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.

Day 3 Nicaragua

Day 3 July 5th, 2007:

Waking up, once again to Isa screaming. This time she was actually screaming tho, she was in pain. She was yelling for her mom even tho she was right there. I guess she had a sinus headache, she had a fever and kept saying her nose and head hurt. She’s just so cute it was so hard to watch. Akhil was frustrated with her but even I found it hard to be because she’s just so good the rest of the time.

Once again checking if the internet worked and finding that it didn’t I went out to the deck with everyone. As I watched the ocean from the deck I thought about home and how I haven’t talked to anyone in days. Its so weird to have absolutely no communication. I guess that’s partly why I’m writing this, to feel like I’m telling someone how everything is going. Even if no one reads it I will be glad to have a detailed account of what I did so I will not forget anything. Pictures are great but they can only show so much. And don’t show everything we did in the day. Taking them around people just makes me feel more touristy and makes more people look at us even more.

Anyway, after checking the stupid internet Lee was making breakfast: eggs, and potatoes. I offered to help and ended up cooking eggs. As we were finishing the cooking the cleaning ladies showed up so we all decided to go down the beach to get out of their way. As we headed down I looked at how beautiful it was all over again. There are aloe plants everywhere down here, fitting for all the sunburns I suppose. At beach I laid in the sun for a while to heat up while everyone else went in search of cool rocks. As I laid on the towel in the sun sweat was dripping down my face and back. When it just got to hot I ran into the cool ocean. The most refreshing feeling ever. Amy joined me and soon everyone else did. We swam for hours, again. Then I moved my towel into the shade (relative term since the heat is awesome) and read my book for a while. The walk back up the steep path made my leg and butt muscles burn. I passed our neighbors, whose names I cannot remember at the moment. They are really nice though, they offered us their pool anytime we wanted since theirs is big and ours was obviously not done. They live in Reno but are trying to live here as much as possible. Back up at the house we all relaxed for a while. I wrote, Lee and Amy painted, Velvet and Isa read a book, and Ak and Jason did something with a rock and a hammer. I think they were trying to get a fossil out of a bigger rock.

After a few hours of relaxing everyone piled in the truck again to go to Rivas, the nearest town with grocery stores and things. Amy, Lee and I were in the bed of the truck again. My butt will be so sore by the end of this trip. Rivas is about 45 minutes from the house and it’s over bumpy roads. We picked up a woman and her two kids on the way down, they were walking from close to were we live all the way to Tola which is probably three or four miles. They all walk everywhere down here. She had a son and a daughter; 5 and 8 years old. They were adorable. We dropped them off at their home, about a third of the way to where we were going. We continued on to Rivas. We ate at a place called “Pizza Hot” which actually had really good pizza. Then we got a lot of groceries at the same store we’d stopped at on the first day. About 1600 cordobas worth. There are 18 cordobas in a dollar so it wasn’t even a hundred dollars and we had more than a whole shopping cart full. By time we were ready to leave again it was almost dark. Climbing, once again into the bed of the truck, this time with all the groceries we headed off. Looking up into the sky every star is clearly visible. The big dipper is turned so it is vertical, I almost didn’t recognize it. Wishing I knew more constellations I stare at them, as if transfixed. There are so many and I know that there are so many patterns in them if only I could recognize them.

Back at the house we unloaded the groceries. It was strangely satisfying to be able to fill the cupboards with something other than a few measly pots and some salt that we had borrowed from the neighbors. With everything put away Lee and Amy settled into a game of Gin Rummy, Jason and Ak went to the beach, Velvet and Isa coloring, and me typing as usual. About ten minutes or so went by before little Isa came over to me and, in such a whisper I could barely hear her says “would you like to come paint with me?” Now, this girl was extremely shy towards me this whole trip and would barely say a couple words to me and here she was staring up at me with what I can only describe as puppy eyes, it is impossible to say no. When I went over to “paint” with her I discovered that her “paint” actually meant color. Velvet explained that, in Guatemala the word “pintar”, to paint, is used for coloring and painting and the only way they differentiate is by saying the tool that they are going to use. Coloring with her for a while was adorable. Velvet got her to eat her medicine so we would not all be up all night with her screaming but she did not want to go to bed, she wanted to “paint with Brie” but I told her I was tired too and it was my bed time. She asked her mom if it was “ok if I put Brie to bed” and, of course Velvet said yes so Isa spent the next few minutes tucking me into my bed and kissing me goodnight. Possibly the cutest thing I have ever seem in my life. A four year old tucking in a seventeen year old. As she went into her room to go to bed she ran back to me one last time, hugged me and said “goodnight”.

