Summer Travel '07

Final days in Nicaragua

2007-07-05T13:14:00.000-07:00

Our trip to Nicaragua ended last week and it was a trip we won't forget. After returning back to Granada from Leon, we spent the last few days relaxing, shopping and trying to capture the memories of this wonderful town.

Our final adventure was to Volcan Masaya, an active volcano about forty-five minutes from Granada. While the plumes of sulfur smoke and steam billowed into the sky, we felt reasonably safe when we arrived at the park. A sign near our parking spot, however, warned us that we should park our vehicles facing the exit and, should there be an explosion of rocks into the sky, we should hide under our car. Great.

"But when was the last time that happened?" we asked our guide.

"Oh, 2001," he replied.

We were figuring decades, if not centuries. So to find that the most recent explosion, causing people to take shelter under their vehicles was a mere six years ago, put us all on high alert.

We took a pretty exhilarating hike around the volcano to get views from several different vantage points. Unfortunately, because of the excessive plumes and the cloud cover, we weren't able to see the lava glowing, which is sometimes visible from certain angles. We were able to go deep into a cave in the side of the mountain and see a bunch of bats. Perhaps "see" is overstating it a bit. We could feel them and hear them as they flew all around our heads and bodies.

Honestly, Mike and I were ready to leave after the first bat fluttered by our heads.

"OK, we've felt the bats, what more is there? Let's head 'er out."

But Heidi, Emily and Karen were fascinated (some might say reckless) by the depth of the cave and the presence of these blood suckers. Emily kept insisting it was "cool" and that she needed to take a picture of them. I was sure that I did not need a picture to remember these creatures, but we continued deeper into the cave anyway.

Eventually, we got our picture. I am sure that we narrowly escaped doom despite the fact that our guide, Carlos, assured us we were safe and tried to keep us distracted by constantly singing 80's hair-band songs.

That was the adventure of our final full day in Granada. We were happy that Boris, our host at La Siesta, was able to come along with us since we felt he was like a member of the group and he and his wife, Marcella, took such good care of us while we were in Granada.

When we got home from the trip it was late and raining. Heidi headed off to bed while the rest of us headed to a fritanga for one last budget feast of chicken, fried bananas and gallo pinto. What a perfect way to end our last night in Granada.

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The next morning, Heidi, Emily and I began our journey home. We stopped for an hour at el mercado de Masaya ("El Mercado") to buy some souvenirs. Masaya is known for its craftspeople and we found a wonderful assortment of crafts here at the market. My favorite was a hammock, hand-made in Masaya.

We were quite sad to be leaving. It was an amazing trip that had a profound effect on all of us. We certainly appreciate more what we have back in the states, but I think we have also learned that true happiness can come from the contentment of being in the presence of people we love, and in experiencing the moments we are in, as we are in them.

Hasta pronto!

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Our hammock is now in its final place - our backyard in Arizona. It is the perfect place to relax and recall all the memories of our trip.

The city of Leon

2007-06-22T21:44:00.000-07:00

Wednesday, June 20^th

Today was our final day in Leon and we spent it exploring some of the city. We took a self-guided tour of the Cathedral (Basilica de la Asuncion). This cathedral is the pride of Leon and Nicaragua and is one of the largest in all of Latin America. It is legend that the plans for the cathedral, on which construction began in 1747, were accidentally switched with plans from another country. This would explain why such a small country has such a large cathedral, but this is more legend than truth. Either way, the Latin American baroque structure is very different from the colonial structure in Granada. The Leon cathedral shows signs of damage from fire, hurricanes, earthquakes and war while the Granada cathedral has a fresh coat of paint. Still the Leon cathedral is both majestic and gritty, like the country itself.

