Catch Up Time!!

OMG!!  Did you see that!?!?

Now that I have your undivided attention...

Other random things that have happened between late February and mid-March-ish…

1)  First and foremost, we (sadly) said goodbye to our volunteers.  Liz and Evan left on February 17th to see other parts of Nicaragua; Kelly and her family left the following Tuesday; and The Swiss left on Saturday.  These people were a HUGE help in getting our educational offerings and those of the Ometepe Bilingual School off to a great start.  We cannot thank them enough, which is why I keep tooting their collective horn.

Volunteers have such a huge impact on the people here - all of these folks did, to be sure.  And the four incredible young folks from Europe made some real friends in Merida.  The locals asked us if they could throw a going away party for them at our house.  Sounded great to us and it was quite a bash.

Let's get this party started!

Impromptu bachata lessons for all.

Chanchitos!

Bex! and Ella should have traded places - Do you know why?

2)  A few days before The Swiss left, we ran out of toner for our printer.  We decided to hitch a ride Saturday morning with the kiddies, ride the ferry over to see them off and hit Rivas for a day trip to stock up on ink cartridges and a handful of other things.  This day trip was made uncomfortable and awkward because I was wee bit hungover from the going away party.  No worries - I am a veteran at this! 

Perhaps we should teach a lesson on slang terms for nauseated outputs

We waited roadside for the van to get us, then hopped in and made the bumpy ride to the paved road, then on to Moyogalpa.  Ferry ride was fine, if not a little nausea inducing for some of us.  I'm talking to you, Mini-Me!!  After saying goodbyes, we caught a taxi into Rivas, walked and shopped, had lunch, hopped another cab to the MaxiPali for some food items, then back to the port in time to catch the 3:30 PM ferry back to the island.  Getting on this particular boat was important because it allowed us to catch the 4:45 chicken bus back to Merida.  Great plan and it worked perfectly, except…

For some reason, the bus decided it wasn't going all the way back to Merida that night.  Of course, we weren't told this until we were already on the bus and on our way.  When we boarded, we asked if they were going to Merida, they said 'Si, si!' and then changed their mind and only went as far as Altagracia.  Hmmm…  We had met another traveler on the ferry, an Aussie gal who was doing turtle research in Central America.  She was going to Merida and was tagging along with us.  Dropped short of our destination, we walked to the Hotel Central a few blocks away and had them call a cab to get us the rest of the way home.  Poor driver was home relaxing and ended up bringing his family with him for the ride.  This unexpected cab ride ended up costing us more money but split three ways, not too bad.

We've since discovered that the bus in question sometimes goes all the way to Mérida, only on week days it seems.  Bex! shakes her fist at it whenever she finds it parked in town at night.  Honey, let it go.

3)  The next day, we got an interesting phone call from Adolpho.  He is the property manager for our house and lives in Moyogalpa.  It seems the driver from the night before, who lives in Altagracia, had found a credit card in his rig and assumed it belonged to us or our Aussie friend.  Okay, fine - makes sense.  How the driver knows Adolpho is one thing.  People here seem to have a lot of contacts amongst other locals.  But how the driver knew WE knew Adolpho is a mystery.  How he knew to call Adolpho to contact us about the credit card - weird.  (P.S.  The card did not belong to either of us or the Aussie, but it did bolster our faith in the goodness of people.)

4)  Bex! killed her first scorpion.  Probably not her last one, either.

Adorable litter buggers, aren't they?

5)  Thinking about food and menus and cooking (normal for us) we wanted to buy some local honey.  This would be a nice treat and we had seen a sign on the far end of town at a house - 'Se Vende Miel' (Honey for Sale).  Awesome.  But the next day, lo and behold, a young boy named Brian, 8-9 years old, who attends one of our classes and lives nearby, comes running down the path and slides deftly under the barbed wire fence with two 20 oz. Coke bottles full of honey!  His dad had collected it and he was making the rounds to sell.  We bought one bottle - we've since tasted it and we should've bought 'em both.  Next time.

6)  There is a family from Colorado who lives here, housesitting for a friend while building a place of their own.  Jen is a dance instructor back home and offered to hold dance classes for the kids at OBS.  It's pretty awesome to see the kids counting out steps!  She does a great job with incorporating movement and music into an English lesson, too.  As part of the warm up activities they do a stretch with the chant "Touch your toe, rainbow"; later, I heard many students chanting to themselves as they colored the rainbows in our St Patrick's Day lesson.  Glad to have her here!!  Her 14 year old son, Jalen, helps us with the first grade classes, too.  

7)  We were struggling with the high school class.  The behavior of the kids was subpar, to put it nicely, with many disruptions and a lot of screwing around.  It was getting frustrating, to the point where I just packed up one night and walked out.  This actually helped a little because most of the kids want to be there, so they were mad at the ones who show up just to goof off.  Bex! laid down the law, introducing the rules of English class, with which we now begin each and every class.  
- 'Be on time' - Tough one in this culture.  Now we start each class with a warm up activity and have a cut off time for students.  Show up too late, no admittance.
- 'No talking'  - Should be easy for kids of this age, but...  
- 'No fooling around' - The classes are fairly large, usually 16-20 students, and we're holding them in the OBS preschool room, designed to comfortably hold 12 short kindergartners.  So the desks and chairs are tiny.  Plus there are a lot of distractions, but we do our best.
- 'Raise your hand to talk' - The technique here at all grade levels seems to be 'scream the answer out'.  Now we don't call on anyone or accept an answer unless a student has their hand in the air first.  
- 'Go directly home after class' - The school is located on the site of a hotel, so it's tempting for kids to hang out in the hammocks, run around the buildings and generally disrupt what little peace and quiet one might find here.  We added this rule after a couple kids got into trouble with their parents for after-class shenanigans.  We've also seen scowls from guests and heard of complaints, so we make sure kids leave the grounds when class is wrapped.

We're learning.

8)  Attendance at some classes has been disappointing.  Part of having their kid in the bilingual school is that parents will support the schools' initiative at home.  So we thought it would be a great idea to hold a class for parents.  We would teach them the same English their kids were learning so that they could converse at home, thus reinforcing it for everyone.  No go.  Maybe it was a timing thing, although we talked with the parents to determine the best time of day for the class.  Attendance was sporadic, at best.  Usually, no one showed.  We've since dropped that class and added a beginners class to the early morning.  This class grew quickly and is a huge success.  Plus it's nice for us because we hold it at our house on the porch!

The intermediate adults have been an issue, as well.  There are a few that show pretty regularly but others that rarely do.  But it's the high season here and many of them work as guides or in the hotel/restaurant, so they're making money while they can.  We're confident attendance will improve as soon as the rains come!!

