Nicaragua Day 10

Day 10 July 12^th, 2007:

We went to San Juan Del Sur, a beach town almost two hours away. The whole town is right on the beach. There were tons of boats anchored out in the water and lots of people were swimming. All along the beach were restaurants and little shops. They were all really nice and all open to the water and beach. We stopped at a few to look at the menus and they were a little expensive so we kept going. We found another one right on the beach and ate there. We all had chicken sandwiches with rice and plantains. They all have plantains with everything, like we have French fries or chips. The meal was really good and then we went walking around. Lee and Ak had looked at some property here but had been scared away but some sickness that had been close by. We walked up to where their house would’ve been. A nice view but not anything near the one we have where we are in Gigante. We looked at some surf shops to see if they could buy boards for the kids but everyone only rented. Also, a really cool store with a lot of trinkets and things. They had string hammocks for 300 Corbobas, about 15 dollars…I was going to buy one but then didn’t because I guess we are going to go to a town that has a hammock factory and I’m going to buy one of the chairs there, they are so comfortable and they fold up so small. After walking around San Juan Del Sur for a while, seeing the views, and getting some ice cream we went to go find this beach that everyone surfs at. After a half hour or so drive we got there. It was so big and flat. Surfers were scattered everywhere in the water. We spread out towels and I settled in to read. I actually ended up falling asleep and woke up to Jason saying they found a kitten. It was very true, there was a little skinny kitten sitting on Amy’s towel. Lee had found her in a walk down the beach. She was tiny and hungry but obviously we didn’t have anything for her to eat. We gave her some water because she had been trying to drink out of the ocean and she drank so much! We snuggled her for a while, she tried to eat a cookie she was so hungry. We didn’t really know what we were going to do with her when a woman came up and said they had to take her back to her mom because she hadn’t been letting her eat and they were going to try and help (apparently they worked there or something) so they took her back to her mom.

The rocks on the beach were so cool. I don’t know what they were but I took lots of pictures. Amy and Jason discovered that the holes around the rocks was filled with sand that, if you stood in it, it was like quicksand and you sunk. It felt so cool.

After a lot of time at the beach we headed back to the house. I had finished another book so I had nothing to do the ride back but it was nice to just watch more scenery. We went through some cliffs that were cool, they almost seemed like tunnels because the roads were so narrow. At home the power was out so we swam in the pool and went to bed

Nicaragua Day 9

Day 9 July 11^th, 2007:

Surfing day! Ak woke us up singing a song he made up as he went along to some annoying tune that got stuck in my head. Lee had set up surfing lessons for all of them the day before (I didn’t want to learn to surf). We were supposed to be at the surf camp at nine o’clock to pick up the instructors. We ate breakfast and grabbed all of our stuff. We had to go into Gigante first to get a board from a man named Dale Dagger who I guess has started a big surfing business down here and Costa Rica. I don’t really know exactly. We all went to get that and then headed back up to the surf camp (just where they stayed, the beach was elsewhere). The surf camp I guess is very new, we were their first lessons. When Lee had gone to talk to them they said they only had one instructor and that he didn’t speak English. But when we got there to pick him up there was actually another one as well who spoke English. He was from England. So we had two: one was Jaime and the other Laurie (Lawrence). They had one board and we had the one we’d rented as we headed to the beach. It was a different beach than we had been to already, in Amarillo. I don’t know the name of it because we had to stop before we got where we were supposed to go: to a beach called Colorado. But we had to stop at the one before because I guess there is some land dispute going on and it is dangerous to go on the road because they’ve armed themselves. Obviously we are not part of their dispute but it is better safe than sorry. It is all one big long stretch anyway, separated only by some rocks but apparently it’s two different beaches.

Once we got on the beach Laurie and Jaime sat with everyone in the sand and Laurie explained the concept and how the waves worked; where they broke, why, where you wanted to be on wave, the currents, what to do if you got caught in a rip, etc. He showed them how to paddle out, how to get up, how to stand, everything they needed to know before they actually got out there. Amy and Jason went out first. Watching them paddle out, Laurie helping Jason and Jaime helping Amy, was a funny sight. Each of the instructors had the back of each of their boards, helping to push them past the incoming waves. Once they got out far enough they had to paddle to the tip of a breaking wave and ride in on the white foam, just working on going straight in at first, to get a feel for the board. They would try and stand up and the first couple times they didn’t succeed but they quickly got the hang of it and before long Amy was standing up almost every time. She had the bigger board (better for learning). Jason had a harder time with the smaller board but was still standing more times than not. It was fun to watch. Before Ak and Lee tried we asked them to give us a demonstration and they did. Jaime had the smaller board (which is better for actually surfing, with the turning and such) it was impressive to watch him glide along the wave as the crest turned over into the tube behind him. Laurie was good too although he had the big board so it wasn’t so impressive.

