Kev and Kaz Go South

I’ve been meaning to write this post after my buddy Kevin left in the beginning of February, but there was so much to cover that it was almost a daunting task because I wanted to do his trip justice.  Kevin, long-time friend from my internship at Vanguard and U of A, came down to Nica mid January to pay me a visit.  Kevin served as a Youth Development Volunteer in Ukraine, which is partly why we hadn’t seen each other in 2 years!  It sounds like forever, but our lives have paralleled so much that we jumped right back in where we left off.  In fact we even found some interesting parallels between Nica and Ukraine while he was here:men flipping up their shirts to reveal their bellies when they are hot, tons of stray dogs, machismo, etc.

Kevin and his Dad Kaz started their trip in Mexico City for NYE and worked their way down to the Yucatan where they caught a flight to Managua.  We went straight to Little Corn Island to relax and catch up as we soaked up the scenery from Casa Iguana’s deck.  It was a real treat to travel with Kevin’s father.  At 69 he went barefoot running with us, took a discover scuba course and even did a little yoga.  I was thoroughly impressed, as I can’t say I don’t know many 69 year olds who can keep up with us 20 somethings like he did.  He said he came only for the lobster dinner, but participated and contributed so much more to the experience as a wise Japanese man who moved to the States at age 27.  It was an amazing 5 days on the island scuba diving, yogaing, playing photography, and just plain chillen.  Kevin engaged in some competitive volleyball with the local boys and we met some Canadian girls who became our dinner dates as we bounced between restaurants comparing the quality of lobster and island fare.  In the end Rosa’s had the best Run Down soup and Bridget’s had the best lobster.  The last evening we made the god awful trek across sea to Big Corn Island where Kev and I almost threw up from sea sickness.  After a few hours in a hammock we were able to enjoy the beautiful Italian owned hotel and restaurant we were staying at.  On the shore of Big Corn we had a three course amazing Italian dinner cooked by the owners who were from Rome.

Kevin is a professional photographer so I took advantage and picked his brain while he was here.  We spent several hours just playing photography with different subjects and I learned quite a bit.  Hopefully Kevin will bless this post with some of his awesome photos.

After leaving Corn Island I was expected in Managua for training so Kevin and his Dad made their way to Leon for a few days until Kaz flew out and Kev and I continued our travels.  The next stop was the island of Ometepe.  Are you seeing the island theme here?  As we could not make it all the way to the island from Managua that day, we made a stop off in San Juan with my friend Noelle to eat some delicious Mediterranean food.  The vegetable curry and shish kabobs were a nice break for all of us as traveling tends to take a toll on your diet, especially in Mexico.  We stayed in a quaint little hostel perched up in the hills over looking the town of San Juan.  The next day we headed out towards Ometepe and realized once we got there that we wouldn’t be making it to the other side of the island as planned.  So on a whim we decided to stay in Noelle’s town and hike the La Concepcion volcano the next day.  That whim turned out to be a very good decision.  We woke up at 5:30 to start our climb up the second largest volcano in Nicaragua.  I had been planning on running the Fuego y Agua marathon up this volcano, which I wrote a post about, so it was a great chance to test her out before race day.  As we started the climb a local was kind enough to cut down some branches and shave them down in to a walking stick, at the time little did we know how much we would need them on the way down.  So I would consider myself athletic or at least in shape and Kevin is an expert hiker having spent 3 months on the Pacific Crest Trail.  I’ve hiked other volcanoes, but this was by far the hardest climb I’ve ever done.  We were pretty determined to get to the top quickly and pushed ourselves with out much rest at all.  As we climbed we started to hit different patches of climate.  The cloud cover started to play a roll in cooling us down all while the wind started to pick up.  We encountered enormous Venus fly trap looking plants and other exotic leafy vegetation.  The moisture in the air became so thick that drops of water were falling from the tip of my nose and whisked from my eyelids.  It was hard to keep our balance, as the wind was incredibly strong.  I couldn’t even hear what Kevin was yelling to me as the terrain changed to volcanic rock approaching the crater. Kevin has a video on his iPhone and it looks like we are in the middle of a hurricane climbing to shelter.  At one point our guide just stopped and sat down on the rocks that were emanating heat and explained he would go no further because it was dangerous and one could actually be blown over the edge in to the crater.  That was it for me.

