Country # 6...El Salvador

this will have to be a quick posting as i am using the computer of one of the Peace Corps volunteers i met here in Perquin, El Salvador. i left Somoto, Nicaragua yesterday morning, passed through Honduras mid-day and arrived in El Salvador yesterday afternoon. buses were not running in the country yesterday...the 3rd day of some protests and restrictions but it only hindered my mode of transportation and nothing else. so rather than buses i rode in the back of pick-up trucks with everyone else who was making do without the usual buses. again i have found another country with incredibly welcoming and friendly people. oh i find i am becoming redundant i know...this is a beautiful country!!

more to come as i find a cyber cafe in a bigger town, probably during the week.
oh and if you see stuff on the news about protests and shootings and other such things, well know that it is only part of the story and there is more out there...read more online to get the real story and a more thorough explanation of all that is occurring.

sometimes you just can´t leave

the question has come up quite often recently as to why i have spent so much of my time in Nicaragua. of course the easy answer is, "oh it is a beautiful country with much to see and do" and that of course is a true answer but not quite sufficient. a country is more than it´s beautiful lakes, forests, beaches and mountains. we all know this. and a country is more than it´s food and traditions. a country is those and so much more. and what i have found here in Nicaragua is the opportunity to experience the ´so much more.´by visiting and revisiting cities, by discovering little known places with other travelers, through introductions to foods by locals, through inpromptu conversations, and certainly by spending hours with Nicaraguans.

i have been incredibly lucky in my travels to meet so many different types of people from all over the world and have been exposed to so much through them all. but i find myself even more grateful for the people who have opened themselves and their lives to me here in Nicaragua. from the owner of the local internet location who shares thoughts and ideas about life in Nicaragua and asks for help in his comprehension of english literature to the pre-teen girl who had infinite questions about music and films in the US and shared with me her hopes and desires for her life as a ´teenager.´the day to day interactions and the deepening friendships make it easy to stay longer and longer. and these are two examples of unplanned conversations that at least with the owner has become a regular thing. these types of conversations happen quite often and always leave me with a feeling of appreciation for the moment. there are other relationships though, forged on common interests, which have developed into deeper friendships where understanding culture and life circumstance are as important as language. these are the ones i will carry with me in my heart, these are the ones i will remember not for the stories or the content but for the emotional connection that was shared.

and still as my heart and mind hold Nicaragua dear, i know that my time is limited. with still 1 country to discover (El Salvador) and one to cross (Guatemala) before i end my time with more travels in Mexico, my day of departure is looming. in my trip i gave my self 2 weeks per country, knowing full well that in some countries i would want more time and in others less. it has worked out well thus far and i do not regret spending more or less time in any of the countries i have visited.

hmm...for the first time since Mexico, i am sad to leave a country.

Honduras...in a nutshell

a week in a country is never really enough time to get to know a culture or a people and i knew that when i decided to spend a week in Honduras. but as i look back now, about a week later, i find that in a week Honduras showed me much of itself through it´s beautiful landscape, generous people and fabulous food. It all started with a bus ride (see photos from past posting) and not surpisingly ended with one as well. i spent a significant portion of time in transit- on various forms of buses, vans, taxis and in the back of many pick-up trucks (hitching rides is common and relatively safe in Honduras!). i had two locations to visit before i arrived in Honduras, the island of Utila and the ruins of Copan. However i wasn´t overly excited about the island for some reason so when the trio from Floating Doctors (want to know more? check out the website) invited me along with them to Lake Yojoa i happily agreed. They had heard of the location from other travelers who spoke of the amazing waterfalls and the randomly placed brewery/hostel. i love water and who doesn´t love a waterfall? and a brewery/hostel? well this i had to see!
D & D Brewery...the only microbrewery in Honduras. Started, owned and operated by a man from Oregon. He also has a coffee farm, blueberry farm...and they serve amazing blueberry pancakes for breakfast with their very fresh coffee! yum!
now is the time that i admit that for the first time in my trip i was scared. yep, not just nervous or apprehensive but actually a bit afraid. the crew and i headed over to the waterfall which you can view and also get a guide to take you under-beneath-behind the waterfall and into the tunnels-caverns. the photo does not really do the waterfall justice, nor does it show the amount and force of the water. in only shoes, bathing suits-shorts we found ourselves completely submerged in the water which was fun, refreshing and yes at one moment a bit scary. standing in a cavern with water up to our chests and the falls at either entrance...oh and a guide saying "come on, just look down and feel for the rocks, oh and hold hands"...yeah the longer i stood there, the longer i had time to consider the stupidity of the options before me. however not one to be left behind or one to falter to my fears i forged ahead. of course i am glad i did, not just because i overcame the momentary fear but also because the view from the next cavern-rocks was fantastic! no photos of that though or any of the experience as my camera is not waterproof...note to self, next trip, bring a waterproof camera.
a view from the hills and mountains above the village of Pena Blanca. This region of Honduras is, in my opinion, incredibly beautiful...but here´s the thing, all the parts of the country i saw were in my opinion, beautiful...ok with the exception of Tegucigalpa...not so beautiful but definitely vibrant.

