El Salvador-Nicaragua 2006 (4)

Hello! Sorry for the quick departure from the last message...although judging by the lack of responses, I doubt anyone noticed... I'll save the sad explanation for the end. So, here I sit on our last night in Nicaragua. Tomorrow morning at a rediculous early hour (3am) we get on a bus headed to San Salvador... We'll spend one day there and the next day be on a plane to the states!! So, how did the trip continue from the paradise beach...Well, after fighting for the turtles and good waves for about a week, we opted to head inland and tackle that volcano we passed up previously. We hoped that while we were away the winds would shift and we'd come back to perfect waves... In the meantime, to La Isla Ometepe we go!The journey began nice enough with a shared taxi to San Jorge, a quick photo session with two monkeys chained to a tree, the feeding of a starving mama dog and the embarking of a very old ferry. The ferry ride across lake Nicaragua was an hour long with a slight drizzle... both volcanoes were in sight the whole way, although both summits were in a cloud. The island is the largest island in a fresh water lake in the whole world... so I heard a gringo report. When we arrived to the island, we made way to our little cozy room then quickly sought out some grub and even got to see a movie... The movie theatre was the main foyer of the building a gringo turned into a tourist haven... showing movies, offering homemade brownies and a great little selection of vegetarian dishes... We saw North Country with Charlize Theron... worth a viewing.After surviving torrential downpours in the port town of Moyogalpa for a night and a morning, we opted for the cheap way across the island - the chicken bus - to the little town of Balgue... we'd be looking at a two hour ride... Well, within the first 35 mintues, our bus had a bit of a problem, resembling smoke rising between my feet, somewhere deep within the wheel well we were propped on. The bus pulled over and everyone jumped out hastily, yelling about the smoke... We all proceeded to find shade while the three dudes running the bus service (the driver, the money collecter/caller from the front and the caller from the back) went ahead and took off both tires, both wheels all together, the breaks, the axle, the muffler... ok, not the last two, but I couldn't tell really as they seemed to have a lot of shit piling up around them. Everyone just stood by patiently, chatting about nothing... watching without offering a word of suggestion, not a moan out of anyone... If we had been home, Jered noted that everyone would have been bitching up a storm or demanding the next bus to be called... While everyone waited patiently, Jered and I crossed the street and played in a kiddie playground with four school boys, still humping their school bags, they had taken a detour through the playground for a quick laugh before going home... They got a kick out of Jered and loved calling us by our names, 'Gringo' and 'Gringa' ...When the bus was underway again, we were relieved... for about another 35 minutes until the driver informed us that this bus wouldn't be making the journey to our destination and we would have to get off and wait for the next one at a little intersection... We disembarked with 6 others, all of whom were scooped up with the toss of a thumb by passersby in pick ups... We decided to start walking (though we still faced about an hour on a shitty road... and that's in a bus... on foot, who knows!) Within about 20 minutes, our luck turned and we got a ride to the next town where the bus would arrive shortly... It did, and then... it broke down! Luckily, when this bus decided it's wheel needed repair, we were only 200m from the turn that would lead us to our hostel... another 1k up the road, which by the way - when did a kilometer get so long?The Finca Magdalena (finca meaning farm) was ok... a big barn with hammocks and odd cot like beds for rent. The Finca originally was a 29 family farming cooperative... and still is! They have all types of crops ranging from coffee and rice to corn and bananas on over 500 acres. It was here that we scored our guide for the volcano (hiking without a guide is illegal since 3 tourists got lost and died two years ago costing the locals a lot of time, press and stress). The volcano was a blast... as in a rocket blast., hiking at mock speeds behind a very fit guide who barely stopped to show us some key elements on the volcano... but, to his credit, he did catch a singing locust in his hand and put it in my face... we also spotted leaf cutting ants and watched them glide to and fro like sail boats, howler mokeys and cara blanca monkeys, petroglyphs and lots of cool trees and