9)  We had some very unwanted guests trying to move into our house.  A colony of large ants was building a nest under the kitchen counter.  Bad move on their part.  Home pesticide sprays rock!

10)  A church group from South Carolina showed up for their annual volunteer trip.  They stay at Hacienda Merida but do work at a school for the deaf in another town on the island. This time around, Alvaro agreed to let some of the high school kids in the group volunteer in the bilingual school.  We, the Volunteer Coordinators, had no knowledge of this before the deal was struck.  Kelly and Liz, with Bex!, had JUST finished drafting the documents for OBS stating the rules and policies for volunteering and spending time with the kids.  And none of those are 'you can just volunteer at the last minute, with no vetting or orientation'.  Plus, volunteers are asked to donate at least two weeks, preferably longer, so they can build an actual relationship and have a real impact.  This group was only here for four days.  The school does not have a drive up window for drop-in do-gooders.  The children are not tourist attractions, either.  The primary take away from the OBS mission statement, philosophy and other documentation is that the single most important thing is 'what's best for the children'.  Drop in volunteers are NOT good for the children.  It's disruptive, scary and confusing to them.

Unfortunately, Alvaro had said yes to the church group, so we went to the hotel to meet with them, explained the situation and made it clear that we were there to look out for the kids.  We explained that the children needed routine and stability, that we wanted no more than two volunteers per classroom, and that we wanted the same people for the entire week.  The leader and other adult volunteers were nodding in agreement the entire time "Oh, yes.  Absolutely.  The children are the priority.  We agree.  That is entirely correct."  Blah blah blah.  After shining us on, they pretty much blew us off and tried to send in different people every day they were there.  We talked them down and met in the middle, with a couple of the people remaining consistent throughout the week.  

For this situation the children were indeed just another attraction on the island.  'Climb the volcano!  Kayak to the swamp!  Spend a day with the cute children!  Feed the monkeys!'

'Frustrated' and 'pissed off' doesn't begin to describe our feelings.

11)  Our shelf arrived!  Our shelf arrived!  Our house has no closets or shelving for storage so we commissioned a local guy to make a huge shelf unit for us.  It's gorgeous, hand crafted from local wood, two meters tall by a 1.5 meters wide with deep shelves - and cost a whopping $180.  It swallowed up all our belongings and left the floor much easier to sweep and mop.
  

12)  We are getting better at lesson planning!  It's a real struggle for me; Bex! is a natural.  Still, it takes some serious scheduling to make each week work.  We use a whiteboard to lay out all the classes, fill in the class topic for each level, location and time slot, then figure out which one of us is teaching which classes.  Then we start making up lesson plans.  It's getting easier, thank goodness!

Week 1: Lines, arrows, colors, chaos

Week 10: We are a well-organized machine

13)  One thing that makes lesson planning easier now is that we finally got internet run to our house!  Hooray!  Cindi, the owner, has a wifi tower at her place nearby and had paid for the line to be run to our place.  You know how much of a hassle it is to schedule the cable guy to come to your house?  Well, imagine trying to schedule the 'cable guy' to get here!!  The company is based in Managua = a two hour drive south to Puerto San Jorge = an hour on the ferry = another hour+ drive to Merida, part of which is on the crappy road = then you have to do the job you came to do.  Yoinks!  After many promises of 'we'll be there tomorrow' they finally actually did show up!  

Another interesting thing about this:  If you've traveled in places like this before, you've seen crazy things with power lines and electricity.  People just run lines from the road and drape the line through tree branches and fence posts.  There is no 'code'.  Usually just live wires running from the power pole to the house by whatever means gets the line there.  Wire nuts are seldom used - usually just electrical tape.  But for the internet line, they actually dug a trench all the way from the tower to our place (80-100 meters) and buried the line in plastic conduit!!  We were amazed!  And grateful, of course.

Electric spaghetti

14)  There was a group of journalists from France traveling through Nicaragua.  They arranged to make  a stop in Merida to visit the bilingual school.  Since Bex! speaks French, Alvaro called on her to help with the tour.  As is usually the case, she rawked and we had a good time and got a free lunch.  The group consisted of writers and photographers from some big publications, like National Geographic (French edition).  Pretty cool - hope they used some of what they got here.

Learning Spanish is hard enough for us.  After Bex! dug deep into her brain and spoke French for the afternoon, we went home and a short time later her head exploded.

15)  We settled into a nice routine with our first graders and kindergarteners.  We start each English lessons with a story book.  Then we sing some songs.  After that we do whatever activity we have planned for the day - a farm tour, a nature walk, games, coloring, drawings - then we wrap up with a couple of more songs and that's it.  

Sad to say that kids here don't have access to books, so they LOVE stories!  When we first introduced our routine to the kids, it took a while for them to get into it.  We had to wrangle kids to get them to sit down for story time.  But now, we simply hold the book up and most of them hustle over to sit; they all want to sit in the front row.  Sometimes they even bring a chair for us to sit in for reading to them.  And when the story is finished, we are met with a rousing "Thank you, Profesor!"  It's been a fun transition to see.  Like I said, we're figuring this teaching thing out, slowly but surely.

16)  We showed up one afternoon to work with the first graders - part of the normal schedule.  We teach English to them from 1-2 PM, which works well because Julia, the teacher, has to leave at 1 PM.  Except this day she was still there, and stayed after we finished.  Turns out that for reasons still unbeknownst to us, the Tuesday class was now being held from noon to five instead of 8-2 like every other day.  [Note:  Recently it switched back to the regular schedule.  Who knows - we just show up.]

17)  We swim whenever we can.  Our place is on the lake, so it's easy access.  Our schedule during the week is pretty busy so there are days when we just can't dip in.  But weekends are for swimming, for sure!

Dry season means there is a water shortage in the village each year around this time.  This leads to night time dunks in the lake, just to bathe and cool off prior to going to bed!

18)  We took a day trip to Moyogalpa, just to get out of the village and see what the port city had to offer other than boat rides to/from the mainland.  There are certain foods we miss and one of those foods is a nice, big sandwich on good bread.  They have bread here but it's dry, bland, and usually not very good.  But the Cornerhouse Cafe is fantastic!  Run by an ex-pat Brit named Gary and his Canadian wife, they bake their bread fresh daily and offer amazing food and fresh fruit smoothies, plus great coffee.  It's now a definite stop each time we pass through, time permitting.

We also bought a plastic table for the porch.  Makes working outside in the breeze and breeze.  Plus we hit the grocery store in town and scored some great food items!!  Crunchy peanut butter, soy sauce, spices.  Magic!  