About a third of the way down the volcano, the clouds began to disperse a bit and the breathtaking view submerged.  By now you may know that Ometepe is an island formed by 2 volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.  As we looked out we could see volcano Maderas looming next us, and the enormous ocean like lake that surrounded the island.  It was an amazing site to see.  I can only imagine what the view would have looked like from the top had the weather been better.  As we worked our way down the energy we had exerted on the speedy ascend caught up to our muscles.  My legs were starting to give up as well climbed down the rock faces.  My walking stick helped to catch me when my knees buckled, but it felt like the descent would never end.  Kev and I started laughing hysterically from exhaustion, as our arms would fling up over our heads when our knees buckled in effort to regain our balance.  When we finally reached flat land I couldn’t bend my knees in fear that my quads wouldn’t hold my body weight.  Back at the hostel we drank some well-deserved litros and peanut butter sandwiches, our staple for the trip.  We still had to make it to Finca Mystica that afternoon which is where we were staying for the next few nights.  It was a much longer trek than I expected and when the bus dropped us off about 40 min walk short of our destination I wanted to cry.  Luckily alternate transport showed up and we enjoyed the sunset from the bar/restaurant.  The next few days were spent chillen, eating amazing food, story telling about our volcano hike, playing photography and hunting for monkeys. 

Next stop was Granada as we were determined to visit a cigar factory.  We made some Canadian friends along the way, a really cool couple from Whitehorse.  We got to see first hand how they roll cigars and press them.  We made our own and smoked a bit.  I ended up buying a few aromatic cigars as I can only handle so much of the extremely bold flavor of tobacco.  After our purchase we made our way to the Calzada for Sangria and dinner.  The rest of the night was spent playing cards, smoking cigars and watching my own team the Tigres from Chinandega win the Baseball Championship!

Last but not least we made our way up to Chinandega.  We stayed a night at Coco Loco and then at my host family’s house on the beach where we played with my puppy, surfed, and tried to skin board.  One morning we rented a boat with my friends Jackie, Jamie, Victor, Daniel and Nikki to go fishing.  Our fishing with rods made from branches and using our empty tona bottles as weights didn’t prove to be very functional so we resorted to wakeboarding in the estuary.  Apparently there had been reports of small crocodiles in the estuary, which was incentive to stand the hell up on the wakeboard, but I never did. Wah wah.

The last night of the trip my host parents Martha and Julio came back from their grandson’s birthday party in the city around 7 pm.  Julio was full on drunk off Vodka and proclaimed that he was going to speak in English with us tonight.  Kev doesn’t speak much Spanish and Julio is usually too embarrassed to break out his English so this was a real treat.   It was hilarious the stories we got out of him!  We were all drinking vodka for a good few hours until Julio declared bedtime and proceeded to give Kevin a big hug and tell him that he was always welcome here and to let him know if he could find him land here in Nica.  Julio’s hug literally engulfed Kev.  It was the perfect way to end a great trip.

It was awesome having Kevin come see my life down here and I realize that the best of friends never change over time.  I wish you luck Kev as you move back to the Ukraine and start a new chapter with Natalia.  You are truly an amazing friend.  Thank you for visiting!

Fuego y Agua Ultramarathon

This past weekend runners from all over the world and Peace Corps Volunteers from Nicaragua traveled to the island of Ometepe for the Fuego y Agua Ultramarathon.  The event consisted of a 25km run up volcan La Concepcion at 1600 meters, 50km up volcan Maderes at 1300 meters, 100km up both volcanos and a survival obstacle course based run.

The 25 km trail was an unforgettable experience and it reminded me just how much I love the challenge of running.  It's an incredible feeling to push yourself and realize just what your body and mind is capable of accomplishing when put to the test.  Truly amazing.  I'm not going to lie, I was nervous going in to the race, under-trained and sporting a healing broken toe.  In the end it was the shuffle down a steep incline that made my IT Band flair up and ache the last 5 miles of the race, but nothing ice and tiger balm couldn't fix.