After Isa was in bed I went out and joined Lee and Amy playing Rummy. It is quite fun! I’d never played before. Shortly everyone went to bed and I am now sitting up in the dark writing this and watching Alias. I’m going to bed now too. The gecko that stays in the house makes it a little hard to sleep though. He makes clicking noises that sound more like metal knocking together than any animal. They are adorable though, they climb all over the ceiling. Night.

Day 2 Nicaragua

Day 2 July 4th, 2007:

Waking up to Isa’s yelling and running around was the beginning. I don’t even know what time it was. The light was beautiful though: sun shining, a light breeze rustling the trees. Walking out of the bedroom I share with Jason and Amy the house was quiet, everyone was out on the deck. Amy with a book, Lee and Velvet talking while Isa and Jason were looking at something by the pool, Akhil no where in sight. Taking a closer look around I noticed the dozens of crabs crawling everywhere. They are black with purple claws and orange or yellow legs. All sizes but the same kind. They are everywhere and always moving. If you stand and listen to the woods you can hear them moving around on the ground. Even the bigger ones fit in the smallest little holes, like in the side of the stone walls there will be a little crease that they just slip into. They made me jump though because they sit still until you go near them and when I wasn’t paying attention it was like random things start moving around my feet. The first look around in the daylight was gorgeous! Standing on the driveway above the house we could see the beach. The waves crashed on the rocks that are on the far side. To the left we could a few of the other houses. The landscaping is phenomenal. I laughed because planted in the garden are a lot of the tropical plants we sell at work. Everything is so well maintained by the people that work in the little community (Arenas Bay, Tola).

Finding whatever we could to eat (only what we found at the supermarket the day before) we ate a little breakfast and decided to head to the beach. Walking down the road my hips were screaming from absorbing the shock from the incline. Down the concrete road, onto the pathway that leads to the beach. The pathways are all stones laid in concrete, they’re beautiful but bumpy. Very easy to trip. It was all downhill all the way to the beach which is nice, until you come back up. As we went down further there were hermit crabs everywhere. It looks like the ground is moving sometimes. At the beach there is what can only be described as a hut. It’s roofed with palm leaves and has a floor that is like a deck. It was open and looks right out onto the beach. Large rocks on the left of it, waves crashing against them, creating white spray each time. To the right is the beach, the smooth, dark sand stretching between the hills and cliffs. The blue, almost green ocean rocking gently up to the shore where the small waves rolled into tubes and became white and bubbly, like boiling potatoes. Walking along the beach my toes burning in the hot sand, my back warmed by the beating sun. Standing at the edge of the water the tide washes gently over the tops of my feet, revealing how much warmer the water is here. Walking further in is cooling but not near cold, couldn’t be more perfect. Everyone swam for…I don’t even know how long, hours at least. As we walked back up we stopped at Ak and Lee’s house to see how everything was going. We didn’t know why but there was almost no one there, one guy working on roof tiles. The house was beautiful in the daylight though. Two stories, wrap around deck on both floors, the downstairs very open. The kitchen counters topped with marble. The deck partially 12” x 12” cream-colored tiles. Upstairs there is at least one bathroom, two big bedrooms, even incomplete it was gorgeous.

Back at the house we were all ready for lunch, we were going to go into town and eat at a restaurant. Akhil wanted to walk so we all headed down. About five minutes in Lee thought that it would be better to grab the truck in case people didn’t want to walk back after. Amy, Lee and I went back and got it and our suits because there was a beach down there. Amy and I climbed in the bed of the truck, once again, and headed down.