When Ak and Lee tried they were not quite as successful but still appeared to have a lot of fun. I guess they’d tried it in Hawaii and not liked it much but they said they had lots of fun even if their muscles were a little sore and Lee had rash on her chest from either the board or something in the water. The instructors said that they were all much better than they’d expected and they really had enjoyed teaching. After everyone was finishing up there were a couple more surfers walking down our beach to Colorado because the waves are so much bigger there that’s where they all go to surf.

As we drove back up the roads to drop them off and go home we passed a bunch of men with guns. Since we were riding in the bed of the truck it was a little disconcerting. But Jaime yelled to them as we went by, I guess they were friends of his and they didn’t really mean anyone any harm, just to look impressive to the other guys. I don’t really know.

After going back to the house and changing and washing up and everything we headed to Rivas to get food since were completely out. Nothing really interesting happened. I finished another book, I’m reading about one a day now which means I’m running out extremely quickly. I wish I’d brought more. I should’ve brought “Mists of Avalon” I would’ve actually had time to get through the whole thing like I never would have at home. We got a lot of food and a broom and some other small things that we still hadn’t gotten. Ak tried to find somewhere to fax something but the whole city was out of power or phone lines or something. There were a lot of wires down in the street at one place in any case. We headed home, made some dinner and had a lazy night.

Day 8 Nicaragua

Day 8 July 10th, 2007:


Another lazy day. Didn’t leave the house expect to go on the deck. It was a beautiful morning though. From the deck we could see Costa Rica in the distant. I’m too tired to write tonight. We watched movies all day. Barely ate anything since there is no food in the house. Played cards, read and played on the computer. That is literally it. I talked to mum for about half an hour which was nice. I miss home and I still have 15 days left here. I can’t wait to not worry about what I’m eating or to see Teddy or to go back to work…the list goes on. Never thought I’d miss home since I never really have before but I do. I can’t wait to be back.

Day 7 Nicaragua

Day 7 July 9th, 2007:


I did absolutely nothing today. Literally. It was awesome. Amy and I both slept really late (9:30) and then read our books for a while. Everyone else was nowhere around and we didn’t know where they went so we just lazed around. Amy and I did a video tour of the house and a little of the landscape with my camera. It will probably make anyone sick who watches it since I was videotaping but you can see how everything comes together a bit better than with pictures. I made eggs, read some more (finished my book) and played card games and things. I drew a little and organized pictures on the computer. I barely left the house all day. The internet guys are finally here though and they’ve been working on it for hours but since they speak Spanish I really don’t know what’s going on with it. It’s about 7:30 right now and they’ve been here since at least 3 if not before. So the conclusion is that something has to be getting done right? They just say a lot of stuff in Spanish that I don’t understand and point and type. I’m very excited if they get it done though. I can finally put all this up and possibly some pictures depending on the connection. Lee and Amy are doing watercolors and Jason and Ak are watching “2 Fast 2 Furious” because they already watched the first one. I did some sketches earlier and I’ve been on the computer for a while so my hands are kind of hurting. Looking through the canopy tour pictures today was awesome. I wish it hadn’t been rainy because they are all a little blurry but are still really cool.

We are kind of running out of food again because we discovered that there were ants in some of it. It is best to keep everything in the fridge apparently so things don’t go in. But for dinner Lee made rice and beans and fried bananas and it was all delicious. Apples make good snacks around here. That’s pretty much it….we can’t figure out how to get the AC to stop and since it was fairly cool today its really cold in house. I’m in long pjs and a long sleeve shirt and I’m still chilly. Oh- I switched to my own room since Velvet and Isa left. It’s nice to finally but my clothes away. They have these awesome bureaus in the house that take up almost a whole wall but they have a bunch of drawers, a coffee table kind of thing and a closet all together. I want one! Anyway I’m going to go watch the movie because my fingers are cramping and being on the computer with no internet is starting to drive me crazy.

