Home and missing it already.

 

It was always about 80 something. I was never cold.

 

Days were spent by the pool, walking in the bright sun shine and eating some awesome food.  Power was out for a few afternoons but that is par for the course I am learning here in Nicaragua.  It was o.k. my online class suffered but I did get most of my reading for grad school done (by the pool of course).  Let's see I went on the all day sail. It was fun especially when we got some good wind and the boat tipped so we were almost perpendicular to the surface of the water.  We saw some dolphins feeding and playing in the distance and lots of pelicans diving into the ocean. 

 

Went on the canopy tour. It was so cool to zip through the trees. Not much wildlife ...a few monkeys.   At one point I think we were about 60 feet or more off the ground.  I would do it again in a heart beat.

 

I met the coolest couple, Ruth & Jerry.  He is 93 and she turned 83 (forgive me Ruth) on the 25th.  They have traveled everywhere.  Their stories were amazing. I could have listened for hours.  Both are from Canada.  They had never been to Nicaragua before and decided to come and stay for 2 months. Now that is the life.

 

Had breakfast at Big Wave Daves, banana pancakes.  Dave came to San Juan like 10 years ago and just never went home. He married a local woman and they have a small son.  There are lots of stories like that around here. The owners of the Gato Negro are from Vermont. There are lots of Canadians here too.

 

I traveled on a local shuttle bus...truck... to a nearby beach called playa Madera (I think). I keep getting the name wrong.  :)  It was a great surfer beach. Unfortunately my escort, Jim, slipped on a rock and slashed his knee to the bone in 2 places.  Luckily he could walk because I never would have been able to carry him back to the beach "snack shack".  We tied his shirt around his knee to stop the bleeding. There was no cell phone service so we had to try and bum a ride from someone so we could go to the hospital.  The bus/truck shuttle we took down was not goingback for 2 hours.  One guy came up all surfer dude and said "That looks bad man. My friend would take you back but he just got here and the surf man." Good thing it didn't involve an artery. Well we got a ride from another shuttle type service that brings surfers to the beach.  This van was basically held together with some shoe string, duct tape and chewing gum.  But they drove us back and dropped us at the bottom of the hill where the emergency clinic was located. The ride only cost 5 bucks. At the clinic the doctor wanted to know if it was a machette wound.  Then he poured a disinfectant on it and I thought Jim was going to pass out from the pain. But luckily no.  He had them wrap it up because he had called Dr. Jim an ER nurse turned vet to come take a look at it.  So the Doctor at the clinic wraps Jim up and we wait for Dr. Jim to arrive.  Dr Jim takes us to the vet clinic where Jim gets about 20 stitches.  So a few firsts for me. See the inside of someone's knee and a sucturing procedure.  Can't say that has ever happened before on a vacation. Anyway Jim will be fine in a few weeks. 

 

Saw the lunar eclipse sitting on the beach. It was really neat to see the moon turn crimson and watch the palm trees sway in the breeze.

I saw the sothern cross for the first time.  It was a very Jimmy Buffet moment.

 

Hope to go back for April vacation. :)

Let me say it again....AAAAHHHHH

 

It is warm and sunny.  After a quick breakfast of sweet bread and peanutbutter I headed to the pool for water areobics. And spent the rest of the early afternoon reading by the pool.

 

The drive from the Managua airport to San Juan del Sur was different.  The roads are paved but not well. At times it felt as though we were in a giant slolam as we weaved between the pot holes.  Also there were quite a few people out either riding their bikes or walking down the side of the highway. (highway - a two lane road, one lane traveling in each direction). We also passed some people sleeping on the side of the road, not off to the side but right up next to the lane.  Thank goodness Rommel, although he introduced himself as Alex, was driving otherwise I would have definitely killed someone. I never noticed these people until we were basically on top of them.  It was a 2 hour 20 minute drive.

 

I have finished some of my homework and now need a break from the computer so I am off to the pool again. I will post some pictures as soon as I can talk to George about how he has this computer configured.

 

Adios  

Can you believe I leave tomorrow and my suitcase is still empty