Who gets injured playing Frisbee?

  San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Wednesday, June 20, 2007

June 19, 2007 brought another soggy and muddy day, however Geraldine still stepped into her running shoes and headed out for a morning jog.  Today the 4 kilometre run was not as easy to complete and she found herself walking a lot on the way to her turn around spot.  Resolving that walking was not why she had left the van this morning, she pulled up her socks and managed to make her legs run her back home.  The process was strenuous and when she arrived home, her face was as red as a ripe tomato.  Not accustomed to having such little strength and stamina, Geraldine decided that her physical troubles were due to getting a little too much sun exposure the day previous.  It was either that or the fact that sleep is hard for her to come by when the rain storms roll in in the middle of the night.


During her shower, Geraldine determined that she would not be going for a run the following day.  That way, she could feel okay about allowing the sun to sap her energy for yet another day.  We all have our priorities.  After breakfast, Michael once again worked on getting us caught up on our journal entries.  It was not until after lunch that he joined Geraldine on the beach.  As had become the custom, we spent several hours playing Frisbee.  Michael had been practicing his Frisbee skills in the days previous and thought he would try an around-the-back catch.  He was very close to catching it, however the Frisbee felt like flying off in the other direction and whacked him nicely in the neck.  There was no bruising and Michael was still able to breath, so play was resumed.  The game was nearly called to an end when once again the Frisbee misbehaved.  Michael threw a nice smooth shot in Geraldine's direction.  The Frisbee ricocheted off of her waiting hands and directly into her face.  The pain was minimal however the darn Frisbee had managed to cut her lip, and as Michael approached all he could see was Geraldine's red teeth.  Deciding that the Frisbee would not have the best of us, Geraldine wiped off her teeth and play picked up where it left off.


The strenuous Frisbee match left us both tired and hot so we headed into our ocean playground.  It was nearing 3:00 pm and the afternoon tide was just starting to come in again.  So much fun was being had diving into waves that once more we found ourselves in chest deep water.  Geraldine was not comfortable with this and advised Michael that she was heading to shallower waters.  Michael was having too much fun and decided to stay where the waves were bigger.  As Geraldine watched from shore, she saw a large wave come up and over Michael's head.  Immediately he disappeared beneath the water.  The wave took a hold of Michael and threw him around like a rag doll.  At one point, all Geraldine could see were his legs sticking straight up out of the water.  It was humorous to watch from the sidelines; however Michael was none too pleased as he had ingested a large amount of salt water in the process.  Playtime with the big waves was now over.  We lay down on our beach towel and let the blazing sun sooth our battered and bruised bodies.


Security guards had changed shift and Jose was now the man with the rifle.  He was a jolly fellow that also happened to have been one of the church leaders the night previous.  Jose approached us as we sunbathed and handed us a rock.  Examining the rock, we noticed shiny golden spots.  According to Jose, the rock was covered in natural gold and he was presenting it to us as a gift.  It was a thoughtful gesture and we accepted the rock with many thanks.  You never know, this one little rock might be able to pay off this trip.

Storm clouds in the distance.

Hitting the showers, we were once again thankful that our hosts had agreed to allow us the use of one of their rooms.  It was a glorious feeling to be able to once again wash off the salt water from our bodies.  Showered and dressed we searched out the property caretaker, Milo, to enquire about our bill.  We had spent three days at Casa Maderas and were still unsure as to how much our stay was going to cost us. Initially the first security guard had given us a probable price of $10 USD per day. 

Fun with the sunset.

This cost was too steep for us and it was highly unusual that we stayed without agreeing upon a reasonable price.  Breathtaking Playa Maderas and our prime location were ideal and had made it difficult for us to leave.  We managed to find Milo and were very hopeful that the cost was not going to be less than anticipated.  Milo seemed to sense our apprehension and asked us to pay C$100 per day, which works out to roughly $5.50 USD.

Playa Majagual sunset.

