The adventures continue...

Including our adventure today (which will be addressed properly in the next blog), there have been so many fun stories to blog about...however, computer access has been limited. I guess the "kids" these days bring their own computer while travelling...so us more seasoned travellers do not have as many internet cafes accessible! Next time I travel I will be bringing my iphone...because there is at least wireless access everywhere!

Two random interesting stories:

1. when we walked into a hostel in Grenada, Ang and I immediately thought this specific girl looked familiar...by the time we got to our room, I had placed her and realized that in 2002 we went on a jeep tour in Australia and she was on the trip with us! So...10 years later...we end up in the same hostel in Nicaragua. Needless to say..she still had the same bad attitude....but had given up the pink hair that she was sporting a decade ago. What a small world!

2. I just have to give props to my sweet friends for what big hearts they have! When we arrived in Ometepe we immediately were all struck by a very sickly looking stray dog. I mean...I have seen a lot of stray dogs in my travels...but this one did look really sick and hungry. Long story short...Ang was soon purchasing canned sausages (gross) and bread for this dog...and Jess was lecturing Ang about how you should not feed him too much in one sitting or you would make him sick. When we came out of the "store" (picture small roadside stand) after purchasing the food...the dog was gone. We never saw the dog again until our last day...and it was almost like the universe delievered the dog to our spot on the beach before we left. Ang ran and got her sausages and bread and fed him...and when she did not think he was full (much to Jessicas disagreement)....she went back to the store and bought more sausages. Jess then convinced the owner of the hostel we were staying at to feed the dog scraps and help him get healthy. I am not sure blogging about it does the story justice....but I was just really proud to be friends with these two ladies who went so far out of their way to help a sweet, hungry dog.

Travel from Ometepe was just as choatic as it was getting there...taxi, boat, taxi. On the boat Ang and I agreed to pay Jess $200 if she would stand near the edge of the boat and open this gate and act like it opened randomly....of course at this point, she would have fallen in the water and I am guessing some choas would have ensued. We were going slow enough that nobody would have gotten hurt...but it took a lot to convince me it was worth $100 for this little prank. As soon as I agreed a random man started convincing all of us to jump off the boat. At this point we realized that the prank would not work as well because  we were already being convinced to jump off the ferry...so "pretending" the gate opened randomly, as Jess falls to the sea, was a bit to contrived. To sum this up...Jess did not win any money. This entire trip we have been playing the game " how much would you need to be paid to (fill in the blank)". Always trying to keep things exciting.

We had been told that while in San Juan Del Sur we should stay at a place called the "Naked Tiger". The name should have been enough to warn us of this place...but we decided to check it out.  On the way to said "Naked Tiger" hostel the taxi cab driver made Jess and Ang sit in the front of his taxi because he was not sure his car could make it up the hill....another great bullet point on the list of "why not to stay at Naked Tiger". We had also been told that there was a very nice "calmer" place next door if it was too much for us.

The "calmer" place was booked (of course) and we soon found ourselves in an 8 person dorm that smelled like surf, boys and feet. Ang and I have not stayed in dorms since Australia....Jess was all game at the time...but our one night stay in "Naked Tiger" convinced her she may be done with dorms for a while too. The place is total choas....serious choas....there is a pool, a tons of games....people who need some direction in their lives roaming around....and people who claim that they have been "stuck" at the Tiger for a while. "Stuck" by nothing else except their inability to acknowledge that they need to move from there...and see the rest of Nicaragua! We decided to just embrace the choas....we swam, had a few drinks, enjoyed the choas, lived the dream of every 19-24 year old traveller who travellers to San Juan Del Sur....our night in the dorms was not as bad as we would have thought...nobody snored too loud. In addition, nobody acted shocked when we moved to the "calmer" hostel next door the next day!

One of the days while in San Juan Del Sur we went fishing! It was a really fun excursion with a few Australian guys....we even caught a few fish and all of the fish were turned into fish tacos at the hostel later that night! I have not fished since I was really young...and as my mom would tell the story...I generally only went for the snacks....and to be honest....we had a few good snacks on our boat- but I did enjoy it more than expected!

We also had a chance to play around on a surfboard...I say "play around" because only Ang was able to stand up on the board and I mostly giggled and body surfed. San Juan Del Sur is beautiful....and well worth the trip! The view from both of our hostels was breathtaking.

