Well, I haven't updated because I've not had anything to write about!
Real Update: Still to come SOON!
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Dear Amy:
[This is just for you.]
Well, I haven't updated because I've not had anything to write about!
Real Update: Still to come SOON!
Well, I haven't updated because I've not had anything to write about!
Real Update: Still to come SOON!
Sunday, April 4, 2010
Climb a Volcano: Check.
The Island of Ometepe was formed by two volcanoes rising from Lake Nicaragua. Its name comes from the Nahuatl words "ome" (two) and "tepetli" (mountain) obviously to mean "two mountains" (IMAGINE THAT!) Anyways, over the years, the two volcanoes, Concepción and Maderas came to be joined by a low isthmus to form an hourglass-shaped island, which has now become a home for over 42,000 people.
---End History lesson. ---
After finally arriving to the island, we stayed in a hostel called "Ortiz" in the town of Altagracia, for a price of [GUESS]
A: $8 a night
B: $12 a night
C: $3 a night
D: $18 a night
|
|
|
|
|
If you selected D, I will assume you have never traveled to Latin America and stayed in a hostel before.
If you selected B, You must have been traveling to Costa Rica, and no where else.
If you selected A, You're on the right track.
But if you selected choice "C" you are CORRECT!
^Nicaragua is QUITE inexpensive, for the most part, though hostels do range from $5-$15, I don't believe you can get any better than this offer of $3 !!! Though, as in most situations, you get what you pay for.
Our walls had pictures of strawberry shortcake, and winnie the pooh. They were rather dirty, and at night we had to brush a good amount of dead/alive gnats off the blankets and pillows. But no matter, we had a place to sleep, shower, and use the bathroom, with a fan to keep us cool in the evenings. We could also order breakfast, lunch, or dinner if we needed. So, all in all, it was quite alright.
We dropped our stuff off, and went to find food. First stop: fruit stand. Where I proceeded to buy a pineapple and an avacado for $0.75 each, and 4 mandarins (or what i swear were more like clemintines!) for $0.05 each. [Talk about inexpensive HEALTHY food!!] Next stop: To a pharmacy/grocery story for some OJ [Everyone knows I gotta have my OJ!!!] Followed by what would end up being 3 hours at a pizza restaurant accompanied by a small glass of red wine for me, and a few beers for the others. (I prefer the drinks of a smaller calorie count ;) )
After my pizza, a rather long social gathering, lots of stories told, and many laughs later, we all went back to the hostel, (it was almost 11 by this time!) showered, chatted a bit more, and around 12:15 hit the sack-in order to prevent intense suffering when the 530 alarms sound in the morning, calling for us to wake up and prepare ourselves for the days 8 hour hike up and down "Maderas" the "smaller" of the two volcanoes. - In total, it was about a 6km hike. [WHAT did i get myself into?!]
Well, so the alarms went off, long after the roosters (who roamed the grounds of the hostel and beyond) had already woken us up, we got up, dug into some of the fruit we had bought the night before, and hopped into the taxi with our guide headed to the other side of the island, to where we would climb the mountain. When we arrived, we sat down to eat a good breakfast at this one hostel before beginning to climb. We all ate well, knowing it would once again be our only meal until late in the evening, and also knew we would need plenty of water and nutrients to provide the energy for our climb!
[BEFORE]
We set off climbing around 8:50. We climbed rocks, dirt paths, leaves, tree roots, and muddy hills. Almost 100% of the hike was completely uphill - kind of like climbing stairs for four hours straight. One of the girls we were with only brought flip-flops, and we all EASILY agreed to who was the reigning champ of that climb! Considering halfway UP she ended up having to take them off - having to finish climbinb barefoot AND still to have to climb DOWN with us. Sarah Han is DEFINITELY Ometepe's champ. People would pass us and look at her and cringe - just as we all did everytime we thought of how many rocks WE struggled to climb over, on, and through, and then imagined it barefoot. OUCH!! I did that briefly in Montezuma and felt like my feet were on fire after the first 20 minutes...8 hours, is a bit ridiculous. haha
Anyways, when we got to the top, we then climbed down about 100 meters allowing us to arrive at the lagoon. The mud-lagoon. When we asked the guide at first if we could swim and he told me no because the water was muddy, I just laughed that he doesn't know me so well that i wont mind muddy water. BUT, turns out I misunderstood what he meant by muddy....He meant, that you cant even walk to the edge of the water before sinking in a foot and a half of mud. If you try to walk into the lagoon, someone of my height, would be shoulder deep in mud. It's true. I watched a gringo man try and prove them wrong. He got stuck. Waste deep. Slowly worked his way out, and tried again. Ultimately succeeding after watching a local run and jump in - demonstrating the need for quickness and strong leg muscles to escape sinking at every step. I considered following in their footsteps, until I decided it better NOT to have to hike 4 hours down, smelling like mud. Which, I ended up smelling like anyways after the mud-fight I started with one of the guys! haha
[Me at the Lagoon - with war paint on my face!]
