End of the LIne?

Since moving into Buffer's place post Panama Fred's, time has flown by.  It's been almost three weeks since we've moved into our new pad and it has been a great place for us.  The house itself is extremely comfortable and located close to Paunch one of the breaks we've been surfing frequently.  The kids have a large yard that they can go down and explore in and the sounds of howler monkeys or exotic birds are a running sound track here.  We're closer to the ground here and not elevated 20 feet in the air so it's much easier to spot wild life.  Jordan on the porch yesterday shouted at us in the kitchen to come check out a Parrot in the yard.  What it turned out to be was a Toucan which is a rare sighting considering they're pretty much endangered on the island.  We were lucky to have it fly around our yard for 20 minutes for us to check out before he flew off.  It's probably been one of the best places we've stayed on this journey so far.

Jungle Hide Away - Rare Bird Sighting:

 

We celebrated Jordan's birthday on March 1st by waking up early so he could open his gifts which we had brought from the states when we were living in Nicaragua by our friend Tom.  Jordan was very excited to get a Rescue Bot and an old school Optimums Prime transformer.  Pretty cool to see him so excited over classic toys.

Transformers:

 

After a quick breakfast, we headed over to Starfish beach early to enjoy a couple hours of Starfish hunting and snorkeling.  Starfish beach was a slight disappointment considering the online world paints it to be a beach that is littered with the magical little sea creatures.  The reality is we only saw a few.  One of the best ones we saw, pictured here, was about the size of a dinner plate.  We were able to kick around in snorkel gear and take photos with the GoPro while Melissa actually swam down to touch him.

 

Bday Boy with Mom - Starfish Sighting:

 

Our opportunity to explore in Panama is considerably better than it was in Nicaragua with the rental of the "Red Dragon".  The Jeep is a great vehicle to get around Bocas and the kids love it.  No doors, no kid seats, a plastic bag for gas cap and only one break light but you can take it in the mud or sand without worry.  The folks at Flying Pirates who we rent from have really taken care of us checking out some small issues we've had quickly.  The Jeep also comes with access to a gated private property at the north end of the island which we went out to explore this week.  It's kind of a hassle getting out there on the rutted single trek road which is designed more for the ATV's Flying Pirates rents than the Jeep we have.  Once out there, you can explore La Pacina (the pool in Spanish - which is a shallow cove for swimming), the blue lagoon, monkey trails, the bat caves or a smaller island dubbed Bird Island.  On our initial journey out there we checked out La Pacina and the monkey trails.  We were delighted to see many howler monkeys who were eager to check us out and howl back as we tried to speak their language.

 

Red Dragon - Monkeys:

 



The surf has been small but fun here this last week and not at all like the first two weeks where it was consistently 5-6 feet or larger for almost 10 consecutive days.  Caranero reef hasn't liked this most recent round of small swell leaving us to surf Paunch reef more frequently.   We prefer the set up at Caranero due to it being a longer more user friendly wave.  Paunch is faster and has more high performance characteristics, but the trade off is a sketch entry and exit over a cheese grater of a reef that is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of urchins that are visible as you wade across it.

Unidentified Lining One Up at Paunch - Drug Across the Reef - Urchins on the Reef:

 

 

Our photos, simply can't do the surf here justice.  It's super heavy at times.  Check out this feature that a local photographer shot on Magicseaweed of Silverbacks if you want to see what one of the most insane breaks here is like:

http://magicseaweed.com/news/crystal-caverns-in-panama/6154/

We're gearing up for another run of 7 consecutive days of big swell which is nice because the Panama leg of our journey might end our trip.  I've been interviewing with a company back in the states that might have us returning at the end of March for a job.  We've also got a couple of contingency plans in place that include Costa Rica and then back to Mexico through June should the opportunity I've been pursuing not come to fruition.  End of the line for the endless summer?  We'll see.....

