TravelStream™ news feed for member sstrauch on TravelPod's free travel blogs service http://www.travelpod.com/syndication/rss/sstrauch en-us Copyright ©2009 TravelPod.com Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:46:42 -0400 http://www.travelpod.com http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195514280/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195514280/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195514280/tpod.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 21:46:42 -0400 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Granada, Nicaragua

Yesterday, Melissa and i returned from Laguna de Apollo and spent the day hanging out in the main square in the middle of granada. there was a talent show sponsored by a local church and acts of all kinds were performing all day. Most featured music or dance and there was quite a variety of that, from mariachi type? music to kids rapping. Our favorite act was a traditional dance routine by a troupe of little girls. so cute.

Melissa noted that in europe these shows would be put on for the tourists, but here it was all locals. you really feel like you are peering into life in nica while you are here. After that, we went for dinner at a local spanish restaurant and called it a night.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195405980/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195405980/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195405980/tpod.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:07:07 -0400 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Laguna de Apollo, Nicaragua

Yesterday, Mel and i decided to pack a backpack with a few things and head out to laguna de apollo, a 15 minute drive from granada and one of nicas cleanest lakes. To start, we had to find a ride. Being saturday, buses were hard to find so after searching for 30 minutes we gave up and decided to hire a taxi. my guide book said it should cost $7 (125 cordobas) but i stopped 5 taxis and none would take under 200. on the 6th one, i agreed to 200 and we were off... kind of. the dudes car 'barely' worked. after about 1 mile, he pulled int a gas station and checked under the hood. things seemed ok so we meandered on at 30km under the speed limit. another mile later a cab motioned to him and he pulled over and took the cab sign off the top of the car... i look at him suspiciously and he admitted that he has not paid the 20 dollar fee to drive a cab in the adjoining district of masaya. i smile. we continue on.

soon we are decending down the road to la leguna. it is georgeous! picture lake chelan with no visible houses or structures around it. la leguna is actually the top of a blown off volcano. the volcano is mostly dormant but it does have some heat vents still active. it's 200 meters deep at the center, the lowest point in central america. soon, the road turns to dirt and dirt turns deeply rutted. with every bump i am sure this car will die and i will leave the poor guy stuck in the middle of nowhere. to boot, the driver has no idea where 'proyecto ecologico' is so we ask everyone on the road. soon, its become appearant that we've gone too far. but when the driver attmepts turn around, he pulls forward in a 3 point turn and goes too far and... HIS FRONT WHEEL GOES OVER THE EDGE OF A REVINE (5 ft deep).

i get out and give him the universal symbol of badness, a guilty 'we're fucked' smile. luckily the generocity of nicas won out again. 5 guys sitting on the side of the road saw us and while at the same time exclaiming 'idiota!' repeatedely, they proceeded to climb down into the revene and hold the car up as he put it into reverse and got us out. i was ashamed that i didn't join them to help but being under the car was extremely dangerous. good for them, better folk than i.i gave the guy 50 extra cordobas as we pulled up for his trouble.

the proyecto ecologico is an amazing place. a small hut, it houses a spanish school and researchers who study that huge variety of birds, butterflies, monkeys and fish found in the area. one woman showed us a rare nocturnal butterfly she had caught the prior night. for $3.75 they home cooked steak and potatos for us for lunch. mel and i proceeded to lay on a hammok beneath the forest canopy, maxing and relaxing for hours. that evening we went for a quick swim in the lake where a flock of birds repeatedly dive bombed around us, picking flies off the surface of the lake. And mel saw 5 or 6 unique birds including one that looked like an eagle. as we turned around, the biggest suprise was that WE WERE JOINED BY 2 PIGS who decided to clear some grass at the waters edge. although it was a bit disturbing to think about pig waste so close to the water, they made good company.

that night it was another home cooked meal then mel played cards with a guy from california who came here to learn spanish, a traveler fro australia and a local monkey researcher. i read a book.

i was a bit concerned about the night. mel and i did not take the antimalarials before coming here. mel didn{t like how toxic they were and my stomach was too screwed up. moreover, we forgot to pack the mosquito net in our overnight pack. the woman said we'd be fine on the 2nd floor, but we slept in our clothes with DEET covering our necks anyway. for further protection, Mel wrapped herself so completely in her bed sheet that she looked like a she was wearing a burka. got a funny picture of her mosquito protection. in the end, we escaped without a single bite. ok, we're paranoid gringos.

of course, we got very little sleep. in washington, i love camping because the forest is sooo quiet. it's so refreshing to get out of the lights and sounds of the city and to the complete silence of the forest. here was exactly the opposite! it sounded like i was in the middle of the central plaza of animal kingdom. The chattering, squacking, cricketing, squeeking, barking and cockadoodledoing of the nights transactions was unrelenting. and our house was made of a single .5 inch layer of wood so we could hear every noise loud and clear. it was cool and agrevating at the same time. i wanted to shoot the rooster so bad. he better watch his back.

