My broken finger still hurts. I broke it in Guatemala around the 1st of February. Almost 2 months ago. Shesh. At least it doesn't hurt to brush my hair anymore but it's still sensitive. Little taps on things in just the right way & I get shooting pains. And it looks really funny. I have this huge knob off the side of my finger now. I guess my dreams of hand modeling are shattered. In our taxi to the airport at 5:15 am. Super excited. On our way to the airport we saw a skyscraper with a huge lit figure representing General Sandino on the side of the building. Pretty cool looking. At the airport, our luggage was overweight by 12 pounds. Not surprising when you're carrying Gary around. They only charged us $.50 a pound ... read more

This morning we ate at another one of the comedores in the market. So much food for so little money. Geoff was all excited about having fried eggs. It's weird but they aren't easy to get & impossible to make in shared kitchens with pans that everything sticks to no matter how much oil you use. So, surprise surprise he had fried eggs & gallo pinto. I had an omelet & gallo pinto & it was all good. We then hiked up to the top of the point overlooking SJDS where there is a huge Jesus statue. We had to go see Jesus! The hike up was very very hot & very uphill. We walked in the shade whenever possible & had to do a lot of water & catch your breath stops. The view from ... read more

I'm sitting here this morning in the restaurant overlooking the lake, up before the employees arrive, watching the birds collect twigs for their nests. I really love having the mornings to myself. I'm almost always up before everyone else but when I get to sit outside & enjoy the activities of the wildlife in the mornings, that is my favorite. The birds are all always so busy in the mornings & they sing & sing & sing while working. Now, after sitting out here alone for over an hour, the employees are here & I am already working on my second cup of coffee. Thinking about my third.... Geoff woke up & joined me in the restaurant. Maybe TMI for some people but Geoff mentioned that usually within the first two hours of any given day ... read more

Our room here has the most genius fan setup. They took a regular fan & hung it from the ceiling directly over the bed & it rotates. Perfect. A MacGyver ceiling fan. It really makes sleeping in this heat a little easier. And helps to limit the mass quantity of bug bites Geoff wakes up with. This morning we had breakfast with Karen & Justin. I gave them all the pics I've taken so far on Ometepe since Karen lost her camera. That would suck. It was our farewell breakfast. They're heading to Granada today. Back to me & Geoff taking on the world alone! :) I had a delicious omelet full of veggies & Geoff stuck with his scrambled eggs & gallo pinto. We each had a lot of coffee. Addicts! We said our goodbyes ... read more

Waking up in a town that you arrived in at night is always a treat in the morning. It's like Christmas. What did we get?!? The total population of Isla Ometepe is 35,000 which isn't much since it is the biggest island in Nicaragua & has 2 very large volcanos on it. One on each end. It's really beautiful. All the pueblos on the island are very small. At breakfast this morning we met Justin & Karen from Seattle! We're all heading to Merida this morning together. We caught the local schoolbus & began the 1.5 hour, only 12km distance, ride. The roads on the island are really the worst we've seen. Reminiscent of the road to Punta Allen, Mexico. Big rocks, big potholes, really bumpy, slow ride. (I just heard a donkey make his hee ... read more