The Beach

We fared better our second day on the Island.  The power returned and we were able to turn on our fan, and we had water intermittently throughout the day.  Over a breakfast of exotic fruits and passion fruit juice, the Italian ladies, who were anxious to help us, recommended we go kayaking by the lake.  They were heading toward town anyway, so they drove us to a little tiny restaurant and boat rental place we never would have found on our own and we were set.   As you may be gathering by now, I’m cautious by nature, so when I kayak I hug the shore to the extent that little children wading in the water often reach out and touch my boat as I go by.  The beauty of the morning overtook me that day, and throwing caution to the wind, I went to where the water was easily six feet deep and got an incredible view of the mountains and palm trees in the distance.  

 Sam and I took turns paddling further and further out and it was a wonderful morning. 

Not having a jam packed schedule, and not knowing where else to go, we stayed at the little restaurant on the beach all day.   

Sam sitting on the beach

We immersed ourselves in the local culture.  I had the most unique ham sandwich I’ve ever had.  You could easily try this recipe at home.  It’s three hot dog buns, chili sauce, one piece of processed ham, and several chunks of cheese.  You can just follow the picture:

We drank cold cokes and cold water (yay!) and watched the locals who came to the lake to swim, do laundry, wash their cars and generally hang out.   There were also a lot of equine visitors to the lake. 

According to a kid we met who spoke English, it is “vacation time” for the horses who run wild for several months when they are not needed for farm production.  We also saw a lot of pigs, cows and chickens which was pretty fun.  

We went back to the ranch for siesta and to read until dinner, which was a repeat of the night before: same buzzed pirate, same pirate stories, same amazing food. This made me realize on a deeper level something I have always known; the hospitality and love put into incredible food can cover over the awkwardness of a drunk pirate any day.

Island Life

Ahora!  The cute days of stopping in at the local little restaurants for coffee and holding hands on the cobblestone streets of Granada has passed and now we undertake a far more serious adventure:  Isla de Ometepe.  Described as “a fantasy island” in our guidebook, this island with two volcanoes is known its beauty, wildlife and having the only freshwater shark on the planet.   All well and good.  When I booked our trip I didn’t have a lot of time (you know Sam and I can’t be bothered with planning vacations in advance!), so I just picked the most popular thing listed to do on trip advisor and found rooms.  The most popular thing to do in Ometepe at the moment is to stay on a horse farm, so did it matter to me that neither of us ride worth anything?  No friends, it did not.  

We left Granada by taxi and had a beautiful ride with our driver pointing out the different crops that were growing: sugar cane, bananas, etc.  

I call this "Banana Trees from a Car Window"

Then we took a ferry to the island.   

A view of one of the volcanoes from the ferry

We got listen to the entire music video collection spanning several decades of one popular singer all the way out, and we got some yummy sport cola.  We were happy campers.

 

 The taxi from where the ferry landed to our horse ranch took another hour and a half.  This is where I started to get a little concerned.  At first it was fine.  We got to share the road with a herd of cows (which wasn’t a new thrill for me, since driving out near Fairfield in Idaho I often run into a herd of cows) and that made me feel at home.   

Then we took a turn and entered, truly, the worst rode I have ever been on, including some roads that cross rivers in the Sawtooths.  I said to myself, hmmm, this must be kind of remote…

An even stretch of road where I am able to take a picture

The road just kept going and going, and the further we went, the less we saw of anything like a town.  Then we got to our farm (which we will from now on refer to as the finca, since I’m working on my Spanish skills, which are quite comparable to my horse riding skills).  

A surprise awaited me at the finca, but to really understand, I must back up a little in my story.  When I booked reservations, I looked first at the pictures other travelers had taken and put up on trip advisor.  Amongst them was a picture of a friendly looking Nicaraguan man riding a horse, which I assumed was the owner of the operation.  Another was a picture of a pirate/carnival worker who I assumed was a slightly terrifying guest.  I bet you (being a reader of mysteries like myself) have already jumped ahead of me and figured this out.  That’s right, the pirate/carnival worker wasn’t actually just passing through…he was in charge.  

Our pirate here portrayed by Tom Hanks in Castaway

This just goes to show you how easy it is to believe what you want to believe.  When the cold hard truth faced me, I (being a world traveler) thought,  I want my mommy and I want to go home. Then he told us there was no power.  In fairness to him and the two ladies who worked with him, they offered to give us a discount on our room or to find another place for us to stay considering the inconvenience.  And everything around us was beautiful-the finca, our rooms, the views of both volcanoes.  So we decided to stay.  Still, a cloud of uneasiness fell over me as all the Lost episodes I ever watched began to churn around unhelpfully in the back of my brain.   

Later in the day the finca also lost water, but we were committed at that point, so we put a brave face on it and marched on.  

Sam gazes at the volcano and wonders about the days that lie ahead...