When we got down there I didn’t even realize it was a town, it was a few buildings with some nets everywhere (it’s a fishing village). As Lee parked the truck and we all got out I could see the pigs and chickens roaming around the street. I could hear the ocean crashing on the beach but it was below eye level. The restaurant we were going to eat in was actually some woman’s house too. Ak poked his head in and shouted “Hola” but no one answered and it sounded like someone was in the shower in the back. We walked down the street a little more to see if we could find another restaurant to eat at but there wasn’t one so we headed back to that one. We passed a monkey on a leash. He was tied to a tree but climbing on the side of the building next to it. He kept looking at us with those tiny little black eyes. The dogs that are everywhere seemed to leave him alone although they were always getting into fights with each other. Walking back up the street (a dirt path through the houses) we saw all the animals and once again got stared at. Back at the restaurant (about fifteen, maybe twenty minutes later) we still couldn’t find anyone but whoever it was, was still in the shower. Ak explained that they had just got running water, the man who built the development we are living in put water in for the whole town. They’re still getting used to the luxury. Finally a woman came out of the back. She looked fairly old. She was wearing a bright yellow apron and had spaces and metal where her teeth were supposed to be. They were all very crooked. Lee and Velvet (who speaks fluent Spanish) asked if we could get lunch and what there was. She replied “Pollo o Pescada”…chicken or fish. Everyone but Velvet got chicken. I expected to just eat the rice and beans that it came with. As we sat and waited someone was outside with a loudspeaker saying something in Spanish. We went out to look and realized that it was a truck with fresh food. Fruits, vegetables, fresh chicken…Akhil went to buy things. He bought potatoes, chicken, butter, onions, some squash-type things and some other stuff for the next day or so. The woman who was cooking our food ran out and bought chicken, the chicken we were about to eat it turned out. This made me even more weary of eating it. We waited for a while and then she came out with big plates of food for each of us. The chicken smelled delicious! There was chicken, a bowl of beans, a lot of rice, fried plantains and a bowl with tomatoes, peppers, and onions in it. It looked amazing. Knowing that I couldn’t eat tomatoes because of the water thing was annoying since they looked amazing. So I figured I’d try the chicken just so I could say I did. Hands down, it was the best chicken I’ve ever tasted. All white meat in some seasoning that was incredible. It was salty and almost spicy and…I can’t explain it. Anyway I ate the whole thing and everything else but the tomatoes. We’d had plantains in the airport that were gross so I was weary about trying these but they were fried and they looked better so I tried them. They were good, kind of tasteless but not bad. We were drinking orange Fanta which, down here is made with all real sugar instead of corn syrup and it is so much better. Jason had Fresca which is amazing when its not fake sugar like we have. For seven of us to eat these huge meals was about $35 dollars, which is outrageously expensive for them but is only $5 per person. Jason, Amy and I headed to the beach before everyone else. This beach was much bigger and had much bigger waves. There are a lot of their house along it and all their boats are up on the beach, they take the motors off so people won’t steal them but theft doesn’t seem to be a big thing down here. Everyone’s houses are open, the few cars that are in the smaller towns are just sitting.

Down at the beach Amy and I say we’re just going to wade because we didn’t have our suits on and it’s so much of a hassle to try and find somewhere to change. We end up getting soaked by waves and going swimming in our clothes anyway. As we swam we saw a bunch of pelicans fishing. They are huge.

Back up at the house I took a nap and woke up a couple hours later, went in the pool and wrote some in this journal. All of us then watched a movie on the TV. Something called “Brassed Out” I watched about fifteen minutes of it before I gave up on it. I was tired so I headed to bed. Isa however, had other ideas. She was screaming and crying for about twenty minutes before I got up to see what was going on. I guess she felt sick, poor little girl! I put some headphones and my ipod on and went to sleep.

Day 1 Nicaragua

Day 1 July 3rd, 2007:



Wake up: 2:30 AM after two hours of sleep and previously way too many hours of packing. Actually, more like throwing everything I own into a suitcase and trying to make it weigh under 50 lbs. Not an easy task I’ll tell you. Lee and Akhil rumble up to the garage in the red Durango and step out to get me. As Lee jogs down the walkway I come out the front door dragging behind me my two suitcases (Almost a hundred pounds of luggage), my backpack and purse. Akhil opens the trunk to expose that we have nowhere to put my luggage and we still have to pick up Toni. The back of the car is filled to bursting with suitcases, backpacks and other travel equipment. In a rush, Akhil tells Amy to sit on Lee’s lap in the front and puts my suitcase (about a 2’ x 3’ by 1’) into the seat next to Jason. Along with my other, only slightly smaller one on top.

