Nicaragua - Day 11

Friends and family are fantastic about sending us notes, and updates from home. Our loved ones are letting us know how grey and rainy it is at home and how they envy being here, and I know i will look back fondly when I return about how 'perfect' things were here, but...   I appreciate being here - it is a beautiful country, with great people. But "the grass is always greener..."  The world and all it's elements and environments are just different, not necessarily better.

Take for example right now.  Rather than thousands of frogs singing out my window at home, I have that mating call outside my window, which Buck informs me is not the giant turkeys in the trees, but actually FROGS here.  We have frogs at home on the farm.  We have one frog yelling louder than thousands here in Nicaragua!  ha ha!    Rather than the dull-drums of grey days, I burnt my face off today and I am the colour of crispy bacon.  My skin is paying for it, no matter how much sunscreen I put on.  And for all those pesky houseflies I've wrangled up at home, it is not so bad compared to me now sitting under the living room fans full-powered with my eyeballs feeling like sandpaper, just to keep the no-see-ums and mosquitoes from biting whatever skin on my legs I have left to bite; they feel like burning, swollen, itchy stumps. Aside from keeping the wind going, I also tried eating garlic tonight - three heads of roasted garlic.  Not cloves, heads.

Life is just different.  I'm blabbering about all of this to remind myself when I get home and for you at home if you are longing to be on some sunny vacation somewhere for a long period of time, to just appreciate where you are for what it is too. 

On that note: this morning the waves were great!  I did three sessions from 9:30am-2pm.  The first session was GREAT!  Super stoked and appreciated.  Then, Chica came out so she and I went out again.  Heading out there on the water together with giant smiles is fantastic no matter what.  Then the third session, I went out and Buck and friend showed up.  That was a short session for me - just conditioning and being in the water - AHHHH!  I love it.  At one point, in between sessions, I went out for a swim in the ocean (can you tell what this is leading up to tomorrow?  ooh foreshadowing).

There are moments where life sheds all the "noise" and sometimes the hard things come up/have a chance to surface.  I take it for what it is - the right time to process it some more.  Kahlil Gibran: "When you are sorrowful look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight".  Getting in the ocean and swimming is a haven for me.  It is quiet under the water - it gives me a place to check in with life, including the harder things.  It is a safe place for all those feelings to come and just be.  The feeling of diving under a wave and having all that energy move right through, around, and within you is profound, peaceful and freeing.  All that I miss - I am with out there, and I do remember that those things were my delight and that it is and always will be a part of me.  It's like being in Life's/God's hands and I guess I feel like I'm with those I miss.  Our oceans are a special, rejuvenating place...

A bit of a sad note, the management here are spraying to kill the swarms of bees.  We left our apartment this morning to a doorstep of dead bees.  My heart sank.  These bees can be dangerous, but they can also be ok.  Not sure how I feel about this with Little M and her buddy and brother out there.  "What if?"...  but it is just sad in its' own right too, and on the other side of that, spraying whatever nerve toxins they are around areas where are children are... ick.  If you have time for a documentary, I highly recommend "Queen of the Sun"

I am thinking of my gardens at home.  My super-fantastic sister went over to our house tonight to check on all plants and our doggie.  She took photos which almost had me fall of my chair.  Our tomato seedlings are HUGE as the once bushy plants have now stretched tall and gangly towards the light of the windows, and the outside gardens are sprouting up.  Can't wait to get home and continue the gardening adventures!  Hubby and i were talking tonight about a growing excitement we are fanning the flame of for learning some fantastic gourmet cooking using all our garden harvests.  Go Garden, go!!

I am learning to see where I am for what it is.  Adapt, and learn about the environment I am in and who I am in that environment.  It is amazing how travel instigates so much personal growth.

I LOVE THE OCEAN AND SURFING!!!!!  YIHOOO!  and especially good peeps!