GUEST POST: My Christmas Break in Nicaragua and what I learned

Hello friends and loved ones! Today's post comes from my lovely friend Liz, who spent a little more than a week of her holiday season relaxing with me on the beaches of Little Corn Island, off the Atlantic coast of Nicaragua. It was wonderful to be able to see her (and equally great to then be able to dump the responsibility of writing the next blog post on her!). So without further ado, ladies and gentlemen, I present you with Liz's thoughts on her time in Nicaragua:

Coconut Water vs. Coconut Milk

There are 2 types of coconuts in Nica: the green and the brown hairy. As I’m no expert on things coconut, there could be many more in the world, but the existence of 2 separate and equally yummy varieties was happy happy news to me. First, we have the green coconuts. These seemed to grow on the majority of palm trees we encountered. On day 1 in Little Corn Island, our host delivered primed-for-eating green coconuts to our porch while we hung out in our rocking chairs. Primed means he used a machete to remove the green skin from one end of the coconut, leaving a small hole thinly covered in the white flesh. We poked through this flesh with a spoon and proceeded to drink coconut water from the green nut. As we drank, we used the spoon to scrape along the inner white flesh and eat it. These green coconuts have more water than their hairy brown cousins.  The water is delightfully refreshing, and this coconut makes an excellent cocktail by adding rum to the water and drinking with a straw.

The hairy brown nuts have less water as well has a much thicker flesh and outer shell. While the green is a thick skin, the hairy part of the brown nuts is actually a very thick, very dense shell. It must be cracked (with a machete, of course) in order to reveal the round, smooth brown nut inside. These were delivered to us as we lounged on the beach, and then our host used his machete (my FIRST machete sighting, so excellent), to WHACK, WHACK, WHACK a triangle-shaped chunk from the top. In this case we drank from the nut and then ate the entire thin brown coating (think peanut with shell, brown skin, and nut) and fleshy white bits. This hairy brown nut is the source for coconut milk, a much richer flavor than coconut water. The flesh is shredded to create the milky goodness.

Rocking chair or hammock?

What’s your seating pleasure? During our adventure, each destination kindly provided rocking chairs, hammocks, or both. Hammocks are especially common everywhere we wandered. Many people were lounging in yards or front porches in uber-colorful comfy hammocks. When tropical rains held us hostage for 24 hours, we were quite content to pass the time on our porch in…you guessed it…rocking chairs and hammocks. And lest you be confusing “tropical rain” for warm or lightly falling drizzle, let me correct you. This was no less than a chilly deluge.

Roosters don’t crow at dawn

People writing cartoons and movies have lied to us for years. These people have never been to farms or spent ANY time around real roosters. If they had, there would be none of this nonsense where roosters crow at dawn to announce the day. Oh no. Roosters announce the day all day. And they announce the night ALL NIGHT. They crow. They crow in the rain. They crow in the sun. They crow under your floor where they’ve nested. They crow near your porch with their harem. They just CROW.  And speaking of harems, I have come to understand how roosters and cocks are synonymous. Our farm had multiple cocks. Each had a harem of hens following them around the yard. I witnessed one brave or foolhardy rooster wandering into another’s harem. This was met with aggressive squawking and posturing. He quickly moved along back to his hens. I can now imagine why cock fighting requires little more than putting 2 roosters in close proximity.

Monkey lips and nose scrunching

Nica natives are adept at 2 subtle and functional gestures. If you’d like someone to look in a particular direction, simply purse your lips and point them towards the person or thing you want your companion to view. I dubbed this “monkey lips” as it closely resembles the lip action of an orangutan. It’s super effective and simultaneously hilarious. Far more subtle than the American finger pointing and far more entertaining to observe.

If someone doesn’t understand you or didn’t hear what you said, he or she may scrunch their nose at you a la Bewitched. You have to be alert to this, because missing the gesture can result in a halt of conversation. Literally, dead stop as they wait for you to explain or repeat yourself.

For those wondering, our lovely Sara is fluent in both of these methods of communicating. Anticipate seeing them upon her return to the States. Guaranteed.

