What's Happened Since Our Guests? (Part 1)

In the weeks since we had visitors, life has been mostly 'normal' - as normal as things get living here, anyway.  This post will be mostly chronological, designed to catch y'all up. 

Saturday and Sunday, May 24-25:
 - As we said before, we bought bikes.  In retrospect we should have maybe shopped a little but it all worked out in the end.  Miguel picked us up at the port and took us to a couple of places in Moyogalpa that sell bikes.  We found one nicer aluminum frame bike and one crappy steel frame bike, at two different locations.  We bought them both and they'll work for the time we're here.  I am definitely missing my Trek Rumblefish 29er, though!!

- Before we left the island, we had asked Hamilton if he could rig up a safer, easier method for us to get through the barbed wire fence that keeps the livestock out of the yard and allows us access to Playa Gringo.  Now that we have paddle boards, we know we'll be making more trips to the lake, so making this easier was somewhat of a priority.  Unhooking stretched barbed wire each time was just begging for tetanus.

Imagine our surprise when we got home to see just how fabulous a job Hamilton had down for us!  He and his son set posts, built and installed a stellar gate, poured concrete steps (and inscribed our names in the cement) and cleared the rocks from the gate to the waters edge to make our walk even easier.  Once again, amazed and humbled by the quality of work.  We were even more surprised when he went through the detailed invoice for the job.  It totaled a whopping $114, materials and labor.  Seriously, I would put this guys craftsmanship up against any contractor from the states - any day, any time.

We'll be famous after we've gone.

Now we can have a Le Mans start to our paddleboard races.

We also created a Greater Kiskadee habitat.

-While we were gone, we also got a new lawn.  Everything around our house sprouted and started growing.  Including some flowers.  Apparently we have a garden.

Week of May 26:

- Back to planning and teaching.  We started the week with review to make sure students were back in English-learning mode, then continued on with our Second Semester curriculum.  Present tenses for some, simple past for others, irregular verbs, readings, dialogues, quizzes, prepositions and adverbs for our intermediate group.

- Reactions to my lack of facial hair were hilarious and mixed.  Let's see…  let's start with the OBS kids.  The first graders were mesmerized, many didn't know who I was at first.  After the buzz died down the teacher, Julia, had me sit in a chair and had the kids line up.  One by one, they stepped up to assess my new look, then voted with a 'sin barba' or 'con barba' - without beard, with beard - to express their preference.  Then they started referring to me as Profesor Sin Barba (Teacher No Beard).

Que guapo.

A stop at Margarita's led to more fun.  Tia Margarita welcomed Bex! and greeted me with a short hug and a kiss on the cheek.  In hindsight she was doing that as a courtesy to Bex!, saying hello to this 'new friend' she had brought!  We sat down and she came back a few minutes later with beers and to see if we wanted food.  I asked her what she had that day - chicken, pork - and she started to answer.  Then she stopped, did a double take and stared at me, then started laughing as she realized who I was!  

I'm not sure how many 6'4" white guys she's seen with Bex!, so I was a little surprised that she hadn't figured it out right away when WE WALKED IN TOGETHER like we always do.

'You've been taking other guys to Margarita's?!?'  'Oh, just Jesner from First Grade to watch cartoons?'  'Okay, then.'

Then her nephew and our adult student, Juriel, came home.  He said hello to Bex!, then sat down, introduced himself to me and asked when I had arrived on Ometepe, how long I was staying and if I knew David.  I played along, not sure if he was being serious.  Now, I can keep a straight face as long as I need to.  Juriel is a joker, too, but I've not known him to maintain the ruse for too long before cracking up.  This conversation went on for a good 15 minutes before it dawned on him, then he lost it.  Pretty good stuff! 

Look.  Over there.

Walking to class I passed Marbeli, another of our adult beginner students.  She stopped, looked at me, tilted her head to one side then asked 'Are you David?' (in English).  Haha!  I reassured her that I was indeed David.  She said 'Okay' then continued on her way. 

High school student Priscilla introduced herself to me and said 'Pleased to meet you' when I told her my name was 'John'.

Ah, good times.

