Surf, Sun and Sea Turtles

Best weekend yet! Matt and I headed to San Juan del Sur- the tourist and surf hot spot of Nicaragua. San Juan is in the department of Rivas and is about 40 km from the Costa Rican border. We stayed at Casa Oro which is the most popular hostel in San Juan. I met lots of cool people from the UK, Australia and some Canadians too! Casa Oro offers a Sea Turtle expedition as well as surfing lessons so I took advantage of both of those this weekend.

Friday night was the Turtle expedition at La Flor Reserve. After a presentation on sea turtles, we took a shuttle to the beach where our guide showed us turtles nesting, broken eggs, and we even found a few babies that had been from the first eggs laid this season. The guide had to take all the babies back to the office as if they were left on the beach while the adults are nesting, they would have been crushed. I had to constantly look around me because there were just so many turtles it was easy to get in their way. This experience was definitely worth the $25. The sky was also perfectly clear and littered with stars. It was as if the sky was a black cloth and Neil Buchanan was having an Art Attack with some salt.

Fun Sea Turtle Facts: 

• La Flor is one of 7 nesting sites in the world for the Olive Ridley sea turtle
• The Olive Ridley is the smallest of the sea turtles; the largest being the leatherback (about 5 of these come to La Flor per year)

• Turtles go back to the beach they were born at to lay their own eggs
• It takes the female 45-60 minutes to leave the water, dig a whole, lay her eggs, and return to the water
• Females mate with many males and store their sperm to fertilize her eggs
• Sea turtles have been around for 150 million years – since before the dinosaurs!
• Per 1000 eggs laid, 1 sea turtle reaches adulthood (besides natural predators, egg poachers are the biggest threat)
• All species of sea turtles are endangered
• Sea Turtles reach adulthood at 15 years old and can live for 100 years
• The sex of the turtle is determined by the temperature during incubation

On Saturday I spent a few hours working on my tan and swimming. The tan is coming along well and I'm quite the freckle face now. I even have freckles on my lips which I didn't even know was possible. In the afternoon I had a surfing lesson! I sucked. A lot. But not as much as I thought I was going to and I was able to stand up and everything. It was a lot of fun but my entire body is sore now. I plan on going to San Juan again in a month so go surfing again. After a relaxing day in the sun we joined in on the BBQ at the hostel and checked out some of the beach front bars. 

After returning to Jinotepe this afternoon, David and I went to the Hipica in a nearby town. An Hipica is a town celebration that every Nicaraguan town has. It means horse parade, so people come from all over the country to parade their horse down the main street. Then everyone just parties. It was hilarious to watch. 

Anddd.... tomorrow I start working in the hospital!! Eeeeee!

Olive Ridley on the beach

The best shot I was able to get. Special thanks to the guy that showed me how to use my camera on the fancy settings so that I could actually see the turtles in my photos!

Baby turtles!

Turtle count at La Flor. Please note, this September, over 73,000 turtles came to the shore!

San Jaun del Sur Beach

Sunset in San Juan

Hipica in Santa Teresa

There is Always Another Way

Buenos dias y feliz compleaños a mi hermana Leslea!

I am now in my last week of Español lessons and I still can't understand most of what people say to me so next week will be muy intersante. To help me get used to the sound of people speaking quickly, I'm listening to music and watching movies in Español. It seems to me that you can only buy pirated CDs and DVDs here. There are tons of street vendors selling them in every town and they usually go for 20 Córdobas aka $1. So far I've bought a few movies and watched them in Español with English subtitles. The house had a few CDs kicking around so I've put them on my computer. Most of them are really upbeat and will make for some awesome gym music in the new year.

