Sunday, July 26, 2009
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Back in the USA...pics & videos
I made it back to the states.
No issues, just a long 18 hour travel day. I left San Juan del Sur at around 7:30am, and got picked up at the airport at midnight. It was a good last day in Nicaragua. On the way to the Managua airport, we drove threw Masaya to get some hammocks.. It's a cool older city. Very colonial. Then it was onto Houston, and home to SLC.
It's good to be back, but I already miss the place.
I've spent the afternoon at the coffee shop putting most of the pics that I took on camera into a web gallery. I tend to take a lot of pics, and probably put too many into the gallery, but I figured... better more than less.
http://gallery.me.com/dan.keeley#100130&bgcolor=black&view=grid
When I get more time tomorrow... I will add construction pics onto the blog specific.
Here are 3 videos that were taken on July 17th, probably 3 or 4 days after groundbreaking.
Digging Down..(above)
Chipping away...it's hard work (above)
Describing the layout of the lot (above)
I have one more long video that I will add later...when I add more pics directly onto this blog page. It's a video that I took on July 22nd, and is similar to the last one...with just a little more progress done. I'll try to do it tomorrow.
Cheers,
Keeley
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Goodbye from Nicaragua
Hello all...
I´ve been forced back into the Internet cafe by an afternoon rainstorm. We just got back from meeting with Chuck. It was one of the most informative conversations that I´ve had down here... regarding the development that we are building in.
Right now there are 6 houses that are completed in our immediate area. We are going the be the 7th. Most of the houses have been there for a couple of years, but only half of them have year round residents. A few of them are owned by Nicaraguans, that use them as vacation homes. The others are like Chuck & Felix...where it´s their permanent residence.
Currently...there are 5 or 6 other homes that are being built within a half mile of our house.
The conversation with Chuck revolved mostly about water. It took a while to get a reliable well in our neighborhood, but it seems like we have one now. Our house is also going to have a rain collection system, with a cistern (water holding tank) built into the house. It will be below one of the decks, and hidden from view. This just gives us another place to store water for our pool, showers...etc.
Building a house in Nicaragua, is not even close to building one in the states. However, I feel really good that we have a contractor that has been down this road a few times...and has encountered the obstacles that go with building down here. He has build close to 20 homes in the area, and I know he´s learned a few lessons from each one.
I think it´s cool as hell that we are building down here, and it is going to be a great experience to go threw. Will is planning on taking pictures as we go along, to see the progress...but I feel it will be good to come down here every couple of months during the construction. It´s going to be important to see with our own eyes how things are going. I will be more than happy to volunteer for a few of these trips...
All in all... this has been a great trip down here. Adam and I spent a considerable amount of time working with Will, and his surveyors, engineers, foreman, and many other people that are going to be involved in the building of our surf casa. We messed with the floor plan a little bit to make sure it was optimal for the lot. We made some changes to the garage, and the captain´s perch. We staked out where the house is going to be placed on the lot, and got to watch the groundbreaking...which was awesome.
While I´ve been down here we have also purchased most of the materials for the initial phase. This includes the retaining wall blocks, rebar, concrete, and wood for the concrete columns. I´ve also had a great opportunity to meet a lot of people in SJDS, and Maderas. I´ve learned alot about the Nicaraguan culture, and seen a few of the towns, and a good amount of the country. Everyone needs to experience this place in the wet season, because it is so beautiful and green.
I hope that everyone has enjoyed this blog, as I have really enjoyed writing it. There is so much that I saw and did that I didn´t have time to put into the blog...but those stories will come when I get home. My plan is to put more pictures, and especially videos onto this blog when I get home. Especially videos of our lot.
I have my last evening planned out, as I am going to go back to Iguana´s for a sunset rum & ginger...have a burger at El Pozo, and then go to open mic at Coquito´s. Just as I´m really settling in......it´s time to go home.
That´s OK though...I´m ready to get back to the states and see everyone again.
Hope all is well up north, and adios from San Jan del Sur, Nicaragua.
Keeley
I´ve been forced back into the Internet cafe by an afternoon rainstorm. We just got back from meeting with Chuck. It was one of the most informative conversations that I´ve had down here... regarding the development that we are building in.
Right now there are 6 houses that are completed in our immediate area. We are going the be the 7th. Most of the houses have been there for a couple of years, but only half of them have year round residents. A few of them are owned by Nicaraguans, that use them as vacation homes. The others are like Chuck & Felix...where it´s their permanent residence.
Currently...there are 5 or 6 other homes that are being built within a half mile of our house.
The conversation with Chuck revolved mostly about water. It took a while to get a reliable well in our neighborhood, but it seems like we have one now. Our house is also going to have a rain collection system, with a cistern (water holding tank) built into the house. It will be below one of the decks, and hidden from view. This just gives us another place to store water for our pool, showers...etc.
Building a house in Nicaragua, is not even close to building one in the states. However, I feel really good that we have a contractor that has been down this road a few times...and has encountered the obstacles that go with building down here. He has build close to 20 homes in the area, and I know he´s learned a few lessons from each one.
I think it´s cool as hell that we are building down here, and it is going to be a great experience to go threw. Will is planning on taking pictures as we go along, to see the progress...but I feel it will be good to come down here every couple of months during the construction. It´s going to be important to see with our own eyes how things are going. I will be more than happy to volunteer for a few of these trips...
All in all... this has been a great trip down here. Adam and I spent a considerable amount of time working with Will, and his surveyors, engineers, foreman, and many other people that are going to be involved in the building of our surf casa. We messed with the floor plan a little bit to make sure it was optimal for the lot. We made some changes to the garage, and the captain´s perch. We staked out where the house is going to be placed on the lot, and got to watch the groundbreaking...which was awesome.
While I´ve been down here we have also purchased most of the materials for the initial phase. This includes the retaining wall blocks, rebar, concrete, and wood for the concrete columns. I´ve also had a great opportunity to meet a lot of people in SJDS, and Maderas. I´ve learned alot about the Nicaraguan culture, and seen a few of the towns, and a good amount of the country. Everyone needs to experience this place in the wet season, because it is so beautiful and green.
I hope that everyone has enjoyed this blog, as I have really enjoyed writing it. There is so much that I saw and did that I didn´t have time to put into the blog...but those stories will come when I get home. My plan is to put more pictures, and especially videos onto this blog when I get home. Especially videos of our lot.
I have my last evening planned out, as I am going to go back to Iguana´s for a sunset rum & ginger...have a burger at El Pozo, and then go to open mic at Coquito´s. Just as I´m really settling in......it´s time to go home.
That´s OK though...I´m ready to get back to the states and see everyone again.
Hope all is well up north, and adios from San Jan del Sur, Nicaragua.
Keeley
More lot pictures
I downloaded a few more pictures from our lot. They are in the same gallery as before... at the bottom. I used numbers in front of the pictures to distinguish them from the rest. You can see how deep they have dug into the ridge. It didn´t feel like they were going to have to go down that far, but it looks good. We are probably going to need a bit more fill on the beach side of the house to make it level, but that will make the house feel like it is suspended above the steep hill.
I´m heading out with Will right now to meet Chuck. Chuck is one of our neighbors, and is also the one in charge of water.
I don´t have a lot of time to write, I just wanted to let everyone know there are some more pics. This is my last day down here, and hopefully tonight I will get a chance to sum up my trip with one last blog while I´m here.
Adios,
Keeley
I´m heading out with Will right now to meet Chuck. Chuck is one of our neighbors, and is also the one in charge of water.
I don´t have a lot of time to write, I just wanted to let everyone know there are some more pics. This is my last day down here, and hopefully tonight I will get a chance to sum up my trip with one last blog while I´m here.