As i mentioned above, i found the people of Honduras to be incredibly friendly, helpful and generous. i cannot count how many times people approached me or one of the other travelers just to see if we were ok and ask us about our travels. one of the consistent questions i was asked by people young and old, women and men.."what do you think of my country?" there is so much pride and so much passion for their country and i was so happy to say that i found the country beautiful and to hear them tell me their thoughts on places to visit, things that made their country unique and foods-drinks i had to try to truly experience Honduras.

view from a bus

these are my first glimpses of Tegucigalpa, Honduras, the capital of the country and the largest city with 1.25 million people. my first experience with Tegucigalpa was just to drive through with a short stop for the bus to drop off and pick up more people. then i stayed over night as i was returning to Nicaragua. as happens with most of the capital cities of Central America, this is not one of the main tourist stops as people say it is rather ugly and quite dangerous. i found it to be very busy (with lots of people, cars and buses), a bit dirty and rather charming in a dirty-big city kind of way. of course that opinion is based on about 12 hours of experience so take it with a grain of salt.

Quick update...

first time i have had access to the internet for many many days and in that time i went to Honduras and just an hour ago returned to Leon! there is certainly so much to say about my time in Honduras, needless to say i found it to be a beautiful country with incredibly kind people. not surprisingly i have much to say and of course photos to show so expect postings in the next few days!

yeah yeah yeah

the layout on the last posting is all screwy, i know. just click on the photo in order to see the whole thing. sorry :-(

in and around León

a few photos...firstly the beach, Las Peñitas.next, the streets of León.El Museo de la Revolucion.

in and around the cathedral.

non-linear thinking

i feel i must offer an explanation before i start this entry, not an excuse per se but some sort of reason to explain the random thoughts that will be shared below.

i am sick.

thankfully not the kind of sick that most people think of when they consider travel to Mexico or Central America. it isn´t anything serious or even anything much to speak of but i do believe it should be noted. it has probably been building the past week, sore throats in the morning, restless sleep, coughing, and yesterday the near loss of my voice. i have no doubt that the late hours i have been keeping have contributed to this recent development. hopefully today is the culmination...coughing, congestion, no voice, no appetite and a fever. it is also my last day in Leon so i am not inclined to lay low at the hostel. not to worry (yes family i am speaking to you) i have been drinking lots of liquids and even went to the store and bought 2 different types of tea to drink for the remainder of the day.

thought 1: i do not have many photos of my week in Leon and i wonder if it is because i have been spending so much time with new friends that i have forgotten, or maybe i have chosen to focus on the experience and the interactions rather than the scene.

thought 2: it is easy to enjoy and even fall in love with a place when the people who live there welcome you to their city and into their lives. i have been incredibly lucky while in Leon as i have met some wonderful people who have introduced me to places, foods and music, taught me words and games that are either unique to Leon or Nicaragua, and most importantly have shared their time (which we all know is precious all over the world) with me.

thought 3: this is more of a question than a thought...for me it is something i have been pondering. Are we more of ourselves, meaning are we more true to ourselves, when we are traveling? or stated a different way, Are we more open to life and new experiences when we are free of stress, responsiblities and/or a daily routine?

thought 4: in the age of digital cameras, when we can take thousands of photos i find it interesting that i am limited in both my ability to take photos and limited in the number of photos i can take. why am i limited in my ability to take photos...well sometimes it is just not respectful or appropriate, other times it can make you a target, and still other times in the time it takes to get your camera out to catch that spectacular moment you miss it, which means you miss seeing it and capturing it. as for the photo limit, well i didn´t bring enough memory cards and one flash drive isn´t enough to transfer photos. oh and flickr sucks. so i try to put my favorite photos here or on FB and periodically email them to myself, but of course all that takes time. i have decided these 2 things are good though, they make me more discerning and thoughtful about when i do and do not take photos.

thought 5: my attempts to learn chess have again been thwarted by my clear ineptitude. after a lengthy lesson and 1 game the Salt Man gave up on me. i give him lots of credit for his patience. luckily i fared better in the Nicaraguan card game and the Nicaraguan version of checkers.

thought 6: for all the talk of the greatness of the States, especially the infrastructure, Central America puts our public transportation system to shame.

