janine4ever

My Pictures NICARAGUA In the last four months I have not: 1. Worn a seatbelt or bicycle helmet 2. Climbed a flight of stairs 3. Thrown Toilet Paper in the Toilet Types of People that I have wished to be during this trip: 1. Geologist 2. Generous Millionaire 3. Fluent Volcanoes Climbed (and number of days spent hiking up and down, if more than 1) Cerro Negro (5) Cosiguina (3) Maderas Momotombo (3) Telica (18) Nationalities of People I have Hiked a Volcano with: American Argentinean Australian Canadian Dutch English French German Irish Italian Nicaraguan Norwegian Polish Spanish Swiss Taiwanese (OK, I didn't hike with the group of Taiwanese, but their accent of Momotombo was so legendary that I am going to count them anyways) Number of Poker Games Played, 100 Cordoba buy in:... read more

I met my dad at the airport on Thursday March 29th. He was hungry after a day of travel, but since we were staying in the middle of a forested area with no comedors, his welcome to Nicaragua meal was fried chicken at a fast food place along the highway with our cab driver sharing the booth with us. Dad pointed out that Narcy´s, the fried chicken place, was exactly like fast food restaurants in the States, except with an alter for the Virgin Mary on the wall. We stayed at Laguna de Apoyo, just down the road from where I took Spanish classes in December. His second day here we hiked 3 hours up the side of the crater (Laguna de Apoyo is a volcano lake) to a lookout point called La Catrina. I neglected ... read more

A few years ago, this is what I imagined my wild quarter of a century birthday party would be like: Renting out that building at Promontory Point off the Lakefront Trail, getting a DJ, and dancing with friends to all hours of the night. Maybe I would dance to exhaustion, or fall off my bike, but hey- I would have good health insurance so I don´t care! As the sun comes up and the party subsides, I would ride my Independent Fabrication bicycle home to my 2 bedroom condo in Ukrainian Village. One bedroom for my metalsmithing/bicycle repair studio and the other to share with my live-in girlfriend or boyfriend. I would have a really good espresso machine in the kitchen and garden on my porch. I would wake up the next day and say "Geez! ... read more

Hayden and I are writing posts for each other´s blog. His blog is really good and does a much better job than mine at describing day to day life as a volunteer in León. Check it out at: Hayden´s Blog Hayden and I volunteered together at Las Tias. One quirky wonderful friend. And he was just accepted to grad school in Chicago! ····················································································································································· By Hayden Kantor Let me tell you a little something about my friend Janine. You may know the girl can dance. You may know the girl can rap. You may know you she likes to go out and have ... read more

After three months of living and volunteering in Leon, my last day as a guide was Monday and I packed up for a week in the highlands of Jintotega and Matagalpa to have a break from the heat. I was planning to head north with a friend, Taylor, but the swell was up and he was off to the beach to surf. Solo traveling was fine me. I needed a retreat anyways. Tuesday morning I said goodbye to my homestay and arrived at the bus terminal to learn that I had missed the last Matagalapa bound bus and had to detour through San Isidro first. The road is either potholed to bits or under construction so the chicken bus was being driven off the shoulder of the road. One and a half hours into this bumpy ... read more

Momotombo is an intense climb and I had been fearing it since I started being a guide. When people come into the office to sign up for this hike we have to tell them "It´s a really really difficult climb, you have to be fit. The top half is volcanic ash and rocks so we have to wear gloves to protect our hands as we pull ourselves up. The campsite only has room for 3 people because it is so steep, and often we slide down a few meters in our sleep-if you are able to fall asleep. Do you still want to sign up? Maybe you should climb Telica instead..." So I´ve hiked it twice in the last four days- the first time we went up and down in one day and the second time ... read more

This is a true story: When I was 8 years old I would take Milkbones out of the pantry closet, wrap them in tin foil, and sell them for 5 cents each to classmates in the cubby hole hallway in the back of our 3rd grade classroom. What was this wonderful hard grainy, yet sweet snack that was only allowed for dogs! Everyone wanted a bite! (This may be the greatest tragedy of spending 9 years going K through 8 with the same 56 kids in a Catholic school - the people that you hit puberty with remember all the stupid stuff you did when you were 8.) This long-since-repressed memory was thrown back into my thoughts as I deflect yet another approach from Guatalupe, the Cookie Lady. Hard and grainy that feel like sand on ... read more

Yesterday afternoon Lenin and I made flags to wave at Don Señor´s, a restaurant and dance club with a television where we knew the Super Bowl would be playing. Most of the signs looked like a 5 year old made them and were trashed, but 2 looked okay- one that said "The Chicago Bears, Super Bowl!" and the other said "Mata a los Colts" (kill the Colts). The whole idea that it was the Bears versus the baby horses brought a lot of laughter, clearly the Bears had the advantage. The flags were triangle pieces of paper held onto a wooden post with 2 thumb tacks. Me, Lenin, and Taylor (the other American volunteer) marched down to Don Señor´s to find every other American from the region also ready for cheer and beer. I think most ... read more

The other week Alana and I were talking about moments when you catch yourself in a unique situation and think, "what happened in my life that lead me to this point?". This was the last moment I had like that: I have just finished a 2 day hike up and down Volcan Telica and after spending 6 hours preparing food and equipment, I have a few hours to sleep before waking up to lead the hike again. I am exhausted and filthy- the dry season dust has stuck to a base layer of sunblock and sweat. I am riding from the QuetzalTrekkers office to my homestay on a bicycle that is too small while wearing a backpack that dwarfs me. The contents of the pack include 6 liters of water, 1000 cordobas, and a machete. Because ... read more

I just finished my first week working at Las Tias, a before/after school program where I will help by tutoring and planning activities for students ages 6 to 14. School is still on break until the end of January so for now I am a kickball captain. This is the kickball court: a narrow cemented lot in between the school and a concrete wall with a large tree on one side. You have to kick the perfect projection because if it hits a wall it´s out, hit the tree and it´s out, foul balls are out, and if your kick comes up too short it´s out. The tree is first base, a flip-flop is second. No third. Teams are usually 6-8 people and must have an equal number of short and tall people. Unlike most of ... read more