My last days in Nicaragua

Well...this is my last day staying at Maderas Beach, Nicaragua. Tomorrow I’m heading to Managua to do some shopping for the house...then one more night at a Managuan hotel...and I’m on a plane back to Houston. I can’t believe that it’s time to go home. I’ve been here for three weeks, and it feels like I’ve been here for 3 months.

Besides the first part of the trip...where we I spent a lot of time working on the house...this has been a true surfing vacation. Living the surf lifestyle, if only for a little bit.

I have to say...it sucks you in. Following the winds and tides...and planning your days accordingly. Waking up at dawn to beat the crowds...and having the ocean to yourself. Eating breakfast in record time, because your so hungry from the morning workout. Taking siestas in a hammock..only to wake up and go back to the ocean. To surf some more...or sit on the beach drinking beers and watching the locals tear the waves up. Always starting up new conversations with strangers...and meeting new and interesting people everyday. Or seeing the same faces over and over, and slowly making friends. Sitting at the dinner table for hours after dinner, talking about anything and everything. Telling yourself that your just going to have one rum & ginger, and then finding yourself playing horseshoes with headlamps at midnight, or going on a walk to the beach to go skinny dipping, or playing poker until 2 in the morning.

Then waking up at dawn...only to do it all over again.

Yep...I’m going to miss it. But the great...fantastic...amazing thing about it all...I have a home here. Which is a good thing, because I also feel like I have a family here too. This whole community here at Maderas...feels like a family, and I will look forward to the next time I come back here, to visit family, surf, eat great food, drink great rum, and most importantly....create more great experiences and life-long memories.

The icing on the cake of the whole thing though is.... this is also going to be a to a jumping off point for more travels around Central America. After you spend enough time here...and you have enough conversations with people that are traveling around the area, you realize that there is so much more to see. I spent the last couple of days reading the Lonely Planet Nicaragua book....and this country is packed with stuff to see. It’s so diverse, and so different from north to south, and east to west. And then there’s Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala. In a few years...maybe I can afford to get a sailboat, and go up and down the coasts surfing empty breaks, and seeing everything from a different perspective.

Wow...I get more and more excited about having a place down here....it’s truly awesome.

Well it’s time to wrap it up...I’m going to go check out the house one last time...go surfing again, and then into town to watch the USA beat Finland in Olympic Hockey. If I can find the game...it will be the first time that I get to see any of the Olympics since being down here.

I might have some down time in Managua to update the blog one more time...but if I don’t...

....adios from Nicaragua!!

Eddie & The Monkey

....so I was on the front porch of my friend Eric's house this afternoon. I bought my surfboard from him last week, but it has a small crack on the front of it and he said that he would fix for me. I gave him the board yesterday, and was going over there to pick it back up. I got past his dog "Eddie", and was knocking on the front door when I hear a little scuffle over my left shoulder. I looked back, and Eddie is playing with a monkey. There's a monkey on the front porch...and he's playing with the dog. Their boxing.

I can't even describe the thought that went threw my head. I heard that that there was this monkey that lived in the jungle, but every once in a while it would make an appearance Eric's front porch. She was rescued a few years back...then let back into the jungle..but apparently she still likes human company....

...I guess this must be her.

It was obviously her...and she was two feet away from me.

So I stand there for a while....then decide...I might as well take a seat, and see what monkey's do. So I'm sitting there......me......a monkey.......and a dog....looking at the beach. All of sudden the monkey jumps in my lap, and makes herself at home. She's sprawled out on my left leg, with her hands under her chin, and her chin on my knee...

....looking at the ocean with me.

I'm chilling with a monkey on my lap...staring at the surf break........wondering............just wondering.............................

Another day in Nicaragua.

Rum Buzz....

I am so bad at updating this thing....but tonight it's midnight...I'm in a circle of friends and I have at least something to say....people are everything. I have been here at P.M. for more than a week and I have met no less than 10 amazing people that I will never forget.

we are currently sitting in a circle playing music, talking about the surf...and singing songs about upside down universes...what?...

I wish I was more sober and I could tell you about everything that is happening, but the fact of the matter is that i'm not.