Parting Shots Bluff Beach:

 

 Shell Drago - Hermit Crab Stare Down:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Moving Day(s)

Due to an unfortunate series of events we've had to move three times in the last two week period in Panama.  When we first arrived a couple of weeks ago to our "luxury" rental off of VRBO we found a bare bones efficiency apartment on the ground floor of a property that only can be described as a borderline slum.  As you exited the apartment into the surrounding mosquito breeding ground they called a yard,  all you could see was garbage littered everywhere.  As an added bonus the stench of sewage hung heavy and a makeshift work area was right next door with a variety of broken down trucks where the kids could watch arc welding on a daily basis.  As if this wasn't bad enough, the place was poorly equipped also.  One pot, one pan a set of four plates and flatware were all that populated the kitchen.  The owner was well aware we were moving in with our kids so to say that was beyond disappointing is a complete understatement.  The first night we kept hearing a rattling in our room which turned out to be rodents on the side of the complex pillaging the garbage at night which was a fenced in cubby hole a mere 10 feet from the outside of our room.  As if this wasn't bad enough, frequent roach sightings in the first couple of days proved to be the final straw.  We decided to tell the landlord on day 2 we were breaking the 3 month lease promise and would only stay 9 days paying a ridiculous $155 per day for this total shit hole. 

Dinner Table Next to the Shitter - Luv Seat Made of Burlap and Steel = Luxury!

 

Roach Motel Beds:

 

 

Toasting in the hood with Gunniess will keep you sane:

 



With high season in full swing here we were lucky to find a house at the north end of Bocas that sat in the jungle at canopy level that was open for the four weeks we're planning on staying here.  The kitchen was better equipped than our own at home and the house sat on stilts at canopy level in the jungle.  This provided amazing views of parrots, hawks, massive trees and thickets of bamboo that look like they are straight out of Jurassic park.  The house was also filled with all kinds of cool knick knacks, but with the boys having glass vases filled with sea shells and breakable relics laying around isn't the best thing.  As we spent last week at Panama Fred's, we began to realize how really, really bad the internet connection was.  Since we were low on the hill, the Claro signal just couldn't get into the property which caused some serious issues with Melissa and work.  The house also worked on a rain catchment system which is only as good as the amount of rain you receive.  It's been unusually dry this week and even with all our conservation efforts we used the better part of one of the massive water drums housed under the house.  This also prevented us from using the community laundry facilities forcing to take our laundry into town to pay to have it done.  When we got it back none of Slater's clothing was in the bag and we gave them virtually everything he had.  Fortunately, upon returning the next day they produced a bag with all of his clothes and a few other articles that didn't make in back the day before.  This we decided again was too much to cope with even though the place was pretty amazing.  We approached Fred who let us out of the lease with a minor penalty so we could move into what is the perfect fit for us.

 

Panama Fred's House and Amazing Deck:

 

We moved into a surfer's house down the street we rented from our same property manager.  It is a beautiful house 30 feet from the water of Sand Fly Bay and set back off the road.  Hard wood floors, high end kitchen, incredibly spacious and has unlimited wifi.  We really scored with this rental which should keep us here for the next four weeks.

Bluff's House, Living Room & Outdoor Table with a Lake View:

 

Bocas Del Toro is hands down one of the most expensive stops on this tour.  We've spent triple our monthly budget having to rent a Jeep at $350 a week in addition to food costs being off the chart.  You can't pick up an item on the shelf of the grocery store here without a price tag of between $5-10 dollars.  The craziest prices are reserved for American products with a pack of bacon running $10.  It's not like the bulk one you get at Costco either.  It's the straight up regular size pack.

Bocas Del Toro is staggeringly beautiful.  We've already checked out Red Frog beach on Bastamentos Island along with Drago Beach which is at the north end of the Island of Colon where we currently are living.   Both offer clear warm water teeming with wild life and lacking crowds of people.  We have a lot to explore in the next four weeks too.  Starfish beach (which is exactly what you might imagine, a beach with hundreds of starfish floating in its shallow water) is next on the list this Saturday for Jordan's birthday.  The rental of the Jeep also gives us access to private property where monkey trails, a massive still water bay and jungle hiking await on the far northeast corner of the island for us.