in the morning the researches had gone out to study monkeys so we were by ourselves with the housekeeper and the australian. after a breakfast of fresh fruit and granola, we took off, needing to get our stuff out of the hotel in granada before 11.

we desparately want to return to proyecto ecologico next week to go monkey and birdwatching.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195308240/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195308240/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195308240/tpod.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 19:02:09 -0400 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Granada, Nicaragua

Ok, day 2. First of all, good health news. Test results came back and i have the h pylori bacteria which causes ulcers. It's piece of mind b/c i finally know what's been bothering me. And it's easily treatable with antibiotics. The doc said i could choose whether or not to treat in nica or afterward. I'd like to treat here, but getting in touch with the doctor and getting meds here is well... a challenge. Enough with that, hopefully my last health related post...

Yesterday started off with some strangely nicaraguan events. First, i was awaken by what sounded like gun shots but ended up being fireworks. I never found out why, but it's appearantly a regular thing because they started shooting them off again at night and no one seemed to care. So i got up and meandered out in front of the hotel just to stretch. As i stood there, a cop drove by and honked and glared at me. Not sure what that was all about. In general, the police are much more visible here, but they seem friendly, honker dude excluded. Unlike the US you tend to find police meandering around the neighborhoods, just keeping an eye out.

Next i had breakfast with a toucan. No i wasn't eating fruit loops :). I sat at a table in the 'restaurant' in our hotel (a few tables set up in the lobby). This hotel rocks! A simple breakfast is included with your stay: scrambled eggs, rice & beans, toast, juice. While my order was being cooked, a toucan flew over to my table and perched on the chair directly across from me. He stayed there for the rest of the meal, hoping for a handout. At one point, he got down, walked over and attempted to climb up my leg to my lap. smart guy! I gave him a firm "no" and he slumped his head and returned to the chair.

After that, i woke mel up and she went down for breakfast. As we ate a crowd of young boys collected outside the hotel waiting to try to sell us something. Occasionally one would slip in and make it to our table, but we would say no, gracias and they were immediately gone. It was really sad to see 10-12 year old boys working on a friday morning. :( But they, like everyone here were so friendly. In fact, that has been a universal of our experience, friendly, generous people. At that moment, i was eating my 2nd breakfast which the hotel gave to me for free just because they didn't want to see me sitting without food while Mel ate.

After breakfast, we walked through the center square of town. Wow, was i suprised. I expected it to be filled with tourists, like a european city center. But instead it was filled with Nicas. There were kids playing soccer on a make shift field (chalk on concrete marked the field, bookbags marked the goals) during the lunch break from school. There were vendors out selling food and drink... a juice sold in plastic bags tied at the top around a straw were very popular. Groups of old men were gathered chatting animatedly. There were taxi and horse drawn carraige drivers waiting for the tourists. And ther were many people just meandering around. And a large church service was in progress in this highly catholic country.

In Europe you feel like you are surrounded by tourists and if you look hard you can spot locals like finding waldo. In granada, you have to 'spot the tourists' among the locals. And the art to finding the tourists is easy: Go in a restaurant or cafe. Because the tourists tend to stick to the 'safer' restaurants (and they can afford them), they congregate there. but outside that, tourists are tougher to find. You truly feel like you are meandering through the locals lives as you meander through the city.

After lunch we went in search of a spanish language school, which took us around the city and down to the waterfront. The main street to the waterfront is nicer with small colonial houses surrounded by rich greenery filled with birds. A small river of sewage flows between the houses and the street though. It is this type of sewage that spilled into the streets during the recent torential rains in north western Nica that have caused a bacterial infection outbreak that has killed 10 and sickened 7,000.

On the way back from the waterfront, we took a back street through a barrio. Small houses line each side of the street. They tended to have corregated roofs, no a/c and 3 rooms... The front doors were almost always open to create breeze so mel and i peered in. There was usually a TV in the front room and a few rocking chairs, a small kitchen in back and maybe space for a bedroom. Every once in a while you would pass the wreckage of a house which usually still had a family living 'in' it. On the way, we pass an old woman lying on the street who startles me by asking not for a cordoba (the usual request; 6 cents american) but for a sip of my water.

Kids here seem to be having soooo much fun. They were out in the streets playing catch, throwing tennis balls off the house fronts, kicking soccer balls, racing around on bikes and just generally being kids. Melissa often laments that our neighborhood seems so sterile and dry. You never see kids just out in the street playing. We missed this. I wanted to play catch with the kids, but didn't have guts to do it. Maybe next week...

Eventually we found the perfect language school. It's a non-profit boys home that runs classes to raise funds. The boys come in the morning to study and eat breakfast. Then after school they return to eat dinner. The guy we chatted with said the boys usually go to his house after school to sleep there. Classes run 4 hours per day from 8am till noon. After that they have optional excursions to all the typical tourist places like volcan mombacho and the isletas. They also teach salsa lessons at night! We'll be staying with a Nic a family next week too.

The guy we were chatting with was young, my age probubly and super nice... a gentle friendly soul. He asked about our lives and we asked about his. He told me that he befriended an american once who invited to fly him to boston to see a red sox game, all expenses paid, but he could not get the visa :(.

To get all this and information about the classes, family stay, etc. i had to use my spanish. very few people speak english here outside the restaurants, cafes and tourist spots. It's been so much fun finally, actually using all that class knowledge. You take classes for so long that you think of a foriegn language abstractly like 'math' or 'science' and you forget that people actually speak it! When you say something and the person across from you understands it and responds the hair on my arms stand on end!

Well, today we think we are going to hike out to Laguna de Apollo. Hasta luego. Time to wake Mel up ;) - Steve
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195181520/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195181520/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1195181520/tpod.html Fri, 24 Oct 2008 18:56:28 -0400 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Granada, Nicaragua

Today we arrived in Nicaragua! We took a 3.5 hr flight from Seattle to Atlanta, then after a 4 hour layover, a 3.5 hr flight to Managua, Nicaragua. The flights went fine and we arrived on time. The airport in Managua was smaller than i expected, one simple terminal with immigration, customs and 2 luggage reclaim belts. After grabbing our luggage, we looked up outside the glass wall of the airport and there was a large crowd of people pressed up against the glass waiting on incoming passangers. It was a bit intimidating, but luckily... one person had a sign with my name on it... our ride to Granada

the hotel we are staying at, Casa San Francisco, allows you to get a ride from the airport for $35. Thats alot by Nica standards, but since we had no idea what to expect in Nicaragua and it was our first moment in the country, we took the easy ride. Our driver, Gustavo was extremely friendly. On the 45 minute drive to Granada, he pointed out the sites and described the scenery. it was really nice, but it was all in spanish! I had to remember my high school spanish really quickly. I was suprised how much i was able to say to him and understand.

The ride itself was a bit jarring. Despite the info about Nica being such a poor place, it was still difficult to see the immense poverty all around you. Many houses didn´t have windows and looked like ´burned out shells´ with corrogated roofs. Even Granada, itself is ´on the upswing´. There is a small, nice tourist area with a block of european style open air restaurants. But outside of that, the roads are potholed, the houses basic at best. I expected more this tourist town to be upscale, but we didn´t come here for upscale. We are getting just what we wanted.

The hotel is beautiful colonial structure. A small, elegant restaurant in the front, leads to a courtyard where 8 rooms surround a small pool. There are parrots and toucans in the courtyard! The room is basic but comfortable, a bed, AC, a TV with cable. yay, we haven´t had cable in almost a year so we watched a bad danny davito movie. I had the fajitas for lunch and they were super tasty.

Mel is doing pretty good. She had a nice nap when we got here and although her appetite is still adjusting to the heat (very hot and muggy, like Miami), she´s in good spirits. So am i except that my stomach has been really unreliable. It was awful during our trip. I was extremely nauseous on the flight, but my stomach settled down as we settled in. Unfortunately, i at some pasta for dinner that´s got it in an uproar again which could mean bad things for my sleep tonight.

well, that´s all for now. Tomorrow we´ll explore the city and try to find a language school for next week. We´ll also figure out what we are going to do this weekend, which could include a trip to a lazy lake, laguna de apollo or a hike up a volcano or who knows what else.

much love, mel and steve (written by steve... i´ll get mel to do the next post hee, hee)
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1198192740/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1198192740/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1198192740/tpod.html Thu, 20 Dec 2007 18:39:04 -0500 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Masaya, Nicaragua

Hey, a quick message that mel and i have emerged from the nothern mountains of nicaragua. After Tisey, we spent 2 nights in Esteli, 5 nights at the Finca Esperanza Verde, a night in Matagalpa and tonight in Masaya, then tomorrow it´s home to seattle.

Here´s a summary of our latest adventures:

Finca Esperanza Verde was one heck of a treck from Esteli, although i don´t think it´s more than 60 miles, it took us all (long, hot) day. first, we took a cab to the esteli bus station, then took a long bus over a slow rutted road to Matagalpa. The road is absolutely breathtaking as you head up into the mountains where ´black gold´ (coffee) is king. The coffee is grown in the mountains at elevation,then brought down to huge industrial plots where it is laid out to dry. On the bus, plot of after plot of drying coffee passes on both sides.

From Matagalpa, we took another bus up to Yukul, which consisted of, as far as i could tell, a few pulperias (convenience stores) and a bunch of residences. Life here is very simple. The hills have been horribly deforested for coffee growth, so they don´t have proper big wood for building houses. Istead, the houses are made with small tree branches bundled and interlinked like lincoln logs, with mud filling in the gaps. A typical mud hut may be a few hundred square feet and contain a bed and a few hammocks, a ´kitchen´ with a fire for cooking. Typically, there were a few family animals like chickens, roosters and pigs, a dog and a few kids meandering around each house. At the time we past, the kids could be seen walking up the road with large bundles of wood balanced on their heads, returning with fire wood for dinner.

From Yukul, mel and i had to hike over 2 miles up a steep rocky path to the finca. With our heavy packs on we struggled up the road and were, as usual soaked in sweat and ready for a big dinner upon arrival.

The finca is a relaxing, picturesque coffee farm. It´s won numerous eco-tourism awards and is incredible low impact. It grows shade grow coffee, uses solar cells for power, employs only locals and pays a fair wage. There are 4 hiking trials, a few cabins, and a lot of hammocks and rocking chairs for relaxing. Mel and i spent 4 days watching birds, and learning about the coffee traid. The food here is made from scratch and was amazing. One day we got to make our own corn tortillas and it really hit home how much work the cook did for us every day. We also roasted our own coffee over the fire stove and got to see how they picked and harvested the coffee. The most impactful moment for me was watching a young man sort the beans into 1st, 2nd and 3rd tier quality. To think that when i have premium coffee, EVERY SINGLE BEAN has been examined by some dude in one of these countries really struck me.

We got to see tons of cool birds too and we meandered past a sloth on one hike. We also met some nice Danish and Candian folks and spent a night chatting with a guy who was writing the next version of the moon guide wéve been using. At night, we´d just sit in the rocking chairs, stairing out over the mountan range, shrouded in clouds and watch the sun set. All in all it was a relaxing and refreshing.

Now, after another days travel, we are in masaya for some christmas shopping. See you soon!
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197596880/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197596880/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197596880/tpod.html Thu, 13 Dec 2007 22:31:38 -0500 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Leon, Nicaragua

Yesterday, Mel and i made the agonizingly long trip to Estelli. In the US, this trip would probubly have taken an hour, but in Nica it took 3.5. The road was so potholed that during one stretch of an hour, i don´t think the bus topped 10 miles an hour. We bought a big thing of water before the trip but couldn´t drink it because there were no bathroom breaks in this trip and the shaking of the potholes had us both needing to go!

Our non-express bus only went to San Isidro, so we caught a second short bus to Esteli. During that trip, i chatted it up with a woman who convinced mel and i to forsake the Miraflor reserve for the closer Tisey reserve. Tisey is a huge organic farm and reserve co-managed by the Nature Conservancy and a moon guide must see. Miraflor would have required yet another interminably long bus ride. As it turns out, the bus from Esteli to Tisey was 10 miles straight up hill on a gravel road in a packed school bus, so even that took another hour and a half.

During that trip i met a woman who just aquired the extremely-difficult-to-get US visa. She plans to visit LA in January and wants to stay as an illegal alien. She has a nice life here, a 2 story (very rare in nica) house right off the tisey reserve. But she has illusions about the US and what she can earn there. I told her that it would be hard to create a good life for herself as an illegal. Big life changes ahead for her!

By the time we arrived we didn´t have much energy, but luckily the ´best vista in all of Nicaragua´ (according to the moon guide) was .5 miles away, so we walked up a hill behing the Posada and from the top was a stunning 270 degree view of the entire country, and views north of El Salvador and Houduras. Amazing.

Then we rested the afternoon away in our cabana before dinner. There was a rockin´ party going on nearby with some of the worst karioki in history of the world. The best part was when the drunk men attempted to sing english songs (none of them speak a word of english). Their rendition of Hey Jude had mel and i cracking up. In general, we were annoyed as we came to the country side to get away from obnoxious noise.

Our anger didn´t last long. During dinner, one of the men in the group came up and chatted us up. He had only arm and explained to me that the part was an after work afair for a non proft group devoted to making Nicaragua more accessible to those with disabilities. I will really, really miss the nica people. Not in a million years would someone have just come up to our table in the US and started chatting with us.

After our first cold night in 3 weeks (we´re up in the mountains now), we woke this morning and hired a guide to explore the reserve. The guide, Victor, was extremely nice and took us on a long meandering walk through the fields and forests. I was super impressed with mel as she chatted victor up for hours in spanish. Her spanish has come so far!

We saw shade grown coffee cultivation, observed many interesting birds including a cool woodpecker, saw orchids growing in the trees of this cloud forest, treked through fields of cows and horses and generally had a wonderful walk with victor and the 3 posada dogs. And we stopped by a local farm that is famous for its swiss cheese (mel and i bought some).

But the highlight and if you go to nica you MUST MUST MUST meet this man, was the 75 year old sculptor. To help cure his boredome he began chisteling in the local rocks a few decades back. Over time he as created a magnificent wall of sculputures that outline the culture and history of nicaragua. But like most of our best moments here, the best part was the man himself. Missing all but 4 teeth and living in a wooden box of a house not more than 200 square feet, he litterally jumped out of his shack to greet us. As we walked up to the rock wall, he pointed out the pinapples, papaya, coffee, oranges, sweet limes and other inhabitants of his lush garden.

On the way, he asked how we were doing and victor answered that we were tired and a bit thirsty from all the walking. Well, this man immediatly bound straight up an orange tree to retrieve some fruit for us! I have a picture of him hanging, at least 30 feet up from a tenousously small branch!, picking the fruit off. "Don´t worry, i´ve only fallen once!" he exclaimed. 75 years old!

As the juice from the organic oranges dripped down our faces, the man excitedly showed off his sculputures, dusted off benches for us to rest and generally treated us like royalty. After an hour so (and a fresh sweet lime, which he insisted we try), we left. I gave him a nice tip for his hospitality, which i can´t do justice in words.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197426600/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197426600/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197426600/tpod.html Tue, 11 Dec 2007 22:19:12 -0500 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Leon, Nicaragua

Melissa and I just returned from an amazing 2 day excursion to Volcan Telica.

We took a guided hike with Quetzal Trekkers, a nonprofit that helps street kids in Leon. For $37 each, we signed up for a 2 day, 12 mile round trip, 2000 foot elevation gain hike up to the crater of a live volcano, with a sleep over at the crater.

Our hike began at 7am with breakfast and packing at QT office. QT provided a nice breakfast of pbj and hardboiled eggs and also lent us sleeping mats and bags. Mel and I ate, cleared out our packs, repacked with the essentials for the trip and met our 2 guides (a 20ish guy from Arizona and a 20ish German girl) and our 2 fellow hikers, a couple in their 40s from London.

Around 8:15, we hopped on a local bus for the bus station. the local buses here look something like 25 year old pick up trucks with benches on each side in the truck bed and a cover for shade. They cost 15 cents to ride. A 1/2 mile later, we arrived at the bus station which is also a bustling market. Vendors are grilling up all kinds of wonderful smelling meats and preparing foods for their daily rounds (sold on the buses from baskets balanced on the head). We purchased gallo pinto, a rice and beans mixture that is the mainstay of nica cuisine (ie. it´s what people eat for most of their meals). Then we popped on a bus for San Jacinto.

The day was very hot, mid-90s and the bus was sweltering and packed to the brim, no standing room, like usual. We managed to grab the last seats for the 40 minute drive. At San Jacinto we got off and walked up to the famous Hervideros, or boiling mud pits. The mud pits are about 50 yards by 30 yards of roped off ground with, well, big boiling pits of mud.

Like just about every major tourist attraction here, this Moon Guide "must see" was completely empty except for the street kids who will walk you safely through the mud pits for a few cents. We walked around for a few minutes and i must say that moon is right. You MUST SEE these! Geology is so theoretical in school, that seeing the boiling mud, seeing the steam arising from the ground you are standing on and hearing is gurgling makes you hyper aware of the tremendous forces at work right under your feet. The heat is so great, it´s boiling the ground!

After a few minutes baking at the hervideros, we strapped our heavy overnight packs to our backs and began the grueling 6 mile hike to the volcano crater. That hike was one of the most intense physical experiences i´ve ever undertaken.

Getting to the volcano requires a guide to navigate you through the winding paths through local farms. It starts with 2 miles in a river bed, surrounded by fields of peas, corn and flowers. You are passed regularlyl by farm workers on horses on their way out to work. The river bed is lower than the fields and protected by a row of trees so there was NO breeze. We packed over a gallon of water for the trip and within 20 minutes my shirt was sopping and i was concerned that i didn´t pack enough water! After an hour and a half we stopped at a grapefruit tree and, thank god!, the Brit was able to knock a few down from way up in the tree. So we feased on the grapefruit and shade then started on the 2nd phase, emerging from the river bed and winding through the fields, throug a pass between 2 mountains.

The path was often completely overgrown and we found ourselves battling the overgrowth is several areas. Despite the lack of shade, it was a bit cooler due to the breeze and i regained a little hope that i could actually finish this hike. Another break under a breezy tree and it´s time for the 3rd part of the hike, straight up the volcano to the crater. All 2000 feet of elevation come right at the end in a sweltering stair stepper hour plus. By this time, i had downed a liter and half of water and within about 20 minutes of the hike up i was a bit worried again. You see, the last time i did a rigerous hike, i got a bad case of dehydration sickness and woke up in the middle of the night with uncontrolable shivers, diahria and incoherent speech. This hike was much more demanding and if something went wrong, we were hours from any medical attention.

Nevertheless, we perservered and made it to the lip of a lava field (rocks), descended into the field and set up camp about 200 yards from the lip of a massive volcano. Its impossible to describe the feeling, but the most powerful part is the sound. Our guide described it as like the roar of a jet engine, but i think it was more like the ocean. You know when you lay out at the ocean, you can hear so many waves that it sounds almost like one continuous breaking wave? Well, that´s what you hear, only it´s not an ocean of water, its an ocean of gurgling, bubling molten lava, with a steady release of gaseous sulpher rising out. (This volcano last erupted in 2000).

As we set up camp it rained, which caused the volcano to spew sulpher steam in a column it rose up, cooled then fell down the other side of the volcano, an unbelievable sight that you don´t want to be caught in, we were very glad that the prevailing wind points away from the campsite.

When the steam died down a bit, we treked up to the lip of the crater, crawled up on our bellies and peaked over the egde. All you could see was steam, but the sound was now clear as that jet engine and the sulpher quickly choked you so you couldn´t stay long.

Our guide forgot matches and we were not enjoying the prospect of cold hot dogs, but luck prevailed. Using binculars, our guide spotted a few campesinos at the only house within sight, about a half mile away. With luck, they were just leaving to find their horses, which they release after work to graze on the land around the volcano. They saw us and hiked all the way up the volcano. They had a lighter so they then followed the guide to camp and started a fire. What great guys! We asked them how they could get home in hte pitch dark and they said they knew the area like the back of their hands. I dont´know how they do it. It´s so dark here that i can´t even see the back of my hand at night!

Meanwhile, mel and i watched the sunset from the volcanoe edge.

After dinner and smores, everyone went to bed except mel and i. We decided to make a night hike up to the crater edge to see the molten lava, which is visible directly only at night. with flashlights, we struggled up the lava rocks and peaked over the edge to see the molten cauldren. I have to admit that i wimped out and only saw a bit of the lava. To really get a good view, you have to stick your head pretty far over the edge. Mel did it though, and she was blown away.

After sauntering back, we went to sleep, along with our guides in a 4 person tent. The night was windy and warm and along with the horses that decided to graze in our campsite, woke me up constantly. At one point, i had to pee and even that experience was awesome!... as i stared out into the milky way, crisp and clearly visible in the night sky you only get when you are miles from any source of light.

In the morning, mel and one guide woke up early to watch the sun set, then we had pbj and a hardboiled egg that we carted from the prior morning... we all admired the volcano for a bit and took one last journey the edge, then started on the trek back, which luckily was much cooler due to a breeze (relatively speaking, of course! i didn´t worry about dying on the way back :)

Mel and i struggled though, due to exhaustion and straggled back, soaking in sweat and covered in dirt. On the way, we got to watch the field workers a bit and chat about the luck we have that our jobs don´t require us to pick and haul vegetables 10 hours a day, 6 days a week in 90-100 degree temp for a dollar or two a day.

We had another delicous lunch at a comedor right near the mud pits, then returned to leon for a day of resting up. Tomorrow it´s on to Miraflor (via a 3.5 hour ride in yet another un-ac´d bus on a highly rutted road. the destination will be worth it though! Miraflor is the largest natural reserve in nicaragua. We´ll do some bird watching and learn more about how they harvest coffee and veggies in the moutains.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197229860/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197229860/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197229860/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:55:07 -0500 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Leon, Nicaragua

Today is a rest day. We are just getting as healed and healthy as possible before tomorrow when we are hiking up Volcan Telica, a 2300 foot tall active volcano about 30 minutes ouside Leon. We are hiking it through Quetzal Treckers, a nonprofit whos income supports street kids here. We´ll get to camp at the top and explore the rim and it´s lava filled crater at night.

I´m really looking forward to it, excpet that my stomach has had a really rough week. I´m trying to hold out until we return to the US for the medicine i need for my h.pylori stomach infection but it means alot of diaharia and stomach aches. I hope i´m up for the hike. It´s hotter than every today.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197228360/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197228360/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197228360/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:50:44 -0500 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Leon, Nicaragua

Yesterday, Mel and i went to the beach to relax for the day. We grabbed cab for $10 for the 20 minute ride over a deeply rutted road. Not only did we have to endure the bumps, but also our cabbies crazy attempts to avoid them as he swerved onto the side of the road or into oncoming traffic to get any advantage over them. Of course, this was nothing compared to the ride back!

Unfortunately, we picked the wrong day to visit. Being the saturday after purisma, all of nicaragua had the day off and according to dennis ´all of leon goes to the beach´. We wanted to spend the night at a hostel then visit Isla Juan Venudo the next morning, a big habitat for migratory birds. However, there were no available rooms to be had and a massive crowd on the beach.

In general, the beach looked beautiful. It was scortching hot but no one rents sun umbrellas (I see business opportunity). We laid our stuff out on the beach right next to the surfing school hut. However, within a few minutes we found out why our friend jill didn´t have a good experience here. There were many roving gangs of teenagers. They weren´t gang members, just sets of friends, but they were drunk. Nicarguan men are very agressive toward women when sober and even more so when drunk. Within 5 minutes of me lying down i was dousted with wet sand. I looked up to see 2 teens walking by. I started to give them a nasty glare when i realized that this wasn´t the type of environment where i wanted to piss someone off. But they saw me and doubled back immediately. Luckily, it was only to apologize. They claimed that they were throwing sand at each other and one missed and hit me. they shook my and mels hand, said sorry and continued on.

A few minutes after that, i decided to get my feet wet and waded into the water. The waves were way too big for swimming but i just inched in. I wasnt away from melissa for 1 minute when two guys approached her. As i saw this, i immediately doubled back, strongly suggesting that they leave ¨Vaya, vaya¨ (go, go!) But they, like the last guys, claimed that they were only trying to ask the time because they wanted catch a bus. And they spent the next 30 minutes telling me about how they weren´t thieves, they loved their mother, they respected the law...bla bla bla. They did tell me an interesting story about how we were laying out on what used to be the dividing line between the Samosa and Sandonista sides of the beach and how his mother had once admonished him... "If you go to the samosa side, they will kill you". He also said that we should be on our guard because theives came from Managua to pray on foreigners at the beach. (Everyone blames all crime on managua. Leoneses would never rob you but managuans would!) ¨They will walk up and ask you the time, then pull you close, pull out a knife and demand your money¨. He reanacted this as i did my best to look cool while trying to translate his spanish and ensure that he was reenacting and not actually robbing me! (the lack of an actual knife and the long lecure on his morals gave it away). He also told me about the american doctor who completed heart surgery on him and paid for his first year of medical studies. Appearantly, many american doctors come here to help as they are chronically understaffed of surgeons in nica.

I think he could have kept talking for hours, but i eventually intervened and mel and i decided to leave the beach. We ate lunch, took a walk along a calmer part of the beach, then decided to catch a bus back to leon since i didn´t have the money for a cab.

Oh man the bus! Not to self and others. Nica buses are usually packed to the brim and that´s ok. but i would NOT recommend being the first person standing on a long bus ride on a huge national holiday on a bus returning from the beach. BAD IDEA!

Mel got the last seat, which meant i needed to stand. And because i was the first person standing, i had to go to the rear of the bus where there is a small open space beind the last row of seats. As the bus started to fill with standing people i very smartly recongnized that this back secion was NOT the place to be and managed to squirm my way up to standing between the last row of seats. Thank god for that! The back section filled and filled and filled to the point that i was worried someone would suffocate. They were pressed solid against each other in a bus that was hotter than the 90 degree heat outside. Bein the first person standing in between seats, every time the bus slowed or stopped, the whole group of 20 plus people would push forward on my back. I managed to position myself in a way that when that happend, the pressure would be absorbed by my hips, and not my stomach, as i really liked breathing. I was never in danger, but i´m a worry wart and even not being able to breath for a second or two would have freaked me out! Also, because i was up near the seats i could lean over the sitting pepole to get some gasps of the fresh cooler air coming in the windows.

After an hour on the bus, we arrived in bario subtavia and started a 15 block walk back to our hotel. the ice cream and nap that bookmarked our day was about the best ice cream and nap i´ve had on the trip.
]]> http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197225300/tpod.html http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197225300/tpod.html#comments Travel Blogs http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-entries/sstrauch/nicaragua2007/1197225300/tpod.html Sun, 09 Dec 2007 14:26:27 -0500 Nicaragua - El Gran Viaje de Melissa y Steve

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Leon, Nicaragua

What a night! Friday night was the big holiday here, Purisima. It is a celebration of the virgin mary. Mel and I met my teacher, Dennis, at the central square at 5 pm. We grabbed a quick dinner at a local supermarket (not much is open here on purisima) and headed back to the square where the festivities kicked off at 6pm. A huge crowd had gathered in the square and the massive cathedral was packed as well, with many people taking comunion.

Dennis mentioned to me a story about the head priest that went something like this. Nica is so crazy that even the preist has a temper problem! A few months back, a car hit his at an intersection and the priest jumped out of his car, screaming at the other driver, challenged him to a fight, then picked up a tire iron from his car and began to strike the other drivers car!

After meandering through the cathedral we found our place in the middle of the squre for the fireworks. Nica men LOVE fireworks, they go off constantly throughout the day here, but especially during purisma at 6pm, 12am (and one time at 2am). At times it can feel like a war zone with people setting off bottle rockets and all sorts of incindiaries from the street, their houses...everywhere.

Dennis had us stand about 30 meters back from the cathedral so were a bit safer from the ´running of the bulls´. At 6pm, the fireworks commensed. Unlike the US, there is no ´safe zone´around the fireworks. They were being shot off not but 100 feet away and exploding right over our heads. The problem with this is that if you look up to see the fireworks, you end up getting ash from the previous explosions in your eyes.

After a short but furious bout, the fireworks died down and the bulls began entering the ring. A bull is a guy with a small wooden structure over his head. The wooden structure vaguely like the bucking bronco saddle that some bars have, except that it´s lined with firework capsules. The bull then runs about in the crowd setting off the rockets in all directions. The rockets dart off into the crowd, fast and furious. You really have to pay attention, cause you may have to duck and incoming!

After that, starting about about 6:30 is the Gritaria, literally, the yelling. It´s alot like Halloween. Everyone, kids, youths, adults and all race through the neighborhood collecting treats. A house that wants to participate, creates an alter to honor the virgin Mary in the doorway. The alters can be quite a display as neighbors aim to create the best homage. As you approach the door, you yell excitedly ¨Quien causa tanta allegria?¨ (who causes all this happiness?), to which the person replies "Mary" and you reply "Viva la virgen" (Long live the virgin), and they give you a gift. Most gifts are small pieces of candy. Some, the BEST, are homemade treats like a sticky rice and cream or grainy chocolate like rice treat. Others are religious. Mel and i got a few Mary bracelets, mary key chains and even a mary post card. Some houses have separate gifts for kids and adults, and adults get more pracitical things like a bag of chlorine, laundry soap, a platic bowl or even a broom.

The atmosphere is ELECTRIC, like halloween on steriods. There are hundreds of people on every street, they scamper to each house in the race for candy. Once you get to a house, the competition is fierce! There may be 20 or more people at a single house at a time pressing up against the metal gates that guard most front doors. Hands extended through the gate, everyone jockying for the best position to get candy and run.

We weaved through the streets of Dennis neighborhood and the neighboring burough of Subtavia. Subtavia is a native neighborhood (like an indian reservation in the us) that mel and i had visited earlier in the day. We walked through the ruins of a 500 year old church there! I think Dennis could have kept going but he saw that mel and i were tiring and we called it quits around 8, having collected about 50 gifts each. In general, the candy giving goes until 11ish. We retired to lawn chairs in front of Dennis´ house where we watched the crazyiness on the street.

About 10ish, Dennis niece asked if Melissa wanted to accompany here back to her house to pick up a chicken that had been stewing for dinner. Mel accepted and accompanied her on her moped. It was a harrowing ride, especially on the way back as they weaved through holiday crowds and traffic, mel clinging onto the woman while balance a huge pot of chicken between her legs. Mel tells me she said her only hail marry during this trip :)

Then dennis friends showed up and we spent the next few hours singing (or in mel and my case, listening) to amazing renditions of nicarguan folk songs by dennis and his amigos. All were, like Dennis, poets. They spent the night belting out songs about sandinistas, the war, love and their hopes for the future. The main guitar player was a young good looking guy in his 30s and his older ´partner´, a chain smoking woman who wispered requests and occasionally sang in a soft low voice. Then there was the ukrainian educated chemist who, according to dennis had been a sandonista fighter in numerous wars and had stories that would make dennis look like childs play. "For every puddle i drank from to stay alive, he drank from 5". There was also a native, from subtavia who spent over an hour explaining to me the political and economic situation of native Nicaraguans. If only i had understood more than about 5% of it! (he was talking fast and fireworks were going off). In addition there was dennis, his niece, mel, myself and eventually "the oldest poet in leon" who was probubly beyond description, but i´ll try... this 90 year old man looked like a spanish gentleman of centuries past, comic relief right out of don quiote. He was wearing a suit, which looked as if he had been wearing day and night for most of his 90 years. He had a jolly comportment but didn´t talk much. his amplified gestures did the talking. When he was introduced to me, he bowed so far that i thought his nose would hit his knees. When he was introduced to meliss and took her hand, kissed it and laid it against his face for a few second, closing his eyes and smiling. (On the way out, he unbutton the top of his shirt and placed melissas hand against his heart, rolling his eyes toward the sky and smiling. Its hard to describe, didn´t seem dirty at all. )

With each glass of rum, mel and i became closer friends to dennis. By the nights end, when dennis was wasted were his ´best of friends´. He´s a happy drunk :) who lives a poor life. I was a little shocked at his house. The front room, about 20X10, had thick walls, but behind that was a kicken and bedroom that looked constructed of corregated metal. there was no fridge, only a icebox and no toilet, only a bucket for poop. If you wanted to pee, the back yard did just fine. When i asked for a cup of water, he grabbed a bowl and scooped out water that had been standing in the sink. It grossed me out a bit but i drank it out of courtesay (and thirst!).

At 12:30am, the main fireworks began. From every streets, they were fired. Hundreds were going off on our street alone as men held bottle rockets in their hands, lit them then let go. It was so loud that several people in our group had to go inside and cover their ears. It also seemed pretty dangerous to me, especially when dennis, who had way too much rum went to set a few off. The subtiavan man jumped up to assit dennis and ended with a quarter sized burn on his hand which said was nothing but looked nasty.

After that, the poet couple drove us back to our hostel where where we slept, as much as possible through the fireworks. Unfortunately, all we have to show for the experience is a mary bracelet mel was wearing because my candy bag hanging from the arm of the oldest poet dude who fell asleep on a rocking chair within 10 minutes of arriving.
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