central america 2012

Well were home. Even after a day we wonder were we really gone? and did we really do that? Much to Dales dismay my little mind starts churning as I'm flying home from each of our travels thinking about where can we go next. But it is nice to sit down and let our minds digest where we have just been and what were some of the hi lites and low lites that all travellers experience. We're glad we did Central Amerrica when we did. Yes tourism has started there but the tourist trail is yet to be fully developed. If you have the time; not expecting things to be the way they are in Canada and you venture into the local areas(not resorts) you will meet amazing hardworking people and beautiful untouched spots. There was beautiful beach after beach, most with no one on them. We found if you simply said ola or buenas dias the local people were so welcoming and patient and quck to offer help to two stupid non spanish speaking gringos who were usually lost or confused over something that we should have known. We have found in our travels around the world that no matter where you are in the world people are the" same same but different." We especially enjoyed watching the children as they were still able to play and have a great time with little to nothing just their enviroment or a simple ball. No trance inducing video or computer games for them. The central american people seemed to be all about the family; spending leisure time together eating and going to the beach. I always reflect that the people we meet in third world countries have so little but if their basic needs are met( food water shelter)seem so happy. It really emphasises to us that you need so little and us westerners collect so much unnecessary stuff that does up our happiness quotient) Places that Dale and I considered very special and unique were Finca Tatin in the jungle on the Rio Dulce in eastern Guatemala, Semuc Champey high up in the Guatemalan mountains, La Tortuga Verde a tranquil oasis in a gun overloaded El Salvador, and Playa Maredera a unique little community in Nicaragua. Especially memorable to us were the amazing fellow travellers we met along the way. Too many to mention them all individually but all of them will be remembered by us for their friendly openess to us; the oldest backpackers out there. Please come visit us in Canada we'd love to have you. Lo lites for us was the bland diet; tortillas, beans and rice with revolving meat, chicken or fish. Doesn't hold a candle to south east asian food; though the fruit was amazingly abundant and they actually tasted like they were the fruit they were. We will dream of those mangos and bananas. Though I have come to terms with the nasty taxi guys all over the world they still push Dales buttons and central american taxi drivers definately pushed them. Being a canadian it was hard to digest the the alarming number of guns especially in El Salvador that you saw everywhere. How sad that children and ordinary people have to live in a society that the only way law and order can be maintained is by the threat of being shot. As a traveller you had to have your wits about you at all times and we firmly believe that if your down there long enough you will be robbed. We heard so many troubling stories from fellow travellers; we were lucky not experience anything but we were the exception we think. Finally we want to thank all our family and friends that followed our journey and kept us connected to home. We appreciated all you comments and emails and chatting to you on line when we could. Thank you again; next up Portugal, Spain and Morroco. Oh yeah Dale is going to take a spanish course as you all know he is only happy when he can talk.......

When we stepped off the back of the shuttle on to the fine white sand of Playa Madera we knew that this was going to be the perfect place to spend our last 4 days of our travels. The crashing turquios waves and beautiful bay was nearly empty of people and we were in the busy part. We walked up the beach for about a kilometer and saw at the end of a the bay a half buried sign and a small shack with the best aromas coming out of it, with two chilled looking surfer guys sipping on Tonas. This was Mathildas. Inside the gate which was surrounded by broken surf boards were squiggly cacti and broken tile walkways. There were tent like structures buried halfway in the sand and hammocks swinging in the wind. Some surfers directed us toward the owners who to our dismay told us there was no rooms available and probably nothing till Wednesday. We were crushed!!!!. He directed us to Don Martins place; over and back off the beach. Nothing special but they had a room for us. When we walked back to the beach shack Dale started working his magic. Of course he immediately started talking to the surfers and to an old guy who were drinking there. Next thing we know they are saying they will talk to Antonio(the owner) and get us into Mathildas. We found out later it is a very tight little community and they worked their magic and we were in the next morning. Mathildas community was full oif a quirky cast of characters. Mainly Canadians and a few Americans who choose to drop out of society for several months each year. Many have been coming back for years. There was a fishing guide from Northern Saskatchewan, a film guy from Quebec, a semi retired pilot from Vancouver, a young guy who said he hated the crime in Nicaragua but when asked what he did in Canada he told us he sold pot and finally tyhere was the legendary Mushroom Marc from Whistler. One night some of the guys stayed up very late sipping rum he pulled out the trumpet and started playing at 2 in the morning. Our brother in law Len later assured us Mushroom Marc was truly a legend in Whistler. We spent the next 4 days walking the beaches, getting sandblasted when the wind became too much, reading in a hammock and hanging out with this truly friendly wonderful group oif people. They all knew each other and also everything that was going on with every one and everything right down to what the three fat dogs ate that day. At night everyone crowded into the open air shack on the beach after watching the sunset and talked about their surfing experiences, the fruit man and fish man coming and what to have Marta cook for you. On our last night out came the guitar and harmonica and being a group of Canadians every Neil Young song that we could remember or make words up for was sung. When we finished with Neil Young, The Stones filled in the perfect ending to a 6 week journey. Dale and I both think we could have stayed being hippies there for a lot longer but unfortunately dental surgery for Dale next week is forcing us to come home.. As Taylor would say we are not yet mentally ready for it See you all in Canada