Red Frog beach is an amazing bay of powder fine sand, clear water and tropical life:

 

 

Daddy Day Care on Playa Caranero while mom surfs the left point reef set up:



Surfing in Bocas has definitely been a step up experience for both Melissa and I.  We aren't even surfing any of the more critical barreling breaks either.  The breaks we've mainly surfed are Caranero Island which is a left point set up that breaks over a series of reefs and Paunch reef up the road from our house.  Both over 7 feet can have an incredibly steep or even barreling take off that opens up into a ripable wall of water well suited to work on top turns, cut backs or racing down the line to make a section when needed.  In the coming week, I'll be writing a short blog on these breaks in more detail.  For now suffice it to say that we've both got some amazing waves these first couple of weeks along with some of the most brutal beatings on blown waves we've experienced on this trip.

 

 

 

Nicaragua to Panama

On this trip the travel days have proven to be the most complex that we've ever undertaken.  This leg from Nicaragua to Panama definitely took the cake in the complexity department.  On paper it seemed pretty easy.  Part 1 - take a taxi one hour to Nicaragua boarder, Part 2 - cross Costa Rican Boarder hire taxi to drive to Liberia, Part 3 - Wake up early the next day and board Nature Air flight from Liberia to Tamarindo>San Jose and then finally Bocas Del Toro. 

It's the unforeseen events that kill you.  So the travel day starts by our taxi driver not showing up at all last Thursday.  Fortunately, it was arranged through our dear friends Leah and Greg who had come by early that morning with their children Sierra and Rio to say goodbye.  Greg being the incredibly awesome guy he is offered to drive us to drive us to the boarder in the red dragon, his well worn Mitsubishi pickup truck that stopped logging miles when the odometer broke at 234K.  The second hiccup was being stopped at check point by a local yokel right before Rivas a small town at the midway point we usually do our weekly shopping at.  The officer was clearly looking for bribe after doing an inspection on the vehicle and finding a couple of tail lights out, but Greg didn't bite.  After 30 minutes a ticket and confiscated license, we were on our way.  Greg was pretty heated and rightly so as this is clearly reverse profiling that happens all the time in Tola if you're traveling with surfboards visible in the car. 

After a brief lunch stop and a drive by past Lake Nicaragua with the two massive volcanic peaks of Ometepe sticking out of it, we arrived at the border.  It's about what you'd expect too.  A disastrous two lane road clogged mainly with semi trucks and busses.  We zipped by all these vehicles in the wrong lane to stop at a make shift fence that looked like something straight out of the second world war.  We were immediately bombarded by locals looking to help cart our 181 LBS of luggage and 65 LBS surfboard bag the mile distance between the border check points.  The guy we ended up with was pushy but effective shaving about an hour off our crossing by greasing the baggage check officials for $10 to let us pass go directly to the stamping portion of our exit.  We had to pay some overage which took some extra minutes, but within an hour we were trading our Sherpa for another since the ones we hired in Nica can't continue on past the midway point in the mile boarder purgatory.

 

Moving Bags & Rickshaw Ride at the Boarder:

Loaded up on the other side with a new cart we worked our way through the now spitting light rain amid the several money vendors offering to change US Dollars, Nica Cordoba's or Costa Rican Colones at a 20% fee.  We actually scored a great 4X4 Nissan taxi that sped us away onward to Liberia.  We were treated to sweeping vistas of the Santa Rosa national park that has several amazing volcanic peaks.  After our first police check point and a gas stop across the boarder there was a loud slapping noise that clearly signaled a blow out on the front passenger side where I happen to be sitting.

With the help of a friend who happen to be passing by our driver changed the tire with Indy like pit crew precision on the side of a sketch two lane highway with no shoulder and many speeding busses and trucks in the middle of nowhere.  We killed the 30 minutes by entertaining the boys, laughing about the day's events so far and snapping photos.  it was about to get a hell of a lot less funny though.

