http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/ Travel adventures in journals and photos from Central America Caribbean , Nicaragua en-us Mon, 12 May 2008 14:24:09 BST Mon, 12 May 2008 14:24:09 BST Firstly i would like to publicly congratulate the might Manchester United FC for becoming this season champions. I doubt they have time to read our blog due celebrating but i feel its necessary to mention. Following Nicks last blog despite it only being a couple of days passing i thought i would give you all a few more details. The fact that there is air con in the internet cafe is NOT the rea http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-275225.html Hola todos. Saludos de Ometepe Island Nicaragua Hopefully soon to be in the new and revised list of the 7 Wonders of the World. Post your vote on www.laisladeometepe.comMany changes have been taking place which is the norm here. However some are worth taking note. Along the way I will tell my stories.First off NPH the organization I am serving through has recently partnered with the Enri http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/blog-275189.html Well we made it to Nicaragua. Leftie central. About 9 buses 2 boats 2 countries bad bad BAD accomoations and now the beach. Result. Sort of....we came here instead of El Salvador via Copan Ruinas in Honduras with the intention of going back through El Salvador. I have to say 15 to get into Copan ruins and i was muchly underwhelmed considering the bigger and more atmospheric ones in Mex http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-274562.html Managua Diriamba Lanak LA Boquita Matrix MAsaya Pueblos Blancos Granada... http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/diriamba/blog-273881.html Sorry for not posting for so long. We've been very busy with work activist causes people visiting and Sarah visiting law schools.I wanted to share with you a blog I wrote for work about the new US ambassador in Nicaragua. In USA's typically head strong way the government appointed a man partly responsible for funding and administering the Contra War in the 80's. A war that was especially cru http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-272984.html Although our stay on mainland Nicaragua was absurdly brief I felt a trip to the corn islands was good for several reasons. First I felt our vacation needed an injection of relaxation. We were regularly getting up at 4am or earlier to catch buses to the next destination. Inevitably our backpacks would end up spewing all of our clothes camera gear wet stuff etc all over the room. Packing and http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Corn-Islands/blog-272916.html isla de ometepe island constituated of two active volcanoes that have joined. a little piece of paradise very relaxed very calm hammock life a little too calm for natasha. we stayed in a farm where we had to autostop a pick up truck an american kid on a christianisation mission on the island really colonialism then walk for 30 minutes with our huge backpacks up a steep hill to finally ar http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/Santo-Domingo/blog-272341.html granada colonial town really pretty very touristy supposed to be great party but believe me we looked for it at night by the lake the typical horror movie start a group of young guys try to go party they scare each other in the absolute dark of the road and there a house with low light and a sign squeeking... visited a cigare shop that made one in front of us went around the churches and http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/Bearded-Monkey/blog-272336.html san juan del sur surf village. sick as hell for two days http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-272333.html Another older assignment Cultural Incident 2My skin has been feeling particularly brown lately. The last time I felt this brown it was during Welcome Week at my first frat party at USC. But of course the context is different now. Instead of being the only brown girl in a packed sweaty room of drunk white college kids myself included in the drunken stupor now I am one of the few minor http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-272303.html Here's a throwback assignment from earlier this semester Cultural Incident 1I always ask my abuela how shersquos doing everyday. But I'll never forget the first time I asked her the standard ldquoCmo estrdquo It was some time during my first week in Managua when she responded with a soft sigh that literally translated into ldquo102 years of living is how I feel.rdquoIt was a rep http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-272300.html Tomorrow is only 3 weeks until I come home and no offense to anyone but I have no desire to leave. This country and it's people have officially stolen my heart. I think the animals here need to be fed better.Also the churches need to open up a bit more. A lot are still very strict and critical.Chacocente is wonderful no matter how many problems it has.Although I am relieved to not have to teach c http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-270997.html HolaI think Amy finished her last entry the night before our 3am start to go and see the sun rise over the Mayan jungle ruins of Tikal. After a slightly bleary eyed bus journey we did a 30 minute sprint up hill through the jungle in the dark trying not to trip over too many tree roots or sleeping snakes as Amy thought they were as we passed the slightly ghostly shapes of various ruins. Eventual http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/Bearded-Monkey/blog-270679.html I decided to go to Nicaragua. The two french guys Cochisse and Max and the Spaniard Cesar were leaving Santa Teresa Wednesday morning for the ferry to Puntarenas and offered me a ride. I decided to go with them but went to Casa Zen before leaving to use the internet and lost track of time. When I realized it was getting late I started running back to the hostel and ran into the guys drivi http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-268117.html It's been a really long time since I have written. It has also been a really long time since I have seen home or so it seems. I miss my family the familiar and comforting friends the Minneapolis skyline the salsa swing and ballroom dancing my car good wine the availability of PEOPLE who speak my language and goods and resources and Lake Calhoun.One day I will go back...I have to survive http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/blog-266920.html