| Great trip! |
[Jun. 24th, 2010|07:29 pm] |
Hey all,
Back safe in Managua. I dropped my stuff at the hostel and went off to a neighboring town called Masaya, which has a pretty nice market, so I burned off the last of my Cordoba´s there.
All in all, I´ve missed you guys, but its been an incredible experience. I really enjoyed visitin those schools and helping out, and the relaxing part of the vacation was just long enough for me to forget what day it was (that´s always a nice feeling)! I can´t wait to tell you all more about it (Ask me about how the Catholic Outreach Services people ¨accidentally¨ took me to a whore house, for example)!
So I´m gonna go grab a final Managua beer with this Welsh med student who spend all day digging out Managua bullet wounds, I guess they´re fairly common, hah.
Plane leaves at 1 in the morning, I´ve arranged a safe shuttle to the airport. Then I get into ft lauderdale early. I imagine 5 hour energy drinks from the gas station will be my best friend tomorrow. See yall soon! |
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| "Que tengas cuidado, hombre." |
[Jun. 21st, 2010|09:54 pm] |
Thats Spanish for "You better be careful, man". Some guy looked at me and said that right after I swatted the fingers out of my pockets again. We were packed in, standing in the back of a school bus\milk delivery truck trying to get out of this hole of a town called Rivas. It was quite the journey to say the least. I got a little lost cause I didnt know when to get off the milk bus along the road I dubbed "naked jungle baby road". they seem to come out of the woodwork and stare at the bus wide-eyed as it bounces past, some of them wave. i even had to get a ride on a dirt bike from a local guy who saw I was lost. Finally made it to Popoyo at sunset though. Popoyo is a really nice little beach village. Nothing to it really, just a little dirt road strip with a few restaraunts and hostels. Thats it. Its in the middle of nowhere, but i did manage to find one place that has a laptop with satelite connection so I figured Id keep you posted. Woke up at dawn yesterday and the surf was a couple feet over head, glassy. I waded across the river and paddled out at the reef break, there were only 4 of us out there, a canadian, a german, and oddly enough, a Venice High alumni ( I cant get away from you guys)! Anyways, the break is incredible. Fun, powerful faces with forgiving wipeouts. As shallow as the reef is at low tide, the rock is fairly smooth as opposed to the volcanic cheese grater that Santa Catalina was, so thats nice. The swell size has gone down today and should stay down for the rest of my trip. But there was still very fun head high waves today on the reef and along the beach, so Ive been enjoying it! The average day is a session at dawn, huevos rancheros for breakfast, a little nap in a hammock, some reading, another session, a little guitar playing (i rented one for 2 bucks a day, I was having music withdrawal issues that could rival a crack addict), buy some fresh pinapple and mangos from a fruit truck that passes by daily, go handline some snook and snapper out of the river with a couple local guys, possibly go for another session, nap/guitar, feed a pet monkey, catch a gorgeous sunset, eat a fresh fish dinner with a cold beer, possibly indulge a fine Nicaraguan cigar with book, pass out around 9 or 10 (what am I thinking, who cares what time it is, right?!). Its really a great time to wind down and relax, especially since Ive got a some busy weeks up ahead! And unlike a lot of the surf villages Ive been in, this one has an endless amount of things to do. Its the perfect vacation place, the only thing that could make it better is if I had you all here to share it with! Un dia, tal vez... Hope all is well, and I look foreward to seeing you on friday! Happy belated fathers Day, pops! and bro!
By the way, Ive been thoroughly enjoying seeing the website fotos of lil Eli! Hes looking less like Voldemort everyday! No seriously, so cute, cant wait to see him! |
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| Gatoraid saves lives |
[Jun. 18th, 2010|10:10 pm] |
Hey all,
So the good news is I´ve visited 15 schools, this week was a huge success. The bad news is I´m still in recoop: the iron stomach found some kryptonite. I guess its a good thing to know that if you shit and throw up at the same time, you won´t actually implode. Myth busted. It was pretty rough going yesterday. We´ve been in a small village called Escipula for the past couple days and all they have is river water, so whatever they cooked me for breakfast ended up scattered somewhere on the dirt road between Colegio Ruben Dario and Las Tablas. Pretty wierd, cause I´ve eaten some really funky stuff on this trip, didn´t expect to get shut down by some eggs and rice n beans (could have been the questionable jar of hot sauce). Oh well, in the end the gatoraid worked just as well as a saline IV, so I´m finally getting my appetite back today. The volunteer project has come to an end and seemed to go quite well. I´m tellin you, I saw some wierd places in the middle of nowhere! People look at you like you´re an alien!