Day 6 Nicaragua

Day 6 July 8th, 2007:


Up at about 9:30 with Jason saying “Get up Get up Get up!” We had to be checked out by 11 am but Lee was going to do something with Ak so Jason, Amy and I went to the café to get some breakfast and then the park and got more jewelry and things until we had to be back. After we all met back there and checked out. They all talked about what the rest of the day’s plan was (I was ignoring them because I just do what they do anyway) Amy and I wanted Lee to see all the jewelry and things so we took her back to the park well Ak used an internet café for bit. Everyone bought at least another little thing and then we were on our way. Velvet and Isa had left that morning so I actually sat in the cab of the truck for the first time and realized how much more comfortable that is. I guess we were going to Masetape to go on a Canopy tour. But we stopped at two other towns on the way to look at things. See there is this group of towns…each one specializing in one craft. We stopped at the pottery one and the furniture one so they could get ideas for the house. In the pottery one we saw some of the most intricate things I have ever seen! Jenn’s work looks like child’s play compared to these. And they have piles and piles of it, most of it in the families’ houses which are just open for people to come and go as they please. In the furniture one everything was beautiful. We stopped at a lot of them but I stayed in the truck and read after the first couple because they are all very similar. A lot have whicker but other things as well. I couldn’t tell you what kinds of wood it is because they don’t have any trees I recognize. They have some that look like beech but I don’t think they are and honestly I would have no idea what beech wood would look like in a chair. But the whole town is full of carpenters and they are so talented. It’s a skill that is passed down from generation to generation and it really shows. They have so many rocking chairs. That’s what everyone pretty much does in the evenings…they sit out on the street, usually a lot of the family, and drink and talk. Ak and Lee didn’t buy anything but I think they got some ideas of what they would get.

So we headed to Masetape to go on the canopy tour. You may be wondering what that is… well…ever seen those pictures in brochures of people zooming through trees on cables? Yea…that’s what a Canopy tour is. I was wicked scared at the idea but of course did not say that. Once we got there, there was this big group of Nicaraguans, it looked like a big high school group playing some game but we couldn’t figure out what it was. Lee talked to the woman at the information desk and then we waited in a bamboo hut thing for a truck to come down the Volcano to get us. We got ice cream from a guy with a little cart, things they have everywhere here. But they are all the same brand (Eskimo) and are fine to eat because they are all packaged and everything.

At the top of the Volcano (we couldn’t tell it was one but that’s what Lee said) there was another small building with all the harnesses hanging from poles. Looking up into the trees we could see a few cables and the platform in a tree. As we looked up we could see people slide into the platform on the cables. They seemed to work there, they were very comfortable swinging from tree to tree. As we got strapped into the harnesses and started climbing up the stairs to the platform in the tree I watched the ground get further and further away and the knots in my stomach get tighter and tighter. Standing more than 30 ft in the air attached by nothing but a carabineer is a bit of a thrill. I watched as Jason, then Amy, then Akhil got hooked onto the cable by a pulley and sped away into the canopy. Lee was behind my wondering why on earth she’d said she’d do this again (I guess they’d all done it in Costa Rica) but as I got hooked on I stopped thinking about that and started thinking about the long way it was down and how fast they all looked like they’d be going. As I stepped off the platform I was expecting my stomach to drop but it really wasn’t bad. We had glove to grab the cable to brake and there are guys at either end to show you and catch you. Lee and Ak did not like it the first couple trees and I think Lee was scared the whole time but the rest of us got used to it after a couple. It was all above a coffee farm and the trees were phenomenal! One of them was over 350 years old. The branches coming out the top were bigger than a lot of trees we have at home. After we got through all fifteen platforms and Jason and Amy had finished doing crazy things like upside down and no handed we all got down and went back to the bottom. It was such a fun thing to do even if it was a little wet and rainy. We got lots of good pictures and the guys took videos with Lee’s camera.

After everything we finally headed back to the house. I couldn’t wait to get back and relax, and sleep. Which I what I am going to do in a minute.

Oh- and Jason found a scorpion in one of the chairs in our house. They’re really look cool in real life. The annoying gecko keeps making the annoying chirping noises though. Night.

Day 5 Nicaragua

Day 5 July 7th, 2007:

