Spanish Grad

I am now considered an Intermediate Spanish student apparently! The school had a mini graduation for the people that were finishing their week and they gave us a diploma and a t shirt. My diploma said Intermediate it was really thoughtful and was a nice way to say thank you and good bye. The rest of the week I have just been checking out the markets and some of the churches and other preserved buildings in the city. A few of the girls from the school and I went out on Friday for some drinks and dancing but this week has been pretty mello. I am torn between beign excited to come home and live my life with all these new experiences that I have had and beign a little sad that I am leaving all these beautiful places. I guess though I am ready to come home now since it is getting into the rainy season and is difficult to keep a tan while Victoria is becoming warmer and warmer.

Gotta Love Guatemala!

Antigua is a beautiful town in Guatemala that used to be the third capitol if the country but after a large earthquake it changed to what is now called Guatemala City. One of the things I really like about this country is that everyone is so friendly, everyone says hello to you when you are walking down the street and the population is generally happy. The town looks up at a beautiful volcano and is very nicely preserved. It has cobble stone streets, secret passage ways, outdoor laundry fountains and 16 churches (12 which are active). I finally found a Spanish school that was reasonable priced and gave me the type of accommodation I desired. Unfortunately there is no pool but I did find a cool spot on the roof of the house to soak up the sun. The school also offered me a free t shirt, tour of the city and other activities throughout the week and of course hours of Spanish in a one on one setting!!!! Pretty intense but learning the language was one of my goals this trip that I plan to meet.

Copan Honduras

I travelled from Largo de Yojoa to San Pedru Sula which hosts the main bus station and it took two hours then from the main bus station to Copan where the famous ruins were (4 hours). The town is so beautiful, the streets are cobblestone, there are out door markets and it has a beautiful city center. I went for dinner at a pizza place and there I met an older man who used to play in a band. We jammed on his guitar and then the Canucks game came on. The score was not in the favour of the Canucks but it is always nice to be able to catch a game when I can, makes me feel like home is not so far off. It has been a little scary travelling without a guide book and only random internet searches available for information but I have been really lucky so far, everything seems to be working out fairly well and I am making the most of my time. Ruins tomorrow and a little more site seeing then off to Gutemala for some more Spanish!

I switched hostels to a place called Via Via as I got my private room and better internet, it also has a bar and restaurant. After the rude people at the other hostel last  night coming into the door at 3am wasted loud and turning on the lights I needed a good night sleep. After some town site seeing and grocery shopping I headed to the Famous Copan Maya Ruins. It was absolutely breath taking, the restoration was so good and there were not many tourists crowding up the place. I was able to see the statues, museum and ruin site, it took 3 and a half hours. I also got a sneak peek of the tunnels that you were supposed to pay an extra 12$ for by pretending to be a lost tourists who doesn’t understand any Spanish. At the ruins I ran into some other Canadian boys who I had met in Nicaragua, it is always nice to run into people from Canada and of course have some people to talk to on my adventures.

D&D Brewery

I travelled a little south from San Pedro Sula to this little town called Los Naranjos where they have a micro brewery. The chicken bus was a little scary because I thought the trek was supposed to be 1 hour and it ended up beign 2 hours in the mountains, then I wasn’t too sure exactly where this place was as I am now travelling without a guide book. The bus driver said that he would tell me when I was there and I remember reading somewhere that the bus route goes right past the place. So the bus driver says this is my stop at the side of the road and all I see is a sign for D&D Brewery and a long dirt road (not driveway road). I walk for a bit and see a little store I ask the guy if there were cabs here and they were none and then he said the only way to get there was to walk down this road for 10 minutes. A little worried that all of the locals who were on their porches looking at me walk down this road in the middle of nowhere solo, would come out and rob me I was ok. As soon as I got to the Brewery I was set up in a private room because the dorm was messy and they couldn’t tell what bed was clean, then I checked out the taps. I then found myself drinking delicious raspberry ale enjoying the tropical wilderness of Honduras.  This place had a pool, outdoor restaurant and even a horseshoe pit which I consumed for a while! The next day I hooked up with some auzies and went to Largo de Yojoa. There was a beautiful path and nature and we were going to rent canoes until we saw that half of them were sunk by the river.  In the afternoon we went to a coffee plantation, but it was sort of boring and had a hard hike to the top.

