Jody Goes to the Hospital

It started out as a lovely day with good intentions. A chicken bus, an over-crowded shuttle van, and an hour-long hike down a dusty, rural path brought us to a picturesque volcanic lagoon (Laguna de Asososca) with our Belgian friends, Britt & Flo.

We shared the pathway with wild horses, local farmers, and plenty of cows:

 The views along the way were well worth the effort in the scorching heat and dry, dusty conditions. Here's the view from a Mirador (lookout) along the way to the Lagoon showing Mombotombo Volcano and Lake Managua:

After a very refreshing swim we sat down on the shore to eat the feast we brought with us for lunch. This is when Jody had a run-in with an avocado and a pocket knife... while trying to remove the pit from the avocado, he sliced open the palm of his left hand so deeply that the 'hamburger' inside his hand was visible. Ew. We quickly packed up and cut off the edge of my beach towel to wrap up his gushing hand for the hike back to the main road. Once there, we asked a local farmer & his wife if they would drive us to the hospital in Leon; they agreed for the hefty price of $25 US. Considering it only cost us $2 to get there via bus & shuttle van, this was a bit steep but well worth the convenience and timliness (and air conditioning!). They were very friendly and about an hour later they dropped us off at the hospital:

An hour and three stitches later, Jody's hand went from this:

 to this (I'll spare you the gorey photo of his hamburger hand, pre-stitches):

The doctor may have gone a little overboard on the guaze... We were prepared to pay a lot of money for the hospital visit but were pleasantly surprised to find out that the whole thing was free, including the prescribed antibiotics and pain killers (which also may have been overkill but will likely come in handy at some point on our trip). Viva Nicaragua!
Mom, I couldn't help but think of how you would have fixed him right up, no problem - and since I know you're dying to see how the wound is healing up here is a current photo:

It could have been a lot worse and luckily hasn't slowed us down! We're now in the pretty town of Granada and taking our chances heading to another volcanic lagoon tomorrow but won't be bringing any avocados with us ;)

Blogging from a hammock in Las Penitas, Nicaragua

On a bus bound for Managua, we took a leap of faith and hopped off in a town called Esteli at the recommendation of a few locals and a couple from Belgium. Intending to stay for one night, we ended up staying for four and a week later we continue to travel around Nicaragua with the lovely Dutch/French/English/Spanish-speaking couple from Brussels. It started out as a busy few days in Esteli then took a turn for laziness in Leon, where the extreme heat brought out our inner "Lazybones" and drove us toward the beach at Las Penitas, where I now sit in a hammock overlooking the Pacific Ocean. Here's a recap of the last week:

In Esteli we toured a local cigar making factory which was interesting; the people rolling the cigars get paid based on how many they make in a day:

We bought a few but have yet to figure out how to mail them home safely. After Jody's haircut we intended to walk/hike to a local waterfall but along the way the locals kept offering us rides in the back of their trucks; they are so kind & generous here, and would not accept payment.

 The waterfall was beautiful and unspoiled; we were able to swim right underneath it

The next day we heard there was a local baseball match between the towns of Esteli and Somoto. We convinced our Belgian friends that it would be fun and took them out to the ball game. The game was good and the view was very nice!

We took a tour of the Somoto Canyon the following day which was 're-discovered' for touristic purposes only 8 years ago. We swam, cliff jumped, canoed and hiked then had a much needed lunch cooked by a local family in Somoto

We took an early morning chicken bus to Leon and after hostel-shopping for about an hour in the mid-day heat we decided a pool was a necessity and checked into Lazybones Hostel. We took it easy for a few days in Leon then headed to the beach, where we are now at Barca de Oro hostel in Las Penitas. We've been staying in a cabana made of bamboo! The nightly chorus of dogs barking + frogs croaking + gheckos chirping + crickets screeching makes it a bit difficult to sleep; not to mention my mosquito net doesn't seem to be doing its job... I guess I'll continue enduring the nightmares & vivid dreams for the protection the Malaria pills provide.

We're not exactly sure what's up next but we're taking a bus back to Leon this morning to decide - either set out on an adventure trying to get to the Corn Islands by buses and boats OR move on to Granada. Decisions, decisions!

Jody Gets a Haircut

Jody was supposed to book a haircut before we left but apparently time did not permit... one month later, his mop was out of control. Luckily, we happened to stumble upon this little barber shop in Esteli, Nicaragua...

The three dudes in the shop had somewhat crazy hair-do's but it seemed typical for Central American guys, so he proceeded.

The first step was to select the hair style you would like from the following options:

I think he pointed to the second one down on the left. Very Guido-esque, with a special request for no gel. The barber started shaving the sides and back of his head but left all the hair long on the top until the end when he trimmed it with scissors. 

He then used a straight edge razor to 'prune' the edges of his whole head and he now looks like he's ready for the Army. I've been calling him lieutenant Dan.

Yikes...
The barber probably should have carved in a Nike swoosh while he was at it!