From there, we went to visit the Museum of the poet, Ruben Dario. The story of this man is novel to Americans. He is known as “El Leon de Nicaragua” (The “lion of Nicaragua”). Born in a small village, he was raised by his mother and his aunt in Leon after his mother left his abusive father back in Honduras. He was a brilliant young boy and the poetry he wrote is among the most celebrated in the entire Spanish language. His face is on the 100 cordoba bill, everyone knows his name and he is a national hero. I can’t think of any poets in our culture who garner the same kind of fame and respect. And yet, prior to coming to this country, I had never heard his name. How can that be? The museum was a look into his life, with excerpts of his poetry everywhere. I purchased some small copies of verses of his in the hopes that I might use them to work on my Spanish. Regardless, I won’t forget this lion – a poet with the status of a hero.

We will leave this town for Granada tomorrow. At first glance, Leon appears to be quite similar to Granada, but it has a very different feel. We will remember it for its more assertive political nature and its vibrant university culture. Less of a tourist destination, Leon offers us a different view into Nicaragua than Granada does.

Also, it is much more clear here what the sentiment is about our

country (and our president in particular).

I am very glad we came.

A side trip to Leon

2007-06-22T21:25:00.000-07:00

Tuesday, June 19^th

We thought this was going to be a quiet day without event, maybe just exploring the city of Leon again. Instead, Colin invited us to go see his other property which is on a semi-deserted island off the northwest coast of Nicaragua. It was quite an adventure just getting there.

We headed out from Leon toward Chinandega and beyond. After another half hour, we turned onto a dirt road and headed toward a village named Alemania (“Germany”), which is a tiny fishing village, not a tourist destination. We hired some of the locals to take us across the estuary on one of their fishing boats. Once we got off the boat, we had to cross a make-shift bridge across a swamp, hike through a bit of jungle until…Voila! A beautiful beach on the Pacific Ocean. Victor (I believe that was his name), who was our guide across the estuary and on the island, told us that he had lived there his whole life and that the place is “pure happiness”. The breeze from the pacific, the warm waters and the friendly people served to prove his point.

We swam in the ocean then wandered up the beach toward a home that is only occupied some of the time. It felt a bit like Gilligan’s Island or perhaps an abandoned resort. The caretaker and his family showed us around while we lounged on the grass-roofed veranda. His son chopped up some coconuts for us to drink which was an odd sensation – nothing like the coconut I am used to. Everywhere we go, we feel welcome. Unlike in the states, where people are very protective of their stuff, it did not seem like trespassing or intruding to sit on this property and enjoy the place while the owner was away.

The trek back through the jungle and to the boat meant getting bit by a thousand mosquitoes. Heidi bore the brunt of the attack and, because the fear of malaria and dengue fever are real, this always puts a bit of a cloud over our experiences. Fortunately, it does not appear that any of us are going to get sick. Aside from that mild intrusion into our experience, it was a delightful day on a serene beach with friendly Nicas treating us like family.

A tranquil day on the lake

2007-06-22T21:10:00.000-07:00

Sunday, June 17^th

Today, after sleeping in and recovering from our Mombacho adventure, we headed out to see Colin’s land. He has a property out by Lago Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua) that will eventually be the site where the students stay on our Travel to Learn trips (www.itraveltolearn.com). It’s a remote place out in the jungle, guarded by “Don Chico”, a very elderly man who watches the place in exchange for a place to live and a few bucks a month. He flashed us a toothless grin when we arrived, then hung out on his hammock while we toured the place. The open-air cabins are nice. It will be like sleeping in a tree house. Eventually, they will build a terraced garden and multiple lookouts with views of Mombacho and the lake. Pretty sweet.

