The Flying Docs arrived last night at the hotel from Alberta, Canada and just left for the countryside. Good to know there is medical assistance should it be needed!
Ran to the Christ statue on the top of the mountain overlooking the harbor. Was running on the beach and met Kathy again. Kathy owns the t-shirt shop and is from Newport Beach, CA. She was running with her four dogs, and get this, a parrot perched (maybe it was a cockatiel) on her left hand. I had to stop and ask (and get a photo too). She explained she has been running with her bird perched on her hand for 12 years. You have to love it.
Made it up the Christ Statue (think Rio, just not out stretched hands) overlooking the bay. Encountered the locked gate and was in the process of “hopping the fence” when the dog started barking. She was barking from atop the platform down at me and I quickly figured I wasn’t about to “sweet girl” her and win her over. Oh well, I got within 25 feet of the absolute top!
Came back and rousted the boys from bed for breakfast before we went out surfing again today. We had the best breakfast this morning. A local fried cheese, fried plantains, eggs, tortillas and rice & beans. The cheese was so incredibly tangy and balanced by the sweet fried banana…the best. Mike called it “typico” – sampling of the typical Nicaraguan breakfast.
Tony picked us up at the hotel and we left for the marina. The marina is an interesting story. I can’t figure out why the security there is so “high” but more about that in a minute.
The port was built by the Japanese (Shimatsu Corporation) along with a hospital somewhere toward Managua. The local garbage trucks and some of the municipal vehicles have Japanese flags on them. Turns out, the Japanese fishing fleet “purchased rights” to fish off of Nicaragua about ten years ago. There is an odd tension here and the words “raped the ocean” and “they took everything, even minnows” come up a lot. The fleet apparently “swept” the Pacific Ocean out to the end of the shelf – 25 miles. The fishing and the sport fishing community is just now beginning to recover. I guess the local port was part of the re-payment.
Every morning Tom has to leave his passport at the fenced gate where a security officer exits the gate house and meets him and then opens the gate for us to enter. By the dock, where we meet the boat there are at least two more security officers and one to two guys dressed in blue/brown camo paramilitary suits with side arms and dark sunglasses. They see us off in the morning and are always there to greet us when we return. Not friendly guys.
We went to Playa Yankee this morning and no action. Pulled up anchor and went back to Playa Hermosa. Smaller today and absolutely perfect for me on a long board. Many great rides in, long rides, all the way into shore and stepping off into a foot of water. The only problem with those rides is, you have to paddle all the way back out! On my third or fourth ride in, I actually startled a stingray in about two feet of water and he/she flopped over the nose of the board. The water is so clear and when you’re riding in, it’s like flying over the bottom of the ocean, it’s so clear and you’re going so fast over the bottom. What the heck, I’m already here, so time for a long walk on the beach and rest up right? Today’s surprise?
Well actually it was on the steps leading up to the Christ Statue this morning- a beautiful, brilliant orange and purple female fiddler crab. She finally let me photograph here. Very, very colorful.
On the beach today I found purple butterfly winged bivalves. Pink two days ago, purple today. At the “top” of the sand, as it transitions into the dry jungle, are these incredible trees that grow to the ground, yet you can walk “into them” – under the network of branches. They are like little private rooms on the beach, shaded, yet letting in the most incredible light with spectacular views out to the Pacific. Private, but completely open – like a natural cabana.
We surfed for another couple of hours and then came to the boat to eat lunch. Mike made killer tortillas - chicken salad with pistachio nuts and apples. As we were finishing lunch, a rain squall blew in over the mountains and soaked us on the boat in spite of the bimini and make shift shelter built with board covers. It passed in about 20 minutes, freezing cold during the douse and then the sun was back out.
How cool is this? The Catholic Church in the Town Square is celebrating mass and broadcasting on loudspeakers throughout the square. Very, very cool.
Boys are “power-napping” and I’m on the front porch of Hotel Isabella writing and enjoying a rones and coke. The rum, Flora de Cana is excellent and quite cheap. Cheaper than the Coke actually!
Dinner tonight? Chicken Momma. On the west side of the town square. She was barbecuing in the street. The little boy in the picture said she was Numero Uno, come back in 20 minutes. We walked around town and then went back. Our Spanish was awful, but with the help of one the hotel guys who happened to be in there, we ordered: beef, rice & beans, fresh tortillas, fried plantains and some kind of chili cole slaw – one of the best meals ever – we ate in the front of her house. Very, very cool with an almost full moon rising over the church.
After dinner we walked to the beach and encountered a baseball game on the sidewalk with these little guys throwing a wad of paper as their baseball. Baseball is a religion here we were told. They were so cute and so happy!
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