thougth 7: again, not much of a thought so much as a rhetorical question i asked myself this morning as i was repacking my backpack: how many more things can i lose on this trip? current count: one bottle of contact solution, 1 ring, 1 tank top, 1 carabiner, and 1 cell phone. there is only one thing i ever lose in the States, sunglasses. without fail i lose them after a few months. but on this trip, they remain with me while other things, rather important things go missing. of the items listed, the most important is the contact solution. do you know how hard it is to find contact solution in CA?

thats all for now, off to drink more tea.
see you in Honduras!

a moment of ranting and raving

yesterday i updated the blog with 2 entries, one that summed up the last week or so and culminated in many many photos and explanations and the other that talked about the volcano boarding. as you may see the first did not post and i am not amused. i would love to say i will try again, but uploading all the photos and recreating the thoughtful prose and witty asides just may be too much for me.

i suppose i will start with the photos. these first few are from and in the cathedral. the next few are actually from the bell tower of the cathedral at the edge of parque central. it was a beautiful evening and the perfect moment to take photos. the cathedral itself is lovely and they allow visitors to climb up the precarious steps to the bell tower with only this plea, ¨please refrain from ringing the bells.¨now normally i wouldn´t consider it, or maybe i would but then it would immediately leave my mind. but in this instance, with every step i took, i looked at the ropes hanging from the bells and it took almost everything i had to resist the urge to pull. why is it when someone asks us not to do something we are compelled to do it?!from Granada, Charlize, my travel buddy i met in Ometepe (upon realizing we were headed in the same direction we decided to go together) and i headed up to Leon. actually she and i joined with two others who were also heading up as well. always much more fun to travel together, especially when you are going to be switching buses at random locations outside of Managua. we all had formed a tight bond the night before when we went out to El Club in Granada where not only did we girls get in free but also were served the ´ladies drink´for free the entire night, it was a fruity concoction with some rum (not flor de cana) that our sole guy deemed one more reason he was glad to be a guy. El Club was a scene, not only with a DJ and a random mix of music but fog and lighting that would put some clubs in the states to shame.

After a bus, a taxi and a minibus we arrived in Leon where we then walked and walked to our hostel. one more reason i love Nicaragua...3 times during our walk we were stopped by people asking if we needed help or directions. there was no doubt we were tourists and our maps and confused looks surely made it easy for people to see that we were clueless. still, i have had that look many many times in my travels and only on one other occasion has someone stopped to ask if i need help. Even the guy at the hostel who told us there were no beds called other hostels until he found one with space.here´s another reason to love Nicaragua and specifically Leon...the welcoming nature of the people. we went on a tour with one of the owners of the hostel who does ´cultural tours´to watch and learn about the cockfights and not only did i learn a lot (maybe more than i wanted but that has yet to be determined) but was also made to feel completely comfortable by the many men i interacted with there. more than a few times people leaned over to myself or one of the others to explain something that was going on or to answer our questions. and believe me we had many questions. our guide worked hard to explain and answer questions and help us along and his entourage from the hostel also weighed in as well. all in all it was a unique and interesting experience i will not likely forget.

volcano boarding

before i left i created a list of things i hoped to do while on this trip. while i had lots of ideas of places to visit, things to see and foods-drinks to try i considered that list just a guide something to look back to periodically while the ¨to do list¨ was more serious. i am happy to say that i have checked off the final item on that list (there weren´t that many items really)...the final item, VOLCANO BOARDING!

it is a big attraction here in Nicaragua, specifically in Leon as it is only done on one volcano, Cerro Negro. it is the youngest and most active volcano in Nicaragua; the last erruption was in 1999 and apparently it erupts about every 8 years...yes it is overdue for an erruption. so what is volcano boarding? well i could make some random attempt at describing but basically it is sledding down a volcano on a small, narrow peice of wood with a metal piece nailed to the underside.

to go you must go with a group and Charlize and i decided on Quetzaltrekkers because they are a great organization that supports a local organization that helps children and young adults called, Las Tias AND on their trek you not only get to board down 2 times you also get to hike into one of the craters (see below).

much like any other new and rather extreme activity once you get to the edge and are minutes away from taking the proverbial leap there is the thought, ¨what the hell am i doing?!¨it is that moment that i find most thrilling as it is the moment your brain registers all the information and does all the computations and comes to the understanding that all the logical evidence points to this being an illogical idea that is clearly motivated by emotion. hahaha and as all that becomes clear...you are off! speeding down the side of an active volcano!!!

want a better explanation and some cool photos, check this out...
http://www.outpostmagazine.com/2010/03/16/thrillseeker-volcano-boarding-in-nicaragua/