two weeks later...

Wow. I don’t even know where I left off. The following is partly for my own memory, so if you don't make it through, no worries.

So I went to Nicaragua for Semana Santa. Good decision. We were only in Nicaragua for 8 days, but we did SO much in the trip that it was a little bit insane. Insane in a good way. We went with only a reservation for the first night in Masaya, a little town about 30 minutes from Granada, and our one way ticket (via TICABus—love the name, right?), with pretty much no plans.

The week before Semana Santa, the university was celebrating its 35^th anniversary. Haven’t really written anything about the school in this blog. Universidad Nacional has a lot of students, I think something between 20 and 30 thousand students. They had a bunch of activity thingies this week, like a parade, and ceremony type things. The night before Nicaragua, a few friends and I went to see the dance team’s performance, then went to this free concert with dancing and Caribbean music / covers of Bob Marley. A good time was had by all.

Day 1!

We spent the night at Kristin’s house, because our bus left at 4:00 in the morning. It was pretty much the only bus left when we bought our tickets. We each got a whole 2 hours of sleep, and left in the morning with Kristen’s host mom’s pirate taxi friend at about 3 am. While my internal dialogue was, “why.. the hell… did we choose the 4 am trip,” our driver realized that his (very crappy) car probably wouldn’t make it to San Jose and deposited us in a legit taxi. I guess pirate taxis are pirate taxis for a reason.

The bus ride wasn’t too bad except for the fact that my seat was in the very last row directly next to the bus’s bathroom. Going through the border was interesting. Men with giant wads of Nicaraguan currency, cordobas, hoarded around the bus as passengers got off. People were randomly selected to have their bags searched by pressing a button on a traffic light and waiting to see whether it came up green, yellow or red. Red light green light, customs style. It took us a couple of hours to get through both sides of the border, ample time to give us our first taste of the Nicaraguan heat.

We hopped off the bus in Masaya earlier than we thought we would, about 3 pm, not to a bus station, but to a gas station. We got into in a taxi without realizing that the custom in Nicaragua is to negotiate a price first. Whoops. When we got to our hostel, the taxista, who was sketchy to begin with (and had a lazy eye), tried to charge us ten dollars. I had an involuntary reaction of, “You’refullofshit!” (in so many words, and in Spanish) and he lowered the price to $5. Still ridiculous, seeing as our hostel cost each one of us just $4 a night. Too grumpy to negotiate, we paid and vowed to never be tricked by a taxista with a creepy lazy eye ever again.

We stayed at a hostel owned by a very friendly older couple. The husband was super helpful, and pointed us in the direction of the Mercado Municipal, aka the municipal market. There are two markets in Masaya, Mercado Municipal and another market that is basically the same stuff in a nicer environment that costs a lot more and is meant for tourists. With directions from Carlos, the hostel husband, we ventured off to the Mercado municipal, or ‘where the locals go’. On the walk to the market, I tried to covertly take pictures of things without looking like a major tourist. Out of all of the cities we saw, it seems like Masaya was the most impoverished. (The Carriage Horse Index--each city had carriages pulled by horses and the horses in Masaya were the skinniest, most starved looking horses of them all.)

The market was filled to the brim with crafts and artesan-y goods. I tried my best to barter and heckle, but once again, I am just not Chinese enough to be good at these kinds of things. Most things in the market were what you would expect—woodcrafts, woven things, leather etc. But there were a few slightly disgusting slightly disturbing things, namely preserved amphibians placed in compromising positions.

After a little bit of shopping, we went in search of a supermarket. Correction: naively in search of a supermarket. The pulperias weren’t like the pulperias of Costa Rica. They were more like big pantries with someone at the front who asks you what you want and gets it for you. No browsing here. We successfully bought some spaghetti and some bottled water to drink. We were going to make a pathetic dinner of plain spaghetti because we were too tired and cheap to think of / pay for more ingredients. That plan was nixed when, when we entered what we thought was the hostel kitchen, Carlos came running over saying, Area privada! Area privada! So dinner was a chicken pastry (like an empanada but the dough was really more like that of a pastry or a croissant) and half of a huge bottle of Canada Dry. Dry spaghetti was saved for another day. There was a huge party going on outside in the city (I later found out it’s the weekly ‘tertulia’ of Masaya) with loud, and at the time, very obnoxious music. We all passed our pretty early, and after a day of traveling, sleeping in a hot room felt pretty disgoosting (and smelly).

My staple food in Masaya.

