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Published: February 4th 2007
As I was saying...
man it has just not been my time lately. Argh!
I was just typing my blog and it got lost. One of those days.
I guess I´ll just start off by ranting, because that is what I´m most in the mood for. I talked to my mom last night and asked her if she got the package I sent, and she said, no I got some insurance information...I was like, WHAT? Yes, that´s what she got. I sent my pics and notebooks, and some music books from guatemala. Now it hasn´t come, and I don´t know if it will. I´m most devestated about losing my notebooks. I had over 50 songs in there, about 4 or five albums. I´m really bumbed. Honestly, there is nothing worse that could have happened to me. So I´ve really lost it all now.
In case you don´t understand, my writing is very important to me. I had so many songs in there that perhaps I will never see again, and can never recreate. That is over 50 songs, and I have almost no idea of the contents. Basically, it sucks. I said when I sent it, I hope this gets thru. And I always say, if everything else was stolen, and I could just keep one thing, it would be my notebooks. They mean the most to me. Now I have the missing chapter of my life. Ugh!!!!!
So I´m just dealing with that loss. I am in san Jose now, and I talked to my mom last night and found out all that might be lost. It´s like, all my work for four months....whew. Four months of travel, at that. That work is more valuable. Anyway, the more you give up the more you have, so who knows what I might find now. I´ve been generally having a good time lately, just yesterday was a bit hard...now I want to type up all my songs from the notebook I have now, and I have 45...and that´s going to be hard work. But I guess the lesson to learn is don´t take risks with your work if you value it so highly. Whew!
Last night I went out to this clubbing complex in San Jose. I just had to dance the night away to take my mind off what I lost. I danced for a while, but then I got pretty tired and went home. It was really crazy though. There are a lot of people out clubbing. There were these crazy girls dressed up like cowgirls with really short shorts and cowboy hats. They were the professional dancers. I was amazed at how beautiful they were. Tall and skinny...I wasn´t expecting much, but a friend of mine told me girls in costa rica are very beautiful, and they really are! Costa Rica is so different from anywhere I´ve been. They have more money, and you notice a lot of difference. It´s crazy. First when I got in, on the bus, I noticed there wasn´t hardly any trash on the road. Also, there were nice pastures of cows. When I got to san jose, I realized that costa rica has the most variety I´ve seen in people--white, latino, spanish, african. It´s got everything! And the city is nicer than any I´ve seen for quite a while. The people act different too. And it´s all about pura vida. I had remembrances of when I was here in 2001, and I found that stamp on my passport.
So, to go back. In granada, I found that piano. I was playing it, and this family came in to listen. They said they liked it a lot. After I played them a few songs, the girl said she played. I asked her to play something. She sat down and played a few jazz songs that were amazing. The first one, she said she learned by ear at age ten. I asked how old she was. 12! I was blown away. For some reason, they kept saying how I was good, but I think this girl was way better, and had way more potential. She was 12 and man she could rock! They turned out to be from mexico, and I had to get a pic with her to remember.
I was recovering in Granada, and after taking some antibiotics, I started to get better. I went to isla ometepe, which was so great. It is made of two volcanoes. I went over to the one that had rainforest. This girl at my hostel said she was climbing it tomorrow. I was suppossed to rest for a week, but I figured I could do it! We set out with our guide, who you see pics of. Man, the climb was great. She was strugglin at first, with a bad stomach, but I was like, let´s just go a little further, until we made it to the top! We went thru some really cool rainforest and were climbing thru mud, hanging on to roots. You can see my shoes--I got these new great shoes with steel toes that will take me 1000 miles literally. They are perfect.
Oh yeah, when we decided to go, I told her I´d make a call and try to get them to clear the volcano up. It is cloud forest and almost always under clouds. Only a few days a year is it clear. I called them that night, but when we hiked it, it was cloudy. However, see the pics of the next day and how clear it was! It was a tall order, but they came thru, on such short notice, so I was happy. Even if it was cloudy when we did it, I´ve got some good connections I think.
Then you can also see the pics of the kid with the petroglyphs. These things were cool. They are ancient on the island from the original inhabitants. You put your finger in them and trace them, like all the locals do, and it´s really therapeutic.