moss... We sumitted the volcano three hours later and climbed down into the crater, via a slippery clay slope with rocks and tree roots. The crater itself was home to noneother than Smiegel or Gollum... or could very well be... It was misty and marshy with frogs and mud but we couldn't see more than 50 feet ahead at any time for the clouds... eerie and cold... We pounded a sandwich and made the two hour trek back down... ouch, my knees!Mostly unimpressed with the Finca (maybe because the showers were ice cold, the girls unfriendly, the 'swimming' hole a mud pit, the moths bigger than pigeons and ants wanted to eat us whole), we packed up and hiked down to town as soon as we were back from our volcano hike... dumb? Well, we thought we'd make the bus... we just missed it. Balgue, the town we were waiting in, consists of a very rudimentary dirt road with stick, tin and palm leaf homes... Everyone was going somewhere on foot, but they would pass back by within minutes seemingly unchanged by their journey, so maybe given the time of day - 3pm - it was just their version of cruising the strip. Loads of navy blue and white clad school kids were marching about, having just gotten out of school, playing chase, tag, hide and seek... It was pretty entertaining to watch them try to outrun each other without tripping over chickens or getting the wind knocked out of them by the 300 pound grazing pig - which wouldn't happen by charging, but rather by not moving. Did I mention, at this point Jered and I have been sitting on a stoop for 3 hours... We've been told four different times for the bus's arrival... yet to come through... If a photographer had set up a camera at the chapel opposite us, to take a shot every 10 minutes... well, it would have sold out at the MET- plopping down with optimism for the soon arriving bus, breaking out the Nutella to have a wee treat, finding it has been infested with ants from the Finca, sitting on the steps, being attacked by a spider, moving to the pack, being hurdled by 12 year olds in pursuit of each other, cracking a book to kill time, jered up and away for a snack, Rai up and away to check the time with a nearby local, jered back with cheetos, Rai across the street to look at a pig, sitting side by side on a wall, jered gets good idea to put head in Rai's lap, Rai gets good idea to remove heavy head a few minutes later, petting a cute stray (would take him home if I could),cute stray chasing squealing pig down street, horse danders by aimlessly, three unneutered males posture, sniff and move on, scrambling with packs to get out of sudden torrential down pour, watching passing gringos, talking to passing gringos, realizing- we too should huff it... Loading packs, losing smiles, walking... on tired volcano beaten legs... empty frame...Within 10 minutes or a half mile or so, wouldn't you know, the bus drove on up, mocking us with its sputtering engine.Next stop, Santo Domingo... We stayed at Villa Paraiso... the ritzy spot on the island and the only beach on the whole lake you can 'swim' in (quotes to be explained shortly). This hotel was rocking! It had a killer view, was luxurious really and the room, decked with private bathroom, fan, nice bed and clean sheets was only $20 a night... an indulgence for us on this trip, but after our previous two days, welcomed! The first thing Jered had in mind was a nice swim... Yea, anyone seen 'The Truman Show'? Remember when he gets out of the boat and starts walking? Jered walked for about 200 meters before the water even hit his knees... the sky was big and blue behind him with a few puffy whites... he was in the dome! Finally, he gave up and just squatted into the water like you would into a bath tub... We caught some world cup, ate ice cream and seafood and really just relaxed. I walked the beach and saw some great thought inspiring sights...I think if you are left alone with your thoughts long enough, you will think yourself into oblivion... I figured so much out on my walk along the beach... for example, Egrets. The long legged white birds you see in marshes and salt lakes usually... they're quite impressive, when you see too many of them, as I did - one of two things happens: either you see them as common birds, like sea gulls or crows cause they're just everywhere... or, you realize, they are a hybrid between a flamingo and a swan and their elegance and weird reverse backbending knees are entirely remarkable. I also spotted some odd contraptions in the lake... flat stones thrown up on beaver dam-like stick piles... You might know right off what they are, or it might take you seeing a family jumping around together in the water while mama washes clothes on the stone before it hits you. I also saw the most