We started the run at 7 am, too late in my opinion as the sun was already blazin.  We took off through a dirt ravine lined with trash and cow dung heading toward La Concepcion Volcano.  We ran past fields of crops and dodged cattle as they blocked our path.  As we gradually climbed I took the first aid station, and last chance to refuel before the steep climb, way too loosely.  As my run gradually slowed to a straight up hike the lack of fluids really hit me.  Fortunately a friendly Costa Rican gal that I started the climb with offered me water as we continued together.  People started to drop like flies and I found myself asking several people if they were ok and wondering how fast my dehydration could debilitate me.  Fortunately after grabbing a few dead tree branches which led to face planting in dirt, I made it to the top where it felt like the wind might blow me off the mountain.  I had to sit down to slurp down my GU gel and pound water.  After contemplating how much further I had to go I talked the guy at the aid station in to letting me take off with a half gallon of water in my hand.  Thank god!  As I shuffled down to where I could actually start running again I ran in to others that were in need of water.

It was cool getting to know the runners around you after settling in to a pace.  We would pass and re-pass each other and eventually learned each others names.  Other runners would shout my name as they heard the sloshing of my water chug approaching.  The last 5 miles were the most painful, but stretched over the best trail I've ever ran.  I ran up and down rolling hills while looking out over Lake Nicaragua from high up the volcano.  Dodging rocks and tree roots made it all that much more fun.  Settling in to a runners high over that kind of terrain was a blast.  After finishing the 25 km with some juice left, I regretted not pushing myself a bit harder.  But that's why they made the 50 k right?

I heard stories from other runners who hit up the 50km and 100km and completely gained my respect. Shout out to friends/bad-asses Sam Shepard and Jake Pritchard for rocking the 50 km!  Apparently the survival run only had 2 finishers!  The winner was the famous local Nicaraguan runner Johnson who ran with chickens, tree trunks, shimmied up trees, swam great lengths and basically survived what a good number of men and women could not.  We had the pleasure of sitting by Johnson during the award ceremony, whom proved to be a very humble and well spoken individual.  It is amazing how he is setting an example in a culture where ultra-running is not the norm and over all good physical health is not high on the list of priorities.  The winners in all four categories walked away with hand made Nicaraguan animal masks from the artisan town of Masaya.  A monkey represented the Survival run winners and was by far the most interesting.  The masks got progressively more fierce from 3rd place to 1st place.  The day after the ultramarathon a race was held for the youth of Ometepe Island.  The finishers got a pair of running shoes and a t-shirt.  Over all the event was an awesome mesh of culture as well as a display of camaraderie.

The next day we celebrated and rewarded ourselves with beers on the island beaches looking back at the volcanos we had conquered.  As we sat around telling stories, a survival runner participant came up with a large horse feed sack and told us to pull out our prize.  We quickly named him Santa Clause as he sported a narly mustache that curled up at the corners as came around with his sack.  I pulled out a liter of Tona, perfection.  We continue to reward ourselves with beverages all day and in to the evening. That night there was a runner's party with human bowling, Flamenco dancing, whiskey, cigars and breaking it down to some talented DJing.  All in all it was an unforgettable weekend.

Some fun semi-correct facts from my Garmin Watch.  Obviously 25km=15.5 miles so the elevation change messed with my watch a bit.

Some sported mohawks

my number was 311 :)

Santa Clause is sportin the hat, glasses, and the stash

FOMO

I learned this term from a good friend Jackie, who has taught me a ton about surfing and loving freely.  It was when my friends Julia and Kelly were visiting for my birthday that I discovered the condition that I have suffered from for many many years!  Kelly, Julia and I had just gone for a long horse back ride down the beach and were returning to Coco Loco to drop off the horses when we ran across Jackie.  She asked what we had been up to that morning.  We returned the same question and she answered, “Dude we went wakeboarding this morning up and down the coast.”  All of a sudden that hot itchy panicky feeling rises in my throat and I have no words, I’m horrified that I missed wakeboarding and all I can think about is how amazing it sounds to be whipping up and down the beaches of Coco Loco with all my friends wakeboarding on surf boards screaming my head off, hair blowing in the wind……and then I finally come back to the present moment. Jackie says, “Dude, you just had a serious case of FOMO amiga.”  “What’s that?,” I ask. “Dude, Fear of Missing Out, don’t worry I suffer from it too.” She says.