Also, I hiked up to the waterfall. I just had a nice quiet time on that island. It was really special. I watched the sunset every night. The first night I sat there thinking how this is where the two continents join, right here in ometepe. I thought about how I´m leaving central america and going to south america. Soon I will be on a whole new continent.
After ometepe, I went to san juan del sur. I just had so much fun there. A lot of my friends almost got robbed our first night, and one of them did. And I almost had trouble too, but I just walked away from it, fortunately.
The next day, I went to the beach. I got on the ride there and they didn´t notice me so it was free. Then when it was time to go, I met this girl and got a ride with her and her friends. We ended up drinking beers watching the sunset.
The day before, I met a few guys and we watched the sunset. They had a friend with a great view of the bay, so we went there and chilled a while. Then some girls came by and we went to their family, cause they were studying spanish. One girl put on her sweater to go. She screamed, and stripped all her clothes off--in her room, so we didn´t see. Her boyfriend came in, then we came in. We found a ball of baby scorpians! Then we checked her sweater and found the big mamma. She got stung! Baby scorpians were all over her clothes in the corner. I didn´t see her after that, so I don´t know how she made out.
Another riot was I met this girl Rey. She was 18 and is planning on becoming famous. So one day we got together to make some music. I played her a song and then she sang for me a bit. I was really surprised how soulful her voice was. She sang ¨Ï will always love you¨, and it was great. Her dad lived there in San Juan, nicaragua, on the beach, and he owns a pizza place I had been a few times. We went up to his place and drank beers with Jerry, and I have to say he was a really fun and wild guy! He is about 47 I think and he has a wife who is 24 from Nicaragua. That´s quite common there...I have a pic of them after the one of me and rey.
So, I met some real good people there. Another night I had a jam with this guy john from utah. He makes every song rock. We met before on the island and did a jam one night, with him mostly leading. But at the hostel in san juan, we did a lot of my songs. We did ¨Do the hymlich¨and ¨kill yourself¨and I never have had those songs rock so much, thanks to him! He was also an incredible freestyler at singing and makin stuff up. And his original songs were the best!
Another night, I cut up a big pineapple for everyone and we all ate that. It was huge and there was lots for everyone! I like sharing, that´s maybe cause I stayed back kindergarden and went twice. You learn to share...they said I should work at a hostel and be the courtesy person or something because I am such a good host, but I thought it was funny they would say that. I don´t see myself like that...I guess I was just being nice for a spell. It is really great to share food with people.
So, now I¨m faced with a whole new continent. I´m not really sure how I´m going to get there...I think maybe a boat to columbia. For a minute I was thinking of going to rio for carnival, but looks like that may be too expensive. So we´ll see. I got a guide for south america and I have to say it is overwhelming how big it is...but I ain´t scared. It will probably just take me a year or something. There is no rush--time goes slower down here anyway. I know my parents miss me, but guys, just come visit! It´s cooler here than in the states is what I figure. And this is where my life is on this journey. People are like, how long you travelling, and I say, five months, and it´s already longer than most people´s whole trips. How long you got left? The answer I give gets longer and longer. About 8 months...about a year...maybe it will be two years in a while. I don´t know. I just have to say this is a great trip and it´s where my life is now. And hey, I´m retired...I can work later. I figure if you retire first, if you can, just work later and the things you learn while pursuing your dreams will lead you to a more fulfilling life and make the whole thing more meaningful.
I´m still hopefull on finding my notebooks somewhere. Things can always work out for the best, and for me, they usually do. And plus you have to recognize the blessing in disguise. Maybe somehow it is a blessing...yeah...well everything is!
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Tess
non-member comment
oh no
Hey Colin, I was just reading your blog to see where you are now. I'm so sorry to hear about your journals, I know they mean a lot to you. You always were very good at taking the best out of every situation though, so I'm sure you will make it through this one. I went to all the same places as you and loved them as well-- it's fun for me to read about your thoughts on the places you visit since I know what you're talking about. I'll send you my good thoughts on the recovery of your journals. I hope things look up. Take care, Tess