I am bored. Which is partly my fault really. I could have gone to a market or some small village today but instead I sat in the hostel until 1 then walked around for an hour then came to use the internet. Now I´m just waiting until I can go to the park and get some dinner. Favourite new Guatemala food - these little tortillas that they cook then put ground meat of some kind and a bit of tomato sauce then topped with salad and spicy sauce, which in Guatemala is apparently just massive slices of jalapeños. That plus a deepfried something stuffed with beans and plantain has been my dinner.
I was entertained my first few days by the group of people staying at the hostel but they all left this morning. Last night a big group of us went to the mall here which was a reminder that its Christmas and I am so glad I am not at home and working and having to listen to christmas songs all day. We thought this new Russell Crowe movie was out but its not playing here yet and James Bond just finished playing so we decided on Max Payne. Interesting choice. Not an interesting movie. ¨Not yet Max¨.
Tomorrow Im starting spanish classes so at least 4 hours of my day will be taken plus maybe an hour of homework. Im staying at the school/hostel in a private room starting tomorrow and theres a little TV area and all I really want to do is drink endless cups of tea, under my two sweaters, leg warmers, scarf and three blankets for warmth. I thought I needed a break from the heat but that was in fact false.
Taking a cold shower when its hot is much more enjoyable than taking a possibly hot shower when it is so cold you can´t bear the idea of taking off your clothes and know that the fact you turn the water off you will be freezing again.
Just in case you were wondering.
Rita left me tuesday to go back to Panama. Sad day I really like that Portugese lady.
I went back to Leon, just to avoid taking the bus to Guatemala from Managua, because it is seriously a shit hole. Possibly the worlds ugliest capital?
Hopefully Nicaragua won´t go back to war though lots of people seem to want to. Saw some demonstrations in the streets but none of my buses were stoned anyway. Yay.
Spent the night in San Salvador, El Salvador wednesday. Was too tired to bother checking out the city at all though Im fairly certain there wasn´t much to see. The Tica bus was in a super sketch area of town so I opted for taking a taxi to a hostel that was near this massive commercial shopping centre. Huge contrast.
Got to Guatemala City thursday morning, MASSIVE. Fucking huge city. Seems alright though. The areas I saw anyway. As far as Central American cities go. I was going to apply for a job there but now I´m thinking going home when I planned is probably going to win over another 3 months longer in Guatemala. 8 months in Central America seems to be about my limit.
Proceeded to take another bus 5 hours from the city to Xela which was brutal. Traffic and breathing in the fumes of construction the entire way. Xela is also a lot bigger than I was expeting and FREEZING. This morning I could see my breath. Its freshing in a way to not be sweating. I had to go buy another sweater today and some long pants to sleep in. After sending all my warm clothes home I was sick of carrying around. Fantastic Kristin.
1. Nicaragua is apparently the safest country in Central America. I haven´t had my life threatened yet so I guess it bets Panama.
2. Everyone here has fake teeth. You do not want to have to go to the dentist in Nicaragua.
3. I weighed myself outside of the supermarket the other day and I haven´t gained a ridiculous amount of weight like I thought I did though I´m pretty sure all of those 5lbs came from sitting on my ass and drinking in Panama.
4. I milked a cow! Successfully!
5. Nicos like country and english music. A lot.
6. Dale Pues is my new favourite spanish saying.
7. Nicaragua is the more interesting country I´ve been to as of yet.
8. It is also the dirtiest country and the streets smell of burning garbage and dust burns your eyes and nose constantly.
9. LOUD MUSIC
10. Bathrooms have no sinks?
11. Toilet seat, ok to sit, no toilet seat, work those quads. Though I´m pretty sure its never really ok to sit.
12. Playboy bunny stickers can often be found beside Jesus stickers on buses.
13. Men will whistle at you even sitting in a church.
14. Toña and Victoria are my favourite names for national beers
15. Talked to some girls on Big Corn Island, asked if they went to school and one girl told me her mom won´t let her go anymore because she pood. Seriously.