Adios,
Keeley
Tuesday, July 21, 2009
A Nicaragua History Lesson
Hola from San Juan del Sur,
I´m back in the Internet cafe, after spending another beautiful day here in SJDS. Today was a relaxation day, after a full day of sailing yesterday. A lazy morning hanging out at my favorite coffee shop, a quick walk around town, surfing, a siesta, and then another great dinner. It´s a dog´s life.
I wanted to try to give everyone some sort of an idea of what this place looks like, so when I was walking around town, I took some pictures. I posted them in the same place that the previous pics are at. I also included some of the pictures that I took while on the sailboat trip yesterday.
http://gallery.me.com/dan.keeley#gallery ....and they are in iPhone photos. (They are kind of out of order...I have no idea why. The sailing pictures are at the end, followed by a few more new pics of SJDS, Most of the other new pics are at the top of the gallery.)
By the way... the sailing was so much fun. We sailed out of SJDS bay, and headed south to a secluded surf break. When we first got out into the ocean, the weather was not that friendly. It was raining, and the winds were coming off the coast at close to 30 knots. We actually motored most of the way to keep it a little smoother. It gave me good taste of what poor weather is like on the ocean.
Once we got to the surf break...a couple of good surfers from California threw their boards overboard, jumped on them, and paddled in-land to catch some waves. I was a little to inexperienced to try something like that...mostly the winds and the very strong current also helped me make that decision...but it was one hell of a cool thing to witness. They call it skurfing, when you sail to a surf break. I could retire, and skurf for the rest of my life.
The couple spent an hour or so, and when they got back...they said it was unbelievable. Since you have to take a boat to get there, they were completely alone on the break. That´s a rarity in that sport to have a break all to yourselves.
After the surfing...we turned the boat north, and headed to a Playa Blanco. This is another beach that can only be reached by boat, and was a mile or two north of our lot. We passed right by SJDS, Maderas, Marsella, Morgans Rock, and everything in between. By this time the weather was much better, so we did some true sailing.
I´m a huge fan of sailing, and this was the first time that I have ever sailed on the ocean...so I was in hog heaven. I took a few pictures of our lot, but they were out a little bit, so I hope you can kind of make out where our house is going to be. It´s such a sick spot.
The only thing at Playa Blanco was a vacation home of one of the richest families in Nicaragua. It´s the family that own the Nicaraguan rum Flor de Coña, and both of the countries beers...Toña & Victoria. On a side note, this family has so much money...and are good people...that they built an amazing, state of the art hospital in Managua. The hospital would rival any top notch hospital in the states, and is where Will & Vanessa had their baby Max.
Anyway... this place was insane. It was like a cover shot on Sailing World magazine. We dove off the boat, swam to shore, and just took the whole place in. After hanging there for a little bit, we sailed back to port, and called it a day. One of the better days of my life.
After that we had dinner, a couple of beers at the Irish bar, and I went and got a good nights rest.
I woke up today, and just had the relaxing day that I was talking about. After walking the town, I went surfing for a couple of hours on the beach here in town. At high tide, there are some really nice breaks. It´s nice to at least have the option of surfing in town. It´s no Maderas, but still fun for me.
The House...
I really don´t have much to report regarding our house. We just got done with a long holiday weekend, so the only progress that would of been made was Friday & today. I am going out there tomorrow, and will take some more pics, and post them tomorrow night.
Since I´m going to finish off this relaxing day with a relaxing night...I thought I might share with you a little bit of the history of Nicaragua. I have been fortunate enough to be here during the Nicaraguan holiday that they call ¨19 de Julio - Dia de la Revolucin¨ (July 19th - The Day of the Revolution) This day of revolution happened in 1979, so it is still fairly fresh on everyone´s mind, and unlike our 4th of July holiday...they are still people alive when it happened.
The people of Nicaragua don´t just celebrate this holiday on July 19th. They crowd as many days into the celebration as they can. They started parting on Friday the 16th, and by this morning...I thing they were finally done. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my trip to Managua on Saturday really exposed to me the love that they have for their country. Every town that we went threw, was holding some sort of celebration.
Their favorite way to do this is by having a parade. This is kind of like the parades we have in the states (Like Macy´s Thanksgiving) except their aren´t any spectators....there all in it. It´s a huge crowd of people walking really, really slow down the street, highway, dirt road...where ever they may be. On the way back we passed a couple that were on the Pan-American Highway (the main highway that connects Mexico with Panama) We would be cruising along and then we would come to a complete stop, and then slowly make our way around. Cool to see.
They also love fireworks... Not the kind that we shoot off at night, and make pretty colors. No...they like the ones that are just loud. They shoot them off all day...and night, and they sound exactly like shotgun´s going off. So all weekend...all hours of the day...were these fireworks. By Monday it was old, and we were all very glad to be on the boat.
I´ve been reading up on Nicaraguan history, and although I don´t have enough time or energy to give you complete story...here are the nuts and bolts.
I´ll start in 1936...since that is really where this part of the story started.
1936 was an interesting time in world history, and it was really the beginning of the cold war. The United States had a lot of influence in Central America, mostly stemming from controlling the Panama Canal. To make a long story short the U.S. wanted to try to keep communism out of Nicaragua, so they used what ever power they had... to get a man named Anastasio Somoza Garcia into the leadership role in Nicaragua.
This was the beginning the ¨Somozo¨ dynasty. Together with the National Guard (the Nicaraguan army), Somozo managed to create a sort of dictatorship. He placed his family & friends into critical positions with in the government and military, and therefore had control over the legislature and judicial system. He wrote and enforced the law, therefore creating near absolute power.
The National Guard took care of any serious threats to his power. They took over the national radio, the telegraph system, postal, immigration, health, and the national railroads. After 2 years in office he announced that he would stay in power beyond his presidential term, and ended up in power until he was killed in 1956.
Somoza had two sons, and after his assination, his son Luis Somoza took control of the country. Luis controlled Nicaragua until 1967, when he died of a heart attack. After that his brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president. During this time there was a rebellion brewing within the Nicaraguan people...that were none to happy about being treated the way that they were.
The Cuban revolution gave the Nicaraguan insurgents optimism and arms funding. They formed the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional - ¨The Sandinistas¨ The Sandinistas were starting to grow...when in 1972 Nicaragua was struck with a catastrophic earthquake. The earthquake killed 10,000 people, and basically destroyed Managua, and a majority of the cities in Nicaragua. It left 500,000 homeless.
International relief flowed into Nicaragua, but Somozo Debayle and his national guards were not distributing the relief. They were keeping most of it for themselves. A newspaperman named Pedro Chamorro wrote an article stating this, and the Nicaraguan people had had enough.
At the time the U.S. was still backing Nicaragua, for the same reason they were in 1936...fear of communism. But they were even starting to distance themselves from the regime. The National Guard, and Somoza were starting to become nervous, so they began to raze villages in the jungles where the suspected rebels were at.
These actions were condemned by the world and the U.S., but the current president (Gerald Ford) still did not terminate their alliance with Somoza. The straw that broke the camel´s back was when Pedro Chamorro (the reporter, and also leader of the opposition alliance..see above) was murdered. Full scale civil war followed.
The Sandinista forces that were holed up in Honduras & Costa Rica began seizing isolated communites, and attacking National Guard units. Somoza responded by ordering bombings on towns, and using his power to murder innocent people. The United States had always supported Somoza against their perceived threat of communism in Central America, but even they had enough.
President Jimmy Carter refused any further U.S. aid, and the Somoza government quickly collapsed. Somoza escaped to Miami, and the Sandinistas rode into the capital city of Managua on July 19th, 1979. 35 year old Daniel Ortega (the current president of Nicaragua) proclaimed a new provisional government, and Nicaragua was born again.
