Chee-hoo!  The waves have been good this week.  Yesterday, Ian got on a boat to a far away spot up north called Playgrounds.  Thanks to Jason for the five a.m. phone call - my babe came back grinning and sunburned.  Amarillo has been worthy this week too.  A little more user friendly for Allegra and I - we scored some fun ones over the last few days.  The guests are on their way out this weekend.  One last boat trip for Ryan and Ian this morning to Manzanillo - let's hope the winds held up for them.

We're excited for a Fourth of July celebration at Chele Palmado's tomorrow.  It sounds like the boys are putting together a feast.  It's comforting to know that even in Nicaragua, there will be an Independence day fiesta and just another excuse to indulge in excessive amounts of food and beer.  God Bless America.

Lady Gray's gas tank has graced our bank account with a slow leak in her top half.  So long as we keep her below a third, she's fine.  Unfortunately, the closest gas station is forty minutes away in Rivas but fortunately, the family at the church in Gigante "se vende gasolina."  Today on the way home from Amarillo, I purchased two gallons of red gas, yes red, for ten dollars.  When I asked about the suspicious color, she told me it's Super.  I believed her and so far so good.  Lady Gray seems happy therefore, I'm happy.  Our mechanic is currently looking for a new (used) tank.  Three attempts at welding the original, have all failed.  Oh Douglas.  He runs on about a 66% success rate.  (including the rate of reliability - in terms of showing up when he says he's going to show up)  Bless his guilty smile though.  He knows when he's been bad.

And so we are moving into Phase Two of our time here in Nicaragua.  Next week will be the real beginning for us.  I can't express how excited we are to be underneath our own thatched-roof.  The beds and oven are coming on Monday and as for the fridge ... let that unexpected adventure begin.  We've managed to push back Managua again.  Tuesday.  It looks like Tuesday, for real.  Clint is currently on the same mission for the illusive propane refrigerator and we're hoping he gets some solid info before we blindly delve into the city.  We haven't been to the house in a few days and it sounds like it's in its finishing stages.  Now that we have enough gas to get to La Vista and to Rivas, we'll be checking it out this afternoon.  Pictures to follow.  Thanks for reading everyone.      

Swell's Swell

Sah-weet!  I've been having some issues with Blogger these last couple of days so, I'm going to try and squeeze in a quick post while it's up and running properly.  The weather has taken a turn for the worse here.   According to magicseaweed.com, our trusted website for storm trends and wave models, we've got about four days in a row of a "zero-star" surf forecast in our future.  Monday and beyond looks promising though, just in time for the arrival of little sis.  Will Sarah bring the sun (with my extended list of sundries?)  In the meantime, it's been rain, rain, rain and grey skies.  Our kitchen floor looks like a mosaic of muddy paw prints and the river is running at La Vista.  Ian finally got to surf Manzanillo a few days ago.  It's only accessible by boat and on Monday, the boys went out and scored a bunch of waves with no one out.  As soon as Ian got back, he came with me to Amarillo and we both got a bunch of good rides there too.  I caught the  nose of my board into the back of a wave on a fairly decent size drop in Melly standards, then got rag-dolled through the water pretty hard that afternoon.  All in all, it was the last good day of waves we've had.  As I said in the previous post, the boats have been pulled out of the bay for a good size swell rolling through.  Yesterday, the tide was the highest we've seen it, and water came through the backyard of Swell like a river.  Ian helped Jason dig a trench to divert it's path around the house, as the ocean's natural course would have been to flow through the back door, into the living room and out the front walkway.  It was a beer drinking afternoon.  I am the "Sorry" champion of Gigante, winning two games in a row yesterday afternoon, much to Jason's dismay.  I'm sure a heated rematch is in my future.