Seriously, I have issues!  I have this fear of missing out on all the amazing things life has to offer.  Probably why I run around full-speed from sunset to sun down.  My mom was always telling me to just be present in the moment and stop racing ahead to the next event, but how can I when there are so many cool things out there to experience?  I’m doing better these days.  I’ve self medicated with yoga, meditation, and learning to play the guitar to calm the heck down and live in the moment.  It’s just so much more fulfilling to be in that one moment and disconnect from all that is happening around you.  With that being said, I think there is also a healthy amount of FOMO that drives me to make the most out of life.  It makes me who I am.  Running half marathons is half the physical challenge and half FOMO, knowing that I can’t die not having the experience of running one.  Low and behold I really liked it!  Just like surfing, I can't live this close to amazing surf beaches and leave this beautiful place not having surfed.  Again I’d like to attribute many of the things I do to FOMO, because I may never have tried it in the first place with out my mental condition.  Thank you Jackie for diagnosing me.

So I hope that I have instilled a bit of FOMO in my readers to seize the opportunities that come your way because you never know if it will present itself again.

Gypsy

Lately I’ve been feeling very free, independent, no attachments to anything.  I realize that I lead a few different lives down here, which almost allows me to float and feel as though there is nothing holding me to an agenda or commitment, unless I let it.  Last week when the volcano outside my city was spewing ash I took the liberty to travel around the country with a few different groups of people, engaging in whatever opportunity came my way.  I felt very much like a gypsy floating from one situation to another with no idea what the next day would hold.  I went from surfing the beaches down south, to the colonial city of Granada sipping cocktails by the pool with my friends Mandy and Jeff, to the northern mountains of Esteli to raft a canyon within a span of 5 days.  I cherish these backpacking experiences and the excitement of having the plan of no plan.  And this is coming form Ms. Type A plan everything in advance.

Granted there are some negatives to that as well-not feeling like I belong anywhere, or that no one really knows or cares where I am, and no one really knows all the faces of who Kate is down here.   Sometimes I crave the people that just know what I’m thinking or feeling with out a word being said. But for now I want to focus on the freedom, because I know that one day a family and a career may not allow me to ever be back in this place, right here, right now.

If any of you have been on Facebook you may have noticed the amount of photos taken by the beach, surfing or riding horses.  Fortunately my proximity and attachment to the beach community of Manazano 1 has helped me to reach this level of freedom.  I float between my work in Chinandega in the high schools and NGO Pro Mujer and then back to Manzano 1 to work with Waves of Hope and the jewelry ladies of Artesenia del Mar.  Some weekends I float on over to visit friends in different parts of the country to clear my mind and have a new experience, but I realize I’m doing that with less frequency as I have found my heavenly place in Manzano 1.

It’s been awesome learning to surf and the intensity the ocean brings up for me is amazing.  As a double water sign, I’ve always felt at home by the ocean.  I’ve been able to get back to the things that connect me to my childhood- the ocean and riding horses- literally riding horses on the beach almost puts me over the edge.  A Nicaraguan family that I live with brought a beautiful sorral quarter horse stallion to their beach house where I can run him up and down the coast.  Freedom is what I feel when we are running full speed through waves that splash up in my face while my hair whirls around my face.  It’s that feeling of completely letting go and trusting the beast beneath me, whatever it may be.  Yet it’s a two way street, he trusts that I would never ask him to do something dangerous and I trust him to do the same.  Sometimes the beast is a massive wave that closes in on my board, but then again the trust arises.  Horses are made to run, waves are made to crash, and it is up to us to decide how we react.  I would like to make the conclusion that one cannot feel true freedom until they trust in themselves to let go, be a gypsy, at least just a little bit.

