I'm now in San Juan del Sur, and I've been here since Sunday afternoon. We (me, those three girls from California, another girl from Arizona and one guy from California) made our way to the converted school bus from Granada to Rivas. We all knew it was destined to be a great trip when it started off with the sight of two horses mating on the side of the road and then getting a flat tire. With so many of us traveling together, when we got to Rivas, we split up into two taxis to get to San Juan del Sur. [View Full Entry]

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Several excerpts from Gioconda Belli's 'The Country under my Skin' - a memoir of love and war (in Nicaragua) - I have always been enamored of it's physical beauty, it's wide lakes and tall volcanoes, its trees of abundant foliage like a wild woman's mane, its humid ravines filled with the pungent aroma of coffee plants, its voluptuous Rubenesque clouds. Its fantastic sunsets and torrential downpours. Belli speaks of the status of poets in her book - '...in Nicaragua, poets are venerated, celebrated figures. Our national hero, the most acclaimed Nicaraguan is Ruben Dario, a poet who is considered the father [View Full Entry]

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Saturday June 14th Today started off pretty much the same as yesterday except once we were up and going we decided to go hike the Maderas Volcano or at least until the point of the waterfall. Around 8:30 a.m we left and hiked to the next town where the entrance was. Looked so beautiful and peaceful until we started hiking it. Only a 3K hike but all uphill, was so steep, we were SOO hot, all sweating and out of breath! :) An image I know everyone needs but it was rough! All worth it in the end because there was [View Full Entry]

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We arrived into Managua on tuesday afternoon and were picked up by the El Porvinir staff. We spent the first few days touring around Managua a bit and learning more about the history anf the culture. Jimmy, who is one of the trip coordinators with El Porvinir and also our translator, is like an incyclopedia. He is very knowledgeable and it was great to be able to have him around to give us his perspective. We also started to get to know each other better as a group. But the really great part was leaving on Wednesday afternoon for the small [View Full Entry]

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I decided to separate our Nicargua Adventures into two entries because between 4 people we took a TON of pictures. Don't want to make this entry to much information to handle in one sitting. Thought I would try to make it easier for everyone!!! Ashley and I have successfully returned from doing another border hop but this time we had some company! Our boss hired a new girl, Melody, from New York and she came with us as well as my friend Tim, who I used to work with at the Highland Road Kelseys in Kitchener. Tim takes a two/ [View Full Entry]

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Let's see, this was probably the most culturally shocking adventure that I've ever had (not in a bad way at all)... So I'm not sure "shocking" is the right word, but it was definitely different from anything I've ever done, including my whole Istanbul experience... So we got to the border in our transportation where the driver let us out of the van. There was a crowd of guys surrounding the door before we even got out of the van. It was okay though, they aren't aggressive here, you just have to say "no gracias"...Anyway, we walked through the border, paid [View Full Entry]

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After passing a full day in Tegusigalpa and not finding much to do, we decided that we should make our way to Nicaragua, therefore we would have additional time to do cool stuff... when we find it. From Tegusigalpa we took a bus to Cholutecha and then continued on the same bus to San Marcos de Colon. This bus ride, which was supposed to be easy, turned out to be the longest, craziest thing ever. So to start, in Tegus every bus company has a different terminal (this makes life challenging when you don´t know schedules or prices), but we went [View Full Entry]

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Day 228: Taxi, bus, taxi, plane, taxi, boat, walk It's been one of those exhausting days of travelling today. Starting early, I got a taxi to the bus station in Leon, and then, picking up breakfast from a street vendor, caught a bus to Managua. A long, hot, sticky bus ride later, I found myself ditched at the side of a main road in central Managua. From here, the only option was a taxi to the airport, where I arrived in plenty of time to get some lunch and check in for my flight. Travelling on board another lightish aircraft, I [View Full Entry]

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Mal wieder eine Wochenendreise... Diesmal ging es an den Pazifik. Nach ein paar Stunden in ausgemusterten amerikanischen Schulbussen ("Chicken bus") erreichten wir San Juan del Sur, von wo aus wir mit einem umgebauten Pickup weiter an die Playa Madera fuhren. Die Wellen dort sind im wahrsten Sinne des Wortes umwerfend. Die meisten deutlich groesser als ich, manche 4-5 m hoch. Einer der besten Plaetze zum Surfen ueberhaupt. Also habe ich mir auch ein Surfboard geliehen und nach mehreren hundert Versuchen habe ich es sogar mal geschafft aufzustehen, wenngleich das mit Surfen wohl noch nicht allzu viel zu tun hatte. Wir uebernachteten [View Full Entry]

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I traveled from San Juan del Sur to Rivas by taxi then a bus to Managua. From Managua a bus to León. León is a nice city with many shops and markets. I stayed at a hostel called Big Foot. Big Foot has a little swimming pool, tasty café with inexpensive food, and a bar. The hostel is close to the center of town, a grocery store, and cinema. They also organize trips to go volcano boarding, which is what I did. Volcano boarding is very fun but can seem scary at first, in part, because you can not see the [View Full Entry]

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