What I can say is that this place is special. Not special like the sale at kohl's...but special like this is the only place on earth where it is exactly like this.

I make at least a friend...every day. So the longer I'm here...the more friends I make. What else can I say...

Beach Time

Sitting in the lounge area here at Parque Maderas, watching the sun set into the Pacific Ocean. I'm not too sure what to write. I haven't updated this for a while, and I wanted to at least record a little bit of what I’ve be doing.

I’ve been here for 10 days, and I honestly can’t remember what everyday has consisted of...although I know they have all been good. I am becoming very accustomed to the life down here. The slow life. Most days I try not to look at my watch. I only really look at it when I’m surfing...because it’s hard to tell how long I have been out there for. Time flies when your in the water.

The area that I am staying, which is the same place as where our house is.... is really amazing. It feels like I am living in the country. We're far enough away from town, and there is a real sense of community in the area. With the bar/restaurant here at the hostel, and the bar/restaurant at the Mango Rosa, I always have an option of places to go. They also serve food on the beach, where I had one of the best cheeseburgers that I’ve ever had. One thing that will be really nice in future visits, will be the option of coming over here to eat dinner. Since I’ve been here, and had so many dinners, I have met the best people. Traveler’s have “the best” attitudes. Everyone is in a good mood...all the time.

I actually got sad this morning when a large portion of people that have been staying here...left. It really feels like I am growing a family down here.

I have had to go into town a lot over the last week, but it is always for only one thing. That things differs, and has been either the ATM, to get some rum, or to meet with our contractor. I really don’t like going to town. I’ve spent so much time there, and I would rather spend my time surfing, reading, looking at our house, or just thinking about my future.

Today it is very windy. Very windy. There are gusts that are probably 40-50 mph. I spent the morning surfing, and the wind was actually knocking me off my board. I’m just glad that I am getting up on it. I bought a surfboard at the beginning of the week, and have continued to surf as much as I can. I’ve had a couple good rides since I started learning, and I really feel like I’m picking it up. One of the kids from France that was staying here gave me some really good tips, and I have improved immensely. I am hoping that by the time I leave, I will be able to get up every time. That is my goal.

I believe that we have built our house on one of the best surf breaks in Latin America. Even beyond the beach where we are, there are a dozen other good surf breaks that are all accessible by either boat or road. I am also excited to be able to visit different parts of the country over the years. There is a ton to see here in Nicaragua.

I am smack in the middle of this trip. I have spent 10 full days here, and I have 10 full days more. I will take more pictures, and update this more while I’m here. I think I have done most of what is needed with the house, and the next week should be very mellow. Beach time.

Till next time...adios.

Parque Maderas Rules

It's getting kind of late, but I've had a bit of rum...and I feel like writing.

I've been here at the Parque Maderas hostel since Tuesday, and I'm starting to really settle in. The last time I was here in July...I spent the first week here, and then the rest of the time in San Juan del Sur. But this time I feel like I didn't really have the desire to stay there. I've eaten at most of the restaurants, had a Tona and most of the bars, and I feel like I know the city enough, that I don't need to stay there again.

This place has everything that I want, and just confirms that we have decided on the perfect place to build a house. The place that I'm staying is five minutes from our house, and five minutes from the beach. They have cold beers in the cooler 24/7, and every night (except Monday) they serve a family style dinner to all of the guests. Last night we had a Peanut Sauce Chicken...it was so good.

Since I've been here, I've been moving a bit. Both Wednesday and Thursday I was busy with the house. Will and I met both mornings for an hour or so. We talked about plumbing, electricity, and a bunch of other stuff. After taking care of business....we went surfing. Pretty awesome.

After surfing again on Friday morning, I went and checked out the course for a mountain bike race that's going on next weekend down here. Will is helping put in on with some other gringo's in town. It's up in the jungle. There doing time trials on Saturday, and I think I might get a chance to do that. The website is.....http://www.sanjuanhowler.com/

Today, I woke up and went surfing again early. Maderas is dead at 8 o'clock in the morning. The shuttles from town don't start getting there till 10, so you have the place to yourself in the morning. After surfing, I went back up to the house for a bit.

