family in a small wooden house with no electricity or running water. We caught a taxi and traveled through the bumpy roads and streets to the village, but this was just the start of the adventure. There is a small muddy track from the road to their house and even a small stream to cross. The area of the village where they live is called “El Granero” which means “The Granary”. This used to be a farm and there are huge concrete circles elevated about half a metre from the ground which were the foundations of where they used to store the grain. These circles have now been converted into small gardens but they are not the easiest to cross in a wheelchair!

Below: Photos of us and the baby with the family and mother; Ruth:

The little garden in front of the house has a variety of plants including several types of chillies. Of course I had to try the chillies with my lunch and they were really yummy! Concha (Ruth’s mum) gave me a bag full of them to take home too, now I’m going to try to grow some chili plants on our patio. In the meantime, here are some photos of their garden which is much better than ours!

The views behind the house were also pretty spectacular:

Concha and Isaac also made us a great lunch of chicken, vegetables, rice and tortilla mmmmmmmm.

Posted in Central America, Nicaragua, Travel | No Comments