Hola All,
Sorry it's been so long since a blog update, but I have been very busy lately!
Since I last updated I have been to Costa Rica on a visa run (I was almost not let back over), my friend Olivia from Granada came to SJDS for her spanish school and Kristina (the friend I travel with), her fiancee Andrew, and her dad, Dave, all came to visit me over Thanksgiving week, and then I moved and left SJDS for good, went to Panama with Olivia (where I am now) and am going home soon. So, needless to say, I have been very busy!!!
They arrived the Saturday before Thanksgiving and took a shuttle down to SJDS. They spent three days with me there, my last three days there actually. It was really awesome to show people where I have been living and what my life has looked like living in Nicaragua since August. Dave said he was experiencing a bit of, “culture shock”. The first day they got here, we just took it easy, and I took them to Iguana's Bar, my favorite spot in SJDS, where all of my sunset pictures have been taken. We spent a lot of that day eating and drinking! The hotel that I made a reservation for them at told them they “gave their room away” on account of someone else wanting it! That was really frustrating, but also very typically Nicaraguan. So we had to go all over town to find a place, but it turned out ok.
The second day they were in SJDS we all took surfing lessons! My friend Olivia also came with. I had taken a surfing lesson about four years ago in California, but did not feel in any capacity ready/comfortable to go on my own. Our surf lesson ended up being about 5 hours and was AMAZING!! My first surfing experience was less then stellar. I was a little panicky about the stingrays but after awhile forgot about them. I even rode a few waves! It was so exciting. Kristina was a natural pro and Dave is hooked on surfing. Contrary to popular belief surfing is NOT like snowboarding. Everyone (except me) are all avid long-term snowboarders. Surfing takes years and years and years to master, our teacher said about 5 just to get to a mid-level. The first few years of surfing involves A LOT of falling and getting up and then falling some more. Our bodies were very sore afterward for awhile. It is like doing push up after push for five hours in a row. Surfing works your whole body, it is pretty crazy. It is definitely a sport that not only me, but I think everyone, would like to continue to do in the future, such a rush when you are riding the waves!!!
The next day in SJDS we went zip lining. Kristina and I have decided zip lining is just not all its cracked up to be. Its fun, but not really worth the money. We had done it in Belize before, where it sucked, and were hoping it would be much more fun in SJDS. Though it was a lot of fun, its not something we would probably repeat. I do love the sound though whiizzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. That afternoon we all did our own things and then went on a sunset/booze/fishing cruise on the ocean. It was a lot of fun! Everyone went fishing and caught a fish (Except me, I didn't fish). Andrew caught a puffer fish which are VERY dangerous! The guide wouldn't even touch it but hung the pole over the boat and cut the line from above the fish! They sting you and their stingers are loaded with venom. There was a guy on the boat that really had to pee apparently and asked for our Pringles can. He shoved it up his shorts and peed! It was very funny and would provide us with inspiration for the following day. The views of the sunset were awesome with nothing obstructing your view. We also saw two turtles mating in the water!! It was really cool but also hilarious. The males' jaw moves up and down really fast while mating, its pretty funny to watch! But it is a very rare thing to catch, so we were lucky! We went and had dinner at a local little diner and it was literally the worst meal I have ever had in my life! It just tasted...rotten or something, I couldn't put my finger on it...until later! After our cruise I still had to pack up all of my stuff as I was leaving SJDS for good with them for the Corn Islands. It was a really weird feeling packing up all of my stuff, leaving this place that I thought I would be at for much, much longer. I don't think its quite hit me yet that I am not returning there (at least not anytime soon), but I definitely left with a heavy heart. During all of this packing I began to have symptoms of food poisoning and knew that it was that nasty dinner doing it to me! Ahh, it was so frustrating as I did NOT have time to being running to and from the bathroom while trying to pack and get a little sleep!!!
