The Trip

Warning: this is a loooooong one

Saturday 16 June - Tuesday 19 June
The Trip, Part 1: A Lesson in Staying Calm

I had no problem getting to Managua to meet Rob last Saturday; the chicken buses here are remarkably efficient. Rob’s plane was delayed but only by an hour or so; when he finally got in, we stayed up late talking and eating M&M’s he had brought from home.

Andy and Kim’s plane was to arrive in Managua at 11:00 on Sunday morning; we had a whole list of places we wanted to take them and things we wanted to show them. Unfortunately, their flight was delayed or cancelled or something, and we found out they weren’t due in until 6:50 that night. So, Rob and I decided to have a day of fun riding chicken buses. For about 8 cents, we took a bus from the hotel we’d stayed at to the big Managua bus station (Huembes), and from there, we hopped on another standing-room-only bus (about 48 cents) to the nearby town of Masaya. We strolled around and went to the artisan markets again, where I browsed and shopped to my heart’s content. We also had a piece of chocolate cake from Norma’s Bakery—the bakery that is apparently so good it has to have an armed police officer guarding it. In the late afternoon, we headed back to the airport and found out that Andy and Kim’s plane had been delayed again. They finally ended arriving at 8:50pm; unfortunately, none of their checked luggage arrived.

To make a long story short, I learned a lesson in calmness and patience from my brother- and sister-in-law. Although they had been traveling for some 17 hours and ended up arriving at their destination 10 hours late with only the clothes on their backs, they both seemed as fresh as daisies and never uttered one word of complaint. Andy had made arrangements to rent a car; however, the rental place closed at 8:30. Luckily, Rob realized this and took care of it so that we had a car (a truck actually) and thus a non-chicken bus way to get to Granada, where we had a hotel reserved for the night. The original plan had been to stay in Granada on Sunday night and then take the ferry to Ometepe on Monday morning. I thought that Andy and Kim might want to change that a bit, in order to stay near Managua to get back to the airport and pick up their luggage when and if it arrived. But they decided to power through and stick with the plan—they had such little time in Nicaragua and did not want to spend it all waiting around in the Managua airport.

So Rob revved up the truck and we all drove to Granada. It was the first time Rob had driven in Nicaragua, and I will definitely say that he was quite good at it. After arriving at the hotel in Granada and having a scant few hours of sleep, we all got up bright and early on Monday morning to wander the town, have breakfast, and buy a few supplies for Andy and Kim. Then we drove from Granada to San Jorge, where we would take the ferry to Ometepe.



It was a bit of an experience driving the truck onto the boat, but Rob did it well. Andy and Kim and I just sort of stared on in awe as Rob maneuvered the giant vehicle onto the ferry.


At last, we arrived on Ometepe. On our way from the dock to our place in Mérida, we made a few stops at some scenic points. One place we went was the Punta Jésus Maria, which is some kind of really long sandbar jutting way, way out into Lake Nicaragua. We walked for what seemed like forever on this skinny strip of land surrounded by water. It was nice enough, but what would have been a stunning view of the volcanoes was obscured by thick clouds.



We drove on and finally arrived in Mérida. At last, some of our family was actually going to see this place where we’ve been living for almost a year! Andy and Kim got to meet some of the staff who were working, and luckily the cloudy sky cleared up just enough to offer up a lovely Ometepe sunset.


Again, I thought that Andy and Kim might want to relax or sleep in, but they were undeterred by all the airline mishaps and determined to make the most of their trip to Nicaragua. They wanted to get up at 6:00am the next morning to see my forest, so that’s what we did. Luckily, the North Group was foraging low on the Camino, so Andy and Kim got to see the monkeys. I was ecstatic because Wrinkle Belly was there in all his wrinkled glory and they got to meet him too.




Guess who!! Everyone's favorite monkey.


I think Kimberly was in her element out in the forest. She is an entomologist, specializing in ants, and there were plenty of insects for her to admire. I think she and I could have been content to romp around the forest looking at bugs and monkeys for many an hour; we’re not sure that Rob and Andy like it out in nature so much. Kimberly got to check out those wicked Acacia trees, armed with their nasty little fire ants, and it was not difficult at all for me to find plenty of those red, black and yellow spiders I’ve been complaining about. As luck would have it, many of these spiders appear to have reached their adult size and coloration in the 3 days I was away from the forest. Kimberly’s expert opinion was that they did not seem to be dangerous; nonetheless, I still do not like them. Rob took some really good close-ups of the spiders, but out of consideration of Jodi, I will not post them here.

