On and then on again

Well I made it home safe. But there are more adventures to come as I head to Idaho this weekend. A little different from Nicaragua...

Until then, check out my pictures from Nicaragua here:

Nicaragua

Leon

We've been in Leon since last sunday. I suppose after being robbed we just decided it was time to stop traveling. After our first night of realizing our missing pieces and being too tired to explore the city, we did end up finding a better hostel. So we've been at "Lazy Bones" since Monday, and it feels like a gated resort/community. For only $6/night we enjoy a pool, free internet, a pool table, free coffee, lovely beds, and absolutely no guests (keeps it quiet and makes us feel special when the the desk people come and tell us we have a visitor). It's very nice.

Monday and Tuesday were spent doing bullshit passport bullshit. I'll keep this short as it brings up a bit of tenseness inside of me... We spent at least 3 hours at the police department filing a police report with an officer who came up to us 3 times asking us if we wanted to file a report. What? Meanwhile, he kept returning to his air conditioned office while leaving us outside in the sweltering heat. He eventually did allow us to come in to the office to file our report, he sat in a plastic coca cola chair, as did we, and typed on a typewriter. I think I probably sat there giving him an angry annoyed stare for at least an hour. Luckily my translater was somewhat friendlier.

The rest of the week was mostly spent in the hostel, and out on the streets when we got hungry. Andrea found an awesome job and spent hours upon hours working on a rediculous application. So I basically hung out by the pool for three days. One of those days was spent having a pool volleyball competition within the hostel, they called it an invitational, but it was more a begg-atational. They pleaded enough and so we participated. We also met some sweet people
via couchsurfing and had some enjoyable nights drinking, dancing, drinking. And today we even went to see the ocean one last time. It's was salty, wavey, and lovely. Although it did come with a very hot sun, and not quite enough shade. But I am in no way complaining.

Observing Nicaragua

Nicaragua is hot!
There are lots of rocking chairs and playgrounds, therefore, I believe the appreciate the elderly and childish (that's basically everyone).
Everyone is soooo happy and friendly :)
Food: Beans and rice, bananas in any form, cheese (preferably fried), litros of beer, Quesillo, cookie sundaes, rum, fried chicken
It's absolutely beautiful and cheap.
Belly's!
Super cute and friendly kids.

Reflections

I feel so calm here. Even in shitty theft situations. The atmosphere is patient. And I appreciate the time spent with Andrea, we travel well and handle each other as well as possible. I enjoy the patience every day brings, the decisions or lack of decisions. I realize soon I will return to an environment of productivity, of rush and do and consume. Where spending the day planning what you will eat and then eating it is not normal. I also realize this lifestyle cannot go on forever, for important things will run dry: money, long lasting relationships (1 won't always be enough), mostly money. But I can look forward to returning. I can look forward to sharing my experience, the calmness which latin america is thick with. And I pine for a home. For relationships that last beyond 2 minutes or 3 days. For a throat infection cure that does not involve ass injections.

I want to take this feeling, this here and now, with me everywhere I go. I lost it last time, and I fear it will once again escape me over time. The sun helps. As does the city life.

From Ometepe to Leon

My passport was stolen. Also, my ipod, jewlery, wine key!, pesos, and my flippin Mexico and Central America map. So that really flippin sucks. We took the ferry from Isla de Ometepe back to the mainland, and after 3 buses, 1 cab, and many limping steps later we made it to a hostel in Leon. It was there that we were able to open our bags and realize our missing property. Dammit. We sullenly limped over to a nearby restaurant to grumble, cry, and give angry stares over delicious food and a litre of beer.

It's sad because it's shit like this that makes Nicaragua lose tourism. And it's shit like this that makes people lose trust in people.

Isla de Ometepe, Day 3

I woke up so soar I almost had to crawl out of my room, a perfect day for relaxation. We headed to Ojo de Agua, a cement walled, fresh(?) water pool with a rope swing. It was quite lovely. When the sun stopped being relentless and the water felt too cool for perfection we loaded into the back of Mel's truck and headed for the beach. There, we encountered a rediculous amount of knat like bugs, so intense one could hardly speak without eating them and I had to constantly cover my glass so as not to drink them. Yum.

Isla de Ometepe, Day 2

11Km, 4am, intense, awesome. We climbed the volcano, the inactive one with the crater lake. Goodness gracious we were (are) soar and it was HOTT! But still, we climbed a volcano! Muddy, steep, so very green. It took our knees and ankles and said, ¨really? You really thought you could climb 11Km up and down a huge ass volcano in Nicaragua with one and a half liters of water?¨Well, I´m soar, but damn, it was invigorating. And nothing a plate of spagetti and a banana licuado can´t fix.

Isla de Ometepe, Day 1

Leaving San Juan via collective (shared cab), 20 minutes and 2 flat tires later we find ourselves on the side of the road hoping. As the canadian with a braided tail and buzzed/bald head in the red truck slows down, we jump in and head to San Jorge for the ferry to Isla de Ometepe. Direct ride, $0! Sweet.

It takes about an hour, small and rocking. I hear Marshalls words in my head, something about how to stand, something about a horizon. I do my best and make it, wishing I had requested more details regarding Ferry rides. We arrive to the Island and have no plan, merely boarded the ferry because people said, yea, the Island´s beautiful. So we jump on a bus, and then later jump off of it, in what appears to be a strange nothing village.

In the small tourist office, big enough for 8 bikes, a map of the island, and strangely enough a subway map of NYC, a kind young man explains the many reasons why we should stay in the village, and then, oh and by the way, my dad owns a hostel, I´ll take you there. Want to climb the volcano? Oh, we have a guide! Smart family.

