Playa Gigante

Not too many words this year, just some photos I wanted to share. For a brief background - I read of this little fishing village in southern Nicaragua called El Gigante on a surfing subreddit. I was in need of some time on the ocean, so I booked an airbnb for a month and sent it down there solo. For anyone hesitant to travel alone - I firmly believe this is the absolute best way to do it. I was able to completely immerse myself in a foreign culture and develop routines that I never would have had I been with friends. Looking back on some of my favorite times/places that I’ve experienced over the years, I find it’s the routines that always stick with me the most. I learned a new language, made new friends, and lived a much simpler life than we are used to here in the States.

Muchas Frutas. One of my daily visits to the fruit stand. The area where I saw the most improvement with my spanish was definitely buying food. These trips to my amiga at the fruit stand always resulted in my deepest spanish conversations.

Comida

My diet consisted solely of fresh fish, fresh fruit, plantains, and cervesas. Plantains were an absolute staple - I was eating 2-3 per day. Green and starchy fried up into tostones (below), or soft and sweet fried in butter for breakfast and desert. I would visit the fruit lady everyday as well, normally walking away with a bushel of bananas, a papaya, and a peña. From there, I would pop over to the center of town and pay a visit to the fish man. The first week there, I was paying a pretty steep gringo tax for red snapper. By my third week, thanks to my bi-weekly purchases and much improved spanish, I was able to haggle. Most days the catch was snapper, but I also scored some Mahi one day, and a Tuna another. My neighbor Peco was known for catching lobster, so on days when the swell was calm he’d bring over a few for me. The first day, I paid 500 Cordoba for 4 lobster… by the end of the trip I was paying 400 for 5.

Mi amigo Peco with a nice little Pargo Rojo.

Perros de Gigante

Español

I’ve been to Latin American countries in the past where you can get way with mostly speaking English. That was not the case in Nicaragua. I went into this trip with very little background in Spanish, and it showed. I ended up taking two hours of 1on1 Spanish lessons a day (on the beach). Through those lessons, combined with the necessity to “practice“ with everyone I encountered, I saw significant progress in my español… more-so than I ever saw during 4 years of high school Spanish class.

Mi professora, Yosseling.

Atardecer

Forgot how awesome Pacific sunsets are…

The biggest pig I’ve ever seen. That’s a full sized kayak next to it.

Sunset from the patio outside of my Casita. It looked like this about 90% of the evenings that I was there.

Thoughts

My biggest takeaway from this trip: you don’t need much to be happy. Technically speaking, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the western hemisphere… but you would never know this by interacting with its people. Everyone greets you with a smile on their face, taking life one day at a time. There are no social pressures. No comparisons. No retirement plans. No expectations other than to be nice and take care of friends and family. You focus on what’s in front of your face, and not what may be around the corner. In my opinion, this is living - and it’s a way of life that we could all learn from. It is only “unrealistic” because of the restrictions and expectations we place upon ourselves - and I am guilty of this myself. Life is pure in Gigante, and I hope to carry a piece of it with me as we head into the new year.