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.             

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!      

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!      

   

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"