After venturing around the place, we headed to Manuel’s, a fishing spot on the beach of the lake and he hired some locals to take us on a tour of Las Isletas in the lake. Lake Nicaragua is huge, the second largest lake in Latin America (note: I had earlier posted that it was bigger than the Great Lakes, but I was given incorrect information. It's nearly as big as Titicaca though.). It would take about 15-18 hours to cross. But on the Granada side of the lake there is a string of small islands that were created by volcanic activity thousands of years ago. Some are totally deserted, some have amazing homes. One small island is the home of a family of monkeys. We got close to the island and one monkey hopped on for a ride and a snack. She was very docile and didn’t mind us petting her. Heidi was enamored, so much so that she got almost close enough to give the girl a kiss but the monkey wasn’t interested. Heidi really is an anomaly. She is concerned with whether or not the people making our food are washing their hands properly and if there are flies too close to our meals, but she wouldn’t have hesitated to give a big smooch to a wild monkey, had said Monkey shown the least bit of interest.

The boat ride was amazing. Muy tranquilo as Colin would say. Taking the leisurely tour gave us an excellent opportunity to experience one of the many amazing things Granada has to offer. We finished off the day with a meal at a “fritanga” which is basically an open-air grill and fried-food stand. It’s the best chicken I’ve ever had and I am sure it is the flavor that El Pollo Asado is trying to emulate. It’s amazing what a chicken tastes like when it isn’t injected with hormones and pesticides and other chemicals.

Another beautiful day to add to the catalog of memories.

More coming soon...I promise

2007-06-20T15:20:00.000-07:00

Hey folks,

We decided to take a trip away from Granada to Leon, the other major colonial city of Nicaragua, for a few days. Unfortunately, where we are staying has sketchy internet availability and no ability to upload photos.

This city is similar to Granada, but there are some distinctions. It is a university town, so there is more young, intellectual energy here. Also, there was more fighting here between the Sandanistas and the Contras (and the Somoza government before that) and the people of this city are still living with those memories. Not as much tourism has come to this town, so there has not been the influx of dollars and the subsequent revitalization we saw in Granada. However, it is still a beautiful town with lovely people.

The cathedral is one of (if not the) largest in Latin America. When I can upload some photos, I will. In its current form, it is about 150 years old, but construction on this building started over a hundred years before that. Beautiful.

There is much to tell...

More about the zip line tour we took. The town of Leon. And the visit to a nearly deserted island to see Colin's land that he purchased right on the beach. All that, and a short tale about a monkey eating one of our Zone bars when I return.

Which should be tomorrow (Thursday) when we get "home" to Granada.

Love and peace all,
Lance

Volcan Mombacho

2007-06-17T12:57:00.000-07:00

What was once an active volcano - 20,000 years ago - is now an amazing natural preserve. Five different ecosystems on one mountain. Hundreds of different species of plants. Dozens of different orchids alone, some as small as the head of a pin, some large beautiful blooms. Tons of insects, reptiles and howler monkeys. We saw one tree that had 35 different species of plants living on that tree. Near the heart of the planet, life still abounds. It amazes me that loggers and ranchers and other companies are mowing down a football-size section of rain forest every second.

We had a great guide, David, who took us on a two-hour hike through the cloud forest of Volcan Mombacho. He narrated our hike in Spanish, insisting that this was a continuation of our schooling, but he was careful to speak very slowly and clearly. It was fantastic. From different vantage points, we could see all of Granada, Laguna de Apoyo (see blog from a couple days ago) and Lago Cocibolca (Lake Nicaragua - the second largest lake in Latin America). Truly stunning.

The truck ride up the mountain took us through several coffee plantations. We got to stop and try a sample of fresh-roasted coffee from Cafe de Flores. Forget Starbucks. This small cup of coffee was amazing. I added a small amount of sugar (no cream was offered) and it tasted so smooth. Delicioso!

Nicaragua has much to offer in the way of natural beauty. But we really wanted to experience the canopy of the rain forest / cloud forest from the perspective of the creatures living there, so we took a zip-line tour about half-way down the mountain. This was one of the highlights of the trip so far.

Our final day of classes

2007-06-15T23:12:00.000-07:00

Our short week of Spanish classes ended today and we were all more sad than we thought we would be. Our teachers were fantastic. Heidi and Emily were with Maria Isabel, who is an excellent language teacher who has traveled quite a bit, spending nearly a year in France at one point. Lance's teacher (with Mike and Karen) was Romel who is a hilarious guy with a tremendous amount of patience.