High School Graduation

It’s the end of the year for the students here in Nica.  That means I have a good two-month break from working with my teachers on the Emprendedurismo course.  I went to my favorite schools graduation last night and couldn’t help to reminisce about my own high school graduation as they strutted to the podium in their caps and gowns to receive their diplomas.  Unlike this Nicaraguan highschool, which is a semi-private school for high performing students from under privileged families. They students actually receive scholarships from the school if they meet certain expectations.  I went to Sabino, nick named “Snob-ino” if that gives you a clue.  Classmates of mine rolled up in beamers and I had a 96 Copper Saturn SL2 that I was in love with.  Last night a large chunk of seniors graduated with 90% average grades or higher(they go by percent instead of GPA).  I was beaming as one of my star students, Kenneth, from my Entrepreneurship course gave his valedictorian speech.  I had flash backs of my friend Jeff or “Big Red” giving his speech at my graduation.  I was sitting in the front row because I was graduating with the top 10 in my class, dorks we were, all AP students.  I can remember that feeling that sinks in to your gut when you realize just how much you have invested to get to this point.  I remember the lime green dress I wore(eeeekkkk), which somehow looked good at the time.  I remember the rhinestone sandals that I recycled from prom.  The Sabino garb was a purple robe with a gold sash, which seemed so elegant then.  I remember the beach balls bouncing amongst the crowd and tortillas flying across the 450 of us seniors spread across the football field.  I remember my boyfriend Taylor also wearing a shade of green to match me, I was so lucky to have a first love like him.  My girlfriends, my rocks, Jamie and Erin by my side and Annie was back from college to see me graduate.  My family had all come together for my important day, which made it really special.

I remember them highlighting the universities that students were attending and my name looked so cozy next to the name Texas Christian University on the program.  I had anxiety about leaving everything behind, but also knew I had an amazing summer in front of me before the move to Texas.  The rest of the ceremony was a blur with foghorns and screaming after each name.  At the end of the ceremony we threw our caps in the air and “the group” united effortlessly.  I had an amazing group of high school friends and we were inseparable: Me, Jamie, Erin C., Taylor, Aly, Erin D., Danny, Ryan, Brett, Steve.  Sooo many amazing memories 4-wheeling, camping, prom, my house in Mexico, Springbreaks, and everything else in between.  A lot of firsts with that group who has helped to shape the person I am today. 

My heart actually just skipped a beat when I realized this time next year my 10 year high school reunion will be creeping up.  I’d love to see how everyone is doing out there in the real world.

Then came the after-party at my house of course.  I remember things blowing way out of control.  It was supposed to be a smaller party where everyone could crash and spend the night if they drank.  I remember at one point my brother, boyfriend and Dad having to turn people away at the front door.  I thought my Dad was going to freak when a guy friend of mine, Alex, brought an ice-looge!  Dadio was actually totally cool and got us a folding table so we could position the louge by the pool so any run off wouldn’t stain the flagstone ha ha.  What an awesome night-My bro, his friends, my friends and family all having a very memorable time together. 

Back to Nica.  I know these kids have a very different night ahead of them after they receive their diplomas.  They are still just as rowdy and the teachers continually try to get them to be quite and stop rearranging their chairs during the ceremony.  I am so proud of how hard they have worked all year.  Only a portion of these students will study at a university, but I know all of them will have success in their own way.  I was proud to see that one of my entrepreneurial groups took advantage of the occasion to sell their products, a broom made from coconut leaves, but decorated in holiday ribbon.  Much like my friends and I, my students united after the ceremony in their smaller tight knit groups to take pictures.  I was honored to be pulled in to several small groups and told that It had been a pleasure to have me as their teacher and friend.  I hope that their motivation and passion never dies.  I would really love to truly believe that my presence during their senior has made some kind of difference in how they view themselves as potential leaders, no matter how small.  My counterpart that I work with, Professora Silvia, is one of a kind.  I surprised her with a certificate that I made and had the administration present to her at the graduation for all of her hard work and dedication to the Emprendedurismo course.  She is a pleasure to work with and is an amazing teacher who gives tough love to her students, which I feel is very hard to find here.  I think back on my “tough love” high school teachers and they are the ones I respected and learned the most from.

