Central America is still choking from the smoke of 9,000 forest fires. The international airport at Managua, Nicaragua, has been closed periodically due to skies heavy with 'the brown mist'. In this year's El Nino-driven climate, it is uncertain how long the parched summer will continue. For Mario Aviles, who endured decades of political drought and breathed the gun smoke of a hundred battles, this kind of waiting is nothing new.