Now Ortega isn´t really a sweet-heart either, but he is nothing close to the Somoza regime. He isn´t very popular with the Nicaraguan people...but that is another story. I think he is a good guy, he just not a good leader. I really don´t know enough about the current politics to make any opinions though.
Well....my eyes are going blurry from staring at this computer screen, so it´s probably time to call it a night. Hope all is well in the states, and I should have more pictures of the lot tomorrow.
Cheers,
Keeley
I´m back in the Internet cafe, after spending another beautiful day here in SJDS. Today was a relaxation day, after a full day of sailing yesterday. A lazy morning hanging out at my favorite coffee shop, a quick walk around town, surfing, a siesta, and then another great dinner. It´s a dog´s life.
I wanted to try to give everyone some sort of an idea of what this place looks like, so when I was walking around town, I took some pictures. I posted them in the same place that the previous pics are at. I also included some of the pictures that I took while on the sailboat trip yesterday.
http://gallery.me.com/dan.keeley#gallery ....and they are in iPhone photos. (They are kind of out of order...I have no idea why. The sailing pictures are at the end, followed by a few more new pics of SJDS, Most of the other new pics are at the top of the gallery.)
By the way... the sailing was so much fun. We sailed out of SJDS bay, and headed south to a secluded surf break. When we first got out into the ocean, the weather was not that friendly. It was raining, and the winds were coming off the coast at close to 30 knots. We actually motored most of the way to keep it a little smoother. It gave me good taste of what poor weather is like on the ocean.
Once we got to the surf break...a couple of good surfers from California threw their boards overboard, jumped on them, and paddled in-land to catch some waves. I was a little to inexperienced to try something like that...mostly the winds and the very strong current also helped me make that decision...but it was one hell of a cool thing to witness. They call it skurfing, when you sail to a surf break. I could retire, and skurf for the rest of my life.
The couple spent an hour or so, and when they got back...they said it was unbelievable. Since you have to take a boat to get there, they were completely alone on the break. That´s a rarity in that sport to have a break all to yourselves.
After the surfing...we turned the boat north, and headed to a Playa Blanco. This is another beach that can only be reached by boat, and was a mile or two north of our lot. We passed right by SJDS, Maderas, Marsella, Morgans Rock, and everything in between. By this time the weather was much better, so we did some true sailing.
I´m a huge fan of sailing, and this was the first time that I have ever sailed on the ocean...so I was in hog heaven. I took a few pictures of our lot, but they were out a little bit, so I hope you can kind of make out where our house is going to be. It´s such a sick spot.
The only thing at Playa Blanco was a vacation home of one of the richest families in Nicaragua. It´s the family that own the Nicaraguan rum Flor de Coña, and both of the countries beers...Toña & Victoria. On a side note, this family has so much money...and are good people...that they built an amazing, state of the art hospital in Managua. The hospital would rival any top notch hospital in the states, and is where Will & Vanessa had their baby Max.
Anyway... this place was insane. It was like a cover shot on Sailing World magazine. We dove off the boat, swam to shore, and just took the whole place in. After hanging there for a little bit, we sailed back to port, and called it a day. One of the better days of my life.
After that we had dinner, a couple of beers at the Irish bar, and I went and got a good nights rest.
I woke up today, and just had the relaxing day that I was talking about. After walking the town, I went surfing for a couple of hours on the beach here in town. At high tide, there are some really nice breaks. It´s nice to at least have the option of surfing in town. It´s no Maderas, but still fun for me.
The House...
I really don´t have much to report regarding our house. We just got done with a long holiday weekend, so the only progress that would of been made was Friday & today. I am going out there tomorrow, and will take some more pics, and post them tomorrow night.
Since I´m going to finish off this relaxing day with a relaxing night...I thought I might share with you a little bit of the history of Nicaragua. I have been fortunate enough to be here during the Nicaraguan holiday that they call ¨19 de Julio - Dia de la Revolucin¨ (July 19th - The Day of the Revolution) This day of revolution happened in 1979, so it is still fairly fresh on everyone´s mind, and unlike our 4th of July holiday...they are still people alive when it happened.
The people of Nicaragua don´t just celebrate this holiday on July 19th. They crowd as many days into the celebration as they can. They started parting on Friday the 16th, and by this morning...I thing they were finally done. As I mentioned in an earlier post, my trip to Managua on Saturday really exposed to me the love that they have for their country. Every town that we went threw, was holding some sort of celebration.
Their favorite way to do this is by having a parade. This is kind of like the parades we have in the states (Like Macy´s Thanksgiving) except their aren´t any spectators....there all in it. It´s a huge crowd of people walking really, really slow down the street, highway, dirt road...where ever they may be. On the way back we passed a couple that were on the Pan-American Highway (the main highway that connects Mexico with Panama) We would be cruising along and then we would come to a complete stop, and then slowly make our way around. Cool to see.
They also love fireworks... Not the kind that we shoot off at night, and make pretty colors. No...they like the ones that are just loud. They shoot them off all day...and night, and they sound exactly like shotgun´s going off. So all weekend...all hours of the day...were these fireworks. By Monday it was old, and we were all very glad to be on the boat.
I´ve been reading up on Nicaraguan history, and although I don´t have enough time or energy to give you complete story...here are the nuts and bolts.
I´ll start in 1936...since that is really where this part of the story started.
1936 was an interesting time in world history, and it was really the beginning of the cold war. The United States had a lot of influence in Central America, mostly stemming from controlling the Panama Canal. To make a long story short the U.S. wanted to try to keep communism out of Nicaragua, so they used what ever power they had... to get a man named Anastasio Somoza Garcia into the leadership role in Nicaragua.
This was the beginning the ¨Somozo¨ dynasty. Together with the National Guard (the Nicaraguan army), Somozo managed to create a sort of dictatorship. He placed his family & friends into critical positions with in the government and military, and therefore had control over the legislature and judicial system. He wrote and enforced the law, therefore creating near absolute power.
The National Guard took care of any serious threats to his power. They took over the national radio, the telegraph system, postal, immigration, health, and the national railroads. After 2 years in office he announced that he would stay in power beyond his presidential term, and ended up in power until he was killed in 1956.
Somoza had two sons, and after his assination, his son Luis Somoza took control of the country. Luis controlled Nicaragua until 1967, when he died of a heart attack. After that his brother Anastasio Somoza Debayle became president. During this time there was a rebellion brewing within the Nicaraguan people...that were none to happy about being treated the way that they were.
The Cuban revolution gave the Nicaraguan insurgents optimism and arms funding. They formed the Frente Sandinista de Liberacion Nacional - ¨The Sandinistas¨ The Sandinistas were starting to grow...when in 1972 Nicaragua was struck with a catastrophic earthquake. The earthquake killed 10,000 people, and basically destroyed Managua, and a majority of the cities in Nicaragua. It left 500,000 homeless.
International relief flowed into Nicaragua, but Somozo Debayle and his national guards were not distributing the relief. They were keeping most of it for themselves. A newspaperman named Pedro Chamorro wrote an article stating this, and the Nicaraguan people had had enough.
At the time the U.S. was still backing Nicaragua, for the same reason they were in 1936...fear of communism. But they were even starting to distance themselves from the regime. The National Guard, and Somoza were starting to become nervous, so they began to raze villages in the jungles where the suspected rebels were at.
These actions were condemned by the world and the U.S., but the current president (Gerald Ford) still did not terminate their alliance with Somoza. The straw that broke the camel´s back was when Pedro Chamorro (the reporter, and also leader of the opposition alliance..see above) was murdered. Full scale civil war followed.
The Sandinista forces that were holed up in Honduras & Costa Rica began seizing isolated communites, and attacking National Guard units. Somoza responded by ordering bombings on towns, and using his power to murder innocent people. The United States had always supported Somoza against their perceived threat of communism in Central America, but even they had enough.