In house news, things are really starting to come together.  Ian had to make his first forced errand run to Rivas yesterday.  We're getting an outdoor shower put in and unfortunately, didn't have the right part for the job so Ian braved the storm, (with no windshield wipers, which incidentally, will be fixed on Monday - moms), and on the way, picked up nine, yes count them, nine Nicaraguans and gave them a ride to Tola.  Two riding shotgun, four in the backseat, and three in the way back.  Luckily, the Nicas informed him that there is, in fact, a ferreteria (hardware store) in Tola, which is about three-quarters of the way to Rivas.  So, Ian dodged a Rivas trip which is always tiring and slightly maddening for reasons such as, having to go to ten different stores for ten different items.  Ah, Latin American business tactics.  When will they learn?  Anyways, good news.  The windows will be here on Friday!  Solar panel, inverter, and marine batteries, next week.  And hopefully, keep your fingers crossed, we'll be able to move in in two weeks!  Sarah will be here for the transition.  Next on the list - Managua.  Our savings account is about to rapidly dwindle as we begin purchasing all the necessities - i.e. - fridge, stove, beds, pot, pan, fork ... you know, everything.  But, oh how exciting ... lots of gallo pinto (fried Nica rice and beans) in our future.  Love you all, not much else for now.

But some random pig pictures

The Resurrection of Lady Gray, The Great Gigante Dog Roundup, and Running Water at the House

To start things off today, Lady Gray is back in action.  We're so happy to be mobile again.  We had a mechanic named Douglas come up from Rivas to take a look at the clutch and it turned out to be a cracked seal.  He returned to Rivas that morning, found the part, and four and half hours later, we drove to Amarillo for an evening session and sunset beers.  All said and done, eighty dollars.  The parts were forty and he only wanted twenty-five for the labor.  We gave him the extra fifteen and assured him that he was officially "our guy."  Douglas also brought his friend along who is a jack of all trades.  While the car was being repaired, he fixed Chanelle's water pump, a couple of busted fans, and one of the electrical sockets in our casita.  All and all, it was a very productive day.

If you may recall from earlier posts, the woman whom we are renting from, is one of the world's biggest animal lovers.  She had recently informed us of an organization named World Vets that do free spay and neuter clinics in foreign countries.  This week they were in Rivas and it was Chanelle's goal to round up some stray Gigante dogs and get them fixed.  So, on Tuesday morning, we went down to a couple of local eateries and asked the owners if we could take their patio pooches and get them checked out and fixed up by some volunteer vets.  The Nica families handed us over a couple of girl pups, and a male pup named Tarzan.  We also had Chanelle's four month old boxer pup with us too.  We transported the dogs in Lady Gray and checked them into the clinic around noon.  We did some shopping in Rivas and while we were at the Texaco, Chanelle came back to the car with a mangled street dog wrapped up in a sheet, looking like a scene straight out of ET.  The poor dog was the worst case the clinic had seen yet.  His nose was caked with mucus, he was covered in ticks and the poor guy seemed like he hadn't eaten in months.  Well, wouldn't you know it, "Tex" is here at the house today.  Chanelle opted to stay at the clinic to make sure Tex checked out, and we returned to Gigante with the dogs from Margarita's and Gaviota's.  Ian and I were a little concerned about the interaction we were going to have with the local families when we handed over their drugged up puppies but, his Spanish proved worthy enough because the smiles the Nicas gave us were priceless.  Five new fixed dogs in Gigante equals a hundred unborn, uncared for puppies.  Thanks to Chanelle for being the motivation in what turned out to be, a very cool day.

Check in at the Rivas School of Agriculture and the World Vet Clinic

Gaviota's pup, Tarzan - also one of Lea's beach lovers

Tarzan getting tagged

Tex getting poked and prodded

Tex - look at his nails!

Recovery Room

Surgery Room

Tarzan and Taj on their drugged-up ride back to Gigante

In house news, we have water!!!  We also have walls, a shower, and a couple more plants in the ground.  It sounds like we'll have windows and doors by next week too.  The guys were working on a leech line for the septic tank when we stopped by yesterday.  We had our first porch Toñas to celebrate.  La Vista is so green now.  It rained a ton last night.  I can't wait to lay in a hammock on the front porch with a breeze coming through the valley, hearing only the sound of rustling leaves.  Ahh, serenity.  

 

Ian in our bedroom window

Shower

Our little Plumeria Tree

Water!!!

walls

Leech line coming from the septic tank

Our first porch Toñas

This week in surf, Melly finally scored good waves at Pangas.  It actually dropped to a size where I could sit inside and feel comfortable and I got one really good left and a handful of fun rights.  Pangas and I are now friends.  Well everyone, I'm finally getting bagel making down and today I'm experimenting with onion topping.  The dough has risen and I'm off to the kitchen.  Cheers!      