This weekend we ended up staying in Jinotepe and going on day trips. On Friday night we went for drinks at a bar called “Friends” that is just around that corner. They actually have a picture of the cast of Friends drinking Toña (one of the two Nicaraguan beers, the other being Victoria) on their sign. On Saturday we wandered the market and then headed to Huehuete, which is the beach associated with Jinotepe, about 45 minutes away. Huehuete was deserted when we arrived so we quickly claimed a spot on the beach and headed into the water to jump in the waves. I've swam in the Atlantic Ocean many times and I do love it, but I must admit that warm water and not having to worry about jellies was rather delightful. After our swim we began to work on our tans... until a huge wave came and washed over us. We were pretty far back from the water so the wave came as a shock to us unsuspecting sunbathers.

Since our towels were soaked and the beached was deserted, we took a short walk to find some shells. Long story short, I noticed a man walking close to where our stuff was and I had a bad feeling about it, so we headed back and guess who's bag was missing?!!? Mine! We spent the next hour or so searching for it by asking the locals if they'd seen the guy. A white girl being robbed was obviously the most exciting thing that has happened there in a while and the people were all very nice and helpful. My bag was then found and all that was missing was the equivalent of $6 (I had taken my camera on the walk with us). All is well that ends well, so we joke about it now and had a pretty interesting adventure for only $6. The best part is actually that Matt and David actually had nicer looking bags with more money and valuables in them than mine, so I suppose we are all really lucky that the guy was dumb.

On Sunday we went to the small town of Catarina, which has a view point of Laguna de Apoyo. It was a foggy day so my photos are not as good as they good have been. There was a booth collecting a toll to enter the viewpoint. For Nicaraguans, the price was 2 Córdobas and for foreigners, it was 20 Córdobas. You may think we should have just paid it, but the principle of charging visitors to your country 10 times more than everyone else is just wrong. Not exactly a good way to encourage tourism. David always says “There is always another way”, and of course, there was. We walked down a different street and found another entrance to the same lookout and didn't pay anything. When we had walked close to the original entrance, we noticed the toll guy looking at us and he knew we hadn't paid. Too bad for him, he couldn't leave his post to chase after us! Catarina also had lots of stores with handcrafts so I did some shopping... now I really want to go to the Masaya Market (the biggest handcraft market in the country) and have a shopping spree. The only problem is I don't know how much I will be able to fit into my suitcases when I'm packing to go home!

As usual, there are some pictures of the weekend below!

Maria 

Huehuete Beach

Catarina's Nintendo Club!!

Laguna de Apoyo

Mountainous Matagalpa

Hola,

      I must say, I am very impressed that I am posting about this weekend only a few days after the fact for a change! It's strange to think I've only been here for 2 and a half weeks. It seems like so much longer! Spanish is starting to get a bit easier but there is still a ton to learn. I understand most of what I am learning, I just have a difficult time remembering it all. I just don't have a natural flare for language. Tomorrow I am supposed to visit the Jinotepe health clinic (one of my placements) to meet a doctor and start learning how to take vital signs. I am also in the process of making a Nicaraguan food guide for the clinic. There is such a large variety of cheap, fresh local produce available but the people here do not eat a lot of fruits and veggies at all! It's funny since in Canada we have the opposite problem - people want to eat more fresh fruits and veggies but the cost and the fact that most of them are imported makes it difficult. 

       This weekend we went up north to Matagalpa City in the department of Matagalpa. It was a 4 hour journey but most definitely not a boring one. Watching the scenery as we drove by was much more interesting than driving in most parts of Canada. Plus it is pretty neat to think that I traveled across a country for the equivalent of $3.50. 

       Matagalpa was not a touristy place at all but we had a great time relaxing and taking in the views. On Saturday, we went to Monkey Park, which had some animals, such as monkeys, hiked up a hill and watched a free concert put on be a Honduran orchestra. They played "My Heart Will Go On". It was delightful. On Sunday we wandered around and ended up watching a local baseball game. 

       As you can see from the pictures below, Matagalpa is in a valley. The area is known for it's coffee and cacao plantations. There was even a coffee museum! I bought some of their locally grown coffee and I think it is safe to assume that it is going to be great coffee. We could have gone on a plantation tour but it is not quite the right season for that right now. It's the end of the rainy season (and man did it ever pour today) and the dry season starts in mid-November. 

