El Encanto - The Enchanted!

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While Benjamin and I were off fishing for a few hours yesterday, Melody was deciding Little Morgan's is not the place for us, or families in general. It's the place for twenty-somethings having an adventure. A little Bohemia carved out of the jungle.

We didn't really mind the geckos in the room, or the fact that our "private" bathroom lacked a roof. We're not too particular. But that 4th bed without mosquito netting, plus the power going off in the middle of the night killing the fan pointed at it, meant that Benjamin woke up with his legs covered in bites. He had absolutely refused to be sprayed, and really, better parents would have given him one of the netted beds, but well, what can we say now? There isn't much risk of malaria here, right? Right?!?

I got just a little credit from Melody for not saying a syllable of objection to her determination that the first goal this morning is figuring out where we will move to, and then moving there. Lacking other transportation options, this implied a pedestrian search of the area. So after breakfast the two of us left the kids, walked the steep driveway back up to the road, and turned right toward the tiny "town" of Santa Cruz.

The road in this part of Ometepe is dramatically bad: a series of big rocks and pools of unknown depth, muddy each morning after the nightly rains. "Unpaved" doesn't cover it. But hey, we were walking, so no worries. Before too long we reached that faded sign for El Encanto we had so quickly passed yesterday in the taxi. Upon closer inspection it had an arrow pointing up a side road, "500m". Aha. Those unpainted cinderblock buildings were not El Encanto after all.

Indeed not. We arrived to a huge garden, barking dogs, and the owner, Senor Carlos. He showed us a room with two double beds and private bath, for $30. The restaurant offered great views of Concepcion Volcano. We agreed. Then he offered to drive us back down to Little Morgan's in his beat-up red pickup and get our kids and packs. No charge. Well, OK. A friend of his who happened by pretended to steal my hat, but he was only kidding around.

After a little settling in, Sr. Carlos gave us a botanical tour of his enormous garden, pointing out all of its edible fruits, half of which are served in the restaurant. The bluejays, he lamented, get the other half. They check them every day for ripeness.

The power is still off (what has it been, 10 hours and counting?) so they can't make us fruit drinks. The beer, however, is still thankfully cool enough. Let's walk down to the lake for a swim.

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Photos

Count the bites
This was taken 2 days later - I count over two dozen mosquito bites on Benjamin's lower legs alone. He didn't complain though.

The Garden
El Encanto's garden just goes on and on....

Lake Colcibolca
It's hot, let's go swimming! But beware the fresh water sharks. No, really, I read that they're in here.

Burying Dad 1
Now that's fun.