And so, we're in.  The first week has passed us by with one little adventure after the next.  We've spent time in the living room basking in the realm of all of it's glory; the beautiful wood frame, the details of the thatched-roof, the contrast of our blue couch against the natural elements of the eucalyptus.  Our Dometic propane refrigerator has proven itself worthy.  Our beers are cold and our meat is frozen.  She's small, but effective and that's all that really matters as we dip our toes into off-grid living.  There are only two things currently plaguing us.  Termites and sunlight.  The termites have already found their way through the floor boards and are feasting on the crossbars of our elaborate roof.  We've tried wiping the wood and mopping the floors with neem oil, but they've deemed themselves much stronger creatures and the house is currently being fumigated, with a heavy dose of terminex being applied to the underside.  Our other issue is solar.  The first four days, our marine batteries stayed above half their charge and then on the fifth, the sun never came out and the next twenty-four hours sucked them down to the "auto-shutdown" level.  The sun has not come out long enough for them to regenerate their charge and we've been powerless for over twenty-four hours now.  We tried recharging them with a generator last night, but apparently the electrician didn't hook up the cords properly and we still have no juice.  They're trying once more today but it seems as if we might need to buy an actual marine battery charger and a better inverter.  This is all part of the learning process and a process it will be.

Through it all, I profess my profound love for the boldness of Ian's spirit - his ability to take the plunge and to see a vision through.  Some people live their lives wondering if they could ever do such a thing, and then there are people like him that do it.  Cheers my love, and congratulations.  You (we) have done it.

our first Nica trash fire

  

Today we lit one thousand dollars on fire.  Two beds, an oven, a bunch of kitchen stuff, three liters of Toñas to ease the pain and poof!  Reality came tumbling down.  These purchases compounded with the discovery of our propane refrigerator costing significantly more than we anticipated has prompted a new feature on this blog - the Paypal Donate Button.  In an effort to not sound like total dirt bags, we are calling this our solar fund.  We realize that not everyone can live out their dreams in a far away country off the grid, so we are giving you the opportunity to help us do it, but enough of our digital third world pan handling.

In other news Ian's parents Jon and Kathy have requested that I no longer put pictures of bugs on the blog if we ever expect anyone to come visit. So I will leave you with the last critter photo you will see on here (for at least a week.)

The tarantula in our kitchen

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!

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!      

   

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

Road Trip

It sounds like our first real tropical storm will be rolling in on Tuesday.  Just as the locals have been saying, come May, the rain begins.  I don't know if I've done justice to a description of the heat yet, but as we were watching the National Weather Channel from the comfort of our air-conditioned hotel room the other day, (more on our mini vacation later)  Managua came in as the second hottest place in the world at 37 degrees Celsius, just a single degree down from New Dehli.  It is tremendously dry here.  The dirt collects in the most unsuspecting places, including the tops of door handles. When we slam the back gate on our Trooper, a dusty cloud gets hurled into the air and it reminds me of Pigpen from the Peanuts.  I'm excited for the cows.  They look so skinny right now.  All their pastures are bare and you can see them struggling to reach the lowest branch of any tree with foliage.  Soon, there will be green plants for them to munch on and the rivers will fill with water again.  Right now, the path from Chanelle's house to the beach looks like an endless moonscape.

As I mentioned, Ian and I took a mini overnight vacation to San Juan Del Sur this week.  Not nearly as sleepy as Gigante, SJDS sits in a beautiful crescent bay and has a beach lined with rickety bars including one named Pau Hana, that not surprisingly, features a Loco Moco on their menu.  We didn't take the opportunity to grace this establishment with our Hawaiian presence partially because it seemed a bit cliche for us to go there, but more so for its lack of business.  We picked a more happening joint just up from Pau Hana's that featured an upstairs deck with a nice view.  Part of the fun of our mini vacation was testing the limits of bringing dogs around Nicaragua and  I'm pleased to report that, even in the "city" of San Juan Del Sur, they continued their reign around town.  As we ate a meal of proper onion rings and homemade chicken fingers, they lazily laid at our feet without a single look of disgust from the patrons.  It really is a dream come true.  They joined us in the bookstore for an iced coffee and at the downstairs bar of our hotel room for afternoon Toñas.  We had no problem finding a room that welcomed them.  A/C and cable TV were important factors in our decision and we spent a good portion of the afternoon and all of the next morning basking in the glory of cold air and English movies.  Besides being total bums, we did take some time to visit SJDS's finest hotel called Piedras de Olas where Ian had heard that for ten dollars, you can use their infinity pools.  As my babe always says, "you know you've made it when you're sitting in a pool with the ocean in your vision."  We lapped up the sunset in luxury, sipping on margaritas and drooling over our first bites of steak in Central America.  Check out yet another, insane sunset in Nicaragua....

I finally got some good waves at Panga Drops.  We took a drive to La Vista today and walked the path from our house to the beach.  There were only two other people in the water this afternoon so I made myself balls up a little bit and got some good inside rights.  The faces weren't that long but I managed to get a handful of good drops.  I'm feeling stronger by the day and am stoked to be back in the water on a regular basis again.  Even if it's waist-high Amarillo, it's great to be riding some waves again.  

Oh yeah!  I almost forgot.  Apparently some inquiring Indigo minds wanted to know how Puna used the bathroom on the plane ride over here.  Well, on the morning of our departure, first we starved her.  Then, we deprived her of water.  Lea too.  (We didn't want her messing her kennel, even though she peed.  A lot.)  The seven and half hours to Houston she crammed herself into a very tight space between Ian's feet and the wall.  A nice gentleman on the plane gave her a small bite of chicken.  I gave her some cheese and halfway through, I let her eat some ice cubes.  When we arrived in Houston, I gave her a little bit of kibble and a bowl of water, then I took her outside and let her pee and play tennis ball.  We had to go back through security but, we didn't get hassled at all.  We had an eight hour layover in Houston and a three hour flight to Managua.  We got through Customs really fast, paid some hombre ten bucks for Lea and we were out the front door of MGA airport and into a small patch of grass which neither dog chose to use.  It wasn't until we were in the lawn of the Best Western that both dogs sprayed.  And I mean, sprayed.  Then they chased a cat and everything was normal.

Ok.  With that cleared up, more later ya'll.