Big Waves

Rob Machado was all the buzz this week. As I mentioned in the previous post, he was staying at Mark and Dave's beach front surf lodge along with his family and a couple of big wigs from Hurley including, Bob Hurley himself.  (Anna, your favorite company!)  Ian had the opportunity to split a peak with Rob at Panga Drop's one fine afternoon and I got to feed him.  The baking job was a success.  I whipped up some puffy blueberry muffins on the first morning, my mom's delectable Russian teacake the second morning, banana bread the third morning, and for the grand finale on Friday, homemade cinnamon rolls that came out PERFECT.  (and I mean perfect.)  Marie, the friend who hired me for this culinary endeavor, emailed me a quote from Machado stating that the rolls "raised the bar to a whole new level."  Needless to say, I'm satisfied with my first paid baking job and Ian is stoked that I let five of the twenty-six cinnamon rolls stay home.

The waves have been huge and it looks like it's going to stay that way for awhile.  Ian ripped a handful of double-over head rides at Pangas two days ago.  That same day, the Hurley crew brought out the jet-ski and used a step-off platform to tow the boys into sets.  Yesterday, the middlemen who loaned the ski to Machado and his crew, were driving the machine back to Gigante when they thought it would be fun to take it to heaving Colorado's.  Check out August 21st's nicaraguasurfreport.com for pictures of the jet-ski going over the falls after stalling out in a very precarious spot.  I'll bet the boss man wasn't too pleased about that little stunt!

Not much else this week.  We are quickly approaching broke and it is seeming more and more likely that we will be returning to Hawaii a little bit earlier than we planned.  Poor us.  Trading one paradise for the other.  I'm sure ya'll feel really bad for us.  Thanks for reading everyone.             

Waves, Garden Boxes, Baked Goods, and Cabbage Patch Dolls

I slacked on updates this last week.  To my small but loyal group of devotees, I love you and I'm sorry.  There were fun, small waves all week at Colorados and I'm really becoming quite fond of the spot.  Panga Drops still rocks my world, as it did yesterday, tossing me around like a sweatshirt on spin cycle.  I did have one fun, small day there and was able to catch some rights.  Then the tide changed, some bigger sets came through, and I got stuck inside for an eternity.  This inevitably took all my energy, and I paddled in, humbled as usual.  Poor Ian has had to endure my frustrated tears more times than once.  What a beautiful, empty beach though.  Incarnadine sunsets and sand dollar heaven.  Not to mention, it's a dog's paradise.

Ian and Juan Pablo completed the garden box this week.  It looks really cool with the varnished, bamboo frame.  We don't have any seeds yet, but we transplanted some basil and cilantro and made a nice pasta with fresh herbs the other night.  Hopefully, we can get some vegetables started that will probably be ready just in time for us to leave.  Juan Pablo is the cuidador (night guard) of La Vista and he is excited at the prospect of maintaining our garden while we're gone.  Our banana plants are really starting to take off and the orange tree and papaya trees are going strong.  Unfortunately, the avocado tree didn't make it but, Juan Pablo planted a new one for us.  Ian gathered some Bird of Paradise that he planted along the back part of the house too - a little touch of Hawaii for our Nicaraguan 'hale.'  It looks awesome.

So, while Ian spends his time in the yard, I spend my time in the kitchen.  I have been dabbling in all sorts of baked goods.  My bagel shapes have improved dramatically and I think I've perfected a mix of recipes.  Our friends Gustavo and Marie manage a beach front surf lodge and have thirteen guests coming next week.  They asked me to do some breakfast treats and desserts for them which would officially make this venture, my first job in Nicaragua.  On the menu - cinnamon rolls, muffins, bacon and cheese biscuits, Russian tea cake, banana bread, brownies, cookies and cakes.  One of the guests happens to be pro-surfer Rob Machado and luckily for Ian, I'm nervous - so I've been testing everything out on him.  I never claimed to be a professional.  Wish me luck everyone.  We could use some grocery money.     

And in totally unrelated news, in 1983, the state of Minnesota sold out of Cabbage Patch Dolls.  Weeks later while on family vacation in LA, my mom found them in a department store and we had to have them.  It didn't matter to us that we were the only white girls in MN with black babies.  I'm pretty sure this is where my obsession with Motown started.  Here is a picture of a picture. 

 

P.S. - Happy Birthday to Ian's mom, Kathy!

Good Surf!

It's been a great week of surf here in Nicaragua.  Colorados has been offshore and perfect for the last seven days, and a fun little sandbar has formed off to the right that some of the locals call "muffin tops."  The afore mentioned spot has been a nice option for me as it is much more mellow than the reeling, hollow barrels that the peak tends to throw nearing low tide.  Ian has been crushing Colorados proper all week long, surfing two sessions a day and scoring a ton of quality waves.

Right now, we have our eyes glued to the National Hurricane Center website as there is a tropical depression forming off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua that is supposed to strengthen over the next couple of days, but then veer right towards the Bahamas.  Keep your fingers crossed that it doesn't materialize.

