A pig and his hair!!!

So the other day we were walking around Granada and ended up in the central park. I was kind of hungry because Erika and Anna both got some fresh mango with salt, so that just wet my appetite. I wanted to try something local, something typical. I ended up asking this lady who was eating something that looked pretty good. I asked here where she got and she told me where I could buy some. After I got the food and sat down, I figured out what most of it was. It was boiled yucca, cabbage, with some kind of chili sauce on it, but it also had some sort of fried......something. I was not sure what it was, but I had a pretty good guess.....fried pig skin. After I had a few pieces I was more confident in my first guess. The piece that I was currently eating had something different about it then the others, it had all these little black things on it. When I looked closer, I realized it was hair. After that I slowly put the piece to the side of my dish and continued to eat the rest. The dish was pretty good, but the hair was a little too typical for me. All and all it was a good meal, I did not get sick and now I can say that I have eaten fried pig skin........and his hair!Well you can't really see the hair all that well but this was one of the pieces.

Near death and Mombacho!!!

Today I woke up, drank some amazing Nicaraguan coffee and had a typical breakfast here of gallo pinto (rice and beans mixed), scrambled eggs, fried plantains, and bread, it was freaking delicious. After lounging around for a bit we decided that we wanted to climb the volcano Mombacho. We took a bus from Granada to Rivas for 6 cordobas (about 26 cents), then from Rivas we took a little three-wheeled motor taxi to the base of the park.

(On our way up to the Ranger station: Staci was in the front, then Anna, Erika, Cody, and Me.)

We were hustled a little about why its better to spend the extra money to ride in the back of a truck instead of walking and that it would take us like 8 hours to go up and down and even though it was only about 5 km to the top it was really steep (the really steep part was no lie); but we wanted to walk anyways. After about thirty minutes of walking I ran/walked back down to get a motor taxi for someone who could not make it all the way to the top. I wisely decided to leave my shoulder bag with Erika and Cody because I figured that I would catch up to them sooner than later.....yeah things did not really work out that way. Also, my bag had my shirt and my water bottle in it, along with my rain jacket and some other stuff. Well I was hoping that the motor taxi could take me back up to Cody, Erika, and Anna, but I only got about half way to where I turned around, and they never stopped because I told them not to wait for me, smart I know.
After I got out and started walking I figured that if I could walk for 5 minutes and run for 2 that I should be able to catch them in about thirty minutes to an hour, but as it turned out I could only run for about 1 minute and I had to walk for about ten minutes; eventually it got to the point to where I could not run at all.

(This was the moment that I realized I could no longer run. I used taking a picture as an excuse to take a break.)

After about an hour of walking, I eventually met up with Anna, but she had stopped and was waiting to catch a ride down because of a blister on the back of her foot. This was at the base of the canopy of the rain forest. From there an old man told me that it was only 2 km to the top and it should not take me but 40 min to an hour, and it took me the full hour to walk to the top.

(This was right after I met up with Anna, and just before I reached the canopy)

On my way up though, once I started getting into the fog, it started to rain lightly and eventually a little harder. The canopy was thick enough that if I stayed to the side of the trail it kept most of the rain off, but I was still getting pretty wet. I honestly did not mind this at all because I was so hot by then that I welcomed the cool rain and wind. It was high enough that it started to cool down a lot, but as long as I kept walking I was never too cold; but I still had no shirt or water, and this was about two hours after we had all parted. I was really hoping to find Cody and Erika mostly to get my water and shirt. Once I reached the top, I could not see more than 20 to 30 feet in front of me because of all the fog. I still did not find them. After waiting for about 10 minutes, I thought that maybe there was another trail that led back to the main road that they had taken, so I started to walk all the way back down the mountain. It took me at least another hour and a half to get back down to the base of the park; still no Cody or Erika, which means no water or shirt, hahaha. Well there were no motor taxi there, so I just started to walk to were I knew that I could catch a bus back to Granada. It was about another mile in a half to two miles back down the Rivas (where we initially got off the bus from Granada). When I was about a quarter mile away, the same driver that took us up saw me and asked me where all my amigos were. After explaining to him that I had not seen them for a while and that I had walked to the top and back down by myself in my italian and very broken spanish, he asked me if I wanted to ride back to the base of the park and wait for my friends, and I told him yes welcoming the break from walking: by then my knees and legs were so tired they were shaking with every step, it was not the distance that was so exhausting, but how steep it was; many places it was as steep as strawberry hill at fletcher, and it did not plain out it in many places. After talking for a bit he asked me if it was cold at the top and if I was still cold, not understanding the second part of the question I said yes. Immediately he stopped and took off his undershirt and gave it to me, I protested but he kept saying tranquilo, tranquilo (thats like, don´t worry about, chill out). I tried to pay him for it but he would not take the money, so I just shoved it in his pocket and thanked him like a million times for his kindness.

