Rum and BonBons

We are wrapping up our final week of our visit with the Spanish school. We have met some great people who we will luckily be meeting up with along the way at various places as we travel through Nicaragua. We have been having a week of celebrations to say goodbye. Our new friend, KT, is meeting up with her boyfriend who is flying down next week and he is bringing us some dark chocolate. We are dying for some good dark chocolate. We have found a candy here literally called BonBons from Argentina or somewhere and we buy out the stash everywhere we go that has them. Between KT, Shea and I we have eaten most of the BonBons in Nicaragua. We had a free afternoon after class yesterday so we went and bought the last 8 bonbons at the icecream store, got some sprite and drank our Nicarguan rum- Flor de Cana- with sprite and ate bonbons in our hammocks all afternoon. I think we laughed for about 3 hours straight... watching old Jem episodes on KT´s laptop, discussing the hypocrisy of our host and making up Spanish phrases for Shea to recite to her Nicaraguan crush (please see her blog for a further description of this fine gentleman). We talked more at dinner last night than we have the whole trip here to our own amusement as well as everyone elses.

Tonight we are having Thanksgiving, Nicaraguan style: fried chicken (freshly slaughtered), mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup and chocolate cake. And Chilean red wine that seems to be the only thing available at all supermarkets in Nicaragua which is fine because it is delicious.

Sandinistas and Volcanoes

The past few weeks have been interesting. This is my first experience in C. America besides Cancun which techinically I think is N. America. We arrived in Nicaragua the day of their elections and since that day calls of fraud, recounts and oppositional demonstrations have escalated this event into the national news. Most of the election demonstrations are happening in Managua and Leon, the larger cities. The closest town to our school, La Concha has held rallies and parades which involve mortar launching, fireworks, tire burning and gunfire. The thing though is that none of it seems or feels violent, its more like thats just how they react to this sort of political turmoil. We haven't felt unsafe here and just avoid going out at night. The Sandinistas won originally but the Liberals called for a recount based on voter fraud and since then its just been a back and forth- now with international intervention. Last night was the scariest for some reason, though it may just be me and my heightened level of anxiety that naturally comes with traveling to foreign places. I woke up in the middle of the night to what sounded like shouting in chants and I thought there must be riots. And then I of course started thinking that they were getting closer. I must have eventually fallen back asleep and of course nothing happened but I guess you just never know. Luckily we are very well protected and have awesome night watchmen that help us with everything from large bugs we have dubbed crab spiders to cats jumping in our window at night. The people here are absolutely fantastic.

Yesterday we went early to do a day hike of Volcan Mombacho. It was amazing. It was a 5km hike around the second tallest volcano in Nicaragua in a cloud forest. It was green and lucious with gorgeous expansive views. It was super windy yesterday and we were blown all around whenever we came out of the forest at points along the trail that served as lookouts to take pictures. Our guide said that at the top, the winds were registering at 42 mph, we sure could feel it! The hike was basically straight ups and downs climbing wooden tree stumps cut into steps. It was cool being in all of that wind without snow or rain or extreme cold as it usually is. The best part was we got back to the school and the cooks made us the most delicious pineapple cake for dessert. So perfect after a long day of hiking.

New Itinerary

Commencing week 3 of my trip to Nicaragua. I have been in Spanish classes for 2 weeks and can now conjugate verbs in present, past AND future. Watch out now. I also know body parts, food and Nicaraguan popular expressions. We decided to cut our time short at Spanish school to have more time out and about exploring. While there are some good activities with the place we are staying, they are too few and we are getting somewhat antsy and bored. Shea and I are leaving next Saturday to head to Isla de Ometepe in Lake Nicaragua (the second largest lake in S. America). Its supposed to be a gorgeous place with toucans, monkeys and hopefully (keeping our fingers crossed) some sloths. The first place we will go for 5 days to bunk in a dorm at a hacienda right on the water for hiking, kayaking, napping in hammocks and waterfalls. After that we are heading to the other side of the Maderas Volcano to stay at Finca Magdelena. Its an old farmhouse built in the early 1900s that operates as a coffee farm now. We are bunking in the dorm there too and plan on hiking up the volcano with a guide and drinking lots of delicious coffee and again napping in hammocks. We will travel around by bus and have to take a vomit-inducing ferry ride across the lake to get there. After that we will head to Granada for a few days- do some shopping and kayaking around small isletas. Our last few days will be spent at Laguna de Apoyo, a salt water filled gigantic volcanic crater. We got a room at the Best Western across from the airport in Managua for our last night for easy access for our 730 am flight back to NYC on Sunday, Dec 14.