DECEMBER 2008 ROUTING

Here's a quick look at December's hot stops. Photos and more on their way soon.
Dec 17 - Alajuela, Costa Rica - airport
Dec 18 - San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua - Landmark Inn
Dec 19 - San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua - Landmark Inn
Dec 20 - Playa Marsella, Nicaragua
Dec 21 - Playa Popolla, Nicaragua
Dec 22 - Playa Astillera
Dec 23 - Granada, Nicaragua - Lago Nicaragua
Dec 24 - Granada, Nicaragua (Merry Christmas)
Dec 25 - San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua
Dec 26 - Playa Coco, Nicaragua
Dec 27 - Playa Yankee, Nicaragua
Dec 28 - Santa Teresa, Costa Rica
Dec 29 - Punta Coyote, Costa Rica
Dec 30 - random Loofah Hotel
Dec 31 - Punta Burica, Panama

New Year, New Discoveries

I've been away. Far away. Lots of writing, but very little of it has been hitting the ole Blah Blah Blog. But it's time...and I have some catching up to do. Little did I know last year that Baja was just the start of the trip. Little did I know that 2008 would send me so far South that by the time 2009 hit, South would become East. Coming soon, a routing list and highlights from nearly 3 months in Central America.

Literary Killers

Summer has definitely arrived to Todos Santos. Literally, the day Ais and Finny left, heat rushed in to take their place. Not only did the heat rush in, but it appears the bugs are rushing in. I've had a new dilemma of late...which author's book makes the best tool of death? Sunday night I encountered a scorpion on my bedroom wall. No, it couldn't be in the kitchen or in a room absent of guests....no sir, it had to be on the wall beside my bed. Where I sleep. With the lights out. I was a little excited about the first scary visitor. I mean, I've been shaking out my Uggs for four months now thanks to Jody's constant warnings in January. I have looked for a scorpion in bags left unattended; in shoes unworn. Who knew he'd be there on the wall. And a big bugger to boot. His body outstretched the length of a fly-swatter and I couldn't find the scorpion-swatter. So I decided a book would have to be the main instrument of death. One of us was going to have to get bludgeoned with a book if I was going to get any sleep...better him than me. So I went to my shelf and looked around. Henry Miller? No, too French. The Sabbath? Too Jewish. Jack Kerouac's The Road? Perfect. He's been to Mexico, he must know how to kill a scorpion. And with one swift underhanded toss, Keruoac and I landed the bastard. He was squishy too. Saucy, in fact. I got a couple follow up shots in to be sure. It was gratuitous violence at best, but I need my beauty rest. The night continues. Next up: the cock-a-roach. Not just a cockroach, but a cockroach as my mother would say, "the size of Lassie". I prefer to call it a water bug. It's so much more friendly and clean. He's just big from the water, that's all! This was the third Lassie sized visitor I've encountered. Experience has taught me to to carry the same look in my eye that I see in friends who have children that get up very early in the morning - a dull reserve that says, this is probably not the first or last time this is going to happen, so there is no need to react. But again, in order for me to sleep, he would have to die. Who then to kill a cock-a-roach? I pushed through to the "unread" shelf to find Bill Clinton and Jimmy Carter. Not your standard beach reading, but the primaries were firing up as I left and I had just seen the Carter documentary. Presidents Carter and Clinton are both Southern bred and notoriously Mama's boys. They have no doubt killed a cockroach or two in their lives. But regardless of your political leanings, it seems a little disrespectful to call on the past leaders of the free world to kill a roach. Even if Carter is fluent in Spanish. There must be someone better. Larry Brown! Now that's the man. His hardback volume of Joe shined as Larry looked down from heaven, half lit with a cold beer in his hand and said, "Well hell yes, let's get it." And so we did. Unfortunately, not all varmints can be easily handled with books. Before the night ended, I found another scorpion and decided he could be had with a scorpion swatter after all. I'm telling you, they're juicy. Who knew. "Scorpion" has such a desert ring to it. Then in the corner of the room, a spider the size of my hand. My full hand, as in spread out wide like I'm in a hand size comparing contest. I wish I was kidding. I counted his legs. I apologized. Even with the good fun of matching up the perfect literary death, I don't like to kill. But a girl has to sleep, so he got the feathery end of a broom, again with far more force than necessary for his death...but just the right amount to let me sit up in bed and read Joe until I fell asleep. Sweet dreams.

FINNY JACKSON IN THE HOUSE

Finny Jackson

How does it get better than Finny Jackson in my house, at my breakfast table, in the ocean, in the pool, in the sand, in my Van, on a surfboard, on a boogieboard....I mean seriously. Monday and today Finny took surf lessons with Mario. He stood up on his first wave! Of course. He's an athlete! I've never seen a kid so unafraid of the ocean. In that precise moment, just before we began cheering and high-fiveing, genetics got the best of me and....well....yes, it's true...the Curse of the Crickett....my camera ran out of batteries. So you'll have to take our word for it - he stood up almost every time! Here are some pics from today's lesson. Also Ais got up on a wave! Yesterday we hit the pool with Dierckson, Matea, Kelly and Carmen. Today was lots of beach fun - swimming and body surfing in an unusually cold ocean. Tonight dinner at The Hotel California -with a continuous game of the Funny Game. Finny always wins. I can't help but laugh at the dancing. Life is even more beautiful than usual here in Todos. Finny is brighter than the sun.

Machete Day

Surely, a woman's life must be divided into two distinct time periods - the days prior to the purchase of a MACHETE and all the days that follow after. I am now the proud owner of an orange plastic-handled machete. I would have liked something a little more wooden and old-school, but I guess I'll have to search the second hand stores for that? Maybe machetes are like stationary bicycles and I can find one at a Mexican garage sale? I of course got a sharpening tool. What is a machete if it's not sharp?

Yesterday, David and I went up to the Casa de Campanita and I got to swing my machete firsthand. Well, let me say - I got gypped. They sold me a short, tiny girl sized machete and a tiny little girl sized sharpener to go with it. It didn't take long out on the land to realize that the size of your machete does matter. Strength and precision of swing are helpful too. I didn't have any of these skills to offer. But I was great at picking up hacked off limbs and hauling them to the side of the road. In the span of just a few hours, we were able to get started on a short driveway and clear out a camp site. It was perfectly overcast and David was a burly, manly man chopping the hell out of the desert growth. I need to return and hack away at it myself for another few days. We walked around and decided how we wanted a car to drive in - and curved a little path down and into the land for The Van. David has graciously loaned me his machete and it's manly sharpener. In the meantime, I am scouring Mexican garage sales for a better machete of my own.

April and May Highlights

Tomingo in Todos