Bugs & Beaches

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It’s Dragon Fly hour now- just before dusk. A bird that remains to be seen makes a drawn out whistle that sounds like a long, high train whistle- just one single note. After the sun goes down it will be the fireflies’ turn. Then come the toads hopping into the house and protecting us from mosquitoes, along with Cherepos- local lizards- as best they can. Stick bugs have been out all day as with their veiny counterparts- the leaf bugs and once it is good and dark, land crabs click, beetles meander, and itsy bitsy insects, far too small to distinguish, scatter across our orange tile floor. It’s a flood of night life that only Kingsolver could do justice to describe (Prodigal Summer anyone?)

The night sky is draped across the ocean, changing into deeper colors as it approaches 6pm- it sounds its brilliantly silent alarm, collecting families together for their dinners of Gallo Pinto. Something I love about being tucked away in a relatively untouched corner of the earth is that when the sun goes down, humans slow down. There are no streetlights, no TVs; just a few dim house lights and around these lights are families- eating, laughing, connecting. I admit, we’ve followed suit. After Fauna goes down, Griff and I talk and read and then talk and read some more, some nights there is a glass of Jamaica wine or Nicaraguan rum in on the conversation.

There is something spectacular about being totally and absolutely out of your environment. Don’t get me wrong, there are plenty of western conveniences that have been carted into this little home we are staying in…coffee pot, generator, filtered water, a freezer, toaster oven, the list goes on. We are far from living like the locals on this trip. It is indeed a VACATION and we are not pretending it to be anything but. That said, this is far from a western culture. Yes, the west has managed to convince the locals that cheap, processed soy oil and margarine are just fine to cook all of their traditional foods in, Coca-Cola’s far-reaching arms have not bypassed the Nicas, and the cesarean section rate in private hospitals is increasing at an absolutely alarming rate. But freeing oneself of routine and yes, even some familiar comforts, forces a person to do one of two things; fight the changes and pine for home or enjoy the ride and embrace the learning that comes with the adventure.

We leave Nicaragua tomorrow and for the first time in a long time we are going home totally refreshed from a trip- it’s a strange and wonderful feeling. We spent today on a beach aptly named, Playa Hermosa. Unknown to us, until we arrived, it was the location for Survivor 2010. I’m glad we didn’t know this before because it may have kept us away, I mean when you hear that you might think that it has been turned into a kitchy resort selling Survivor bandanas and sports cups. Not as such. For the first two hours we were there, the place closely resembled what I would imagine a Silence Retreat to be like. After a bit there was some quiet chit-chatting among friends, and of course Fauna was laughing it up, but I don’t know if I’ve ever seen such a totally chill and mellow group of tourists who were not high. It really summed up the trip for us- sunshine, surfing, sand, hammocks, and lots of easy-going attitudes.

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Photos

My own little swimming turtle!
At a restaurant pool in town (san Juan del Sur)

Turtle laying eggs
Unfortunately for us, you are not allowed to use around the turtles- hurts their little eyes. If you look closely though, you can see that this is taken from the back end of the turtle and she is dropping her eggs in the sand below.