Lunch at Santana

Last year, the International Surfing Association held their masters tournament right here in our neighborhood at Hacienda Iguana. I guess it was a complete mad house but it gave the area some great exposure, and helped to secure Nicaragua as a future destination for other surfing events. Well, this year they're back and Rancho Santana is hosting the Juniors event. The family headed over there a couple days ago for a little lunch and the place was buzzing. Rancho has an excellent restaurant that sits right above the shore. We're constantly impressed by their impeccable service and great, reasonably priced food. We're squeezing in as many visits as we can before the rivers fill up, and getting a little dinner becomes more like risking your life. The rains have certainly begun. Ian requested a raingage on my recent trip back to Minnesota and two nights ago it went over its five inch capacity mark. Drying laundry is a bit of a game, especially Liv's diapers which take forever. I'm constantly shifting them from the line on the covered balcony to the line in the yard or propping them up under the ceiling fan at night. The air is thick with moisture now. The afternoons are overcast and the nighttime is stormy. Winter in Nicaragua....

 

 

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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.

 

 

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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...

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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.

 

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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!

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Bob and Sheri's new pool.

 

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

 

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Some recent Instagram shots for your viewing pleasure ...

 

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