Carmen and Cristo

We can't really express enough gratitude for Carmen Maria, our hostess during our stay in San Juan del Sur.  She was fun, engaging, encouraging - and did I mention she can cook!  I did?  Sorry - you would rave, too, if you had the privilege of enjoying her meals. During the week, we discovered that she had been a teacher herself, at the university in Costa Rica as well as in Rivas and SJdS in Nicaragua.  Something like 31 years.  She was retired but told us in a joking way that 'being retired was more work than teaching'.  She has several children and grandchildren who live with her and/or visit frequently.  So she is kept very busy but I'm sure she loves every moment.

Of all the members of Carmen's family, it was one of her granddaughters who took a serious liking to us.  Yenisis (pronounced somewhat like 'Janice') is 9 years old, and will probably run this country someday.  She is exceptionally smart, witty and outgoing.  It took a day or two for her to warm up but by the end of the week we got hugs when we came home and invitations to play games and knocks on our door to call us to meals.  She shared pictures and school work and stories.  She is a dynamo.  In a country where machismo still runs rampant in some areas, I hope she retains her spirit and independence.  She is a force to be reckoned with!

One evening during the usual porch sit and visit, Carmen got up and turned on the portable radio in the kitchen.  By the sound of the announcer, it was a sporting event.  We assumed soccer, of course.  After mulling over the sentence formation for a few minutes, I asked Carmen what we were listening to on the radio.  She responded, "Baseball".  This led to a fun conversation about the Rivas baseball team - they kick ass, by the way.  Bex! worked her way through her Spanish to derive from Carmen the name of the Rivas mascot - they are the Gigantes de Rivas. 

The Rivas Giants!  We drove by the stadium on the way to and from SJdS, and it's a great looking facility.  It's said to be one of the nicest in Nicaragua.  

Now to bore you with more food!  During the week, Carmen kept us well fed.  For breakfasts, we had banana pancakes; lots of fruits; juices from the aforementioned fruits; oatmeal with raisins, nuts and granola; eggs with stewed tomatoes and peppers; fried plantains.  And being the sweetheart she is, Carmen also had tea for Bex! each morning the rest of the week.

Lunches consisted of fish stew (complete with eyeballs!); chicken stewed with peppers and onions (un poco picante!); gallo pinto; salads; more fish (hurel?)

Dinners were especially fantastic.  The always present gallo pinto, fried chicken, fresh salads, fruit, white rice, coleslaw, tortas de pescado, baked chicken breast.

Carmen is not only a great cook but there are a couple of additional things to note:  she cooks all of this amazing food in a very simple kitchen.  It's detached from the house and fancy it isn't.  Secondly, she plates her food to look very appealing.  Very beautiful, with elegant touches.  Never just a pile o' food.  

The only other thing about Spanish school to mention is that I played my first (free) gig.  Bex! and I brought musical instruments with us.  My mandolin and her mountain dulcimer.  Tuesday in class we learned that the next day was Lucia's birthday.  She's one of the teachers at LASS.  So I spent Tuesday evening picking out 'Happy Birthday' on my mandolin, and Carmen wrote out the Spanish lyrics for us, too.  I practiced a little more Wednesday morning, then played it in class while every sang along.  Yeah, I screwed up a couple of times.  But we did the song in Spanish and English, and the second run through was pretty tight.  Good times.  The birthday girl really appreciated it, also.  At the end of class, Lucia said 'Tomorrow, you play 'La Bamba!', okay?'  Yep, I'll get right on that...

Our afternoons were spent doing homework at the beach, wandering about town, watching the sunset each night and hanging out in the parque central, usually to enjoy the limited breeze.  We walked in the warm waters each day, at least once and even went swimming one day, suits and all.  The water is wonderfully warm.  We went to the pharmacy to get bug bite cream and sunscreen.  It was very hot and humid in SJdS all week.  85-95 degrees, high humidity, little wind, occasion downpours that just jacked the humidity up even higher while it all evaporated.  We had a fan in our room but it was just pushing hot wet air around, at least until 4 AM or so, when it would finally start to cool off.  

Friday during morning break in class (recess!!) we dropped a big ol' bag of laundry at Lavandería Santini.  Assuming 'Santini' was a last name, I asked her (in Spanish) for her name.  She paused, pointed at the sign and said 'Santini'.  Of course.  She was a sweet old lady, told us to be back at five.  Hand washed and only cost us 160 cordobas (about $6).  Also, since our travel plans have changed slightly and has us traveling to Costa Rica on 27 December - right between the holidays - we figured we better buy bus tickets early.  There are a lot of people who have family spread out in Central America, so buses sell out early on.  We found the Tica Bus office in SJdS and figured out our travel date to San Jose, Costa Rica.  They only take cash and we didn't have enough on us (buying these were a bit of a whim while on a walk).  So I ran to the ATM while Bex! stayed and had a nice chat - in Spanish - with the ticket agent.  She rocks.  Bex!, I mean.  Not the ticket agent.  Although for all I know she may very well rock, too. 