Mar Sano, that's what we're thinking of calling our new Nicaraguan Surf House. It means Healthy Sea...

...so after surfing I went to Mar Sano.

While there, I was wondering how long it would take to walk to the Mango Rosa. Twenty minutes, on the dot. The Mango Rosa is a resort in the area that has a great bar, a nice swimming pool, and lunch. I was hoping to catch some olympics, but they didn't get NBC. Oh well..

So I swam in the pool for a bit, ate some lunch, had a Tona, and stared walking back to my hostel. A couple gringo's headed for Maderas picked me up, and gave me a ride back to the beach. I then spent the evening at the beach. Watched the sunset, and then back up the hill to Parque Maderas.

Tonight after dinner, everyone that was staying here, walked down to the beach to check out the Phosphoresence. It's some sort of plankton that glows in the beach sand when there isn't a moon. We just walked around and the ground below started glowing...it was cool.

Everyone staying here is so chill.

I'm not sure what the rest of my time down here is going to consist of, but my best guess is.... I'll be between here...and the beach, for a great majority of it. It's too good to leave.

Well, it's time to get some sleep. Early bird gets the worm.

Hope everyone is well in the states..

Buenos Noches...

A Day In Managua

Well I've been in Nicaragua for five days, and it feels like I've been here forever. You know a place is great when it feels like that.

The trip started couldn’t of started out any better.

As soon as I made it through immigration, I asked the first person I saw where the shuttle to La Mercedes (my hotel) was. I wouldn’t of normally needed the shuttle, but I had a huge suitcase full of plumbing gear. When I found the driver, there were a couple of girls with him that were going to the same hotel. I started talking to them...because they had huge smiles on their faces...and by the time we were checked into the hotel, it seemed like we were best friends.

After putting everything into my room, I headed straight to the bar. They girls beat me there. We all ordered some drinks...and continued to drink Tona’s & Rum until two hours after the bar was closed. We got into some pretty serious conversations. We talked about everything from religion to politics, and everything else under the sun. They were from Canada, so it was interesting to learn about their government.

The were in Nicaragua for 6 weeks of travel, and their first stop was the Corn Islands. “The Corns” are a group of islands on the Atlantic side of Nicaragua, that are supposed to be beautiful. The thing was, they had an one day in Managua before their flight left on Tuesday. When they asked me if I wanted to hang out with them in Managua for the day...I didn’t hesitate for second before saying...”OK” That’s what travel is all about...all plans subject to change.

After changing my shuttle, and telling our contractor I was going to be delayed, I found myself sitting the hotel lobby with two people that I had only know for a few hours. I was getting ready to check out a city that I really had no desire to see, but I just couldn’t pass up the opportunity. Our guide was a girl who worked for the resort where they were staying, except she lived in Managua. Her job was to send supplies to the hotel. Apparently their isn’t much for supplies on the islands. Her name was Rachel, and she picked us up in the late morning.

Managua is an incredibly poor city. It was virtually destroyed by an earthquake in 1971 an still hasn’t fully recovered. I've seen Managua before, and it's kind of a hard place to look out of the car windows at. It’s very sad to see the way people are forced to live when they have next to nothing.

That being said...what we saw was amazing.

We first went the Nicaraguan government buildings.

The first place we went was a concrete wall that was built out of guns that were used in the Sandinista War. When the war was over in the 1980‘s...the new leader took all the guns from the war, and made them into a concrete wall. She did this so that they couldn’t ever be used ever again. They also covered an entire tank in concrete. It was all meant to symbolize that the bad times were over, and there was to be no more fighting.

After that we went to check out the government palace, some other government buildings, and the port where their are boats that take people out in to Lake Managua. It was cool to see, but you couldn’t get me on that boat.

After that we went to the top of a hill that is in the center of the city. From the top of this hill there was a 360 degree view of the entire city, and the surrounding country side. You could see forever...

We then went drove through the city to a museum of sorts. It was a very historical spot in Managua. It was a spot where there were footprints that were frozen in time from a mudslide that happened after a volcano erupted a long time ago. It was crazy, these footprints were of people that were literally running for their life.