Escoba Plus- the group that made the brooms out of coco leaves

I thought about how proud their parents must be because I know I am incredibly proud as one of their teachers.  I wonder who they will grow up to be and if they have a desie to make an impact on their country like I do.  I wonder if they really even understand they significance of my presence here in Nica.  And then one of my young girl students comes up to me asnd says, “We are truly blessed to have you here in our country helping our people.  It’s been my pleasure to have you in my life.”

National Entrepreneurship Competition and Thanksgiving

It's that time of year again when the winners of the departmental Emprendedurism Business Competition travel to Managua to compete at the national level.  I was fortunate to have the opportunity to represent the Chinandegano region with my kids who made a Vinegar from Mimbro, which is a acidic fruit grown in this region.  Yes it is the first of its kind, but there were some much more creative products that they were up against.  There tend to be a lot of food products in these competitions and really we would like to see products that have a positive effective on the environment and/or better people's lives.  This year the competition started with a 2 day congress where the kids and teachers of the winning teams got to spend 2 nights at the hotel in Managua.  We had presentations on opportunities after graduation, how to network, how to legalize and finance your business, and motivational speakers.  I gave the talk on how to legalize and finance your business with another entrepreneur from Leon who had started his own eco-tourism company.  It was really neat working with another experienced individual and I learned quite a bit about the government legalization process here in Nicaragua.

Over all my teachers and students got to mingle with students from all over the country and expand outside of their Chinandega bubble.  They had a great presentation, but did not place.  When I asked them how they felt about the outcome of the competition, they said they felt they did their best, but there were some really great products that deserved to win.  I was very proud of them for realizing its about the experience, not the winning.  The winning product was a mosquito trap that utilized a natural solution to draw mosquitos in, but they couldn't find a way out.  This is a product that will positively effect the lives of the Nicaraguan people, since Malaria and Dengue are a reality in all parts of Nicaragua.  The second place winner was a contraption that connects to a water faucet and that shuts off the water flow when the buoy can tell that the sink is going to overflow.  To put this in to context, many Nicaraguan communities do not have water 24/7, many only at night.  Families will turn their water on during the night to fill up a pila(water bucket) so that they have water the next morning and day.  What usually happens is the pila overflows, wasting water and racking up a higher water bill that the family can't really afford.  This new product will help manage these real life issues.  Needless to say these products deserved to win seed money and recognition for their hard work.

The competition and congress ended the day before Thanksgiving so we stayed put in Managua to spend the holiday with an Embassy family.  Noelle, Kelli and I were placed with Gary and Eve Clements who cooked a fabulous Thanksgiving day meal.  Not only did we get the Thanksgiving favorites, but we got ricotta stuffed bell peppers, quinoa, and butternut squash.  It was a lovely day filled with lots of wine and laughter.

The following day a group of 19 of us headed out to Laguna de Apoyo, which I know I mentioned during my training months because we used to hike down in to the crater and bathe in the crystal clear water on the weekends.  Basically it's a crater of a dormant volcano that has filled with rain water over the years to create a lake and its absolutely beautiful.  We rented a 6 bedroom open air house with a huge kitchen and beach with a private floating dock.  We held the first annual Beer Olympics where we competed in our training town team from back in the day.  The Nandasmo crew or Nandazy-survivors dressed for survival as we all know we had the roughest training town.  With headlamps, duck tape, glow sticks, bandanas and swiss army knives we were set to take on our opponents in a series of 6 events.  We walked away with the gold from flip-cup, surprise!  We wore our crushed beer cans strung around our neck with pride!

Please excuse the flipped up shirts, but this was an event requirement since this is how grown Nica men cool themselves by exposing their huge protruding bellies in the heat of the day

Needless to say it was a great time! The rest of the weekend was pretty tranquilo.  I taught a yoga class one morning and we cooked excellent meals.  It was nice having some down time with a group of people that I have grown to love and truly respect.  Us volunteers keep saying that its amazing how Peace Corps brings people together from all walks of life and many people that I may have never sought out back home are now great friends. To sum up the weekend, it was a great reward after a long school year of hard work with our kids.

