Smoothies by Papa

One of the greatest parts about living here in Tola, is the abundance of good, cheap fresh fruit. Every morning, Daddy blends up a big batch of smoothies packed full of healthy goodness. Our weekly grocery run to Rivas always includes a trip to the market for one giant papaya, two cantaloupes, one pineapple, two pints of strawberries and two dozen bananas. (yes! strawberries - a recent find.) We also discovered a woman in the market who sells one pound bags of chia seed for sixty cordoba, which is about $2.50 and a gringo named Salad Steve who sells huge bags of fresh kale for $5 - which is a little bit of a splurge but definitely worth it, as its hard to find good hearty greens down here. We also found acai juice at Pricesmart so, we'd pretty much rival any Jamba Juice if they happened to move in up the block. I think I'll write a post and share some of our smoothie recipes with you. We think we've got some good ones.

 

 

Posted with Blogsy

Early Morning Walk

Since our townhouse is taken over by the workers building our pasomano (handrail), we decided to head out for an early morning walk. It is also the start of Semana Santa, the busiest beach holiday of the year for Nicaragua. By midday, our peaceful, uncrowded beach will be filled with Managuan families enjoying the warm rays and cool ocean. We thought we'd catch it before the madness ensued.
On our jaunt, we hung out at a fun little estuary that runs along the foot of a small sea cliff, meets the tide line, and eventually flows into the ocean. It's a great place for the dogs because the water is calm and the swimming is mellow. Even Lea plays fetch here! This afternoon we're headed to Gigante to fill our propane tank and grab some lunch. Here are some photos from our walk...

Posted with Blogsy

Liv's First Birthday

We threw a little fiesta to celebrate Liv's first trip around the sun, as Daddy puts it. Nothing fancy - nachos and cupcakes. We had around twenty neighbors drop by in their post St Patrick's Day stupors and we explained to Liv, that she has the rest of her life to enjoy birthdays where your friends are too hungover from the night before, to get wild on your special day. It was a really fun Monday though, starting early in the morning with back to back cake follies.

So, everyone keeps saying to me ..."oh, your baby's one! Didn't it go by so fast?" But honestly, for me it really didn't. It felt like forever. So many of the last 365 days were so momentous and I feel like I stopped to smell every rose on the block. It's been exhausting and humbling and at times, overwhelming but, she truly is our guiding light. And thats just the truth. Happy First Birthday, Liv Aloha. Your love is radiant.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Morning In Rivas

Rivas is a place to go for things you need, not things you want. It is the closest town to us and even though they're paving the road towards our development, it's still a solid forty-five minute drive to gas, ATMs, and a crappy (but recently upgraded) grocery store. Maxi Pali went in about two years ago and it's gotten even better since we left. It's your Nica equivalent of a small scale Walmart. They actually do have everything you need but not fun American items like they have at my favorite grocery store, La Colonia, which is a two hour drive to Granada. This little gem has things like oyster sauce, fish sauce, rice noodles, couscous, arborio rice, and other exotic delicacies that help broaden the menu since we now cook seven dinners a week. One of the greatest parts about living in Nicaragua however, is that there is always someone willing to bring stuff to you for a nominal fee. Our driver in Managua will bring us whatever we need with a simple phone call. It's pretty much totally awesome. We also have a fish guy that comes to the house, a fruit and vegetable truck, and a water, milk and juice guy.

Here are some photos from our trip to Rivas today.

We came the day after payday and opted out of this ridiculous ATM line ..

 

The mercado ...

Fun at lunchtime.

 

The new road is much easier on everyone's cars!

Posted with Blogsy

Bob and Sheri's new pool.

 

Lucy, perhaps the luckiest dog on the planet, enjoying her brand new pool.

 

Posted with Blogsy

Some recent Instagram shots for your viewing pleasure ...

 

Posted with Blogsy

....And, we're back...

Just like that, we go across the ocean again.  Clearly incapable of sitting still, we broke our one year vow of staying put.  We had a good eight-month run in Hawaii.  Ian continued to work for Disney and Du Vin and I managed to pull off two Etsy business' from the closet of our studio.  One, in particular, proved to be extremely lucrative in a short span of time.  I call it "The Tooth Fairy Project" because, low and behold ... I saved enough money for the next step in getting Momma's new grill!  Please refer to the most recent posts if this means absolutely nothing to you ...

In late December, Ian accepted a job as the new General Manager of Hacienda Iguana, the beachfront development near our casita in Nicaragua.  We are extremely gracious for this opportunity because it has allowed our family to return to this country, knowing we will have a sufficient income to survive.  This has been our dream, and it has finally come true.  We arrived just over a week ago and Ian has been hard at work since the day we arrived.  This move came with many inhibitions, and it has been an emotional journey sorting through our rational and irrational fears in this endeavor.  As a family unit, our strength has grown exponentially as we ford through what has been, a very difficult year... to say the least.  Losing my teeth came with so many more challenges than I could ever have foreseen, and Ian has been the most patient, gentle, kind and understanding partner in this whole, wide world.  I have been completely wrecked over it, and this move to Nicaragua has already proven to be just what the doctor ordered.  In so many words, I'm slowly snapping out of it.  But, more on that later ... 

The most important thing I'd like to convey is, we're so happy to be in Nicaragua!  We've rented a great townhouse that is close to the beach, with plenty of space and all the modern conveniences that were required by this mom, in order to make the move down more comfortable with a one year old.  We're happy with our decision to live in Hacienda Iguana.  In the meantime, we've rented out our casita in La Vista which of course, helps supplement our own rent in Iguana.  

On Monday, Liv turns one.  My baby .... my little baby.  Where has the time gone already?  Here are a couple of photos from the vault ...