Virginia > San Salvador > Managua
Thursday, February 6, 2025: Thursday morning was hectic as there was an ice storm overnight which caused the power to go out for most of the morning before we left home. We left home at 12:30 pm, with the power still out in the house; we were worried that when the power came back on after we left, some electric device might come on that we didn’t want to leave on. We unplugged as many things as we could and then took an Uber to Dulles, where we caught a 3:50 pm Avianca flight to San Salvador, El Salvador.
Avianca must have the smallest leg and seat space of any airline we’ve flown, but at least it seems efficient, always loading everyone quickly and taking off exactly on time (I’d change that statement by the end of our trip!). The seats are crowded, uncomfortable, and don’t recline, and nothing is free, not even a bag of nuts, but I do appreciate the business-like efficiency they bring to their flights.
On my flights, I finished the book I had been reading, The Lover, by Marguerite Duras.
We arrived early in San Salvador at around 6:50. While waiting for our 9:20 flight to Managua, Nicaragua, we enjoyed some vodka tonics at Cafe Tapacun, a cute airport cafe where we stop every time we go through the San Salvador airport. We also perused the small art gallery at the airport which has a rotating collection of El Salvadoran art.
We finally arrived at 10:30 p.m. in Managua, Nicaragua and checked in at Best Western Las Mercedes Airport hotel, directly across a busy road from the airport. At least we didn’t have to wake up at the crack of dawn the next morning.
Steps: 8,441; Miles 3.57. Weather in Oakton: Hi 45°, Lo 33°. Managua: Hi 91°, Lo 75°. Partly cloudy.
Managua > arrival in Ometepe & meeting our newest grandson
Friday, February 7: Last year and this year, we had Adam’s friend Alberto arrange a ride for us with his cousin Dani from Managua to Rivas, about a 2-hour drive. Adam was in Rivas picking up his corrected passport; the U.S. Embassy had accidentally misspelled his middle name as “Cristoper” without the “h,” which has caused him all kinds of hassles, including his misspelled name being on both his marriage certificate and Mike’s birth certificate. Because of poor cell phone reception and miscommunication, we missed meeting him in Rivas; we got on the 11:00 ferry to Ometepe.
The ferry was crowded mostly with a school group from Quebec. One of the boys sat on the floor of one of the bathrooms during the entire crossing, retching into the toilet.
We arrived in Moyogalpa on Ometepe at noon and rented a Toyota Rush from Alberto for the week, handing over hundreds of U.S. dollars in the parking lot with no contract of any kind. We ate lunch at the Cornerhouse while waiting for Adam to arrive on the 12:00-1:00 ferry. I had a roasted vegetable and cheese sandwich and Mike got two chicken salad sandwiches, one for Adam. After Adam arrived and we finished lunch, the three of us shopped in Moyogalpa for a fan for the girls’ room and some birthday and Valentine’s Day gifts 🎁 for Maria. We then began our drive to Balgüe, about an hour away.
We took Adam to his casa in Balgüe and we finally met our newest grandson, Michael Christopher, who would turn 9 months old on February 15. He’s an adorable little boy with a sweet and curious disposition, although he didn’t initially react well to his newly arrived grandparents. When we tried to hold him or kiss him, his face scrunched up and he started screaming and buried his face into Maria’s shoulder.
We checked out the house projects Adam had started in the last year, including a bamboo partition around the shower (providing privacy), a new sink and countertop in the kitchen, and an unfinished bodega, where Adam’s friend Jon had pitched a tent. Jon wasn’t there at the time because he was in San Juan del Sur investigating the suspicious death of a friend’s father who married a Nicaraguan woman. The father seemed to have changed his will but never signed it.
We met Adam’s little cow named Rocky who is now tethered in his yard. Adam is hoping to increase his property holding to give the cow free reign, but so far that hasn’t happened.
We played a little game at the house where I said Spanish words for parts of the body that I’d recently learned (rodilla [knee], cuella [neck], cuerpo [body], garganta [throat]) and the girls had to tell me the English words. I asked Cristy what she’d like to do with her life. I suggested maybe university in Managua? She doesn’t have any specific ideas, but I know she is smart. I hope we can somehow help her to get a real education off the island. It seems any possibilities in the U.S. will be off the table as long as Trump is in office. Adam has an idea to get her involved with the orders online for their business to give her some business skills.
