Jaimeta

Arriving in Granada was the best way to begin my trip. Dain Bassett and I met in Managua briefly, after he completed his travels in Peru and hiking the Inca Trail, and I completed my hospital stay in Portland, Oregon. One of the worst parts about being a sick person is all the logistics, and a lot of travel rearranging. The airlines were mostly cooperative refunding monies with a doctor's note, they didn't like it though. Sadly, I wasn't able to join my new husband and new in-laws on an epic hiking adventure with a personally arranged guide and once in a lifetime opportunity. My heart wasn't able to pump blood, my liver wasn't able to process enzymes, I couldn't walk, breathe, eat, drink, or sleep three weeks prior to the hike. The fevers continued, even ... read more

Since I am blogging post completion of this trip, I have an overview of the experience by means of photo essay. The doors in Nicaragua are what captured my camera lens again and again. So, I'm going to let the photos do the talking in this post as I allow my mind to go back to the beginning. It is my intention to keep my "Nica Blog 2016" short and meaningful. I will blog about my experience, my story, the people, the animals, general beauty, food and drink. I'm going to leave logistics out of it this time, for any world traveler we know that when we must get from point A to point B, we just grab whatever straw you can, and hold on for dear life. That is mainly how I got around in ... read more

In my childhood, Sundays were dedicated to completing chores, finishing homework, and I often found time in a mess of stickers and stationary to write to my pen-pal, Cheree. In the background, my Dad would blast his great 70s and 80s music through indestructible speakers from his college era. The song that really made him belt it out was Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young “Southern Cross.” Appropriately, I had this song ready to jam through my IPOD at any time. Really, the song is about a break-up, but throughout this adventure I couldn’t get that song out of my head. After leaving Arilie Beach, I badly wanted to call up my Dad and tell him that I’ve just spent two nights under the most brilliant group of constellations, including the Southern Cross. &l... read more

The Northern Territory in Australia, also known as The Outback, spreads through thousands of vast miles. This intriguing land boasts sparse populations of approximately 1-5 people every square km throughout the outback. Much of the population are spread throughout small towns, ranches and Aboriginal land reserves. Because the population is incredibly spread out the education of ranch children, farmers and students living on land reserves differs from the traditional educational setting. Alice Springs School of the Air (ASSOA) is based in Alice Springs and provides a means of education by communications technology to rural children living as close as eighty kilometers and far as thirteen thousand km away from Alice Springs. The school serves 120 students from age four to fourteen (preschool to seventh grade). The children live in remote areas, including ranches, roadhouses, aboriginal... read more

Ms. Johnson began our pen-pal writing project with the Australian class half-way through my 6th grade year. I imagine our writing skills were proficient enough at that time to begin a pen-palship. Since the sixth grade (11 years old) I have been exchanging written letters to Cheree . During the middle and high school years, the letters were copious and we wrote books to each other, dozens of times throughout the year. We have slowly tapered the quantity of writing over the years, but now at least two to four letters are exchanged per year in our adulthood. However, even if the letters are fewer each year the quality of letter has only improved. From the early years until now, when we write snail-mail, the envelope always arrives in an eye-catching envelope covered in bright stickers ... read more

The second day in Sydney started with more adjustments of the Aussie culture including traffic rules, nuances in English language differences and coffee ordering experimentation. Because the long black seems too strong, and I'm not a big fan of milk, getting the right amount of espresso to milk ratio challenges the baristas here and takes some back-and-forth when ordering. Coffee culture is Sydney is literally black or white. From my masters program at the University of Colorado at Denver (UCD), I have learned a lot about myself, my family history. Hanging with my Aunt Stacey in Sydney provided further lessons and insight about these important topics as well as some important shopping discussions and tourism. As several of my readers know, my devoted boyfriend, Dain, and I have been together for almost five adventurous years. We ... read more