[This is from the "view point" not even halfway up the volcano. It was really the only point in the climb you could see anything. The rest was only trees trees and more trees everywhere]
[The Lagoon]
The hike down was a lot less trying and less exhausting. Though at one point, I was almost sure we were never going to reach the bottom. When we finally did, it was the most wonderful feeling ever! hahaha. We all went to the showers of the hostel at the bottom of the mountain and rinsed off, and then climbed back in the taxi for what would be about a 45 minute drive back to our hostel. Where we all ordered food, drinks, took real showers, and then I collapsed in bed around 8:30pm. [830?!! yes. ..but then woke up around 1130 and hung with the othersfor a good 45 minutes or so]
And that would be the end of the 3rd day in Nicaragua.
The next morning would bring a 45 minute taxi ride to a 2 hour ferry ride to a 20 minute drive to the city of recife followed by an hour atm/food stop followed by an hour taxi ride to the city of Masaya.
In Masaya, we went to the market for about 2 hours, then hopped in another taxi to Managua, where we would stay the night, only to wake up in the morning and leave for the 12-hour ride back to San Jose.
[Concepción - viewed from the Ferry on our way out. The cloud cover was really neat the way it went through the mountain and covered the top like that.]
[Sunset behind Concepción, which was SMOKING!!!! ahhhh!!! haha]
---End History lesson. ---
After finally arriving to the island, we stayed in a hostel called "Ortiz" in the town of Altagracia, for a price of [GUESS]
A: $8 a night
B: $12 a night
C: $3 a night
D: $18 a night
|
|
|
|
|
If you selected D, I will assume you have never traveled to Latin America and stayed in a hostel before.
If you selected B, You must have been traveling to Costa Rica, and no where else.
If you selected A, You're on the right track.
But if you selected choice "C" you are CORRECT!
^Nicaragua is QUITE inexpensive, for the most part, though hostels do range from $5-$15, I don't believe you can get any better than this offer of $3 !!! Though, as in most situations, you get what you pay for.
Our walls had pictures of strawberry shortcake, and winnie the pooh. They were rather dirty, and at night we had to brush a good amount of dead/alive gnats off the blankets and pillows. But no matter, we had a place to sleep, shower, and use the bathroom, with a fan to keep us cool in the evenings. We could also order breakfast, lunch, or dinner if we needed. So, all in all, it was quite alright.
We dropped our stuff off, and went to find food. First stop: fruit stand. Where I proceeded to buy a pineapple and an avacado for $0.75 each, and 4 mandarins (or what i swear were more like clemintines!) for $0.05 each. [Talk about inexpensive HEALTHY food!!] Next stop: To a pharmacy/grocery story for some OJ [Everyone knows I gotta have my OJ!!!] Followed by what would end up being 3 hours at a pizza restaurant accompanied by a small glass of red wine for me, and a few beers for the others. (I prefer the drinks of a smaller calorie count ;) )
After my pizza, a rather long social gathering, lots of stories told, and many laughs later, we all went back to the hostel, (it was almost 11 by this time!) showered, chatted a bit more, and around 12:15 hit the sack-in order to prevent intense suffering when the 530 alarms sound in the morning, calling for us to wake up and prepare ourselves for the days 8 hour hike up and down "Maderas" the "smaller" of the two volcanoes. - In total, it was about a 6km hike. [WHAT did i get myself into?!]
Well, so the alarms went off, long after the roosters (who roamed the grounds of the hostel and beyond) had already woken us up, we got up, dug into some of the fruit we had bought the night before, and hopped into the taxi with our guide headed to the other side of the island, to where we would climb the mountain. When we arrived, we sat down to eat a good breakfast at this one hostel before beginning to climb. We all ate well, knowing it would once again be our only meal until late in the evening, and also knew we would need plenty of water and nutrients to provide the energy for our climb!