The next morning we left bright and early for Managua on a chicken bus from SJDS. I found out in the morning Kristina & Andrew had had a similar night that I had in terms of sickness. Dave lucked out though! I think I am pretty luck though, that was the first time since being in Nicaragua that I have had any issues! Chicken buses in Nicaragua are old US school buses, and those things pack in more people then you can possibly imagine. I was really excited to have them all experience a chicken bus ride and see what it was like, as were they! About 10 minutes into the trip, Dave said something about needing to pee, I said we had about 3-4 more hours, so he better sit tight. That was only the beginning of what was to come! I had all my shit with me, which consists of probably around 120 pounds of luggage conservatively, which translates into four bags. Bags take up room on the bus where people could be sitting so I felt a little bad. We eventually had so many people shoved into this bus I had a kid in my lap and someone else's bag! It was pretty crazy, the back door was even open and people were hanging out of it holding on! Throughout all of this, the most packed bus I have ever been on in Nicaragua, Dave and now Andrew, are complaining of how badly they have to pee. I just tell them they have to wait, there is nothing else they can do!! When we had about 30 minutes of the ride left and a lot of the people had left the bus, Andrew and Dave decided they were going to pee. Dave took a Pringles can and Andrew a water bottle. Dave peed in the Pringles can without any problems, but Andrew trying to pee into a water bottle resulted in him peeing on himself!!! It was pretty funny at the time, but I was a bit freaked out they were gonna throw us off the bus and we would be stranded on the highway!
All was ok though, and we got to Managua and to our hotel. We went to Pizza Hut for lunch which for me, was amazing as it was literally the first time since August having American food! After Pizza Hut, we took a taxi to a nearby town called Masaya, which has a huge craft/artesian market I had been to before. We had originally planned on taking a chicken bus, but Dave/Andrew decided they had had enough of the chicken buses, HAHA! We shopped at Masaya where Andrew/Dave/Kristina went pretty crazy! I only bought one small painting print that is purple (shocking, I know). We went back and to bed early as we had a very early AM flight to the Corn Islands to catch. The Corn Islands are located in the Caribbean and are Nicaraguan, but as my guidebook describes, Caribbean in spirit. To get to these islands you take a two day boat, or a 90 minute flight on an old-ass 12 seater Cesna. Andrew has a fear of flying so he was really freaking before the flight. I was pretty excited for the flight, but had taken plenty of Dramamine as I had heard it was a pretty intense and rocky flight. The moment we stepped on the plane it made this low rumbling/rattling sounds and Andrew's face was priceless! I have to admit the sounds freaked me out a little bit too! The take off was ok though, not as bad as I had prepared myself for, but flying with 12 people in a tiny ass plan sure is interesting. The landing was a bit more rough, but nothing like I had anticipated. Some people I had talked to had flown through storms and their entire ride they shook. The plane did do this back and forth rocking thing as we approached for landing and THANK GOD I had Dramamine in me because I almost threw up from the weird dippy flippy thing! Supposedly, everyone there speaks english, which I was excited for because I had been translating the whole trip so far, but it turned out hardly anyone spoke it!! Most people spoke a language called Miskito, others English, others Spanish. A Hurricane rolled through the Corn Islands a few weeks ago, so there was a significant amount of damage still visible. The island (we started on Big Corn, there is another called, Little Corn) was absolutely deserted, no other tourists were there. Plus it was raining! The hotel we booked was not at all how it looked online, so we ended up driving around the island until we found a nicer one, that was about half the price! We had heard from American news and Nicaraguan news that the Corn Islands were evacuated before the hurricane rolled through a few weeks ago, but, oh contrar. No one even knew it was coming! Everyone said it had been stormy all day and all of a sudden the hurricane hit! Crazy shit. We still can't figure out why the news reported that. We later talked to some Americans working at a hotel on Little Corn that said they had to run through the hurricane to a brick shelter because they literally had no warning whatsoever! I kinda wish I had been there, I would love to live through a hurricane! I know, I am crazy!
Bi Corn Island was pretty disappointing, it rained all day and there really was very little to do, little services, restaurants etc... We decided after a few hours that in the morning we would take the water taxi to Little Corn and spend the rest of our time there. We did have one very good meal at a restaurant. It was pretty funny though, we somehow ordered $17 worth of extra soup, soup came with your meal, and we were saying which kind we wanted, and somehow we got extra bowls of that (like big ass dog food size bowls) along with all of our other food. Our table was literally covered in food! But it was really, really good!