- We decided to have Gerald, one of Hamilton's crew, work on the bikes to get them all shipshape to ride.  He took them away and brought 'em back the next day, all greased, oiled, adjusted and ready.  However, he pointed out that the steel-frame bike had issues, especially with the tires.  Old rubber was cracking.  

The next morning the steelie had two flat tires and upon inspection both tubes were completely rotted.  How long had this thing been sitting there?!  Anyway, there is (to our surprise and future assurance) a place in Merida that sells bike stuff.  I guess it makes sense, since it's the predominant means of transportation, aside from walking.  Hamilton and H, Jr. came over, assessed the bikes and made a parts run.  Two new tires, two new tubes and 800 cordobas ($32) later, we had two rolling machines.  Woohoo!

- We continue to see our monkeys on a regular basis!  Cornelius, Zira and Milo come down the trail, cross the yard and climb into one of the large mango trees.  Or they make their way, tree to tree, along the lake.  We even saw Cornelius make his way to our olive tree and start in on some juicy tender leaves down low.  We stared at each other - human and monkey - sizing each other up.  It was a memorable moment.  For us, too.

- We also enjoy our three iguanas.  We have yet to name these guys, although Moe, Larry and Curly seems to fit.  Iguana is food here, so on more than one occasion we've had to let people know 'Nuestros iguanas no son para comer.'  (Our iguanas are not for eating.)

Our home improvements also created iguana habitat.

- We immediately got back on Tia's nacatamale delivery route.  On our first visit to Maragarita's after our return, we were going to ask but Tia beat us to it, telling us she was making them, asking us how many we wanted.  We're regular customers,  ya know.  The next day, Juriel made the drop at our house - six delicious, still hot bundles of joy.  Maybe this is a startup business for me when I get back to the states.  Biking around early in the morning, throwing nacatamales up on people's porches.  Hmmm…

- We were invited to celebrate Nicaragua's 'Dia de las Madres' (Mother's Day) with our friend Maykel's family.  Actually, his dad, Chema, invited us earlier in the week to this special event.  Leopoldina would be making her special fried chicken recipe and other tipica food.  It was de-lish and the chicken was most excellent.  Plus there was a special cake, so we had a wonderful dessert.  We were very honored to have been invited and included in this special day for a special lady.  Maykel's wife, Zoriel, and his sister, Ashly, are also moms, so I think they got a little extra cake.

Hey, are those fingerprints in the icing?!

Mmm… something baked...

- We took our first official paddleboard trips, taking them out twice over the course of the week.  My NRS Baron 6 is perfect for my size.  In fact - knock on madera - I have yet to fall off this bad boy.  Bex! is sporting the Earl 6, which is the model on which I learned to fall off a paddelboard with dignity and grace.  Plus, Mike and Anne loaned us dry bags, so we can take some school supplies if we should ever decide to paddle board to work here.  Which we will.

Me, on my board - not under my board.

Sunshine, on a cloudy day.

Filling up our casita with toys.

Week of June 2:
- For the first time since The Swiss students were here at the start of the school year, we welcomed a real live, honest to goodness volunteer!  Hip hip hooray!  Christina joined us, all the way from Rochester, NY.  She is a professor at one of the universities there, teaching Spanish and Linguistics.  She was awesome, right from the start.  Teaching kids was a big switch from her college classes but once we introduced her and she got the routine, she jumped right in.  Having a short term volunteer also allowed us to restart classes for the grade school kids in the afternoon, something we regrettably just don't have time for when we're 'sans volunteers'. 

I mentioned to Christina that my uncle was a retired lieutenant for the Rochester Police Department.  I gave her a look and asked if maybe she knew him.  Her eyes got big - "No, no - I'm a goody two shoes."  Haha!

- Bex! found plans online to make a hummingbird feeder from some recyclable materials - a plastic 20 oz. Coke bottle and and plastic container with a lid.  Pretty slick design.  We mixed up some sugar water and hung it up in a tree we could see from the porch.  No action yet, although the ants like it a lot.  And it may be difficult to attract any hummers, given that there are plenty of flowers on the island
[Note:  Thus far, a month or more in, zero hummingbirds, so we think this experiment is done.]