 

Blown Tire and Lowering the Spare:



Arriving at the Liberia Hilton at 430P which resides directly across from the airport, we unloaded and sent our driver on his way as we checked in.  After we completed the check in process, I looked at Melissa and said "you know what, I forgot my new water bottle in the taxi you just brought back from LA this week"  to which she replied "at least it wasn't the computer bag with our passports and all our electronics".  As her statement took a split second to register in my head, I quickly realized she assumed I grabbed this bag out of the back seat where she was sitting in with the kids while I was in front.  I had assumed she had grabbed it as she took the boys out of the back of the car.  I really could feel my head exploding knowing that our passports were in a taxi heading back towards Nicaragua.

Fortunately, Melissa remembered the taxi company and I was trying to remember the license plate of the taxi since I got out and was stretching at the gas stop.  The hotel staff realizing the urgency started making calls which ultimately ended up being the state police to alert the border checks that they needed to turn our taxi driver around to deliver the bag so we could make the 6A flight the next morning.  The police all knew our taxi driver as was evident when we rolled through both check points and they yucked it up letting us pass with our checking our papers.  The police verified his name and plate number before I even remembered snapping multiple snapshots of the back of the car during the flat that showed the plate as well #96.  A little lucky karma colliding with the crazy circumstances to at least get a bead on our driver since we had nothing else to go on.

As we sat down to dinner at 6P we were semi confident we'd get the bag back, but the big question was would it be in time for our flight.  Not a big deal on a major airline, but on a small local carrier flying 12 seat planes that only run to your destination twice a week it's a pretty damn big deal.  By the time we were wrapping up our hotel staff showed up with our bag while our driver was out front everything intact.  He had made it back to the final check point before being alerted and turned around to give us our bag.  I thanked him and gave him the same $90 rate it took to get us from the boarder for the return of our bag.

With the weight lifted from our shoulders, we got a good night rest before heading out to the airport bright and early.  Our flight was on a small 12 seat plane that had Melissa and the kids sitting directly behind the pilots and the instrument panel.  We were also treated to sweeping vistas of the ocean and volcanic peaks on the Liberia>Tamarindo>San Jose leg.  After a 4 hour layover we boarded another 12 seater which took off heading for Bocas Del Toro.  Jordan and Slater were extremely tired at this point and Jordan started to restlessly drift off beside me looking out the window.  He groggily opened his eyes about 20 minutes into the flight proclaiming that he didn't feel well.  Quickly, I opened a air sick back in the nick of time right before the redecoration of row #3 started.

Airport Breakfast, Front Row View, Beatiful Views and Small Plane - Big Fun!: 

 

Shortly after we arrived in Bocas to begin the search of our luggage and customs paperwork.  We then headed to our hotel for our first nights stay exhausted and happy.  The following day we went to our "Luxury Condo" to find it not so luxurious.  We're making it work, but have decided to spend the remaining 4 week on our trip to Bocas at an upgraded location and eat the month's rent because we are very disillusioned with the set up we thought we were getting.  Bocas looks like it will be one of the best adventures of the trip with lots of surfing, restaurants, carnival starting 3/1 and plenty of kid friendly activates like Red Frog and Star Fish beach.  More posts in the coming weeks on all four of the aforementioned. 

Making Rain in the Playa Tortuga Pool on the First Night:

 

 

Holiday Hangover......

This holiday season was one of the most enjoyable we've experienced in a long time.  It wasn't filled with the stress created from shopping, planning for family events or even working in the ad industry which is crazy this time of year in itself. This year it was mainly about the kids and celebrating with new friends.  Santa even managed to find us even though we weren't at our former So. Cal address.  He delivered some fun stuff for the boys that included a bevy of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle toys from full size action figures to Ninja specific Lego sets.  It was a lot of fun to watch the boys open gifts with them both being at the perfect age to understand what is happening.  This really drove home the Christmas spirit that was tough to capture in the days leading up the main event.