Adam seems happy. He likes doing the food supply business he can do on a small scale, which wouldn’t be possible in the U.S. He said he couldn’t do anything with cows, for instance, on a small scale in the U.S.
We brought Andrea and Mia to Totoco with us, where we checked in to our lodge, called ECHECATL, and then let them swim in the infinity pool. Abuelito swam with them while I sat in a chair and watched them while enjoying a glass of white wine.
The family joined us at Totoco for dinner. As always, it took forever to get our dinner, and the girls get antsy waiting. Little Mike, who sported an adorable hat that said “Little Man,” sat in his first high chair and later enjoyed scooting over the cool tile floor chasing after his toys. The girls gobbled down their chicken fingers and grilled chicken, accompanied by jugos & Canada Dry Ginger Ales, their new favorite drink. Mike and I shared samosas and vegetable curry, while Adam and Maria shared a hummus platter and a plate of chicken pesto pasta. The food was decent but bland.
Andrea and Cristy both told us their favorite subjects were English. Mia serves as her class’s English translator, although she hardly says a word to us in English. I have a hard time understanding Maria because she speaks so fast and my Spanish, after nearly 1000 days of Duolingo, is still pathetic.
Steps: 8,127; Miles 3.44. Weather in Managua: Hi 92°, Lo 75°. Partly cloudy.
A morning walk, howler monkeys, the Saturday market, a poker game & dinner with the family
Saturday, February 8: Saturday morning, Mike and I walked down from Totoco to Adam’s house and back, about a 3-mile very steep round trip. We found a troupe of howler monkeys jumping from branch to branch in the trees above our cabana.
We then drove back down and took our belated Christmas gifts to Maria, the girls and little Mike.
Mike and I took the girls down to the Saturday market where we had vegan burritos on banana leaves, I bought a piece of jewelry for each of the girls and we enjoyed ice cream cones at a heladería. Adam showed us some of their food production, including a large piece of beef he would grind and sell as hamburgers on the island.
We dropped the girls at home then Mike and I joined the Saturday afternoon Texas Hold’em poker game with the expats at Cafe Campestre from 2-5. There was a big crowd including Ben (owner of Campestre), another Ben from UK, Ash, Jon (Adam’s friend), and Luke (U.S. Navy retired guy). Lucie (Ash’s partner) was the dealer.
Mike ended up ahead in the end, but Adam and I lost everything, going all-in on the last hands as the game was closing. I had started out strong with three 3-of-a-kinds and raked in the chips. Slowly I frittered them all away. We had some hilarious moments where an Austrian guy named Robin, who joined the game midway, said he left Austria to return to Ometepe because of the weather (foggy and cold) and he didn’t like the “v(w)ib(v)es” (“vibes”) there at this time. I said, “You don’t like the the wives? Just how many wives do you have?” That got big laughs from the table. Love how those German v’s, b’s and w’s sound alike! Robin hadn’t had time to go to a cash machine and kept asking everyone at the table to front him some money, but no one stepped up to do so. When the song “Stayin’ Alive” started playing, Adam bobbed his head to the beat and said, it’s the “Bee Gee boys!” I said, “It’s either the Bee Gees or the Beach Boys, not the Bee Gee Boys!” That also got laughs throughout the game. Ben told us a very funny story about some people he knows.
I couldn’t keep up with the complicated betting after a couple of Tonias and people had to keep reminding me how to stay in the game. Ash said he was serving as my advisor. When Robin joined and sat between us, Ash said, “How will you survive without your advisor?”
After the Saturday poker game, Maria and the kids joined us for dinner at Cafe Campestre. I was disappointed they were out of my favorite Green chicken curry. I ordered Aloo Paratha (Indian flat bread filled with a mild potato curry and served with yogurt raita & chutney), but I didn’t care much for it and ended up giving away much of my meal and eating bites of Adam’s delicious and enormous chicken burger. Everyone else enjoyed their meals, especially Andrea who has an outsized appetite and gobbled down a humongous plate of chicken fingers.
We were serenaded at Cafe Campestre by their fabulous playlist, including some favorites such as “Somebody That I Used to Know” by Gotye and Kimbra and “Scar Tissue” by Red Hot Chili Peppers.
I was feeling exhausted and grumpy from all the beers on top of all the activity and I couldn’t wait to get back to Totoco and go to bed. I wanted to curl up and read Berlin Poplars about a very dysfunctional Norwegian family featuring three brothers: a pig farmer, an undertaker and a window dresser.
