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After returning to Managua from Granada, I made some pineapple salsa for my aunt and uncle and we also attempted to approximate a Hurricane using some Jamaican fruit that he had grown. It didn't really taste much like a hurricane, but it was good. As for the salsa, one of the many things about Nicaragua that makes the trip worth while is the food. All the fruit you find there is fresh and generally tastes much better than the fruit, like that imported to the U.S., that is picked green and allowed or helped to "ripen" during transit. The taste of a pineapple purchased at a roadside stand next to a pineapple farm as compared to one bought at Albertsons is like the difference between the taste of watermelon at a buffet in February and a watermelon that you just picked ripe in July. There's just no comparison. Every ingredient was fresh and perfect and that was my best batch of salsa to date.
On Tuesday, the day before we left, we realized that the late flight on Wednesday was only going to give us an hour to get through customs and recheck-in and get to our gate. So we went by the American Airlines office and changed to the early flight, which gave us much more time to make the connection and to get home. We then went to the Metrocentro, a mall on the Carreterra Masaya to do some shopping before meeting up with my aunt to go to Mercado Huembes, the large market in Managua. We also stopped by an internet shop to check our e-mail before having lunch at TGIFridays. Baby back ribs. Screw the poison pork, those were good.
At Mercado Huembes, we finally found the "traca tracas" that we had been looking for. We all brought some to bring back for our various nieces and nephews. That evening, we spent about an hour trying to master those little evil toys ourselves.
On Wednesday morning, bright and early, we headed to the airport, getting there at about sunrise. Looking back on the trip, we had probably stayed a day or two too long. Had we returned on Sunday, January 4, we really would not have missed anything though there are many places in Nicaragua that I have yet to visit and that I know I will before too long. As a practical matter, arriving in New Orleans on the night of the Sugar Bowl would probably have been a mistake.
Photography being a hobby of mine, I shot more than 600 photos on the trip. Many of them were shot for the purposes of "stitching" shots together to make larger photographs, but I nevertheless have many photos. After culling and adjusting, I have at this writing more than 150 shots that I will likely keep of the trip. What follows are a few of those that really didn't fit into this narrative.
Sherry photographing the beach and Pacific Ocean at La Flor Beach
Another shot of the palm tree near Hotel Paraiso on Corn Island
Another view of the veranda at Apoyo
My Uncle Roger and Aunt Lorena, our gracious hosts, at the Apoyo mirador at Caterina. A timed
exposure containing motion blur due to my inability to hold the camera completely still for the whole exposure.