We left Ometepe quicker then we thought possible,meaning the chicken bus actually showed up earlier then expected. Again it was a two gravol trip across the lake as the boat pitched up and down and side to side. Who knew that a lake could have such ridiculously high waves. Everything was strapped down tight. Of course when the boat comes in the taxi drivers circle the fresh meat of people coming off. Managed to talk one down to a reasonable price but it was too easy; we should have known better. The whole way to the bus stop in Rivas he's trying to up sell us on hiring him to take us to San Juan Del Sur for some outrageous price. Trying to tell us that the chicken busses don't run that day or maybe they do but only a few times. When we kept on saying no thanks he wanted to drop us off on the highway not at the market. Dale was starting to get pissed off and had almost had enough of these taxi drivers trying to prey on the gringos. Its the same all over, same same but different as they say in South East Asia. The driver, sensing that Dale was about to flip out; dropped us abruptly off about 2 blocks from the mercado and quickly drove off; I'm sure swearing at us in spanish. It wasn't the first time and we know will not be the last. Dale hates taxi or tuk tuk drivers anywhere in the world. Immediately as we walk into the mercado we are bombarded from more drivers all promising to get us to where we want to go cheap and quickly but always for a way more expensive price then what we should be paying. And of course they tell us that the bus isn't running today or if it is it wont be coming for a very long time. After awhile it is hard to be polite anymore. Just as we have just about had enough and our resolve is about to crack the chicken bus pulls in on time and we get loaded on. As we are sitting waiting for the handlers to load everything on the roof and the bus to be jammed to an obscenely illegal amount of people a man stands up and starts giving a very empassioned rant. Now our spanish is abysmal but we are able to piece a bit together and decide it has something to do with the recent election in which he and his family were wronged and continue to be wronged. He cries and cluthches his heart and shakes his head and seems to be pleading with everyone on the bus. This continues for about 10 minutes as people climb around him to squish into a place on the bus. As quickly as he started he ends and next thing we know a man squeezes his way down the aisle and blesses everyone with holy water! These latino catholics are a passionate bunch! The rest of the journey to San Juan Del Sur is suprisingly uneventful. We quickly get a hold of Jess, Dale"s cousin and spend a few wonderful hours catching up with her and are thankful to be with someone who is fluent in spanish. Now a nice surprise for us is that again we meet up with Vio and Marion(xray tech from New West) and go for drinks and dinner. We sat on the veranda of their hostel that night as Marion and Vio tell us the struggles, the challenges and daily diffivculties they had growing up under Chucescue(spelling?) in Romania and their attempts to escape the country and how they eventually ended up in Canada. Amazing!!!! Such wonderful hardworking people.... Canada is lucky to have them. Though many of the stories were told in a funny way both Dale and I can't stop thinking for several days after how lucky we are to have been born where we were. Everybody seems to have such a story to tell that is so much more interesting then anything we have ever experienced. San Juan Del Sur is not really for us. A tourist beach town with nothing but bars and souveneir shops so we can't wait to get out the next morning. It was recommended to us by Sam and Sarah from Britain to head up to Playa Madera a surf beach just north of San Juan Del Sur to a hostel called Matildas. I had been trying to get a hold of them before I left Granada but my messages just kept getting returned but we decided anyways to hop a shuttle the next morning and were we ever happy we did!

