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I find myself wanting to come clean to everybody who reads my blog. After all, honesty is the best policy. But, before I come clean with this faux pas, there are a couple more things for which I must come clean. Ready?

DAVID WROTE THE LAST FIVE BLOGS. I had been getting burned out writing every couple of weeks. David volunteered to take over. He liked it so much, he wrote the next blog. And the next blog. I have become a lady of leisure! It has been a nice break, but I promise that I’m back and will continue to write. David may still write; we’ll figure that out when it happens.

I MISS HOLDING BABIES. I also miss playing with little kids. I know that one cannot touch babies or wave too much at kids; I don’t want my acts of kindness misconstrued. One day, while sitting on the steps with David trying to decide what to do next, we saw a woman pushing a stroller with a crying baby. I smiled and waved at the baby. Next thing you know, the woman stopped the stroller, took the baby out and handed him to me! Apparently, the woman was the grandmother and she couldn’t feed him. Obviously, that wasn’t why she handed the baby to me; maybe she could see something in my face that even I couldn’t see. Maybe it was one Grandma realizing the needs of another Grandma – who knows?

I MAY BE GETTING TO BE TOO OLD! We drove to Mombacho Volcano State Park and got a ride to the crater in a pickup truck. Maybe it was my face, maybe the guide was being polite, but he offered me a seat inside the truck instead of the truck bed. I wanted to be out in the open instead of stuck inside with the old ladies! Oh well. After listening to the guide explain the history of the volcano, we started walking around the actual crater by ourselves. It was quite beautiful, but we did not see any wild birds or animals, as they were escaping the heat of the day. It was about 85 degrees with approximately 95% humidity, since we got there after 1 PM. I never felt as old as I did walking up the hill on the other side of the crater! I REALLY wanted to be in the open truck bed on the way down!

GO WITH YOUR FIRST IDEA. Early Sunday morning we took a drive to San Juan del Sur. San Juan del Sur is a beach town of about 8,000 people about 1 ½ hours from Granada. An hour into the drive, David suggested we go to Ometepe. It’s located about 15 miles from San Juan del Sur. Ometepe is a beautiful island that has two volcanoes, Concepcion and Maderas. The only thing about going there was taking the ferry. It was over an hour long and then we’d be at the mercy of the return ferry. We decided to go with our first idea, so we headed to San Juan del Sur. The town was suffering from a Cinco de Mayo hangover, very quiet and sleepy. It was a pretty town – thatched-roof restaurants, hostels galore, even a funky footbridge over the inlet. After taking pictures at the footbridge, we drove to the other side of the inlet, also known as Gringolandia. The houses were right on the beach, and had their own pools and security guards, but were too rich, even for my blood! I don’t know if Ometepe would have been any better, I do know I had fun in San Juan del Sur.

Thursday we leave for Panama. While Nicaragua has been very interesting, I think that it’s time to move on. We have visited volcanoes and churches, saw bats and butterflies, and drove to Leon and San Juan del Sur. I think once we get out of the heat of Nicaragua, through the border crossings of Costa Rica, and into the mountains of Panama, we should be ready to settle down for a couple of months. Once we get to Panama, however, we come face to face with another slew of questions. Where to next? Do we turn around and drive back home? There’s no way I can imagine going back to work – ever! Do we ship the car and head to South America? Our poor car has been through a lot; I’m not sure if it can take much more. Do we take six months, drive back through Mexico, sell the car, and fly to either Europe or Asia? That, while interesting, kind of defeats the purpose of staying close to California so our children can come visit us. We have a lot to think about during the next couple of months!

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