Steps: 9,782; Miles 4.15. Weather in Ometepe: Hi 84°, Lo 75°. Partly cloudy.
Yoga, a rainy Sunday, and a sleepover
Sunday, February 9: Sunday we ate an early breakfast so we could do yoga in the new pavilion at Totoco. I ate yogurt with homemade granola and Mike had oatmeal with fruit. At least we started our trip on a healthy footing.
Only Mike and I showed up for the 8:00 session with Robin from Montreal. I hadn’t brought any yoga clothes because Totoco didn’t have a place for yoga last year so I didn’t expect it. It was a chill session that was supposed to be 1 1/2 hours but I have little patience for yoga sessions over an hour so we compromised on 1 1/4 hours. Strong gusts threatened to carry our yoga mats away but we used cedar blocks to keep them in place, to little effect. Howler monkeys were grunting loudly in the surrounding trees. I had a hard time relaxing because I thought they might come into the open-air pavilion and abscond with my pack! Robin gave us head massages with lavender oil to top off the session.
After yoga we showered (cold showers always at this Eco Lodge) and then sat in the lodge for wi-fi and coffee. We chatted with Kathleen from Wisconsin and Jamie (from Wisconsin and Arizona). They have been friends forever, since their teaching days together. Kathleen has a Master’s degree in Spanish and taught Spanish during her career. She wanted to know all about the Camino de Santiago which is high on her bucket list. Their bathroom at Totoco was outside their room and at one point she got locked in the bathroom. Then they were both locked out of the bathroom for two days, so they had to pee in the grass several times in the middle of the night. They were headed to Granada that afternoon.
After whiling away the morning at Totoco, we went to find lunch at Bustavo but found it closed on Saturday & Sunday. Instead we ended up at Pan de Mama, a bakery which we discovered had suffered a kitchen fire a week ago. In typical Nica style, they had set up a temporary kitchen outdoors behind the restaurant and still managed to prepare grilled cheese and chicken salad sandwiches, and even cafe lattes!
After lunch, we dropped by Adam’s casa for a visit. I rocked little Mike in the hammock to prolong his nap and give Maria a break.
Unusually, it was pouring off and on all day Sunday despite it being the dry season. We relaxed a bit in our room and at the open-air thatched lounge at Totoco and then went to dinner at Pizzeria Mediterranea. Mike and I sat at one table along the edge of the covered dining area and ordered our favorite chorizo and broccoli pizza. We talked across the tables with a Canadian woman, Monica, who was upset about the effect our freaking U.S. president is having on an already divided Canada. At another table were two German ladies who were also upset about the direction of Germany. They had just walked a Camino from the Caribbean coast to the Pacific Coast of Costa Rica. When another downpour started coming in at the edge of the roof, we all moved to one big table in the center. It was amazing to find people from two different countries who were upset about the authoritarian turns countries are taking, many influenced by our evil 47th president. He’ll go down in history as one of the world’s most despicable men along with Hitler, Stalin, Mussolini, Kim Jong Un, and Putin.
When we had time to listen to the restaurant’s playlist between our chatter and the pouring rain, we found soothing songs such as “La Rue Kétanou” and “Sour Times” by Portishead.
After dinner at Pizza Mediterranea, we went by Adam’s house to pick up the girls for a sleepover with us at Totoco. It gets dark early in Nicaragua every night of the year, around 5:50, so we played about 5 rounds of Kings-around-the-corner in the Totoco lodge. I enjoyed a glass of wine, Mike a Tonia and all three girls drank their favorite Canada Dry Ginger Ales. Andrea, the middle girl, has a very strong personality and hates to lose. Mia was a very sharp player; Andrea was also good but sloppy: she kept putting two reds or two blacks together. She ended up winning the first and last games, while Mike/Mia won one round, with Cristy and me winning one game each.
Our lodge had one room with a queen bed and another room with a big bunk bed covered in mosquito netting. There isn’t much to do there once it gets dark, so we all got tucked in. The girls loved the huge bunk bed. I read Berlin Poplars on my Kindle. We were all asleep by 8:30. 😴 💤 🛌
Here is a little video of some of our first days in Ometepe with the family.
Steps: 1,302; Miles .55. Weather in Ometepe: Hi 85°, Lo 78°. Partly cloudy. Rain off and on all day & windy.
~ wander.essence ~ 
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