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Published: September 15th 2012
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I had started a personal blog before we left last week- just sort of messing around with how the new blog space works and planned on continuing to conquer the learning curve upon our arrival in Nicaragua. Welp, the internet connection here is a tad too slow for learning and I didn't want to spend my precious Fauna-is-napping time frustrated at technology. So, I went back to an old friend; travelblog.org. I know that there are many people who, years ago, subscribed to this blog- some of whom I know personally, and some who just found our journey online and followed us around the world. From now on, I will likely use this venue to write and share about our future endeavors as well- the posts won't be as frequent, but this here Travel Blog offers a little easier access than the old standby- Facebook.
I have not looked through my blog in years though I do remember some things that I wrote and shudder. Some of the thoughts herein now seem so naive and embarrassing. (Additionally, blogging was a fairly new thing. No one else I knew really had one that they kept up, I used this site because
it seemed easy, and honestly, it was. In fact an Australian tabloid journalist shattered my confidence after writing a brief piece on how lame the new blog fad was and cited one of my entries- including quotes!-to prove his point.) Nonetheless, it was what I needed to learn and write at that moment and space in time. I spent hundreds of hours creating those posts. Ever experienced an internet connection (or lack thereof) in Cambodia? Imagine a monster of a computer underneath a palm leaf hut in the Amazon! In Turkey the keyboard didn't have English letters on it and the curser was at least five phonemes behind what my fingers were typing! The act of simply downloading a few photos could take ages and several times I accidentally erased my entire entry and cried.
I am still traveling the world, but at a much, much slower pace. After the blog written here, Griff and I lived in India for a year, came back to Los Angeles and lived off the good graces of our friends on their couches and/or air mattresses. We even lived out of our small pickup truck for a while. It was INCREDIBLY difficult to
get back on our feet and to re-enter western culture. We wrestled with so much, questioned so much. It's just impossible to live among the poor, experience indigenous cultures, carry all you have- and need!- on your back, and then plop back into life as it was before. Impossible. It was weird that after so much time being outsiders and looking the part, we were now in a country where we looked like everyone else but felt vastly different. People treated us the same, we did not feel the same at all.
Griff and I rarely speak of our year in India to anyone. There are just no words. We were not really living in the India most know (including most Indians!), we were in an exceptionally remote part of India, that used to be Tibet. Let's just say that the nearest town was eight hours away by 4x4 and many of them didn't even know of our village. People have scolded me for not keeping a journal or writing a book while I was there, honestly, there were days- many of them- that were so treacherously difficult the very, very, very last thing I wanted to do was
write them down on paper to remember them later.
I became a birth worker- well, actually, I started the process and studying while I was in India. I became a certified birth doula, then a postpartum doula, and eventually a childbirth educator. Griff got back into construction and then a year ago, started his own business. We both love our work outside of the home. Our work INSIDE of the home consists of being parents to a busy, bright toddler...thus the reason we travel at a much slower pace these days! Fauna is two and I've already lost track of the times she has been on an airplane. Most of our traveling has been within the States but last September we had a fantastic time in Paris and Amsterdam doing a home exchange. (We also did a home exchange to the mountains in WA and hosted a snowy, cabin Thanksgiving for the family- including my then-brand-new baby niece!) Home exchanges are fricking rad! See
here for something I wrote about them last year.
This year, however, we opted for a long-awaited trip to Nicaragua. We've just wanted to go for some time now- and that is the answer
to the question everyone seems to be asking, "why THERE?" Nicaragua is hailed as the "New Costa Rica" and there just may be some truth to that. It's cheaper, less developed, boasting great surfing, beaches, jungles, volcanoes- the whole nine yards, as my mom used to say.
We are renting a house located on
this beach, Playa Remanso , about fifteen minutes south of
San Juan del Sur. The website for the house we are renting, Villa Pavela, is
here. I'll post more over the next few days. If you are new to this site and my part therein, welcome. If you are, along with me, picking up where we left off, I'm happy (and flattered!) to see you join my family on another grand adventure!
PS If you are new to this blog space, please know that you can see more photos by scrolling past the ad banner below.
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