The next morning we again had an early rise time to catch the water taxi over to the other island, and again I Dramamined it up. Just sitting on the boat, waiting for it to leave, WITH Dramamine, I was on the verge of throwing up!! Just to give you a visual of our boat that we took on the open ocean, it was made of wood and about 30 feet long or so. Every time we hit a wave it sounded like it was going to split wide open, craziest boat I have ever been on in the open water. We were covered with a tarp as it was pouring down rain (like ridiculousy so) and I think the heat/hot air was contributing to it. This boat we went over on, was tiny! I had already prepared myself for a rough ride from others, and boy was it ever. Eventually the tarp came off and thank god it did because fresh air did me a world of good. I think my neighbors on other side were also happy! I had a trusty Pringles can in my hand through the trip! The waves we were going over though, were crazy!! Each one we completely lifted off the seats. And with each one I said, “OH MY GOD!” Because my stomach and its contents inched closer and closer out with each bump. It was pretty exciting and crazy because we weren't even wearing life jackets in this maybe 30 foot boat that sounded like it cracked with each wave it hit. Thankfully I did not puke though!!!
We arrived on Little Corn and were immediately happier. It was much more touristy, more restaurants, services, hotels, tourists etc.. And by touristy, I don't mean the normal connotation of the word, “touristy” it was still very bare to the bones, authentic and untouched as is most of Nicaragua. It was Thanksgiving the day we arrived and ended up staying at a place that had real Thanksgiving dinner!! We were so excited!!! It was hard though, this was my second Thanksgiving away from home and my 2nd non-traditional Thanksgiving (last year was spent in New York City with Jennifer and Mike eating Chinese food in Chinatown). Even though I was away, it was still a great day! But it was the first Thanksgiving of my life I missed watching that damn parade!! I saw it in person last year, so I guess that can sort of make up for missing it all together this year!! The meal turned out to be amazing, although on the expensive side for Nicaragua ($15 p/person). We had turkey (while they had turkey), mashed potatoes (the called them “smashed potatoes”), coconut stuffing (very good, not sweet at all!), literally the best salad I have ever had in my life and something called chocolate chip cake. It was family style with all the other guests at the “hotel” which included lots of Europeans, so it was for many of them, their first “American Thanksgiving” it was a pretty neat experience. Before dinner, we had lost all water. The hotel was actually cabins/cabanas that were around the property. Dave and I shared one (it had an AMAZING view of the ocean!) and Kristina and Andrew shared one. By night, we had lost all electricity/internet as well! So we were essentially camping. It was very stormy all night, but when we woke up, it was beautiful!!
The next morning we went and had a great breakfast, went for a walk on the beach and then went snorkeling. I did NOT take Dramamine for this. I have been snorkeling before, never had problems (boat rides were only like 10 minutes) so I didn't drug myself into a stupor. MISTAKE. Andrew has also decided he does not like me when I am on Dramamine, LOL, if any of you have ever seen me on it, you probably know why. I am almost incoherent and it completely knocks me out and I just sleep for hours usually. So, we got on the boat, went out, and no problems. It was not until the boat stopped and we were rocking I started getting sick. The waves were CRAZY! The Scuba divers with us were all like, ya I would not want to snorkel in this...Kristina and Andrew wore life jackets, which was probably a good idea and should give you some indication of how big the swells were. Snorkeling was almost impossible, it really wasn't snorkeling, but more like EXTREME snorkeling. The waves knocked you around and flooded the air pipes with saltwater. The combination of swallowing unimaginable amounts of salt water and the crazy swaying waters, I became EXTREMELY seasick out IN the water, which I didn't even know was possible!!! I had to turn in a bit early and by the time I was on the boat, I was hurting. The rocking of the boat didn't help. It was an additional 30 minutes of utter agony before we got to shore. I didn't end up throwing up, but I wish I had I was SO sick. But I guess its also good I didn't as there were other snorkeled and divers under me in the water...they would have had a shower up vomit!! Even though we didn't have a ton of good weather on Little Corn, it was still an awesome time!
