Life is a balancing act. You need to keep your head up and your feet on the ground, while allowing your heart to go wherever it pleases! ~Susan Gale
I spend entirely too much time with my nose to the ground in Nicaragua. There are hidden dangers lurking in the forms of scorpions, red ants, and biting centipedes. Yet, I need to remember that life is a balancing act. There are beautiful surprises awaiting when I choose to hold my head up high!
Coconuts, the life force of Nicaragua.
Hidden among the fronds are vampire bats.
Our Peras are ripe. A new batch of apple sauce and Pera pie is on the way.
The bananas have a couple of months left before they are ripe.
If we can only keep the Howler monkeys from nibbling on the bananas!
Our orchid is blooming, strung high in the nancite tree.
Marvin’s welding mask is strung high in the water tower. Our new water supply is almost finished.
My new Moroccan lamp shines colorfully in the darkness reminding me to keep my head up and my feet on the ground, for life is truly a balancing act.
My heart will always be free to roam, wherever it pleases. Thank you, my precious Nicaragua.
Rewired and Retired in Nicaragua 
Life is a balancing act.
You need to keep your head up …
great photos, thanks!
You’re very welcome, Steve!
Love the quote and pictures, including the bats. What a beautiful hand of bananas.
Thanks, Lynne. We’re watching our hand of bananas carefully because it is close to the walking trail in front of our house. Several months ago, our neighbor warned us to cut our bananas. We didn’t listen to her, and they were stolen the next night. Geez!
I can believe it. It happens in our neighborhood. Mostly mangoes.
Love your Morrocan lamp…it’s beautiful. i grew up in Malaysia with all the same creatures you describe……was bitten by a centipede….& saw many long snakes up close! i lived to tell the tale!
Haha! Deanna, I just hope I’m never bitten. I heard the centipede bites are horrible. I was on Facebook one day and my friend posted that there was a Moroccan sale in Granada ( on the mainland) for 2 weeks only. I asked her if she would go to the sale and take pictures of lamps for me, and this is the lamp she picked out. It’s perfect. Thanks for commenting.
All great, but I could have skipped that vampire-bat photo! I’ve been bitten five times in my twelve years in Latin America! Because of that, I am a bit bat phobic!
Great post; made me wistful for what we call ‘manzana de agua.’
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You’ve been bitten by vampire bats??? OMG! They can be very dangerous, especially to cattle. Now, I have to hear your bat stories when you have the nerve to share them. Yesterday we picked a 5 gallon bucket of manzana de agua from our tree. Apparently, we have the only pera tree on the island. I love them cooked into sauce and pies, but the raw peras have an odd sweetness about them…almost like they’ve been dunked in perfume.
Sweet – even the vampire bats! I was a little nervous with your lead. But as usual, you found the gems that are always there for those who look. Gracias!
Thanks, Jon. I used to work in a cavern leading tours and bats were my specialty. I have always loved bats, but these vampire bats can be deadly to cattle and small children. I’d like to find the documentary done on Ometepe Island with the vampire bats. I think it was National Geographic that filmed it over 10 years ago. I just remember watching the beginning of the documentary where a mother was holding her little girl’s tiny white shoes and talking about how the vampire bat had bitten her little girl and she died of an infection. Very sad.
Debbi and Ron, Sra. Cuevas and I once went wild caving in a favorite Arkansas Cave. One of the highlights was Debbie’s excited discovery of what at first seemed to be a glittering fossil egg. But on extracting it from its crevice, we saw that it was a spent flashbulb.
The best moment was when she and Ron opened their caving pack (If I recall, a paper shopping bag was involved) and took out the remains of their mashed banana lunch.
You just gotta love friends like that!
Saludos,
Don Cuevas and Doña Cuevas
Oh, I can’t stop laughing! I remember those incidents very well, especially my disappointment at the discovery of an old fashioned flashbulb. I just knew I had made an important discovery! I still have the flashbulb! And, you’ll never let me forget the mashed banana lunch. Didn’t we have fun exploring the underworld? I really miss those days.
Wonderful glimpse into your world. You really have to keep your wits about you, looking both up and down at the same time….
Haha! Thanks, Lily..you are sooo right!
Wow!!! I have never seen bats in the day light before. Good capture. That light’s pretty too đŸ™‚
Thanks, Irfan. I would never have noticed them hanging in the fronds, if I hadn’t looked up. They are fascinating creatures.