honduras

So I have now moved on from Nica. I left on Saturday after our big night out (which was quite fun). It was hard to say say adios to SJdS, but I'll be back. I took a longish bus ride to Managua - standing and crowded almost the entire way... ugh. There I met up with a Swiss dude who had also studied in the school for a week, we have similar plans for travel and are both solo, so we decided to travel together for a bit. After an eventful night of poweroutages and good food in Managua we caught our 5 a.m. bus to San Pedro Sula, Honduras. In total, I think we were on the bus that day for about 13 or 14 hours. We stopped in Tegucigulpa for an hour too. We finally made it to San Pedro and met up with some other backpackers and went to a hostel in town, the city is supposidly not that safe, so we made a big group dinner and drank some beers (by the way, I already miss Tona - the Nica beer) at the hostel and relaxed. From San Pedro we headed to Utila, were we are now.

I decided to give SCUBA a chance while here in Utila, it is supposidly one of the cheapest places to get your certification. After some classes and exercises underwater, I decided that it probably isn't for me at the moment. I didn't feel comfortable after many chances hanging out down there, maybe some other time...

Last night we had some serious excitement on this little island. They had an earthquake - 7.1 to be exact. It was quite a feeling, I was on the lower part of a bunkbed and my guess was that the guy above me was having a seizure when the bed started to move, but then I noticed the other bed was moving too and everything else in the room. Pretty wild! It went on for about 10 seconds I think. Of course, the place we are staying is right on the water too, so the thought was tsunami... we all grabbed a couple of things and headed for the hill (mostly since we noticed all the locals doing this). After a fun 3 a.m. hike with a local family though a forest we made it to the top of the hill, when we got there they started singing and praying. It was all actually pretty cool. We stayed up there until sunrise, and then some. After a while we decided all was well and headed back. I think I got 1 hour of sleep last night...

Heading out of here on Saturday to Copan.

fotos!

mis profesoras y yo playa costa blanca





















kate y yo con nuestros torte mi nueva chica nica

el ultimo dia in SJdS

So today is my last day in San Juan del Sur. Time flies! I really could see myself staying here for another couple of months (if not more). The people are nice and laid-back, the town is quiet (with some lively spots, of course), the scenery is awesome and everything is cheap. Its hard to complain about any of those things! In short, this place is awesome. So naturally I am sad to be leaving, but I know that I will not be able to stay away for too long...

Regarding my Espanol, I am feeling pretty good about what I have learned here. I mostly need to learn a lot more vocab and work on my pronunciation. When I return home, I plan to keep up the Espanol and hopefully return to Central America in the future for more practice. I am looking forward to practicing over the next couple of weeks while I travel north. Today, I already successfully purchased my bus ticket to San Pedro Sula, Honduras only using Espanol - I even understood what the gal was saying, I checked the ticket and I am headed to the correct place. Success!

Today is a massive day because it was my last day of class and we celebrated/are celebrating my bday and another gal's bday who is in my class, jointly. They even have a tasty cake and tigre pinata for us! (I am kicking myself for forgetting my camera to upload photos of today's festivities - but I will put them up asap).

Anyways, I am off to celebrate - I can sense a big night coming on... In addition to celebrating bdays and el ultimo dia de la escuela - I will also be celebrating the NUGGS (in hope that they are still playing upon my return to los estados unidos)!!!

Salud!

mas

I'm not going to lie, this last week of clase de Espanol was not easy, I was actually quite frustrated a couple of times, but I am pretty sure I am over that hump and now am back to understanding what is going on again. During the week we visited a couple if nice beaches and also the overlook (with a Jesus) above San Juan del Sur.




















This is the new Jesus statue overlooking the bay at San Juan del Sur. Literally a week before I got here they stuck on his head (so he is very new). We walked up to visit him this week - it was a good hike, but also had a great view. One problem that we noticed with Jesus is that he is possibly missing a finger one of his hands... hmmm
















Ever wonder what happened to school buses from the States? They are now city and inter-city buses in Nicaragua. Riding on these has been like stepping back in time.