Day 2!

In the morn, we awoke to go to Laguna de Apoyo. The buses left from the station near the municipal market. When I say station, I mean large expanse of dustiness and trash with buses driving in every direction and honking a lot. We found the Laguna bus and so began our first bus experience. One of my favorite parts of Nicaragua was the seemingly crazy experience on every single bus ride. We got on, hurriedly, after we saw that the bus had already started to truck away. Instead of trying to explain everything new and different about the bus, I’ll just leave you with a few words: streamers, stickers, music, dead chickens, live chickens, street turned bus vendors.

The lagoon was gorgeous. We were so ready to just jump into the water considering the heat. We quickly reconsidered once we could not spot one single woman in a swimsuit, let alone a bikini. Every woman was either swimming fully clothed (in jeans and a shirt) or in shorts and a big t-shirt. Crap. We walked down a while to try to find a less crowded area. Let’s just say I’ve never felt so scandalous swimming in a t-shirt. After wading/ swimming around for a bit, we headed back to Masaya. And since the bus let us off near the municipal market, why not shop some more? So shop we did, a wee bit. For dinner, we went to the little bakery that became our food haven in Masaya. I got a pineapple pastry for dinner, which was basically a ton ton ton of buttery pie crust and some pineapple jam. Healthy!

Day 3!

Went to an internet café early in the morning to try to figure out the next step of our journey. This trip, we were incredibly lucky and pretty much flying by the seat of our pants, without plans and without reservations for anywhere. We got a reservation for a place on Isla Ometepe, an apparent must-see for Nicaragua in Lake Managua. After going to the little bakery—again, for breakfast, we headed to Granada. When we were walking to the bus station, I thought my eyes were playing tricks on me (I am notorious for never wearing the glasses that I need to see), when I saw a baby with an absolutely stretched out head (seriously, huge). But, even without glasses, this baby's sickness was pretty apparent. I had heard about this disease, but had never seen it in person. One thing about Nicaragua is that you could tell a clear difference in poverty levels from that of Costa Rica. On the way out of the bus 'station', I saw a painted sign on a soda, "Ante Dios, Todos Somos Iguales." Before God, we are all equal.

From Granada, we bought return tickets back to good ol’ CR, and got ferry tickets for the (supposedly) 2 o’clock ferry to the islands. For lunch, I ordered some (absolutely gross) streetfood. Rice and beans, yucca, chicken, plantain chips…what could possibly go wrong with that combination?? Apparently, lots. Gross. Left lunch hoping that something else would restore my faith or at least happy curiosity toward street food.

The 2pm ferry ended up leaving at about 3-something. We spent the extra time in line deciding which state we would kick out of the US. After much consideration, and much discussion of Texas, we decided Indiana would get the boot. We had tickets for the top half of the ferry, which had a bunch of hammocks. When I was getting ready to sit in one, two grumpy, squat women threw their bags in it and walked away.

We got to the islands in the evening, then had to take an hour long taxi ride to the other side of the island, where our hostel was. The hostel, called Hotelito Aly, was a super cute hostel with a nice patio area and a baangin’ restaurant. The food was so good, and really cheap. After surviving off of pastries in Masaya, all I wanted was some rice and beans.

Day 4!

We started the morning fairly early again, found a tour guide, and started a full day of island touring. First up, waterfall! Little did we know, the only thing between us and this waterfall was a four hour hike. Waterfall wasn’t really a waterfall, or at least it was different than any waterfall I’ve ever seen. It was sort of like a mist-fall, but really cool. The 15 minutes we spent looking at it and getting misted were arguably worth the four hour hike.

After the waterfall: petroglyphs. Little carving things that weren’t super impressive. Our guide, Elmer, didn’t seem like he knew too much about these and was probably making up explanations as he went. (“This… this figure, could be a dog…or a man… or a dog…”) Then lunch at a restaurant with the slowest (in more ways than one) waiter on the planet (who had a lazy eye). He managed to mess up almost every order. But, we did get to enjoy an awesome view of a volcano and I got to take a nice ciesta on a hammock while waiting for our incredibly slow waiter.

Next, Ojo de Agua, basically like a pool, except more naturally looking. Highlight: rope swing. Which I used perhaps a little too much. By this time, it was already close to sunset, so we went to Playa Santo Domingo, a beach close by, to see the sunset. We also saw Chaco Verde, a green lagoon-ish thing. So ended our long day of touring. Had dinner at the hostel (big plate of fruit and oj—had been craving fruit all week), and then went out to go dancing. We went with Elmer in a tri-wheel, aka motorcycle with a bitty carriage on the back of it. The “club” was basically an outdoor bar on the beach with a little dance floor. Probably my favorite part of the night was when they put on random swing and 50s music (mixed in with reggaeton and merengue).