 Our first adventure was to go down the hill and find something for lunch.  Like little Dickens characters we went door to door asking for food at the homes of several unsuspecting Nicaraguans until we found a place that was actually a restaurant (again, walk a mile in our flip flops before you judge our restaurant spotting skills—it is harder than you think!).   We walked down to the lake and sat by the water before heading back to our room.  That first day was a little bit hard.  We were still in shock and to get through we read to each other by Kindle light (I know, that was terrible) until dinner time.  Dinner was ridiculously good.  While our pirate seemed to have had a bottle of rum before we got there, the food was absolutely wonderful and chatting with the Italian woman who made it (and who was the warmest of our hosts) made me sleep a little more easy under my mosquito net.

Good Friday II

I left you right at nap time on Good Friday.  After a little four hour snooze (don’t judge, we’re on vacation!) Sam said that we had to go outside and move around.  I wasn’t so sure.  The heat turned me into a jello version of myself and I protested.  For my own good, Sam rolled  me out the door anyway. The air smelled like incense and outside the church a huge crowd was gathered for a Good Friday service.  We watched that for a while and took pictures of the people at the front who were taking pictures of whatever was really happening.

We weren’t sure what to do next, so we followed the crowd.  All the Central American tourists were lined up to ride a tractor decorated with Christmas lights that was blasted out songs people seemed to know all the words to.  We got ourselves a Fanta Roja (red is Sam’s new favorite flavor) and got in line.  Let me tell you, getting on this tractor was no small feat. 

The crowd surged forward as soon as the tractor came to a stop and people were pushing to get on and pushing to get off.  Sam and I had to step on some little kids to get a seat in the front row (just kidding, we rarely step on kids!).    

This is me on the train.  I tried to make friends with the little girl sitting next to me, but she was having none of it.  She knew I was far too tall to be safe.  She kept a suspicious eye on me the whole trip.

As it turned out, all the trouble we had starting out Good Friday seemed to have reversed itself and every adventure we undertook went well in the evening.  For instance, normally sitting on top of a gigantic speaker would be my worst nightmare (from the woman who always has ear plugs on hand in case decibels get to dangerous levels).  But as luck would have it, the speakers weren’t working and instead Sam and I got an acrobatic show as two young men switched out speakers, rewired the thing, and tried all number of dangerous repairs, all while the tractor was in motion.  It was definitely worth the fifty cent admission.

Our next stop was at a kiosk in the square which Sam had been wanting to try since we got to Granada.  

Sam slightly wistful that his beans and rice were over so soon

It was wonderful, and we were serenaded (for a small fee) by these people who sang the Nicaraguan national anthem to us:

Just as we were heading home, the magic really happened.  At last the Good Friday parade was heading right for us, and it was worth the wait.

I also have extensive video footage upon request

Good Friday

I may have mentioned to you before that it is kind of hot here.  Last night, Sam and I had a hilariously bad sleep experience.  Our sheets seemed to have this will to not be on the bed and every time either of us moved an inch we found ourselves in direct contact with the mattress.  It was too hot to sleep and we kept getting up, adjusting the sheets and spraying ourselves with more bug spray.  Oh the romance!  In the end, the solution we came to was to sleep with our faces about five inches from the fan, upside down on the bed.  As a result we were able to sleep for several minutes at a time.

These are new sheets, we are hoping for the best

We woke up to the sound of a tuba and drums on the street.  It was the Good Friday parade!  Every time we went outside we had just missed it.  Here is a picture of one of the times we missed it.

If you squint you can see Jesus in the distance

After that, we hired an Abuela (I'm not exactly sure whose grandma she was) to teach us how to make a traditional Nicaraguan meal of tamales and rice and beans.  This experience brings a smile to my face even as I write about it.  First off we went to the market to buy ingredients.  This is the market.

While I know that you guys are jealous of all these adventures, let me assure you that there are benefits to seeing the pictorial version of the market.  In person, the piles of raw chicken and fish and the crowds of people can be almost too rich of a cultural experience.  I get overwhelmed on the strip in Nashville, so a very narrow walkway through big crowds in foreign lands is challenging for this chica.

This picture was not taken from the top of a hill.  I'm just a giantess.

Unfortunately for us there were no banana leaves to be had (blame it on Easter) and so the tamales were a no go.  The beans and rice just plain got lost in translation--I'm still not sure what happened to them.  In the end, we went with the traditional yucca, salad and pork skins dinner.  I knew when I heard "chicharrón" it struck a bad chord with me, but I didn't know why until it was too late.  I think that our cooking team must truly have thought we were crazy that we hired them so we could watch them boil yucca, cut up tomatoes and cabbage, and put pig skins on a plate.

Grandma gives the yucca a rough chop and they are good to go

Luckily this led to the best quote of the trip so far:

Sam's culinary fearlessness is one of his best qualities

Me: "Sam, how do you like the pig skin?"

Sam (without a trace of sarcasm): "I'm not sure, the hairs are a little disconcerting..."