Cold beverages are a luxury here.  Many times, we were drinking water that was the same temp as the air.  One time I took a drink out of my water bottle and could not tell that I had  actually gotten any water.  The liquid was the same temperature as the air AND my body - high 90's.  It was a pretty odd sensation, knowing I tipped my bottle up but not feeling anything in my mouth.  The drinks Carmen served, the fresh hand squeezed fruit juices, were on ice.  We could hear her chipping it off a block when she was preparing drinks.  There were a couple of evenings that we bought BIG bottles of cold water from one of the many pulperias in town.  'Pulperia' = 7-11 or Plaid Pantry, except usually extremely small and crammed full of snacks and drinks.  There are even many that are run out of homes.  Step into the pulperia to buy water and see the owners home life as a back drop.

Our last Saturday in SJdS was a biggie.  There is a statue of Christ on the top of the hill on the north side of the bay that overlooks all of the town and then some.  The locals just call it Cristo.  The full name of the statue is Christ of the Mercy.  It sits about 134m above the town and is 24m tall.  It's the largest statue of Jesus Christ in Central America.  We decided to walk from Carmen's place, which is about as far on the opposite side of town from the Cristo as we could have gotten.  But, small town, so no big deal.  In anticipation of our return to SJdS after our Ometepe stint, we were looking for a place to stay and my Spanish teacher, Gladys, had a cousin that had a house.  So on the way to the Cristo we met her and looked at the place.  It would have worked but wasn't quite what we were looking for.  We thanked Teacher for meeting us and carried on our way - up.

To get to the Cristo you have to walk through the swanky rich neighborhoods on the north end of town.  Most of these homes are owned by people from other countries or rich folks from Managua.  Most all have pools, servants, servants quarters.  Some have guest houses on site.  Most are gated, of course.  You can't just walk up to the door!  If you look online for house rentals in SJdS chances are some of the spendy ones you'll find are on this road up the hill.  

To say the road is steep is an understatement.  It was a very hot day and we made our way from shady spot to shady spot, seeking shelter for water and to catch our breath while we climbed.  The road is good - lotsa money up here, remember.  The grade was, in the best stretches, ~15% but was usually more than that.  

Are we there yet?  (This view is not from the top.)

We reached the entrance and cut off the main road, happy and relieved to have finally arrived.  Except we stood and stared in awe at a long stretch of stairs, the grade of which must have been 25-30%, no lie.  And the steps were cut from stone, some of the risers were 18-20 inches.  We had to rest a couple of times as we made our way to the gate.  Brutal!

But the effort and the 100 cordobas paid off because the views from this high were amazing!   There was a Nicaraguan man who was praying to Christ, staring up at the statue, chanting.  After a short time, we were joined by a couple of families, one with little kids who treated the place like a playground.  Sort of disrupted the tranquility of the setting.  We took a lot of pictures and took in the views up and down the coast of Nicaragua.  We realized later that looking south we could see the Costa Rican coastline - either Punta el Naranjo or Punta Blanco, not far from inland Liberia.

Hey, Bex! Costa Rica's straight ahead.  Are you looking at Japan?

'Nuff said...

So, the view from Cristo shows SJdS below us and then south down the coastline.  You can see Costa Rica off in the distance here:

Here is a still of the statue:

Um, excuse me, did you have a question?

You can see that the weather has just been 'horrible' here.  NOT. 

Feeling accomplished, we made our way back down to town.  We had drinks on the beach, one last walk in the Pacific, then went back to Carmen's to get packed up.  We were leaving the next day for Ometepe.  We had a great evening with Carmen and the family.  The next morning, Carmen called a taxi for us while we ate one last wonderful breakfast.  The driver, Jose, loaded our bags in his sedan and drove us to Puerto San Jorge, the port in Rivas.  There are two options to get to Ometepe - the larger car-hauling ferry or the smaller more exciting lancha.  We opted for the latter.  Of course.

We road top deck, rather than underneath with the big crowd of others making their way to the island.  Us and all our bags!, and some guys motorcycle were about it.  I'm sure the locals thought we were nuts for riding topside.

The Clampett's go to Ometepe

And that, folks, is where the next post will start up!  See you next on Ometepe!

Which one will blow first?

Hasta pronto!