President Jimmy Carter refused any further U.S. aid, and the Somoza government quickly collapsed. Somoza escaped to Miami, and the Sandinistas rode into the capital city of Managua on July 19th, 1979. 35 year old Daniel Ortega (the current president of Nicaragua) proclaimed a new provisional government, and Nicaragua was born again.
Now Ortega isn´t really a sweet-heart either, but he is nothing close to the Somoza regime. He isn´t very popular with the Nicaraguan people...but that is another story. I think he is a good guy, he just not a good leader. I really don´t know enough about the current politics to make any opinions though.
Well....my eyes are going blurry from staring at this computer screen, so it´s probably time to call it a night. Hope all is well in the states, and I should have more pictures of the lot tomorrow.
Cheers,
Keeley
Monday, July 20, 2009
Hola from sunny and hot Nicaragua,
It´s almost 8 in the morning here, and I can tell already that it´s going to be a scorcher. I wanted to give a quick update to everyone, while I have a minute. I´m back into the routine of keeping myself really busy...which is awesome, except time is flies when your having a blast.
I have another 4 days here before I go home, and am going to continue to try to squeeze as much in as I can. Today I´m going on a surfing-sailboat trip up the coast. There is a private company that charter´s out a sailboat, and Will, his family, and most of his employees are all going. It is...a kind of company party for them. I think I may have had something to do with it, because from the minute I rolled into SJDS and saw the sailboats in the bay, I´ve been bugging him to find a way for us to get on one. So needless to say, I can´t wait to get on that thing.
As far as the house is concerned.....
Will and I took a trip to Managua on Saturday. Managua is a very, very interesting place. It is nothing like SJDS, and almost feels like a different world. Our intent was to go to the faria (the actual name is expecia 09´), and we did...except we drove all around that town before doing so.
The first thing we did was pick up a friend of his, and his business partner Maria. Maria is as much a part of Will´s company.. as Will is, and she is also awesome. She is from Managua, and is a master of negotiating to get the best prices on everything. We also picked up Gaylen, who is one of Will´s part-time employees. Gaylen was an ex-boxer, and in his prime was one of the best in Nicaragua. He is still a guy you wouldn´t want to mess with.
We were first heading to the oriental (meaning eastern..it´s a long story) market, which is the largest open air market in central america. The reason we were going there was that Will needed a part for one of his work trucks. And at this market you could find anything in the world that you ever need. And I mean anything, this place was huge.
The market was a true cultural experience, and I wish had I had pictures, but I was told to leave my camera in the car. It wasn´t the absolute safest place in the world, but I felt a little more comforted having Gaylen & Maria with us. You have to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. We walked around that place for a bit, and after wheeling and dealing, we got the part and then headed to the faria.
The faria was good, but not as good as we would of hoped. We did get the retaining wall blocks, but that was it. Will and Maria have already set up some very good deals with local contracting companies, so even though we could of saved the 15% on tax, there earlier negotiated prices for re-bar, electrical wiring, and concrete, were much lower than the prices at the faria. For example they get 25% of electrical wiring, 20% off concrete, and the last air-conditioners they bought were at 30% off. We were hoping we could add to these discounts, but we already have the best prices on most stuff.
Will is going to head back there on Friday... after he drops me off at the airport, and see if maybe some of the vendors will be more desperate, and we can get better prices. These guys are all about getting the lowest price on everything, which is really good for us.
Man... I could type all day, of the stuff that I did and saw on Saturday, but I just don´t have time. The one thing I would like to mention is that I am here on a fairly significant holiday for the Nicaraguan people. It is the the 19th of July Dia de la Revolucion... celebration This is the day that the Nicaraguan people got there country back from ¨Somoza¨rule.
The Somoza family was in control of the country from 1936 till 1979. July 19th, 1979, was when Daniel Ortega (the current leader) came into power. If I get more time while I´m down here I will tell you more about the history of Nicaragua, it is really fascinating. Needless to say the Nicaraguans, are very proud people, and the ride home from Managua was a true experience. We passed so many celebrations..and parades. It was awesome.
Well... I need to get some food before sailing, but we are going to the lot tomorrow, and I will take more pictures. I should have some down time tomorrow afternoon, so I will try to get more pictures to everyone, and also talk a bit more about some of the experiences I´ve had down here.
Like the chicken hanging from a rope over the road, while everyone is sitting around drinking and watching this dead chicken. As part of the celebration, they hang a dead chicken from a rope and then ride horses, and try to hit the head with a stick. It´s pretty high in the air so they have to jump off their horses to get to it. I just passed by this event when coming back from surfing, so I didn´t actually get to see it...Damn.
Adios,
Keeley
It´s almost 8 in the morning here, and I can tell already that it´s going to be a scorcher. I wanted to give a quick update to everyone, while I have a minute. I´m back into the routine of keeping myself really busy...which is awesome, except time is flies when your having a blast.
I have another 4 days here before I go home, and am going to continue to try to squeeze as much in as I can. Today I´m going on a surfing-sailboat trip up the coast. There is a private company that charter´s out a sailboat, and Will, his family, and most of his employees are all going. It is...a kind of company party for them. I think I may have had something to do with it, because from the minute I rolled into SJDS and saw the sailboats in the bay, I´ve been bugging him to find a way for us to get on one. So needless to say, I can´t wait to get on that thing.
As far as the house is concerned.....
Will and I took a trip to Managua on Saturday. Managua is a very, very interesting place. It is nothing like SJDS, and almost feels like a different world. Our intent was to go to the faria (the actual name is expecia 09´), and we did...except we drove all around that town before doing so.
The first thing we did was pick up a friend of his, and his business partner Maria. Maria is as much a part of Will´s company.. as Will is, and she is also awesome. She is from Managua, and is a master of negotiating to get the best prices on everything. We also picked up Gaylen, who is one of Will´s part-time employees. Gaylen was an ex-boxer, and in his prime was one of the best in Nicaragua. He is still a guy you wouldn´t want to mess with.
We were first heading to the oriental (meaning eastern..it´s a long story) market, which is the largest open air market in central america. The reason we were going there was that Will needed a part for one of his work trucks. And at this market you could find anything in the world that you ever need. And I mean anything, this place was huge.
The market was a true cultural experience, and I wish had I had pictures, but I was told to leave my camera in the car. It wasn´t the absolute safest place in the world, but I felt a little more comforted having Gaylen & Maria with us. You have to step out of your comfort zone every once in a while. We walked around that place for a bit, and after wheeling and dealing, we got the part and then headed to the faria.
The faria was good, but not as good as we would of hoped. We did get the retaining wall blocks, but that was it. Will and Maria have already set up some very good deals with local contracting companies, so even though we could of saved the 15% on tax, there earlier negotiated prices for re-bar, electrical wiring, and concrete, were much lower than the prices at the faria. For example they get 25% of electrical wiring, 20% off concrete, and the last air-conditioners they bought were at 30% off. We were hoping we could add to these discounts, but we already have the best prices on most stuff.
Will is going to head back there on Friday... after he drops me off at the airport, and see if maybe some of the vendors will be more desperate, and we can get better prices. These guys are all about getting the lowest price on everything, which is really good for us.
Man... I could type all day, of the stuff that I did and saw on Saturday, but I just don´t have time. The one thing I would like to mention is that I am here on a fairly significant holiday for the Nicaraguan people. It is the the 19th of July Dia de la Revolucion... celebration This is the day that the Nicaraguan people got there country back from ¨Somoza¨rule.
The Somoza family was in control of the country from 1936 till 1979. July 19th, 1979, was when Daniel Ortega (the current leader) came into power. If I get more time while I´m down here I will tell you more about the history of Nicaragua, it is really fascinating. Needless to say the Nicaraguans, are very proud people, and the ride home from Managua was a true experience. We passed so many celebrations..and parades. It was awesome.