I´m chillin at a hostel now but tomorrow I´m going to attempt the journey to a place called Popoyo, a very small Pacific coast surf village with some amazing breaks. Surf forecast looks to be 5-7 ft swell with offshore winds all week! Not positive how to get there, there´s some buses that run from here to Rivas, then to Las Salinas. From there, getting to Popoyo is a little blurry but I´ll make it. No internet out there so I´ll be MIA for the rest of the trip.
I´ve got plenty of cool stories to tell, but no time, so I´ll just have to wait till I get home. Until then, maybe I´ll throw you a couple pics!
Love ya lots!
Cigar Factory! The workers were smokin em faster than they could roll em!
cute kids
Another cute lil class, with quite the sasquatch of a teacher. I dunno if you can read it, but her shirt says ¨if I had balls, they would be bigger than yours¨. Somehow I believe it. |
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| Still breathin! |
[Jun. 15th, 2010|04:41 pm] |
Yeah bro, Managua is totally district 9, minus the abundance of cat food.
I left on sat. for Granada, which was completly different. Well, still a lot of poor people, but business was booming, which was refreshing. Granada was a little touristy, but colonial and had a lot of neat sites to see. I dumped my gear at a hostel and went to explore this huge marketplace, which was probably one of the wierdest places. They sold everything you never wanted and more, in a complete labyrinth of shacks, warehouses, and open air markets. I got so lost wandering around it, backtracking on occasion when the selection changed just a little too quickly from boots to panties to fish heads. Wanted to take pics but it was way to sketch for anyone in their right mind to pull out a digital cam and start snapping away. I did manage to find some amazing buys though. Lets just say there won´t be a one yr old girl in Venice who will be able to look away when they see Eli stuttin his stuff in a new pair of spiderman crocs (just wash the dengue fever off of em before you let him chew on it). Got almost pick pocketed, which was impressive since my money was in a hidden side zipper. I caught him half way through and avoided it, but since then, haven´t ever carried my wallet, or enough cash to be missed. Its hard to be friendly in a marketplace without putting a target on your forehead, people will grab you and try to guide you into their little shop and you have to kind of give the evil ¨try to touch me again¨ look before they leave you be. Amazing city though. Tons of outside parks and strips with bars and restaraunts. I watched US vs. UK on a mega screen cellular promo in a park for awhile, then joined some brits for a few drinks that night and thoroughly enjoyed their hilarious impressions of American dialects. You were right annie, watching foreigners mock americans couldn´t get any more entertaining.
Anyways, rolled back to Managuaa on sunday and chilled out before waking up early to meet the partner group CRS (catholic outreach services). It made for a tiring day, the power went in the middle of the night, fans turned off, and I just cooked. But I met up with Emily, my partner in crime for the next week, and a CRS guy drove us up the mountains to Esteli. We´re probably some of the only gringos in Esteli, which is enjoyable because its a big lively city with a lot of nice things to see, and several people on every block giving the same exasporated look, ¨this gringo must be really lost¨! Two CRS employess greeted us when we arrived at their office, Ivette and Carlos, who are probably some of the nicest people on the globe. (side note: aside from petty street crime, I have experienced an incredible amount of honest and friendly people. Twice now, I have been accidently been given the wrong change, not noticed, and person has actually caught it, apologized and paid up. Saw it happen to another gringo too) Carlos and Ivette have taken trips to all of the schools in the poorer outskirts of Esteli and neighbooring villages. Based on their observations, they have chosen the schools that need the most attention and are taking us to as many as possible so that we can mark them with GPS, question the teachers, and fill out some site specific surveys so that WWC can file it and petition the money needed to come back and make the necessary changes. Emily and I are the WWC team to visit Estili, and all of the schools we are visiting are baseline surveys that are not only very poor, but in really rough shape. So far, all schools have had dry pit latrines, but not enough, and many are full and in such disrepair that people just choose to shit elsewhere. Also, a handfull of the schools don´t have soap and running water. Some children are assigned the job of hauling buckets of water from home for school use. Hygeine education is nonexistant at most. Heck, there was even one younge teacher this morning ( a pretty hot tica that would make for a decent future ex-wife at that) who would leave her home at five thirty each morning to make the 3 hr bike trip to the top of the mountain. Thats nuts. As terrible as the standard of living sounds, because we´re here to help, and all of these schools are already selected for funding and renovacion in the near future, the teachers and students are extremly excited to see us and heve been very helpful in answering our questions. So the things we are doing are really exciting, although its keeping us very busy. Luckily we have a 4 whl ddrive truck to get there too. Its a bumpy ride. I´m pretty sure any jelly I used to have inbetween spine bones is forever gone... Farmacias haven´t been much help, it takes long enough for me to convince them that I will absolutly not let them give me an injection in my spine ( thats the remedy for everything that hurts).
