Adventures in Nica Driving

Quite possibly the loudest clap of thunder I've ever heard, jolted the entire town of Gigante awake at around two o'clock in the morning on Tuesday.  Miraculously, the power stayed on all night as the storm moved through - it's strength paled in comparison to the initial racket the heavens produced.  We began our day around nine with a hearty breakfast of bacon, eggs and homestyle potatoes, then headed to La Vista to meet Rich and Clint.  We all had a nice talk about the progress of the house and what can and can't be done to get it moving along a little bit quicker.  The real issue is the windows.  You can't speed up nature and the drying process takes time.  We've still got about two months before we can call it home.

Over the last couple of days, storm models have been predicting a massive swell for Nica's Pacific waters.  The wave hype inspired us to take a little drive down to Popoyo where a cool little restaurant called Magnific Rock offers a sweeping view of the coastline.  The previous night's rain made the drive somewhat treacherous as we forded a couple of small muddy rivers and climbed a steep hill to arrive at our destination.  The building and view were amazing but the beers weren't nearly as cold as we've been used to and our plate of Dedidos de Pollo was mediocre.  As we ate, storm clouds formed over the hills and the color washed out of the landscape.  Our Trooper needs a motor for the windshield wipers and the puddles we crossed to get to Magnific made us eager to get back on the road before the rain started up again.  We had a chance to snap some cool photos before leaving.  The sepia setting seemed appropriate for the remainder of the day.  On our drive back the car stalled out after we plowed through the last big puddle.  A kind, young local lady helped us push the truck as we attempted to pop the clutch.  After a few failed attempts, the car started up again.  We learned that it doesn't take much water to stall her out.  It should be an interesting wet season, indeed.  The four wheel drive also started acting up on the way back but we think it was just a bunch of mud or possibly a rock stuck somewhere it shouldn't have been because, a couple hours later she was fine.  Did I mention that the waitress at the restaurant tried to hustle us out of our change too?  All and all, we were glad when our mini adventure was over and spent the rest of the afternoon drinking beers at Swell with our friend James.  

  

Restaurant Magnific Rock

views from Magnific

 

more dogs

Sunny, Jason's daughter.

Gigante town

Road Trip

It sounds like our first real tropical storm will be rolling in on Tuesday.  Just as the locals have been saying, come May, the rain begins.  I don't know if I've done justice to a description of the heat yet, but as we were watching the National Weather Channel from the comfort of our air-conditioned hotel room the other day, (more on our mini vacation later)  Managua came in as the second hottest place in the world at 37 degrees Celsius, just a single degree down from New Dehli.  It is tremendously dry here.  The dirt collects in the most unsuspecting places, including the tops of door handles. When we slam the back gate on our Trooper, a dusty cloud gets hurled into the air and it reminds me of Pigpen from the Peanuts.  I'm excited for the cows.  They look so skinny right now.  All their pastures are bare and you can see them struggling to reach the lowest branch of any tree with foliage.  Soon, there will be green plants for them to munch on and the rivers will fill with water again.  Right now, the path from Chanelle's house to the beach looks like an endless moonscape.

As I mentioned, Ian and I took a mini overnight vacation to San Juan Del Sur this week.  Not nearly as sleepy as Gigante, SJDS sits in a beautiful crescent bay and has a beach lined with rickety bars including one named Pau Hana, that not surprisingly, features a Loco Moco on their menu.  We didn't take the opportunity to grace this establishment with our Hawaiian presence partially because it seemed a bit cliche for us to go there, but more so for its lack of business.  We picked a more happening joint just up from Pau Hana's that featured an upstairs deck with a nice view.  Part of the fun of our mini vacation was testing the limits of bringing dogs around Nicaragua and  I'm pleased to report that, even in the "city" of San Juan Del Sur, they continued their reign around town.  As we ate a meal of proper onion rings and homemade chicken fingers, they lazily laid at our feet without a single look of disgust from the patrons.  It really is a dream come true.  They joined us in the bookstore for an iced coffee and at the downstairs bar of our hotel room for afternoon Toñas.  We had no problem finding a room that welcomed them.  A/C and cable TV were important factors in our decision and we spent a good portion of the afternoon and all of the next morning basking in the glory of cold air and English movies.  Besides being total bums, we did take some time to visit SJDS's finest hotel called Piedras de Olas where Ian had heard that for ten dollars, you can use their infinity pools.  As my babe always says, "you know you've made it when you're sitting in a pool with the ocean in your vision."  We lapped up the sunset in luxury, sipping on margaritas and drooling over our first bites of steak in Central America.  Check out yet another, insane sunset in Nicaragua....