We paid Grandma, thanked her profusely, and then went out for an old school hobbit tradition we like to call second lunch.

Chicken Fajita Nachos (not pictured here--air conditioning!)

And we lived happily ever after.

Muy Caliente

Well, yesterday I took my laziness to new levels.  While Sam made six trips back and forth to try and schedule a Spanish lesson, I did a lot of sitting at different locations.  In my defense, I think I should say that the weather here was somewhere in the high nineties with 75% humidity.  Life without air conditioning requires a lot of sitting and radical acceptance, which I'm working on practicing.  I have noticed an increased amount of grumpiness in both Sam and I about matters which we would normally be able to handle, such as who got the biggest piece of chocolate.  I'm sure you are feeling very sorry for us and want me to write more about our sad life, but I will stop there.  So since we couldn't be bothered to take a take a taxi to the volcano or see any prescribed sites, here is what we did see...

Blurry people riding bikes!  Aren't you glad you read this blog?  I'm fascinated by how people travel in other countries.  I guess when you come from a culture where people have to stay in a car seat until they're five, it is a shock to see little babies being balanced on someone's leg as they ride a bike down the street.  Really, that must take a lot of talent.  I've been trying throughout my travels to take pictures of great examples of this, but the trick of bike photography is that you have to be fast on the draw with your camera, which I'm not.  I will persevere!

It is Easter week here, which means EVERYONE is out on the street celebrating.  According to our host there are 50,000 drunk Nicaraguans down by the lake living it up for the holiday, but we are taking his word for it as I get claustrophobic in a crowd of only two or three drunk people.  Sam and I spent quite a bit of time sitting in the square by the main church, which was a quieter area.

I love to see the carriages peppered throughout the cars and bicycles on the street. 

You are pretty much getting a blow by blow photo narrative of my sitting in the square now.  These men had a heated conversation that lasted several hours, not that I was there that long...

After awhile we decided we had spent all our reserves sitting and it was time for a snack.  We headed right for the...

Our Nicaragua expert (yay, Megan!) recommended we try these little buddies.  There are tortillas filled with cheese and pickled onions and they were quite good.  I don't know how they do this, but they have slices of cheese the exact shape of the tortilla which greatly impressed me.  After that we took a little walk down to a church and to photograph a fruit tree and buy Sandinista postcards.

Sam y the church

Sam y the weird fruit

Sam y the Sandinista postcard-- the heat was getting to him at this point

Yesterday was so hot I couldn't even be bothered to put on makeup because it just falls off your face.  Who am I?  What is happening to the world as we know it?

We finished off the day with a beautiful dinner.  I had the recommended carne asada (again, yay Megan) and it was wonderful.  We all know I'm a sucker for twinkle lights so our choice of restaurant added up to an unparalleled dining experience.

I had to adjust a setting on my camera to take this picture and thus I'm ridiculously proud of it

Nicaragua!

Buenos dias, Amgios!  Well, as you know, you can go months without a peep from me and then all of a sudden I pop up again. Since Christmas, things have happened, yada yada yada, and now I've quit my job and I'm in Granada, Nicaragua with my Sam.  As I write, I'm sitting in by the pool in the kitchen of my hotel, Casa del Agua.

This chair requires a high level of commitment to laziness--I'm ready!

Today is Sam's birthday and he wanted to brush up on his Spanish, so he's off to a class.

He already looks more fluent

Meanwhile, I (being an advanced learner) instantaneously adopted the laid back Latin lifestyle and am completely content to sit around typing away to all of you and enjoying the breeze that is making this courtyard paradise.

Here are a few highlights of the journey so far.  We hit the street yesterday and Sam bought a bag of fruit to start the day.  I know, we are so exciting!  What will they do next?

Then we decided that wasn't enough breakfast and found a cafe that caters to gringos.  Even though we completely blend with the locals, we decided to hang with the tourists for awhile.  While this may be obvious to all of you who are more traveled in Central America, I didn't really anticipate what a big deal courtyards would be in the architecture here.  It is like living in the land of jewelry boxes where every hulking structure contains a beautiful walled oaisis.  At night when they open the doors to catch the breeze you get glimpses of magical gardens everywhere.  This is the courtyard where we ate breakfast:

I am resigned to constantly glistening in the tropics.  

This is me and my lime, pineapple and coconut smoothie.  Try this at home, people!  It is a great combination.

After that we took a nap (I told you, I'm a natural!) and then we went and climbed the bell tower of this church:

The view was spectacular from up top, but I just about had a heart attack climbing the spiral staircase.  It was very authentically narrow and medieval and generally not up to safety codes.  Who needs zip lines or surfing? I'm good for death defying acts now.

After that it was nap time again before we headed to chocolate class.  There we learned everything about making chocolate and ground up our own beans to make drinks like the Mayans, Aztecs and Spanish made them. We also got to make our own candy bars.  It was a good day.

Grinding the cacao beans

Sam posing with our chocolate bars