For The Love of Nicaragua

Is it even possible to love somewhere you've never been?

Possibly. I mean, I guess so. I probably fall in love on Facebook or Twitter a half dozen times a day.

This (albeit one-sided) love affair with Nicaragua started last year. The idea of possibly becoming an ex-pat came to me and I hit the interwebs. Nicaragua was not my first. I had a little fling with Costa Rica but it didn't stick. More about that later.

Why Ex-Pat?

It's not something to be taken lightly. This highly personal decision is based on profound disappointment in where the country I was born and raised is headed. It certainly is not the country I grew up in and have lived my entire life. I dream of a life more simple. A healthier lifestyle near the ocean which has been a siren song for my entire life. A song that has gone unheeded but always heard.

Becoming an ex-pat is not the same as renouncing your citizenship. Renouncing is another critter entirely and is definitely a black-black-no-tag-back decision. No, an ex-pat just chooses to live in a different country.

Why Nicaragua?

This all started when I downloaded a book, Happier Than a Billionaire . It chronicles the adventures of a couple that dropped out of the rat race and moved to Costa Rica and opened my eyes to the possibility of becoming an ex-pat. It also became the starting point for my fervent research on what it would take to eventually move to Costa Rica.

Ultimately, after reading dozens of articles and watching several forums, Costa Rica fell out of favor. Seems like I'm a few years behind the ball - the story of my life. CR has become very popular and thus the cost of living has skyrocketed (though still far below the US). As well, petty crimes that are rampant throughout Central America have been turning more violent towards the Gringos.

And that's how I stumbled across Costa Rica's neighbor to the north, Nicaragua.

Many of the things that attracted me to Costa Rica can be found in Nicaragua. One of the most compelling are the Nicaraguan people or Nicas. All of my research tells me that they are warm, hospitable folks who work very hard for very little.  The cost of living is certainly attractive as well in that you could live quite comfortably for about $1000 a month.

Since being near the ocean is at the top of the priority list for me, I've shied away away from cities like Managua (pop 2.2 million) and even Granada in the central part of the country. I seem to have landed in the relatively small Pacific side community of San Juan Del Sur.  It has a small ex-pat community and is of course right on the ocean. While more of a surfer, younger crowd place, it looks like a good place to start. There are neighboring rural communities that are close and may be my ultimate landing spot.

Worries?

Sure. There are plenty of them.

• It won't be easy. Some of the things I now take for granted will probably be absent.
• The residency requirements are cumbersome.
• Security. Most crimes are related to petty theft and those are fairly common.
• Bugs and other unknown critters. At least Alaska doesn't have scorpions.
• Health care. Plusses and minuses  and kind of complicated.
• Being so far away from my daughter whom I am sure will want to remain in Alaska.
• The unknown.

On the Plus Side

• My lifelong dream of living near the ocean can be realized.
• A healthier lifestyle will be easier to manage.
• Exposure to another culture might bring me out of my shell.
• An environment conducive to writing.
• Being able to live comfortably upon my retirement.

The Five Year Plan

I'm working on a five year plan. The makes sense for a number of reasons. Primarily, my daughter will be 18 and ready to begin her journey, whatever that may be. Five years will also allow me to save and contribute to my retirement fund. It will also allow me to make several trips to ensure that everything I've seen on the Internet is true. ;-) Finally, it will allow me to become fluent in Spanish.

Is this all a pipe-dream? I don't know. My heart doesn't believe that to be true. I have a burning ember of passion for this deep inside and it's been there nearly a year.

I'm interested in what you think about this grand plan. Have you ever considered something like this?

A Futbol Story

"If I wanted to see someone struggle to score for 90 minutes, I'd take my friends to a bar."

Pretty much sums up what Americans who have chosen futbol (Soccer) over football (American) have to put with.

And I am one of those Americans.

Of course I grew up watching football. I enjoyed it as much as anyone, I guess. I remember spending many a Sunday folding clothes on the couch watching the afternoon games. I never really had a favorite team other than whoever was playing the Godforsaken Patriots. Didn't play in high school. Apparently my athletic gene never made it though the first round draft pick.

Nearly a decade ago, I was channel surfing and came across a match  - that is what a game is called in the soccer world - in the English Premier League. I thought, "What the hell, why not" and settled in. I was mesmerized. I didn't understand a lot of what was going on but I figured most of it out in short order.  I think a small part of me was hoping to see a hockey game break out in the seats but those days of riotous fans are not too common these days in the English Premier League. Of course part of it may be that the away fans are all tucked into a wedge of seats in the corner with the aisles on both sides staffed with burly, neon green jacketed security folks. Anyway, it became apparent that although there wasn't a lot of scoring action, there was a lot of strategy and athleticism involved with eeking out an elusive goal. Soon, I began seeking out matches on the cable guide and before I knew it, I had become a fan.

