Nicaragua-Day Four & Five

Even at 50 mph, this place is beautiful

We’ll start with a question of the day because sometimes there are moments that are really funnt that should forever be captured. I’ll ask the question and we’ll answer it at the end of today’s entry. The question: 'Uncle Jonny, did you pee on his tire?’

Now that I have your attention, let’s get right to it. Wednesday was a rush start and somewhat slow finish. We left San Juan Del Sur at 8:00 and tried to make good time back to Managua so that we could join up with friends Mark, Lea and Joni to go surfing. Through Jon’s best efforts we did, with Ellie and I getting a bit green behind the gills sitting in back watching Cars to pass the time. After a short intermission and more packing of the bag for another destination we set off for surfing and playtime.

Ellie got to stay and play with Mark’s family in an apartment/condo complex that had all kinds of other kids, a pool, a park and of course more movies to watch. After a small amount of disappointment that she wasn’t able to go surfing at the beach, she settled in to like the idea of swings and a pool. Then Jon, Joni, Mark, Lea and I went off to find some great waves. It took us about an hour to get to the place where these guys tend to go quite often and it looked beautiful. If I knew anything about surfing I’d say that it’s amazing that more people haven’t heard about this place. The break was about 6 ‘ and relatively consistent throughout the day. We had a small accident in the group about 2 hours in. Lea took a board to the head/face during a wipeout that looked vicious and I’m sure throbbed with pain, fortunately it was only just that. Unfortunately her day was done and thankfully another group of surfers that had shown up, agreed to take her back while the rest of us stayed to surf. At this point my chest had a pretty good ‘board rash’ on it and I had enough for the day. So while Jon, Joni and Mark set back out to find more perfect waves, I stayed on shore and decided I’d try my hand at rebuilding the small fort on the beach that had once stood but had since been pulled apart. I did what I could and got it put together with driftwood from the surrounding area. The next step for the next builder should be to bring some orange storm fence or some other netting to create a better shade that allows the wind to pass through. I felt pretty good about my efforts and sat to watch the surfers for a bit. An hour or so passed and I started to get bored so I walked around a bit and tried to find shells or rocks for Ellie’s growing collection. With the sun still beating down I decided to walk back to the truck, climb in the bed and take a nap in truck’s shade. Thirty minutes later the others arrived and we packed up for the day. It was about 6:00 and time to head home and get Ellie. I saw some beautiful Pacific Ocean views and an amazing sunset, but it was time to get back to my little girl and listen to her great day.

We get back to the casasita where we’re staying and all of the ‘family’ is out playing in the cool of the evening. We of course get sucked in for another hour or two playing hide and seek and throwing the ball around. The family’s kids have really accepted Ellie and although the language barrier is still there, everyone seems to be trying to learn from one another and still play. The kids are excited that It will be Ellie’s fourth birthday on Sunday and that we’re having a big party. Unfortunately we should have gone to bed a few minutes earlier as we ended up having a small accident playing Hide and Seek. I was helping Ellie hide and we were the last ones back to base and were running, Ellie in my arms. We turned the corner at the back of the house and I lost a flip-flop. Not to be deterred or caught I continued running and a few steps later tripped on the remaining flip-flop with Ellie tumbling in front of me. Oh man was I absolutely devastated. There’s nothing worse than seeing your child get hurt – except being the cause of it. She’s screaming and we make our way back to the front to inspect the damage. It turns out to only be a skinned knee, thigh and forehead, but still it’s time to call it a night. After wiping everyone down with a washcloth because there’s no water at night for a shower, we put a band aid on the knee with some aloe. We crawl into bed, all licking our wounds a bit, sunburns and skinned knees alike.
All of the 'family' thinks Ellie's quite the attraction


We deicided to sleep in on Thursday as we have breakfast with Hasel (Jon’s girlfriend) at 9:00 and really are all exhausted from the day before. Today is a scheduled slow day and more travel day to the Canyons North of Managua about 3 hours. We eat with Hasel and then run some errands for the birthday party and get some additional snacks for the trip later. We also get to see Hasel’s home and even watch Sleeping Beauty (while Jon takes advantage of the downtime to become a little Sleepy Beauty of his own). Ellie snuggles in with Hasel, thumb firmly planed in the mouth and manages to almost fall asleep, but not quite. We’re off shortly after the movie ends to pack up for the trip to the canyon before Laurie picks us up at 2:30.

Packed up and somewhat recharged, Laurie arrives and we hop into her car, only to drive to another home to change cars again. From there to our third house where we meet Bob and Rob, roommates that both have larger SUVs that’ll be driving the 10 of us in the group to the hiking place in the canyons. Somewhere in the mix we forget to transfer one of the bags, the tennis shoes for hiking. Ugh, now we get to hike in flip-flops. We are in the car no more than 20 minutes and Ellie is sound asleep on Laurie’s shoulder. It’s a relatively quick drive when Jon tells us he needs to make a ‘roadside stop.’ Not uncommon as there aren’t too many QTs around. Ellie wakes up when the car stops and of course asks ‘are we there yet?’ The answer is not yet and that Uncle Jonny needs to go potty really quickly. We all wait and someone mentions ‘going on the tire’. Ellie picks up on the conversation and as soon as Jon hops back in those wonderful words come tumbling out of her innocent mouth. Now ‘caught’ by his 3 year old niece, Jon smiles slyly and answers ‘Of course I did Ellie.’ And we all chuckle at the moment and Jon’s honesty. We get to our hotel that is 2 hours into the trip and unload for the night.
Some beautiful views in the car on the way to the canyon

Like I said - Nicaragua, a hidden paradise


We go out looking for a quick dinner and after double-backing at least four times, we find a place that’s actually open (due to the Semana Santa holiday) and pull in. We experience our first power outage of the week that Jon has told us about so many times being a frequent occurrence but we have only had one in our stay. The staff brings out candle and we eat by candle light for a few moments until power is restored. We have one of the best meal that we’ve had all week and head back to the hotel once again tired and ready for bed with dreams of another great day tomorrow planned.
This shower actually had the water ON the electrical - no way would this pass in my house;-)