19)  A group of students from the University of Virginia showed up.  They were here to volunteer their time in building the new schoolhouse.  A couple of the students expressed an interest in the school, and were exploring the options for returning to spend some time there.  Awesome!  

There was also a small group from Cornell University that was doing some sort of research project. And Cornell absconded with one of the school's whiteboards which made teaching a little difficult.  They returned it when they left.  

The biggest problem was the rearranged class locations for OBS.  The first grade schoolhouse is under construction, so their classes were being held in the courtyard of the hotel.  Not ideal but it's the only place.  But Cornell took that over so the kids were shuffled to the kindergarten classroom, which pushed the youngsters out into an 'open air' setting.  But the noise from construction on the new school was too much, so all the kids were moved to the downstairs apartment of Alvaro and Esther's place.  They run the hotel and the school and live right across the road.  For us, we played the game of 'where are the kids today?' each time we showed up that week.  Poor kids were rattled after the moves.  The first grade teacher shared with us that the day of the first move the first grade kids showed up in their normal space (the courtyard) and several of them said "Profa, where's my desk?" in a very worried tone.

20)  Having fully settled into our place and figuring out the food shopping thing, we thoroughly enjoy our time at home.  Teaching and planning lessons is hard work.  I know that now.  But it is rewarding and makes our down time feel even more special.

Meals are especially fantastic, now that we can cook for ourselves!!

Red, Yellow, Green - The colors of our flag (Our being Playa Gringo, not Nicaragua)

And our swim time is refreshing and wonderful, even more so with a Toña in hand!

Hasta Pronto!!

Crazy Hectic Week

But then - how is that any different from all the other weeks?!

Living out of a hotel is fine for a while, but having our own place would make us feel like we were home.  Knowing the house was ready was exciting beyond words.  This was kind of a big day in that we really felt like part of the community and the commitment we'd made to stay for the full year seemed achievable.  As social and extroverted as I am, I enjoy my privacy and quiet time - neither of which is possible at the hotel.  Our own home would allow us time to unwind, time for us to be ourselves and not have to always be 'on'.  

Our first round of shopping for the house now complete, it was only a matter of waiting for the phone call that we could move in.  We had things pretty much ready to go, except for our clothes and personal items.  Heck, we had time to get that stuff packed later that afternoon, right?  (foreshadowing…)  

Hamilton said he could arrange for a truck to come to the hacienda to load us up and deliver directly to our new home.  This turned out to be money well spent.  All we knew is that the move was happening Monday (10 Feb) and that it would happen late afternoon.  So imagine our surprise when Hamilton, the truck and five guys showed up around ten AM!  Ah, Nica's and this thing we call 'time'.  No matter - we scrambled to get our crap shoved into suitcases and backpacks, made sure the Super Volunteers could cover classes for the afternoon then fire-lined our belongings onto the back of the flatbed truck.  From the time they showed up to the time we drove away from the hotel took maybe five minutes.

Load 'em up...

… head 'em out!

And maybe five minutes after that, we were parked in front of our house!  The crew unloaded our stuff in a matter of minutes and - poof! - drove away.  Amazing thing, too, considering that there really isn't an actual road that runs to our house.  It's more of a wide-enough-in-most-spots trail that the driver was able to pick his way through to get to our front yard.  Our official address is 'near the evangelical church, 100 meters toward the lake'.  So if you wanted to send us home-baked cookies, a nice lasagna, some Alaskan salmon or Chico's pizza…

Volcán Maderas in the background

Our office

The owner of our place, Cindi,  lives in New Mexico, USA.  She has a property manager who lives in Moyogalpa and he met us at the house.  Adolpho is a great guy and we have some cool pics of the 'key exchange', when we moved in and received the keys.  We wanted to send them to Cindi so she could enjoy the moment from afar.  

No novelty size key was available.

Our house…  In the middle of the jungle… Our house...

The house came furnished with a new queen bed, a hand-made wood table with four chairs, a CTCU (Cerveza Temperature Control Unit or 'refrigerator') and a two-burner, propane cookstove.  Home sweet home!  First thing we did was move the bed to the front bedroom on the lake side of the house because it has two windows, air circulation being a key to survival in this climate.  Plus we like looking out the window and seeing the water.

I scrounged up enough bricks on the property to build a cute little fire pit and a small bench…

For roasting marshmallows… or iguanas

Or meditating about marshmallow stuffed iguanas.

We got our 'unpack and organize' game going, which was a lot of fun.  And when I say 'organize', I mean that in the loosest sense of the word because, you see, homes here aren't big on closets or shelves or cabinets.  Our place?  Two small shelves and a fair amount of counter space in the kitchen.  And that's it.  So when I say we got organized, I really mean we unpacked and created assorted piles of stuff on the floors, the table and the counter.

[Note:  Since moving in, we have commissioned and received a medicine cabinet for the bathroom (a beautiful, handmade piece with a mirrored door) and a very large shelf unit, which contains most everything - clothes, suitcases, musical instruments, etc.  Most of the floor is now clear!!]

Now that we had our own place, it was also time to go grocery shopping.  if you know us, you know that this always puts a smile on our faces.  We love to cook and, even though our kitchen was somewhat basic, we were ecstatic to be able to cook for ourselves.  There are limited options here - several pulperias (small convenience stores), usually run out of a home; the 'WalMart', which is essentially a large pulperia, that also carries some clothing and shoes - lots and lots of shoes; Fruitlandia - a roadside produce stand run by Doña Clara and her family; Margarita's, run by Tia Margarita, where we purchase our beer and rum.

We hit the stores, bought what we could find and stocked the fridge and the shelves as best we could.   Since we walk around the village almost every day, we typically buy stuff each time we're out.  The stores here get deliveries, yes, but once they're sold out of something, it's gone til the next truck makes it here.  Check out what Bex! has to say about our food shopping experiences in her terrific blog post here.  Or, you know, back there a few words on the clickable part.

Profesora on her way to teach, first walk up the path from our house

The rest of the week went well - we taught our classes, we marveled at the wonderful volunteers we were blessed to have and we thoroughly enjoyed being able to watch sunsets from our porch, sleep in our own home, shower in our own bathroom and cook meals in our own kitchen.  Since we were now in our new house, we figured we'd make it official and have a housewarming party!!  This was mostly inspired by The Swiss, who are all 19 years old (mas 0 menos), enjoy a great party and kept asking when the housewarming party was going to be.  Plus, Liz and Kelly mentioned it a few times.  And, hell, we like a good gathering, too.  So - boom! - party time.  There are good parties but the sign of a great party is when uninvited guests show up.

"The cows brought milk to the party.  What did YOU bring, Horse??"

