Nicaragua and Ometepe

I just had my entire blog erased and so now I am starting over. I am sitting here in a hospedeja or hacienda if you will in Merida. I am sharing a room with a German woman (Katrine) we picked up in Managua and a Canadian woman (Alyssa) we picked up in Granada. There are two other boys from Boston (Aviv and Jeremy) that are now traveling with us as well. It was the boys idea to come to the place we are and it is absolutely beautiful here. Granada was wonderful, an old colonial city in southern Nicaragua with bright colored paint and lots of tourists but not as many as Antigua, many being surfers on their way to San Juan del Sur. We decided to hop on a chicken bus... the direct route... wink wink... to Rivas and head to the Lake Nicaragua and Ometepe Island. On the way there was a feria, so the bus was at maximum capacity, which made us nervous because we have read about all the pick pockets on the busses (nothing happened), what would be an hour bus ride turned into two and upon arrival we had to grab cold beers, jump in cabs and race to San Jorge which was where the boats were leaving from within minutes. After an hour long ferry ride we arrived in Mayogalpa and took an hour and an hour and a half truck ride past one volcano over to Hacienda Merida. Since then we have been reading books while sitting in hammocks, swimming to islnds inhabited by monkeys, walking through villages of indigenous people (Mosquitos) wearing olny my bahing suit and no shoes, drinking Flor de Cana, the local rum while playing Youker and Joseph, sitting on the docks, climbing black lava rocks, floating under an almost full moon and a million stars at night, and on and on and on... tomorrow we plan on heading to San Juan del Sur and hitting the beach. I am not sure if we will try to attend the Surfing Competition in El Salvador, because really I can't be bothered to try and hurry and get there. We did convince the Boston Boys and Canada to head back to Guatemala with us... Germany has a ticket out of Costa Rica in a week to go home so we will leave her after we head to the beach. Norm, Germany and Canada went to climb Volacn Maderas, I have a date with a hammock. Maybe I will head to the waterfalls with the Boston Boys this afternoon or work on my tan. It is beautiful, I wish I could upload some photos but soon enough I will, when I can. We are leaving for San Juan del Sur tomorrow and that is supposedly the best beach in all of Nicaragua. I have been laughing and laughing and the additional girls has been a nice change because sometimes 3rd world countries where machimo is the name of the game increase machismo in men that would otherwise not behave in such a barbaric way, for example spitting on floors and walls is a totally acepted practice in these parts. Beyond that I have been laughing and laughing, the way I did when I was in Australia. I Am so looking forward to traveling with Canada, she is my age and a teacher in Ontario. I was going to go back to Comalapa for a while but I am thinking that maybe I will go back to San Pedro with Canada and just chill out there instead. Have a great day... until the next time!