Well... I need to get some food before sailing, but we are going to the lot tomorrow, and I will take more pictures. I should have some down time tomorrow afternoon, so I will try to get more pictures to everyone, and also talk a bit more about some of the experiences I´ve had down here.
Like the chicken hanging from a rope over the road, while everyone is sitting around drinking and watching this dead chicken. As part of the celebration, they hang a dead chicken from a rope and then ride horses, and try to hit the head with a stick. It´s pretty high in the air so they have to jump off their horses to get to it. I just passed by this event when coming back from surfing, so I didn´t actually get to see it...Damn.
Adios,
Keeley
Friday, July 17, 2009
We have photos...a little more
Just as a clarification of the last post. The photos on the Apple album are in the iPhone photos link in the top left hand corner (not right hand corner). Also if you click on each individual photo it will bring up two arrows below the pics. To the right of the arrow is an i (for information). If you click on the i, you will see that I have included some comments about each individual photo. Just to give you some more info. Cheers.
We have photos!!!!
Hello all... from rainy SJDS,
I´m in a Internet cafe, while it is dumping rain outside.
I want to start off by thanking my friend Tyler for reminding me that I can use my iPhone as a computer, and email the pictures that I took... to all of you. What I did was transferred the pictures to an online album that I have with Apple. I posted some pics of SJDS, our lot, and the surf beach Maderas. It took me a while to do this but I am ecstatic that I was able to get some pictures to everyone. When I get home I will have even more, including videos.
Please go to the link
http://gallery.me.com/dan.keeley#gallery
and then click on the top right corner that says iPhone photos. There are few at the beginning of the album that are not related to this trip, but I posted close to 40 other pics.
Things are moving along very well at the lot. They are making progress on leveling it, and hopefully will be done by the end of next week. After that... they will start digging holes for the columns, and will start building the retention wall soon after.
I am heading to Managua tomorrow with Will (our contractor) to their annual faira. This is very similar to the county fairs that we have in the states, except they sell all sorts of construction materials (only to registered contractors). It is only once a year...and great thing is that we are able to buy building supplies without paying the Nicaraguan sales tax of 15%. Our intent is to buy all of the rebar, and cement that we need for construction. This is going to save us some serious money...which is awesome. I am also looking forward to another trip threw the Nicaraguan countryside.
I feel that we got really lucky that this annual fair is being held just as we are about to begin construction.
On a separate note, I have had the opportunity to get to know Will really well, and he I think that we are fortunate to have found him. He´s a good guy, and after looking at a few of his other houses that he has built, we are going to have a hell of a nice place.
He has also introduced me to so many people in SJDS, which has been really nice. It kind of feels like Stanley, ID...because after you spend a little time there, you start to know everybody.
I am here for one more week, so I will continue to update this blog and take pictures of the progress at our lot. I hope all is well in the states, and I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Hope all is well, bye for now,
Keeley
I´m in a Internet cafe, while it is dumping rain outside.
I want to start off by thanking my friend Tyler for reminding me that I can use my iPhone as a computer, and email the pictures that I took... to all of you. What I did was transferred the pictures to an online album that I have with Apple. I posted some pics of SJDS, our lot, and the surf beach Maderas. It took me a while to do this but I am ecstatic that I was able to get some pictures to everyone. When I get home I will have even more, including videos.
Please go to the link
http://gallery.me.com/dan.keeley#gallery
and then click on the top right corner that says iPhone photos. There are few at the beginning of the album that are not related to this trip, but I posted close to 40 other pics.
Things are moving along very well at the lot. They are making progress on leveling it, and hopefully will be done by the end of next week. After that... they will start digging holes for the columns, and will start building the retention wall soon after.
I am heading to Managua tomorrow with Will (our contractor) to their annual faira. This is very similar to the county fairs that we have in the states, except they sell all sorts of construction materials (only to registered contractors). It is only once a year...and great thing is that we are able to buy building supplies without paying the Nicaraguan sales tax of 15%. Our intent is to buy all of the rebar, and cement that we need for construction. This is going to save us some serious money...which is awesome. I am also looking forward to another trip threw the Nicaraguan countryside.
I feel that we got really lucky that this annual fair is being held just as we are about to begin construction.
On a separate note, I have had the opportunity to get to know Will really well, and he I think that we are fortunate to have found him. He´s a good guy, and after looking at a few of his other houses that he has built, we are going to have a hell of a nice place.
He has also introduced me to so many people in SJDS, which has been really nice. It kind of feels like Stanley, ID...because after you spend a little time there, you start to know everybody.
I am here for one more week, so I will continue to update this blog and take pictures of the progress at our lot. I hope all is well in the states, and I am looking forward to seeing everyone again.
Hope all is well, bye for now,
Keeley
The Final Floor plan.
Its official, we have started to build a house in Paradise. Its been over 2 years since we started this adventure. To be honest, I am stoked with the progress, better than I expected.
We wired our first installment and signed off on the house plans and material list. Here is the final plan.
Everyone should thank Adam, Tyler and Dan for the countless hours they have donated to the project over the past 20 days. The project is expected to take 10-12 months. We will need to make regular visits over the next year. Any volunteers?
Thanks,
Jared
Tuesday, July 14, 2009
Pictures and Videos when I get home
Hello all from SJDS.
I had a little down time, so I thought that I would write a quick note. I mentioned in an earlier post that I lost my camera. I was very dissapointed about this...because that meant that I wouldn't be able to show anyone the pictures of the lot, SJDS, Marsella, Maderas, and the rest of the country around SDJS.
The really good news is...for whatever reason, I brought another camera.
As I was cleaning out my backpack, at the bottom of it...was this other camera. I brought it because it is waterproof, and I though it might be nice for some in-water surf pics. I totally forgot that it was there, and I felt like I won the lottery when I saw it.
So now I am on a mission to take as many good pictures, and videos for everyone. I just won't be able to download them here, because I didn't bring the cord. The day after I get home though, I promise that I will post as much as I can. Including videos of our beautiful lot.
On a seperate note, everything is going so well down here. The more time I spend in SJDS, the more it feels like a really small town. I see the same people walking around the street. I'm starting to know where all the businesses, and restaurants are, and even get a feel of which ones are better than others.
SJDS is a beach town, similar to Pacific Beach (in San Diego), except with only a fraction of the people. There are a ton of things to do here. Different companies offer things like renting ATV's, horse rides on the ocean, yoga classes, surf lessons, canopy tours, and just alot of tourist like things. And the food is amazing.
My favorite part of this whole place is Maderas Beach. This is the surf beach that is only 5 minutes from our lot. Maderas is beautiful. When the tide is out, it creates this huge sand beach, with really picquerese rocks implanted all over. It's one of the prettiest beaches that I have ever seen. The best part of Maderas though...is the surf break.
In the week that I've been here, I've seen the waves go from huge(10-15ft), to very mellow. I went surfing yesterday, and it was perfect. I am still a terrible surfer, and the waves were perfect for me to practice on. I would say more than half the people out there yesterday were "beginers".
After I was done surfing, I sat in a lawn chair in the shade, drank a few Tona's (local beer), and just watch other people surf for close to 3 hours. I would of sat there longer, but I had to call it quits at some point.
As far as the house is concerned, things are moving along. I went to check our lot out yesterday before surfing, and they are still leveling the ridge out. There were two nica kids using a pick axe, and a shovel. The land is fairly soft, but the soil is ideal for building on. Everyone we talk too, says that it couldn't be any better.
I am hoping that maybe they start some foundation work before I leave, but we will have to wait and see on that. It's going to be close.
I want to give you guys a little glimpse of this place, so I'll finish this post off with a story...
