Casares Fish Market

This morning, I rose early and headed out on foot toward Casares to buy some fish. There are buses that run between Casares and La Boquita, but this morning, I had walked nearly a mile before one stopped for me. The bus terminus in Casares is at the top of a hill that leads down to the beachside market, where the pangas are lined up on the sand after a night of fishing.

The precious motors are always detached and hauled up the hill for safekeeping. That's what those guys at the left are doing. The folks heading down the hill carry sacks and buckets and coolers for the fish they will buy.

It had been a good night. There was pargo for sale --that's red snapper-- for a pricey 60 cordobas per pound, or $2.25. I bought two fish, or three pounds' worth. Also sardines. I have seen tempting recipes for fresh sardines, so I bought a half-dozen for 60 cordobas. There was a good haul of my favorite, corvina --sea bass. It looks nothing like any bass I've ever seen, but it is delicious. My 2.5-pounder cost $3.75.

Before I started up the hill to the bus, I decided to stop at a comedor for a breakfast of gallo pinto, huevos rancheros, and fried plantains. Gallo pinto means "painted rooster," and is the national rice and beans staple of Nicaragua.

And just outside the door? One of Casares' dozens of free-range piggies, looking for her own breakfast!

It took me about a half-hour to scale and behead my fish for the freezer. And about an hour to clean the scales from every single surface in my little kitchen! From now on, scaling is an outside job.


8 Aug. postscript: Grilled the sardines, after scaling, beheading, butterflying, and de-boning. Still too many bones to eat comfortably. Sardines=delicious. Worth the trouble? I'll stick to canned in future.

It's Rocket Science

My first two days in Managua yielded little, as the cargo had not yet reached the city. I relaxed and watched Brynn chase chickens and run after Yogi, the family's tan Lab retriever mix. I did ask about buying a bed and stove for the apartment in Managua, and Erlinda advised me to consider Diriamba, the large town near La Boquita where I would likely do most of my shopping. As it happened, her brother-in-law Francisco was visiting Diriamba and could possibly help me.

Francisco is a NASA engineer who lived in New Orleans for many years, and most recently, in California. His work on the Space Shuttle and satellites has been exciting, to be sure, but also stressful, and he is looking forward to retirement at a house he's been building in Managua. His family hails from Diriamba, and he still has sisters there, plus a brother who has a farm off the road to La Boquita. He also has a nice utility vehicle, with racks on the roof perfect for taking a mattress and box springs to the seashore!

We shopped a couple of stores, with plenty of counter-offers and exasperated sighs from Francisco. When we struck a deal for a stove, bed, electric fan, coffee maker, and a blender thrown in by the saleswoman (a vendor blender?), Francisco had saved me over a hundred dollars, and took us off to a local comedor for lunch. This was a modest affair, serving good soup, beef and potato plates, and syrupy fruit drinks. I apologize for the absence of photos. I cannot seem to remember to take the bloody shots as any good journalist ought to do.

Then, a short hop back to the furniture place to load the car and drive to La Boquita, where the stove fit perfectly into the 24" space and the bed was, well, a bed. I counted my lucky stars. Francisco made a potentially fraught production into a pleasant, sensible errand. Not only that, but his sister owns a pharmacy in Diriamba, where I can get all my prescriptions, as well as a new indoor shopping mall down the street, which I plan to explore sometime soon. Strand by strand, my situation is coming together.  And I can now make coffee in my new digs. As soon as I buy some coffee.

I hope I do not need a rocket man to retrieve my boxes. The vigil resumes.