We had a barbecue this evening and the director of the Casa Xalteva school, Jose Luis, came by to join us. This is a guy who spent eight years in Alaska getting an education and working before coming back here to work at this school, helping people learn Spanish and helping kids stay off the streets. He really has an amazing story. Romel is his younger brother and he told us his story as well. He has a degree in computer engineering and he got a job working in a factory owned by someone in another country. I am not sure what his job was - some type of management I think. But he was paid 200 cordobas a week at that job. That is about $10. It really is unbelievable. He is doing better as an English teacher, and I think he is enjoying it as well. But it should be remembered that his is a story of success in this, the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere.

We will miss our teachers and our adopted family at Casa Xalteva very much. They really gave us a connection to Granada, more than just a better understanding of the language. They made our experience more human.

The rest of the day was spent seeing more of the city. We can walk to everything. We finished with the barbecue at La Casa Siesta and good conversation with our friends and other guests. Tomorrow we are looking forward to one of the highlights of the trip - a zip-line canopy tour of the jungle near Volcan Mombacho.

Hope you are all doing well. We are greatly affected by this country.

Love and Peace,
Lance, Heidi and Emily

P.S. While I am thinking about it, I want to share something we have been talking about concerning the poverty here. One of our fellow students is from England and her name is Rosa. She works with La Esperanza, an organization trying to help the poorest of the children in Nicaragua go to school. She has been around the world and she noted that the poverty here is unusual. Because there is an extensive family support system, people rarely go without shelter or food. It may not be a standard that most of the developed world would find acceptable, but it is survival. That, combined with the fact that kids everywhere here - kids we know are poor - have no trouble finding things to do. They have no televisions, no video games, no easy entertainment. But it is easy to find a game of futbol, or a game of beisbol (baseball is the king of sports here) being played with a stick. They may be poor in material goods, but they are not poor in spirit. This is a lesson that I think we Americans would do well to learn.

A day at the Laguna

2007-06-13T20:54:00.000-07:00

Wow! What a day. Our second full day of Spanish class went wonderfully at Casa Xalteva. The school organized an afternoon trip out to Laguna de Apoyo and we were very glad to go along. Laguna de Apoyo is a lake set in the crater of an ancient volcano (now defunct).

We spent our day at a colonial-style home called "La Orquide" (The Orchid). The new owner of La Orquide (www.laorquideanicaragua.com) is Mike and he is in Heidi and Emily's Spanish class. This guy's story is amazing. He is 26 years old and made some "really good investments" back in the states. He is now semi-retired (at 26!) and has bought this hostel, which is an absolutely amazing place. He has a traditional Spanish home in which he lives, and he has a guest house that he rents out for about $100 bucks a night - for the whole house. This is a world-class place with amazing views in a beautiful setting. Honestly, had it been for sale when I saw it I may have tried to buy it myself. I have no idea how I would go about living in Nicaragua, but this place would have made me want to find a way.

We swam in the Laguna and enjoyed the company of our fellow students. It was a great way to cool off and relax for the afternoon. Imagine Isla Sorna from Jurassic Park 2 and you will have a good idea of our surroundings. Sadly, we did eventually have to leave. But this was a perfect way to see the natural beauty of Nicaragua. Here is a picture of the group at the house just before we left.

By the time we arrived back in Granada, it was time to eat. We ate at a street vendor, who gave us heaping portions of pollo asado y carne asada con gallo pinto (chicken and beef with rice and beans) along with fried bananas (both sweet and not sweet). It was more food than any one person would need, although Lance had no trouble finishing his and some of Heidi's. (It's a good thing we walk everywhere.) Honestly, this was the best food we have eaten so far and we paid a total of four dollars or so for all three of us. Que delicioso!

