Nella is our neighbor’s dog, from down the hill and around the corner. But you almost wouldn’t know it by the amount of time she spends with us. She’s here at first light, keeping John company on the porch with his first cup of coffee. Then she joins us on our morning hike, at least through the neighborhood and up to the first guard gate before she turns away and John and I begin the climb up to Cristo. She visits us in the afternoon and again right at dinner. Guests who have stayed in our home when we’re back …

If you have a passion, you do it. And if it’s something you can share, you share it. And in so doing, you make life fun. Today I was lucky enough to be a recipient of Vanessa and Lucia’s (of the Latin American Spanish School in San Juan del Sur) passion for teaching and sharing both their culture and their joy. As well as Summer Shacklette’s joy in bringing her friends together. We learned to dance Merengue (“you have to move the body sexy”), to make Pico de Gallo (you use LOTS of lime juice), Guacamole (in the Nica version …

This morning John woke me up with one word: Monkeys! Followed by: And we can see them! Last year I heard them near our home for the first time. And I was sure it was a screaming pig which the neighbors must’ve just acquired. But then, it sounded like an awfully strange screaming pig. Could it be a Howler Monkey making all that racket? John thought that it was indeed, and we listened to sound tracks via Google, but we didn’t actually see one. The year before, in the midst of a bad drought that was in its 5th year, …

Jorge grew up in Colombia, speaking Spanish. Ashley grew up in the northern suburbs of Atlanta, Georgia, USA, speaking English. And then one day they met.  Ashley was working odd jobs while she worked on her Interior Design Art degree.  On this particular day she was working for a perfume company, spraying cologne samples on customer’s wrists, in Macy’s Men’s Department at the Mall.  Jorge was in Atlanta working on his English and a Master’s degree in International Business. The mall was near his home and he was running errands. While there, he decided to try the cologne.  Flash forward …

While Saturday night was busy in town with Managuans enjoying a long beach weekend, yesterday the town was back to being sleepy. Yet it was no less colorful than usual.  The Market corner was the busiest spot, with taxis and buses and cars and bicycles. And the park had a few people, but most of the benches were empty. And the streets were empty enough to make spotting the plantain truck easy.  If you’ve ever thought: “San Juan del Sur is too crowded with tourists and backpackers” or “I wonder what San Juan del Sur was like before all the …

The town was hoppin’ last night. One restaurant was completely packed. Others were also jamming. And the beach was full, with a final game of soccer under the lights.  John E Field and I and our friend Summer Shacklette were looking at each other in shock, feeling like we’d time capsuled back to last year. “Managuans,” our waiter Ricardo at Buen Gusto said, as I sipped on our Macuas (Buen Gusto serves THE BEST Macuas). “They are here because of the Santo Domingo holiday.” On the beach was the ice cream vendor, the sunglass guys, the surfer, the dogs, the …