Protect your skin

You THINK you know about sunscreen. You THINK you know about mosquitos. You don’t know. You don’t know that the sun rises between 5/6am and sets between 5/6pm every day. This means you don’t leave the safety of your room without slathering on sunscreen or bug spray or both (hello, early hour sun and bugginess).  I quickly discovered this news. I wisely packed not only a brand new sunscreen, but TWO bottles of 100% DDT bug repellent. Don’t mess around with those crazy bugs. They will eat you alive. Despite my planning, I managed a light sunburn when I made the mistake of putting sunscreen on only my face and shoulders for a 40 minute walk to the village. Three hours later, my arms and neck were toasty. As for bug repellent, it was the last step after each end of beach day shower.  Make no mistake, forgetting to spray or missing any piece of exposed skin leaves you open to attack. Take the offense!

Mosquito nets, no touching

I was excited about mosquito nets. Was I excited about the need for netting? Of course not. But I admit to a strange fascination with the things since the first time I heard about these things. How would you use it? Is it suspended from a ceiling? Do all beds have a canopy? Or is this something you just somehow drape over your body? And what about the bottom? How could you possibly keep the little suckers from just sneaking under the bottom of the net? My years of curiosity would FINALLY be answered.

Turns out, mosquito nets come in various weights and suspensions. They are most definitely needed in any bedroom that doesn’t have tightly sealed windows and doors. Even in one location with air conditioning, the beds came equipped. They’re suspended over the beds in any way possible. Sometimes one central spot and draped out like a teepee. Some hang over canopies or ropes. ALL are useful. They must be tucked under the mattress around the entire circumference of the bed. You then wiggle under the small area you left un-tucked for the purpose of getting into bed. You must then tuck the rest of the netting under the mattress. Voila! You are in your net fortress. Things to know once you’re in: 1. Bathroom runs in the middle of the night are difficult to accomplish and 2. DON’T touch the net. Number 2 had me freaked out on night 1. I was constantly afraid of rolling up against the net or pressing my exposed feet to it. See, these clever bugs know they can’t get to you, but press yourself against the net? Midnight snack.

Pitch black…you don’t know what it means

I have never, in my not too long life, known darkness like this. Perhaps if you sleep in a room with no windows or electronics, you can imagine this level of darkness. No ambient light. None. Zero. Your eyes don’t adjust to the dark as you lie in bed; there’s no adjusting to pitch black. And wandering outside? We had one evening trek in the absolute black at 7pm on a cloudy/rainy night. Having no flashlights, we resorted to cell phone screens to light the way. It’s amazing how much light those throw off in a place with no other light source. On a night when the moon was nearly full, it lit the sky.

It’s “fresco” not “fresca”

My Spanish is lame. Sara corrected me occasionally for misusing words I thought I heard a certain way. One such problem was frescos. These delicious drinks are fruit juice. They are the BEST FRUIT JUICE EVAH. When I ordered a watermelon or pine fresco, someone  took a piece of fruit and tossed it in a blender. It arrived on the table in a glass with a straw. Did they blend with ice? Who could say? It certainly didn’t taste icey. It tasted AHMAZING. Fresh blended goodness that has no equal, in my opinion. At less than $2 a drink, we had them daily…or twice a day.

Rundon, pronounced run-down, spelled however you like

Our Christmas Eve dinner near the reggae bar was on a pier with an open fire. On this fire, in a cast iron pot cooked our dinner. Rundon is a coastal dish made by tossing all fresh vegetables and fish in a pot with some coconut milk. Our host made it with potatoes, plantains, cassava, shrimp, and whole fish. It’s served in a rounded dish with the broth. We enjoyed this muchly with some green coconut cocktail drinks and other travelers.

Christmas in warm climes

New Jersey born and bred, this was the first Christmas I spent in a tropical climate. It was AWESOME. Oh you may wonder, what would I do without frosty mornings and pine trees? Never fear. Days spent stretched on the sand with palm trees and rum drinks will quickly cure any qualms. Trust me.