We are making plans for the weekend and there is so much to see and do - zip line tours through the rain forest, shopping at the craft market in Masaya and seeing so much more of Granada.

It's time to close up for the night. More to come tomorrow!

Love and Peace,
Lance, Heidi and Emily

P.S. We learned that it is winter here right now (or possibly late fall). But that has very little meaning. It must be in the mid 90's every day with humidity in the 90% range. And the only place we visited with air conditioning was the ATM lobby of the bank, which we were not allowed to stay in very long despite our desire. So...think cool thoughts for us.

Nosotros estamos aqui en Nicaragua!

2007-06-12T21:00:00.000-07:00

We arrived last night here in Nicaragua and took a short ride from Managua to Granada - the oldest colonial city in the Americas. We arrived late at night and were able to meet with our friends, Mike, Karen and Carlos to get an update on the place before we crashed from a long day of travel.

We awoke early (it is really too hot and humid to sleep long) and got to see Hospedaje La Siesta (the hostel where we are staying) in daylight. It is a charming place run by Boris and Marcella. Boris is from France and has lived in Nicaragua with his wife, Marcella, for two years. They are warm and inviting people and they have done everything to make us feel like we are home. But we didn't stay long for we were off to our first day of Spanish classes at Casa Xalteva.

Heidi and Emily started in el clase principante (for beginners) and Lance joined Mike and Karen in their beginner class, week 2. Our teachers are great. Very patient and kind, and the classes are small (3 people per class). Lance feels like he has learned more Spanish in one day than in a semester in school. Casa Xalteva is a wonderful place, teaching Spanish to travelers and also serving as a boarding home/school for street kids who have been orphaned.

The city of Granada is a city of dualities. It has been discoverd by tourists and foreign investors, so the area around the parque central is beautiful. The cathedral, which was originally built in the 1500s, has burned down several times and been rebuilt. Its current incarnation is about 120 years old (see picture). The street going away from the park and toward the lake (Lago Nicaragua - the second largest lake in Latin America) is full of renovated colonial buildings and nice restaurants. It's a beautiful place to hang out and, in fact, it is where we had a nice dinner of chicken, steak and gallo pinto (the national dish of black beans and rice, eaten at nearly every meal).

But that is the beautiful, clean side of Granada. Nicaragua is the second poorest country in the Western Hemisphere and it is difficult to escape that reality. There are beggars and poor people all through the city and much of it is run down. But that does not detract from the kindness of the Nicaraguans who are all willing to help and very curious to learn English and hear about our travels.

It has been a full day. We are tired and more than a little sweaty. Tomorrow, we have our second day of Spanish class and we get to see more of the city.

Hasta luego!

Love and Peace,
Lance, Heidi and Emily

(Hey boys and Mom/Gramma - We love you and miss you! We are thinking about you all the time and we can't wait to hear how your vacation is going together. Say hi to Gandalf for us!

-Love,
Mom, Dad and Emily

Sedona Weekend

2007-06-05T13:16:00.000-07:00

This is the first entry of this blog. Hopefully, there will be many more to come. We will be blogging from our trip in Nicaragua starting next week. For now, we open this online journal with some sample pics from our family trip to Sedona last weekend.

We had a wonderful time getting out of the Phoenix heat, having picnics by the creek and seeing our friends, Eva, Joel and Julian Maurice. Enjoy these first few pics.

The first is of Emily who created this picture at the "Gumption Fest". We all agreed that the Gumption Fest had a long way to go before it reached its potential glory, but it was a great hippie start, with the best key-lime smoothie ever made.

This is a picture of the boys, being boys. They took a nice long hike down the creek, throwing rocks and catching fish (no poles, mind you). They came back wet and wild. Meanwhile, Dad slept on a nearby blanket. It's been a long time since he was an energetic, fish-catching, rock-throwing boy. He may just have to reconnect with that youth.

We all came back on Sunday night, ready to be home to see Kali, sleep in our own beds and relax before our next trip...

Nicaragua!