Quickly hugging Mum I realize I’ve forgotten my cell phone. It won’t work down there but it still is a calendar, alarm, calculator and other useful things. Sprinting back to the house to grab it off my bed I realize I have not said bye to the dogs but I don’t have time so patting both of them gently on the head as I run by will have to do. Silently cursing the fact that cats are always so god damn hard to find, I keep running. Once again rapidly hugging my mom saying “I love you, I’ll see you in three weeks” I squeeze in next to Jason. We pull away, off to get Toni. Akhil remarks that we are right on time and talking about the time it takes to get to the airport from Peterborough vs. Harrisville. I zone out. Watching Windy Row pass by and suddenly realizing how long three weeks is. I hope I love it down there.

At Toni & Jay’s Akhil has to wake Toni up because her clock was an hour slow. I’ve never seen someone get out of the house in five minutes at 3 o’clock in the morning. She was already smiling and full of energy. She never ceases to amaze me, It was like she’d been awake for hours and it was just a normal day. Being told that she had to sit on my lap in the back all she had to say was “Yippee!”, a typical Toni Garland remark.

The drive to the Manchester airport was long and I don’t
remember most of it but when we got there it was quite a chore getting everything out and checked in. Between the five of us we had ten huge bags to check and then all our carry on. However, none of them could weigh over 50 lbs. or they charge you up the ass. So switching some stuff to different bags right there at the desk must have been quite a sight. The check in lady was very prissy and kept saying “We have to get these done” and stuff like that. Akhil was getting annoyed because he didn’t like using the check-in machine, he wanted a person to do it. But we got everything checked and headed to the gate. Getting through security took a little while because Ak had Jason carrying a UPS (some surge protector thing) which they had to test and look at and everything.

The flight to Atlanta, GA was about three hours and we got there early (at about 8:30 in the morning). The flight attendants were both blonde bells from Texas and Akhil loved that they called him “Darlin’”. It was a small plane and we were almost all the way in the back but we each had entire seats to ourselves so we could lie down. It felt later than it was when we got into Atlanta. Our flight to Managua, Nicaragua wasn’t until 10:15 so we walked around a bit, got some pizza and waited.

From Atlanta to Managua was about a four and a half hour flight. The movie was interesting….kinda Sci-Fi. I don’t know but the first sight of the coast was gorgeous. We could see the tan line of the beach outlining the lush green interior. Mountains came into view as we flew further into the country. Lake Managua, the murky expanse of water almost in the center of the country came into sight as we began to descend, almost as if we were going into the lake. Some little girls screamed as the plane hit an air pocket and dropped slightly but very suddenly. We laughed. Filling out the last minute immigration forms as more and more details on the ground came into focus. Landing in the tiny Managuan airport we could immediately see how much greenery and life surrounded us. Getting passports stamped, paying five dollars each to get into the country and getting our luggage didn’t take long. We expected for customs to take a while but all they did was look to see that our luggage was really ours and look at our passports. Very security conscious country it appears. As we got out of the doors separating the gate from the rest of the airport about ten Nicaraguan men in blue shirts descended on us to take our bags. Blue shirts with red circles on the back with “Claro!” we had no idea who they were. Lee later explained that we had to give them tips which Akhil was not happy about because he did not have a choice, they had just grabbed the bags. They would not take Lee’s dollar though because it had some blue stains on it. She really can speak Spanish well!

