Goodbye Nicaraguaand Ometepe , Hello Costa Rica!

Why hello again all!! We finally found some internet in the world! We have been traveling along quickly, so lets go back about 2 weeks.....

We spent our last few days on Ometepe scraping the rafters of Indio Viejo (aka Hostal Central) free of any paint or dirt. Our pictures indicate how messy of a job that was! But, the hostel staff was very appreciative of our efforts and we did leave the ceiling and nice new shade of white. Sadly, both Merilee and I wished we could continue our work but continuing the trip also presses on us. But on our last day we went on an adventure out to see a couple of the island's highlights. First, we headed to see the petroglyphs carved into rocks on a hillside. We wondered around for a bit in the forest until Kristoph found our way to the trail. (It is a bit hard to find so you will have to pay for a guide) But on the rocks we made up great stories about the pictures...we will be fabulous archeologists one day! The trail meandered it's way into the surrounding banana fields and pastures and we followed it despite mud sticking thickly to our shoes. It had a nice view of the lake and was a lovely hike. When it was time to head back, we found that we had missed the bus and our chance to see another highlight. Not to worry because Freja is an expert hitchhiker and caught us a ride!

Next morning we got up bright and early so we could catch the 7:00 ferry to the mainland and head on to Costa Rica. We said brief goodbyes to the Hostel people. And again we would like to thank them for giving us a chance and letting us stay with them!! We enjoyed ourselves greatly in their company and one day we'll head back to see their pre-colombian village! But so we hurried down to the dock and just barely made the boat, it was a foreshadow for the day as we had 115 kilometers to ride to make it to our next stop. We hustled into the border crossing where against all our valiant efforts still spent about 2 hours trying to cross. But once we did the world broke in half.

Welcome to Costa Rica, this is how we are different from anywhere Merilee and Eric have visited in this trip: Border crossings have signs telling you were to go, people do not scream gringo at you, people form lines, people own washing machines, housing appears not about to fall over. Granted, yes, these are extremes but it is very apparent money runs through this country a bit more instead of straight out. As we crossed into a seemingly more calm world from the bustle of Nicaragua, I breathed a bit easier. We had kilometers to ride still though! About 60-70 and we had 5 hours of daylight left! So off we went about as fast as we could and even as we saw the storm approaching we rode straight into the driving rain. We only stopped twice to eat our delicious all corn tamales we had bought with our remaining Cordovas in Nicaragua. Finally, as night was falling, we arrived in Canas Dulces where we had been in contact with a women who is part of Couch Surfing. Anais we a very open and nice woman. We rode up as she was driving up and instantly opened her doors to us despite we were completely waterlogged. We dripped all over her kitchen and went to bed rather instantly.

Next day Merilee's friend Patrick arrived. Lucky him, had a internship with Delta and was spending his weekends using standby. So in about 6 hours he caught up what has taken us 6 months to accomplish. Show off. But we had a good time telling him a bunch of stories of our trip over chicken and rice. Then over cake. Then over beer (Well, I had fruit juice...just can't pass up Maracuya!). We just eat, it is the secret. But, we also went to a piano recital by a local prodigy. She is a 14 year old piano player studying at some Russian school. Must be good right? Actually she was amazing. We all left in disbelief of what we had seen. Words really do not describe how well she played and how astounded the audience was. After that we watched the local kids have their break dance competition, also quite a treat when traveling to many Latin American countries. Next day Patrick had to take off (haha). A quick visit but, nice to see a familiar face once every 6 months. We are also, well me especially, indebted to him because he brought me new sandals and our stove part that has been broken since sometime in Chiapas maybe. He also brought a care package from our mother. So Thankyou Patrick and Mom for getting all this for us! From there we had to leave our comfortable couch surfing spot and once again brave not knowing where we will stay.

It is not so bad though, not knowing where we will stay. It takes some getting used to that is for sure, but Merilee and I are pretty good at it. And we managed to find a nice restaurant that with a carport next to it that was partially vacant and we were able to spend a night dry and comfortable. Yay!

Life is like a box of chocolates...

...except, sadly, in a land where cacao is produced in abundance, there is no dark chocolate to be found. Why oh why. Anyway, while I crave a bar, I'll do a bit of writing to take my mind off of my woes.

Another woe is living on an island. I mean, seriously. Life is tough. So after Granada we landed in a junction town called Rivas. Eric was on lodgings duty, so he walked around looking for a place to stay while I hung out with the bikes. The verdict: all crap. Luckily, we spotted a cheerful little hotel for about the same price just a bit down the road, so we took it. The women in charge were nice, and they even let us cook in the kitchen. However, one thing turned into another. The shared bathroom was seriously shared. It's pretty common to have to walk to a nearby bathroom that other guests are also using. What is not normal is to walk in and find that the only thing separating your business from the two adolescent boys next door is a holey fitted sheet hanging from a doorway. Meaning that the shower stall is basically in their room. You can't knock on a sheet, so we changed rooms. Only to find that the 'private' bathroom wasn't actually so private. You can watch the video to see what I mean. And, after all that, there wasn't any water anyway. Oh well, at least we got to go to the urination station in peace even if we couldn't flush. Y'all enjoying this yet?

