On the bus a very nice woman named Maria offered the seat next to her and when I squished in she said "I'm a little fattie," in Spanish. We were friends that moment forward of course.
Me: "Yay!!!" Her: "Why the hell are you photographing me right now?"
She had bags full of necklaces on her lap and she gave me 4 of them for free! I couldn't believe it!
In Rivas I took a very overpriced cab (which the American in me really wanted to complain about, but it worked out to be $5. What was I going to say, "It should be $3!!!" Come on. I didn't come to Central America to be a Walgreens coupon shopper) to San Jorge:
Where I caught a ferry:
"Ahhh.... other white people!"
The ferry leads to Ometepe, an island in Lago Nicaragua, made up of two volcanoes.
On the island feather color isn't a factor
This was a more beautiful site than the volcanoes or the beaches
Traffic jam
On the first day I caked myself in sun screen and set out on a rented bicycle.
The hills were insane and the bike sucked. But there was nothing cooler than riding around on a Nicaraguan island at night. Nothing.
I visited the Ojo de Agua (Eye of Water) which is a natural spring:
And then I climbed this volcano. I heard from the locals it was the best place to bury a body:
At the top is a huge lagoon in the crater
Cloudy view from the top of the volcano
All this stuff was great but soon the island started to test my patience. For the bulk of the time I stayed at El Bosque in Santo Domingo. (I'd highly recommend Santa Cruz over Santo Domingo. Better vibes and wayyyy cheaper food.) On the first day I noticed that the restaurants in Santo Domingo were so expensive so I figured I'd just make my food. So I go to the over-priced pulperias (little grocery stores, almost like their version of Walgreens except family owned) and picked up sandwich stuff (bread, mayo, tuna, peanut butter, jelly, etc) and a dozen eggs. While I'm walking back to my hostel, I'm thinking I don't remember seeing a kitchen... There has to be a kitchen! What kind of a house wouldn't have a kitchen?
Of course, no kitchen. The owner happened to be around and I told him my dilemma. He said (in Spanish), "Ah! The pulperia next door has a kitchen and they're technically the same house. Same property, we've just split it up. So they'll let you use their kitchen!" And I thought, Great! So I go over to the people sitting in front of the little shop.
"Hi, can I use your kitchen?"
"No."
And then I walked past the owner again and explained they just flat-out said "No." He talked to them for me and came back and said, "They said you can use their kitchen in 20 minutes!" I didn't even explain to him that my meal of choice in one sitting was not a full loaf of bread, dozen eggs, can of peanut butter, jelly, and mayo though I may like it to be. So I went back to the pulperia where I bought all the sandwich stuff merely 20 minutes ago to ask to return my food and they refused.
The guy who explained this to me kept saying "Mira. Mira." and so I said "No es mira es mierda." I think it was my first Spanish play on words.
I hate to be such a spoiled American but I'm not used to such a lackadaisical culture. For example, the return ferry from the island nearly capsized:
It kept tilting extremely far to one side. Don't any one of you care about that?!
And then I finally arrived in San Juan del Sur:
It's so different from Ometepe. Ometepe was very quiet and relaxed. San Juan del Sur is like a giant nightclub. My hostel where I'm writing this right now is literally vibrating. I'm vibrating.
And I finally surfed for the first time in my life!
But even that wore my nerves down! The teacher Alex asked me which beach I'd like to go to, "We can go to this one which is very chill, or we can go to Mareda which has tons of girls in little bikinis. Lots of puuuussy." Oh great, my favorite. So of course we headed to Mareda and the waves were terrible! They were way too high for a beginner. Dangerous. Despite that, I end up getting up on the board several times which was cool but then he says he has to go back into town to get more people for more lessons "So I can make more money. I'll be back in a couple hours to come get you!" He leaves, taking the leg leash with him so I can't even use the board the entire time. I spend some time writing, some time eating, some time drinking, finally go for a run, and then he finally returns and has his van loaded with girls he's going to drive to their hostel and return only "20 minutes later." When he returns nearly an hour later I say "Okay let's go," and he's like "Oh man there are some other people getting lessons here, I have to stay for them," and I tell him to "Fuck off." He feels so bad he arranges another transportation for me to finally get back to San Juan. Arggh!
You've got to have patience in Central America. People are so chill that it's on the one hand very cool because everyone's friendly, everyone. I love talking to these people, they're so great! Everybody's relaxed, slow-paced, and comfortable. However they also end up pulling all the shit listed above because they just don't care. They do what they want, when they want and too bad for you. For the first 6 weeks I reacted to this with amusement. How charming and different! I'd think. Now, my inner American is extremely red and soar. Get it together!!! I think now. I need to just breathe and adjust my expectations. Only 2 weeks left at this point!
THE CUTTING ROOM FLOOR ----
Watch this video. It could probably be a youtube sensation if I posted it there.
There was this horse rental place in Ometepe:
The skeleton head is interesting isn't it? "Hi, I'd like to rent a horse but please make sure it's dead."
Some of the bugs are massive! Look at this bee my God!
Watch the crab drama unfold in my room in San Juan del Sur:
Translation: Flavor! Flavor! Ice cream! Chocolate bananas! Ice! Beans! Stews! GOD IS LOVE!
Christ lives! So eat greasy salty crap!
I really liked your Information. Keep up the good work. Dyson Hand Dryer Parts
ReplyDelete