We could not have asked for a better deal and quickly paid the man before he had a chance to change his mind.  All seemed right with the world.  In chatting with Milo's wife, she told us that the Baptist church service Geraldine had attended on the beach is a regular occurrence and they even have a radio show that has been on the air for the past ten years.  She mentioned that a donation, however small, toward their radio show would make a huge difference to their ministry.  We slipped a little something into an offering envelope for her.


Knowing this was to be our last night at Casa Maderas, we once again headed over to Playa Majagual to watch the sunset.

Goodnight.

As we walked onto the beach, the first thing we noticed was storm clouds in the distance.  It was going to be another rainy night.  Once more the sunset did not disappoint as the sky filled with brilliant orange and pink hues.  The clouds in the heavens had also come out for our last night and were putting on a show of their own.  They were billowy and soft in appearance and seemed to be eating the colours out of the sky.  Softer trails of clouds hung lower on the horizon and created whimsical shapes.  Not to be left out of the grand finale, the ocean absorbed the colours of the sky and shimmered in shades of orange, pink and blue.  It was a most splendid evening and as we walked back to the van, we could not help but feel as if we had just been treated to our own private natural orchestra of colours and shapes.


June 20, 2007 was the day we were leaving Playa Maderas.  Disappointed, we focused all of our energy on getting 'Nilla reorganized for another road trip.  In only a few days at the beach, we had things strewn everywhere inside the van.  It was like we had unpacked to stay for a month.  The cleaning and repacking took us most of the morning, as we also filled up the water tank and each took a considerably long shower as we never know when the next one will be.  As we pulled down our beach towels from the line, we were approached by Patrick, the owner of the property.  Patrick is from Southern California, however his mother is Nicaraguan.  We chatted about the location and the operation he had on the go and agreed it was a gem of a spot.  Patrick noted that most campers stay over at Matilda's and it was rare to see people like us at his place.  He hoped that with the closure of the hostel at Playa Majagual, his business would pick up and he quizzed us about our stay and thoughts on the facilities he had to offer.  We had nothing by positive comments and he welcomed us to return and stay on our way home if we were so inclined.  Receiving well wishes from everyone at Casa Maderas, we continued to wave goodbye as we headed down the road to San Juan del Sur.


We pulled into town shortly before lunch and set up on the street next to Casa Blanca Hotel.  We had spent enough time in and around San Juan del Sur to be comfortable with our surroundings and we were set on free urban camping at the side of the road.  As we opened the doors, we spotted a Tropigas service truck across the parking lot filling up the propane tanks of beachfront restaurants

Emergency tropigas fill-up.

.  We knew that our tank was nearly empty and since the nearest fill station was an hour drive back north, we decided to ask the truck to fill us up.  Grabbing our essentials, we climbed out of 'Nilla ready to walk the over to the Tropigas truck, but it was gone.  We both looked at each other with baffled expressions before hitting the pavement in search of our only hope to get propane.  A few blocks over and across we caught up with the truck.  Explaining our situation to the operator, we asked for a fill up.  The operator was uncertain if he would be able as all the propane on board was scheduled for delivery to the various beach front restaurants in San Juan and the surrounding communities.  Calling his boss, he received the green light to help us out.  We ran back to 'Nilla and drove her across the five block town to meet up with our new Tropigas friends.  We expected 'Nilla to need quite a bit, however the meter read 40 litres, which is the maximum capacity of the tank.  Our supply had been bone dry.  Without finding that truck, our refrigerator and stove would have been out of commission at some point during the day.  Thankfully, we are all gassed up and ready to ignore it again for a month or two.

Sunset view from San Juan del Sur.

The entire day was spent in our favourite internet spot, Cyber Café Leos.  We worked on updating the website and uploading photographs for most of the day.  We did not mind as it was raining outside and there was not much else to do.  As we prepared to finish off a couple new entries, the internet connection disappeared.  After half an hour, we decided to abandon the waiting game and headed home to get some rest.  Since it rained most of the day, the humidity has lessened and 'Nilla had cooled off sufficiently to make for bearable sleeping conditions.  We drifted off to sleep at our campsite on the side of the street.