23 January 2018

It seems so simple

     In the United States it is simple.  Buy these on eBay or Amazon;  buy them at a medical supply place;  buy them at a drug store.  Lots of choices.
     In Nicaragua, at least in Bluefields, those aren't choices.  Well, maybe you could buy things on eBay or Amazon while in Bluefields; but shipping and postage take both a really long time and a lot of money - we're talking a month or more for shipping and a starting cost for the shipping, most likely, of $40 USD.  
     And there aren't any medical supply places in Bluefields; and the drug stores there don't have cane tips.
     I've had two canes carved of rosewood by Bluefields' artisans.  You can see one at the April 2, 2017, post here.  Without a rubber tip, the end of a wooden cane is a terrible slip-and-slide hazard.  
     I provided the rubber tip for the cane pictured, as I did for the second cane I had made.  And it occurred to me that taking a dozen or so of these tips to Bluefields made sense on a lot of levels.  I don't anticipate having another cane made but Mr. Julio and his son have a lot more customers than just me...customers for both canes and walking sticks.
     It seems so simple...