Every town in Latin America has a celebration, and often they have several. We happened to find ourselves here in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua, during the fiesta de San Juan. He is the patron saint of this town, Saint John the Baptist.
They have much of the usual accompaniments of a fiesta, lots of good food, loud music, activities, souvenirs, and so forth. But this place has something fairly unique - a greased pole climb.
We were very interested to see this, curious and not quite knowing what to expect. It was described to us as a very tall pole (fifty feet high) covered in slippery lard, with a flag at the top.
A group of energetic and rugged young men, many of whom were drinking adult beverages, worked together to get to the top. It was a very hot day and required a very vigorous effort.
How did they do it? It started with some buff dudes at the bottom, and others climbed on their shoulders, while still others climbed on the outside to scale the bodies and reach ever higher.
But the pole was covered in grease and it was almost impossible to keep a grip. Everybody got covered from head to toe. Each time they got about four bodies high, they would all lose their grip and slide to the ground in a heap.
It was rather hilarious at times and it seemed quite unlikely that they could ever reach the top. But every time they tried, more grease would get essentially wiped off the pole. They began to make progress.
Then some guy - obviously experienced in the technique - got on the shoulders of the others and tied himself to the pole about half way up. Then the body pyramid beneath him collapsed, and he was hanging on the pole by himself. They would throw up more ropes and rags, and sometimes someone else would climb up and help him.
This whole thing took a long time, and they were getting exhausted in the afternoon heat. But after a time, the one designated climber reached the top, and grabbed the flag.
However, it was somewhat anticlimactic. We thought he would triumphantly wave the flag and everyone would cheer ... but no ... he just unceremoniously grabbed the flag, stuck it inside his shirt, and slid back down.
After a brief pause (they were all over heated and exhausted), the team members all looked at each other and agreed it was time to go drink beer.
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Earlier that morning we chartered a boat and went out in the Pacific Ocean on a fishing excursion. I couldn't believe how many fish we caught. They were Red Snapper, and caught more than fifty of 'em. Some of the fish were not that big, but they are tasty. It was fun time, and we all got nice and sunburned.
One challenge in the fishing effort was the pesky Pelicans. They kept swarming around and would try to steal the bait. They even would try to grab the fish as we reeled them in! One of the Pelicans succeeded in grabbing a fish and got the hook stuck in his beak, it was a hassle to get that resolved.
Later, on Sunday afternoon, we invited friends and neighbors over for a fish fry. It was delicious!
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Couldn't resist including this picture in the post. We went to and ice cream place the other night and there was TK and cousin Joe standing there ... think these guys are cut from the same cloth?
