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Published: September 23rd 2008
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"Baby" Our little Parrot
One of the little "Pets" Living in our Courtyard Although this is a travel blog, it's also the story of my time (nearly 2 years) in Nicaragua. The best way to follow this journal is to go back and read the previous entries, starting with the earliest dated in August. Each journal entry is part of the ongoing story but it also includes travel information for those of you who might want to travel, visit, or live in Nicaragua for a while, especially in San Juan del Sur.
Location, location, location. That's what I've always heard is important when buying real estate, and it also applies to renting. Our house in San Juan del Sur was in a perfect location. Two blocks from the ocean and one block from the outdoor market, the "hub" of the village. The house itself was like none other. I visited many NEW beautiful homes, but this was an old house that had been well thought out. It was gated in the front for security, and trees and bushes had been planted for privacy. There was a nice little front yard, with a big fountain in the middle. Small tables and chairs were set up along the side of the house where there was
BBC Interviews "Expats"
British Broadcasting Corporation interviews for Travel Show Segment about Nicaragua a tiled "breezeway" that lived up to it's name. There was always a cool "breeze" passing through from the front of the house, on it's way to the courtyard in back. The courtyard was amazing. It was completely enclosed by a tall brick wall. Although most of it had been paved in concrete, there was a huge Mango tree on one side and lush gardens around the entire perimeter. Living in amongst the tropical shrubbery were two land turtles, a couple of green parrots and a wild blue Iguana. A colorful hammock hung in one corner. It was a garden Oasis. Quiet and private, it was the perfect place to read or relax and it would soon become a place that many people would visit for a morning coffee or a vegetarian omelet or to just commune with nature after a yoga class, (more on our Yoga studio /Cafe, in future blogs).
On the inside, there was a small kitchen, with all the modern conveniences, attached to a dining area that opened up into a large living room, that would later become our Yoga studio. Down the hall on the right was the main bath and continuing to the end of the hall you would walk through a door to the back end of the house. This door could be locked so that the three bedrooms at the back of the house could be closed off for security. The bedrooms were large and air-conditioned and the master bedroom had it's own small bathroom attached. The furnishings were minimal but we found that a bed and a dresser were all we needed. Our lifestyle was spartan and simple, but small luxuries, like imported towels and linens, made our surroundings comfortable and beautiful.
On our first day in San Juan del Sur, we were taken to Ricardo's Restaurant/ Bar, on the "main drag," for lunch. This was "the" place to go for lunch or for late night drinks or information, or to just hang out and socialize with friends in SJDS. Ricardo's was listed in the guidebooks as "the place" to visit for travel or surfing information. People would arrive by taxi from the Managua airport and ask to be dropped off at Ricardo's Bar. There they would be given a map, and directed to a nice place to stay, depending on their budget. It was owned by a "Wonder Woman", who I'll call "M", from Austria, and her handsome German boyfriend, who the restaurant was named after. My daughter and I became friends with "M" and we spent a lot of time at Ricardo's. Before I left, "M" was struggling with a major decision. Return to Austria after many years of living in San Juan Del Sur and running a successful bar? Or stay. I heard Ricardo's closed a while after I left SJDS and even though it is no longer a place you can visit, I am including it in my story because I'm not sure what life in San Juan del Sur would have been like for me if I had not had Ricardo's to run to as my "refuge" and "M" to go to as my friend. I'm not sure I could live in a San Juan del Sur without them.
Most of the people I met in San Juan del Sur, I met at Ricardo's. Many of them were foreigners and many were expat locals. So, what's up with the term "expat"? When I first heard myself referred to as an expat, I didn't like it. I didn't really know what it meant but I thought it stood for ex-patriot. I didn't consider myself unpatriotic just because I had decided to make another country my own for a while. I still loved MY country and felt VERY patriotic. So, I looked it up and was happy to find that expat was the abbreviation for expatriate which comes from the Latin "ex" (out of) and "patria" (country or fatherland). It refers to a person temporarily or permanently living in a country and culture other than their own home or legal residence. So, we resigned ourselves to being expats. A year later, the BBC came to San Juan del Sur and interviewed a small group of expats for one of their Travel programs. Included in those interviews were my daughter and I.
The Journey / Travel With Me
A. Zudro a.k.a. Gloria
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