I'm not going to lie, I was a tad bit upset that I missed the Latin American Surf invitational in Chinandega where our local ripper Holly Beck took 2nd place.  I got to hear all about it when I got back which just contributed to my FOMO(Fear Of Missing Out).  My puppy Sirena is starting to show personality and play a bit.  The pups are almost a month old and you can see that she is definitely the runt of the litter, but maybe not such a bad thing since she is going to be a massive dog anyways.  Check pics on Facebook.

Kel and Julia Visit

October was a heck of a month as I scrambled to finish up my first MBA application to Berkeley(nightmare), sit for the GMAT(nightmare #2) and plan Chinandega’s regional competition for my entrepreneurship class.  It ended with a bang when Julia and Kelly arrived on October 27^th to celebrate my birthday and just in time for the annual Peace Corps Gala.  My Small Business Development Project puts on a formal evening each year to raise money for the national competition between the winning student teams from each department in Nicaragua.  Julia and Kelly, although exhausted from traveling, held it together for a night of dancing and the usual Peace Corps shenanigans.  It was awesome to have them meat the majority of my Peace Corps “Family” down here.  They originally flew in to celebrate my 27^th birthday, but they got oh so much more!       

Our adventures started out the next day as we headed to my home in Chinandega.  After a quick visit to my house in Chinandega and meeting the family we headed to my second home, the beaches of Chinandega.  We spent two nights at Coco Loco where the gals took surf lessons and went barefoot beach running.  I taught a little yoga and we got to see the baby sea turtles released in to the wild.  We enjoyed the fresh local fair that Coco Loco serves and chilled in the pool with cervezas.  It was really neat to see my Kel and Julia engaged and so interested in the projects that Coco Loco/Waves of Hope are performing in the community as well as the people driving them.

Sunset on Coco Loco Beach

On my actual birthday I woke up at Coco Loco and headed out for a morning surf, ate breakfast burritos with the gals, practiced some yoga and then had a message!  Not bad!  We also kept up or daily ritual of beers before lunch, usually around 11.  In the afternoon we headed over to Marta Montealegre’s house where she threw a little birthday shin dig.  I know I have mentioned the Montealegre’s in my past blogs, but they have become my family down here over the past several months.  Julio and Marta have practically adopted me and given me my own room in their beach house just minutes from Coco Loco.  I feel very at home with them and their family.  Marta had originally said that she wanted to put on a little birthday celebration and have Kelly and Julia stay over.  I casually mentioned to my friends in the community to stop by for some drinks and appetizers that afternoon around 4.   I had no idea she was going to put on a three-course meal and make a tres leches cake!  She made sopa de albondigas or a soup with meatballs made of shredded chicken held together with cornmeal and immersed in vegetables(one of my fav Nica meals).  There were quesadilla like appetizers and tacos to wrap it up.  My jewelry ladies Norma, Hazzel, Maria and Sendi came as well as some local Nicaraguan surfer friends Victor and Yerlis.  Holly and Jackie came from Coco Loco with Waves of Hope volunteers Milo and Edgar making it an eclectic mix, which was really neat.  I looked around the huge circular table and realized that all of the people there have been really great to me and I am honored to have each and every one of them in my life.  After a Happy Birthday serenade I blew out a single number “6” candle since that would be the average age of Marta’s grandchildren, ha ha!  Her tres leches was seriously the best I’ve ever had.  If your not sure what that is, tres leches is a cake that is basically moist with milk and covered with a meringue frosting.  For my birthday present from Marta and Julio I got to choose a puppy from their Rhodesian Ridgeback’s litter.  I named her Sirena and there will be much more posts on her as she grows.

The next day us gals went on a horse back riding adventure down the beach.  It was quite hilarious as I was riding the Montealegre’s horse who only knows one speed, gallop, and Kelly was on a moderately fast horse while Julia was on Molasses, we named her that for a reason.  It was a hilarious day of running up and down the beaches and trying to stick together.  The rest of the day we hung with Marta as she filled us in on how the Nicaraguan war of the 1980’s affected her family and their life as a whole.  We chatted about politics and filled Kel and Julia in on how things work down here, dysfunctionally. Marta is a very talented, intelligent and gracious woman who I now call mama Nica and she calls me hija gringa(white daughter).  I think we all agreed that we could have spent more time at Marta’s house lounging in hammocks and soaking in the view.  The house is gorgeous and right on the beach. But we had a date to climb a volcano the next day so we were off to Hacienda Consiguina.

