La Islita Granada

... and all pitch in to buy your very own ISLAND. Then we could all share it and live happily ever after. Thoughts?

We cruised around for about an hour and made it safely back to the dock. Phew. We tried to find a good souvenir store but had no luck, so we wandered through the local market instead. The stuff they sell in there is unbelievable. Then, we got more orange sodas. They are going to have to come up with some kind of orange soda methadone for us ...

... br>Confused History Lesson

Nicaragua is the poorest of the Central American countries and is still licking its war wounds from a long history of fighting, which really only ended about 15 years ago. The wars were vicious and there were no victors. It’s not clear who was fighting for whom or for what and it seems that somewhere along the line the ideological principles and reasons got confused and blood lust became the main driver, or else it could be, and ...

... mind blowing sunset. One of the nicest
I have seen in a long long time. Every part of the sky and lake was a
different colour and every 10 minutes the sky would look completely
different with different clouds being highlighted.

Thursday, 17 September, Day 234

Isla De Ometepe, Managua


We hiked up the other side of the small volcano today. It wasn’t a hike
this time, just a steady bushwalk a few ...

... en naast me een stelling met colaflessen vol met jodium en andere chemische goedjes. Er werd een oude stadionlamp op mijn hoofd gericht en binnen een paar tellen stond ik met een geel hoofd weer buiten...wat cola al niet met je doet!
Maar het gaat goed! Morgen gaan we een dagje zwemmen in het kratermeer....kunnen de schaafwonden lekker weken....de kuit weer op gang komen....en voor de rest voorzichtig met de zon op het bolletje.

We ...

Ja, we zitten nog steeds in Granada...want het is hier gewoon fantastisch!!
Wat hebben we zoal gedaan.....nou, ik zal het je vertellen. Inmiddels zijn we over de helft van onze vierde week Spaans studeren op Casa Xalteva...de tijd vliegt voorbij. We hebben inmiddels wel veel vorderingen gemaakt met de cursus...en we hebben besloten om er nog twee weken aan vast te plakken. De sfeer op de school is erg informeel en gezellig. Ook de lessen vliegen voorbij ...

Ice cream - now, there is a good way to start any story. It was a cake cone with two scoops of Haagen dazs; baileys irish cream and dulce de leche. Note: my addiction to ice cream dates back to middle school despite my slight lactose intolerance. After this pre-flight treat Sophie and I waited anxiously for our flight to Nicaragua.

On the red-eye from LAX to Mexico City we squirmed for momentary comfort, catching 20min naps at best.

We ...

... more tactile activities such as making
our own healthy refreshments that were rich in the nutrients we had
discussed during the workshop.
We also wrote a letter to the
municipal office of the Ministry of Health in Tola to request visits
from Ob/Gyns to give consults to the pregnant women in the community at
least once every two months. Without this service, most women go
without sonograms and other “standard” prenatal care ...

... aus d** Schwiz (hihihiii...). Ja, dann habe ich mit ihnen auf Jeanettes Mac ein Int**view gemacht. also sie machten es, ich half ihnen einfach, gab ihnen Tipps, **mutigte sie,... Es war echt sup**! Sie hatten so viel Freude und En**gie, es war so toll! Und sie zeigen dir so viel Dankbarkeit, du moechtest gar ncht mehr aufho**en mit ihnen zu arbeiten. Es war echt eine sup** Erfahrung. Eigentlich wa**e ich ja sehr g**ne ein bisschen dort ...

... flick fix, we headed off to Managua to drop Mary and Becca off to volunteer at a garbage dump, to buy ourselves a visa for Nicaragua (as we were told we had 5days to leave the country!)...this was a make or break day in terms of travel plans! We got our visa for 10dollars...so decided to stay in Nicaragua, Mary checked in with the volunteering place (but is back with us now), and we made our way down to the colonial city of Granada. Granada is ...

... the Ojo de Agua, horseback riding (yay!!), hiking a steep, muddy volcano, taking pictures of livestock, and searching for howler monkeys. I loved every minute on this island. You could be as active as you wanted to be or you could veg on the hotel porch, watching hummingbirds visit the garden flowers. The 9-hour volcano hike was probably the hardest, and I had already decided I wasn't going to do it when I met Esther, a girl I had met in Leon, at the front ...