We bought beer and some snacks, a couple of bottles of Flor de Caña appeared, friends from the community as well as our fellow volunteers came and we had a grand old time.  It was during the party that Bex! spotted a cockroach in our kitchen!!  We figure he was just checking out the new occupants.  We 'evicted' him, if you know what I mean.  Haven't seen any since.  While it was great to have our friends here, with drinks and music and dancing and games, it was a gift from Liz and Evan that was really special.  If you recall, Liz and Evan are from Aurora, Oregon so they're practically neighbors of ours.  And they gifted us with some Oregon hazelnuts!!  A taste of home, to be sure, and one we cherished each time we enjoyed them.

The party was awesome and everyone had a good time.  Sunday was spent recovering from the frivolity, of course.  Usual chores, planning for the week, requisite swim in the lake.  Sunday evening we were invited over to a friend's house for dinner.  Nora works at Hacienda Merida and her son, Franklin, is in the OBS kindergarten class.  This was our first invitation to a locals home for a meal, so we didn't really know what to expect.  We got there, met Nora's family and sat around a big table in their front yard.  Like many places in the world, families often live in close proximity to one another.  Nora's brother lived next door, other relatives lives across the path.  Her mother and father even showed up to dine with us, even though they are no longer married.  This was quite an honor, really.  

Well, weren't these self-described foodies shocked as the food came out!  Perfectly baked thin crust pizza, a delicious vegetable lasagna, delicately breaded and fried chicken.  What an amazing spread!  Don't get me wrong - we knew the food would be incredible but we were expecting plato tipico - traditional Nicaraguan fare.  This meal had a somewhat Italian slant to it, which caught us off guard just a wee bit.  Then we met Nora's brother.    The same Nora's brother who married an Italian girl and lived in Italy and was visiting the island for a few weeks.  Ah!  This explained the menu!  What a special treat!  The food was amazing, we had a blast conversing with Nora and her family.  Her brother speaks English so, with Bex!, they were able to help both sides along in conversation.  It was a fantastic evening, made even better when a bottle of vin santo appeared on the table, straight from Italy and was served in the appropriate style - with cantucci, a biscotti-type cookie which you dunk in the chilled vin santo and eat.

We've had vin santo and cantucci before, back home.  Bex! brought it back from her trip to Italy a few years ago.  But never in our wildest imaginations did we expect to experience such a feast and such a dessert on our jungle island in Nicaragua. 

Buenas noches de la casa de professores.

Time For More Shopping!

As we wrapped up our first week of teaching, we also got the news from Hamilton that our house would be ready on Monday!  Woohoo!  This meant only one thing - we had to bug out and hit the mainland to do some serious shopping for household goodies.  We left Friday's OBS classes to the Super Volunteers so we could catch the early morning chicken bus to Moyogalpa.  After grabbing some lunch there, we boarded the ferry heading to Rivas.  Except for some reason the ferry took forever to leave the dock and then when it did it chugged along very slowly even though the lake looked as though it was cooperating nicely.  Who knows why.  We were already feeling a little stressed about what we had lined up to accomplish on this mad dash.  We had a pretty long shopping list and a tight schedule to keep to find everything we needed.

We did see something cool, something we somehow missed on previous ferry trips.  To spin the boat around, they tie off the bow out in the lake, then the captain guns the engines and the ferry sort of spins around on its own length so he can back it in for unloading/reloading.  Pretty neat move - this part we'd seen before.  The new, cool part was the guy who jumps overboard and swims/wades to the pylon in the lake to secure the line so the captain can look good!

That's a strange looking fish.

When we finally made the port, we thought we'd stop in and say 'hi' to our friend, Darwin.  He works for Hacienda Merida and is one of our intermediate-level students.  The hacienda has an information kiosk at the port, and it's staffed by a handful of the hotel's English speaking employees.  They intercept tourists heading to Ometepe, offer them maps and information.  Many travelers hop the ferry to the island without any real plans on where they are staying.  This is where the kiosk staff work their magic, nudging visitors toward Merida and the hacienda.  Good marketing, actually.

We were excited to surprise Darwin!  Yeah, except he wasn't at the information cart.  In fact, we didn't see him anywhere.  Feeling somewhat responsible for the success of the hotel, since we're affiliated with it through the bilingual school, I stepped in and manned the cart for a while.  Okay, really just long enough for some pictures to blackmail Darwin.

Darwin 2.0 (taller, smarter, better looking)

Feeling disappointed (and sad), we grabbed a taxi to take us to La Mision, our hotel of choice in Rivas.  We got checked in, dropped our backpacks in 'our' room - the same room we'd stayed in before - and headed out to shop.  Since the ferry trip took longer than expected, it was late in the afternoon and some stores were getting ready to close for the day.  Fortunately, we hit several shops before they locked down and were able to cross a bunch of stuff off the ol' list!  We found knives, forks, spoons, a dish rack, some cleaning supplies and more stuff for classes.  

We also hit the street market again, which is always a treat.  These markets are 'love it or hate it' - they are pure chaos and I love the vibe.  So does the wife.  It's so entertaining to people watch… and horse watch… and cow watch… and chicken watch.  There are people on foot, on bike, on horse, in pedicabs and taxis.  I know it's not for everyone but I get a rush out of it.  We found a few more items there and then called it a day.  Time for some dinner.

We decided to try one of the other pizza places in town - Pizza Hot.  Whether this is an intentional play on 'Pizza Hut', I don't know.  More power to them.  Like Pizza Hut, the food was so-so.  In fact, we're not entirely sure we got the exact pizza we ordered.  I think maybe the toppings were different.  Oh well.  Pizza is pizza is pizza.  And we can't get it in Merida, so any different food is good food.  

As an added bonus, we were able to reach another island friend of ours to meet us for dinner.  Noldan lives in Merida and, like Darwin, is one of our intermediate-level students.  Noldan and his family are incredible.  In fact, we hold one of our beginners classes at their house three times a week.  Noldan's father and two of his sisters come to class regularly.  Knowing that Noldan attends college on the weekends in Rivas, we called him and he met us for pizza.  We had a great visit with him. It's always fun for us to 'hang out' with our new friends.  We converse in English and Spanish, with everyone learning something.  Good times!  

After dinner, we said goodbye to our friend and walked around the parque central, then made our way back to the hotel.  Day one of our shopping weekend was successful!

The next day, we got up kinda early and had breakfast.  We were heading to the big city to find items we knew we'd only find in Managua - good quality pots and pans, bed sheets, towels.  Yep, we were heading to a mall!  We had called our taxi driver from before, our buddy Pedro, and worked out a price for the entire day.  Pedro showed up right on time - in fact, a little early - so we finished up coffee/tea, got our things together and met him in the lobby.  

Hmm… wait a sec.