I didn't stop watching football at first. I still enjoyed my Sunday afternoons but the more I watched soccer, the more frustrated I became watching football. Things that never bothered me before started getting under my skin. Commercials every few minutes, constant interruption in the flow of the game and quite frankly the whole "smash mouth" thing were quickly becoming a huge turn-off for me. Eventually, I stopped watching altogether. (Which made it an easy transition to not watch this year with the whole Kaepernik BS.)

The rest of the world is a soccer world. There are leagues in most every country or region playing by all of the same rules. It's great that there are so many choices, on the other hand it is daunting and nearly impossible to keep up with. Barclay's Premier League was my first and it is the one I follow each season. It's great because the time difference means I DVR the matches and then spend the weekend watching them at my leisure. I also keep up with Major League Soccer (MLS) here in the US and try to catch a live match of FC Dallas whenever I'm in Texas visiting the fam.

Soccer is catching on here, but I don't have any illusions about it replacing football anytime soon. Thanks to World-Class teams like the US Women's National Team and the expansion of Major League Soccer, more and more folks are being exposed to "the beautiful game" and hopping on board. In particular, MLS is gaining a bit of a reputation as a place international players are considering. It wasn't too long ago that people joked that MLS stood for Men Leaving Soccer or Men Learning Soccer. The recent addition of international stars has only added prestige to the game.

In a forthcoming post, I'll list the Top Ten reasons I love soccer. Until then, consider holding your nose and watching a match. Perhaps you'll like what you see.

Alaska Shipping Woes

"Hello?"

"Hi, I'm trying to order something from your website and I can't find any information about shipping to Alaska."

"Sir, that's because we only ship to the United States."

Ohhh, sure. Laugh if you must but I'll bet most Alaskans have had that conversation at least once. It's at this point that a decision must be made. One can either try to enlighten the dolt on the other end of the phone - satisfying but useless - or thank them for their time and move on to the next website. The irony here being it is likely that the customer rep you just called is in Bangladesh. Wrap your head around that.

In addition to dealing with incompetence on that large a scale, another bug-a-boo is the 4 point font print that says, "Offer good in the contiguous United States." Or this one: The Continental United States. Hey! Last I checked, Alaska is part of the freaking North American Continent. 

Now, I will admit that things are better than they used to be. We don't really receive our packages via dog sled. Well, mostly. Heck, FedEx and UPS have some of their largest hubs located right in Anchorage. Overall, things have improved over the years. For that I am grateful. 

However, I believe that based on a couple of recent experiences, things may be backsliding. In the last two months I've had two online orders take the scenic route to get here. Both orders were from companies I had ordered from previously with nary a problem. They arrived in the given timeframe with no issues at all. Both of the aforementioned orders left their east-coast warehouses and were sent UPS Ground and DHL to the Post Office in Federal Way Washington where they were put in a storage bin marked, "Shit That Needs To Be Shipped To Alaska When We Get Around To It." Sat there for 15 days each before meandering towards my mailbox. I smell a rat.

Some companies have figured it out and do it right. Amazon, this Bud's for you. I've done nearly all of my Christmas shopping with them for years now and I've not had one order screw up. Not one. To top it off, Amazon Prime is the best present most of us Alaskans have ever received. Free shipping? I'll take it. And the beauty of it is that about a third of the time they ship the order UPS Second Day Air. Again. I'll take it.

Given the logistics of getting things shipped way up here, I guess it's not as bad as it could be.  After all, my igloo can only hold so much stuff at a time.

Welcome!

Welcome, and thanks for stopping by. Recognize the name? Perhaps you do. If so it's great to have you back and if this is your first time at Tumblemoose then I'm certainly glad you stopped by.

A little history, if you don't mind. Nearly a decade ago I quit my job and decided to try and make a living as a freelance writer and blogger. I achieved a small bit of success due to some very wonderful and loyal writers who provided great comments on my posts related to inspiring writers. I wrote tons of web content and dabbled in writing a bit of fiction now and then.

I did love it but I'm here to tell ya, it ain't easy making bank as freelance writer. Try writing a dozen uniquely worded web articles using the keyword "Potty Training" or "Home Equity Line of Credit." You'll get what I mean. Oy. Eventually I had to go back to a day job. No worries, though. I had a great time, met a bunch of great folks and actually have a couple of (electronically) published books.

Ultimately I ran out of steam with the Tumblemoose blog. Writing topics became more difficult to find and daily posts turned to monthly and I decided to use a post about the sudden death of a writing buddy to wrap up my stint as a Writing Blogger.

I've missed the writing and have secretly hoped my muse would come back from her hiatus. It's been several years and no such luck. My novel still needs an edit and the next in the series needs written. I suppose to some extent it's that way for a lot of writers.

Today, however, it popped in my head that I should start up another blog. A blog not based on writing, but a blog based on whatever the heck interests me at the time. Perhaps this will lure that dodgy muse back into my life. Who knows.

So I hope you ultimately subscribe and come back now and then to leave a comment.

Let's see where this goes.