Not much else.  I've been reading a ton.  Ian keeps joking that I have "book sickness."  I finally got my hands on some literature in Gigante and their pages have been keeping me pretty occupied.  Ian has been busy in the yard.  He found an endless supply of "cascaha" on the top of the hill in La Vista, so he's been shuttling the gravel in the back of the Trooper and making us a nice little walkway to our front door.  He and Seth also spent an afternoon gathering some plants along the beach and transplanting them at the house.  We've got a couple more plumeria trees and some really cool border plants that look nice along the pathway.  The night guard at La Vista also gifted us with five young banana trees.  Ian's friend Jaimie comes at the end of the month and we're stoked to have our first guest in the new house.  We've got a brand new queen size bed waiting for you girl!      

It's Been A While ...

Well, it's been far too long since the last update and there is plenty to talk about.  First off, Sister Sarah flew in from Hawaii last Monday.  She opted to take a flight into Liberia, Costa Rica and hop a couple of buses to Rivas where we met her and took her the rest of the way to Gigante.  We prayed that she would bring sun and good waves and sure enough, two days after she landed, the rain stopped and the two-week stint of onshore winds finally shifted back to offshore.  The inclement weather created a series of problems including the complete destruction of beach front plants due to salty air blowing directly onshore, to the fishermen having to pull their boats out of the bay, leaving the entire town fish-less.  It's good to have sun, peeling waves, and red snapper again.  Sarah gifted us with more Sticky Bumps board wax, a couple of dearly missed spices and the oh so essential, Deep Woods Off containing 25% Deet.  Needless to say, the mosquitoes have been in full effect with the continuous rain and after only one week, the Off is almost gone.

Lady Grey had her first, official, complete breakdown this week.  As we were driving into Iguana to go surf Pangas, she sputtered out.  We started her up again, and she drove, only to sputter out again.  And again.  And again.  The three of us pushed her into a parking spot at the neighborhood pizza joint, surfed, hoping that it was something electrical, and that the car just needed to dry out.  When we returned, we were still out of luck.  Our friend Seth came down, helped us clean the connection to the battery, just as the sky turned dark grey.  After that didn't work, a couple of local guys came down in the pouring rain, cleaned the carburetor, and when they realized it wasn't that, pulled out the fuel pump.  Sure enough, that was the problem.  Seth gave us a ride back to Gigante and in the morning Ian walked back to Iguana, to intercept the new part that our friend Roger delivered from Rivas, only to realize that it was the wrong one.  That was Saturday, and again, since no Nicaraguans work on Sunday, we waited until Monday, Ian's Birthday, to take care of it.  Our mechanic Douglas, told us he'd be at Iguana at 9:30, so we all set off on foot to go meet him.  A big swell had come in the previous day, and Ian brought his board to score some Birthday waves.  (Incidentally, I took one of the biggest poundings of my humble surfing career the previous day - duck dive gone awry on large set, slammed to the bottom, ears ringing, the whole nine - fear and "being worked" is relative on your own, pathetic scale.)  When we got to the clubhouse, Colorados was big and perfect.  We waited around until 9:30 and Ian walked up to go meet Douglas.  A half hour later, he came back and told us that Douglas wasn't there and that he'd be another hour.  We waited some more, walked up around eleven to have some lunch, and still, no Douglas.  Ian called him again, and Douglas said he'd be there at one.  Twenty past one, Ian calls him again, tells him he'd been waiting for four hours and pulled the birthday card on him.  Finally, at 2:15, Douglas arrived.  Ugggh.  Poor Ian, waiting around all day on his birthday to deal with the stupid car.  Twenty minutes later, Lady Grey had a new fuel pump and we were mobile again.  And we thought Hawaii time was bad!  Four hours of pool and Toñas at Don Eloy's was plenty for the day, and we headed up to La Vista where Ian received one of his birthday gifts - windows!  The much-talked about, and long-awaited windows had finally arrived, and they are awesome.  Screens on the outside, glass on the inside and both sets open like French doors.  The doors also went in and we're currently deciding on a paint color for the outside of the house.  We're getting so close!  We picked out some new beds in Rivas last week and are going to purchase them this week - they just went on sale, so we decided on a King sized bed for us, and a Queen for the guest room.  A trip to Managua will soon be upon us for household items and the propane fridge.  The plants are doing really well and yesterday I found out that you can get gardenia in Catarina.  It's been a slower process than we expected but, each stage is so exciting and one step closer to a dream's reality.

And in critter news, check out this dead Boa with it's belly full.  We were also blessed with the discovery of a yellow-bellied sea snake washed up onto Amarillo beach a couple weeks ago.  (Unknowingly to us, one of the deadliest sea snakes in the world - we actually saved it, by putting it back into the ocean with Puna's Chuck-it)  Awesome.

"Silent gratitude isn't much use to anyone." -G.B. Stern

To Ian, the creator of this incredible life we have, I haven't said thank you enough lately.  

Puna's Birthday present - sunset Chuckit session (Puna and Ian have the same b-day)

Birthday drinks at Chele Palmado's

Sunset Amarillo Pics

          
guest photog - Sarah Bonte ... awesome pics seeeeeeeees!

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.

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.  

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.

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!      

Nicaragua Surf Vids ... Our Future Home Breaks!

Here's a decent vid of Playa Colorado .... the main attraction of our new neighborhood.



And here's a pretty crazy video of the Hobgood brothers at outer reef Popoyo.  As you can see, Nicaragua definitely get size.



And here's where Melly is going to surf.  Not many vids of this spot on youtube.  Panga Drops will be my Lani's.  Here it is with one guy out!