Just pass him

Have you ever looked at your passport picture and said that doesn't even look
like me. After 16 hours of traveling its does. It's a long trip to get here.
But I have to admit things went pretty well. There was a minor incident at
Ohare. Apparently someone left a small pocket knife in his shorts in his carry
on bag. I guess it got past me and the washing.
A half hour of running my underwear and short though the x-ray machine and we
were back on our way.
The rest of our air travel went well. Besides a few power outages in Panama
City, which delayed us about an hour, three ups and downs and we were in
managua. The worst thing about taking off is knowing your going to end up in
another airport. I was glad to be on the ground,in the car and on  the road.
Until we got in the car and on the road.
Managua look like one giant accident. Rundown scrappy buildings, vacant lots
and trash everywhere. Cars swirving in and out of lanes, motorcycles with no
headlights dodging cars and people crossing or standing in the middle of three
lane roads. It was enough to give me road rage and Becky was driving. Bad maps
and no road labels or street signs left us driving around aimlessly. Good thing
we had our interpreter , Lindsey ,with us. A quick stop at a gas station and we
were pointed in the direction of our hotel.
The next morning we found a grocery store, loaded the car with supplies and
headed for our beach front destination. The road leaving managua was nicely
paved. The landscape was beautiful, mostly hilly ,almost mountainous terrain
with houses , more like shantys , scattered among the hills and road sides. The
steep grades made it difficult for the bigger trucks to get up to speed.
Apparently we had follow one of these trucks long enough for Lindsey to say
"Just pass him mom". We hadn't even completed pass and there was a police in
the road waving for us to pull over. Upon arriving at our car, he and Lindsey
began discussing the fine art of paying a no passing zone violation en
espaniol. I couldnt understand much but I did pick out 800 and back to managua.
To which Lindsey responded " Es Necessario?" A little dickering and sad puppy
eyes and we were back on the road for 400 cordobas. This amounts to about
$16.00 U. S. dollars. That's only a little more than Illinios got out of me in
tolls on our way to Ohare airport. No harm done. Now if the directions we have
to the beach rental are accurate it's smooth sailing. Not so fast now.
We made all the right turns ,crossed the right bridges and veered in the right
vees. One more turn and its the first house on the right.
We had a couple beers and took a potty break at an open air grass hut bar in a
small brick paved town circle. It was very quaint, very real and a very much
needed break from sitting in the car. After our interpreter ,Lindsey ,got the
proper  directions from the locals we were back on the road. Fifteen minutes
later we were met at the gate by the caretaker and cook. Paradise at last.
Forget the airports,the driving ,the bad directions and maps. This made
everything all worth it. A beach front villa with a pool, a cook and a care
taker. It didn't take us long to change our clothes and hit the beach. No long
johns...shorts.
No snow... Sand.  No wind chill... A nice ocean breeze.
We wander down the shoreline to a little outdoor bar on the beach. Took another
beer break and headed back for a little time in the pool. The caretaker ,
Sergio, offered to run down to the market for fresh fish. Dinner was Red
snapper wrapped in banana leaves and steamed on the grill. Everything was
perfect. If I had to leave tomorrow I couldn't complain. But tomorrow it's off
to Leon for volcano boarding on Cerro Negro. What could go wrong. Right?