There is a little casino in town here. Last Friday night...I think, it all blends together here...Adam and I were walking home from the beach bars. As we were doing so, we saw the casino. Now it's pretty hard for either of us to pass a casino, so we decided to walk on in. Inside are 2o or 30 slot machines, a poker table, and a black-jack table. We decide that we would give ourselves a shot at black-jack.
So we go to the bar, get a Flor de Cona (the local rum) & ginger ale. A real delicacy down here. We go over to the table thinking that the minimum will be a dollar or two. It's Nicaragua right. Anyway, we get to the table and I put down 100 cien (equal to $5) and was hoping to get 5 or 10 chips...she gives me one. It's a 5 dollar minimum table. So the last thing that either of us want to do is lose a bunch of money at a black-jack table. So we each buy a single chip, and see where it will take us.
To make a long story short...we couldn't lose. The next 15 hands went our way. Davis was doubling down, splitting cards, and just betting on everything. I was just betting every hand. After winning every single hand in less then 5 minutes...we grabbed our chips...walked the the cashier, and ran out of that casino. They had our another round waiting for us, but we were gone. We won about $80, in that amount of time, and on the way home we stopped at this restaurant bar. We met everyone at the bar, and used the winnings to buy the entire place a round. It was awesome.
Just one of the great moments of our trip down here. I truly can't wait till everyone sees, and more importantly...experiences this place. It's so special.
Cheers,
Keeley
I had a little down time, so I thought that I would write a quick note. I mentioned in an earlier post that I lost my camera. I was very dissapointed about this...because that meant that I wouldn't be able to show anyone the pictures of the lot, SJDS, Marsella, Maderas, and the rest of the country around SDJS.
The really good news is...for whatever reason, I brought another camera.
As I was cleaning out my backpack, at the bottom of it...was this other camera. I brought it because it is waterproof, and I though it might be nice for some in-water surf pics. I totally forgot that it was there, and I felt like I won the lottery when I saw it.
So now I am on a mission to take as many good pictures, and videos for everyone. I just won't be able to download them here, because I didn't bring the cord. The day after I get home though, I promise that I will post as much as I can. Including videos of our beautiful lot.
On a seperate note, everything is going so well down here. The more time I spend in SJDS, the more it feels like a really small town. I see the same people walking around the street. I'm starting to know where all the businesses, and restaurants are, and even get a feel of which ones are better than others.
SJDS is a beach town, similar to Pacific Beach (in San Diego), except with only a fraction of the people. There are a ton of things to do here. Different companies offer things like renting ATV's, horse rides on the ocean, yoga classes, surf lessons, canopy tours, and just alot of tourist like things. And the food is amazing.
My favorite part of this whole place is Maderas Beach. This is the surf beach that is only 5 minutes from our lot. Maderas is beautiful. When the tide is out, it creates this huge sand beach, with really picquerese rocks implanted all over. It's one of the prettiest beaches that I have ever seen. The best part of Maderas though...is the surf break.
In the week that I've been here, I've seen the waves go from huge(10-15ft), to very mellow. I went surfing yesterday, and it was perfect. I am still a terrible surfer, and the waves were perfect for me to practice on. I would say more than half the people out there yesterday were "beginers".
After I was done surfing, I sat in a lawn chair in the shade, drank a few Tona's (local beer), and just watch other people surf for close to 3 hours. I would of sat there longer, but I had to call it quits at some point.
As far as the house is concerned, things are moving along. I went to check our lot out yesterday before surfing, and they are still leveling the ridge out. There were two nica kids using a pick axe, and a shovel. The land is fairly soft, but the soil is ideal for building on. Everyone we talk too, says that it couldn't be any better.
I am hoping that maybe they start some foundation work before I leave, but we will have to wait and see on that. It's going to be close.
I want to give you guys a little glimpse of this place, so I'll finish this post off with a story...
There is a little casino in town here. Last Friday night...I think, it all blends together here...Adam and I were walking home from the beach bars. As we were doing so, we saw the casino. Now it's pretty hard for either of us to pass a casino, so we decided to walk on in. Inside are 2o or 30 slot machines, a poker table, and a black-jack table. We decide that we would give ourselves a shot at black-jack.
So we go to the bar, get a Flor de Cona (the local rum) & ginger ale. A real delicacy down here. We go over to the table thinking that the minimum will be a dollar or two. It's Nicaragua right. Anyway, we get to the table and I put down 100 cien (equal to $5) and was hoping to get 5 or 10 chips...she gives me one. It's a 5 dollar minimum table. So the last thing that either of us want to do is lose a bunch of money at a black-jack table. So we each buy a single chip, and see where it will take us.
To make a long story short...we couldn't lose. The next 15 hands went our way. Davis was doubling down, splitting cards, and just betting on everything. I was just betting every hand. After winning every single hand in less then 5 minutes...we grabbed our chips...walked the the cashier, and ran out of that casino. They had our another round waiting for us, but we were gone. We won about $80, in that amount of time, and on the way home we stopped at this restaurant bar. We met everyone at the bar, and used the winnings to buy the entire place a round. It was awesome.
Just one of the great moments of our trip down here. I truly can't wait till everyone sees, and more importantly...experiences this place. It's so special.
Cheers,
Keeley
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Finally a little time to write.
Hello all, from SDJS.
I am sorry for that it has taken me few days to post, but it has been go..go..go this whole time. Between working on the house, surfing, eating great meals, lounging on the beach, and a few happy hours, it´s really a tough life down here.
Adam left this morning, so I finally have a little time to catch everyone up on what is going on down here.
For starters...dirt has been moved at our lot. We were up there on Thursday or Friday, and they have started to level off the top of the ridge. They are digging it out with shovels. It´s hard work, but they are doing a great job. Our ridge is fairly flat where most of it will be built, so there isn´t a ton on fill. They are going to make the whole lot flat, and it will probably be only a meter below where the top of the ridge is right now. It should feel like the deck is floating slightly above the trees, and the ridge.
Like I mentioned earlier, Adam and I were up there earlier in the week, and did a rough staking of the lot. After making a few changes to the plan...making it better... we went up there and staked it where the house is actually going to be.
The west house corner is probably 15 ft from the corner of the lot, on the flattest part of the ridge. This side of the house are the money views. Waking up in the master bedroom, and looking out the window, you will be able to see a good amount of ocean. It´s really awesome.
The deck is going is going to wrap around from the back of the house to the side where the master bedroom is. On the master side of the house, there will be 2 views of the pacific ocean. And the other view is a tremendous view of inland Nicaragua, with a volcano in the far distance.
The absolute best part of this house...even though the whole thing is going to be sick...is the captains perch. The view from up there should be above the canopy of trees, and we will have close to a 180 degree view of the ocean. Right now is the wet season, so the trees are completely filled in. We can see the ocean pretty good right now threw the trees, but when the leaves fall off (in the dry season), it should be pretty spectacular.
I do have some most unfortunate news however...I lost my camera. There was a bit of stupidity involved on my part, but needless to say that it´s gone. Luckily I have my iphone with me, so I will still be able to take pictures with that, and will go to the lot tomorrow and take some more pictures of the work that has been done. I will also post some other photos of SDJS, and the surrounding area.
I have to apologize for the quickness and probable mis-spellings in the earlier posts. This is the first time that I can actually sit down in an internet cafe, and take some time to collect my thoughts.
To let you know a little bit about this place, it´s really quite special. Adam & I have spent a lot of time meeting the locals that live here, mostly gringos, and they all love it. In SDJS, there are alot of businesses that are owned by gringos (non-nicaraguan). A Canadian couple owns one of the better bars in town, that is right on the beach. They had an open-mic night last Thursday, and it was more like a real band. The husband plays a mean harmonica.
Another couple just opened an Irish Bar. It opened on Thursday night. The woman is from Ireland, and has a thick Irish accent, and her husband is a local from SDJS. I can´t remember her name, but his is Roberto. We sat and talked to him for probably an hour. He brought every piece of memorabilia back straight from Ireland. 14 suitcases.
