State-Journal.com - Island for sale: $35,000

We spent one afternoon on one of the nearly 400 islets in Lake Nicaragua. The island to the left is for sale. Asking price $35,000.

A young surfer catches a wave at Playa Maderas in Nicaragua. My family stumbled upon this international hotspot known for its playful waves. (Photos by Keren Henderson)

Everyone participated in our unintentional surfing vacation. My lovely family includes, from left, Matthew the lawyer, Michaela the ballerina, Brenda our beautiful mom, Billy our adventurous dad, Susanna the chef, Stephen the campus minister, and myself.

Our first trip to the beach became a lesson about which vehicles cannot be driven into the sand. Thankfully, Stephen, dad and Matthew pushed us out. Later, we found something more sturdy.

MANAGUA, NICARAGUA – I’m not saying my dad, Billy, is a hillbilly, but it’s not easy to dismiss the facts.

Born in Tennessee, William Jennings Henderson Jr. occasionally wears overalls, shoots guns and most of his five children haven’t worn shoes for a majority of their lives.

To that list of evidence, add one chipped front tooth.

In dad’s defense, he didn’t chip it in an unsophisticated way (i.e. eating corn on the cob, falling out of a tree or poor dental maintenance.) Instead, my adventurous dad chipped his tooth during the latest Henderson Family Vacation to Nicaragua.

When we landed in Managua, Nicaragua, this May, we noticed everyone else paid the extra $100 to bring their surfboards.

Had we done our research, we would have known that Nicaragua is one of the premier surf spots in the world.

Thankfully, our American friends, Bob and Myra Trolese, met us at the airport and handed us an itinerary to guide us around their country, roughly the size of Kentucky.

Nicaragua is beautiful, yet its charm remains largely inconvenient to tourists. It’s also impossible to escape beggars and pickpockets.

We got to witness the action first hand. While my family was driving through Managua’s dump to visit the people living there, a group of boys surrounded our van and opened the trunk to see if they could grab anything inside. When Bob jumped out, the boys stole his Blackberry and ran off. My brother, Stephen, 23, gave chase, but couldn’t catch them.

In Grenada, the children were bold enough to pull my arms and clothes when I didn’t give them what they wanted. Looking back, I wish I had handed over my ice cream cone.

To the beach!

After we toured Managua, Bob pointed us toward one of Nicaragua’s most popular beaches, San Juan del Sur. Once we reached our resort on an adjacent beach, dad drove our rented van toward the ocean and right into the sand.

I distinctly remember yelling “Go for it!”

Dad dug the wheels out with driftwood, and my brothers, Matthew, 27, and Stephen, pushed while I drove in reverse.

All in all, that Volkswagen van was good to us. No Henderson vacation is complete without logging several hours in a van crammed with luggage, seven people and 10 days of food.

The van created opportunities for quality time. Which reminds me, dad can drive anything, anywhere – a must in Nicaragua. He can also hold his breath longer than anyone in the family (while driving) – which earns him extra bonus points. He’s also able to hold his breath the longest while riding roller coasters, a skill which surprisingly has caused him to pass out, which is cool, as long as it’s not while he’s driving …

Eventually, we realized that the neighboring beach was Playa Maderas – an international surfing hotspot. Naturally, as Kentuckians, we had never seen surfboards before, so we found some and ran out to catch the waves.

I make fun of dad for being a country boy, but I’d say we all looked – and sounded – a little out of place at Playa Maderas.

“Hay ever’ body! Wur her to hop on that thar water!”

Day one ended in a series of wipeouts and sunburns. By day two, however, we were up on our feet.

There’s nothing comparable in my experience to seeing the swell of a wave on the horizon, paddling to meet its speed and jumping to ride it as it breaks.

And the danger involved – crashing into rocks, losing one’s swimsuit (I’m not going to divulge whose suit, but it was mine), hitting your head on the ocean floor or on the board – makes it all that much more enjoyable.

My mom, Brenda, and my youngest sister, Michaela, 15, played it safe and stuck to wave jumping. Susanna, my 20-year-old sister, called it quits after she busted her chin.

Matthew and Stephen ended up with bruises and scrapes. My greatest injury, however, was a fish sting, which left a righteous welt that I secretly hoped would scar … “Yep, got that one surfing in ol’ Nicaragua.”

All in all, we escaped unscathed … Or at least we thought we did until dad showed us his front tooth.

“I chipped my tooth,” he announced. “I think it adds character.”

Mom’s mouth dropped open, but ultimately she didn’t seem to care. Dad says she’s so much prettier than him that one chipped tooth couldn’t widen the chasm any more.

“Dad, if I had chipped my front tooth, I would be freaking out,” I said.

“Well, Keren, probably our priorities are in different places.”

“He’s saying you’re vain,” Matthew offered.

“He’s right. I am vain.”

Long ago, I learned (in theory) to agree with my antagonists because it gives them less satisfaction and deflates their fun. This is a must-have family vacation skill.

The chipped tooth topic didn’t come up again until dad suggested, “I think it’s getting better.”

We bobbed our heads.

“Yeah, Dad, it does look better.”

Up a volcano

Next on our list of adventure: Mombacho, one of the most prominent volcanoes in Nicaragua, located just outside Granada.

The steep ride up the 1,400-meter-high volcano provided views of tropical vegetation, flowers and coffee plantations.

At the top, the guides who show tourists around the four craters had a 10-minute conversation about who would guide us, which was confusing because only one guide spoke English. He seemed the obvious choice. However, this was not apparent to the other guides until we repeatedly told them we would like Alex to be our guide – “por favor.”

From the height of Mombacho, we looked out over Lake Nicaragua and marveled at the nearly 400 islets below.

Fantastic as it sounds, our friends, Bob and Myra, own one of those islands, and within 24 hours, we were resting in hammocks at their lake house, looking up at the volcano we had just come down from.

Each island is unique, and many are privately owned. Some are only the size of a typical American house; some are large enough for restaurants and tennis courts.

While we floated on inner tubes around the island, a neighbor rowed up for a visit. Her comments struck me as characteristically Nicaraguan.

A married mother, she started asking dad about his family.

She then pointed to his kids and asked, “Are any of them married?”

When he said, unfortunately no, she answered, “Well, if I had known, I would have shown up a long time ago and had myself a good time!”

Then she started cackling and adding a lot of Spanish I couldn’t translate.

Bob describes Nicaraguan speech as “an unsheathed machete” – right to the point.

Like our visitor, everyone we met – aside from those who wanted to steal from us – was kind and helpful. We were continually asking for directions. People would, without fail, give lengthy descriptions, pat us on the back and wish us well.

Island for sale

As we considered Nicaraguan culture from the island, we looked across the water to an uninhabited island similar in size. Its owner is asking $35,000, Bob hinted.

$35,000 for Henderson Island? Dad started scheming and asking us to pool our resources to purchase this unique real estate. He then talked about the best way to move the rocks and dirt around to give us the most bang for our buck.

I can imagine it now.

How about Hillbilly Island?