Of sandflies, crabs, and braids

La Fortaleza and the Full Moon -- Trujillo

Our first day at Casa Kiwi, we headed to town for lunch and visited the Fortaleza de Santa Barbara, a Spanish colonial fort constructed to defend the Bay from pirates.  Trujillo was founded in the early 16th century and was a port used to ship the silver and gold found in the interior back to Spain.  It was also an easy target for pirates, who eventually destroyed it.  Today the fort is some basic stone ruins, an art gallery, and a museum with colonial and Garifuna items.  We were met by a tour guide who gave the girls some corn husk dolls.  We later learned that he is not actually employed by the museum and is not exactly sane.   No matter, we had a pleasant time talking to him.

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After dinner and beers back at CK, we were delighted with a full moon over the Bay.

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Back to the beach

 From D&D at Lago de Yojoa we headed to Casa Kiwi in Trujillo.  There are many great tales to tell of the week we spent at that wonderful beachside oasis, but "a year ago today" was a travel day.  Pictures from the road, as we saw the sea for the first time in quite a while (I will calculate exactly how long and put it in the comments).

Pulhapanzak Falls, Honduras

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Home brews and folk music in the garden

Our first stop in Honduras was at the D&D Brewery in Lake Yajoa.  We arrived 1/26/10, after a long day crossing the border, hitting traffic in Tegucigalpa, running into road construction, and finally dealing with sick kid (Gregorie and mango juice and driving curvy roads twice proofed a bad combo).  We checked into our comfortable room amidst the lush gardens only to not have hot water -- which only mattered because Gregorie had been sick!  Dale, the owner, did his best to fix our water heater but couldn't until the next day.  But he did make the poolside shower available and soon we were refreshed and ready for a pint of his fine ales!  After months of only pilsners we were psyched!  We ate a tasty dinner and drank more pints as the evening descended and the band began to play.

The next day Gregorie was determined to go in that pool, despite the cool and overcast weather.  Well, she was determined until she determined that the pool was not heated!

It's cold!

Really cold!

Alex checks it out.

Oh brother!  I TOLD her it's cold!

Like, THIS cold!

This is our buddy, Dillinger, a member of the wonderful staff at D&D.

The sun didn't come out that day but the girls never gave up hope on the pool...

Crossing into Honduras...

...is no easy matter, especially with an "expired" CA registration.

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Drinks with friends in Esteli

We left Finca Nebline del Bosque

and headed back to Esteli for lunch with some friends we had made while at the finca.

The girls had a little tea party with a new friend

while we sampled the wares of Esteli.

Then we headed toward the border with Honduras, spending one final night in Nica.

Another day on the farm

Finca Neblina del Bosque

Still in Esteli

When you travel by private vehicle for 6 months, once in a while you need to do some maintenance, like an oil change!

We bought the handmade dolls in a small shop next door to the garage.

Across the street from the garage was the baseball stadium (Nicas love baseball as much as futbal!) with a grand mural.

Outside of town, you can find the crop that supports the economy -- and almost guess you were in the SE US!  Yes, it's tobacco.  Esteli makes some of the worlds finest cigars.

Along the way, leaving Costa Rica, we had decided on the lookout pony and an old man in Esteli sold us some cleansing sage.

But we still never escaped the reach of Disney.

Here is our cabin

At Cuallitlan Hotel.

Which had beautiful gardens, full of bamboo.

And, beer.  And these photos just make me laugh.

Headed to bed, with the new doll...

A morning in Esteli