Day 2 to 5. Coffee anyone? Hummingbirds? Fish? And More. .

[Ken Gargett]

First – so far behind that I’ll try for a condensed version (had started day 2) but dinner about to hit the table and then I have an old Lusi to enjoy with the guys – and Rob has kindly brought a bottle of Flor de Cana 18 Year Old, though not sure much left after last night. Aussie Rob, take note – it is possible to go somewhere and bring grog!

Today? Day 2. All I want is a really quiet and uneventful day. Phone went at 8 am and I awake, exhausted but very, very relieved. First few nights I get about 1-2 hours with the time changes. What might have been, had the passport been gone...

Caught the guys for brekkie – pork toscadillas or something like that, rice and beans. Welcome to South America. Max, our driver/guide, lobbed 9-ish and, as it was bucketing down rain and blowing a gale – portents of fun to come? - we decided the markets might be a bit wonky, so he took us off on the touristy stuff. Doka Estate Coffee Plantations – very well set up, thoroughly interesting tour. Really worthwhile Good coffee here. Then the Waterfall Gardens?? Amazing stuff. Good lunch then walking around the various exhibitions – South American cats including a big jaguar pacing next to you; frogs; snakes; monkeys; fabulous birds including amazing toucans, which would sit on your hand or shoulder; great butterflies; and perhaps the most extraordinary of all, an outdoor hummingbird display. Hundreds of hummingbirds hovering and feeding. Apparently up to 26 different species, more than found anywhere else in the world. They are free to leave but do not. Brilliant stuff. A very long slow trip home. The broken bridge caused hours of chaos.

Finished the day catching up with the guys for a beer – they are off eating Japanese food but a beer was enough for me. Need to sort the gear, pack and catch some sleep.

5am kick off for the first day at the Lodge and fishing. We hit the airport and the promised 20 seater has become a cigar tube. The pilot appears and bugger me, it is Caesar Romaro! The spitting image (the original Joker for those wondering). We are shoehorned in, almost literally. I do not like small planes. At all. We head up into the crap and set off for some very very large mountains. Then we are in completely dense clouds and fog. Can't see the front of the plane. No idea if rubberbands still working. Miraculously, Caesar brings us down through the mess to a feather-like landing on a very impressive raised airstrip (apparently courtesy of the CIA). Turns out that the Lodge was originally built as a front for covert CIA activities into Nicaragua 40 years ago. There is only one other Lodge in the area and it is supposedly mostly just a retreat for some shadowy mob for R&R once they have finished “duties” in Afghanistan etc. Every few weeks, a new bunch of steroid-enhanced, buzz-cuts arrive (sans sniper rifles) and are followed by a boatload of hookers, though all of this can neither be confirmed nor denied. That lodge is shut at the moment, as the owner likes to close from October to February to shoot moose (obviously not locally) and I have no idea if that is a euphemism or true.

The raised strip is completely surrounded by water. We are in Brizzy flood conditions. If not raised, no chance of landing. We are met by several policemen with machine guns. This is not going to plan. Again. They lead us off into the water, knee deep. Fish seem the least of our worries. Then Dan arrives and rescues us. We hop in his boat to zip down to the Lodge.

Dan is the owner of the Lodge and an absolute hoot. A former trial lawyer/judge from Mississippi, he has owned the place for 20 years. Imagine a cross between Hunter Thompson, Warren Zevon and the Good Ole Boys from the Blues Brothers! No secrets here. A great story teller and a hell of a host. Dump gear, have brekkie and head out into the rain. As Rob and myself are doing some fly, we get Auldy as a guide – he is a deadset ringer for Sachin Tendulkar, though I very much doubt he has any idea who he is.

Dinner up so possibly more soon. Or I might just get bored and forget it.

[Ken Gargett]

and no idea why it goes small? ayala, fix the forum!!

[El Presidente]

...you are on the other side of the world....and you still find a way to annoy me

[Ken Gargett]

it is my life's work. and i am yet to begin.

[First Lady]

Ken I am impressed , there is paragraghs and capitals... I never thought I would see .... love you Ken and big hugs to Rob for me babe

[Fuzz AI]

I think Ken dictated that post. It's just too well constructed to have come from him.

[Duxnutz]

Ah small airplanes, takes me back it does; the sheer joy of rocking up at the airport and witnessing the crazed looks, bewilderment and part sheer terror on the faces of the punters when they discover their 'ride' is a 30 yr old busted ass piece of junk airplane that should have been melted into beer cans a decade earlier.

Hope you have a good trip Ken. Kinda sounds like your on a national geographic safari...

[First Lady]

Brilliant Fuzz that is probably what has happened