Sunny El Salvador

Well, we just meant to pass through El Salvador but got held up at the beaches along the way for a week! It was nice to relax and not worry about 'what's next' every day... not to mention work on our tans and read a few books. I've now read five books - Jody's almost through his first :) After Sarah's Key I read 'The Glass Castle' (Jeannette Walls). The way this book is narrated reminded me of the classic Aussie film "The Castle" which I enjoyed! Next I read 'Room' (Emma Donoghue), which is told from the perspective of a 5 year old boy in the way in which he speaks and views the world, making it a bit of a difficult read at times, but a good book none-the-less. Since then, I've gotten into 'The Hunger Games' series (Suzanne Collins) - I breezed through the first two books in four days and was dying for a Wifi connection to download the third one! (Jenn Twohey - we'll have to compare notes on this series!!) It is such a relief to read books for pleasure and not for CFA purposes.... not to rub it in, study buddies!!

We hit three different beach towns along the coast of El Salvador, starting with El Zonte. It was a real surfer's hub with big waves and a very laid back feel. The sunsets were incredible:

From there we went to El Tunco beach which had a bit more going on, relatively. Our daily routine basically consisted of breakfast, beach, pool, afternoon nibble, more pool, beach for sunset, dinner, beers, bed - repeat. Here's another beauty:

The local surfers were great entertainment around sunset:

We rented a surfboard one day and Jody gave it a go, but the waves were pretty big and the current was really strong so it wasn't the most successful attempt! I mostly just played in the waves alongside and cheered him on. From there we went to Playa San Diego for a few days and did much of the same. Sunset swims were fun and were one last attempt at cooling off for the day:

We're now back in San Salvador and leave tomorrow for Leon, Nicaragua on a bus that they've promised to be a luxury coach; at this point anything is a step up from the 'first class' bus we took from Guatemala to El Salvador! The people of El Salvador have been very welcoming, friendly, and helpful. San Salvador is actually a really nice city; surprisingly modern & clean in many areas, and feels quite safe. We regret not having seen more of the country but the tourism industry seems to be in its infancy here which makes it very difficult to get information and travel to places - we'll just have to come back in a few years, I guess! Side note: a beach front property with a house, pool and big lot with palm trees goes for about $50K U.S. ... tempting!!
Hope everyone at home is well and having a happy Valentine's Day with your loved ones!! xoxo

Tour de Guatemala

It's been a busy couple of weeks! In a (no so little) nutshell, with a few photos for your viewing pleasure, here's a re-cap:
In Antigua we mostly just toured around. From the roof of our hostel we saw the Pacaya Volcano erupt which was amazing and apparently rare to see - bright red lava came shooting out the top then turned into a thick smoke cloud. The tourist police escorted a group of us out to 'Cerro de la Cruz' (Hill of the Cross) which had a pretty cool view of the city of Antigua and one of the volcanoes:

From Antigua we took a shuttle to San Pedro La Laguna at Lake Atitlan. From there, we hiked Volcan San Pedro which was probably the most difficult thing we've done so far; it was four hours straight up with a painful lack of traverses. Imagine climbing very steep stairs for 4 hours while the air gets progressively thinner... talk about cardio. Here's the view on the way up:

Me & the guide's dog, 'Coyote', taking a very necessary breather:

Going down may have been even more difficult than going up as my knees were not agreeing with me... I guess I'm getting old, but the view from the top was worth it :)

From San Pedro we went back to Antigua for a night then caught an 8 hour shuttle to Lanquin where we stayed at the Zephyr Lodge in the jungle; this was the view:

We met up with some great people at Zephyr Lodge and had a lot of laughs. It was definately a highlight for us and we stayed a couple days longer than planned as it was so good, despite raining on & off the whole time. One day we toured the Lanquin Caves and waited until sunset to see the bats fly out - sitting at the entrance of the cave there are thousands of bats flying around you and into the night. It was kind of freaky, actually since it was pitch dark. Here's a pretty cool shot!

Another day we floated down the river in tubes and had a few cerveza's!

Our tour of Semuc Champey was awesome. It started in a water cave where we swam with candles, then did a hike to a lookout point where we could see Semuc Champey from above, then hiked back down to swim in the 'pools' and waterfalls for the afternoon

Another 8 hour shuttle ride and we made it to the island of Flores in Peten. We hired a canoe for a few hours and were both successfully sunburnt despite the SPF 45 we applied; it was a scorcher. The main reason we went all the way to Flores was to go to the Mayan ruins at Tikal National Park which were pretty incredible. Here's a picture in front of one of the temples:

Sadly, our time in Guatemala has come to an end; we loved it. After a full day on a crappy bus we are now in San Salvador in an air conditioned hotel room eating 'Pollo Campero'; it feels like +36C with the humidity so tomorrow we're headed to the beach! I will try to update more regularly if possible, and in a bit more detail!
We miss everyone at home and Jody wants me to note that he says "hi" :)