Rediscovering marital love through shared
interests!
I had a ton of fun during my trip to Nicaragua
this past November. Drugs and surf and sexy children
galore! Cost of living is cheap down there, pennies on
the dollar compared to Kauai.
“Let’s go back,” I thought. “Bring the wife this time, live it
up. Lap of luxury, colonialist class!”
If only it were so easy. Been down this road before, planning
with the wife. Every time the same, doing the marital power
struggle dance. I want, she wants. Neither of us does compromise
well, there can be only one victor.
Stage One: Free Reign
“Hey, want to go to Nicaragua later this Summer? It’s cheap, we
can live like kings!”
“Yes! That sounds awesome.”
“Great. I found a neat little place, saw it last time I was
there. Fun surf out front, they offer horse back riding and
massages and have a bar on the beach. And they’ve got a bunch of
shitty rental boards, so I don’t need to lug one down with me.”
“I thought you hate horses.”
“I do. Terrible animals. But I figured this would be perfect for
you. If there are waves I can paddle out, you can ride horses or
get drunk at the bar or pay some lady to rub on you while I do it.
Close to town too, so we can go party or eat or whatever.”
“Oh, that sounds nice! I’m in.”
“You want to see where I’m talking about?”
“No, no big deal. Just figure it out, sounds perfect.”
Stage Two: Input
“So, I checked out that place you were talking about. It looks
cute…”
“But?”
“What?”
“I feel a ‘but’ coming. It looks cute, but…”
“Well, I thought we were going to stay somewhere nice.”
“We are. It’s an an awesome spot, bar’s right there. Plenty of
young trim hanging around out front, maybe we can lure some
unexpecting young thing back to our room.”
“It doesn’t have a pool though.”
“It’s beachfront, why would you need a pool? Besides, you hate
pools. You always complain about the chlorine and refuse to swim in
them.”
“Yeah, but they look nice. I want to sit next to a pool.”
“That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard.”
“You’re such a dick. Can we at least stay somewhere really nice
the last two nights?”
“Ugh, fine.”
“Can I pick it?”
“I thought I was in charge.”
“Come on, don’t be an asshole. Let me pick.”
“I knew you were gonna do this. Fine, you pick the nice
place.”
Stage Three: Encroachment
“I’ve been looking online, I found a couple really nice
hotels.”
“Okay, let’s see ’em.”
“Look at this place, it’s super cute. There’s a pool in the
courtyard, they bring you breakfast each morning on your private
veranda…”
“That’s a balcony.”
“What?”
“It’s a normal little shitty balcony. Veranda sounds all open
and cool, that’s a cramped-ass little balcony.”
“But we can eat breakfast on it each morning. It’ll be
romantic.”
“Since when do we do romantic shit?”
“Look, I like the place. This is where I want to stay.”
“Where is it?”
“What do you mean?”
“You know what I mean. Where is it? That looks like it was built
a long time ago, everything near the coast is new.”
“Well, it’s not that far from the beach.”
“Where is it?”
“Granada.”
“Oh, fuck you. ‘Not that far from the beach.’ Granada’s a three
hour cab ride from San Juan Del Sur.”
Stage Four: Argument
“You never let me do anything I want.”
“Don’t feed me that bullshit. You said I could plan the trip,
now you want to go to a totally different city on the opposite side
of the fucking country.”
“It’s not on the opposite side of the country. It’s on the way
to the airport.”
“It’s three hours from where I want to go. What am I supposed to
do in Granada?”
“We can take a trip to Monkey Island. Look, you can hire a boat
for a day trip.”
“I don’t want to go to Monkey Island. Monkeys are fucking mean
and dirty.”
“Monkeys aren’t mean.”
“Yes, they are. A
fucking monkey is going to attack you. Why do you
really want to go there?”
“I thought you’d be stoked on Monkey Island.”
“No, you didn’t. You know how I feel about monkeys. You’re just
trying to sell me. Why do you want to go there? What are you
planning to do?”
“It’s just such a cool city. All the architecture…”
“It’s the fucking doors and windows, isn’t it?”
“I, uh…”
“It is. You’re planning on making me walk around a filthy
fucking city in the scorching heat all day while you take pictures
of fucking interesting fucking doors and fucking windows.”
“So what if I am? I’m going too. I should be able to do what I
want.”
“I don’t want to take a fucking trip around Nicaragua goggling
at fucking doors and windows. It’s stupid and boring. You’re an
idiot.”
“Fuck you, you fucking asshole. Get some culture for once. All
you do is play in the ocean, why do we need to take a trip so you
can do it?”
“I like the ocean. I don’t like fucking doors and windows. And
how is that even culture? Everywhere has fucking doors and windows.
It’s so fucking stupid.”
“Fine, god, you’re such a fucking asshole. How about this
place?
“It’s five hundred dollars a night.”
“So? You said we were going to go all luxury.”
“We still can’t afford five hundred bucks a day. That’s absurd,
it’s a third world country.”
“But it’s so nice. Each room has a yoga platform…”
“What the fuck is a yoga platform? No, wait, it doesn’t matter.
Because neither of us does fucking yoga!”
“Each room has a private pool.”
“Again with the pool. You’re not going to swim in it, why the
fuck do you want a pool.”
“I’ll swim in it. They don’t use chlorine in them.”
“Show me where it says that.”
“What?”
“Show me on their website where it says they don’t put chlorine
in the pool.”
“Well, it’s an eco-villa. I just assumed…”
“Jesus fucking christ… You’re so full of shit.”
“I hate you.”
“The feeling’s mutual..”
Stage Five: Acquiescence
“Look, okay, fine. I don’t want to fight about this, it’s
supposed to be fun. We can go to Granada for two days.”
“No, we’ll go where you want. I don’t care.”
“God damn it, you do this every time. Push and push and push,
and when I give in you back off. You just want me to come to your
side so you can say you did what I wanted. I’m not gonna do that.
But if you really want to go to Granada we will. You win.”
“It’s not about winning. You’ll have fun, you’ll see.”
“Whatever. Just pick a spot, we’ll stay there.”
“Really?”
“Really.”
“Yay! Okay! So, we’re gonna go to Monkey Island one day, and
there’s this Sandinista Museum that’s super awesome. And I found a
different hotel, it’s perfect. It’s new, this gay couple from New
York just opened it. The rooms are decorated really nice. They have
a three night minimum stay, so we can’t be near the beach as long,
but I was thinking, if we’re going all the way to Granada, maybe we
should go to León instead…”