We spent two nights at the "calm" hostel...and really loved it! There was a beautiful pool and great people...and the Australian owners were wonderful! We eventually took the bumpiest taxi ride EVER to Leon in the northern part of Nicaragua....more on the adventures here later! 

Just because it is a volcano...does not mean you should climb it....

Again my disclaimer is that this keyboard is whacked....so do not judge my grammar, spelling or punctuation.

We are currently in Ometepe...a small island south of Grenada.  The travel here was interesting and hot. We left our hotel with backpacks on...and two Isreali girls asked to walk with us to the bus. I had little time for the large rolling suitcases they brought with them....although they did a great job of keeping up through the streets of Grenada...dodging chickens, mopeds and people doubled up on their bikes. I was SO curious about the rolling suitcases I did ask them later why they chose those over backpacks... and her exact answer was "because we never have to lift them." And I can vouch that while we travelled from bus, to taxi, to ferry that day...it was in fact true...they never did lift these large bags. I guess, people do not like to see two skinny girls trying to lift their 120 lb. bags above their head...but seemed less concerned when we have ours strapped to our backs, sweating endlessly. 

The walk to the bus was typical of many walks I have had while searching for bus stations....you are searching the streets, walking along and all of a sudden everyone starts screaming at you in Spanish which way you should go..."Rivas! Rivas"....clearly, we look out of place and that is the only reason five white girls (two with rolling suitcases...can you tell I am stuck on that one?) walk down these specific streets. So...like other times, we find the bus-no problem. The bus is hot and packed and we quickly learn we may be standing for the next 2 hours....or squished 3 people deep in the smallest bus seats ever. But the people watching is amazing...and the views even better...and we just bounced along with most of Nicaragua packed on our bus. We then transfered to a taxi...that eventually took us to a ferry. I generally throw up on ferries...or boats...so, I was prepared...but it turned out only to be an hour long- bouncy ride to the island of Ometepe. We did mature things like pretended we were Kate Winslet from the Titanic from the front of the ferry, and encouraged other passengers to do the same while we snapped their photos.

Ometepe is a tiny island and we had decided to stay in a town called Santo Domingo...which was another taxi ride away. After looking at four hostels or hotels we settled on one that seemed nice enough..we have a friendly gecko in our room that has not showed his face...but does make a loud noise here and there. At least we hope it is a gecko.

The "thing" to do in Ometepe is to hike a volcano...you have two choices of volcanoes...which I guess is nice. Both take eight hours to hike. We met a woman here who is from Colorado and looked way more "Coloradan" than us...who said the hardest volcano was in fact daunting and REALLY hard. We decided on the easier one. One of the roller-bag Isreali girls asked to join us...and we got a guide. Now...all of us have hiked before....we have all done really hard hikes before...but NOTHING like this. Basically, we went straight up for 4 hours....Jess ran most of it (in my opinion)...and Ang was close behind. I might be the slowest hiker ever....I mean...in the whole world. But...I always make it to the top. Today, I was not sure I was going to. But, somehow....we all made it to the top to be met with a cloudy view of nothing...and to have lunch on an even cloudier lagoon. Now...if the hike up was not enough...we then had to come down. Please remember that we are hiking in a rain forest...and it is pouring on us.  We slipped, slid, crawled and I fell at least twice. At one point praying that the volcano would just explode and this would all be over (kidding...but not at that moment). Our guide was sort of an exaggerator of time....ie) he would tell us it was going to be one hour more...and maybe it was 2 hours more. All of us have complained of different ailments during and since the hike...Ang, her knees....Jess, her back...and my hip.  I claimed at one point I may need a hip replacement. But in some strange way...we are all glad that hiking is what we spent our day doing...and we had some good laughs...BUT...our lesson is the subject line of this blog.

We are staying in  Ometepe another night...mostly because we could not walk anywhere if we wanted to. We will be leaving for San Juan Del Sur in the morning.....taxi, ferry, taxi, bus and we should be there! Hoping to do some surfing and hanging out on the beach.

Volcanoes, pools & fashion shows...

Disclaimer...this keyboard is really hard to write on...do not judge grammar, spelling or punctuation.