[BEFORE]
We set off climbing around 8:50. We climbed rocks, dirt paths, leaves, tree roots, and muddy hills. Almost 100% of the hike was completely uphill - kind of like climbing stairs for four hours straight. One of the girls we were with only brought flip-flops, and we all EASILY agreed to who was the reigning champ of that climb! Considering halfway UP she ended up having to take them off - having to finish climbinb barefoot AND still to have to climb DOWN with us. Sarah Han is DEFINITELY Ometepe's champ. People would pass us and look at her and cringe - just as we all did everytime we thought of how many rocks WE struggled to climb over, on, and through, and then imagined it barefoot. OUCH!! I did that briefly in Montezuma and felt like my feet were on fire after the first 20 minutes...8 hours, is a bit ridiculous. haha
Anyways, when we got to the top, we then climbed down about 100 meters allowing us to arrive at the lagoon. The mud-lagoon. When we asked the guide at first if we could swim and he told me no because the water was muddy, I just laughed that he doesn't know me so well that i wont mind muddy water. BUT, turns out I misunderstood what he meant by muddy....He meant, that you cant even walk to the edge of the water before sinking in a foot and a half of mud. If you try to walk into the lagoon, someone of my height, would be shoulder deep in mud. It's true. I watched a gringo man try and prove them wrong. He got stuck. Waste deep. Slowly worked his way out, and tried again. Ultimately succeeding after watching a local run and jump in - demonstrating the need for quickness and strong leg muscles to escape sinking at every step. I considered following in their footsteps, until I decided it better NOT to have to hike 4 hours down, smelling like mud. Which, I ended up smelling like anyways after the mud-fight I started with one of the guys! haha
[Me at the Lagoon - with war paint on my face!]
[This is from the "view point" not even halfway up the volcano. It was really the only point in the climb you could see anything. The rest was only trees trees and more trees everywhere]
[The Lagoon]
The hike down was a lot less trying and less exhausting. Though at one point, I was almost sure we were never going to reach the bottom. When we finally did, it was the most wonderful feeling ever! hahaha. We all went to the showers of the hostel at the bottom of the mountain and rinsed off, and then climbed back in the taxi for what would be about a 45 minute drive back to our hostel. Where we all ordered food, drinks, took real showers, and then I collapsed in bed around 8:30pm. [830?!! yes. ..but then woke up around 1130 and hung with the othersfor a good 45 minutes or so]
And that would be the end of the 3rd day in Nicaragua.
The next morning would bring a 45 minute taxi ride to a 2 hour ferry ride to a 20 minute drive to the city of recife followed by an hour atm/food stop followed by an hour taxi ride to the city of Masaya.
In Masaya, we went to the market for about 2 hours, then hopped in another taxi to Managua, where we would stay the night, only to wake up in the morning and leave for the 12-hour ride back to San Jose.
[Concepción - viewed from the Ferry on our way out. The cloud cover was really neat the way it went through the mountain and covered the top like that.]
[Sunset behind Concepción, which was SMOKING!!!! ahhhh!!! haha]
Friday, April 2, 2010
Day 1.5 in Nicaragua
I woke up Sunday morning at 615am to get ready for what would be about a 12 hour journey to Granada, Nicaragua. We were told to arrive an hour early for our bus, meaning 8am for Sara Han and me. We arrived right at 8, boarded the bus at about 9, and departed very soon after.
Adventure confusion #1: our ticket said the bus was going to Managua. We were supposed to meet the others in Granada! Oh dear. (sigh of mishap acceptance) but shortly after, the problem was solved when we were informed that the bus will stop in Granada first. (sigh of relief)
About 4 hours into the bus ride, we pulled over to the side of the road, with a few other buses from our same company. After letting us sit for about half an hour trying to figure out on our own, the reason for having stopped, we were all told to get off the bus. (GASP!) ((suspense music)) ....... so that the police could check us and our passports. (okay, suspense music NOT necessary, but, did it have you on edge for a quick second? haha) So after all that, we got back on for another few hours of driving, until we arrived at the border station, at a time I would guess to be about 230/300pm. This is where Sara and I would run into the other people we were planning to meet in Granada, briefly, which consisted of 3 people who took the 645AM BUSS!!!!! and 3 who took the 8:15 bus. (That just tells you how long people really sit and wait there!) because we also ran into this man we had met in the morning, who took the 9:45 bus! haha
We didn't have to check anything at the border station, because we all only brough backpacks. BUT we had to wait for everyone else on the bus to check their stuff and for whoever else to do whatever else it was they were required to do.
