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 ...
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