So…yesterday, woke up early as per usual, made breakfast, coffee and was sitting down to go through the previous night’s thunderstorm pics….when….knock at the door. Kinda early but what the heck.
Turns out Patrick’s son Spencer was taking our Canuck friends to Masa Chapa, a fishing village close to here, and someone had dropped out. Did I want to go?

Arlene was almost insistent that I go. Hmmm…time for some alone time maybe?
So I jumped in the back of the Hilux, truck of choice here, and off we went. Three guys in the back and Marci in the front with Spencer. A little tight but we made it work.

It’s about a 45 minute ride, mostly because the for 6-7 km from the resort is still a dirt road and it’s rainy season. Not that it rains all the time, hardly, but when it does, this road shows it. Add to that the dodging of cattle and other livestock, it just takes a little extra time. But this isn’t North America, so it’s ok if you know what I mean.

Along the way we picked up a gal looking for a ride to Managua. You do that here. Cab was full so she hopped into the box and away we went. Thankfully the second half of the road to the T, where this road intersects with the one going to Managua, is in good shape. Easier for all concerned. Especially the gal in the back. She wasn’t a local and was staying with a surfer dude living in the Gran Pacifica area.  He’s the one that flagged us down asking for the ride. He told us he made a deal for her to purchase a car in Managua. A sweet 85 Toyota Tercel I believe. I hope she made it back safely, as in the car held up.
We asked about the surfer. Apparently the story is something like this. He had a regular job either selling real estate or working on oil rigs, got tired of the race, took his money and moved down here.
He’s building a guest house on his property as a means of revenue. Doesn’t take much to live here if your looking for a simple life.

Anyway, we parted ways at the T and continued on to Masa Chapa. Our family visited here on our last trip in January. This is where all those little fishing boats congregate in the morning after a night of plucking their product out of the ocean.

Everyone gathers as the fish are unloaded and brought to the street market to be sold. We were told this happens every day.

Some, like this little girl to the right, are more interested in just playing on the beach.
The vendors take their purchases from the boats and proceed to prep them for the general public.

Our little group was on the hunt for red snapper or pargo. Some of the table had pargo, but small ones. I happened to flag a little lady down and asked if she had any pargo…El Grande. Si! she said then disappeared. Not sure if she understood my poor attempt at Spanish so we continued to look.

 All of a sudden she reappears from whatever shop she ducked into and was holding these…

Then the fun began, the whole figuring out the price, negotiating a better price and settling. I’ll say this much, the Nicas don’t budge on price very easily. Especially when dealing with Gringos LOL.

 After all was said and done we piled back into the truck and headed back to the town site to find some fruit vendors. More negotiating…

Through it all, I gotta throw props out to Spencer. He’s getting his feet wet with taking clients of the resort out on these excursions. We thought he did a great job not just getting us there and back but trying his best to interpret for us. Showed a lot of patience and respect for us old folks.

Made one extra stop back to the grocery store in San Rafael, then “home” to the resort.
Once we hit the dirt road, we picked up a whole family of locals. Turns out they lived right close to the resort. Saved them a good long walk in the midday heat. Again, it’s just what you do out here.

Rest of the day was dedicated to relaxing, watching a brief thunder shower pass by, then evening drinks by the pool with friends.

 Oh yeah! In the evening we found the Bomber game online! Great feed on reddit. How about them Bombers! I can now say I’ve seen them win a game from Nicaragua!

Full gallery of pix can be found at this link..

http://www.merlepetersphotography.com/Travel/Nicaragua-Trip-October-2016/Nicaragua-Oct-2016-Day-6/

Mańana…