Friday, December 20, 2013

Nicaragua day 2 – pigs, dogs and cats


Today we headed to a village located on the shores of Lake Managua. We are staying at a nice hotel owned by a Nicaraguan woman and her American husband, a Vietnam veteran. Nice couple. The hotel property, with its lush tropical garden and crazy sculptures, is very different from the poor rural setting of the surrounding neighbourhood though. 

Soon after arriving, we headed to the shore of the Lake, which has a spectacular view of a smouldering volcano on the opposite side. We managed to find a fisherman who has agreed to set his nets in a particular location near a small island overnight to collect the fish that we are after.

In the evening we went for dinner at a nearby restaurant. We decided to go by foot, which turned out to be a mistake…Half way to the restaurant, I had a close encounter with a very large pig, who decided to come right up to me and then proceeded to rub its wet, smelly snout all over my legs (while my colleagues watched with amusement). Welcome to rural Nicaragua.

After the stand off with the pig (which lasted several minutes until it decided to trudge off into the night), we arrived at the restaurant…I think it was previously a public swimming pool judging by the fact that there was a large swimming pool in the middle of the restaurant.

For dinner, I ordered fried chicken, which was served with deep fried banana. Even though I have only been here less than 24 hours, I have noticed that it is quite common to have stray animals come sit next to your table while you are eating. Tonight, a cat and two dogs decided to join us for dinner while bats (did I mention that Central America is home to vampire bats?) circling around our heads.

After returning to the hotel after our delicious meal, I went straight to the shower to wash away the smell of swine. 

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