Volcanoes and Cigars

Our group of six girls spent a total of four nights in San Juan del Sur, which is so far south that you can actually see Costa Rica from the beach. This was bittersweet for me, so close, yet still so far. After a few days of fun in the sun, we departed San Juan and made the trek over to Ometepe, an island in Lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua is huge and the only source in the world of freshwater (bull) sharks. We didn't encounter any, thank goodness. Instead of a nice smooth ferry ride out to Ometepe, we lucked out and got a tiny old passenger boat with crappy old bus seats on a lower deck just above the water line. The boat was just big enough to not capsize in the huge lake waves, but just small enough to never quite be sure that we wouldn't. That hour-long boat ride was an experience in itself. Unfortunately Jolee and Sabrina did not make it to Ometepe with one piece of dry clothing, luckily the rest of us sat on the other side. Right next to me a guy was pumping (we think) water from an even lower deck (or somewhere) up to our deck, and then promptly dumping the buckets of water all over the floor at our feet. This still doesn't make sense to me, but at least we had been smart enough to pick our bags up off the floor first.

Anyway, we made it to Ometepe, woozy and in need of something to calm our seasick stomachs, why not a Toña? (The local beer). We could hardly make it up the street amongst the taxistas demanding that we choose one of them to take us to our destination. While all we wanted to do was eat and have a beer in peace, no fewer than 4 taxistas accompanied us to our restaurant of choice and hounded us even while we ate. I think I felt this more than the other girls, as they had figured out that I speak Spanish. Sometimes I just want to be left alone! That's when I taught all the girls how to say "Leave me alone" in Spanish, "Déjeme en paz!" 

Xalli is a new hotel along the beach of Santo Domingo on Ometepe, and I think we lucked out being able to book them just the day before, because my guess is this place won't be unknown for long. It was a beautiful location, nice, separated rooms right up from the beach, and the volcano we planned to hike the next day was right down the road. We had a lovely stay there, although we did have a (rather large) spider incident which resulted in a room change and two girls heading back to Granada first thing in the morning. Phobias are very real, people. 

The remaining four of us hiked Volcán Maderas the next day as planned, what an amazing day that was. It was steep and technical, in some places very muddy and slippery, and somehow we did the entire thing in just over 6 hours, when they say to plan 6-9 hours for the whole hike. A total of 8,000 ft elevation gain and loss in 6 hours. We may be some hike-loving girls from Montana, but coming off of lazy season we certainly felt a little out of shape for this hike (some of us more than others ;) The majority of the hike was through thick cloud forest, complete with howler monkeys, lots of them. When we were talking about the highlights of the hike at the end of the day, we noted the sounds of the jungle (the howler monkeys and the locusts which were in full electronic-sounding effect), and we also agreed that the conversation amongst all of us was a highlight. Maybe this is just typical of girls, but we chatted the whole way up and down and really just enjoyed each others' company, as simple as that sounds, it was really nice. The lowlights would be the "high point" which was no more than a small clearing in the path at the top, with no view, and the oranges that the hotel had prepared for us, having cut off almost all of the rind and making them nearly impossible to peel apart (seriously, Jolin had to help me get mine open and she was struggling, and she is a cross-fit girl!) Anyway, the day was a complete success, we got to eat our lunches at the lake near the top which was gorgeous and the air was even chilly (no we did not go in, they said it has quicksand-like mud, yikes!) And we all had a great sense of accomplishment (and exhaustion) while we toasted our Flor de Caña (rum) back at the hotel.

At the high point

Last day with the group, exploring Granada

It was a quick trip out to Ometepe, the sole purpose being to climb the volcano, so we rejoined the other girls in Granada the next day, which was some of the girls' last day, so we all went out to a delicious dinner together and said our goodbyes. I'll tell you two things here: 

1) There is something indescribable about traveling with friends, even if it is just for a week. Memories made in a foreign place just seem extra special to me, and I think all of us felt like if we tried to stay for another week, it just wouldn't compare to the week we just had, so it was even more special to end it on a high note, after a just-about-perfect week of vacation.

2) There is nothing like going home to Bozeman, Montana. 

Before I went home though, I had a matter of business to do in Nicaragua. During the same week that Jolee approached me with the opportunity of joining the girls for this trip, a translation client of mine in Bozeman also contacted me with some new projects for translation. His client lives in Nicaragua and manufactures cigars. Do you see where this is going? :) Sabrina got to join me for a day trip up to Estelí, Nicaragua where we met with this client, toured his cigar factory, and brought home literally more cigars than I really know what to do with (If you are in Bozeman and want one, let me know). I think the best part about it was that I had spoken with this man on the phone, written many emails, even translated a few documents into Spanish for him, and when we met him in Estelí the first thing he said to me was, "You're not Nicaraguan? I thought you were Nicaraguan!" Being mistaken for native, as I have said many times before, is simply the greatest compliment I can ever receive as a student of language. It definitely made my day and encouraged me all over again in my language endeavors. The ironic thing is, I mistakenly took him for Nicaraguan too, as he is, in fact, Costa Rican :) 

Our day trip to Estelí was one of many highlights of this trip, and I'm so grateful to have been able to travel with 5 amazing girlfriends to my favorite corner of the world. The fact that Bozeman produces such people is just one more amazing thing that blows me away about where I live. 

As I write this, I am yet again on a plane, to the east coast of the USA this time to visit my extended family; I haven't been out this way in over 10 years. (Basically since I started traveling abroad). I'm traveling with my two favorite travel buddies, my husband and my brother, and because of that, I know there will be fun stories to share in the upcoming week. On our list of people to visit is Ben & Jerry, Samuel Adams, and Jacoby Ellsbury (and the rest of the Red Sox… oh and the MN Twins I suppose ;) Cheers!

Bienvenidas a Nicaragua!

I am having the privilege of traveling to one of my favorite corners of the world with not one, not two, not even three, but 5 amazing girlfriends from Bozeman. My friends Jolee and JoLin decided to make a trip to Nicaragua, and we kept adding on until there was a total of 6 girls going.

So now we are here, down in San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua enjoying the 90 degree weather while its freezing back home. Yesterday was one of the most perfect days, we all went sailing to an isolated beach on a catamaran. Rum drinks and beer were unlimited, fresh fruit was passed around, and we even had several dolphins come swim with boat, right in front of us. Not to mention the ceviche, guacamole and salsa, free time to swim or hang on the boat, and smooth sailing back to port during sunset. It was incredible, and that's an understatement.

Today we visited a nearby beach- Playa Hermosa where some of the girls had a go at surfing and the rest of us held down the beach. A little ceviche, a few monkeys later, and a ride home, we are enjoying the sunset from our balcony. You could say we are completely enjoying ourselves and the company of our friends. La vida es buena..