But still, along we bounce, and its still exciting, weaving up and down mountains through the jungle, getting out to chase the cows and chickens off the road, across streams and rivers with people, waste deep, washing their laundry. We cross through some of the most beautiful scenery one could see in Central America, forest, scattered with fields being plowed with coffee, tobacco, sugar cane, corn, etc, and finally get to a school with about 20 - 200 of the cutest lil kids you´ve ever seen. We´re definitly the first gringos within miles of these schools.
Carlos and Ivette have been just as excited about having us around as we are to be there! I happened to mention that my dad enjoys a fine cigar and they jumped at it. Ivette, the absolute worst driver in the world for stories I may divulge later, wheeled the car around, explained that all the best cigar makers in Havanna fled after the revolucion and built factories in Esteli. She pulled into one of the bigger ones, sweet talked the guard and walked right into the jefe´s office and told him he had to give us a tour because we were catholic volunteers. You might as well have told him we personally knew the pope, because they never give tours, yet he sprung up and introduced us to everyone in the factory, and walked us through the entire thing. Dad, you would have been in heaven. At least you know you got something good comin for fathers day!
In between visiting schools, Ivette and Carlos take us to their favorite grungy places to eat. The hit today was a restraunt built inside the back of a container truck. A little hot, but amazing food. So much cheese! They bring it out of the country in wheels that fill half a truck bed ( no need to wrap it or even set it on something sanitary either). Some of its mossy, some of its runny, but thrown on some fresh bread or a fried corn tortilla with fresh veggies, its out of this world. Its a miricle my dumpage is still normal.
K, time to go, but so far its been an amazing trip and I wish you all were here so I could share it with you. The volunteering is great, yet at the same time, Ivette and Carlos are giving us the off-the-beaten-path tour of a lifetime! Still getting a lot done, we´ve visited 6 schools so far, and plan to go way more than the initial goal of 10! Tomorrow we move on to stay in another village to the southeast, don´t remember the name.
Chao |
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| Happy B-day to Annie Bananny |
[Jun. 12th, 2010|10:20 am] |
Hey peops,
All is well here, it took a little while to get used to the heat. Its like rolling a sleeping bag out in a steam room and trying to sleep, but exhaustion plays a pretty good role in the mix. I´ve been enjoying myself though, took a cab to the Laguna Tiscapa, this lake on top of a mountain in the middle of the city. >You can rummage through the rubble of an old presidential palace that has seen too many earthquakes to be rebuilt, and the view of the city is beautiful. The big lake is huge. I learned pretty quick that Managua is not much of a walking city. Where some cities are built up, this one was built out, so its very big, and normally your route from pt A to pt B takes you through some pretty major slums. Also, I already broke one of my major latino rules; watch where you step. If that turd came from a dog, he must have been a mammoth.
As pretty as some of the plazas and parks are, it is very sad to see so many homeless children everywhere. If I gave em all a dollar, I´d be broke pretty quick. They build slums in any open areas using tree trunks as the center and building a teepee made of trash and tarps around it. Some of them go on as far as the eye can see and down wind the smell is aweful. I can´t imagine there´s any hope for the people that live there, they´ll probably spend their whole lives under a trash bag, fighting off disease, no chance at an education. Needless to say, this country is in some pretty rough shape.
Putting that aside, there are some very interesting landmarks that I saw yesterday. Old monuments and cathedrals. The food is already fantastic. I scarfed down some of the best grilled chicken, rice, beans, and a questionable block of stinky cheese. Put enough hot sauce on it to kill a small rodent, just to be safe. I´m in no hurry to get a case of faucet butt. Other than what I saw yesterday, there´s not a whole lot to be seen in the capital.
As soon as I´m done writing this, I´m leaving most of my gear at the hostal and taking a bus to a slightly touristy, but colonial town called Granada. I´ll crash there tonight and then come back to meet CRS the next day. Should be some neat stuff to see there so I´ll keep you posted.
Love you guys, and happy birthday annie!
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| (no subject) |
[Jun. 11th, 2010|01:35 am] |
Yo fam,
Got in just fine. Found a cab driver that didn´t look like he wanted to rob me, maybe he saw my machete... I think we ran like 20 red lights, spooked a donkey, and might have inconvenienced a drunk cab driver who stopped in the middle of the road to urinate on his own car door (yep, this is my kind of country). It took a little bit of persuading to get the hostel girl to open the gate, so I guess I can still pull off looking like a sketch-ball. So far, so good. That was the only part of the trip that didn´t sit right with me, so now that I´m here and safe, time to get some rest! Love you all and I´ll be in touch!