Day 5!

Worn out from the day before, we woke up to leave for Granada on the ferry. Then we caught a bus and rode for a few hours to Granada. I really really liked Granada. There is something about the city that is so inviting. We started calling up hostels from lonely planet when we got to Granada (we like to procrastinate) and by sheer dumb luck, found one with space for 5 people. A lot of hostels were booked up because of Semana Santa. (About 5 minutes after we paid for our 6 person room, a guy asked the hostel boss lady if they had space for 6 people. Lucky us.)

The girls decided that this luck could only be coming from one thing: Kristin’s gaudy $1 bracelet from Masaya featuring Saints, the Virgin Mary and Jesús himself. So naturally, we all bought gaudy saint bracelets the first chance we got in Granada’s central park.

After dinner at an okay Mexican restaurant, we went in search of a procession our Hostel boss woman told us about. After waiting for a few hours, we realized that the procession had left from the point we had been waiting at hours before. At least we ate some ice cream while we waited.

Day 6!

Kristin left this morning to go back to Heredia so now we were down to 4. There was a Pali (supermarket) very close to our hostel, so we picked up some breakfast! Yogurty drink things, granola, graham crackers, giganto bottles of water, and for me, raisins! I love dried fruit. After b-fast on the hostel patio, time to explore the town. We saw a ton of churches, one of which had a tower and a great view of the city. The Catholic churches there were colorful and cheerful, painted in vibrant yellows, turquoise and Carolina blues. We also saw a fort, a cemetery with lots of ex-presidents and important people, and a very very strange procession that re-enacted the crucifixion.

By the end of this, we were melting in the heat, and decided to go back to the Laguna (de apoyo) to cool off. Instead of riding the bus all the way down to the lagoon, this time, we could only find a bus that dropped us off at the entrance. So we walked, and walked, and got a ride in the back of a pick-up truck, and walked some more to the bottom of the lagoon. When we got back to the hostel, we cooked an alright-tasting, but gross looking meal of spaghetti with peas, corn, cheese and tomato sauce. Topped off, with two tubs of ice cream and some Oreo cookies.

Day 7!

Bonnie and I left for Leon, but not before buying some boot leg music and witnessing a bigger scale procession. We had our “connecting” bus-ride in Managua and got to Leon in the early evening. We were super excited about the hostel we had booked the day before. Apparently there was free breakfast, free bikes to use around the city and dance classes every day! Wrongly stoked we were. We walked into the hostel and are led into the dormitory. In every other hostel up to that point, walking in was like a sigh of relief, like coming ‘home’. Here, the first thing we see in the dorm is a pasty white dude sleeping in his underwear, three fans in the middle of the room, luggage everywhere, no space for us to put our stuff, and lots of little cot bunk beds. Ew. Bonnie and I both stood there, with our backpacks still on and decided that we had to get out of that place. We left in search of another place, and found a little hostel called Hotel Casa Vieja (for cheaper and a bigger private room with little couch seats and a hammock!). This hostel was run by the cutest family ever. (Including a little boy who was ALWAYS wearing his underwear—tightie whities-- and normally dancing in said underwear.)

We showered up, (travel days always = really gross), and went to one of the monster 'hip' hostels down the street to find some grub. (We each had fruit salads and share “appetizers’ of tortillas and chili, and gallo pinto. And of course, a largest-size-available bottle of water. Yummy). Since we decided to come back to CR on Monday (we both have class Tuesday mornings), we agreed to do some of our load of reading. Tip #1: never try to read in a hammock.

DAY 8!

We walked around Leon a bit with the intention of going to Ruben Dario’s old house, which had been changed into a museum. In the main church on the way there, we saw Ruben Dario’s tomb, which is guarded by a severely depressed big lion statue. After walking there, a guard told us that Ruben Dario’s house was closed. Boo. The art museum was just down the block, and was pretty cool, minus the fact that we came mostly to see their collection of Diego Rivera’s artwork, which apparently, wasn’t on display or was being fixed up or something. (It looked like our Saint’s luck had run out.) A little later, we met a friend of mine’s brother from Chapel Hill in the internet café! Small world.

So amazing, and only 25 cents for a big bag.