I finally got some good waves at Panga Drops.  We took a drive to La Vista today and walked the path from our house to the beach.  There were only two other people in the water this afternoon so I made myself balls up a little bit and got some good inside rights.  The faces weren't that long but I managed to get a handful of good drops.  I'm feeling stronger by the day and am stoked to be back in the water on a regular basis again.  Even if it's waist-high Amarillo, it's great to be riding some waves again.  

Oh yeah!  I almost forgot.  Apparently some inquiring Indigo minds wanted to know how Puna used the bathroom on the plane ride over here.  Well, on the morning of our departure, first we starved her.  Then, we deprived her of water.  Lea too.  (We didn't want her messing her kennel, even though she peed.  A lot.)  The seven and half hours to Houston she crammed herself into a very tight space between Ian's feet and the wall.  A nice gentleman on the plane gave her a small bite of chicken.  I gave her some cheese and halfway through, I let her eat some ice cubes.  When we arrived in Houston, I gave her a little bit of kibble and a bowl of water, then I took her outside and let her pee and play tennis ball.  We had to go back through security but, we didn't get hassled at all.  We had an eight hour layover in Houston and a three hour flight to Managua.  We got through Customs really fast, paid some hombre ten bucks for Lea and we were out the front door of MGA airport and into a small patch of grass which neither dog chose to use.  It wasn't until we were in the lawn of the Best Western that both dogs sprayed.  And I mean, sprayed.  Then they chased a cat and everything was normal.

Ok.  With that cleared up, more later ya'll.

  

Wheels

Hello everyone!  Let's try this again.  I just lost an entire post, pictures and all, twice.  Internet in Nicaragua.  I'm just thankful to have it.  My creative chi is almost drained but I've managed to get all the pics back up.  Let's start with this one of Ian and Brad.  Freakin' adorable.  I never thought I'd fall in love with a squirrel but let it be known, I have.  Lea is obsessed with Brad.  She sits at the base of whatever tree he is in, and anxiously awaits his descent.  Unfortunately for Lea (but fortunate for Brad), this little guy is way too fast and way too smart for our silly little mutt.   

To continue from the last update, we finally got our first storm.  Last Saturday, as I was finishing up a lime and cilantro marinade for a tasty chicken dinner, the sky opened up.  We quickly learned that with the rain, comes power outages.  We managed to whip up a quick meal by candle light (the stove is propane) and somewhere along the way, decided that it would be a good idea to indulge in excessive amounts of rum to help put ourselves to sleep.  (Bad idea.)  By the time the computer battery died somewhere in the middle of our fourth episode of "It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia," we were pretty lit.  Between the stagnant, ninety degree air, the absence of a blowing fan and slight inebriation, sleep was not in our favor.  Then, just as we thought it couldn't get any worse, the monkeys chimed in from the trees outside our window.  They did their thing all, miserable night long.  At sun up, the electricity came back on.    

So, as many of you have noticed from our FB "status updates," we're mobile.  This is our '88 Isuzu Trooper that we bought for the lovely price of $2500 from a guy named David who lives in San Juan Del Sur.  She is rusty and old but we had Roger's mechanic take a look at it in Rivas, and she checked out.  The four-door option is nice, as there is plenty of room for boards and dogs.  Wouldn't you know it though?  Three hours after we bought the Isuzu, the Land Cruiser lady called and said she be willing to part with her baby for five.  I'm a strong believer in signs, and Ian and I had already discussed that even five grand would be pushing our budget at this point.  We both agreed that the Trooper came into our life that afternoon, to stop us from buying the Cruiser.  Plus, we wouldn't have been able to have the Toyota for another month and already yesterday, we were able to drive over to La Vista to check out the progress on the house, have a nice breakfast in Iguana, and surf fun, Melly-size Colorado's.  And today, we're going on an adventure to San Juan Del Sur.  We decided the extra $2500 is enough to fill our new house with furniture and appliances.  So be it.  And here are some pics ....  

I had to post this picture of what I call, a "Party Papaya."  Apparently this is a small one too.  I was skeptical as I cut it open yesterday thinking it's size would hinder its sweetness.  I was wrong.  The meat was as sweet and juicy as Hawaii's sunrise varietal.  We've been eating really well since we've been here.  Ian has been making a ton of guacamole and yesterday we fried up some corn tortillas and made fresh, homemade chips.  Yummy.