      One thing I learned on this trip was that Nicaraguan cities do a great job at hiding the poverty they contain. As we climbed down the mountain (or hill...) we hiked, we passed houses that had walls and roofs made of sheet metal. Despite the living conditions, the kids in these neighbourhoods were playing and laughing. As we walked by they laughed and waved at us yelling "Gringos!". (A Gringo is a white person, though usually in Nicaragua we are referred to as "Chelas". Gringo is more common in Costa Rica.) It was really cute. 

Honduran Orchestra

Matagalpa City Cathedral

The many, many hills/mountains... I really don't know what to call them!

Translation: Throw garbage out the window! Why not have a garbage can and ask people to put garbage in it as they leave?

View from our hotel room

Scenery as the bus takes us back to Managua from Matagalpa

Thanks for reading and buenas noche!

Amor,

Mary

Granadagranadagranadagranada!!!

Hola amigos! I seem to be falling behind on my bloggingness...

         For Thanksgiving weekend, myself and my fellow volunteers, David and Matt, went to the old Colonial city of Granada. Granada was a lot hotter than it is here in Jinotepe, but thankfully there was a lake nearby to cool off in. 

         We arrived in Granada late Friday afternoon. It was about a 45 minute drive from Jinotepe in a minibus, which cost us 16.5 cordobas, so about 75 cents each. The minibus has two employees, the driver and the money collector/door opener. The door opener is my inspiration for the title of this post because all minibus door openers yell out the name of their destination really quickly (to the point where I can't understand what they are saying) to try and get passengers.

          Once in Granada, we headed over to the main area with lots of hostels. Granada is relatively touristy and know as a party city so a hostel was not hard to find. We stumbled upon a little gem called "La Casita". For $4 US a night I got a bed in the dorm, free coffee, kitchen access and a really sweet patio to hangout on. Staying at La Casita was a great experience as the patio provided us with a place to socialize with other travelers. We met a few guys - Jon, Eran and Gal- who had been traveling for a long time in South and Central America. They had some interesting stories and hearing them made me wish I could take 4 months and travel all of South and Central America.. I'm thinking I will do that in a few years time. Maybe I will start my journey by taking the yoga instructor course somewhere. 

          After checking into the hostel we ventured to the Chocolate Museum!! Obviously, I had been anticipating that part of Granada ever since I heard about it. The museum had samples of chocolate tea, which was tea made from cacao husks. It smelt exactly like chocolate but only had a delicate chocolate taste. Nevertheless, I thought it was delicious and bought a bag so that I can make it once I return to Canada. I also bought a bunch of chocolate bars. My favourite is 50% cacao with pieces of coffee beans mixed in. 

        On Friday night we went out for $1.50 mojitos. I also got a taste of Flor de Cana, Nicaragua's world renowned rum. We all spent Saturday basking in the sun at Laguna de Apoyo - a lake in a volcanic crater. The scenery was breathtaking and the water was incredibly clean and about 85 degrees F. To make the day even better, I didn't get a sunburn. I actually got a bit of a tan. Woo! Now I really can't wait to go to the Pacific beaches!

         The Merded Church tower is known for being the best place in Granada to watch the sunset from. Unfortunately, we were not back from the Laguna on time but I did manage to capture this shot as we rode back into the city. 

           Once back in our hostel, we met Liz and Dean who are from the US and doing a semester abroad in Costa Rica. We went for drinks at some Nica bars, watched the locals dance salsa and were jealous of their mad skills. After hearing about Costa Rica I really want to take a long weekend trip down! It's more expensive than Nicaragua but I think it would be worth it, so I may go at the end of November. 

           We spent Sunday wandering Granada. There were lots of pretty churches and nice views at Lake Nicaragua. Just before we caught the bus back to Jinotepe I realized that my chocolate had melted a lot...hmm... 30 degree weather+ chocolate. Why did I not think of that in advanced? Thankfully, the freezer back at our house saved my chocolate and it is edible once more. 