After strolling around, eating our share of bagged mangoes, we hopped a bus to Poneloya beach, about 40 minutes away. We went to the beach in search of the sandcastle contest that is apparently held every Semana Santa, but whenever we asked anyone about them, we just got confused looks. So, with homework in tow, we read and relaxed on the beach. I tried to go in the water a few times, but the tide was so strong that I ended up getting knocked off of my feet and on to my bottom more than a few times. After watching another gorgeous sunset, we (by sheer dumb luck, again) caught the last bus back to Leon.

This bus ride was, arguably, one of the crazier bus rides. We got onto a bus filled with jeering men and one old woman sitting in the back seat. Bonnie sat down next to her and I told the old woman and the man in charge of taking people’s money on the bus that I could stand, because I thought that three of us in that seat would probably squish the poor lady. Her response? The Spanish equivalent of, “SITDDOWN!!!” During the ride, the lady went to her “happy place” and held her head between her hands gripped on the seat in front of her (and eventually fell asleep on me). I assume she was trying to block out the full-out screaming, shouting and farting noises being procured all around us.

We had dinner in the Central Park of Leon hoping for street food. We found pizza and French fries. And of course, bagged mango. We agreed to study and then go out on the town a little later but ended up just falling asleep while “studying.”

Day 9!

Day before we came back to CR. We walked around the town a bit more, went to the Central Park and bought some souvenir-y things. We also went to an FSLN museum (mostly a room with newspaper clippings and photos) about the Sandinista revolution, which was really interesting. After buying some mo’ street food, we headed to Granada—where we would have to take the bus from to get back to CR after a quick stop through Masaya. When we got on the bus to go to Managua from Leon, we realized, after being hurriedly ushered onto the bus, that neither of us had enough cordobas to pay for the bus ride (still had dollars but had spent our cordobas.) Luckily, a really sweet Australian lady paid for my bus fare and Bonnie and my combined change paid for Bonnie's. When we got off in Managua, everyone was asking us if if we wanted to buy stuff/ go in someone's taxi, etc., to which Bonnie replied--si es gratis, if it's free. We asked a man in a "Let's Mess with Texas" shirt about the nearest ATM. He said there wasn't one close by at which point, a woman came up t ous and told us she would walk us to one. Meanwhile, everyone standing behind her is shaking their heads "no" at us. Sketchy lady, apparently. Luckily, we took a cab (who we promised to pay after we got to the ATM) to an ATM, and found a bus to Masaya/Granada.

When we got off the bus in Granada, we literally walked into a procession, found our hostel (the first ‘hip’ hostel we stayed at) and went to dinner at a Thai restaurant. (Yum. I miss Asian food.)

Day 10!

From L-R, sort of: Crunchy things filled with sweet stuff, a mixed assortment, including dried and sugary papaya, rotten banana balls covered with sugar (despite what they are, they taste super good), brown, white and pink coconut thingies, and dulce de leche caramel turd), ginger snap-ish cookies, and little crunchy things with sugar.)

Bus left at 7 am for Costa Rica. Got some snacks at the border to live up our last opportunity to eat ‘street food’. Consequently consumed way too much sugar. Got home at about 3 pm-ish and had my host ma had cooked exactly what I was craving—meatball and veggie soup.

So it’s been about a week and half since I’ve been back in CR and I haven’t traveled anywhere else as of yet. Classes have been going well. I got a 100 on my philosophy exam, woo! But now philosophy is sort of kicking my arse again as we’re reading Aristotle, Plato and Kant, none of which I would be able to understand in English, let alone Spanish. I think I’ve got my summer figured out, which is a relief. Last weekend, I saw Sander in San Jose which was fun, and went to a festival in Barva and somehow ended up in the middle of an absolute MOB of people dancing. I've started volunteering at the health clinic, aka making presentations for their health-week events. I go walking with my host mom sometimes in the mornings. Last weekend we went to the equivalent of the farmer's market here, which was pretty neat-o. Going to Bar Retro on Thursday nights is becoming a tradition amongst gringo and tico friends alike. Time is flying by. I can’t believe it’s already April. Anywaays, I miss everyone, and I hope Chapel Hill springtime is as amazing as it usually is! Hopefully tomorrow I can find somewhere to watch the game!!

Abrazos,

Erin

P.S. I hadn’t seen the full bracket yet, but just saw Duke’s Road to the Final, I mean the Elite.. oh wait, the Sweet…. Oh.. HAHA!