San Juan del Sur (from Jesus)




















Cathedral in Grenada

We just got back from a weekend trip to Grenada. After some interesting bus rides and experiences it is good to be back in quiet San Juan del Sur. I think Grenada is probably the most touristy city in Nicaragua - it has beautiful buildings and is set up for tourists. We had some excellent food there and also met some nice people. It has been good to see some different places the last couple weekends.

la isla de ometepe

This weekend an Aussie classmate and I visited the island of Ometepe on massive Lake Nicaragua. The island is basically 2 volcanoes that are connected. We rented dirt bikes and toured the whole island. It is a beautiful/interesting spot.















FettyFun vs. the volcano (Concepcion)















Vulcan Maderas con arbols plantanos




















Many picturesque spots on Ometepe

Since full disclosure is necessary - I have to say that the moto trip was really fun and the best way to see the island, but it ended bad when I got a flat tire... in the middle of nowhere. Luckily my Espanol is good enough now that we managed to find a guy in some little pueblo to patch it. Its always something...

el segundo semana

My time in San Juan del Sur continues to be great/interesting. Last weekend was very quiet and relaxing. I stayed here the whole time and took some nice walks to explore the town and also studied quite a bit. Sunday was especially interesting observing the Nica families on the beach enjoying the day. I have had a new profesora this week, she has made me talk and write a lot, which is what I really need. For our afternoon activities we have been visiting other local beaches and also had a cooking class. The beaches have been beautiful (see fotos) and cooking class was very tasty. We made salpicone, which is a dish with minced up tuna (or other fish) and veges all mixed together with some lime juice. It was pretty tasty, I actually had it at my house again for lunch today. We also made homemade tortillas and the infamous gallo pinto.

Ok, really all is great here, but I would be lying if I said it was is perfect. The other morning I woke up and there was a massive cockroach in my bathroom, after I took care of him (splat) I managed to break the shower nozzle (and there is only one - aka no hot water aqui). The town also was without power for a couple nights this week, due to some storms. No power = No fan = hot/sweaty/quiet nights here! One of those nights I planned to go to the bar to watch the Nuggets (win again) but of course no power = no TV in the bar too, so that would have been a lost cause. Que lastima! Despite minor set-backs I continue to enjoy this tropical paradise! Gotta go, we have clase de baile a noche (Latin dance class tonight), which was a hoot last week - these people really get into it! Salud!

fotos!

Playa Roblas - we had class here one day after a nice boat trip. Nice place to swim!















We have been celebrating the puesta del sol (sunset) with beers on the beach.

















Mi Calle. This is the street I live on. The house I live is is right behind the palm tree in the middle of the photo. More photos to come of mi casa....

el primero semana

Feliz dia de trabajar! Today is labor day in Nicaragua... not sure what that means, everything still seems to be open and I still had class... I finished my first week of class successfully and passed my first exam with flying colors. The week has gone really well. I had a great profesora named Margarita (which will change next week, so I learn different styles). Most of the afternoon activities included going to different beaches - which was nice. We also had Latin dance class last night, which was fun... and interesting... Also, the food here has been great. I have been eating wonderful meals with the family I am staying with. Every main meal has been different, but most include gallo pinto - which is the national dish of beans and rice, it sounds boring but they spice it up so it tastes pretty good.

I am glad to be spending my time in San Juan del Sur now because I think people are just beginning to find it, in no time I think this place will be a tourist mecca. For example - there are more cruise ships stopping here now because they are not stopping in Mexico and/or Costa Rica because of the swine flu fiasco.

Also, glad to see the Nuggets win and move on in the playoffs! I actually even got to watch some of the game at a bar here. I think the win was even better considering I was drinking a cold beer and hearing the ocean lap up against the beach in the background!