Jan. 3, 1996
Our day began with breakfast at Bernabé and Inez's. We were served the fish that had been cleaned and salted the night before with the light of a flashlight. It was good, served with rice and tomato, but rather salty. We then went home and made things ready for the arrival of the Martinez family. I had left bus money for ten, so we expected something of a crowd to help us move in. The bus is quite expensive ($.50US one way), so a family trip adds up. When they arrived the group included Carlos and Maria Elena, Erik, Harold and Lester, as well as cousins Hamilton and Carlos, cousins from Jinotepe, and the three kids from Sí a la Vida, Alcides and his brother Daniel and José Alberto. We brought all our things over from Bernabé's house and peered into the foot lockers we had packed in my folks basement last October. It seems like a different world and a different time. We took out a few things, like towels to use for the beach. Then we closed up the house and went down to the river, just a block east of here. All the boys and I went out into the lake immediately for a swim. Ela and Maria Elena waded out to a rock and sat and talked and watched us and Carlos waded out ever so slowly into the "freezing" water (about the temperature of a heated pool!). We all had a good swim and came back to the house refreshed and hungry. Maria Elena had brought lunch of chicken and rice, so I took some of the boys to the pulperia for Cokes. The store keeper allowed us to take the bottles home, instead of pouring them into plastic bags, and then gave us a basket to carry the twelve bottles home. Lunch was great, and we sat around on all the available surfaces. After lunch Carlos settled back in one of our rockers and Maria Elena relaxed on the bed and the kids began to amuse themselves with decks of cards that had been packed. We also had a game of jacks going. Then, with a tennis ball, a baseball game emerged spontaneously in the area surrounding the house, using a fist for a bat and the many "pop flies" made quite a racket when them came down on our corrugated roof.

A while later Ela broke out some art supplies and all the younger boys did a picture for the walls of our new house. Already we have the party decorations that José Alberto made, hang and twisting in the breeze.
About 3:30 we closed up the house and walked out to the main road where we could catch the bus. The plan was to do another beach stop in Santo Domingo, the favorite beach of the island, and halfway back to Altagracia.

Of course we managed a visit with Juan Alverez, director of the institute in Balgüe, and his wife, who are friends of Carlos and Maria Elena. She fixed us a tamarind drink and then off to Santo Domingo by bus. I paid for all and then gave Maria Elena what would be needed for the next leg. Santo Domingo was exquisite, with totally calm water extending as far as the eye could see and blending with the pastels of the sky, with steep white thunderheads in the distance. The sun setting behind us also brought Maderas into sharp relief, and made a beautiful end to our day together. Our cost of about $16 had paid for the transport and beverages for the ten and a very special day for all of us -- a real vacation! We went home on Albero's bus, for which we are never allowed to pay and had a beer and bread. Later a tap-tap-tap on the door. It was Bernabé and Inez. We invited them in and had a good visit, with our being able to offer them the comfortable chairs for a change. So ended our first full day in our house and a very memorable one indeed.

Bainbridge Ometepe Sister Islands Association Home Page