After what seemed like hours of waiting around having everyone stare at us, the only white people anywhere around, Ak had rented us a truck. We had to wait until 2:30 for Lee’s friend Velvet and her daughter Isabel to arrive on another plane. We went to what was kind of like a mall food court but smaller. We ate at a “Restaurante de Carne” and ate a tortilla kind of thing with rice and a tiny bit of beef inside. It was delicious. Velvet and Isabel got there but Velvet had to get her passport back from Immigration because they live in Guatemala and she only had Guatemalan money which they did not like. After everything we finally got the truck, a little Ford Ranger that sounded like an F250. All the trucks down here are little and almost every single one is a Toyota. The biggest one I’ve seen is a Dodge Ram and there has only been one. All of our luggage went in the bed, along with Jason, Amy and me. Down here everyone rides in the backs of the pickups. It wasn’t very comfortable but we managed. It was about an hour and a half ride to El Pie del Gigante but it felt like four or five hours. Along the way we saw a lot of what the country is like. It’s so poverty stricken it’s hard to believe. There were a lot of men at one point next to a huge pile of scrap metal. And by huge I mean bigger than a small house at home. They were throwing stuff into trucks to be taken away to some unknown location. There are no buildings like anything you’d see at home. Everything is made with gate type things and looks like it will fall down in a minute. Nothing is over a couple rooms and nothing is over one story. There are people always just standing around. It’s like nothing you will ever see at home. They all stare at us like the foreigners we are. I’ve never felt so white or out of place. There are horses pulling carts and it is painful to look at. They are all bone, look dead tired, sweaty and sore. There aren’t that many but still it is hard to see. You also see some just on the side of the road eating grass and things but you can see all their ribs, their hip bones protrude…its horrible. Also, none of them are over fifteen hands, they are all very little and I have no idea what breed they are. We pass things like a whole community of black plastic tent houses. These are what a lot of people live in. But the roads were surprisingly good: paved and smooth for the majority. Akhil stops at a little stand and buys fresh fruit. There are men in the middle of the road selling things too and we bought some bread at one point. We passed lots of field with…I want to say water buffalo but I’m actually not sure what they’re called (they’re the things that The Heifer Project like to give because they are very easy to take care of and produce a lot). The last place we stopped was in some town. It was a grocery store where we got some food for dinner and breakfast. There wasn’t much there. We got some pasta, cereal, toilet paper, coffee….things like that. Passing the meat counter made me feel ill. All the meats looked gray and the smell was awful. Amazed that the line was so long with such a smell, I walked by. Amy and I used the bathroom which was up some stairs and was gross and there was no toilet paper, not even a toilet paper holder. No one uses it down here because their septic system does not take it, well the ones that have septic systems.

Back in the truck the darkness was beginning to fall over everything. Lighting was splitting the sky in the distance as I watched the road disappear behind us. The roads got worse as we got further away from the capital and more into the woods. Getting damp from the slight drizzle as Ak sped over the dirt roads that meant we were getting closer to the house. For what felt like even more hours we went up windy, bumpy roads until we finally got near where we were staying. We then found out that we were staying in house #20, not our house. Not knowing whether it was just for a night well they finished touches on the house or if it was for the whole time, we drove up the steep driveway and parked. A man named Carlos met us there and showed down the stone steps, past the dark blue tiled pool, onto the wrap around deck and into the house.

Interested in why we were not staying in our house we decided to walk the short distance down the steps to where it was. It was not even close to done. No doors, floors still unfinished, wires hanging from the ceiling, and many other things. Ak and Lee seemed to take it well considering the fact that they said it looked the same as it did before. But Akhil talked to a man named Alex who was doing the kitchen cabinets and everything seemed to be okay. As we headed back to the house my legs were burning from the incline. I was ready to go to bed even though it was still early their time (2 hours behind) but we had four beds and seven people so Alex said he would bring up some of the mattresses (one of the few things that was actually in the house) in his truck so well we waited for those we swam in the little pool and looked around the house. The color that the wood is stained is gorgeous it’s a dark reddish, I’m not sure what the name is. It’s dark outside but I could hear how close the ocean was. Standing on the deck I could almost see the dark blue waves crashing against the rocks on the beach.

A man was inside the house with a laptop who we later found out was trying to hook up the internet. Unfortunately it didn’t work, something with the connection between the tower and the hookup here. When the mattresses arrived I decided to go to bed. The AC was on so it was quite comfortable inside but it really wasn’t that hot out, just humid.