- Remember the fiesta we threw for Bex!'s folks?  Recall that Mike recorded Los Tigres de Ometepe and we were able to burn CDs for them, so they had their music to enjoy and share with others!  The band was thrilled with that, but we were able to do something even more incredible for them.  Mike works for the public radio station in Juneau, AK and he hosts his own 2 hour radio show each Wednesday evening, called 'Friends and Neighbors'.  

We invited the band over to our house - only Jehu and Chema were able to attend.  Mike played a bunch of their songs on his radio show!!  We had a map of North and Central America so we could show them where Juneau is and how far away it was.  These two guys were grinning from ear to ear the entire time (despite appearances from the picture below), listening to their music being played on the radio so far away, and knowing it was being heard by thousands of people!  Bex! kept an email conversation going with her dad during the broadcast, so he was able to let listeners know that Los Tigres were listening along with them, all the way down in Merida, Isla de Ometepe, Nicaragua.

Two-thirds of Los Tigres de Ometepe listening to their worldwide debut!

This was a pretty special evening for all of us!  We are trying to figure out what the next fiesta could be, so we can hire the band again.  

- Hamilton invited us to his home to celebrate his grandson's 7th birthday.  We felt honored to be included!  His wife and mother made some great food for the occasion - beef kabobs and roasted veggies were a real treat!  And we had cake, of course.  

We also witnessed a potential Toña beer commercial happening right before our eyes:
At one point in the evening, we ran out of beer, so Hamilton sent his son to get more.  He leaves on the motorcycle and returns a short time later with beer.. AND a hot Nica chick (his girlfriend).  It was pretty funny.
"It's good to combine your errands.  Why only pick up beer?  Drink Toña."

As I often discover, kids gravitate to me.  Or I gravitate to them.  Either way, my wife often accuses me of being a big kid at heart.  So it was no surprise to her that I ended up playing with the chavalos (children), organizing balloon games and relay races for them.  It was a blast!

Balloons + Kids + Dave = Fun and Laughter

'I Knew Them When: The Making of the Nicaraguan National Balloon Race Team'

If the nacatamale home delivery business doesn't work out, Dave could become a party catalyst for kids parties.

- We took our inaugural bike trip, a short ride down to Hacienda Merida and the bilingual school to catch the tail end of the Dia de los Nños (Children's Day) festivities.  This is a special day where school children are taught that they have the right to receive an education, to be respected, to be provided with health care, etc.  There were speeches made, which is why we decided to just catch the tail end of the gig.  Ha!  But we did have cake!

The kids enjoyed a piñata, then a special lunch… then they had cake!

Well, we missed the speeches on Dia de los Niños.  We didn't miss the cake.

- For our first actual ride of any distance, we met up with Christina and rode to the far end of Merida, in fact just outside of town, to have lunch at El Guanacaste Comedor.  This is a new restaurant that we've seen under construction over the last several months.  We marked the progress any time we passed by while on a chicken bus or taxi - the last time we passed, we saw they were open.

It was a good ride; the food was... okay.  Good to get out on the bike, though, and having a destination makes it easier to commit.

I think I can, I think I can, I think I can.

Week of June 9:
- Bex! got sick.  Really sick.  The sudden onset and severity had us worried that it might be dengue, which would be, ya know, bad.  High fever, extremely achy, headaches.  We had to rearrange our class schedule on the fly, day by day, until she felt well enough to teach again.  I picked up some extra classes and am happy to say we only had to cancel a couple of sessions.  Given our schedule this was a pretty neat trick to pull off.  Needless to say, by the end of the week I was beat.  But Bex! felt much better and was back in the saddle in no time.

- While I was out teaching one afternoon, Bex! had a visitor in the house.  This little guy got inside and had a hard time finding his way out.  With Bex! helping, nudging and cajoling, he finally made it.  She ID'd him later as an immature (baby) woodpecker.  Note the elongated big toe, designed to hang on to the side of trees.  His head will turn red as he matures.

This is just a house.  Definitely not a birdhouse.

*****     *****     *****
There is oh so much more that's happened but I think that's good enough for Part 1!  More to come - soon!