A great second day travelling in Grenada. Our hostel is decent- our room a bit of a concrete cave- with a fan...but it is in a good location. We have slowly been acclimating to the humidity and the weather has been great so far. We knew we were booking during the rainy season, so had reason to worry. Two nights ago we had negotiated with a tour group to do several activities yesterday- starting with them picking us up at our hostel- seeing a few volcanoes and a market. The first part of our tour was wonderful...our guide Felipe was giving us Spanish lessons on our hike, we convinced him to teach us to salsa in the forest while we hiked...and all in all- it seemed to be going okay.... until we were in the last leg of our trip and Felipe tells us he "accidentally" only charged us for half the trip and would need to charge us for the "other half" of the trip right then. He said he had pre-paid our way into a volcano (which we knew was not true) and this and that of stories that kept changing...and so we would owe him more money. It was not the money he was trying to charge us, but the principal behind the choas....so, we told him we could not pay and he would have to take us back. Soon his story changed and changed some more...and soon enough we were still on the tour with a minimal charge (not even close to half of what he wanted to originally charge). At the end of the tour- Jessica gave him a small tip and kindly explained to him that he would have recieved more of a tip...if he had not tried to scam us in the middle of the tour. She called it a "talking tip" instead of a money tip....I have no doubt he appreciated her lesson.

After our tour I really needed to use the restroom and so we walked into a really nice hotel that seemed to be having an event going on...a ridiculously fancy event, I might add....but nobody seemed to stop our entrance...and to us that is an open invitation. The party was situatiuated around a pool- people drinking nice glasses of wine-  dressed to the nines. With minimal coaxing Jessica found it appropriate to strip down to her sports bra and shorts and take a dip. The strange thing is that nobody seemed to really bat an eye as she swam.

After her swim, we decided to go and check out some of the vendors (turns out it was an event to promote having weddings at this hotel)....and one of the random vendors was selling fair trade bags...a perfect fit for Threads! We enjoyed talking with her...and she even asked Jessica if she was a surfer (based on her wet hair and clothes...I guess).....she then invited us to a fashion show of her bags and other clothes. We tried to explain that we felt a bit grubby going to a fashion show....but then figured well....why not? Soon we were in our disgusting travel clothes at a beautiful fashion show...daring eachother to walk the runway. To calm all of your fears...none of us did walk the runway...although Jess said she would for $125. classic.

We headed back to our hostel in Grenada, with plans to take a swim, have a glass of wine and head to bed. On our way back to the hostel we saw what appeared to be Karaoke....Jess with all of her amazingly-broken-spanglish....asked if she could sing. She was turned down for some unidentifiable reason (ie: she could not understand what the man said). We continued on our way and immediately got into the pool at our hostel, where we were convinced by some American guy that we should join him for a drink out. It did not take much convincing....and we showered and headed back out with him. To be honest, although Grenada feels really safe during the day, our hostel is on a pitch black alley (i have volunteered to fund a light for the street)...and so after coming home the first night after dark....we had decided not to come home late again. BUT since we were going to be with more people...we felt much safer going out after dark.  We headed out and agan Jessica came across the Karoke place and chose to ask if she could sing even though we had still not yet confirmed if it even was a karoke party, which makes the fact that she was asking even more hilarious.  Needless to say, no gringos got to sing last night, but many Nicaraguans gave us the Karoke show of our life!

We ended up at a bar that was reported to have a pool in the middle of it....turns out it was true and as we were pushing our way through the crowd Ang is yelling at us "keep walking all the way into the pool, like you do not see it...act surprised and jump in"....I am not exactly sure why we listened...but again the four of us ended up in the pool...the only people swimming- others just enjoying the scenery of three white people now in the pool in the middle of the bar. Always a great time....

I am loving being here in Nicaragua...I keep comparing everything to India, which was such a hard trip for us mentally. Nicaraguans seem happy and fed and it is a beautiful country! We feel safe and that our minimal spanish is enough to get us around. It has reminded me how much I love travelling in central-south america...and I cant wait to figure out what is next!

Finally! The backpacks are packed...well...almost....

After a year of nursing school and finding a job- it is time to take a vacation! People have asked how I got vacation time after being at a job for such a short while....well, it is easy- I just asked. I think the best time to ask for vacation is when you just get a job...chances are they won't say no- and if they do- you just don't take the vacation. Asking never hurts anything!

So...we are off! Jessica, Ang and I are heading to Nicaragua for a little under 2 weeks. We fly out tonight at 9  p.m and so far not one of us has our backpacks completely packed...but there is stuff laying all over the floors of our rooms- if that helps! We are flying into Managua and immediately going to Grenada- that is the only hostel room we have booked- so adventure will take over from there! I will try to blog once in a while to keep people in the loop and maybe even upload some pics!