Nica Notes: December 2005

It has been a while since I've been able to do a little updating. But today is the day! And seeing that it is also Navidad I send merry christmas wishes to all. I have to say that Christmas doesn't seem like a big holiday here. I'm not saying they don't celebrate it, but just differently then it is celebrated in the states. They choose to celebrate by throwing parties and dancing in the street and eating tons of food.

Anyway, I feel like telling a few stories. Two in particular from my journal. The first I wrote like this...

The donkey came back today. It's the same one that gave me a fright the other night when I was showering out back. Out of the corner of my eye I saw some creature and was caught off guard a little bit. Once I turned to see that it was a donkey who had no idea I was naked or an idea of anything else, I was cool. So anyway, this donkey has been showing up at random times always when I'm not expecting to see a donkey. Today I was rocking away a full stomach of beans and rice when I looked up to find the donkey chomping away at our overgrown front yard. He's quite the tranquil fellow. He'll slowly raise his head and acknowledge your presence with a very unintimidating stare. So I thought, "it's not everyday a donkey comes into your front yard in the states. I should capture this moment on film."

I return with my camera and not to my suprise the donkey was still there. I'm getting all these great angles of the donkey while telling him to growel like a tiger, look sexy, and other such photographic incentives. Then I hear the high pitched yell of one of my little neighbors - "Mira! Mateo tirando fotos del burro!" And not less then 1 second later Franklin aka ChicoMono (monkey boy), Mipiel (which translates to My Skin), and the crew are posing along side the burro. The donkey was such a good sport. These kids were pulling his ears, hurling themselves over his back, and playing with his neck and the donkey just kept staring with those big black eyes of his.

My next little story...

I picked my first coconut today! And with all the grace of a true Gringo I might add.

While it wasn't all that high of a palm tree I mounted that coco tree with all the stiff awkward Americanness I could muster. My hands were pulling and my feet pushing myself up until I could wedge my bare foot behind a branch. From here I had the leverage I needed to raise my arm and reach, with my pride welling up inside, to the coco that would be my first. I cupped its' bottem with my palm and twisted until the coco's weight was too much for my outstretched hand. It fell to earth with the force to kill a man (by the way, stear clear of walking under coco trees - it would be such an unfortunate way to go - but nevertheless I heard happens).

At this point I remove my foot and instantly start sliding down as the trunks of palm trees and my unaccoustomed feet combine to give me zero traction. Instead of waiting for my punishment of straddling a coco tree while slinding down out of control I choose to jump, the consequences of which seem small in comparison. My next step was to look for a Machete (a super sized knife like you've never seen) and try to immulate what I had seen Andres do the day before. You want to cut the incredibly tough fiber stuff away on one end of the coconut and leave it with somewhat of a point. The top of which is the rock hard inside shell (which contains the coco water and coco meat), halved it is often modled by drunk males thinking they have breasts. Anyway, I have a small part of this shell showing at the top of my macheted masterpiece and give it one swift wack with the machete. The next thing I know I get a heaftly load of coco water thrown right in my face. Felling like a chump I wipe the water from my eyes and look up hoping no one was watching and noticed what the American just did. Tossing my shame aside I took a seat and with both my paws holding prize, I enjoyed my coconut.