And here's one more cute pic of Taj.  He's getting bigger by the day.

Well, more later.  It's been such a struggle trying to get this one up that I should post while the internet is cooperating.  

Un Sabado Perisoso

It's a lazy Saturday morning for me.  I've been catching up on emails and praying for some rain.  The sky is grey for the first time today and it seems like a possibility.  Ian left this morning on a biking adventure to La Vista.  Rich's brother is in town and they are meeting to brainstorm some ideas for a deli/convenient store at the entrance of the neighborhood.  The fruit truck just stopped by and I picked up a few more avocados for Ian's world famous guacamole and purchased the biggest papaya I have ever seen.  Juanita is doing some of our laundry on the cement washboard outside of Chanelle's house and she looks like a baker when she works, kneading the clothes like a ball of dough.

Yesterday, Chanelle let Jason, Ian and I borrow her truck to go into Rivas and take care of a few errands.  On our way into town, we got stopped at a checkpoint and received a good old-fashioned hassling.  First, he wanted all of our passports which of course, none of us had.  (We were also traveling with two German girls)  Jason calmly explained to the police that it's not safe to carry around our passports and that only Immigrations can legally ask for them.  He provided the officer with his CA driver's license as identification and convinced the officer that a DL should be sufficient.  Then, the officer asked for registration and insurance, which he produced, but one of the documents was expired.  When Jason explained that it wasn't his vehicle, and that it was our friend Chanelle's, he asked Jason to call Chanelle so he could talk to her.  As Jason was calling her, the officer hassled him even more for not having a mandatory fire extinguisher or hazard triangles in the vehicle.  A short talk with Chanelle and a ten dollar bribe had us on our way again.  Classic.  I guess ten dollars can buy almost anything down here.  

Except for a car.  The Isuzu we saw in Rivas was a piece of shit.  One look at it, and we knew immediately.  The truck bed was almost rusted off, the shocks were shot and one of the tires was completely bald.  Plus, it was an American car and it ran on gasoline.  $2500????  Loco.  We caught wind of another car for sale in Gigante that is owned by a well-to-do, local woman and has been maintained meticulously.  We got to drive it when we returned and she's a beaut - not beat to hell like most of the other vehicles in the area.  It's a Nica Toyota Landcruiser with tinted windows, a tight clutch, nice paint and a solid, solid motor.  We heard she was selling it for five grand but when we asked her, she told us eight.  We explained we had heard differently and that eight was well over our budget.  It's her husband's truck and apparently they have a new car being shipped over in a month.  She told us she didn't care how much they got rid of it for, and that she'd talk to her husband.  I know I'm nuts over Land Cruisers, but without any bias, this is a solid rig.  Ian and I both really want it and hope they'd be willing to let it go for a significant amount less.  Maybe it's a pipe dream, but everyone keep their fingers crossed.  She's exactly what we're looking for.      

I pause this blog entry to give you a brief weather update:  Yeah!!!!!  Live, from Nicaragua ... our first clap of thunder!  The dogs, Felix, Juanita and I are going crazy!!!!  How exciting!!!!  Rain is so desperately needed!  Hopefully, it's not just heat thunder.

We got a couple more essential items in Rivas yesterday.  We've been cooking with salt and red wine vinegar for the last ten days and were stoked to get inside information on some American-aimed grocery stores.  We were able to pick up some very expensive olive oil and balsamic vinagrette, a few spices and some Kraft macaroni and cheese which we scarfed up for dinner last night.  Ian got super ambitious and made some homemade jalapeño poppers which came out really well for his first attempt.  Unfortunately, he learned the hard way about rubbing your face after cutting up spicy peppers.  He had even more trouble this morning after he replaced his contacts and spent breakfast with burning eyeballs.  My poor babe.  He's also been taking the brunt of mosquito feasts.  They seem to love his tall, white blood.  Apparently, he went into an itch fit in the middle of the night last night.  Our Benadryl and Hydrocortizone cream are going quickly.  