It had been a few weeks since we had last seen Pedro.  And he had driven us just twice, both short trips.  But he was really nice and friendly - remember, it was Pedro who drove us by his home to show us his fruit trees.  Yes, we saw him face to face when he helped us load suitcases, but in a taxi you mostly see the back of the drivers head, right?  What I'm getting at is this:  we were pretty sure - but not entirely positive - that this guy wasn't Pedro.  In hindsight, we pieced together that since we were going to spend the whole day driving around and going into the city, that maybe:  1] Pedro's car wasn't up to the miles; 2] Pedro's car wasn't street legal in the city; 3] Pedro was possibly worried about our comfort.  Granted, thinking back, his car was a little beat up - fine for a short trip from the port to our hotel.  But this car was pretty nice.  Newer model, clean, roomy, AC.  Plus this version of Pedro seemed much younger.

The really embarrassing part, though, was that he seemed to know us by name, where we had been and what we needed to accomplish for the weekend.  Problem was, we didn't know his name.  We think we heard him say his name was Pablo.  But we had called Pedro to arrange the day trip.  More hindsight:  when we called Pedro to hire him for the day, we figure Pedro had called this guy to take the job because he had a better ride.  Pedro had apparently filled him in on who we were and what we were doing.  In the end, it was fine and we now have a new driver we call Pedro Pablo, who is every bit as awesome as Original Pedro. 

One very important item on our shopping list:  hammocks (qty - 2).  Our house has a big porch facing the lake and we had already cleared it with Hamilton and Adolpho (property manager), so we were going to make sure we had these babies for our relaxing  time.  In Nicaragua, if you're buying hammocks there is only one place to get them - Masaya.  The artists there have been making them for decades and they are top quality, hand made, gorgeous - and cost us $40 for two of them.  The entire craft market was insane!  Remember I said how much we enjoy the scene?  This was sensory overload.  Pedro Pablo knew exactly where to take us, so after zigging and zagging around to get us parked, we were off to find hammocks.  First we had to walk around the outdoor part of the produce market - kinda like the pre-market.  The street was lined with vendors who maybe can't afford to rent a stall in the regular market area, so they set up on the sidewalk and along the road to sell.

We followed Pedro Pablo, trying to keep up with him as he maneuvered his way into the market proper.  I don't have any pictures of this because it was all I could do to push my way through the crowded narrow aisles while trying to keep Bex! and our tour guide in sight.  Wow!  This path curved along the outside of the market building.  These vendors had carts and stalls and pop-up tents set up along either side, making the width of the walkway even narrower than it already seemed.  I looked up to see Pedro Pablo stopped, then he turned to make eye contact with us and motioned us to follow him inside.  Ahhh - a short cut.  The street scene was too crowded and he felt we could make better time inside. 

We went from narrow aisles outside in daylight to dimly lit, skinnier aisles inside the building.  And - seriously - once inside, I couldn't quite tell which way was out.  This market was huge.  Pedro Pablo zigged left and zagged right several times and finally we ended up in an area of the mercado that had a bunch of folks selling what we came for - hammocks.  After that, it was on us to find ones we liked.  After much searching for the right style (yes, hammocks come in different shapes, lengths, designs, etc) and colors (too many colors/combinations to grasp!), we picked two and started the negotiation.  This is the fun part!  The vendor, a middle aged woman, had a twinkle in her eye.  She was up for this, too!  We asked how much.  She responded with something ridiculously high.  We countered with something way too low.  She countered.  We countered.  She said no.  We started to walk away.  She called us back.  She agreed, smiled and we handed her two 500 cordoba bills ($40).

Then she explained that she was going to take the money to the cashier, the person who handles the money for the vendors in the stalls.  This lady worked on commission, so she told us she was going to take the money over, tell the cashier that she sold the hammocks not for 1,000 cordobas for 900.  Then she would bring us back 100 in change, which we would slip to her as a tip.  This way she makes 100 cord ($4) from us directly and gets a commission for selling two hammocks.  Fine by us.  Maybe that's why she had that twinkle in her eye.

After Masaya, we drove into Managua.  This was our first trip here, other than arriving in the dark at the airport four months before.  Pedro Pablo drove us straight to Galarias Santo Domingo, one of the largest malls in Managua.  It was like Miami threw up in Nicargua.  A different world than anything we had experienced in quite some time.  Huge, sprawling, glitzy, flashy, LOUD.  All kinds of stores that we'd last seen way back in the US.  A teensy bit overwhelming for us.  Pedro Pablo told us the best store for us to hit for the things we were looking for - Almacenes Simon - and he was right.  We found our bed sheets there; towels; pots and pans, plus a nifty little all-around pot for boiling/pouring hot liquids.  We had a few instances of total deer-in-the-headlights bewilderment because there were so many choices - too many choices.  But we got through it and found Pedro Pablo waiting for us at the mall entrance.

After this, it was off to Alke, a popular kitchen supply store, kind of like a Kitchen Kaboodle back home.  They carry everything from home cook stuff to professional size and grade restaurant kitchen equipment.  Here we found nice wooden spoons, a cutting board, kitchen tongs and the Holy Grail of MY personal shopping agenda - a French press for my coffee.  As far as I was concerned, the trip could end now and be considered a success.

No such luck.  After we scored at Alke (there's a joke in this name somewhere, but I can't quite get it right in my head so will leave it be) we went to the MetroCentro mall, specifically to hit a large libreria (office/school supply store).  Here we found a small pizarra (whiteboard), great for our classes.  Since it was right before classes started for the public schools, this store was a madhouse!!  We picked up a few items here and were pretty much done in Managua!!  Hooray!

We left the big city and found a roadside parilla (grill) just out of town for lunch.  Great food!  Cool spot, open air, huge wood-fired grill going out front, busy place with lots of cars, trucks, horse carts stopping in.  After lunch, we headed back toward Rivas and, on the way,  had a great discussion with Pedro Pablo about his country's politics.  

El Presidente Daniel Ortega  is actually somewhat popular, mostly with the younger crowd, mainly because he accomplished most of the agenda he promised when he was elected in 2007.  This was mostly in the form of road improvements that the previous dictatorship had been promising for years.  He got it done.  I've mentioned in previous posts that the primary roads in Nicaragua are generally fantastic, much superior to Costa Rica's.  Pedro Pablo explained that Ortega kind of snuck in because the opposing party (the Samoza regime) was divided between two candidates - incumbents with a long history of corruption and bad blood.   As a third party candidate, Ortega was able to slide in because Nicaragua's two main candidates were constantly infighting, backstabbing, bickering, mud slinging and generally not accomplishing a damn thing.  Sound familiar, United States of America??  Yeah, I thought it might.  These two knuckelheads split the vote and Ortega took advantage.  It's a lot like Ralph Nader splitting the Democratic vote or the Tea Baggers fracturing the Republican Party.  It was a very insightful conversation and it was good to get this amount of detail from a regular guy, not a news organization or politician.  

