A Day to Escape the Craziness

Our life during the last 3 months has been filled with unknowing, anxiety, grief, loss of the familiar and denial.  We needed a break from the oppressive conditions, a need to escape if only for a little while.   And our favorite place to go to leave behind the everyday things is always the Pacific Ocean.  We are blessed to live with the beach just a "stone's throw away".

July is normally a busy month for us in the terms of birthdays.  I have on my calendar 6 boys with July birthdays.  Usually we would celebrate them individually, but this year everything is different.  We managed to gather together 3 of them for a day long celebration.  But first there was some scouting to be done.

As I have mentioned in previous blogs, the streets of our town as well as the entire country are not easily passable.  There are tranques EVERY WHERE (blockades).  So,  a week before our celebration, we sent 2 boys out on a moto to discover if it was possible to get to the beach and the best route.  The report was good: we can get to the beach, the roads are open.  What they did not relate back to us was that maneuvering around tranques was easier on the moto, they did not take into consideration that some streets had HUGE ditches surrounding the tranques that made it almost impossible for a car.  What I really needed was a Humvee!  Oh my poor car!  They just don't understand the love affair that we Americans have with our vehicles, especially a girl from the Motor City.

To the average Nicaraguan, a car is a tool that alleviates the need for walking and should be shared by all.  That means pile as many into it as possible (remember the 60's), including sitting some in the trunk with the lid open.  It doesn't matter if you're wet or muddy, that the upholstery and carpet get soaked and soiled;  what's the big deal?  Everything is washable according to them.  Dents covering every inch of the car and no mufflers is normal.  

Believe me when I say that I am not the same woman that left the States so many years ago, I am mellowing.  Bits and pieces of me are accepting of and tolerating things that were once deal breakers for me.

We arrived at the beach using 2 motos and a car filled with joyous people.  They were in need of an escape as much as we were.  Did I mention we had 2 toddlers with us?    The guys are no longer 15 year old teenagers, they have grown into men who are 24 years old with families of their own.

When we met them years ago, they were abandoned, orphaned youths who lived in a facility.  God saw fit for us to develop relationships with them and eventually they came to live with us.  We put them into school even though they were years behind their peers.  We had birth certificates constructed for them so they would have legal identity.   And, we loved them as our own.   They are now working adults.

Our day was picture perfect.  We are in the middle of the rainy season but it did not rain.  We went to our usual spot at the beach for casual dining, where the owners and staff know us and treat us well.   We played, we rested, we caught up on the latest events in all our lives, we ate well and we just loved being together.

Except for the lack of people at the beach, that portion of our country seemed normal.  The people living there have not had to put up tranques, they have not had to deal with the deadly violence.   It's like Las Peñitas is in it's own protective bubble.   We were truly blessed to have been able to spend a glorious day escaping from the craziness.