There is also a nice coffee shop called ´´El gato negro´´ (The black cat) It´s a coffee shop slash book store, and they have a great selection of English Books....very rare in Nicaragua.
Another couple just opened a bakery. We stopped by there after surfing on Saturday morning, and had one of the first loaves that they baked.
Needless to say, there are alot of entrepreneurs here, and a nice balance of locals and gringos.
There are also alot of backpackers here. Lots of college kids, staying in the hostels. They´ve filled this Internet cafe that I´m in right now. I´m pretty sure there all on facebook.
Another good piece of news is that we met another one of our neighbors..Felix. Felix is from Spain, but has moved here to retire. He build his entire house with only 5 other guys. It took him 3 years. That´s not to discourage anyone, His house is huge and he definitely took his time to make sure everything was perfect. It is a most impressive house.
The sun is going down, so I am going to walk over to the beach...have a Toña, and watch the sunset. I´ve probably typed too much anyway, but not close to everything we have done or seen. I will have a lot more down time this week, so I will continue to post.
I hope everyone is good in the states, and if anyone has a question about anything, please make a comment, or email me, and I will try to answer.
I also really hope that I can get some more photos for everyone tomorrow. I´m waking up and going surfing first thing, so I will stop by the lot and take some more.
Adios,
Keeley
I am sorry for that it has taken me few days to post, but it has been go..go..go this whole time. Between working on the house, surfing, eating great meals, lounging on the beach, and a few happy hours, it´s really a tough life down here.
Adam left this morning, so I finally have a little time to catch everyone up on what is going on down here.
For starters...dirt has been moved at our lot. We were up there on Thursday or Friday, and they have started to level off the top of the ridge. They are digging it out with shovels. It´s hard work, but they are doing a great job. Our ridge is fairly flat where most of it will be built, so there isn´t a ton on fill. They are going to make the whole lot flat, and it will probably be only a meter below where the top of the ridge is right now. It should feel like the deck is floating slightly above the trees, and the ridge.
Like I mentioned earlier, Adam and I were up there earlier in the week, and did a rough staking of the lot. After making a few changes to the plan...making it better... we went up there and staked it where the house is actually going to be.
The west house corner is probably 15 ft from the corner of the lot, on the flattest part of the ridge. This side of the house are the money views. Waking up in the master bedroom, and looking out the window, you will be able to see a good amount of ocean. It´s really awesome.
The deck is going is going to wrap around from the back of the house to the side where the master bedroom is. On the master side of the house, there will be 2 views of the pacific ocean. And the other view is a tremendous view of inland Nicaragua, with a volcano in the far distance.
The absolute best part of this house...even though the whole thing is going to be sick...is the captains perch. The view from up there should be above the canopy of trees, and we will have close to a 180 degree view of the ocean. Right now is the wet season, so the trees are completely filled in. We can see the ocean pretty good right now threw the trees, but when the leaves fall off (in the dry season), it should be pretty spectacular.
I do have some most unfortunate news however...I lost my camera. There was a bit of stupidity involved on my part, but needless to say that it´s gone. Luckily I have my iphone with me, so I will still be able to take pictures with that, and will go to the lot tomorrow and take some more pictures of the work that has been done. I will also post some other photos of SDJS, and the surrounding area.
I have to apologize for the quickness and probable mis-spellings in the earlier posts. This is the first time that I can actually sit down in an internet cafe, and take some time to collect my thoughts.
To let you know a little bit about this place, it´s really quite special. Adam & I have spent a lot of time meeting the locals that live here, mostly gringos, and they all love it. In SDJS, there are alot of businesses that are owned by gringos (non-nicaraguan). A Canadian couple owns one of the better bars in town, that is right on the beach. They had an open-mic night last Thursday, and it was more like a real band. The husband plays a mean harmonica.
Another couple just opened an Irish Bar. It opened on Thursday night. The woman is from Ireland, and has a thick Irish accent, and her husband is a local from SDJS. I can´t remember her name, but his is Roberto. We sat and talked to him for probably an hour. He brought every piece of memorabilia back straight from Ireland. 14 suitcases.
There is also a nice coffee shop called ´´El gato negro´´ (The black cat) It´s a coffee shop slash book store, and they have a great selection of English Books....very rare in Nicaragua.
Another couple just opened a bakery. We stopped by there after surfing on Saturday morning, and had one of the first loaves that they baked.
Needless to say, there are alot of entrepreneurs here, and a nice balance of locals and gringos.
There are also alot of backpackers here. Lots of college kids, staying in the hostels. They´ve filled this Internet cafe that I´m in right now. I´m pretty sure there all on facebook.
Another good piece of news is that we met another one of our neighbors..Felix. Felix is from Spain, but has moved here to retire. He build his entire house with only 5 other guys. It took him 3 years. That´s not to discourage anyone, His house is huge and he definitely took his time to make sure everything was perfect. It is a most impressive house.
The sun is going down, so I am going to walk over to the beach...have a Toña, and watch the sunset. I´ve probably typed too much anyway, but not close to everything we have done or seen. I will have a lot more down time this week, so I will continue to post.
I hope everyone is good in the states, and if anyone has a question about anything, please make a comment, or email me, and I will try to answer.
I also really hope that I can get some more photos for everyone tomorrow. I´m waking up and going surfing first thing, so I will stop by the lot and take some more.
Adios,
Keeley
Thursday, July 9, 2009
More to come..
Just a note...
I will take better pictures of our lot and post them. I am going to lower the image quality, and that should make it easier to upload. That is all I have for now,I have to give this computer back. Hope all is well up north. Cheers
I will take better pictures of our lot and post them. I am going to lower the image quality, and that should make it easier to upload. That is all I have for now,I have to give this computer back. Hope all is well up north. Cheers
a few more pictures
Our lot is on top of this ridge. about 3/4 of the way from the right side (above)
This is the view of our lot, this picture is taken from the west side looking east. Where I am standing is the other steak of the lot. As you can see we have the entire ridge. (above)
another view of the lot, showing the ridge (above)
While I'm waiting to post 4 more pictures, I can add a little lingo.
Everything is going good down here. The only hiccup was that our battery died yesterday while we were on chocolate road. Luckily it was at Mango Rosa (where we have spent a good amount of time) and one of the nicas was able to fix it. The connection to the battery had gotten wet...that was my fault, I went threw a huge pool of water, and put a bunch of water into the engine. But he was able to fix it with some ingenuity, and we were back on the road.
We have been spending a good amount of time at our lot, discussing how to best build this house. Most of our planning has been in the states, but when you are down here, and you see the lot, it takes some tweaking to our original plan. We spent about 2 hours with our neighbor Felix, looking at his house and a couple of others . This gave us a bunch of ideas, that we would like to implement into the house.
Yesterday we went to the lot with Will, and placed steaks where the house would be. We are going to build a captains perch on top of the west side of the house (above the master bedroom) and that view is going to be insane.
We are in the process right now of having Will implement some of the changes. We will know more tomorrow.
Pictures finally
View from above san juan (above)
view from lot looking north towards maderas (above)
view from marsella beach (above)
lot looking directly north (above)I'm sorry every one but it takes a lot of time, and the borrowing of computers to get these photos to you, so I am going to do my best to post as many as I can while I have this computer. It is a co worker of Will's whose on lunch.
Tuesday, July 7, 2009
It's on....
Well everybody...things are moving in Nicaragua. Today we placed the steaks on our property. Adam and I met Will this afternoon, and the first thing he did was ask one of his workers to go get more nicas, and have them bring machetes. We then watched these guys cut down all of the overgrowth on our property in less than an hour. These guys are masters with machetes. The only problem that we ran into was one of the nicas cut into a wasp nest. We were all sitting there watching the action, and then everyone was running towards us. It was a 10 minute break for the boys.