After a couple hours out in the forest, we returned to the Hacienda. Little Eduardo was here, just finished with his English lesson, and joined us for breakfast. He used his new English-speaking skills to introduce himself to both Kim and Andy, saying, “Good morning, my name is Eduardo. How are you?” Precious. Oh how I wish it were legal or advisable to take him home with me.

After breakfast, it was time to move on. We were scheduled to leave Ometepe for Part 2 of The Trip: San Juan del Sur.

Tuesday 19 June - Thursday 21 June
The Trip, Part Two: A different Nicaragua

Tuesday morning after breakfast, we all piled into the rental truck again and drove back to Moyogalpa to get on the ferry. We had time to make a brief stop at the beach in Santo Domingo, so Kim and Andy got to see that. After our boat ride back to the mainland and a fairly disgusting lunch in Rivas (Rob and I have never actually found anything decent to eat there), we were on the road again to the beach town of San Juan del Sur. San Juan is one of those places that can either seem really ritzy or really grungy, depending on where you stay. Andy and Kim had arranged for a fancy hotel up on the bluff called Pelican Eyes. I’m surprised that a place like that even let riff-raff like the Ragfields step foot in it. It was so big that they had to give us a map at the reception desk. There were 3 different swimming pools in the compound (swimming pools!), plus a zoo, and our room (a 4-person suite, actually) came equipped with a kitchenette and cable TV. My head was spinning. I’ve been here so long that warm water is about as luxurious as I can imagine. This was definitely a different Nicaragua. I kept thinking of Eduardo or Dalila, who works in the kitchen at the Hacienda—what would they think of a place like this? It seemed like such a strange juxtaposition to have a countryside lined with falling-apart ramshackle huts and people living on one dollar a day; then such a fancy resort like this.

All fanciness aside, even Pelican Eyes was not immune to the city-wide blackout that lasted most of the night. We’d been out on the street at some souvenir shops and didn’t realize that the power was out in the city until it started getting dark. We stumbled around the pitch-black town trying to find a place to eat dinner; I’m not really sure what I ended up eating because I couldn’t see it, but it had jalepeños in it and was quite good. We scaled the treacherous hill up the bluff back to Pelican Eyes and then fumbled around the room trying to locate the candles and matches on the nightstand. Before, I’d thought that was probably just supposed to be a romantic touch, now I realized it was a necessity for the frequent and prolonged power outages that are so much more common on mainland Nicaragua than on the island. No sooner had we gotten the candles burning than the generator kicked in, so we had power once again.

Wednesday morning we cashed in on our complimentary breakfast at one of the hotel restaurants. The breakfast was as fancy as the hotel itself. We all got fruit plates, muffins, juice and coffee—that was before our actual meal. I wish I’d saved more room for my breakfast of granola, honey, and yogurt. Before we checked out, we took a quick dip in one of the hotel pools.






When Rob and I had gone to San Juan del Sur back in November, we’d rented bikes and tried to ride to some of the many other beaches along the coast. Unfortunately, there were some bike mishaps and we never made it. This time we had a car, so the four of us set out to try to find some of these supposedly beautiful beaches. We drove and drove, only winding deeper into the green Nicaraguan country-side and never finding any roads leading to a beach. We finally ended up turning around and driving back to San Juan del Sur. By this point, I was somewhat desperate for the ocean (as those of you who know my obsession with the ocean can imagine). The day before, I’d dipped my feet into the water, but that was it. So when we arrived back at the shore, I made a bee-line to the water and ran right in. The water was freezing; does the Pacific ever get warm, anywhere? I didn’t care about the frigid temperature; I soaked up all the salty loveliness of the ocean that I could because all too soon we had to go.

We drove back to San Jorge so that Rob and I could catch the 3:30 ferry and return to the island. Kim and Andy would be heading back to Granada for the evening and flying back home the next morning. It was sad saying goodbye to Kim and Andy; we’d had such a good time and packed in so many activities. Hopefully they have many memories of Nicaragua. I’m glad they got a chance to see the rural countryside where we live as well as the richness of a place like Pelican Eyes.

Rob and I have been incommunicado since we’ve been back; the internet isn’t working and there is no sign of when we may have service available again. So as I write, I’m not sure when I’m actually going to get to post this; hopefully it won’t be too long before we’re back online. At any rate, a million thanks to Kim and Andy for coming to visit us. I hope that both of you enjoyed your trip as much as we did. If anyone else is considering a visit, make it fast—we’ve only got less than 2 months left now! Thanks for reading.