Nicaraguan Adventures!

To see more pictures check out Heidi's blog!
Other adventures from our Nicaraguan experience include...

Horse Carriage Ride: All six of us packed into into a horse and buggy and toured Granada...it was close quarters but a great experience! I felt a little bit bad for the horses - they looked a little malnourished - I thought our weight would make it difficult, but they made it through with gusto - even let Tara get on one of them for a picture!

Euro Cafe: Clinton came up with a novel idea of every meal being chosen by a different member of our group. I received our first lunch in Granada...we hadn't really had time to find anything so I decided to wing it! After checking out a taco place I went on a whim to the 'Euro Cafe'. It had a better menu, including gelato - but what clinched it for me was that 'Abba' was playing in the background! It got better and better, the waiter brought us back to a quaint courtyard and we ordered pannini...what a cool place! The only problem was that Kyle had issues with his sandwich. Poor Kyle. ;)

Intense Nicaraguans: When we were traveling to Granada we needed to take a busito...so we innocently went to the busito station - only to get mauled by the busito people as soon as we left our taxi!! They didn't even give me a chance to speak but tore my bag out of my hand!! They didn't even know where I wanted to go!! Clinton rescued it only to be surrounded by angry busito 'gangsters' who started pushing him around! He didn't let go of the bags but moved towards one busito...we all filed in and breathed a sigh of relief - and didn't let go of our bags for the rest of the trip!

Kayaking at Crater's Edge: Our experience at the crater lake was beautiful! The place we stayed at for the day tour was organized by Canadians...can't get better than that! We had a great time relaxing and swimming in fresh water - oh how I miss it! We had a great time fooling around on tubes, teaching Kyle to dive...then diving into tubes, and kayaking. The kayaks were great when they weren't tipping - Kyle and I had a hard time getting on one at the beginning :S Heidi and Tara tried doing handstands on theirs - which didn't really work, until Clinton made the bright suggestion that they should try doing a tri-pod...Melodee took some great videos of our time!

Volcano Masaya: After Kyle and Melodee left, Clinton, Tara, Heidi and I went to a Volcano...at the hottest time of the day (yah, we didn't learn from Copan). It was very impressive...the heat and fumes from the crater was overpowering! We ended up going to places that weren't necessarily open to the public. One of these places was up the edge of an overgrown volcano that had a very steep path. That didn't stop me, since I had seen a person at the top (so figured it was ok). At the top I found a gorgeous view, I stepped out on a ledge and started to take a picture...that's when I heard a sound beneath me - under the ledge was a guard with a radio! I slowly backed off and walked to the rest of the group asking what we should do - we figured it was best to talk to him - and instead of getting mad at us for going to an illegal area he showed us how we could go further!! I think he was lonely. So we talked with him for a while and then he laughed at us trying to get down the volcano without falling...

Masaya Road Trip: After shopping in a castle-like building in Masaya, we were tired of trying to find busitos and buses to get back to Granada. So Clinton walked up to a pick-up truck that had what looked like 'Gringos' getting into the back and asked if they were headed our way...they said to hop in. At first glance these people looked like naturalist hippies, but they ended up being the nicest people we met in Nicaragua. They were circus performers that designed items in Bali for half the year. One of them was a dancer and the other was a sword swallower/fire-eater from Oakland! We had a great conversation with them on our way back - and like every Gringo we met, as soon as they found out that we lived in Honduras they said: "Wow, we hear that place is dangerous!!" Funny...I thought the same way about Nicaragua!

Wedding: Friday night we went to a restaurant that the sword swallower recommended (his name was either Lee or Lade, the wind made it hard to hear). Across the road from it was a church beautifully decorated for a fancy wedding...we went inside (discreetly) and viewed the gorgeous flowers and candles...then went to eat. When we were finished we heard what sounded like gunshots coming from the church - we ran outside to view fireworks shooting off right above our heads!! The ashes were raining down all around - it was very impressive (and not the brightest idea since people were all over the place!). We met another gringa who told us that a girl from the richest family in Nicaragua was getting married in the oldest church in Nicaragua (which they had repainted about two weeks earlier). The gringa also asserted she thought Honduras was scary...how ironic.

Trip Home: We had to wait for a connecting bus at a hotel in Honduras. We ended up having a lot of fun there - playing on a trampoline, talking to crazy singing parrots, following a rogue turkey around the pool (I guess he made it safely through thanksgiving) and torturing turtles...this hotel had it all! However, we figured we'd be staying longer than we did and had started a settlers of catan game and ordered food when we were informed we needed to go! Once again we were in the very front of the bus, which wasn't the best place for Heidi since she was feeling a bit sick - but she made it through and we safely arrived in Teguc.

There are a few adventures from our trip!