On the surf front, Amarillo, Amarillo, Amarillo.  My new PP.  I love Amarillo.  It's low stress and playful.  My favorite kind of surfing.  The waves have been really fun at high tide over the last couple of days.  The local boys put on quite a show out there.  They can get multiple turns, all fins out, and mini barrels on knee-high waves.  Super, super impressive.  The water has been ultra clear and huge schools of fish swim through the lineup while giant fish make random appearances on the sandy bottom.  The jellyfish were out two days ago and we all of received multiple stings but it didn't hurt that bad at all.  Certainly not bad enough to get any of us out of the water.  I'm happy to have this spot and did a real live little floater yesterday.  Woohoo!  I rip.  My stoke is back.

Anyways, it's Ian's turn to throw rocks at the cows tonight, it's my turn to wash the dogs this afternoon, and it's my turn to set up our makeshift entertainment center for pre-bed movie time.  Rum and cokes for sunset on the porch and chicken stirfry for dinner tonight.  Life is good.  An Ian update coming soon ... 

Monkeys and Spiders and Scorpions, Oh My

As we're slowly settling into a routine, there are a few adjustments that have taken some getting used to.  First off, we have a maid and a gardener that Chanelle employs Monday through Friday.  It took a while for me to relinquish my love of certain household chores, mainly dishes and laundry, but I've quickly realized that vacation time is valuable and can be filled with things like crosswords and surf and cooking and blogging.  Plus, it allows us to give extra work to a local family who seems more than happy to be helping us out.  Felix Mora is the gardener who constantly refers to himself in the third person and who is also, madly in love with Lea.  He asked if he could have one of Lea's puppies and was more than disappointed to find out that she no puedes tener hijos.   Felix is married to Juanita, our maid.  Two days ago, while Juanita was cleaning our kitchen, she found a scorpion in the box containing the dogs food.  Luckily, nothing happened and she removed it from our casita but warned us that if the dogs ingest one, they could die.  Poor Chanelle lost her two pound teacup chihuahua puppy not two weeks ago to a scorpion sting, which leads me into the other part of our adjustment.  The tropics.  As I was properly warned before arriving, this country has everything in the bug/reptile/bird/mammal department that you could possibly imagine.  Not only is Chanelle finding scorpions in her house daily, yesterday she came across a tarantula underneath her dog's towel.  This, compounded with the story of her house guest seeing a boa wrestling a bird at the end of the driveway in the middle of the night, and her dog Junior coming home with a face full of porcupine quills, has appropriately risen my guard.  Ian and I are both covered in mosquito bites and frequently remind each other that itching is not acceptable.  Howler monkeys are something new and different for everyone, including the dogs.  A seemingly large family congregated in a nearby canopy two night ago, and did their howler thing all morning long.  Last night, the dogs went nuts over a herd of cows that made their way into the yard.  After much barking, Ian went outside and threw rocks at them.  It seemed to solve the problem and sleep was finally had.

We've met some great people already.  Yesterday morning, a guy named Jason who helps run Chanelle's hostel, gave us a ride down to 2-4+ Panga Drops.  The paddle out was tough for me but, I eventually made it, then spent the next hour scratching for the horizon as the walled sets came plowing through.  The lineup was friendly though, and I got a second to talk to Panga's keeper, Jack.  After he jokingly noted that it was my time for a wave, I thought it would be in my best interest to balls up, get inside and catch a little one before I gained the quick reputation of crowding a lineup at my new home break.  Within a couple of minutes, I caught a fun little left and called it a session.  Baby steps.  Ian got a ton of great waves and is super stoked on the spot which is great because hopefully it means we'll be surfing there together more.

We were able to go see the house again and get a better idea of a timeline.  It sounds like we still have at least six weeks to go because the windows have just been made in Granada and need about a month to dry.  They were putting in the plumbing while we were there, and we were pleasantly surprised to see a septic tank.  The structure itself is looking amazing.  It sounds like the appliances are going to run us around two thousand bucks.  The refrigerator and stove can both run off propane and the solar panels are included in the cost of the house.  They're still experimenting with how much power the panels can store and there is still talk of a wind turbine going into the neighborhood.  All in all, we can't wait to call it home.    

Ian found a 4x4 Isuzu on craigslist today for $2500 and is going to check it out with Roger in the next couple of days.  Roger is a consultant for La Vista and was born and raised in Nicaragua and according to Ian, speaks better English than most Americans.  He has a reliable mechanic in Rivas and is willing to help Ian out with the process.  We had a serious conversation about a vehicle today and decided that if we want to start a business, transportation will be essential.  Money is the main issue and between the cost of appliances in the new house, food and the pending vehicle, we'd be cutting it pretty close by the time we leave in October.  Nothing is set in stone and I will always be plagued with concerns over money but only because it's been a personal issue of my own in the past.  Ian however, always takes the positive perspective which is why I love him so much, and will always make me believe that he's the Bodhisattva in this relationship.  

