We are in the middle of summer here in San Juan del Sur. Even though we are only 11 degrees above the equator, the rain has stopped and it gets drier by the day. Leaves are turning brown and falling off the trees, creating new views through the forests, just like the trees in a New England autumn. I guess I never knew that leaves fall off trees in hot climates as well. The once lush green leaves and grass have turned a rather dull gray green and dust is everywhere. The days are getting hotter and hotter. So far the heat doesn’t bother me, but people are starting to complain.

Have had some interesting meals of late. Last weekend in Managua, the taxi driver suggested a great Nica soup place. It’s all they serve and our waiter had a slight resemblance to the soup Nazi of Seinfeld fame. Well, he was gruff, that’s for sure. I asked what soups they had, well, it was Monday, so they only had one kind of soup: beef chunks with bull testicles and cow brains (Why? Do females make a smarter soup? And…can you get mad cow disease this way? Where is Denny Crane when I need him?) Well, we were already sitting down at the restaurant, and the long line of people waiting to get in promised that the soup would be great. I’ll try any food once and I generally like everything, so I wasn’t too worried. The soup broth WAS good. A taste I’ve never sampled before, but it was hearty and hot. The beef chunks were fine and actually, the bull testicles were cut up into strips, so if I hadn’t been told what I was eating, I wouldn’t have known. OK, so I like bull testicles too. But the brains…no…not the brains. It wasn’t the taste so much as they are very mushy. And they looked like brains, all convoluted and squashed together. And of course you start thinking about what you are eating and no….one bite of the brains was all I could muster. Another great meal was at my neighbor’s. Next door neighbor Fritz from Germany has his mother visiting and I got a wonderful dinner of bratwurst and sauerkraut – a treat in Nicaragua. They even brought the special mustard right from Germany! Then, for the past two weekends I’ve left my beautiful town and wandered up the coast to two other beachfront places. Both are primitive Nica places, with $15.00 hotels right on the beach and a string of thatch-roof restaurants. So far La Boquita wins for its seafood soup which you can order made with either milk or water (I choose water) and it comes with huge crab claws, lobster, shrimp a whole small fish, vegetables, and unfortunately, turtle eggs. However, the soup is fabulous and I find myself dreaming of it in San Juan del Sur. We have our own place to go for a great seafood soup – El Timon Restaurant. Right on the beach and the best mojitos in town. But still…La Boquita wins so far.

I am proud to say that I have become a great insect and spider slayer. The other morning when I was doing the dishes, I picked up the last dish and missed being stung by a huge scorpion in the sink (that was not very nicely hiding under that last dish) by about 1/8 of an inch! He went in for the attack with his tail, but I was quicker and won the battle and then the war. My favorite weapon, my extra big can of Baygon (like Raid) was by my side and I said to the ugly creature, “YOU ARE GOING TO DIE.” With that I gave it a spray overdose of toxic poison (to me too…it’s hard to keep from breathing the stuff) and watched him feebly try to attack again, then kind of shudder and then flip over on its back, kick its legs and die (just like in the cartoons….they really end up with their legs up in the air!). I’ve also since had a tarantula again come out of a drain….this time my concrete washtub out back where I wash my clothes. (Yes I do!!!) And I put some plants in pots on my patio without realizing that very huge wasps dig holes and build great big nests in that nice loose dirt. But Baygon works well in this situation as well. Just spray right into the holes and run as fast as you can because all the adult wasps fly out and they are hopping mad! So I believe I’ve pretty much conquered the insect challenge. I no longer scream. It’s more like, “Ah ha! There’s no room in this house for the both of us and you’ve got to go!”

Now that company has gone and I’ve settled down by myself, I’m pleased to say that I can find some semblance of the life I left behind. Every morning I have my yogurt, granola and fruit for breakfast. I also make a drink that I think is very healthful, water with fresh squeezed lime and honey from this area. They say that if you eat honey from the new area in which you are living, you will not develop allergies there. And lime juice is good for the stomach. I have not been sick yet!!!! After breakfast, I make some fabulous fresh Nicaraguan coffee and sit out on my patio and look out at the ocean and jungle. Some mornings I hear the howler monkeys. Every day I hear the magpies, parrots, grackles and other birds that populate the place. At night while I’m sleeping I sometimes wake up to something that sounds like that velociraptor in Jurassic Park…it’s actually kind of scary because I have no clue what is making the noise! On Tuesday and Thursday mornings I go to a wonderful one-hour yoga class at 7:30 am that costs $3.00; it is taught by an American woman named Vanessa. On any day I go to the beach, make my jewelry, work on my writing projects or continue watching the entire series of the Sopranos, which I had never seen and my neighbor let me borrow. Many of you will be happy to know that I’ve found a Karaoke place in town and when the mood hits me, you may find me belting out “I Will Survive” or “Leaving on a Jet Plane” or “La Bamba” (with a local Nica woman) at El Lago Azul restaurant. It’s really a local restaurant, not a touristy place, and the Nicas are very enthusiastic with their clapping whether you sing in Spanish or English and whether you sing well or you are just plain bad, so it’s fun. Not like San Diego, where they boo you if they don’t like you! And their grilled (served on a steaming metal platter) chicken or beef is out of this world!