Tras Costa Rica continuamos nuestro viaje centroamericano por Nicaragua. Un pas donde mis padres de Ivn y mi hermana vivieron 3 aos a finales de los aos 70. Un pas muy presente desde mi infancia.Comenzamos nuestra andadura Nicaragense en la isla Ometepe en el lago Nicaragua uno de los lagos ms grandes de Centro Amrica y el nico en el mundo donde se encuentran especies de agua salda http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/Merida/blog-266410.html Talla otsikolla kai kirjoitin joskus aiemminkin Taallakin se varsin hyvin pitaa paikkansa nimittain koko viikoksi on luvattu lampotilaa valille 3335c ja auringonpaistetta... taytynee piakkoin lahtea karkuun kun ei tallaisia keleja apinakaan kesta. Tai itseasiassa juuri apina varmaankin kestaa. Costa Ricassa tuli hengattua siella sun taalla. Lahdin Alajuelasta liftaten tarkoituksena pyrkia suo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-266408.html It would be fair to intepret the relative lack of entries to a general slackening of adventure and pace on the trip. This is not entirely fair. Yes the high speed chase blackmarket car deal portion of the trip appears to be behind us. I will catch you up on our progress. After Granada and her majestic cockfights we hopped a bus and a boat to Isla de Ometepe a huge island in the shark filled http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/blog-266061.html There had been much drinking since the 20 km walk to the beach and it was time to do something active. This involved a hike up the 1400 meter 4575 ft Maderas Volcano. It had rained the night before and was extremely muddy. The Asics running shoes were muddy and my feet were wet. The terrain goes from shrubs to cloud forests making the hike spectacular and really giving one's self the http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/blog-265737.html Although not currently in Granada right now I will use this time to reminisce about the Nicaraguan pasttime of cockfighting. We woke up that morning with no intentions of watching two potential carriers of Avian Flu fight to the death with razors strapped to their feet. Around noon after walking around the colonial city of Granada and dodging horsedrawn carriages a sort of Disneyland to http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-265728.html We got up early and headed to a Barcelo resort at Montelimar for a day at the beach. It does not get much better than this All inclusive day and night. We had the beach to ourselves and the weather was perfect so we walked a good distance then headed to lunch. Found a delightful table overlooking the beach and stuffed ourselves at the buffet and drinking various fruit juices might have be http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-265675.html I think I just consumed the most amazing creation of my life... it was a smoothie and not just any smoothie but the puta madre smoothie I will not translate as the english expression is pretty vulgar but its basically a declaration of extreme appreciation. The smoothie consisted of mango guanabana a new fruit that has crossed my path.. its green and bumpy on the outside gooey and whit http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-265192.html The following day we left Granada first by bus for a very squished and hot ride to Rivas followed by a further short bus to the ferry port at San Juan on Lake Nicaragua. We hid away in the airconditioned deck of the ferry for most of the journey across but the views are wonderful with the island of Ometepe dominated by two volcanoes stretching out ahead. Another hour on a very bumpy minibus ac http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Isla-de-Ometepe/blog-264808.html Up bright and early for a drive to the beach town of San Juan del Sur. On our way we stopped at an old family friend of Maria's parents that runs a finca of sugar cane and plantain. It was interesting to hear the process of making sugar from the sugar cane. Much of the sugar cane is hauled to the processing plants using oxen drawn wagons. The cane is cut to small pieces then pressed to get th http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/San-Juan-Del-Sur/blog-264586.html We started the day with a hike up an active volcano. The dome had collapsed so the view down into the volcano was quite impressive. It was hard to breathe because of the gases and the warning signs to park backwards in the spaces made you aware that it could errupt at any time. A view in the adjacent inactive volcano showed how the vegetation filled in while the lava flow from the active volc http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Masaya/blog-264566.html Here it was a peaceful hot as hell sunday morning in Granada. We had spent the last few days wandering around the city checking out the lake and watching in horror as the Bruins continue to stake their claim as the Buffalo Bills of College Hoops. We had just walked over to the oldest fort in town nice but kind of boring. Barton realizing it was sunday asked a man about cockfights. Nex http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Granada/blog-264020.html Spring break 2008 and we are off to Nicaragua leaving our beautiful Atlanta spring behind. So far we have been fortunate to be getting a more normal amount of rain and the plants are rewarding us. And sure enough it's rainy and fog as we take offNo matter how many time i fly I still enjoy popping above the clouds. We had a uneventful 3 hour flight to Managua. Tried to get a picture of the vo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-263327.html So after getting an email just now from my father telling me very bluntly that I need to update and since I'm finallyyyyy in a cyber and have time here goes a hopefully nice long entry for you all. I apologize for the delay but I rarely have time to go to a cyber anymore and when I am on the computer in the house I don't like to be on for very long because the whole family uses itWhere did I http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Managua/blog-263087.html Leon is hot. Today is the 4th day in the city and Im combatting a hangover as Browntown listens to the White Sox on Nicaraguan internet. A quality bottle of rum aged 5 years will set you back 100 crdobas or 5 bucks US. If youre feeling especially thrifty you can get one for 30 crdobas but at that point you got a whole other set of problems. After mistaking it for cheap vodka that wo http://www.travelblog.org/Central-America-Caribbean/Nicaragua/Leon/blog-263035.html