In the meantime, Sara and I played cards for a while, met and played with this little 3 year old boy (of course) named Justin or Dustin or Jusie or Jessie or something along those lines.. haha. (he was adorable and had on a yellow shirt that had a soccer ball on it and said soccer, and little black and grey TOTAL 90 tennis shoes!!! [PRECIOUS.]
After the border station we got back on the bus (around 6pm) only to arrive in Granada around 8pm. 12 hours after first arriving to the bus station in San Jose, and almost 14 hours after waking up that morning.
We arrived, took a cab to an ATIM, and then to Oasis. The INCREDIBLY nice hostel that we were staying in for the night. It was HUGE. Had a shower big enough for like 10 people at a time (not that we put ten people in it, i'm just sayin, you know. haha) There was an indoor pool, a nice little kitchen (the cleanest in any of the hostels ive seen so far) , comfortable beds, several fans in the room instead of just one! A DVD library, tv w DVD player, and about 6 desktop computers that were free to use. Something else interesting that was included was a free 10 minute phone call to anywhere in the world (oddly excluding like belgium and some other random country) - which I was actually going to surprise Ryan (brother Ryan) with the phone call, but the power was out when I asked to do it - meaning I couldn't - and this was right before leaving for what would be considered our... second set of adventures.
Adventure #2: Boat ride to Island of Ometepe - which I am currently typing this on.
We left at 11:15am to head to the boat ticket office. We waited in line for about 45 minutes. (and NO, the line wasn't THAT long, it was just the lady working was THAT slow. It was like WORSE than tico-time!!! haha.)
After finally getting ticket, we thought we had a good half hour to relax. So Nicole and I went off to find some water and possibly some food. We successfully got the water, but as the food was half-dished for us at this little stand outside the boat place, the boys called us back telling us we were told to board the boat now. (Woohoo! Were gonna leave a little earlier than expected! What a treat!) so we boarded and waited as other people boarded, causing me to fall asleep and wake up an hour later to find we hadn't infact even began to move. (I knew it was too good to be true..) so around 230ish we departed the dock in Granada on what would be a 4-hour boat ride to the Island of Ometepe - an island formed by two volcanoes - one of which is still active (cool!!!) haha. I am currently on the boat tryin typing this with my itouch. Hoping to find wireless somewhere so I can connect and upload instead of havin to type all of it all over again and upload it all at once when I return. (which is what i'm doing at the moment actually) haha
It is currently 6:08pm. We should be arriving to the island in anywhere between 22 and 52 minutes. In order to pass the time, I spent approximately 7 minutes reading, 35 minutes playing what we thought might have been a never-ending game of "War" , the next hour playing Egyptian-Rat-Screw" , slap-Jack, and speed. Then aproximately 11 minutes eating some fried chicken, rice and fried plantains, and so far about 20 minutes doing this.
Our plans for after arrival are to find a nearby hostel, some food, maybe a cerveza or two (oops!) to quench our thirst over a nice game of spoons before bed. Only to awake before 7am , to take a bus to the other side of the island, find a new hostel by 8am , and then begin what will be about a 6 hour hike up the volcano. (YUP. Gooooodluuuck to me. haha)
I hope I can upload this tonight sometime or in the morning!
The rest of the weeks plans are to visit MAsaya, Managua, and then leave from there on Thursday morning for the final Nicaraguan adventure: The 12+ hour journey back to San Jose.
This is a picture from the border station - where we just sat, starving, and waiting, until we could re-board the bus for the rest of our journey.
Stay tuned!