I DID send my final test into Lonely Planet and they are going to let me know if I get the job by March 5th. I’m kind of waiting to see what happens with that first to see how much of my time may be devoted to that (if I’m lucky enough to get the job), because there are some volunteer projects I’d like to become involved with here in town and I want to give my free English classes as well. All of this will happen after my visit to San Diego in March.

You may wonder what the local people do in San Juan del Sur for a living. Even though this city is considered a resort area, the people are very poor like similar places in the Caribbean and Latin America. The main industries are fishing and tourism, not sure which one takes the front seat, but I’d bet it is tourism. The fishing boats usually go out at night or in the very early morning and the men spend the day selling the catch. There is a little “fish place” where we can go every day and buy the catch of the day. Dorado, yellow tail, sea bass, red and white snapper and shrimp or lobster are the main purchases, but there can also be marlin and sailfish. As far as tourism goes, there are loads of surf shops, since this place is on the International Surfing circuit and the good local surfers get jobs as surf instructors and general surfing guides. If they can drive, even better. Other tourist-related jobs are the usual waiters and bartenders, working at the tourist sites like the canopy ride and sailing trips. Also gardeners, handymen, cuidadors (they watch your house at night by sitting on the porch), etc. In the development sector there are a lot of construction jobs, but they want experienced people so these jobs are hard to come by. The old Catch 22 – how do you get experience if you don’t have any? All of these jobs, most of which are 6 days per week, at least 8 hours a day but more often 10, bring in about $100 - $125 dollars a month. Local people do not own vehicles. They walk to work, or if they are lucky, they ride an old bicycle. It is not worth having a nice new bicycle because it will be stolen. As I said before, gas is almost $5.00 a gallon here, and who can afford it? Only the expats and the rich Managuans. (My next door neighbor Fritz, who just came back from Germany, said gas is $10.00 a gallon in Germany. Our gas in the US is one of the cheapest in the world!) There are also other jobs in things like reforestation projects, which is long, backbreaking work and just pays $100 a month. Women here clean houses, cook and wash clothes for people for about $4.00 a day (a full day, from 8 to 5). I don’t have anyone helping me. My house is small and it seems to me like I can do those things myself. And yes, I have friends here who never learned to read or write, never learned to use a fork and knife, and they know nothing about the world outside. It’s very humbling. These people are not unhappy. Far from it…I’ve been to a couple of local parties and have rarely seen families so close and so happy to be together. Even if they have nothing, they make me something to eat and drink. It would be awful of me to decline the food. In some way that we don’t understand or even experience, these people really seem to have some basic happiness, some lack of stress, a simplicity in living that our culture lost a long time ago on its quest to have everything else.

If you come down to visit, you will see why the Internet is such a challenge at times. Yesterday when I got to town (10-15 minute drive) the electricity went out and stayed out for 5 hours. No Internet. And of course, I just happened to be making dinner in my crock pot because my neighbors were coming over later in the evening. I had to quickly get home and pour everything into a regular pot (using gas) and keep the burner on all day! Thank goodness the electricity came back on just before the guests came and the roast actually turned out OK!!! Good to be flexible. Alas, last week I forgot and plugged my IPod into a regular outlet, not the one with my surge protector. The electricity wavered, went out and immediately came back on and that was the end of my IPod! I was so mad – it was my fault!!! The speaker system is still working though, so now I just need a new IPod when I go back to the US. For all of you who thought I was crazy to copy and take my entire CD collection down with me…..well, I’m glad I didn’t listen or I wouldn’t have any music!

That’s about all for now. If there’s anything special you want to know about in Nicaragua, let me know. Please write back when you get a chance. I write everyone back personally who writes to me. I may be slow, but I do write back eventually.

Bonnie