   

Itchy in Gigante

It's been a fairly uneventful week with the exception of Lady Gray experiencing her first real mechanical issues in our time of ownership.  The clutch is leaking and we're officially on foot again.  Uggggh.  How spoiled and lazy one becomes.  A mechanic was supposed to come take a look at it today, but apparently he was having troubles with his motorbike.  I'm not sure if we should be weary of that fact or not but regardless, Monday is the day as few Nicaraguans work on Sunday.   In the meantime, we are dangerously close to being out of propane, our Gigante money stash is tapped out and our food rations are dwindling.  If anyone is going to Rivas like, tomorrow, please let us know.  We need a ride.  Seriously.

There has been a lot of progress on the house this week.  The drywall is being hung, the spaces between the floorboards have been filled, the water should already be connected and the electrical sockets have been installed, but not wired.  We bought some more plants at the Rivas School of Agriculture including two plumeria trees (the official flower of Nicaragua) and an avocado tree.  We also bought a bunch of Eureka palms to line the front of the deck which will also hide the underside of the house.  I hope Ian's dad Jon, is smiling.  We know how you love those Eurekas!  All in all, it seems to be coming along much quicker these days.  The most recent debate is whether or not to buy a very expensive propane refrigerator, or to buy an equally priced second solar panel to power a much more inexpensive electric fridge.  We seem to be leaning in the direction of the latter.  As the time of move-in draws nearer, these are the conversations that have ensued.  Admittedly, very exciting.

On the surf front, there was a fairly decent swell this week.  Ian scored some mackers at Pangas.  I finally busted out my 6'3" rounded pin and am in love.  I can't believe it took me this long to ride it.  Not to mention, there are a pair of penguins on the underside of it and two half naked ladies staring up at me from the nose.  It has a much different artistic air to it than the demented skull of my Lost fish.  And it's faster.  I got a great feel for it at Amarillo over the last couple of days and have been having better luck going left.  Yea for new surfboards!!!

And finally, let's talk bugs.  I'm not sure which of the foul creatures I should start with.  We stomped out another scorpion running across the floor of our bedroom last week.  The flies have been absolutely atrocious.  Yesterday, as I was making another batch of bagels, I became so maddened that I finally resorted to Anna's mom's ancient Chinese fly detractor trick - a clear plastic bag filled with water and pennies hung on the wall over the butcher block.  That, and half a bottle of Raid seemed to do the trick which incidentally, led to Puna devouring their insecticide-coated carcasses scattered all over the kitchen floor.  Raid is like candy to her!  Then there are the beetles.  Two inch beetles that somehow slip through the window cracks and explode entrails when you smash them.  Then there are the locusts.  Last night there was some weird cross between a giant horned beetle and the largest roach known to mankind trailing four-inch antennas on either side.  In our bedroom.  We thought he was dead, but this afternoon as he lay on his back near the doorway, his arms were still moving - ten hours after his initial blow.  And worst of all, the zancudos.  Smaller than a gnat, these f*#^ers bite and you can't even see them.  Everyone in Gigante is covered in bites.  Itchy bites.  Very itchy bites.  And last but not least, there was the poisonous snake that Felix slaughtered in the yard the other day.  Ah, the tropics.  At least we're not working.

For the love of, waves?

This is only my second update of the blog since our move to Nicaragua some four weeks ago. The plan was for me to write about the house and surf and for Mel to write more about our day to day life here. Well not a lot has happened with the house in the last few weeks as we are waiting for the wood for our windows to dry in Granada. The septic system has been put in and is probably completed now. The floor for the lofts has also been put in and was being planed even on my last trip to La Vista, yesterday. I suppose I shouldn't say not a lot is being done. We are definitely making forward progress. I look forward to the day I move in more and more every time I see the house.

On the surf front, the weather has been pretty lousy for a solid ten days. Lots of rain and onshore winds. Its hard to complain about the rain out here because the dry season runs for seven months out of the year.  May marks the changing to the Nicaraguan winter. The change of seasons often bring rain and sadly onshore winds but the landscape is quickly transforming from arid and dry to green and lush. Two nights ago the lightning was constant. The night sky was bright more often than dark and it rained so hard our downstairs had an inch of water in it. It was the worst weather of the past two weeks. It was also the end of that weather pattern.