San Juan del Sur

We left Tola. We bid Mom and Dad a somewhat emotional farewell with promises to keep in touch. Such amazing, beautiful people. I understood very little of what they said, I suppose language barriers can do that. But it didn´t matter, their beauty shone through their smiles and generosity. Along with their daughter Kayla, they found they could communicate with me as though I was deaf, with high fives, pointing, and other motions. It was very funny and they NEVER stopped feeding us.

So we left for San Juan del Sur, a once fishing village, now a tourist surf haven and fishing village. Wierd. We don´t fit in at tourist destinations. For one, we don´t have much money, so we wander a lot, eat ice cream, and sit in internet cafes while others plan sea turtle expeditions, talk in surfer accents with their giant boards, and drink. We read outload on a breezy balcony outside of a (free! did I mention I love couch surfing?) stuffy room, and go to bed early. We spend the morning drinking coffee, watching birds, and preparing for our next adventure: Isla de Ometepe.

ouch

It seems that I am falling apart. Although painfull and anoying, not all that surprising as I seem to have this tendency. Andrea says she´s gonna have to mail me home in pieces in a box.

Another soar throat emerged yesterday, this time most likely from the dust. Today it was worse and not wanting to deal with the idea of being in even more pain I headed to the doctor. I never imagined one trip would invoke so many ass injections, I´m up to four in three weeks. He offered a week of pills or one injection, I took the injection as I wanted quick relief. His response, I found out later, was ¨It´s gonna go deep in the ass¨and ¨she won´t be able to walk for 2 days.¨It hurt so bad they had to give me two because the first one I tensed up too much for. Awesome.

In addition to this, I am still pretty soar from the bike accident yesterday. I´d give details, but due to fear, all I remember is getting on the bike, and then landing on the ground with Dad on top of me and the bike on top of him. So yea.

Heat in Tola

Kayla´s family's bday present to me is a lesson on the bike. So after the sun cools down we head to the nearby baseball/soccer field. The field is covered with high school and older boys kickin balls, hangin out, outside of the fence green surrounds, as usual, and mountains in the distance. I cannot help but feel, yet again, overcome with joy, so extremely fortunate.

Earlier in the day, in search of internet Kayla led us to a school, kids anywhere between the ages of 5-14 surrounded. We stuck out like a sore thumb, the uniforms didn't help. The internet we used was in a large room with 20 computers and 30 students. There we sat, as I read birthday emails and jealous inquiries, receiving stares, pokes, and strange comments. But these emails reminded me of the grey coldness of home. A beauty sometimes more difficult to see.

The heat today was almost suffocating. We eat and then lay down, watching tv or reading by the fan. Then we eat again. It´s really all one can do in this heat. So when the power went out and we ventured outside Dad decided it was time to teach the silly white girls how to drive a motorcycle.

Birthday: From Managua to Tola

I bring in my 25th year in Managua, Nicaragua at a ''summer party,'' an outdoor bar with a band that reminds us of the high school singing cover songs from Green Day, Offspring, etc, but with an accent so I´m a creep sounds like i´m a crepe and we we laugh into hysterics at the idea.

The actual day begins with reading by the poolside, and toast with tamarind marmalade and coffee. We head to the bus station around noon and as we sit in our express chicken bus waiting to take off we realize food would be a good idea. So we wander 20ft from our bus to a woman making enchiladas and as we wait for our change Andrea looks up to notice that our bus is departing. A quick ¨Gracias¨a money grab, and we run.

Nicaragua is green and beautiful. Everytime we get in a bus to travel to our next destination the green surrounds. Today I realize how much I will miss the bauty of latin america once I leave. It is a beauty uncomparable to any I have encountered and it lies greatly in its culture.

So we take the bus to Rivas and then a cab to our next destination, Tola. Within minutes of arriving we have met the whole family, they radiate beauty. My first interaction with them is enough to make this one of the best birthdays of my life. For the first time on this trip I seem to understand nearly everything spoken. They even blast the Nicaraguan birthday song from the house as we sit out back and drink our ice cold cocas under a canopy.

Then, we go to the ocean. Obviously. A 30 minute car ride down a bumpy dirt road, and there it is. THE OCEAN! We sit on the sand and talk. HaHa. Who am I kidding? I just lay there and try to pick up the bits and pieces of spanish I can grasp. I wade in the frigid water up to my knees and then we walk to the rocks. We climb up and watch the waves come in huge and crash, like a monster attacking the mountainous shore. I am mezmerized. The energy that pulses through the waves is spectacular and occasionally makes me jump with its power. We watch the water, and then the crabs, and then the sunset.

We return for a dinner of rice, beans, fried chicken, fried plantains, rum and O.J. But for serious, the best beans we have ever had. Whoa. Fantansia Ice cream for desert.

I can still feel the ocean pulsating through my body.

Jinotepe to Managua

Miriam's words fill my head. Everything is internal, we can change anything. Her calmness puts me at ease and her interaction with Angel fills me with joy. The whole family is beautiful and I am anxious to spend more time with their beauty, ideals, aura.

A couple of days in small towns- Masaya, Jinotepe. They are similar and uneventful. But it's the people that make the experience, that is who I learn and grow from.

We take a collectivo to Managua, the capitol, after making plans to return to Jinotepe the following weekend. It is strange here. We stay with a wonderful french couple. Giant walls, a gate, and a guard surround their property. And it feels like a palace. But Managua is strange and dirty. Random bits of modernity. The acute difference is strange and although the palace is lovely with its pool, multiple dining room tables, three course meals, I prefer the outside.