Ortega isn't perfect.  For example, he recently pushed through legislation abolishing term limits, which equals 'dictator' which equals 'bad in the long run'.  For a lot of older Nicaraguans, too, memories of life under Ortega's Sandinista party in the 1970-80's are too vivid for them to even consider supporting the modern-day party led by him, but this time around he's put people to work and improved the infrastructure of his country.  Politics aside, Nicaragua is on the rise.  It's breathtakingly beautiful.  Visit before it turns into Co$ta Rica.

Since our shopping had wrapped up earlier than expected, thanks to the mad skilz of Pedro Pablo, he suggested we detour off the main road and visit the mirador (viewpoint) overlooking  Laguna de Apoyo.  The viewpoint area was bustling with visitors and vendors selling the usual Latin American souvenirs.  The town near the mirador is known for it's nurseries and artesian wares.  It's a very beautiful little mountain town that caters to tourists.  The views over the lake were spectacular.

A beautiful lake in the crater of dormant Volcán Apoyo

That bit of white you see at about one o'clock (looking at the picture above), is the oldest town in Central America - Granada; and beyond that is Lago de Nicaragua, the lake where our home of Ometepe is located.  After soaking in the sights and relaxing for a while, it was time to finish the drive back to Rivas.  

Feeling rather accomplished - and worn out - we celebrated by going to Mango's for dinner.  This time we weren't alone!  There were actually several other people there, which made it seem more festive.  We had a great dinner and chatted with Alain, one of our new friends who lives in Rivas.  After dinner, we meandered through this diamond-in-the-rough of a town and made our way back to the hotel.  Needless to say, we slept well that night!

The next morning, we had breakfast, checked out, and loaded our bounty into Pedro Pablo's cab.  We had him stop at the MaxiPali so we could pick up some food and household items.  This was mostly painless except that we were in a bit of hurry so as not to miss the particular ferry we wanted.  It didn't take too long, thankfully.

Yoinks!  Purple broom or blue broom?  Green tea or black tea?  This pot or that pot?  Decisions, decisions!

We finished up shopping and headed to the port.  But first, Pedro Pablo wanted to show us his house and introduce us to his parents.  We stopped off at his place where we met Señor and Señora Pedro Pablo and also got a tour of their expansive orchard, which is located right in their backyard in the middle of this residential neighborhood.  Impressive!  Coconut, plantains, bananas, avocados, grapefruit, oranges.  They have a lot of land.  Best thing we learned is that instead of selling the literal fruits of their labors, deemed too much work by Señor Pedro Pablo, they give it away to family, friends, neighbors, churches.  Pretty awesome!

After saying our goodbyes to the folks, we were dropped at the port to catch our water ride home.  One cool thing we noticed is that Pedro Pablo made sure we got waved through the tourist checkpoint.  You see, tourists pay an extra fee to enter the port area.  We're not considered tourists; we're residents.  Yep, we're Nica.  We thanked Pedro Pablo for a great weekend and for all his help.  In typical Nicaraguan fashion, he replied 'con mucho gusto' - with much pleasure.  He was happy to help us and we were glad to have him.  We waited a bit…

"Guard that fan with your life!!"

… and soon enough, the boat arrived and proceeded to unload.  

As soon as we could, we wrangled our goods on board and found seats.  The guys running the boat actually charged us a little extra because we had 'cargo'.  Yeah, okay - whatever.  We made the crossing and were on our way back to Merida.  

We were ready to move into our new home!!

'Grab Your Pencils! Grab Your Books!'

And don't give Teacher dirty looks!

Make your lunch!  Grab your pack!
Because it's time… to go back!

Back to school!  Back to school!
We are going back to school!!

We started teaching in Week Two!  After being back on the island only a week - one week, people!! - we kicked off 'Bex and Dave's School of English'.  Okay, not the real name for what we're doing here but you get the idea.  And, man, we started this adventure out at full tilt!  This first week saw us working with the kindergarten and first grade classes at the Ometepe Bilingual School; teaching adult beginner classes at two different locations in the village; holding sessions for our intermediate level adults; and kicking off our two high school classes.  

"Whew!" is an understatement!!  In fact, the week went by in a blur, so this will be a short-ish post.

We were going full blast right from the start.  Thank goodness we had some top notch volunteers to help us keep our heads above water.  See All-Star Volunteers to learn about this group!  They were a lifeboat in a sea of chaos.  Poetic, huh?  Our rental house wasn't going to be ready for another week, so we were making do with being in our room at the hotel.  We scrounged up a small table and used it to fire up our new printer.  We got ourselves organized and we were off to the races.  Or the loony bin, depending on your perspective.

Bed as staging area: each stack represents a different class for the day

One thing we hoped to get used to - and fast - was walking around the village.  I think I've commented before how people we talk to assume we have a vehicle to get around.  Nope.  It's all on foot, baby.  This partially explains my shedding of pounds since we've been here.  That, and the sweating.  Lots of sweating.  Some cars/trucks/vans/buses do navigate the crappy road, of course.  But we walk and hoofing it around here is hard on the ol' joints.  Feet, ankles, knees, hips, back.  Sore.  In fact, Bex had a stress injury to the arch of her foot, one that required drastic measures to alleviate.  She had to actually wear real-live, honest-to-goodness shoes!  Truly, a 'gasp' of the highest order is deserved, please!  Thank you.

We're in a place where I call these my work shoes.  Around the house it's flip-flops all the way.  Much to the dismay of my wife, I've already announced that any job I may obtain in the future will have to make a concession to allow me to choose my own footwear.  On the plus side, I'll save money on shoes and these things you non-tropical islanders call 'socks'.

The first graders were all very excited to see us again.  We were here last fall at the tail end of the kindergarten run.  It was amazing to us how much some of them had changed since we last saw them, just a couple of months ago.  Several of them were obviously taller and it was like they had worked on their English over the break.  Seriously, some of them retained a lot of what we had taught them last fall!  It was pretty great!  Hugs all around!

The adult beginner classes started slowly the first week, but quickly grew as word spread in the village.  For this group we had set up two classes in convenient locations at sort of opposite ends of the village, this to accommodate the people.  We wanted classes to be easy to attend, not a hassle to get to.  For the first class at Hacienda Merida we had a grand total of one student - a very eager young man named Juriel, who wants to be a teacher someday.  This class has since grown, of course.  On the other end of town, we hold another beginners class at a friends house.  Sessions at Casa Lorio ranged in size from 15-20+ to start, with a wide age range - students from 8-18 and older.  The age spread makes it a little difficult but the fact that they are all true beginners helps us work up a plan. 