Ak wakes Amy and me up in the morning and says to pack for one night because we are leaving for Grenada in twenty minutes. Grenada is a bigger city further past Rivas. It’s about an hour and half, maybe two hours away from our house in Gigante. We packed our things and all of us got in the truck again. We were going there because I guess Ak didn’t want to drive Velvet and Isa back to the airport in Managua because it is such a long drive. So from Granada she could get a ride from her hotel. Also it’s just a really cool city. We stopped in Rivas to eat lunch. It was nice restaurant next to one called “Chop Suey” but we didn’t know what the one we were eating in was called. Lee and I had “chicken fajitas” which were actually just pieces of fried chicken. It was really good tho, very well cooked but moist and good inside. Everything comes with rice and it looks like just plain white rice but it tastes awesome! Salty with some spices that we can’t really pick out but its good in any case. After lunch we kept heading to Grenada. It was fun to see more of the country, although a lot of it looks similar. I have no idea how Ak figures out where he is going most of the time because they hardly look at a map. Grenada is such an awesome city though! It’s huge. Well that’s a relative term since Boston has 4 million people and this whole country has 5 million but all the streets are narrow. However, behind all the tall walls there are courtyards with gorgeous pools and things. We dropped Velvet at her hotel. The Hotel Colonial, Grenada (fancy and gorgeous) then headed to where Ak and Lee had stayed before, The Oasis. From the street it was just a blue concrete wall in a street of concrete walls. But inside….it was a room surrounding an open (to the sky) center, with palm trees and other plants. Hammocks hung between all the beams and chairs sat along the edges. Through a small hallway (with computers!!) there was another similar room except there was a pool in the middle instead of plants and things. Our room was pretty small for having two double beds in it but it was nice enough. Ak and Lee’s room smelled gross a dead mouse or something was rotting but they removed it and sprayed something. After using the internet for a few quick minutes we were going to head out on a boat tour of some sort. So we went to go get Velvet and Isa from their hotel (about a couple blocks or so away). When Ak looked around her hotel though he immediately wanted to switch. So we checked in to that one and went back to the other to grab our stuff. In the new hotel we had so much more room, a small balcony, a beautiful shower and a TV. Jason, Amy and I were in one room and Ak and Lee in another. The hotel was right by the park and people were selling all kinds of things in it. Amy and I kind of wanted to relax so everyone else went on the boat ride and we stayed behind and looked around the city and the park a bit. We got some beautiful jewelry in the park for very cheap compared to home. And it’s all hand made! We also got some gelato from the café next to our hotel (all in Spanish mind you) and went back to read and relax. We’ve been reading so much this trip I forgot how much I loved being pulled into a good book. I’m almost done with my second one. Anyway…when they all came back we went down to the bar to have appetizers before going to dinner. We had a little pizza and some drinks (not so good pina coladas). Lee picked a restaurant from her book (her constant companion) called “The Bearded Monkey” but we couldn’t find it and ended up finding this incredible street lined with lampposts on either side down the center and all restaurants on the sides. We ended up eating a place called “Pasta! Pasta!” which, obviously was Italian. I had a watermelon fruit drink which was literally watermelon and water put in a blender and it was the most refreshing thing I have ever had. Amy and I both had penne with pesto and it was so much stronger than most people make it at home. Lee thought it was because it was fresh, I think its just that they put more basil and less of everything else including oil. Then we walked back to the hotel, past the huge church where there was a wedding going on that we could see into. We had a swim in one of the pools (there are two in the hotel) and then went to bed in our nice, air conditioned rooms. The beds were perfect. Firm just how I like. Amy and I shared one and Jason had his own. We read for a while and Jason watched TV in Spanish (very weird to see movies you know in Spanish) but eventually we all fell asleep.

Day 4 Nicaragua

Day 4 July 6th, 2007:

Waking up for once without Isa’s yelling is quite pleasant. It was about 7:30 and the light was shining in the window. In the rest of the house the only person I could see was Velvet and Isa. She said that Ak was checking on the house, Jason was showing Lee a cave at the beach, and Amy was still sleeping. She also said that ever since Isa had been up she’d been asking if she could “go get Brie up to paint” which is adorable. Shortly after that the power went out. I guess it goes out all the time here because there is not enough in the country so they turn it off and on to distribute it. Usually it’s only out for a little while at a time so we didn’t think much of it. Lee was cooking breakfast so I offered to help and when she declined I picked up my book and started reading. I ended up being glued to it for most of the day. Amy and I decided to go down to the beach for a while to read and swim a little. Also to escape Isa a little bit. She’s very persistent once you do something once. We alternately swam and read for about two hours or so until we headed back up. The walk back is really going to get all of us in shape! It’s all up steep hills or stairs and it’s pretty long. Back at the house Amy and I were pretty glued to our books so we retreated to our room and read for a while. I was almost done when Lee said lunch was ready. I kept asking if she needed help but she always said she had it. We all ate together and we went back to reading as everyone kind of did their own thing for a while. I found out that Ak had been waiting for the contractor all day. First he was supposed to be there yesterday, then 7 this morning, then 8 this morning…etc. It was really a lazy day. In the evening after dinner we all went back down to the beach in the dark to start the fire in the pit Jason and Ak had made. We invited the neighbors and they came down too. Back at the house the power was finally back on. And I got in the shower (there’s no hot water so it’s really not that pleasant). Now I am writing this as Jason and Amy watch White Chicks in the background. Night.