Moving On Up

Getting stuck in Managua for another day was clearly not desirable but it was neccesary to get to Honduras, so while we were there we decided to make the most of it and go to the National Museum of Nicaragua. There we were given a guided tour for free and I think it was a really good way to say good bye to Nicaragua because I learned so much about the country which helped me appreciate it more. Did you know that it is the youngest country in Central America, when the plates shifted thousands of years ago Nicaragua was created, prior to the shift Central America was not connected. Because it is such a young country there are many volcanos and lakes, hence the name of the country Nicar (volcano or mountainous region) and agua (water). The night ended early as our bus to Honduras was at 4am the next day.

Travelling through boarders in Central America is definitely not something that you want to do very often and after my 15 hour bus ride with multiple stops I have decided when I do come back down into Costa Rica I will be flying. The stopover at the boarder lasted over two hours and there was three stops that were like 30 minutes and the bus was 2 hours behind schedule as the added boarder patrol stopped our bus on the search for a specific Nicaraguan person.  Driving through the country though was quite beautifull as it is very green and mountainous. There were many pick up trucks cruising down the road full of fruit and houses among the hills that looked almost like Greece except colourful. There were also a bunch of fires in the bush close to the road and as we drove past you could feel the heat through the bus. The houses closer to the city however were very poor looking and the structure of some of the river side homes looked as if they were going to crumble. After the long travel we ended up at a hostel and pretty much fed ourselves and passed out. See mom its not all about parties lol.

Shop Till Ya Drop

The markets are unreal here, you can get fresh fruits and vegetables, meats, cheese and breads, right beside clothes shoes and electronics. It is like a street walmart lol. That took a lot of my time for a few days as there is just so much stuff to look at you feel you need to look more because you missed a lot. For one of the days I went to a nice outdoor pool at a hotel and lounged all day while enjoying the really inexpensive cocktails. In the evening we went to an outdoor reggae festival which had the Smirnoff girls.

The next day we ventured out of the main city to a smaller city called Masaya because they have a really big market. It was really overwhelming but I got some decently priced goods. We also had an amazing lunch of chicken breast cooked veggies, tortillas and salad for only 50 cords which is about 2.40$. Beign the weekenda  bunch of people from the hostel went out for some drinks and late night dancing! It is really crazy in the bars and restaurants when it rains because everything is so open. I actually got soaked walking to the bathroom and the dance floor was half flooded.

Ometepe

This island is really cool as it is in the middle of the lake and has two volcanos on it. It is really rural and the only way you can get there is by boat. The history behind the volcanos is like Romeo and Juliet, there were two tribes who were not liked by each other and the son and daughter of the cheifs fell in love and wanted to be together but the fathers wouldn't allow it. The two love birds actually killed themselves in order to be together in heavan and the legend says that the volcanos are the two breasts of the daughter. The volcanos erupted and killed all the towns people as they were angry that her and her mate could not be together, or something like that lol. The main attraction clearly is the volcano hikes which I did, well attempted to do. It was 4 hours up a straight hill for the smallet one and I only made it to the half way look out point  (two hours of climbing) when my legs were uncontrollably shaking. I went back down for two hours, then walked anouther 1 km to the petrogyphs.The next day I took the ferry bakc to the main land to Granada.

Making the Move

I had to spend a few extra days in San Juan del Sur because I bought a few too many things and I needed to lighten my load by sending some stuff back home. On Saturday there was a circus in town¸ we were late but we saw enough of the show to be mildly entertained. There was a guy on a motorcycle that drove upside down in a globe thing, a really old clown walking a tight robe 20 meters high with no harness and many people doing flips. I did not however like the part where they tied scared monkeys to a horse and made the horse run in a circle with a whip.

With the combination of me getting quiet bored of San Juan and the undesirable trip to Ometepe I was not having the best time, but if I have learned anything from this trip you can’t let a few bumps in the road bring you down, you need to move on and allow yourself to stay positive and open to new opportunities. While I was waiting for the ferry to Ometepe I met a guy who tuned my guitar for me so I was finally able to play again yahhh! I also ended up getting a ride across the island for cheaper than I expected (still expensive but good for here). I decided to stay at a home/hostel not a party hostel and the owner’s family was really nice they took me to one of the schools to show me some of the donations to the community that Canadians have made. I was a really, really proud Canadian at that moment as the people of Ometepe were so grateful for the generosity that Canada has shown them.

Although it was a very rural area where I was staying I found a restaurant owned by an English family who grew all their own fruit and veggies, made their bread and used organic meat, which was a lot better than the usual gallo pinto (rice and beans). I spent a lot of tie on the lake as well and was lucky enough not to meet the fresh water sharks that live in the lake. Louise one of the guys who live at the hostel I was at brought out his little son and the three of us watched a local teenager boy fish with a big net and his hands.

