Onward

I want to say a non-chronological thing or two about Nicaragua. First of all, the fruit is amazing. The bananas were the best I have ever eaten. But the bananas revealed something else, which is that bananas in this country must be heavily subsidized because we say way more mangoes there than bananas, but mangoes in this country cost $1-4 each, while bananas cost 20 cents each. Or $2 a bunch or something, right? I always thought each mango tree must grow 1 mango a year or something and that's why they cost so much. In fact, mangos grow almost like berries; the tree is covered with them. So I assume mangos' price in the US reflects something close to the true cost of getting them all the way up here, while bananas are subsidized or something.

The damn banana lobby.

Something else: We really take our water, sanitation and sewage systems for granted around here. Because when you don't have stable systems, its a huge bummer, and much less happens if you have to worry about those basics.

Those are just two obvious, and possibly baseless, observations.

On Thursday of our visit, the big event was a sailing trip with Matt and Katie, folks Carl and Angie met down there. They were really nice hosts and totally effortless sailors (i.e., I never freaked out for a second that anything bad was going to happen even though I was in a tiny vessel in the Pacific Ocean off the coast of Nicaragua, not a place I ever saw myself). It was one of the most relaxed times I had, because everything was in someone else's hands, including my kids. Q was napping back at the house, while Angie stood guard, and Liam was "fishing" off the back of the boat and talking Matt and Katie's ears off. Magical.

On Friday, the big event was a baseball game in Rivas. Frente Sur Rivas played Caribbean Coast. It's hard to describe this event. It was like watching a major league game in a municipal ballpark, and not a fancy municipal ballpark. More like an all-concrete, abandoned ballpark. But with really excited fans, and many vendors walking the wide rows, selling ceviche (where does that seafood come from?), cashews, mangos, loquats - any of which they will douse with hot sauce or vinegar at your request. You could also buy individual cigarettes, which strangely made me want to smoke, only because they were probably 5 cents a piece. I cannot pass up a bargain, you know? Unfortunately, the kids were cranky and it was hot, and I drank 3 Toñas, so after 5 innings we were ready to roll. Rivas was ahead when we left. Another observation: there's a lot of Yankees and Red Sox gear in that country.