After our first month in Nicaragua, we've moved into our longer term townhome rental which is far better equipped for our family.  The big bonuses are having wifi now, which gets us back on the mobile devices, and satellite TV, which we haven't had since we departed Los Angeles last June.  It allows us to watch NFL and NBA but the real downside is that all the cable channels we love are in Spanish.  So, we are forced to watch bad broadcast programs on NBC and Fox that are piped out of affiliates in south Florida.  I think we're almost better off not having TV after watching the horror that is the Biggest Loser and The Voice the last few nights.  There is also some thick irony in here somewhere knowing I spent the last 18 years of my life selling ads on cable networks and now my only option for viewing TV (beyond football) the next few months are my former competitors failing line ups.

Nicaragua is incredibly beautiful now that dry season is in full swing.  In the morning we'll typically do a visual surf check which requires a short walk down a dirt road lined with dense trees, colorful birds and the howls of monkeys that stay fairly well out of view.  Surfing here has been challenging to say the least.  The main break we've been going to, Panga Drops, is a horseshoe shaped reef that requires the stars to line-up for it to work properly.  Wind, tide and swell all need to really come together to make it work.  With up to 10 foot tidal swings it requires a few visual checks on the surf each day to determine when said stars will align.  We've seen it work well about 5 or 6 days TOTAL out of the month we've been here.  Even when it is working properly it's shifty, has sections that will bend back at you while you're riding the wave, and sets that break wide or deep often issue 10-15 wave beat downs.   We found our favorite wave, Playgrounds, a long left wave off a reef that resembles a reverse Lower Trestles. This is a really fun high performance wave that we want to get back to again a few times before we move on.  Unfortunately, it is a solid hour boat trip away from our current location. 

Boat Trip:

 



Surf Check at Panaga Drops:

 

We've been lucky to have met a few families that have the same age kids (or relatively close) as Jordan and Slater.  There hasn't been any shortage of playtime on the golf course, construction site (a dirt hole in the back yard where a number of our toy trucks now reside) or the beach club.  Usually, you'll find our kids along with a couple others at one of these three locations throughout the day having a blast.  Our full time nanny, Ruby, has also been really great allowing us much more time to hike, surf or just sip a beer at the pool while we watch surfers charge barrels at Colorado's.  The pace of life here is very manageable to say the least although the options to entertain yourself are limited.

 

Construction Site:



Fools in Paradise:

 

 

Jordan has been homeschooling with a neighbor since we decided against sending him to kindergarten on the Hacienda Iguana property.  The school year here is Feb-early Dec.  So Jordan would have only went for 6 weeks,  which didn't make much sense.  Fortunately, our neighbor, Jen, is a former school teacher from the states and has been working with Jordan a few days a week.  He's already reading at a second grade level and testing into first grade back in So. Cal next year will not be an issue for him.  Slater on the other hand is living in a confused world where his learning to speak is colliding head on with English and Spanish making it tricky to figure out what he is saying a lot of times.  It'll all sort itself out in the long run especially with Jordan's Spanish being extremely strong from our travels.

 

Home School Reading:

 

 

I always found it tough to get into a holiday frame of mind living in Southern California after growing up in Chicago.  It is even more pronounced down here.  It's tough to think about the holidays when you rarely wear a shirt and consider board shorts your main wardrobe staple.  We did manage to have a great Thanksgiving dinner with our neighbors who cooked a delicious Butterball turkey brought down from Managua.  Everyone brought over a dish while we watched the Raiders melt down against the Cowboys.  It was a bonfire Thanksgiving dinner with some good friends and great food.  Christmas is going to be interesting....  We had the foresight to order some toys when I was back in LA that we knew we wouldn't be able to get in Nicaragua to assure that Santa would find us on the 25th.  However, the traditional things we like to cook are not available not to mention the lack of our family and friends .  I guess that is how new traditions are started so we'll have to do what we've been doing the past 6 months and just improvise.

New Foods - Tropical Fruit Manmochinos:

Costa Rica was our next slated stop in February.  The original plan was a month at Playa Negra and onto Pavones far south near the border of Panama.  After doing some investigation, we're realizing that Costa Rica is extremely expensive and far more developed than when I visited there 13 years ago.  Our current landlord told us "It's the 51st state in the union now" and "going to Tamarindo is like going to California".  Needless to say these were major turn offs.  We're still kicking around a trip there, but we might opt to head to northern Nicaragua after a renewal of our tourist visa in January.

Parting Shot - Local Beach Combers: