Day 12: laguna de apoyo
Trip Start
Nov 2007
1
19
33
Trip End
Dec 2007
Granada,
Nicaragua
Wednesday, November 28, 2007
After that, it was off for breakfast then we grabbed a cab to laguna de apoyo. We immediately had lunch then 4 hours of spanish lessons. Unfortunately it doesn´t seem that mel has gotten a very good teacher. she was pretty frustrated after the first day. the teachers here speak little to no english which can make learning spanish as a beginner pretty rough.
There is a man staying here tonight who studies poisonous animals. He caught a large poisonous frog last night and showed it to us before releasing it. One crazy dude, holding that frog in his hands, invoking it to squirt venom. Two days back they found an 8 foot long boa constrictor in the compost. And we were told to be vigilant in checking our clothes and shoes for scorpions.
Last night we got to meet many of the other people staying here (4 staff, 8 or so students) because the power was out (what else is new!). It was a nice excuse to get to know folks. There is a 50 something mother from canada who is traveling alone just for the adventure. And there is a 30 something mom from London who pulled her son from school and is traveling aimlessly through central america looking for ´a place to settle down and write that book i always wanted to write´. There are also a few do-gooders studying social justice or the environment.
Our room here is the most basic accomodation we´ve had yet. an old, contorted mattress in a small room with no a-c. I was absolutely baking last night and didnt sleep well. And the physical stress is getting to me a bit. (warning to stop reading if you don´t want to hear about this...) Mel and i have managed to avoid any food borne illnesses thus far and have barely seen a mosquito. The most difficult aspects of the trip physically are the heat (and lack of a-c anywhere except hotel rooms), the dirt and the inconsistant water-electricity. Currently, i´ve got a heat rash on both arms, a blister on my ancle from wearing sandles arount town, a bad case of rosatia (before i came here i had a little redness on my nose. now i look like i´ve broken out in acne. it sucks!), and athelets foot and this morning i had diahrea for the first time. Not sure what that is about. will keep an eye on it. Mel had inflamed tear duct for a day or two, athletes foot and some low grade stomach problems but has managed to stay remarkably healthy.