We've been off the grid for a week so we need to catch up as our journey is almost over. After leaving Granada we hopped a chicken bus to Rivas. As usual very chaotic. But my memory will be of the look on the bus handlers face when I met him on top of the bus roof as I frantically pulled out our passports from the outside of our backpacks as they were being tied down on the roof. Dale said he should have been warned because I probably would have pushed him off if need be to get to my passports. We caught a taxi with our travelling companions Vio and Marion by taxi to San Gorges and then boarded a boat to Isla de Ometepe. Those of you who know me know that even looking at something that goes up and down makes me puke so when I saw our boat bouncing up and down ....sie to side and huge white caps for as far as the eye could see I knew that this was a two gravol moment. Needless to say I downed my gravol, sat up top in the open and kept my eyes on the volcano and made the hour and half trip with out puking though I had a few moments when I felt I needed to. We took a chicken bus with a little australian lawyer to a quite remote place half way on the island. The bus dropped us off on the side of the road and we trekked a kilometer or so down to the beach to a beautiful little spot with cabannas and swinging hammocks right on the beach on a very secluded little bay. We were the only 3 people there. Unfortunately food was very limited and so was our spanish. Dale was quite impressed with Vi, a 30 year old hindu 5 foot lady with a pack on her back almost as big as she and one on the front fully loaded up. She was travelling Central and South America on her own for 5 months. She became our travelling companion for the next couple of days. We explored Ometepe by foot, chicken bus, pick up and van. Ometepe is a small island on a large lake about 2 hours outside of Granada whose landscape is lush and green and dominated by two volcanoes. The pace of life is decidedly slower and the horses, cows and pigs wander freely everywhere. It is not unusual to be sitting at a table eating your meal and a horse to walk by as if it was just passing through or a cow to nudge you out of the way if you are sitting under a mango tree it wants first dibs on. At one point we were sitting under a mango tree waiting for a ride to pass by when a huge ripe mango fell from the tree. Dale and a cow both made a run for it. Dale won at which point, being pleased with himself took a huge bite then accidentally dropped it at which point the cow quickly gobbled it up. A highlight for us was spending an afternoon at Oyo de Agua. Two natural mineral pools in the jungle with lawn chairs and poolside bar and restuarant. So refreshing and relaxing....It was on our last night that we started to notice the bites. Angry bites, that looked like small volcanoes that started at our ankles and worked up our legs. They ithched worse then regular mosquito bites and our ankles started to swell. Sand Fleas!!!!I spent the next three nights with t-shirts tied around my ankles so I wouldn't itch while I slept. Nasty things...Off to San Juan Del Sur to relax on the beach and to meet up with Dales cousin Jess.

Felt really guilty and kind of wimpy when we got into an AIR CONDITIONED van!!! to make the trip from Leon to Granada. There were only 5 of us. Us ; Sam and Sarah and one other guy. No backpacks piled ontop of you; no chickens or pigs in a bag no sweaty bodies pressed up to you; just a short 2 and a half hour trip down the Pan American. Luxury....Granada is another larger, beautiful colonial town. Very pretty all done up for tourists. Spent the first afternoon just getting the lay of the land practising our spanish and searching for a good place to stay. Dale was checking his stocks and up pops Josh(nephew) on facebook. Seems he just got into Granada. So good to see him all tanned and full of travel adventures. Spent the evening on "gringo alley" having cervesas and natchos swapping travel stories. The next day after 5 strenous weeks on our bodies we decided it was time for a little pampering. Found a spa and gym.(I can find them anywhere in the world....) and treated myself to a pedicure and foot massage. Dale said my feet would have been be considered a dangerous weapon when we go through security at the airport. 8 dollars later, I had smooth and polished feet. While I was relaxing, Dale paid for a day pass at the gym. I think I got the better deal. Met up with Josh and his friend from Kamloops, Adrian, for delicious banana muffins and said good bye as they were off to Managua and us to Lake Apoyo. Down on gringo alley we met a jewelry artist. He worked with silver wire and gemstones. He sat with us and chatted about his life as he crafted me a necklace and a pair of earings. This is the only thing I have bought so far for myself; too often the generic souvieners are made in China! Has been disappointing that way. Lake Apoyo is a beautiful volcanic crater lake just outside of Granada. Spent the day at a nice little palapa with sun chairs and bar. We had intentions of kayaking but the water was too rough so just another lazy day. It was just us and Vio and Marion from New Westminster. Another xray tech from RCH. We spent the afternoon laughing alot as we traded stories of the weird and wacky things people put up into their body of which none are appropriate to repeat....I'm pretty sure the locals couldn't understand what we were talking about because if they did they might have asked us to leave. Oh the wonderful people you meet! Off to Ometepe tomorrow only one more week....BRUTAL!!!