So, I'll slap up a couple more photos.  It sounds like we may have some visitors in the near future.  Our friends Kevin and Brett are interested in buying down here and we're excited at the prospect of having neighbors we already know.

The three pictures above, are photos from Clint's casita that is just about ready for move-in.  We like what he did with the shower and are considering copying it for our own bathroom.  These are local stones that he found on the beach.  I think it goes nicely with the natural elements of the wooden house.

Lea's hole.

View from the balcony of our rental casita.  There are some pretty awesome sunsets here.

More pics of our own casita, coming soon.  Pics are taking a while to load .... 

My first report.

I haven't contributed to the blog as of yet because I didn't feel like I had anything to write about in Hawaii. We worked a lot to save for this move and made some sacrifices in the process. Now that we have been here for a few days I want to contribute so here goes.

I surfed proper Colorados yesterday for the first time since our arrival. The sandbar is still kind of quirky but for the forty or so minutes I was out the left was working. The wave is pretty fickle right now, so by the time I got out the sandbar had already shifted. Overall it was a fun session. I took a couple of short vids after I got out but I am having trouble uploading them.

The walk to Colorados from Chanelles casita takes about forty five minutes. The walk to the wave was not bad at all yesterday but after surfing twice and hanging out in the pool we were dreading the walk home. And so the talk of buying a car immediately came up as a necessity not a choice. Of course half way through our walk home we decided it was not so bad after all and that a car would seriously cut into our funds and be a constant drain on our bank account.  Mel jumped in the water at Amarillo for a couple small waves. It is a mile long stretch of beach that has a small wave at both ends. I took a couple shots of Mel while she was out.

After our surfs we stopped for a few beers and Nica libres (Rum and 7 no fruit) and watched the local groms surf the closeout at the end of Gigante beach. The kids out here charge on boards that have been snapped and sawed to a point. Its pretty impressive. 

After happy hour we had a great dinner at The Swell in Gigante and meet local real estate tycoon and celebrity Dale Dagger who literally washed ashore here some 20 years ago. We talked about Hawaii in the seventies and the true spirit of Aloha it was a great evening and the sunset was pretty damn nice.

Some Pics

Found some time to snap a couple of pics of our place today.  I'm also posting a couple from the airport and one of Ian, hungover as hell in the hotel room the morning after our going away party.  By the way, if we haven't said it yet, thank you so much to everyone who came.  We gave our first pair of board shorts away to a boy named Kevin, who Ian remembered from his last visit.  When we drove into Gigante town we had no idea where Chanelle lived but luckily, Kevin showed us the way.  He has renamed Lea and Puna to Halea and Puma.  I think it's going to stick.  Anyways, we had an amazing time at the party and feel so blessed to have such a supportive group of friends and family.

Ian and I caught some fun little waves at a place called Amarillo today.  I finally found my legs again and am stoked to be back in the action.  Can't wait to post some photos of the landscape and the waves.  

Our rental casita

Chanelle's house - "Casa Swell"

Settling In

Where to begin, where to begin.  Actually, I'd like to start by commending the mutts.  Unfrickingbelievable.  Puna was the perfect service dog.  She calmed my 'generalized anxiety' and I think Ian and I calmed hers.  The co-dependency was remarkably effective and the amount of smiles, comments and praise we received during our twenty-four hour journey was enough to put me at ease.  We cleared one minor mishap with a Continental baggage embargo that could have sent me over the edge.  (No surfboards allowed from March 26th-April 7th - naturally, the seventh was our departure date.  Through all our fine attention to details in transporting people, things, and animals to Central America, somehow this one slipped through the cracks.  Props to Continental, though.  Maybe they believed I would have a panic attack if they didn't let us bring the boards, but whatever it was, they let us slide.)  That Big Wave Ale at Kona Brewery might have been the best beer I ever tasted, once we made it through security and Puna was at our feet, adorned in her little red Support Dog vest.  The second greatest moment of the journey was seeing with our very own eyes, Lea, moving up the conveyor belt with everyones luggage, on our connecting flight to Managua.  At that moment, we knew we were home-free.  At least all four of us would be together when we got there.  Ian was there to receive Lea when we landed.  Ten dollars, out the door.  It was a stressful journey for Lea, as we noticed in the hotel, a significant chunk of kennel missing from the right side of the respective container.  I imagine if she had more time, she actually might have eaten her way out.  Little ole' Lea's tail didn't go up for a full day.  I'm happy to report though, that the dogs are psyched.  Here in Nicaragua, they can go with us anywhere, i.e. : breakfast at the Best Western.