The wind has switched offshore and the waves since then have been incredible. The rain has moved all the sandbars into place and with the offshore winds conditions are great. Its incredible how a few days of really really really good surf can re-energize you and just make you smile more. I surfed three times yesterday. Twice at Colorados, once with Mel. The afternoon session for lack of a better way to put it, is why I am here. Mel and I surfed Amarillo at sunset and she was catching some great waves. It was a perfect end to one of my favorite days out here thus far. Then this morning at Amarillo it was as good as I have seen it. Almost head high, hollow and fast. Guess what the plan is this afternoon? Thats right, more surf. The internet has been touch and go recently and as I type this I realize I should upload this, grab a beer and get ready to go to the beach. Thanks for reading, Ian.

Nica Wedding Crashers

Hey everyone!  We've got a couple of fun things to talk about on this gray Sunday afternoon.  Let's start off with this picture of Chanelle towing her friend Jason off the side of her driveway.  I wish I had a photo from where the stuck truck started from but this vantage is nearing the end of Team Canada's efforts.  Chanelle's boyfriend Jeremy, is also from Vancouver Island and worked for nearly an hour shoveling mud and repaving different areas of the driveway with rocks in order to pull the car from a very precarious angle off the side of the hill.  We're still not exactly clear how the truck managed to find its way into the ditch in the first place, but it was definitely dark and stormy when the incident occurred.  Luckily the truck was towed out unscathed but unfortunately for Chanelle, it seems that her burly Land Cruiser is forever stuck in four-wheel drive.  Keep your fingers crossed that it's only something minor.

Well, the next order of business is comical indeed.  As you all know, yesterday was May 1st.  In Hawaii, this is also known as Lei Day and on the mainland of course, it's May Day.  Here in Nicaragua, they have Maypole celebrations which designate the start of spring, or so we thought.  Yesterday morning as we were making breakfast, Juana and Felix (our Nica maid and gardener) stopped in to invite us to some festivities at the local church.  Eager for culture, both of agreed that it would be something fun and different to attend.  Felix told us that he'd be back up to the house around 2:30 and from there, we could all drive down to the church together.  At two o'clock it began to rain.  We weren't sure if Felix was going to show but we showered and dressed in our finest garb anyways.  Sure enough, at half past two, there he was in his button down yellow collared shirt, rearin' and ready for a ride in the Isuzu.  We weaved down the dirt road to Amarillo and parked at Felix's dads house which was familiar to us both from our past walks to my favorite surf break.  Felix's dad turned our to be the old man we've seen sitting on the porch, every time we pass by.  The rain had ceased at this point and we waited at the house for Felix and Juana's kids to show up.  As we were waiting, a shocking discovery was made.  In so many Spanish words, Ian figured out that we were attending a wedding - not a Maypole celebration.  And it was Felix's brother who was getting married!  Classic.  What unfolded before our eyes, was a beautiful Nica ceremony involving not one couple getting hitched, but two.  A dual wedding complete with an out of tune electric guitar and a mariachi style synthesizer.  It was awesome.  At one point a ten year old boy got up on stage and rocked some mean vocals on what I'm assuming, is a traditional Nica wedding song.  After the painfully long (but fondly memorable) ceremony, we were invited back to the family's house for food.  Being the only gringos in a crowd of almost two-hundred Nicaraguans, we decided that we were satisfied with our experience and that attending the family's reception might have been a little weird.  Who knows though.  Maybe not attending it was weirder.  What we do know now though, is that we're not just the white people that walk the road with surfboards to Amarillo anymore.  We're the white people with surfboards that were at the Nica wedding on Saturday.  Hopefully, that's a good thing.  We're thinking it is.  By the way, maybe I'm an idiot, but Maypole celebrations are a pagan tradition and come from Europe.  I'm pretty sure they don't celebrate it in Central America.  And here are some photos from the wedding.

      

Lastly, I found these suckers in a pile of clothes today.  One dead.  One live.  Sprayed it with some Raid to slow the bastard down, then flushed him down the toilet.  Siiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiack.  I hate scorpions.

  

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 ... 

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"