June and July

Hello from Selva Del Mar,
It is truly amazing how quickly everything is transformed when rainy season begins. It is all so lushly verdant now. It seems as if it happens overnight.
Here on lot 5 you can clearly see Pie de Gigante.









Turn around, and this is your view to the east. Classic central american coastal forest.













The Malinche trees are blooming.

















Here's a little glimpse of Panga Drops and Los Perros, taken from lot 4. We scored some really good surf. We drove to the side south of Rio Colorado, scoring a fun session with Timmy Reyes and others. The prior day, we had lunch at Rancho Santana while watching Timmy and Damien Hobgood put on a show at First Peak.
A couple of days later, Gray and I surfed it alone during mid-afternoon. What more can you ask for than a father, son surf session, trading waves with nobody out? Gray's positioning and tube riding skills are at a really high level now. The next day, we shared it with four or five other guys, and I got a barrel with not a drop out of place, looking out the rabbit hole for the whole wave, emerging dry. That hasn't happened often enough lately and it just felt sublime. Gray was really an inspiration with his backdoor approach to the wedgy board breaker.



But back to Selva Del Mar. We completed the planter area at the entrance gate.



















































The gutters are in along the entrance


















Respecting what is already there.
















Here is Juancho, with Gray's new puppy, "Killer." This is the rockwork leading to the creek crossing.

Gray, checking out the construction on Joe's house at lot 33.







Looking down at Joe's house from lot 16.


Lot 29 has been sold to South African surfer/teacher Colin. Congratulations Colin, and welcome to the family
of Selva Del Mar lot owners.










Our Cuidador, Vidal, is doing a great job with the garden.




















































If it's not growing at Selva Del Mar, you can probably get it from the produce truck that stops in front of our casita.













Filete is doing well. It was fun to ride him up to the top of Selva Del Mar in the morning for a quick surf check.












There were butterflys everywhere.




















The water system is being installed.









For my last evening before returning home, we decided to have a little fiesta. We bought a pig. Juan Tomas killed and butchered it.












Here is Gloria, getting the pork ready for Nacatamales.

With kids and grandkids nearby, Gloria carefully wraps some pork, corn meal, tomatoes, onions, and mint into a banana leaf.

Gloria's daughter ties off the package.


And into the pot it goes.














Have you ever grilled pork on the grill of a fan, over an open wood fire? Yummy!

The boys whoop it up with local community leader and Selva Del Mar Sales agent, Zacharias Martinez Lopez.

Later, Gray and his beautiful novia, Yamali are all smiles, happy to have each other.

Beware, the empty bottle of Flor de Cana!

Travis came over to share in the festivities.

Our next door neighbor, Hebe, aka "Toro" will have to wait for a better close up shot.

We love being part of the community, sharing beautiful Gigante with those for whom it has always been home. Thanks to all the locals who make us feel so welcome. In my next update, I'll tell you all about the first home game in 7 years for the local Gigante baseball team that we are supporting .

Saludos!

May Update

Happy May to you,

We were busy last month, and nearly forgot to feed Solo.



Actually, these two are great friends and they have a steady diet of leftovers. These are rice and bean eating critters. They are also very opportunistic and will eat just about anything. I haven't seen a finicky pet in Nicaragua. I haven't seen any fat ones either.




We fixed a problem we had last rainy season when water was coming off the Gigante road in front of Selva Del Mar, and was making a muddy mess across our entrance road on its way to the creek. So now we are helping it along.










Now the runoff will go under the road















and move through the channel to the creek.













Here is the channel running to the creek.















In this picture, we are looking toward the entrance and the Gigante road. I like how we built around the tree.













Special thanks to Rick and Segio for all their hard work. Doing a development project is complicated in the states and Nicaragua has an extra layer of sneaker sets one must duck dive. They are shouldering most of the load for project supervision and doing a great job while navigating some tricky but very promising waters.
















The entrance road has been surfaced with crushed rock, so we are ready for May's rains, and the beginning of green season.




The creek crossing is done. Here is Rick, trying it out.















We also put crushed rock on Calle Monte de Oro. We left trees in the middle of the road near the rotunda (cul de sac)













We added a few more gaviones up near lot 1, so it will be safer to turn around up there.

We are still working to reduce costs and refine the design for the Bamboo project. You can only cut the bamboo on a full moon, so our next window is late May. We have obtained an appraisal for the front property and have a pro forma for those of you who are interested in investing in our bamboo project. If you would like more information, please email me at lincolngardner@sdmnica.com


Selva Del Mar and one of our lot owners, Joe Gilbert, are helping Gigante to revive their baseball team. We are helping out in the preparation of the local baseball field and we are supplying uniforms and other baseball related goodies to the team. Our local sales agent and community leader, Zacharias, who is an excellent player (he was given a major leagues tryout) is organizing the team (that's Cody in the picture, not Zach). If you would like to contribute to the program in any way, please let us know by sending me an email at lincolngardner@sdmnica.com.

Saludes!