Got up well before six again today. So weird. Came downstairs pretty early and set up in the dining room.
We had been thinking about traveling this weekend, maybe renting a car and heading out somewhere to see some more of the country, but Dominica’s ankle was hurting her this morning and she would not be able to do any walking. So that idea was out.
We got passion fruit in our fruit delivery this morning! Pretty exciting. We ate some then Dominica made smoothies with it. Fresh passion fruit, now that is something pretty exotic.
We did not do too much today. Hung around the house and had a bit of family time. Liesl had requested Kathy’s Waffle House for breakfast today so for breakfast (well, around lunch time) we walked downtown and got a big breakfast there which held us through most of the day.
In the late afternoon I set out for a long walk to the west towards the Laguna de Apoyo. I went south through the city and west along the cemetery and up the mountain road that runs up from there. It was quickly a dirt path and I ended up climbing up a mountain through rural farming areas and a lot of very, very poor regions. I made it past the fork in the road, more than halfway to Apoyo but it was getting late and the light was waning.
Partway up the mountain a group of kids came out and talked to me and asked me to take their picture, which I did. They thought that it was great fun having someone walking by with a phone.
It was a good, long walk for me. About ten kilometers with a good change in elevation. I was totally drenched with sweat by the time that I was done. Really drenched. It was so humid.
The walk back got a bit tough as towards the end I could not see the “road” I was walking on and it was incredibly uneven (and there was a lot of poo on it.)
This evening Luciana requested that we have pizza for dinner. She had actually asked for it while I was out on the walk and Dominica had texted me, but the pizza place was not on the way home and I needed to get home and clean up before going out to get pizza. So I came home showered and relaxed for a little bit. Then I walked uptown to Pizza Vale to get dinner for everyone.
I ordered the pizza and just sat down to enjoy a pina colada while I waited for the pizza. I did not have the energy to go to La Colonia and go shopping. I was planning to just relax.
It turns out, completely by chance, that tonight was a huge pay per view boxing fight at Madison Square Garden in Manhattan. That it was being shown at the pizza place tipped me off that maybe someone from Nicaragua was going to be fighting.
It turned out to be a huge fight for the world championship and I got to watch the undefeated, ranked top boxer pound for pound in the world from Nicaragua beat his American rival. It was a good fight and the pizza place was completely packed. There was a lot of cheering and everything shut down while the fight was on.
After the fight, which was a really cool cultural experience, I walked back home and noticed that the streets were completely empty like never before. The whole country must have been at home or out at a bar watching the fight. Probably the biggest thing to have happened in a while.
I got home and we put on The Nanny and we ate our pizza. The girls enjoy our evening family time.