The Lorio's teaching gazebo & Our tropical teaching paradise

The high school classes were the hardest to figure out.  In Nicaragua, high school is split into levels (like grades in the US).  Kids attend high school for five years, levels 7-11.  Our original plan was to have a class for Levels 7-8-9 and another class for 10-11.  True of kids of these ages all over the world, there is a huge difference in maturity and ability, so we thought separating them would be the best way to handle this gap.  What became apparent immediately was that the older group thought themselves to be too cool for school - no one showed up.  So we changed up the schedule, giving the lower level high schoolers more class time, which they really want.  I've said before how much the people want to learn.  A perfect example of this are these teenagers.  Class is scheduled to end at 7 PM but if we wrap up a little early, they won't leave!  They want to fill the time with… something, anything.  Me, looking at watch - 6:53 PM:  "Okay, we're done.  See you tomorrow!"  Students:  "Nooooooo!"

With our intermediate students, we hold two classes during the week and then a special conversation class on Friday nights.  The Tuesday/Thursday classes are more grammar and vocabulary oriented while the Friday gathering is for using the language.  Dubbed Toña Talk™, after the national beer, these sessions are more conversation based.  We provide the topic and some related vocabulary (and the beer, of course), then just get them talking.  Our very first Toña  Talk™ was 'Spies: Subterfuge and Secret Undercover Identities'.  Each of us developed a spy name and a complete back history.  It was a lot of fun and their creativity came to the surface, once they got going.  Heck, we had so much fun we even made up stuff about people who hadn't made it to class!  

Maybe that was the beer talking.  Meh.

Toña Talk™ - held on that porch right up yonder there

Most Delicious Reason to Cross the Border

You know us, so you knew there would be posts all about food somewhere along the way.  There was already a post all about wine, right?

So are you ready for pictures of scrumptious desserts, tall layered sandwiches, juice-oozing meats, frosty fresh fruit smoothies, and picture perfect tarts?  Fine, let me send you a list of all the people I've unfriended and businesses I've unfollowed since we moved down here.  The drool was just too hard on my keyboard.

Okay, okay, so the culinary scene here might not quite be as far up the food porn scale as all that, but we are still eating well and have been since we first sampled our way through a week's worth of Nicaraguan specialties at Carmen's house way back at the end of October.

So, let's cover some important Wh- questions - namely where, how much, what, what, and what.

1.  Where do we buy food?

The Rancho Mérida store:  We affectionately call this place 'the walmart'.  It's got piles and piles of shoes and clothes and then a little bit of everything else - household goods, school supplies, food items. Here we buy canned corn and peas, Lizano hot sauce, Lizano mystery magic sauce, cornflakes, raisins, crackers, cookies, flour, oats, eggs, onions, potatoes, frozen chicken, frozen salchichon (bologna shaped like sausage), beans, tomatoes, milk, pasta, oil. You see, they sell a little bit of everything, just like the WalMart.

The pulperia:  Well, a pulperia.  We most frequently shop at one in particular, but there are half a dozen or so in town and they all carry roughly the same stuff.  Pretty much what 'the walmart' has for food, but also cookies and breads.  Some carry the flour in small bags, some in bulk.  The pulperia is also where we source baking powder.  At first glance, pulperias look like Latin 7-11s, focused on sodas and snacks, but really they carry a ton of things.  You just have to know to ask for them or randomly ask and see what gets you a yes.  However, even asking for things you know they carry doesn't always work for me.  Every time I ask for harina (flour) I get avena (oats).  Luckily we eat both, but geez does my Spanish pronunciation suck.

The fruiteria - Fruitlandia:  A little fruit stand/shack run out of someone's house.  This is our best source for produce.  Watermelon, pineapple, mandarins, oranges, mangos, potatoes, cucumbers, tomatoes, onions, chiltomas (sweet peppers), avocados, cabbage, ayote (squash - similar to a winter squash), chayote.  They also sells eggs and cookies.  We are frequent buyers here.  And their high school-aged son comes to our English class.

Margarita's:  When we want booze, this is where we turn.  Tía Margarita runs a bar/restaurant and sells beer and rum.  We buy cans of beer and bottles of rum here.  For the past several weeks, we've been a regular Friday presence, buying beers for Toña Talk, our Friday evening Intermediate/Advanced conversation class.

Toña Talk™:  Clearly the beer company should sponsor this conversation class.

We've heard a rumor that you can get the beer delivery guys to sell to you directly, but we haven't managed to try that yet.  I think it will involve chilling on the side of the road at the right time (somewhere between 1-3 pm).  We have chatted with the delivery guys at the Hacienda and at Margarita's and they seem pretty cool.  Perhaps direct buying and beer swag are in our future.  We're certainly upping the value of this delivery route for them this year.

The first time Dave went in to Margarita's to buy some beer was for a Toña Talk™/ volunteer appreciation and farewell party.  He went without me and asked for 20 beers in cans (latas).  The woman helping goes to the fridge and comes back with one can and held it out to him.  'Veinte', Dave says.  'Sí, sí, veinte' the woman says.  'No', Dave says, 'Puedo tener veinte cervezas, por favor.'  'Si, veinte', still holding one beer out to him.  Hmmm.  'No, puedo tener veinte latas de cerveza.'  'Ah', the woman says and gets 19 more cans.  Dave was asking for 20 cans and they are 20 cordobas each.  She thought they were discussing price, not quantity.

At Margarita's for 'dinner' - (l-r) Chris, Darwin, Vilma, yours truly, Théo

Outside of Merida:  Some things we have bought outside and brought in.  There are lots of things you can't get here, but some of those things you can get elsewhere in Nicaragua.  We've bought food stuffs in Rivas or Moyogalpa and brought them back here with us.  And we'll do this again each time we travel out.  So far we've brought back things like peanut butter, jam, olive oil, balsamic vinegar, spices, wine, mustard, soy sauce, nutella, tea, and coffee.

Gifts:  We've also been the lucky and thankful recipients of some amazing generosity.  The first meal cooked in our new house was fried plantains, made with plantains we were given.  We've been on the receiving end of gifts of plantains, límons, bananas, mangos, peppers, avocados, beans, and more.  The generosity is very touching.

