La Gran Francia Granada

... other cyclists and tuk-tuks. The trick is to avoid all of these oponents and not be thrust into the moving traffic (which is largelyconsisting of Semi trucks because of our close proximity to the Costa Rican border). So needless to say, it's thrill-cycling.

To celebrate the completion of my first week, myself and few more of the volunteers went to spend a night in the colonial city of Granada. I LOVE THIS PLACE ...

... 13th September 2009

We were woken early by Omri who was itching to get going. We walked to the ´shop´ (a hut consisting of every kind of tinned food you can possibly imagine, tinned food and water.....that´s it!). From there we took a taxi to Masaya National Park. This park has an active volcano (Volcan Santiago) which is the one of the worlds biggest natural polluters. We got a guide to drive us to the view point I suppose you´d call it. It ...

... was only the start of the close encounters for me, though not as close as some other folk's: rumour has it that four people met their maker over the course of the day, two of whom reputedly accounted for by one particularly great white bull who came complete with some particularly vicious hornage. He done for one horse also, eye witnesses reporting a horn through the neck for the poor beast. Somehow, I don't think my travel insurance covers this kind of malarky...!

Granada, Nicaragua roryd

... 8211; they
can get these at private clinics, but this expenditure is well out of
the reach of almost all women in the community.
In order to make
the activities of these committees sustainable, we have also been
holding handicraft sessions, where the women share their skills in
knitting, crocheting, embroidering and other crafts. Even before my
internship ended, we were already selling these products in the
community, and we ...

... migh not have enough to eat. If I do go, I support the business of riding on a horse drawn cart with tourists. PFffff difficult. And my daughter and I decide not to do it. This is complete nonsens because the day after I go to Pure, a welness center just a few blocks away from the hotel where I go for a Reiki session. I love it and it really does a lot of good to me but I can't help feeling stupid, working on my wellbeing while so many people are hungry out there.
 

 

 

... Not feeling too bad despite no sleep, we looked forward to a beautiful Caribbean sea crossing. Beautiful Caribbean sea my a***. It was the roughest sea I have ever seen, never mind been on. The boat, a RIVER boat we discovered later, not for the ocean, was overcrowded so many of us were unable to go inside and were packed on deck getting absolutely soaked by the waves hitting us. There weren't enough life jackets to go round. Most of us vomited ...

... Kayaktouren etc. Leider hatte man auch dort schon gelernt, die Touris und ihre Geldbeutel zu schröpfen. Na ja, auch ne Art Ess- und Alkoholkonsum in Grenzen zu halten :) Stattdessen schwangen wir uns auf zwei Leihraedler, mit dem Ziel, mittags um drei noch schnell die Insel zu umrunden. Rings um den Vulkan am Ufer entlang, das kann ja nicht so wild sein. Dachten wir! Hoch und runter und schwüles Wetter und dann noch eine ...

Another early up, ate breakfast, grabbed a taxi to a chicken bus. We got there a bit late. No seats available on this one. Next one was 1.5 hours later, and we would miss the boat to Ometepe Island.. They crammed us in. Barb and I each got 1/2 a bun on a seat. The ride was 1 and 1/2 hours long. Temp inside was a cool 98 degrees F. No A/C! What an ordeal! The bus seemed to stop every 1/4 mile or so to drop someone off or pick ...

... for an hour.inside, and around the mall. Had a cup of Cuban coffee, so I should be walking all day. Down the street is a language school: Instituto Technologico Americano. I am going to talk at a teachers seminar there Friday and do some teacher training. I got a lot done by 11am. Time to study Spanish. (Make sure you click Hybrid on ...