Photo:  Tracking Santa via NORAD - Ninja Legos from Santa - Slater Rocks the Keyboard





 



The Iguana residents held a big Christmas dinner at the poolside club house led by our friends Greg and Leah.  About 30 or more attended the pot luck style gathering which produced some of the tastiest dishes we have had in our 7 month travels so far.  Turkey, Broccoli casserole, potatoes, salad and a large desert spread were just a few of the many items that covered the tables.  Early in the afternoon there were many kids swimming in the pool or running down the slip and slide that had been set up.  After dinner, two massive piñatas were hoisted for the kids assault until toys and candy were spilling from the crushed Santa and Christmas Bear.  Attire was Central American casual with flip flops and tee shirts being traded for what normally would be sweaters or beanies back at home.  It was also great to get to know some of our new friends a little better between all the food, piñata mayhem and kid corralling.  it was a great holiday vibe that kind of reminded me of the Who's down in Whoville getting together to ring in the holiday.

Photo:  Dinner Spread -  Piñata Aftermath - Slip N' Slide

 

New Years was just straight up fun.  We started out hanging with Greg and Leah for dinner which was a tasty lasagna that Greg baked.  Right before we sat down to eat the power went down which had our hosts lighting small lanterns for a candle lit new year's dinner.  Unplanned, but pretty nice addition to the ambiance of the evening. 

Photo:  Kids Taking Dinner in the Dark Seriously

Many Tona's (one of Nicaragua's beers) and Flora De Cana (rum) were consumed by Greg and I while the girls worked a South American shiraz-malbec blend we've become fond of.  While we sipped some after dinner drinks, we debated what to do with the rest of the evening.  We had brought over a bag of fireworks that we originally were going to shoot off at Christmas but never quite made it out to the beach.  The decision made was to load up the golf cart with booze, fireworks and kids for a ride up to the beach club where a big new year's hoe down was in full swing.

Photo:  Golf Cart - Girls Wine

 

Upon arrival, we greeted some friends and headed straight to the beach to begin the show.  There were a couple of local kids on the beach that were pretty eager to help us shoot off the rockets we'd brought.  We were happy to oblige, but they set off several rockets almost on top of the bag containing the stash of fireworks.  At any moment I was expecting to see one of those warning videos you see on the news around the 4th of July play out for real in front of me.  While we had some nice rockets that shot high in the air and burst into multi colored showers to entertain the kids, one of properties Directors, Ian, brought the goods.  Midway through our disorganized show he brought out 4 stout looking boxes that shot colorful explosions high into the air.

Photos:  Burning Man Style Beach Fire Post Fireworks Show

 

After the light show, we mingled and drank with a lot of the same crowd from the Christmas gathering plus many vacationers that were posted up here for the holidays.  We returned home after 11P with two exhausted boys and actually stayed up till midnight which hasn't happened in a long time for us on New Years.  Nica definitely knows how to party when ringing in the New Year which was evident by fun time everyone was having at the beach club.

Photo:  Packed Beach Bar

 

The holiday crowds have now disappeared at Iguana as we roll into January.  Were in full prep mode to pull up stakes in four weeks to head to Bocas Del Toro, Panama.  While Panama wasn't originally agenda for this trip, we've really taken a plan it as we go along attitude on this vision quest.  Many people have given Bocas high marks across the board so we excited to get leg 3 of the journey underway to kick off 2014.

The Many Faces of Panaga Drops.....

In my last blog, I briefly mentioned Panga Drops the surf break that we've been surfing the most here on the Iguana property.  It is a break that definitely deserves its own blog if not for anything other than the varying levels of fun and frustration that it dishes out pretty regularly.  There are almost always waves breaking on the reef to surf, and we were lucky enough to have 7+ days of solid waves due to back-to-back-to-back south swells that pushed through Central America starting on Friday the 13th.  The downside was that several of these days were accompanied by 30MPH offshore winds.  I've never  in my life seen white caps on the ocean surface due to off shore winds until last week.  Santa Ana winds in Southern California at their peak seem like a mild breeze compared to what we've been experiencing.  This is due to the large lake (Lake Nicaragua) that lies due east.  Normally it'll produce mild to brisk off shores making this region a surfer's paradise during south swell season.  The winds that have been hitting us in December are typically more characteristic of January, but they decided to show up a little early this year.