Up to the point of meeting Daniel (the driver) I was really enjoying the solitude of being alone in a place where I did speak the language very well, and being surrounded by such beautiful scenery. God really blessed me in keeping my body from getting too dehydrated and giving me the strength and resolve to keep going with no food since breakfast. He also gave me the gift of understanding and the gift to communicate what I wanted to say sufficiently. It was a fantastic day that I enjoyed mostly to myself and my thoughts.
Well when we reached the park entrance we waited with some of the rangers for them to arrive. They were talking and laughing and I was catching bits and pieces here and there. After about thirty minutes of joking around, Cody and Erika finally showed up. After I explained to them what had happened they gave me my bag back and I drank about half of the liter of water I had in my bag. Daniel had told me earlier that the last bust to Granada had already left and that he would take us for about 80 cordobas a piece (about four dollars). This was much more expensive than the bus (costing only 6 cordobas), but I wanted to give Daniel the business since he had helped me out so much. So he drove us all the way back to Granada in his little three- wheeled motor taxi; it only took about 20 minutes. We paid him, and then went back to our hostel for showers and food. All and all, it was a great day and truly blessed by God.

(Right before he dropped us off at our hostel)

We are alive!

We arrived in Managua early this morning. Our original ¨plan¨was to sleep at the airport until we could catch a bus in the mourning, but we thought that we would try to take a taxi straight to Granada, but it turned out the guy wanted like thirty bucks, which is really not all that bad concidering, but we knew that we could get there for cheaper if we waited till the morning. We got on a ¨chicken bus¨ (so called because they put every living thing on these busses including chickens, but we were fortunate to only have people) and went to a station called Huebes. That cost us about 10 cordobas for all four of us, which is rounded to about 50 cents. Then from the station we took a taxi to another station which cost 100 cordobas (about 5 dollars) for all of us to UCA (university of central america). From here we took a 15 passenger bus to Granada which was another 80 cordobas, ill let you do the math on that on; its about 20 to 1. So we arrived in Granada safe and sound, with little less than a worry and spent no more than about 2 dollars and 50 cents a piece to get here. I have forgotten the pure joy of going summer and not really knowing when to get off or really where you are going. The simpleness of needing to get to your destination and the joy of actually doing it, and then looking back and realizing that it was not nearly as bad as you thought is one of the coolest feelings in the world and it´s one I have not felt since Italy. It is a joy in its own to be in this beautiful hostel, the Bearded Monkey. Its an old colonial house with an open court yard in the middle with hammocks surrounding troppical plants, it really is beautiful. We are staying in their hammocks for 5 dollars a night. Well this is about the extent of our trip so far, but I just wanted to let all the worried old farts that we are okay, jk, but seriously yall are getting kind of old.......and you are starting to smell a little.....but i guess that is why I love you all so much. It is only 10 AM and we have been up since 5, and we are about to walk around town to look for some food. Love yall muchos (thats spanish for muchos).

Before going to the airport!

Possibly the last shower he will have in ten days.......this is going to be a long trip!!!

One of the concerns that we had was not knowing if our backpacks would be small enough to be considered carry-ons. Realizing how much room I had left in my backpack, I thought I might be able to go even smaller, and I could. I was able to pack all my stuff into my red messenger bag. Thanks mom and dad for the Christmas present; in fact thanks for the travel towel and for the liner, because of those I am able to pack all my stuff in your present.

Preparing for Nicaragua!

OK, so this is the first blog of my trip, in fact this is my first blog ever. Good ol'AJ is taking the four of us (Cody, Erika, Staci, and I) to the airport tonight around 7, but our flight does not leave until 9:30. We fly into Fort Lauderdale, and then to Managua, Nicaragua around 1 AM. I have not started packing, because I like to wait till the last minute in hopes of forgetting something important, like maybe my passport. Well either way, we got some last minute supplies for our trip, some of which we did not need, but they were on sale so I got them anyway. Before we pack everything up, I will post some pictures because I think Cody wants to take some pictures of all our stuff or something. Well, I suppose we are about to eat, so I must leave all my avid readers and fans to await my next awe inspiring blog.