Yo estoy aqui!

Buenas Dias!

i am finally here in san juan del sur at the casa oro hostel. i spent about 2 hours in line at customs the morning i arrived in managua due to the extra details of screening people with a heat-sensored camera to detect possible flu symptoms??? for those of you who know me and my minor anal retentive ways- you could imagine how crazy i was thinking my nica driver was going to leave me at the airport since so much time had passed. But, wouldn´t you know it, there was juan standing with his face pressed against the glass, waving a paper sign with my full name on it. i waved him down and he thought i should have been a man (i explained to him that us americans take boys names sometimes) and i high-tailed it out of that sketchy city.

Right now Í´m staying in an 8 person dorm with a mixed crew from all over the world and a ton of chicas traveling sola! We rented some surf boards today and headed out to playa maderas for a go at it! Conditions were not the best, but we tore up the white water just the same, ha! If Jackie were here i´m pretty sure she would have been ripping it up. i can´t even go there though because this is by far the most perfect place to be with my sister:(

It felt fantastic to be in the warm, salty water on such a tranquil sunny beach. Before heading over to surf, i spent 4 hours with my spanish teacher, which was pretty intense. Especially, when my brain began to throb due to lack of food. Despite that, the lessons are already paying off. i feel super confident and its begining to flow now. The next four days will be spent doing the same; yoga, Spanish lessons, beach, sun, surf, and alot of tonas y victorias (cervezas).

When I finish these lessons i may meet up with a lovely girl from Australia, named Mel, over at Matilda´s
hostel on playa maderas. From what i hear it is much more peaceful and low-key. San Juan is definitely a fun little party town, but will surely get old quick. We shall see........

p.s. i just got a request from a woman on travelblog who read my travels and asked if i could bring her home sand and mail it to her.
Her husband, who has been battling cancer ,has this tradition with their son, which is something that has been good for his spirit. i was very touched by this and of course i will bring back sand from both playa maderas and the shore of lake nicaragua when i hike ometepe.




muchos besos y abrazos,
Toni-Lynn

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Part of trip: Nica/Tica Spanish & Surf Solo Viaje

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