:)
Adventure confusion #1: our ticket said the bus was going to Managua. We were supposed to meet the others in Granada! Oh dear. (sigh of mishap acceptance) but shortly after, the problem was solved when we were informed that the bus will stop in Granada first. (sigh of relief)
About 4 hours into the bus ride, we pulled over to the side of the road, with a few other buses from our same company. After letting us sit for about half an hour trying to figure out on our own, the reason for having stopped, we were all told to get off the bus. (GASP!) ((suspense music)) ....... so that the police could check us and our passports. (okay, suspense music NOT necessary, but, did it have you on edge for a quick second? haha) So after all that, we got back on for another few hours of driving, until we arrived at the border station, at a time I would guess to be about 230/300pm. This is where Sara and I would run into the other people we were planning to meet in Granada, briefly, which consisted of 3 people who took the 645AM BUSS!!!!! and 3 who took the 8:15 bus. (That just tells you how long people really sit and wait there!) because we also ran into this man we had met in the morning, who took the 9:45 bus! haha
We didn't have to check anything at the border station, because we all only brough backpacks. BUT we had to wait for everyone else on the bus to check their stuff and for whoever else to do whatever else it was they were required to do.
In the meantime, Sara and I played cards for a while, met and played with this little 3 year old boy (of course) named Justin or Dustin or Jusie or Jessie or something along those lines.. haha. (he was adorable and had on a yellow shirt that had a soccer ball on it and said soccer, and little black and grey TOTAL 90 tennis shoes!!! [PRECIOUS.]
After the border station we got back on the bus (around 6pm) only to arrive in Granada around 8pm. 12 hours after first arriving to the bus station in San Jose, and almost 14 hours after waking up that morning.
We arrived, took a cab to an ATIM, and then to Oasis. The INCREDIBLY nice hostel that we were staying in for the night. It was HUGE. Had a shower big enough for like 10 people at a time (not that we put ten people in it, i'm just sayin, you know. haha) There was an indoor pool, a nice little kitchen (the cleanest in any of the hostels ive seen so far) , comfortable beds, several fans in the room instead of just one! A DVD library, tv w DVD player, and about 6 desktop computers that were free to use. Something else interesting that was included was a free 10 minute phone call to anywhere in the world (oddly excluding like belgium and some other random country) - which I was actually going to surprise Ryan (brother Ryan) with the phone call, but the power was out when I asked to do it - meaning I couldn't - and this was right before leaving for what would be considered our... second set of adventures.
Adventure #2: Boat ride to Island of Ometepe - which I am currently typing this on.
We left at 11:15am to head to the boat ticket office. We waited in line for about 45 minutes. (and NO, the line wasn't THAT long, it was just the lady working was THAT slow. It was like WORSE than tico-time!!! haha.)
After finally getting ticket, we thought we had a good half hour to relax. So Nicole and I went off to find some water and possibly some food. We successfully got the water, but as the food was half-dished for us at this little stand outside the boat place, the boys called us back telling us we were told to board the boat now. (Woohoo! Were gonna leave a little earlier than expected! What a treat!) so we boarded and waited as other people boarded, causing me to fall asleep and wake up an hour later to find we hadn't infact even began to move. (I knew it was too good to be true..) so around 230ish we departed the dock in Granada on what would be a 4-hour boat ride to the Island of Ometepe - an island formed by two volcanoes - one of which is still active (cool!!!) haha. I am currently on the boat tryin typing this with my itouch. Hoping to find wireless somewhere so I can connect and upload instead of havin to type all of it all over again and upload it all at once when I return. (which is what i'm doing at the moment actually) haha
It is currently 6:08pm. We should be arriving to the island in anywhere between 22 and 52 minutes. In order to pass the time, I spent approximately 7 minutes reading, 35 minutes playing what we thought might have been a never-ending game of "War" , the next hour playing Egyptian-Rat-Screw" , slap-Jack, and speed. Then aproximately 11 minutes eating some fried chicken, rice and fried plantains, and so far about 20 minutes doing this.
Our plans for after arrival are to find a nearby hostel, some food, maybe a cerveza or two (oops!) to quench our thirst over a nice game of spoons before bed. Only to awake before 7am , to take a bus to the other side of the island, find a new hostel by 8am , and then begin what will be about a 6 hour hike up the volcano. (YUP. Gooooodluuuck to me. haha)
I hope I can upload this tonight sometime or in the morning!
The rest of the weeks plans are to visit MAsaya, Managua, and then leave from there on Thursday morning for the final Nicaraguan adventure: The 12+ hour journey back to San Jose.
This is a picture from the border station - where we just sat, starving, and waiting, until we could re-board the bus for the rest of our journey.
Stay tuned!
:)
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