After Managua we headed out of town to the Masaya Volcano. You can drive right to the top of it. It was one of the coolest sights that I have ever seen. From the parking lot there was a trail that went to an even hight point, and from there you could see for 100 miles in every direction. It was awesome. It was amazing to be able to look right inside the volcano cavern. The steam coming out of it, and the horrible smell. The worst part was the breathing. After 10 minutes, I felt like I had smoked a pack of cigarettes in one sitting. Not that I smoke, but I imagine that's what it feels like.

After we checked out the volcano, we headed the the town of Masaya. Masaya has one of the nicest open air markets in Nicaragua. They sell everything there.

I was with a couple of shopping happy ladies, so we spent more than enough time checking out everything that they sold. I bought a cool coffee mug , and they bought some cool stuff too. While we were there we stopped and had some lunch at a really nice restaurant, where we downed some Tona’s. The food is so good in this country.

After spending more than enough time in Masaya, we headed to another town called Catalina. This is the most beautiful town (that isn’t on the coast) that I have been to so far in Nicaragua. It’s located on top of a hill. From the top of the hill you can see Granada, Lake Nicaragua, and the Nicaraguan countryside for miles and miles. It was breathtaking...really awesome. By this time is was getting dark, so it was time for us to head back to the hotel.

The night before we spent way too much money on beers. They were very expensive, so we decided to stop at one of the markets to get some supplies for the night. We filled a cardboard box up with a huge bottle of rum, some sodas to mix the rum with, a 6 pack of beer, some snacks, and a few other treats. Our bill was $17 dollars.

We took a “shortcut” back to the hotel, which was just another opportunity to see more of the Nicaraguan countryside.

When we got back to the hotel, we took our cardboard box to the pool, and for the rest of the night we managed to polish off everything that was in it. It really was a great way to finish off the day.

I almost got talked into going to the Corn Islands with them, but I didn’t know what to do with that heavy suitcase, so I had to say my goodbye’s. I made some pretty good friends on my first day, and I was hoping that it was the first of many on this trip.

It’s now Thursday, and I have spent the last three days on the ocean. There has been a lot of work to do regarding the house. I have spent the last two mornings there with Will (our contractor) going over a bunch of stuff.

I surfed all afternoon yesterday, and today I am sunburnt, and sore. I decided to come into town, and am currently sitting at the Pelican Eyes Resort, drinking Tona’s, and writing this blog.

I don’t know how much time I am going to have to sit and write while I'm here, but I’m hoping I can set aside a few hours here and there to do this.

I posted all the pics from this day here...

http://picasaweb.google.com/keeley.daniel/100208ManaguaPics#

Hope all is well in the states, and I will continue to post to this blog.

GO USA in the OLYMPICS!!!

Made it to Managua

It's 12:41 am in Managua Nicaragua, and I'm watching a re-run of the Super Bowl in Spanish. I can't understand a word their saying...but that's the great thing about football, it doesn't matter. It's football.

I just got back from the hotel bar that closed a couple hours ago. I'm coming from a deep philosophical conversation that I had with a couple of canadian girls that I met at the airport. We were going to the same hotel...but I knew they were special when they asked the driver if he could wait a few minutes so they could visit the duty-free shop to get a bottle of rum. Cool girls from Vancouver. I was planning on catching the shuttle to San Juan del Sur tomorrow, but now I'm going to spend the day with them...doing some Managua sightseeing.

That's the great thing about traveling. Meeting new people, and having experiences.

Can't buy that for all the Tea in Tibet.

Feb 5, 2010 Planning the trip

I'm sitting at a local Bean's & Brew here in Salt Lake City, trying to figure out everything that I need to do before leaving town. I have a sheet of paper that is full of scribblings. When I get done here, I'm off to 10 or so different places to wrap everything up. Places like the bank, library, REI, Costco, Kirkhams, etc...

I'm acting like I'm leaving tomorrow so I have a day to breath before I leave.

I'm hoping to write a lot on this blog, it should be fun.