Pochomil Beach

While Ashley and Kelly were here, we definately had some interesting things happen. They got a good taste of crazy Nica life. The adventurous
shake-your-head-because-there's-simply-nothing-else-you-can-do life. On Thursday we decided to go to the beach... We'd been pretty busy with preaching and studing all week... and then it was time to relax! Everything started out normal enough until... *click*, we walked out the front door and closed it behind us. Ashley turned the key in the lock and it completely jammed. It wouldn't turn, it wouldn't come out. It was completely and totally stuck. Great. Now what? We were heading to the beach, but wouldn't come back until 5 oclock or so, and by then it would be getting dark... should we stay and try to fix it now? Or just forget about it til later? Well, we decided to just call Serigo and Alexandra and tell them what happened and hopefully they'd have a good sugestion. They have definately saved my butt on more than one occasion!! We left the house to pick up Allison who was coming to the beach with us, and called Serigo on the way who told us not to worry, that they'd 'break in' while we were gone and fix the lock. haha Reassuring, right? Well, we had a great time at the beach.... it was around the holidays so there were TONS of people there, more than I've ever seen.... Actually, most of the time there are so few people there that I've wondered to myself how in the world those resteraunts stay in business with no customers. There's never anyone there! Well, I recently decided that they must stay in business all year off of the money they make for the 2 weeks of holidays during Dec/Jan. It was slam packed! But the beach was soooo big that it really didn't matter, we still had a good time.

They even had horses on the beach that you could rent out for a half hour for $40 cordobas! (That would be $2 US dollars) Ever since I was a kid I wanted to ride a horse barefoot on the beach... It was a dream come true!

Nicaraguan Sunblock

The food was deeeelicious, although a little scary to look at. I got plenty of practice of eating fishes with their heads still on while I lived in Mexico. So I'm an expert now.

When we got home from the beach, they had taken off the broken lock and put a make-shift one back up for the night. The next day I left the girls to fend for themselves. I had a full day in service planned and they wanted to do some shopping and other things in Managua. When they got home in the afternoon they came home to a dark house. There was no electricity. Welcome home! Unfortunately I wasn't there yet, so they called Serigo and Alexandra again to help them figure out what was going on. It turns out that the wind had been blowing so hard, and for so long, that it literally loosed the wire off the pole, and our electricity died. Of course, we didn't know this at the time, and they were trying to call the electric company, but it's expensive to call from a cell phone, and there is no house phone, so they were trying to find a brother with a house phone in order to make the call, etc..etc..etc... It turned into a bit of an ordeal. I came home after dark, completely exhausted from a very long day. And I was quite surprised to find we didn't have electricity... especially when all our neighbors did! grrrrr. Serigo and Pancho were at the house installing a new lock on the door by flashlight, and the girls and I headed into the kitchen to cook, by candlelight. YESSSS! Since we were staying in Michelle & Brian's house while they've been gone, they had everything in the house that you could need, including these enormous torch-like candles that have flames so big we were afraid to keep them lit. haha But the light was excellent to cook by, and quite romantic too.

We made eggplant parmesan and pasta. It was pretty stinkin good. The day before we made a thai chicken dinner, before that, yummy chimichanga mexican things, before that, curry broccoli soup, before that... ok I'll stop now. I may be living in a 3rd world country, but let me tell you, I don't eat like it. Food definately has not been something I've skimped on. And the girls noticed it right away! Before they came to El Crucero, I think they had pretty much only eaten beans and rice and some strange rubbery meats. Arriving in El Crucero they found Michelle Elliot's elaborate collection of spices and cookware, and my intense desire to eat well. haha I believe they were quite impressed with the yummy food you could still eat even living in Nicaragua. No locks on the doors? Ehhh. No big deal. No electricity? Pffftt. No sweat. No running water? There's a bucket around back. What's for dinner? Chicken Fettuchini Alfredo, Jumbalaya, or Shepards Pie? Now you're talking! I'm going to bed tonight fat and happy.