        Here are some pictures from Granada.

         Adios amigos!

I am soooo doing that!

Chocolate Museum!

I totally thought chocolate contained caffeine....

Viewpoint at Laguna de Apoyo

Parrot at the restaurant we ate at

Eran, Jon, Gal and Matt by the lake

Liz and I at the bar

Bienvenidos a Nicaragua!

      Hola y bienvenidos to my first blog post of my Nica trip! For anyone that does not know, I'm in Jinotepe, Nicaragua right now until mid December. For the first month I'll be learning Espanol and travelling on the weekends. I'll spend the last 6 weeks of my trip volunteering at Jinotepe's regional hospital and health clinic... and still travelling on the weekends of course! I'm here through a Canadian based organization called "Volunteer Abroad", which you can check out at: www.basecampcenters.com.

         Jinotepe is the capital of the Carazo region, situated on the west coast of the country. The city and surrounding rural areas are home to 44,000 people. Jinotepe is about an hour from the nation's capital, Managua, and fairly close to exciting places to visit, such as Granada, Masaya and of course, the Pacific beaches! There are quite a few funny/different things I've noticed about life here so I'll make a list!

• Ad cars - these are cars with massive speakers on them that drive around advertising anything from funerals, to parties, and what's on sale at the supermarket. Ad cars are rather annoying if you ask me and even if I spoke fluent Espanol I highly doubt I would be able to understand a word they announce!
• Tortilla man - He is a guy that walks around selling tortillas and yelling out "Tortilla, tortilla!!". I've grown accustomed to him over the past week.
• Tip Top Restuarant - Tip Top is a chain of fast food restuarants. I have yet to be and I don't plan on going, but from others I have learned that there is a doorman and actual servers that take your order at your table and then the food right to you! Now that is service!
• Riding in the back of pick up trucks - Totally legal! and very common. Usually you will see a punch of people sitting or standing in the back. I had a chance to try it this weekend, though the truck was being using as a shuttle and had a roof and benches so it was a bit less sketchy. 
• Cheapness of things! - Well, compared to North America, most things are relatively cheaper here, especially transportation. I went to a city called Granada this past weekend (more on that later) which is about 45 minutes away from Jinotepe. Each way, the "minibus" aka modified van filled with as many people as they can get cost only 16.5 cordobas (Nica currency - which is even more colourful than Canadian dollars!), so it was about 75 cents.

         The house I'm staying in is a big, old, Colonial style house. Like all other showers in Central America that have hot water (not all do!) we have electric water heaters in the shower... the mixture of water and electricity is actually less sketchy than I had imagined, which is awesome. The house has a cat, Robbin, and she had kittens about a month or so before I arrived. There is a black one and a blonde one (my fav). Other than myself, there are 2 volunteers here right now, David and Matt. There are some more joining us in November so I'll have more travel buddies then. Thus far, the weather has actually been quite nice. Jinotepe is cooler than most of the country making it comfortably warm. October is still a part of the rainy season, however the rain has not been that bad since I've been here. It has mostly rained at night so I have yet to need my rain jacket. There is much much more I could say about the past week but there is not enough time. I will write about my trip to Granada soooon. Studying Espanol takes up most of my time... I'm pretty slow when it comes to language. Those of you that have played Mad Libs with me around know the deal haha. 

In the mean time, here are some pictures. More to come soon!! 

Mural in Jinotepe

Just a glimpse of some of the BEAUTIFUL plants here!

Ever seen that many flies in one spot? This was at the dump. Strangely located right behind the gorgeous cemetery.

One of the many, many statues in the cemetery. (All cemeteries here are elaborate and pretty)

Kitten! Inspired by kittens!

Gecko! These geckos are EVERYWHERE! I don't mind them though as they eat the flies and mosquitoes. Most geckos I have seen are about 4-5 inches long, but I saw a baby gecko last night that was only about an inch long!

Thanks for reading and I will write more soon!

Mary (or should I say Maria)