heart wrenching demonstration of animal emotion... There I was, walking innocently, stepping over hundreds of dead fish (Egret or fisherman remains?) when I see two men steal a calf from its mother... The Cow was pissed and devastated. The first thing that shot through my head was VEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAL!!! That is until I questioned the liklihood of veal being a demand in this country.... who knows... The men beat mama cow away with a stick while they loaded the calf into the back of a toyota... when they finally had the calf in the truck and didn't care about the mama cow anymore, she marched right up to the truck and nudged the baby with her nose, mooing from deep within the whole time, just mooing, mooing, running around the truck... then they drove off, along the beach... mama cow, not usually known for her endurance or desire to exercise, took off at a sprint behind the truck, mooing the whole way... not ceasing to moo the whole mile or more that I could watch... Later I passed some other gringos who found it hilarious that a farmer driving a truck on a beach with a calf in the back would ask them, the gringos, if they had seen his missing cow... Apparently, the mother of the calf was missing... but if I could bet money on the committment of that mama cow, I would say the baby was hers... maybe she had just committed to watch it while her sister was out having a nice time with the other ladies... either way, I felt relieved to know they would all be going back to the herd... my veal fears were unjustified!The next day in Santo Domingo, we decided to walk a short 1K down to the swimming hole... hopefully better than that of the Finca... 1K became 10K... or around 2K I guess, but man, it was hot! We finally arrived, a bus, three people, a cow carrying child and a horse later... and it was awesome! We payed a dollar to this little family living by the gate and walked through a crop of banana trees, then arrived at a little manmade lagoon with crystal clear water, a sandy/rocky bottom and a rope swing! After cooling off sufficiently, we made our way back through banana land, when the funniest man-reaction took place... Man-reaction... that's what I am coining the reaction of a man to the behavior, odd or normal, of a woman... Man in this case being Jered, woman being me. I just couldn't hold it anymore... had to pee soooo bad! We were all alone in the middle of the banana crop, I had on a skirt and my bikini... I just handed over my water bottle, stepped slightly off the road, pulled the suit slightly to the side (ya know, like you did when you were an 8 year old wearing a one piece in the pool bathroom) and let her rip... Jered flung around, and while marching down the road yells back, "What's the matter with you! Don't you usually squat?!" It was the all time funniest man-reaction I've ever seen! Was that such a weird thing to do? Maybe, but they pee standing up, so what's the big f-ing deal! haha!!Our bus, ferry, taxi journey back to the beach of San Juan del Sur was uneventful... and that's a good thing! We caught the sad USA/Czech game and then headed back to the land free of phones and computers... for now. Back at the beach we chilled with our Swedish buddies, paddled out for a few more days and then wound down... time to come home! From San Juan del Sur we bussed back to Granada, ate good food, spent way too much in a market where I bought a hammock, a handmade guitar and beautiful prints and Jered bought ceramics and prints... Like rock stars, we'll be rolling out of here in the middle of the night! Until we're stateside... Take care everyone... Now, here's my sad stories.Sadly, Jered's grandmother passed away last Monday morning, having chosen peace over a battle with cancer. The memorial will be held in Rhode Island the weekend after we get home, so Jered is getting off one plane and onto another. I'm sure she is exaclty where she thought she would be going and that's comforting... More in the sad news department is that the two women I mentioned, Sue Nott and Karen McNeill, are seemingly not returning. They are 20 days past due and it is feared that they were blown off Mt. Foraker... but, when and if we will ever know is completely uncertain. If I could write their ending, I would have them hunkered down in a snow cave, slowly resigning to the fact that this is it, having one last chat about their reality and all their many successes in and out of the mountiains until sleep takes them - neither to wake up alone or again... That would be nice. Sorry to see Sue go... She's a spitfire with a lot of smiles to go around. I never knew Karen, but she too seems like an amazing women... grrr... Hate when this happens in our community!