We left the next morning very early (noticing a theme here?) to get the boat back to Big Corn where we had a flight back to Managua. We got there around 8 am but our flight wasn't until 3:45 so we went to a really nice hotel with an infinity pool and ended up paying for a room just for the day to use the pool/room facilities. We tried paying to just use the pool (like a day fee use, which many places in Nicaragua do) but they wouldn't let us, so after paying for the room, the hotel clerk wasn't going to give us the room key and said we could just use the pool!!! Well I said, we just paid $100 for that room, we are going to use it! She was a bit irritated, but I am not sure why, I guess she thought she was gonna make $100 for us to just use the pool! We were out there for hours and it was wonderful! We all got pretty burned though, my first sunburn since being in Nicaragua! We eventually made our way back to the airport for our flight, where everything, including the flight, was uneventful. Until, we stepped out of the airport. The guy who drove us to the airport (we went with him twice, and I had used him before) had gotten my cell phone number and said he would wait for us across the street to pick us up to take us back to the hotel. Well, we realized from other people that he had ripped us off big time. Charging us $15 when others paid $5, telling us the only way was in a bus, so we had to pay more, which we didn't know, so paid. Well, after having been ripped off multiple times now, we decided we would just take another cab. Plus, he is not allowed to enter the airport, so we didn't think it would be that big of a deal. Well, he called me 17 times (I just didn't pick up) and when we went outside and were getting in another cab he ran into the airport (which he isn't legally allowed to do) and started yelling my name over and over!! It was pretty scary. The other taxi guys were like you aren't allowed in here! And then a guard with a big gun ran over and told him he had to leave. Our original taxi driver was pissed. Screaming and such and he kept screaming my name over and over, it was really scary. We got in another taxi and our other guy followed us to our hotel!!! We weren't sure what to do and I was really freaking out. Managua and taxi drivers in Managua are not very safe. Andrew ended up giving him $10 just to leave, but he wanted Andrew to go somewhere with him in the dark....uh not! We were pretty freaked out, but eventually he left and everything was ok. I had to repack everything that night as Kristina & Co. were leaving in the morning and they were checking back two of my bags. That took awhile, but ended up with a few hours of sleep before I had to leave at 4:45 AM for a bus to Costa Rica.
I left early in the morning (Kristina/Dave/Andrew left shortly after for their flight back to the states) and caught a 6 AM bus (greyhound style) headed for San Jose, Costa Rica with my friend Olivia. We are headed to Bocas del Toro, Panama and took a nine hour bus from Managua-San Jose, and we spent the night in San Jose last night. Today (I am actually writing this on the bus) we are on a 6 hour bus ride to Panama, where we will catch a water taxi to Bocas del Toro, they are islands on the Caribbean side of Panama. We will be here for about 4 days where we will be learning to SCUBA dive!!! I am SO excited!!! I just hope I don't have any seasickness problems!!! After that we head to Panama City, spend a few days there, and then take a 30 hour bus back to Managua...that will be fun!!!
Oh ya, I forgot to mention that my camera no longer works. It got wet on the corn islands ) : I have broken a lot of my expensive shit during my time here, first my RX sunglasses now my camera! We looked for cameras in San Jose, but there wasn't a wide selection, I haven't decided what I will do. After Panama, I have about 6 days left in Nicaragua. Insanity! After all this time, I am counting days. It is a weird feeling, I am excited to come home, yet a little sad. Transitioning back to life/weather in the US will be a bit weird and hard at times (especially the weather! It has been in the 70s in Costa Rica and I am FREEEEEEZING!!!!!) Seattle weather will kill me.
I wrote this blog on a bus from San Jose-Panama, I will update you all on that adventure in a separate soon coming blog, so something to look forward to ( : Sorry this took so long to get up, I haven't had internet connected to my laptop!
Ok, well I think that's about all!! I hope you enjoyed another long and overdue update!! See you all very soon!!
Love, Kimberly
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