Hangin' at the Beach with the Folks
Trip Start
Sep 26, 2010
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22
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Trip End
Jul 26, 2011
Pochomil, Carazo, Nicaragua
Saturday, November 27, 2010
My Dad and I rented a four-wheeler for a half an hour and went far beyond the limits set by the vendors. As we were hopping sand dunes at full throttle, all of a sudden a river came into sight. The shotty breaks hardly worked and as we got closer we realized it was about a 4 foot cliff. I slammed on the breaks as I heard "Garretttt!!!" ringing in my ear. The used machine didn't stop in time and we toppled over the cliff into about a foot of water, my Dad slamming into my back as I crushed the handlebars.
After checking ourselves for injuries, we assessed the damages to the four-wheeler. With only 10 minutes until our allotted time was up, we prayed it would start up again. We pulled it out of the flowing stream and tried endlessly until finally it powered up again. We raced back and got back to the drop-off point just in time. The vendors will never have any idea.
That night, my parents took a romantic horse-back ride on the beach while I played soccer with the locals, then we ended our mini-vacation with a salt-rock roasted Salmon on the beach front over a few Flor de Canas.
The rest of the time at Pochomil we spent relaxing, reading and just hanging out. I attempted to teach my parents a bit of Spanish, but my attempts proved futile when I still hear Mom reply with Grassy-Ass in the best of gringo accents you could imagine.
Despite my angst against staying in touristy areas, we had a nice time in Pochomil until the next day when disaster nearly struck..
"And in the end, it's not the years in your life that count. It's the life in your years."
-Abraham Lincoln