On a positive note...everyone that has been on our lot know that there is a ridge line that goes right down the middle. The really good news is that the topographer determined that our property line on the north side...is significantly down slope. We have that entire ridge, and even more. It's great.
The view is spectacular. Amazing.
Tomorrow we are going back to the lot to place the steaks that will determine where the house sits. A majority of it will be on fairly level ground so we probably won't have to move a lot of dirt. One thing that Adam and I thought might be awesome is to extend the size of the captain's perch. All along we have focused on the view towards Marsella, but the view to Madera's and the ocean beyond, is just as good...if not better. It would be less roof, and Will is going to crunch numbers and see if it's feasible. If so we will have that entire side... with most of a 180 degree view of the ocean...wow!!
We'll have to see how it goes, but that is why were here. To make sure that we are building the coolest house possible.
.
The reason that we are even considering this is because Will took us on a drive of the area yesterday. We took his car, and drove the the highest point that overlooks the coast. They call is the "5 bay view", because you can see all five bays that surround San Juan del Sur. You can see forever from up there. We could see from Costa Rica, and then north, and then more north. It just confirmed that we have a rockin' lot. The ridge we are on is perfect.
We went up there to check out some of the houses that he is building, we done good.
Just to let everyone know... June is beautiful in this place. Green.. So green.
On green fire, if that makes any sense.
Adam & I are at Mango Rosa right now...again...
Happy Hour.
We just had the surf and turf...$14. Lobster and Filet...so good.
I'm borrowing Greg's (Mango Rosa owner) computer to type this. Cool guy.
Just had a conversation with Chad (our realtor) and he said that he had the best surf day ever. The swell has been prime. Please check our NSR, and look at the size of the waves.
Davis and I rented some surfboards today. Maderas was too big, so we went to Marsella, and it was nice. I got my ass kicked. Literaly. But it's all good.
Not sure what else to say...but please send emails with questions... We did buy a cell phone. One of those phones that you just put more minutes on. It was $40. Also, Will has been letting us use is FJ. $15 a day. No headlights.. Last night we drove home from the Mango with only the moonlight. Good Stuff.
Can't thing of anything else to say, and it's time to get back in to the conversation here at the bar..so I hope all is well in the states, and I wish you were all here.
Peace,
Keeley
On a positive note...everyone that has been on our lot know that there is a ridge line that goes right down the middle. The really good news is that the topographer determined that our property line on the north side...is significantly down slope. We have that entire ridge, and even more. It's great.
The view is spectacular. Amazing.
Tomorrow we are going back to the lot to place the steaks that will determine where the house sits. A majority of it will be on fairly level ground so we probably won't have to move a lot of dirt. One thing that Adam and I thought might be awesome is to extend the size of the captain's perch. All along we have focused on the view towards Marsella, but the view to Madera's and the ocean beyond, is just as good...if not better. It would be less roof, and Will is going to crunch numbers and see if it's feasible. If so we will have that entire side... with most of a 180 degree view of the ocean...wow!!
We'll have to see how it goes, but that is why were here. To make sure that we are building the coolest house possible.
.
The reason that we are even considering this is because Will took us on a drive of the area yesterday. We took his car, and drove the the highest point that overlooks the coast. They call is the "5 bay view", because you can see all five bays that surround San Juan del Sur. You can see forever from up there. We could see from Costa Rica, and then north, and then more north. It just confirmed that we have a rockin' lot. The ridge we are on is perfect.
We went up there to check out some of the houses that he is building, we done good.
Just to let everyone know... June is beautiful in this place. Green.. So green.
On green fire, if that makes any sense.
Adam & I are at Mango Rosa right now...again...
Happy Hour.
We just had the surf and turf...$14. Lobster and Filet...so good.
I'm borrowing Greg's (Mango Rosa owner) computer to type this. Cool guy.
Just had a conversation with Chad (our realtor) and he said that he had the best surf day ever. The swell has been prime. Please check our NSR, and look at the size of the waves.
Davis and I rented some surfboards today. Maderas was too big, so we went to Marsella, and it was nice. I got my ass kicked. Literaly. But it's all good.
Not sure what else to say...but please send emails with questions... We did buy a cell phone. One of those phones that you just put more minutes on. It was $40. Also, Will has been letting us use is FJ. $15 a day. No headlights.. Last night we drove home from the Mango with only the moonlight. Good Stuff.
Can't thing of anything else to say, and it's time to get back in to the conversation here at the bar..so I hope all is well in the states, and I wish you were all here.
Peace,
Keeley
Sunday, July 5, 2009
At Mango Rosa
Here we sit...at Mango Rosa. Borrowing a computer from some friends that we just met, and thought I would say a quick word.
We spent most of the day walking around the beaches. Had lunch at Marsella. Body surfed for a little bit, then walked back to our lot to check out the site one more time. The swell is big right now. Check out NSR on the next couple days. The locals say that Monday and Tuesday are going to be overhead.
The sun is going down. A couple more drinks and were heading back to the hostel for some coconut curry. Tomorrow we are meeting with Will, and on Tuesday were going to the lot with the surveyor. Hopefully break ground later this week.
I have to figure out a way to post some of the photos I've taken, and will.
Hope all is well in the states, it's pretty damn amazing down here....
Keeley & Davis...out.
We spent most of the day walking around the beaches. Had lunch at Marsella. Body surfed for a little bit, then walked back to our lot to check out the site one more time. The swell is big right now. Check out NSR on the next couple days. The locals say that Monday and Tuesday are going to be overhead.
The sun is going down. A couple more drinks and were heading back to the hostel for some coconut curry. Tomorrow we are meeting with Will, and on Tuesday were going to the lot with the surveyor. Hopefully break ground later this week.
I have to figure out a way to post some of the photos I've taken, and will.
Hope all is well in the states, it's pretty damn amazing down here....
Keeley & Davis...out.
Saturday, July 4, 2009
Made it to Managua
Were at the Best Western Hotel in Managua, Nicaragua. Adam and I arrived last night from Houston, and we are waiting for Will to pick us up and bring us to San Juan del Sur. The flight was pretty uneventful, besides a sick kid 2 rows behind us that was throwing up as we were leaving the gate.
When we got to Managua they made everyone stand in front of a heat sensor to make sure that no one had a fever. They rushed that kid right off the plane, and into quarantine or something.
After going threw customs, we walked across the street to our hotel, checked in, and went for a Tona at the bar. Met some kids that were on a US military pèace mission...they were doing dental work for locals all over central america. Also met another guy, Mark, who was here on a church mission. I think that everyon coming to Nicaragua is either on vacation, or on a mission.
Well, till next time.
Keeley
When we got to Managua they made everyone stand in front of a heat sensor to make sure that no one had a fever. They rushed that kid right off the plane, and into quarantine or something.
After going threw customs, we walked across the street to our hotel, checked in, and went for a Tona at the bar. Met some kids that were on a US military pèace mission...they were doing dental work for locals all over central america. Also met another guy, Mark, who was here on a church mission. I think that everyon coming to Nicaragua is either on vacation, or on a mission.
Well, till next time.
Keeley
Wednesday, July 1, 2009
Getting ready to go to Nicaragua
Hello All...Keeley here.
Just testing this blogging thing out for the trip down south. Adam and I are leaving in 2 days for Nicaragua. We are expecting to break ground on our house sometime during our stay down there. My hope is to update the blog while down there, so maybe check every once in a while.
The dream is on....
Just testing this blogging thing out for the trip down south. Adam and I are leaving in 2 days for Nicaragua. We are expecting to break ground on our house sometime during our stay down there. My hope is to update the blog while down there, so maybe check every once in a while.
The dream is on....
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