Just another Easter at the beach
Lucila and Stacey (yes, a picture of Stacey!)
Just another day at the beach. No, I (Jesse) do not normally get up at 5 a.m. but then I do not normally have a rooster crowing outside my bedroom window either. Actually, there are 2 roosters, 8 hens and 2 ducks. This is our first overnight stay at our host family’s beach home. We attended Spanish classes yesterday morning, as usual. Then we gathered at the house. The family was busy getting the provisions necessary to feed everyone over the next couple of days. Their beach home is about a half hour outside the city and the last 20 minutes is on a dirt road that runs about 300 feet from, and parallel to, the waters’ edge. No stores out this way so, we carry in all the provisions we will need. Diana, from Oregon, and also a student at Femka’s school had visited the house a couple of days earlier and was invited to join us. Last time we crammed six adults, the driver and one child into a taxi. This time we had one more person and, thankfully, we took 2 taxis. Cost of taxi was 250 cordobas or about 14 dollars.
This is our 3rd time to the beach and this is the first time there was a police roadblock at the entrance of the beach road. Because it is Easter weekend everyone goes to the beach. The roadblock is to pay for the additional police presence. Our taxi driver argued that he was a Granada taxi and should not have to pay. We paid. Our host papa, in the other taxi, argued that he could prove he had property on the beach. They paid too. It was a little more than a dollar per car.
More about the lake/beach: Lake Nicaragua is the worlds’ largest lake and being here is more like being next to the ocean. Waves constantly hit the beach so you never get that silence that I would associate with a lake. Be back in a bit. The sun is rising and it is time for a walk on the beach.
Nice sunrise. The houses are about 100 feet from the water. There is about 40 feet of nice soft sand that gets very hot during the day, followed by 20 feet of sand, rocks and debris, and then another 40 feet of hard, damp sand at the waters’ edge. Then there is nothing but water for as far as the eye can see. We took a walk about 9 p.m. last night and found that much of the last 40 feet was under water. We also found that looking skyward at night makes you think you could be in Montana.
Housing along the shore varies dramatically. One will be a so small it must be just one room and will have an odd chair or two sitting in the sand outside. The next home may be a 3 or 4 bedroom modern house with a large covered deck area, lots of nice outdoor furniture, and hammocks.
Shortly after we got to the beach we had a lunch of chicken, potatoes and salad. Then we set up chairs and hammocks on a covered patio area. We read, played cards, had a couple of drinks, swam, chatted and just relaxed. Stacey and I vowed to not study any Spanish for 24 hours. ( Just a note: it is closing in on 9 a.m. and everyone is up except for you know who. I am jealous.) The host family left around 6 p.m. because papa had to open his shop at 5 a.m. and work a half day. We knew that he was going back but were surprised that the whole family left. So, it was just us 4 students and Julio. We heated up a prepared fish dinner in the microwave. FYI, only thing removed from the fish prior to eating is the scales. We played some word games, in (our) Spanish, and took a walk on the beach. Bedtime came earlier than usual after a hard day.
Entry continued a bit later…
We returned from the beach Sunday early afternoon. There was much confusion about our departure. A real lost in translation moment. Our host father’s sister and a fellow doctor friend of hers had come up to the beach house. We thought that the family was coming up as well, but Julio told us that they weren’t. He then told us that the taxi was coming for us at 1:30, then the story changed to include the family coming at 1:30, and finally the story evolved into a new plan where we were supposed to get a ride back with the sister’s friend and leave in 20 minutes. We were all confused why we were leaving in 20 minutes and why the family wasn’t coming back to the beach. We got a ride with the sister’s friend and arrived at the house to find the family getting ready to get a taxi to come out to the beach house. We determined that the whole of the confusion was due to the “Julio Factor”. He is a nice guy but seems to mis-communicate what is going on at times. It is compounded by our lack of Spanish. We topped of the confusion with more confusion. We thought that the family was going to go the beach anyway, so we decided to go out for lunch. Lucila was gone when we left, and we suspected that she was out buying us lunch since they hadn’t expected us. When we asked, we were told that she was out looking for a taxi.
Tags: Easter, Granada, Holy Week, Travel
staceye