26 November 2018

Banana du jour

     Or really, any day.  
   Hard to get much fresher than this:  off the tree just minutes ago.



21 November 2018

Cover up

     There seems to be always a cover up somewhere in the world...even on an isolated beach on Nicaragua's Caribbean coast 'tho here there's no indication nature's hiding any wrongdoing.


16 November 2018

Shopping

     The best and freshest fish.  We stop in Smokey Lane Lagoon on the way to False Bluff to negotiate for dinner.  You can't get fish any fresher than this unless you catch 'em yourself


11 November 2018

This is how it starts


     When I began the project here we cleared brush, leaving healthy existing coconut palms and sea grapes - and then planted hundreds of additional coconut palms.  
     And, of course, the empty spaces in between the palms and sea grapes filled up with a brush/weed combination that had to be cut - like any yard.  But here in Nicaragua it gets chopped with a machete;  and like any yard the stuff comes right back again after it's chopped, perpetuating a labor intensive cycle.
     To break that cycle, one of the first outside plants I introduced was a local zoysia grass.  Although not found specifically at False Bluff, it is native to the area growing all over Big Corn Island and in isolated patches in Bluefields which is where my starter plants came from.  I rescued approximately two basketball-sized clumps from sidewalk cracks in Bluefields and carefully divided and planted it here at False Bluff.
     Once established enough to divide, we began taking small clumps from our own stock and expanding its hold.  The grass forms a thick almost impenetrable mat that makes it a hell of an erosion control device, it never needs to be chopped, it is seemingly impervious to drought, and snakes and ants hate it. 
     Faintly outlined in red are shown several clumps getting a start.


     In a surprisingly quick time the clumps will join together to form a thick emerald green mat.  Shown here are a few pictures of it both establishing itself -and established.  This hasn't happened overnight but it's been worth the wait...









06 November 2018

Life with Hennessy

     ...the hammock, not the booze.
.


01 November 2018

Lobster traps

     Stacked and ready to be put into use these wood traps are shown before being loaded onto trucks.  They sit on a road in Loma Fresca, a Bluefields neighborhood, where they were made.