Photo:  Blown conditions in the December swell:

The building days of the biggest of the three shots of swell we received produced occasionally fun conditions last Friday 13th, Saturday 14th and Sunday the 15th when the winds weren't crushing it.  Even when the waves are fun, you can catch one and then have to take a set of 10-12 overhead waves on the head  to get back out to the lineup.  To get into waves out here you also have to constantly paddle to put yourself in position to catch the wave since the peak shifts over the reef with regularity changing the takeoff spot.  This can be the most frustrating side of Pangas.

Photo:  Pangas when you don't want to get caught inside:

 

The fun side of Pangas can be a left, or more frequently, a better right, that can produce a speedy wall of water that will allow you a few solid turns as it peels over the reef propelling you towards the beach.  Good rides out here can be 100 yards or more on a solid day when it's lining up.   Another really fun side of the break is the local crew that we've gotten to know surfing out there.  Always great conversation, joking or discussion about what the days conditions are, even if a cleanup set just came in and sent everyone half way back to the beach.

Photo: Playful Pangas:

 

On Tuesday the 16th, one of the peak days of the swell, we suited up in the morning after seeing mild off shores and set waves in the 2 to 3 foot overhead range.  A great looking day out at Panga's based on our visual morning surf check.  Within 5 minutes of paddling out the winds were gusting well over 30MPH causing the wave to be very difficult to catch, even at size.  You could easily paddle your guts out on the breaking peak of a 7 foot wave only to be blown out over the top while receiving a blinding blast of water in the face which is probably the equivalent of being shot with a fire hose.

Photo: Beat down Pangas:

While difficult to catch these waves, they weren't impossible.  It definitely changed the take off making it more vertical on the peak by the time you could match the wave speed with paddle speed and quite often blinded you until you got to your feet to actually surf the wave.  If you didn't make the wave, the backside of the peak would pelt you with a stinging rain that shot back at you from the foamy lip that just passed.  Both Melissa and I had several fun sessions this last week with great waves, but this Tuesday session was by far the least fun of them all (for me at least).  I chose to ride my FireWire which is an epoxy board far too light to paddle in these conditions.  This resulted in no waves ridden  and many inglorious beatings as I tried futilely to stroke into some bombing inside waves.  Melissa ended up catching a couple really nice waves.  One that I watched from the beach as I licked my wounds was a long right that clocked in at a few feet overhead.  As she took off she looked like she was moving in slow motion while the ripping winds almost held her in place as she popped to her feet.  Once she broke free, the wave walled up giving her a beautiful ride all the way to the inside.

Photo:  Representative of the bomb Melissa caught:

The last few days of the swell saw the winds die down and fun head high to overhead conditions.  We all were scoring lots of  great rides as the morning winds and tides cooperated on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday of this week.  There are noticeably more people in the water with the Christmas holiday afoot brining people in for an extended holiday.

Photo:  Party wave with the crew at a busy Pangas on the holiday:

As the Christmas Holiday filled in we had plenty of fun small waist to chest high swell on the reef and the beach break.  The low tide tended to favor the reef when it bottomed out and the high tide made a sand bar just a click south of Pangas super fun.

We're looking forward to another 5 weeks in Nica before heading to Bocas Del Toro, Panama on Feb 7th.  Special thanks to Tom for the photos and the local crew that make surfing Panaga Drops so much fun.   Cheers to you all!

Note:  Many of these photos were not taken during the week I've written about here, but they are entirely representative of what surfing at this break is like, no doubt.