Hacienda Consiguina is owned by friends/yoga students of mine who were so kind to let us stay for free in their beautiful ranch house tucked at the base of the volcano.  We lounged and chatted over wine that night, entertained by their crazy kittens.  We were in such another world I almost forgot it was Halloween.  The next morning we road in the back of a pick-up truck to Volcan Consiguina.  We were tossed about like rag dolls as the truck sped across peanut fields and started to climb gradually as tree branches smacked us down and sent us flying around the bed of the truck.  It was quite an adventure before we ever started the climb.  At the top we took in the views of the islands of El Salvador and Honduras while listening to monkeys howl from down inside the crater.  I had hiked the volcano once before, but the views were still just as amazing if not more the second time.  After climbing back down we set out on our way back towards Managua, but this time to the beaches outside the city.  We all agreed that about 24 hours was enough time away from the beach and we were glad to be back by the water.  We loaded a big school bus from Chin to Managua for Kel and Julia to get a taste of the open air, 80's beat bumping, public transportation.  At one point we video taped a music video to Titanic's "My Heart Will Go On" for the entertainment of the passengers.  Kel is that video available for public viewing yet? 

We arrived at Los Cardones at night and they don’t have power in their cabins.  It was quite fun switching to head-lamps and candle light.  I think I can speak for Kelly and Julia as well that this place was really special.  Our cabin had a huge porch looking out towards the ocean with hammocks and rocking chairs to take in the view.  It was primitive but oh so quaint.  The waves were awesome and despite my bronchitis that I was sporting at the time, I took advantage of them every morning.  I came down with a cough right before the gals got in to town and with no time to see a doc I kept hacking my lungs up through out the trip and taking my crazy prescribed cough powder medication which I referred to as “crack”.  Honestly I was having such a good time I didn’t really let it phase me accept for the fact that I couldn’t breathe.  Despite my bronchitis we practiced yoga, walked the beaches, surfed and just plain chilled.  We ate some typical Nicarguan dishes and indulged every meal.  At night we sported our head lamps to dinner and then retreated with handfuls of beers to our cabin before cracking open our wine.  The sunsets were incredible, as usual.  I took advantage of the late high tide and did a sunset surf everyday up until the waves coming at me were just a silhouette.  One evening there was so much ocean activity I saw fish swimming beneath me and a stingray jump out of water!  To continue with the animal theme we went on a crocodile search, but only ended up seeing one splash back in to the murky water.

Los Cardones

The last few days at Los Cardones were pretty special as it really set in on just how long it had been since I had gotten to spend some real quality time with my girls.  Our morning coffee/tea ritual looking out at the ocean was one of my favorite activities.  We once again all got messages from the local women and mine happened to be just before we headed out on our last day.  I showed up to lunch after my message on cloud 9 as the girls handed me a beer.  We ate and drank cervezas until our taxi driver Jose arrived.  The catch was Jose was almost 2 hours late, so something like 7 beers later we loaded the truck to head off to Granada feeling pretty darn good.  As Jose sped over the washboard roads we realized that all of Nicaragua would be dry that day.  Before we went in to panic we picked up Jose’s wife and son of 4 years to accompany us to Granada and then found a restaurant in route to sell us tall boys.  On the way to Granada Jose’s son fell in love with Julia and continued to take picture of her on his mom’s cell phone and then stretch her face out like a fun house mirror.  Needless to say he had us rolling in laughter all the way to Granada.  When we arrived to the city and before Jose left we all climbed a bell tower of a church to take in the sunset and views of the city.

The last night we spent at Casa San Francisco with mojitos in the pool and then a roof top dinner.  It was so awesome to share my experience down here with Kelly and Julia.  It was really special to be able to share the life that I’ve built down here.

Kelly took some amazing photos over the trip and captured the sweetness of the country.  Julia and I stopped asking each other where Kelly was once we realized her tennancy to wander off randomly and engage in photo shoots with the local plants.