Ok, Nicararagua.. where to start

    Well, inititial views of Nica were.. different... It was through my airconditioned, window seat Tika tour bus, like any other wheelly bag traveller. The bus dealt with customs; we didn't have to attempt to communicate with anyone, we didn't have to bargin for our entrance fee, we didn't have to pick a txi driver out of the swarm who followed us. Basically, I could have been in Canada and I wouldn't have know because it was just that easy.

   Not a bad experince, but I feel like I missed out a bit on the travel experience.. not to worry though, I get to go through plenty more dirty, dusty border checks.. not too mention the inexplicably long amount of no mans land in between...

    Past the border, everything looks pretty similar to Guatemala, just not quite as good. The Spanish architecture mixed with the startling bright colors are a bit more drab, and the local customs are similar but not quite as prominent. The people.. ughh the people almost ruined it for me!

   For various reasons I suppose, the people are rude. No chit chat, no politely listening as you attempt to talk in Spanish. Transaction---done. No smile, no help, I am a walking bank card to them and that is all. Ugh. It is the most frusturated I have  been on this whole trip. I understand there are asshole tourists who deserve a punch to the face and a good shot of manners, but shop owners and hostel workers and in the customer service industry. Put a freaking smile on your face!

    ok. It's out of my system.. on to some good stuff.



    After the boder I went to Granada and Leon, volcano towns !
New ones, old ones, erupting ones.. who knows, but if you pay, you can find someone to take you up anyone of them!
  

    I did  an overnight vocano hike on Telika, an active volcano with a 700 m wide crator. Smoke was pouring out of the center, making it hard to breathe and to see the lava underneath. But I did! I saw some freaking lava! Check on the bucket list for sure. The depths of the crator made a groaning crunching sound, which constantly reminded me that its most recent erruption was in 2011. Later when we had made it back to the vehicles, our guides said they were a little worried because of the increased noise and smoke. Pretty happy they told me that after we were out of the danger zone..

My second volcano experience was volcano boarding down Cerro Negro.
This volcano is so recent  that no vegetation grows on the sides, and the ground is hot to touch at the top. Reaching speeds up to 80 km an hour (radar guns are great!) we sled down the front of the volcano on crudely made toboganns. Fun!

After my volcano fun, I carried my dirrty self (ash and dust stick to everything..)  to Ometepe. Ometepe is an island formed by volcanoes (who would have thunked!)that sits in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, the biggest lake in Central America. This lake drains into the Carribean although it is closer to the Pacific. and is succeptable to fresh water bull sharks and back in  the day, Pirates.

    For unknown reasons, I had bag issues on the island. At the music festival all my gear in my day pack was stolen, and in the morning I couldn't summon up where I had left my large backpack. I spend a good chunk of the day on a rented bike, cruising around hoping to see the hostel that would jostle my memory.

    Bag found, and ferried back to the mainland I headed for San Juan Del Sur, and our Christmas house!

    The Christmas house was a mansion on a cliff overlooking the ocean. It had a pool, statues and a open style layout . You could open up three sides of the rooms, by sliding the mesh walls and the lack of bugs insured that we kept them open pretty much the whole time.
    8 of my new friends and I split the costs of this and a 4x4 to get there, not to mention copious amounts of food.. and *cough* 49 bottles of rum. We split cooking and cleaning up and survived it all without major dilemma. It was a great orphans christmas!

   The house was good but the beach is spectacular. This time a round I merely sat beside it in the sand and took quick swims. My brief struggle with surfing has stopped.. on the realization that the surfboard (and teammate "wave" ) was always going to win.
I had beach fires, complete with energy circles and massage sessions. ( All curtesy of "Shine"the self made spirit guide..)

    I saw thousands of crabs all washed up and having a group pow wow on the beach, and baby sea turtles (the ones that survived being poached) make their way to sea.
In four days of living in a hammock by the ocean I demolished three novels, ate out every meal, enjoyed my share of treats and rum, swam and played volleyball  all for a grand total of 27 dollars.
Ahhhh.. swweet paradise.

    This beach style living, specatular as it was, gave way to an unfortuante parasite.. that resulted in some ugly open sores. Ughh. Apparently caused by special Central American sandflies.. I got the special treat of a blood infection.

 Antibiotics should make these devils disapear, just in time!
I am on my way to Honduras to teach English for 2 months to second year Highschool students. Hopefully I dont look like a beast when I show up.. Please work drugs, PleaSE!