La Canicula

As you may have gathered from the last couple of posts, it's been a particularly wet, wet season here in Nicaragua.  However, since the fateful 'truck in river' incident, we've been fortunate enough to experience a three day stint of sun.  This may be the start of  a phenomenon called "la canicula," which is a short, hot dry spell in the midst of the rainy season.  The term is derived from an astrological occurrence involving the helical rising of Canis Major and Sirius.  Canis Major is of course, dog and Sirius actually means scorching.  This is where the term "the dog days of summer" comes from.  All in all, we're happy that we were able to move our truck to the other side of the river, that the offshores are back and that I've finally gotten my nose out of a book.  Panga Drops has been clean and fun the last few days and it looks like the winds are going to cooperate for the week.  We took a nice walk to the ridge a couple of days ago and snapped a few photos of our house from above.  Notice how thick the canopy is.

ocean view from the ridge - lots still available!

Our neighborhood in the foreground

our 240ft well 

Lea, our hellian, keeper of the monkeys, La Vista's biggest fan, and recently, our worst nightmare.  Oh little Lea, La Sed (the thirst), digger of trashcans, killer of chickens, pisser of floors, sleeper of couches, face full of burs, why must you be such a rascal?

The Rescue

After the truck found its way into the river, everyone in La Vista stopped what they were doing to either help out, or witness the events of the afternoon.  Marvin, one of the head builders for La Vista, is a ridiculously skilled tractor driver.  He managed to pull the half submerged truck to the edge of the riverbank in an hour, where it hence, became stuck in the mud.  Four hours of switching out different chains, the snapping of the proclaimed "unbreakable" tow strap, and one battery swap later, the truck actually started, and with the pull of the tractor, was able to back its way to the top of the hill.  What an impressively played out spectacle.  From the idiocy of attempting to cross, to the mastery of the dislodging, I have no words to describe the selfless rally that ensued.  Not your typical Wednesday.

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.      

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!

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

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.

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

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 ... 

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!      

Video Update #3

Today is a good day.  Video update #3 from Rich .... check it out!



This is another cool vid from above the lot.... and a view of the beach and pool nearby!

Contract

On the Nicaragua front, Ian got the contract yesterday. I don't know why I was surprised that it's written in Spanish.

Some pics

La Vista development is doing some pretty awesome stuff with the construction of the casitas and I thought it was about time I'd post some pics of the real deal. Ian took these when he was down there in September. These are photos of someone else's house being built, but it provides a nice visual for how ours is going to look. All the casitas are made from eucalyptus and they all have vaulted, thatched roofs. The windows at the top of the roof suck hot air out of the casita so it stays cool. We've drawn up a rough floor plan for ours and to keep it priced at 45K, we're able to get a 600 sq. ft. lower level with a 300 sq. ft. loft. We've included a guest room in our plans so friends and family can come visit and we're able to sleep four when it's suitable enough to be a vacation rental. For more information on La Vista and for more photos of the development, go to http://www.playacolorado.com/ click on "properties" then click on "eco-lots."

Ian had a good conversation with Rich today. Rich is the owner of La Vista and the man who is selling Ian the casita. There were some worries alleviated about money and logistics and it sounds like construction on our little house will start sooner than later. Ian signed his power of attorney away on his last visit so things could get started without him being there. Details of the contract are being drawn up over the weekend describing what's included in the investment. The ultimate goal is to have a livable structure by the time we get down there in March. Today we talked again about driving versus flying and the best way to get all of our things down there. It's difficult finding accurate information on the subject of importing a foreign vehicle into Nicaragua. We've been using a forum site called nicaliving.com that is helpful but often conflicting. All of the government websites are in Spanish and even though Ian speaks it well, there is always the question of accurate translation. Today things seemed much more real and I was really wishing that money grew on trees.