Nicaraguan ex president got thrown back into house arrest. He was non to happy.


Arnoldo back into house arrest. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter

Nicaraguan Soccer Final. Real Esteli once again defeated the Caciques del Diriangen for the national title. bummer...


Diriangen Fans hoping for a miracle. Real Esteli vs. Caciques del Diriangen. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Soccer Action. Real Esteli vs. Caciques del Diriangen. Finally got a semi decent shot with the RC camera behind the opposite goal. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Soccer Action. Real Esteli vs. Caciques del Diriangen. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Soccer Action. Real Esteli vs. Caciques del Diriangen. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Diriangen Fans get wet. Real Esteli vs. Caciques del Diriangen. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter

Anti Ortega March that wasn't much but I got at least one decent shot out of it.


Protester at Anti Daniel Ortega march. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter

Before I left for the Christmas holiday I covered a couple of events. First as I was closing down the office at almost midnight when a fire broke out at the Oriental Market. Just a few kilometers from the paper. Being the last man out, Why not. I was till in shorts and tennis shoes from covering a couple a football games that afternoon and lo and behold I find myself in a major fire.

In Nicaragua as a photojournalist you can get away with stuff that would be impossible in the states. Access is unrestricted at a fire scenes, since we have two firefighting forces. One is the volunteer force and the other belongs to the ministry of the interior. You get to know most of them on a friendly basis and things are a little relaxed. That day, every time the fire was almost controlled they would both run out of water so it would flare up again. They would have to wait for another tanker truck to start again.

The Oriental market is the largest in Central America and it grows like a cancer in Managua's northern end. The first time I visited it it was the closest I have ever felt to being in the middle ages. It's crisscrossed with inside alleys and locked gates so it's always difficult to put fires out in it. Usually when one starts it takes out a full block, as this one eventually did.

So here I was walking with wet tennis shoes, in shorts, through a major fire scene, with electrical cables down, thinking this is not too smart.

Here are some images from that. Wished I would have had a D3 with its high ISO rating but the D200 did ok.




The red cross guys had to come in with their equipment and crack open locked gates so that the firemen could do their thing. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Two volunteer fire fighters went down with smoke inhalation. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


Fire at Managua's Oriental Market. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter


A couple of parrots had to be evacuated form a house cloes by. Photo Tomas Stargardter - Copyright LA PRENSA/Tomas Stargardter

It was the 28 of December and I was a little bored and hung over, so i did this little slide show of my daughter Eugenia playing with a soccer ball at Poneloya beach.



photos and copyright Tomas Stargardter