Gleaning:  Our house is surrounded by gargantuan mango trees.  And since mangos are coming into season now that it is April, I am walking out in the 'back forty' every couple days to look for fallen mangos.  It reeks of fermented fruit over there and sometimes the fruit has been gotten to by ants or critters before I get to it.  But I've collected enough mangos to supplement several meals so far and there should continue to be more and more as the season progresses.  We also pick mandarins behind the OBS school when they are ripe.  And there is a nispero tree by the big house our landlord owns and we're welcome to go collect fruit from it, too.  Wait, you've never heard of nispero?  Brown, incredibly sweet (like candied figs), said to smell like rum.

Still, most of our shopping happens under a scarcity buying approach.  When we go buying on delivery day, we stock up.  Things aren't consistently available.  And sometimes things that are available aren't edible.  Case in point: watermelon.

We love watermelon, or in Spanish sandia.  It's full of moistury sweet goodness.  It comes with a built in handle.  It's pretty cheap - 30 cordobas, or a little over $1, each.  However, we have learned what happens if you keep a watermelon at ambient temperatures in the tropics for 2-3 days. … It ferments!  We have a refrigerator, but Fruitlandia does not.  In our early weeks here we bought a watermelon one day.  Then, a couple days later we went back and bought another one.  We put it in the fridge at home and I sliced it up the next day.  It smelled a little different, but looked fine inside and out.  I put it in bowls and brought it out to the porch.  Dave started eating while I quickly went to wash up (and prevent the ant explosion that watermelon juice spills would lead to if left on the counter and cutting board).  I came back out and Dave asked me to taste the watermelon and tell him what I thought it tasted like.  Hmmm.  It tasted like booze!  We might have been half-way to watermelon brandy, but caution prevailed and we fed that watermelon to the compost heap.  Now, we buy multiple watermelons the first day we see them and put them in our refrigerator until we are ready to eat.

2.  How much does food cost?

It's crazy cheap and we are staying well within our food budget without any particular effort.  We do eat at home most of the time, but that's mostly out of convenience and comfort, not necessarily price.

Here are some examples from our financial records.  The exchange rate is 25 cordobas to $1.

6 eggs = 30 cordobas ($1.20)
1 watermelon = 30 cordobas ($1.20)
1 grapefruit  = 2 cordobas (8¢)
1 pineapple = 25 cordobas ($1)
1 avocado = 60¢
Honey = $4*

Here are a few grocery shopping examples.

For 116 cordobas ($4.64) we bought peppers, potatoes, 2 onions, a giant cucumber, 6 eggs, and a carrot.
For 142 cordobas ($5.68) we bought flour, cornflakes, 4 cookies, tomatoes, cinnamon, eggs, and milk.
For 160 cordobas ($6.40) we bought 6 eggs, 2 watermelons, potatoes, onions, tomatoes, mandarins, 2 grapefruit, and an ayote (squash).

*This was for a 20 oz. Coke bottle filled with local honey.  A student we knew from the fall, 9-year-old Brian, lives nearby.  One morning we were sitting on the porch and he came running up and ducked through the barbed wire fence.  He explained that his dad had collected honey and asked if we wanted to buy any.  We did and it is delicious.

3.  What do we eat?

Okay, that's what we can/do buy (there are some things we can buy but haven't, like canned tunafish and sardines or tang powder in 18 flavors).  What do we make with it?  Well, our favorite dish is very Nicaraguan - gallo pinto y huevos.

Just like a real Nica, I make gallo pinto for breakfast.  Or lunch.  Or dinner.

We've also worked on getting creative with the limited slate of avaialble ingredients.  We've figured out that we can make a great curry by toasting the dry spices (curry powder, paprika, cayenne, cumin) and using regular cow's milk instead of coconut milk.  I remembered bannock, a fry bread from my youth, and we've had good success making breads on the stove (we have no oven).

This is where our culinary magic happens.

Sometimes we eat out.  We eat at Hacienda Merida from time to time, principally when we have volunteers here as it's a great opportunity for bonding with them.  Once a week we both teach on the same side of town for night class and we have a standing dinner date.  We usually go to Pescaditos and have Nicaraguan tacos or enchiladas or to Margarita's and have the plate of the day (she has some combination of chicken, beef, and pork available in a plato tipico with salad, beans, rice, plantains).  Both are delicious and both are owned by families of our students.

Dave has reached nirvana.  Er, achieved "local" status at Margarita's.  This means he can go to the fridge and get his own beers.  Margarita's is run out of her home, but it's pretty much a one woman operation.  If she's cooking, her hands are too full to get beers.  But the door to the kitchen is open, we're recognizable on sight and don't seem to be going anywhere - in other words, we're considered by many to be locals.  Dave goes back and helps himself.  She tallies your bill by leaving all your empties on the table until you are done.  He calls Margarita tía (aunt) and she laughs and smiles.

4.  What seems like a treat?

So, given limited options and different foods, things that seem pedestrian back home seem like a big treat here.

(1)  Peanut butter (we were thrilled when we found crunchy in Moyogalpa, now can we find some without sugar?).  
(2)  The hazelnuts we were gifted by school volunteers form Oregon.  (I don't even like hazelnuts when I'm in Oregon much, but here they were divine.)  
(3)  Yogurt.  (All of a sudden, the Rancho Merida store started stocking flavored yogurt.)  
(4)  Cold chocolate milk.  
(5)  Blueberry iced tea - made with a few random tea bags I brought from home.
(6)  The pizza we are going to eat at this amazing little place in San Juan del Sur in just a few days.  It's owned by a real Italian man and the pizza alone would be worth the trip over there.

5.  What do we miss?

Baked goods:  We have no oven and the baked goods here are pretty weak sauce (e.g. insubstantial rolls).  With the exception of the 1 cordoba cookies, they aren't worth it.  Plus, no baked savory foods.  No lasagna, no roasted vegetables, no baked salmon.  Dave, could you get me a rag?  My spacebar is wet.

Bacon:  We have discoverd that Cainsa, the bologna sausage company, does make bacon.  Yay!  But no one sells it in Merida.  Boo!  But we can get it on the island in Altagracia or Moyogalpa.  Yay!  Some fellow expats brought us back a couple packages when they went to town a couple weeks ago and it was a fabulous treat.  Yay!

Cheese:  So much I can't even write about it.

Tender, slow-cooked meats:  There are restaurants here that make a great piece of meat, flavor-wise.  But tough is the texture of choice.  We miss those tender, slow-cooked, fall apart when you look at them preparations.

Dave's BBQ magic:  Needs no explanation.

That's our foodscape!  Now get to work figuring out how to mail us a hot, cheesy, meaty lasagna.  Our address is as follows: 

Casa de Profesores
At Playa Gringo
From the Evangelical Church, 100m toward the lake
Mérida, Ometepe
Nicaragua

While you're at it, might as well throw in a nice Chianti and a hunk of parmesan.

This is our landscape.  No food was used in the making of the picture.