Our first full day in Nicaragua began for me with a confused walk to the waterfront (there are no street signs in San Juan) , and a run back and forth along the half-mile long beach of San Juan del Sur harbor, festooned along the pier at one end with a blue and red “Welcome to Nicaragua” sign.
At 7 am it was overcast and not as hot as I expected, being directly below the equator. In fact about two weeks ago, 7 am in Somerville had it beat for miserable. The beach was mostly quiet except for about two dozen fisherman, standing waist-deep in the sea with fishing reels made from shims of wood and casting by hand. Thatched-roof dining patios lean out from the many bars that line the beach and beside them, men in swimsuits nodded to me as they availed themselves of the small outdoor showers to be had for 5 cordobas (about 35 cents). Blue and white wooden fishing boats, about 15 feet long, bobbed in the shallow water and loaded up with men and their gear, cascading over the gunwales. There is something universal and levelling about a fishing village, a place that everyone has imagined or seen, so I had to be careful to remember to look for the differences. A small group of sweet-faced pregnant street dogs strode cautiously around me, probably hoping for a snack.
This morning David and I had breakfast in the Hotel de la Isabella, where we are staying. We ate mango and other fruits that Jane Mirandette, our hostess (also known as ” Library Jane”) bought on the way back from Managua yesterday from a roadside stand.
Now we are sitting in an internet cafe or “universal cyber” as it is called, and roosters are crowing somewhere close by. There are at least 3 such cafes in San Juan that I have seen. It costs 20 cordobas, or just over $1 US for an hour on the internet. By contrast, it costs just over 30 cordobas for a mariachi band to sing “Besame Mucho” while you dine on garlic shrimp. As far as information access goes, I guess that price comparison is a good thing. Since we have been in here, the only people who have come in to use the three computers have been foreigners, but the young Nicaraguan woman who works here is a very fast typist and has already helped me twice to figure out things I really should know by now…(blaming it all on the different keyboard)
Today we?ll pay our first visit to the Biblioteca (library) in San Juan and get our marching orders for the upcoming two weeks. On the way I will stop in at the one bookstore I noticed in town–El Gato Negro (The Black Cat).
Working hard in the meantime to dust off the far reaches of my brain for Spanish vocabulary I have not used in many years. I am hoping there is a lot of need for help in the children?s library!