July 4, 2010 Sasha I'm sitting in bed, mosquito net overhead, in our room that is about 10 feet by 10 feet with a small bathroom and little porch attached. When I shower, to dry off I stand on the porch in my towel looking out at the rain forest. You can hear the cicadas and cricket from my bed as well. A stone pathway and about 5 minutes takes you to the reception/restaurant area which kind of looks like a tree house because all of the furniture is carved wood. The walls of our room and the floor of the reception/restaurant area all have leave prints fossilized which adds a nice touch. We are not foodies normally, but here each meal and drink is served with beautiful flowers decorating the plate/glass. We arrived here ... read more

July 2, 2010   Sasha Right now I'm sitting on this little side terrace on the side of my room looking at this huge green tree with bright red flowers - the kind of red that almost seems aggressive, because even though the flowers are so small, their color makes up for it with intensity. This new hotel (also in Bangkok) is where we're going to meet the group (tonight, in an hour actually) and is on the canal. This should be pretty and calm but the water taxis are actually kind of loud. Sometimes a propaganda boat passes by - tomorrow is election day and all of the candidates are pulling out all they've got.  We woke up super early around 7:30 and only stopped walking an hour ago. We took the ferry to ... read more

Friday, December 31st Kawabunga DUDE! “Hang ten” off of Playa Maderas. For those of us who don’t have mom’s surfing lingo sophistication, hanging ten is when a surfer can let all ten of his toes hang off the front end of the surfboard. Maderas gave me the best tan of my life, didn’t peal once and I have no tan lines! As we ate dinner on the beach we remembered New Year’s past; last year on the plane leaving the Brazilian Amazon, Chile the year before that, Hawaii, Guatemala, Israel and then Guatemala for as long back as I can remember. In Chile the New Year’s tradition is to wear yellow underwear. In Nicaragua tradition manifested itself in the shape of everyday effigies. Some sported cigars, others baseball hats, sun glasses, and faces with sharpied ... read more

According to our guide and Worldflags101.com: The colors of the Nicaraguan flag originate from the flag of the former federation of the United Provinces of Central America. The two blue stripes represent the Pacific Ocean and Caribbean Sea; while white symbolizes peace. A modern interpretation indicates that the color blue symbolizes justice and loyalty; while the color white represents virtue and purity. The coat of arms features an equilateral triangle which represents equality. Inside the triangle are five volcanoes, which represent the five members of the federation. The triangle also contains symbols of liberty and peace - represented by a red Phrygian cap, white rays and rainbow. The blue-white-blue pattern of the Nicaraguan flag is common to all of the Central American countries. It is a reminder of the United Provinces of Central America. Each of ... read more

“A cada chanelo le llega su sabado” Everyone eventually gets what (s)he deserves – every pig gets his/er Saturday? We awake to a knock on the door announcing our departure in minutes for Juan Venado (John Deer) Reserve. Shaun found this last minute one hour earlier change in plans “absolutely unacceptable” and choose to go back to sleep – while we took a boat into the heart of the mangroves – Red, White & Black (depending if the roots grow down or up). Birds abounded and jumping fish like skipping stones – we stopped at a beautiful beach. At Las Pinitas we scoured for conch shells, coral, sand dollars, crabs & ate oysters pried off the rocks. Then we went and turned our back to the beautiful beaches of Las Pinatas and our group in ... read more