After Paxeos came to pick us up from the hotel on Friday morning, we drove through Rivas to get a phone and some groceries and were bombarded by men with boxes wanting to transport our food from the checkout line to the car.  I would imagine we were the tallest, whitest people in Rivas that day and paying a couple of guys two bucks to carry our crap to the car is only providing them a service which, we gladly used.  One more stop at the cerveceria for 48 Toñas and quick stop for some fruit in Tola and it was on to our new home.  Weaving down the dirt road through the barren, littered landscape brought me back to a time in Peru.  I think that particular moment, and the initial scent of burning plastic when we landed, made me realize that I was abroad again.  What an awesome, displaced feeling.  Even more awesome, when the man you love, and your two dogs are sitting next to you.

The casita we're staying in is owned by a lovely lady named Chanelle who is originally from Vancouver Island.  She runs a cool little restaurant/bar on the beach in Gigante and is the ultimate animal lover.  Besides caring for her pack of dogs (some hers and some stray), she has a pet squirrel named Brad who comes to her kitchen window every morning for his plate of peanuts and avocado.  We were a little concerned about Lea's obsession with small, fuzzy, moving creatures, but over the last couple of days, trekking through people's backyards containing pigs, piglets, cows, horses, chickens, more dogs and cats, has seemed to desensitize her from the whole hunting scene.  It's become apparent, that being surrounded by many, many animals is what she's needed all along.  I think eventually, she will completely lose interest.  (Though, she's not over the cows on the path from our house to the beach yet.)  And today, for some reason, Puna developed a fear of pigs.  She refused to go around them, just like monk seals on the beach in Hawaii.  She chose the most round-about way possible, actually dipping down to the beach before meeting up with us again on the trail.

We got to see the property today - the most exciting part thus far.  It's coming along for sure, but is not much farther from the last video update.  It's so amazing to finally see it in it's wooden, thatched-roof flesh.  The exterior walls are almost complete and it's bigger than we expected.  Standing in the loft, we could feel the cool breeze of the valley which is a relief after spending the last couple of days in the sweltering heat of Gigante.  The view from the ridge is amazing.  We spent the afternoon with Seth whom Ian knows from Tahoe and who also owns a condo in Hacienda Iguana.  Seth has got his finger on the pulse of the area and is good people, for sure.  He has high hopes for Ian and the business opportunities that will come with the growth of La Vista.  He has already paved our destiny by introducing Ian and myself to his friends as 'the people who bought in La Vista and are going to open up a restaurant.'  Wouldn't that be a dream come true?

After touring the property, we paddled out to Colorado's.  It's exactly what I expected : a dumping, barreling shore break, that wasn't even really barreling this particular day.  Ian got some nice waves and I cowered in the channel which has seemed to be my definition of surfing lately.  I refuse to get down on myself this early and can see the potential for some fun, fast, challenging waves as soon as it comes down a little bit.  I need a good session but I also need to muster up some confidence which I've been gravely lacking recently.  There are waves up and down the coast here, and I know there's a spot for me.  I've got plenty of time to find it.

So, that's our first couple of days in an extra-large nutshell.  I'm on the computer in the downstairs part of our rental casita, while Ian is in bed already.  We've been rising with the sun and retiring with it's setting.  As of now, she sunk hours ago though, so it's safe to say, it's officially past my bedtime.  More later ya'll!      

Honolulu to Managua

Woohoo!  Google Nicaragua.  I just looked up how to make a tilde over the letter n because not moments ago, we were enjoying our first poolside Toñas at Las Mercedes Best Western Managua.  We are in price shock and can't wait to get out of the city after dishing over $149 for the room and $7.50 for a club sandwich.  The dogs are safe and have proven that, despite the journey from Hawaii, they are still their same old dumb-ass selves, and have already chased their first Nicaraguan cat on the premises of the hotel.  It's good to know that some things don't change.  Tomorrow morning we get picked up by Paxeos and will stop in Rivas for phones and groceries and from there, it's on to Gigante where we will settle in our rental home.  This is one happy family reporting from Central America.  Love to everyone and more to come.