I understand why people fly to the Corn Islands now. I wanted to save money by going by land but ended up flying to Big Corn from Bluefields anyway. First we didn´t even realize the boat only leaves once a week so we were lucky it was the day after we got to Bluewwfields. After sitting on the boat for 3 hours they decide, nope we aren´t leaving today because the weather is too bad, maybe tomorrow. The thought of spending an entire day more in what has now become my number one hated city, yes it is even more disgusting than Buffalo, brought me to panic. There were some other backpackers and they decided they didnt want to wait either, because seriously Bluefields is a sweltering shit hole, so out of a hasty unrational decision I paid 65$ to fly from Bluewwwfields to Big Corn, leaving poor Rita who can´t afford to spend that kind of money and wait for the $10 boat the next day. Had I thought about it another hour more I probably would have waited as well, but seriously, Shit. Hole. Then I lost Rita. I thought we decided to meet at the dock in Little Corn friday morning, but she thought it was the dock on Big Corn, anyway finally Sunday morning she found me and all was fine.
I was a bit disappointed with the islands. People say amazing things about them, and yes they are goregous but there isnt much of a beach there and unless you take a dive course, there really isnt anything to do. I thought San Blas was a lot nicer. So basically for a week I woke up at 6 or 7. Had breakfast, read, walked pretty much around the entire island, browned myself and swam. Then was to bed at like 7 or 8. It was the most relaxing time, especially after the pain in the ass it was to get there.
Food took forever, even my gallo pinto breakfast with a coffee would take an hour. I did not understand this. And the pinto there was made with coconut juice, not good. Costa Rica wins the pinto contest.
Coming back from the islands we spent the night in Rama. Ate delicious corn tortillas with this Nica cheese, which is SO much better than squeaky Tico cheese. It was kinda like feta, nice a salty, and delish pork. And this is the reason for my ever enlarging ass.
I was so excited to have a good nights sleep after the death beds and mosquitos on the islands but no luck. Men were on the street yelling at each other all night, because Latinos might just be louder than my Italian family. Then at 4am began the most painfully, maddening sound from these birds in the tree outside our window. Gah. No words can even explain it.
The bus I took to Nicaragua was the nicest bus I have ever been on. PLUS we were sitting in the wheelchair accessible seats so had even extra leg room, it was amazing.
Went straight to Isla Ometepe. Amazing island. Meet this guy on the lancha that has a hostel on the other side of the island so he drove us over there for free. Really cute cabinas right near the lake. They have a tv there was satielite and such. The night we got there though they put on VH1 and we watched Rock of Love 2. Normally I can´t stand even a second of reality shows like that but I sat there for the whole hour glued to the screen completely mezmorized. People were talking beside me but I was not feeling conversation I just wanted to watch tv, it was nice for a change.
The next day we hiked up the Volcano a bit, not the whole way to the lagoon which Im sure is amazing, just to a viewpoint where you can see either side of the lake and a beautiful view of the other volcano. I didn´t eat breakfast before hand and had little water....which wasn´t a good idea, but I made it. There are no signs for the path so we got a bit lost but there were a lot of locals coming down from collecting and planting beans and one guy took us to where we needed to go. the Nicos have been really nice so far. Our taxi driver in Costa Rica that took us to the bus terminal when we told him we were going to Nicaragua the only thing he said was Se matan gente alla. Which sure may be true but each country is SO opposed to the other here it´s crazy. The Ticos don´t like the Nicos. The Panamians don´t like the Ticos. Personally I didn´t like the Panamaians too much.
Monday we left Ometepe and spent FAR too much time traveling
First a pick up to the road to get a bus to the boat, the bus, the boat, a bus to Managua, a taxi to the terminal. At the terminal we had to wait 5 hours for the bus to Rama. 6 hours in the bus. Then another 3 hours of sleeping in the bus before we could take the other boat to Bluefields. We could have just continued on with the 9 hour ferry to the Corn Islands but I couldn´t even keep my eyes open. Bluefields is interesting. Not the nicest town. Checked out a really sketchy hotel then thankfully found another one that is cheaper. Still a little sketch though. My bed only has a fitted sheet, which is fine because its so damn hot. But it has holes in it and there are a bunch of hairs on the bed, the pillow will not be used. Rita pulled out her bamboo mat thing for her tent and put that on her bed. I put my scarf on mine. Then laying there all you can here is the scampering of something crawling on the ceiling. There was some weird chripping and Rita asked if it was birds or rats. I said birds, pretty beautiful, friendly birds. Then we laughed ourselves to sleep on our rock hard beds.