Alota Granada!

My first day in Granada was a little overwhelming as I was coming from a very small low key island to a large city.  I stayed at the neared monkey hostel and got a private room, though there was a lot of privacy the bed was horrific. It literary had a wooden beam right down the center of it and I think it was the worst sleep of my life. I did however find a really cool leather shop near buy and bought a few souvenirs. Beign in the city is cool because there are so many little shops, markets, restaurants and things to do but it is pretty sketchy and beign a women you cannot go out in the streets alone at night. That night I did go to dinner with a guy I met from the hostel but he turned out to be really weird and started to make plans for us to travel to other towns together so I ditched him pretty quick and checked into another hostel where I met two cool Canadian chicks.

The first full day I was there I went to a chocolate museum and learned a lot about the history of chocolate and how it came to be today. I also tasted chocolate tea and learned the chocolate making processes. Later that day I went to one of the city churches and was allowed to climb to the top where the bells were. It was the best view in the city and beign in the church was really cool, you could feel the power and the faith that the people had, not to mention the beautiful art and architecture.

In the evening we went on a boat tour of the islands on the lake. It was sunset so the views were beautiful and we even went to a “boat up bar” yup.......it was a drive through bar for boats!!!!!!! There was also a monkey island with the cutest monkeys that almost came on to our boat, but as we got closer we realized that 30 pound hungry monkeys may not be such a good idea so close.

I'm Here for a Good Time AND a Long Time

I guess the heat while you sleep is good for reducing the extremity of hangovers because after my long birthday night I was mostly just sleep deprived. Feeling that I deserved a little pampering I found a spa where I got a 1 hour full body massage, 30 minute facia, and 1 hour pedicure for 50$. It was exactly what I needed after 2 months of sleeping in different cheep beds and basting my skin in sun protection. Feeling the difference in my skin from all of the bug spray and crapy products I have decided to tak a more natural route in skin care and beauty products. It is really surprising how many chemicals, calories and fat your skin absorbs through things that are on your skin.

The last few days have been mostly about working on my tan, enjoying ladies night at Iguana and eating good food. The twins and I went to a restaurant on a recommendation, I think it was owned by a Lebanese woman, the food was great the atmosphere was relaxing and the company was entertaining. I also watched a local basketball game that one of the owners of the hostel was playing in. My lovely twins also bought some chicks in the street and gave them a bath and now they will stay on the property at the hostel in the mountains. The last few days I have also found myself enjoying walks on the beach and the cities markets as well as dancing at an open mike night.

San Juan Del Sluuuuuuuuurrrrr

I was definitely warned about how this town was a party place and well its reputation was held true. The last few nights have been about going out for free “ladies night” drinks, eating a lot of different fish (because we are in a fishing town) and shopping as it is cheaper than Costa Rica. I have also really been enjoying the big pool at our hostel. One of the nights we were here some liquor reps from Twisted came to our hostel and it was a Naked Twisted Party! Lots of play on words here, that’s what this hostel is about , well that and breakfast waffles lol. My favourite twins and I have been having a blast and planning my birthday party! Speaking of Birthdays I am wishing my little Teah a happy second birthday and of course a Happy Birthday to my amazing momma, I wish I could have been there to celebrate with you all.

My birthday we went out on a sail boat, sunset, booze cruise. It had all you can drink, a lot of fresh appetizers, loud music, fishing and a crazy Capitan. We sailed out to a deserted resort on the beach where we jumped of the boat and swam past the reef to the sand. I was given the pink flamingo floaty thing because my birthday and one of the guys made a beer raft so we could drink the beers on the swim. We partied on the boat and enjoyed the sunset but before we were finished we caught a 25 pound Jack fish. That night one of the ship guys cooked up the fish for us at a local pub. We had fish, salad, garlic bread, rice and hand cut potatoes. It was all really good and there was a live band playing while we chowed down, the fish though was a darker fish and a lot heavier than traditional style white sea bass that is usually on the menu down here. After dinner we bar hopped to a few places in town and everyone had a good time drinking and we saw a couple guys doing fire tricks at the bar. It was a great birthday full of activities and I was surrounded by amazing people who truly made me feel so special on that day J I think however though that my 200$ camera has bitten the dust so I may not have many pictures for the next while as I will have to buy a new one.