Photo:  Sunset on Panga Drops:

 

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:



 

Leg Two In Nicaragua

After a final dinner with our friends in Troncones, we woke up early last Wednesday and loaded our 11 bags into Russell's truck to head for the airport in Ixtapa.  It was the start of a very long 13 hour day which took us to Mexico city first where we had to drag our two kids, two 8 foot board bags and the other 9 miscellaneous bags from terminal 1 to terminal 2.  There is a train that easily connects the two but after lugging all of our gear to the entrance of the train we were turned around by security guards telling us the massive and heavy board bags we'd just drug all the way to the train were too big to go on it.  They redirected us down to the buses that were fortunately close to the train, but not any easier to move everything down to.  Once packed onto the bus, we drove through heavy Mexico City traffic for about 10 minutes before arriving at terminal 2.

It was right about then I started to notice a strong chemical odor emitting from our board bag which I quickly realized was leaking epoxy resin from the repair kit that I had purchased off a local shaper in Mexico before departing.  The airport was clearly no place to address this so I just let it ride.  After about an hour plus of negotiating a $4 bus ride, we arrived at the Taca desk in Mexico City to check in for the Mexico City>San Salvador>Managua portion of our journey.  The kids were holding up pretty well at this point considering Slater was well past his nap time, but dragging the bags and managing the kids was already starting to wear on us both by 3P.

We checked in without incident and were happy to be rid of more than half our bags for the duration of the trip checking in most of what we had.  Once on the flight to San Salvador, the kids started to get punchy which was appropriately managed with candy and iPad activities.  Slater was less manageable, but fortunately this part of the flight was only 2 hours.  The other upside is they actually serve you good food and drinks on the airline for FREE.  I'm not talking about them giving you a mini bottle of bourbon and a bag of pretzels either.  They rolled out a choice of a chicken salad sandwich or ham and cheese with a nice macaroni salad.  It was topped off with a nice pour from and actual bottle of Johnny Walker which I was in need of badly at this point in the trip.

We arrived in Sal Salvador for our 2+ hour layover before boarding to take the quick 55 minute flight into Managua.  At this point it was about 7P and Slater was on full on melt down.  Melissa spotted a Subway going to our gate and doubled back with Jordan for sandwiches after we dropped what were carrying.  I stayed with Slater to watch him roll on the floor while screaming randomly about nothing in particular for 25 minutes.  It's one of the parenting moments where you really question why the hell you choose to travel for 13 hours straight with a 2 year old and a 5 year old.

Finally we arrived in Managua beaten down and in desperate need of a shower.  We got through customs after being fleeced for $10 a piece which is apparently a tourism tax that we were fully unaware of even after doing extensive research on Nicaragua.  We didn't have cash so we had to hit an ATM and then they didn't have change once we had cash so this whole Three Stooges routine at 10P after the day we had almost caused me to completely lose it.

We got to the hotel which was actually a really nice place we'd stayed at 3 years ago.  After a fitful night of sleep due to the Subway Sandwiches we'd ingested (I'll spare you the details but both Melissa and I were hit with intestinal difficulty ) we woke to have a great breakfast and prepare for the 4 hour drive south to Hacienda Iguana where we'll spend the next 3 months.  The car ride was fairly uneventful, although we did get some great views of the countryside including several active volcano cones.  Our driver Roberto also gave us the lay of the land and suggested several activities to consider doing with the kids over the next 3 months.

We're settling  into Iguana meeting several families and enjoying living on a golf course that our town home butts up to.  It is a far different environment from what we've been experiencing the last 5 months.  There are only a couple small restaurants on the property and virtually no shopping.  The beach and surf breaks (Colorado's and Panga Drops) are about a 10 minute walk from where we're at.  The first 3 days have produced sloppy, windy, unsurfable conditions which is unusual for this time of year.  We're looking forward to making new friends and exploring this beautiful country for the next several months!

Note,  no pictures on this blog.  There weren't many taken traveling or when we got here mainly because of the chaos of the last 5 days.  Also, we are currently without wifi which has made getting photos off the mobile devices a little tougher.  Next blog should be loaded up.