I still can´t stop thinking about my cute little nephew back at home! I hope Awesome Dude #2 is well rested and happy! |
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| back in dirty dub!!! |
[Mar. 14th, 2009|07:06 pm] |
we went to the guinness factory today!!! woohoo! so cool! but crowded, the people are already filing in for st.patties
cliffs of moher.... so beautiful! |
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| Yay! the IRA didn't bomb us! |
[Mar. 11th, 2009|08:34 pm] |
Hey guys!
we just got into an amazing hostal in Galway from spending the night in Belfast. Lotta driving today. We're about to go out because the night life is fairly legendary here, but I have so much to tell you!
I can give you a quick update while the slow ladies get ready, and I'll surely have to backtrack some day and explain it all. Mon. night we got into Derry, the only city in Ireland that is still fully walled in. Really cool. We took a historical and political tour of the city from a guy my age who was most definatly a nationalist. He took us to all the hot spots from the troubles and explained it. Its really such a complex issue but I understand it so much better now.
Then Tues we went to the giants causeway, which is very impressive. the scenery is amazing! it was sunny all day too, which is rare! We saw dudley's castle and then headed into Belfast. Hung out in a cool college pub and watched the end of the liverpool vs. madrid soccer game. Everything is way cheaper in the north! You could buy six shots for six pounds. killer deal!
This morning we took the black cab tour of belfast. Very interesting. Those peace walls are huge! They say they jsut add a few feet when ever problems would get worse, and there were some spots that were over forty feet high! crazy stuff.
We did a lot of driving today and finally made it some small village that had the seaweed baths, and some pretty nice surf. I bailed on the seaweed bath to go try to hit the waves but the surf school in town refuses to rent boards and only does lessons. i said well shit, gimme a 'lesson' then, but they just getting the shop ready for reopening this weekend. it was like taunting a child with candy. No worries though, they had a pretty nice pub next door, the weather was nasty, and I managed to find some warmth and satisfaction at the bottom of a pint of guiness and a steamy bowl of seafood chowder while the girls got slimed. they really enjoyed it!
Anyways, about to go out and get knackered. I don't know how long this pace of no sleeping is going to run, but I feel like we have so much to see.
Until then I have so much to say, especially about the troubles, because that is some intresting stuff. Your gonna gobble it right up dad! |
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| IRELAND 09! |
[Mar. 8th, 2009|07:04 pm] |
hey guys!
Crazy trip so far. We finally made it to dublin after what seemed like endless waiting in airports. its friggin cold here! We got in to their normal drizzly weather and Jess met us at the airport and helped us find a double-decker bus back to her dorm. its a very neat town, we walked around all afternoon and saw old catherdrals and some neat lil shoppin centers that the girls liked. I'm just loving the people watching. Girls wear some pretty wierd dark stockings and seem to tease their hair like they just got done walking through a hurricane. The guys like wearing a lot of full track suits. Little boys seem to be running around everywhere and make a hobby out of flicking off anyone who will look their way.
I know I'm going to love the food here. Its all stews and meat and potatoes. i had a traditional irish coddle for lunch. Amazing! I can't wait to eat at burger king here though. I know that sounds wierd, but they have this great deal called the recession burger, thats just hilarious!
We went into the book of kell, which itself is very impressive, but the display was pretty dissappointing. The cool part of the tour was that it ended in the Trinity library, which was full of all these ancient books in this huge hall. It reminded me of that old library from Indiana Jones.
So then the jet lag was getting the best of us and we had to grab a nap back at the dorms. We woke up met up with a lot of Jessica's friends here to go out, after lindsay shorted the power in the dorms by turning on her mega-hot-ultra-drying industrial hair dryer. Maintenance dudes were not amused... A lot of Jess's friends are from all over the US which is pretty cool. And wierd enough, one of they guys here is cousins with a buddy of mine I traveled with in Panama! Small world! We went out to a club and I had my first guiness. It tasted like angels were dancing on my tongue! I just can't get enough of it, it tastes totally different from any beer I've had in the states. We had a great time and stayed out really late. met some pretty funny irish people! I tried to throw annie at every burly rugby player I saw so we could get some free drinks, but I think she was afraid they might club her to death. Oh well! We made it back about four in the morning to find the nazi security guy didn't really like belligerent guys in the girls dorms. Long story short, I need a new pair of pants after ripping them, scaling a few dublin rooftops to sneak back in under the radar. Don't worry, I am spiderman.
Slept in a little today and grabbed some brunch at a local diner. They have really good breakfast too! They have really thick bacon and their bread is so fresh and good!
We're gonna take it easy tonight. go get some grub and maybe listen to some traditional music after walking around all day. No homo, but I bought more than all of the girls put together today. Found some awesome underwear for you bro! and orange and blue argyle socks! we gotta get up early and start out tour tomorrow. next stop, North ireland!
We're taking lots of great pics, but for some reason I'm having trouble uploading them on this computer so maybe I'll try again later! Cheers! |
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