The next day we headed over to Isla de Ometepe. We hopped on a rickety old boat, started off, nearly took out the dock with a rope that hadn't been released, got stranded for half an hour while the water pump wasn't functioning and, finally, made it to our destination. We pulled our bikes off the top deck, thankful that they hadn't met a watery grave, and pushed them into town. Right away we met Jerry, a Moyogalpa expat staple, and he recommended that we check out the hostel up the street. So we did, and I wound up chatting with the owner. Turns out two volunteers were literally heading out the door as we came in, so I offered to work in exchange for room and board, and so here we are. My bathroom scrubbing skills can't be beat, everyone finds uses for Eric's long reach, and I think we are going to leave this entire place squeaky clean at the rate we are going. We are enjoying getting to know every one and explore the island, and it is the perfect solution to our time crunch problem. Patrick is going to try to bring us some supplies (hello, we need peanut butter! And spokes.), in Costa Rica, so hanging out here allows for us to coordinate schedules.

I'd like to take this opportunity while I have all of your attention to tell a story that we heard from a chica here on the island. She, a young Canadian, had been in touch with an eco-village for several months. However, when she and her friends arrived they found it abandoned by the owner and containing only a couple of coke-snorting squatters and no food. Luckily, an old man living in a shack on the property took them in and helped them survive for a couple of weeks. "He taught us a lot of cool things. He showed us how to make bed mats and weave baskets, but since there was no food we ate leaves. Edible should not be confused for tasty. One day he brought back a half-rotting crocodile carcass and ordered, "Boil!" I didn't know how to boil a crocodile! Imagine me, with a machete, hacking up this crocodile carcass to boil. To eat. But we made some cool jewelry out of it later. It was all about having an open mind." Ah, the adventures of some make ours look like a weekend at the Hilton!


Photos: Hammocks are good, Isla de Omotepe; checking out Concepcion behind a banana field; Lake Nicaragua; corn field

Leon and Granada (Managua in Between)

Lately we have been doing a bit of a new style of travel; with the backpackers of Central America! In Leon, we stopped in a high traffic foreigner hostel to stay two nights. The city was nice with lots of spaces to check out and see. I was sick the second day we were there so we mostly hung out in the hostel, but it was nice because we got to hang out with fellow travelers. We met a kid who told us how to make it to South America around the Darien Gap cheaply! We also had to start our search for a front derailleur for Merilee's bike since her's decided it would be fun to fall off. With no luck finding the part in Leon we had to turn our sights to Managua.

Managua, the capital of Nicaragua, is huge and sprawling. When we arrived into the city limits me and Merilee were rather clueless as to how we were going to arrive where we wanted to stay. So we stopped a woman on the sidewalk to ask directions. As she started to tell us, she changed her mind and told us just to follow her in the car. And slowly but surely we followed her through the labyrinth that is Managua. That night Merilee got sick! It seems if one of us gets sick, then the other gets sick. Yuck. Anyhow, the next day we went on a search for a derailleur. We went to a fancy mall, and after pulling the her bike into the mall the security guard was quick to tell us "no bikes allowed" and "there is no bike shop here". Oh well. Eventually we found one though, and bought a new derailleur.

Next day we headed to Granada. Granada is probably the nicest Central American town we have visited thus far. It is very clean, has brightly painted buildings, a nice plaza, and old churches for checking out. That said, it is like San Cristobal de Las Casas because there is a lot of foreign owned business and HUGE tourist traffic. In particular one street is almost completely owned by foreign investment, and houses near there are selling away fast. So the city is really is beautiful, but there appear to be a lot of things lurking under the surface that may not be completely healthy for local people. Overall though, we are both mostly healthy again, we are going to be headed for Ometepec, the island in Lago de Nicaragua and enjoying ourselves. WHoot!

The video is of the street outside of where we are staying in Granada. It is pretty hectic!! Yesterday I saw one of the door boys on the bus shove an old man out of the road because he was moving too slow.

Pictures: Granada, Leon and Lago de Managua

P.S. Does anyone read this? With no comments it is hard to know. Don't be shy show us some love! (We get real excited when we see even one comment!)

P.S.S To the men/boys of Nicaragua, we are not your amores. The kissing noises have to stop.


P.S.S.S (this is getting outta hand) I just watched the video, and I thought I'd let everyone know sunglasses as cool as mine can be purchased at Sports Authority in Jantzen Beach!

Honduras o Nicaragua

The countries in Central America are just too small! We seem to fly right through them without getting to know them much. It kinda seems a shame, but that is how it goes. Wheeeee!

Anyway, we spent our last night in El Salvador in a small community called Siramita. It consisted of about 6 watermelon stands, a church and a comedor. We stopped into the church to see if they'd be willing to let us sleep there for the night. Like most people they were more than willing to help us out. Juan, the Pastor, was a nice guy, soft spoken and quick to ask us about ourselves. We chatted about our trip; where we had been and where we were going and our crazy brother sister relationship. Then out of the blue Juan asks "what do you say about Christ". This is not an unheard of question here because people are usually genuinely interested. But it can be a scary one to answer, because you have to wonder what will the Pastor of the church you are going to stay at think when you tell him you do not believe in the teachings of Christ. Or to say that Christ is not necessary for our lives. Anyhow, picture me and Merilee seated with Juan standing over us in his maroon shirt (improperly buttoned I might add)and pointing at us while preaching about us going to hell. Sounds scary, kinda was. Anyhow after that was over they kindly offered us tortillas with some rice and beans to accompany our dinner of lentils, beats and rice. Yum!

Next day we went to Honduras. We are cool like that. We crossed at a small town called El Amatillo. Border crossing are quite the excursion. Semi trucks, bikes, people on foot and cars all trying to get between countries. Add a bunch of people with dollar signs in their eyes who chase after Meilee and I shouting "CAMBIO AMIGO! CAMBIO CAMBIO CAAAAAAAMMMBBBIIOOOO". Then a few people who are trying to earn a tip by leading us to immigration because we can't follow the pack of people headed that way. In short, it is crazy chaos that is kinda fun, kinda stressful and makes me feel really really white. Anyhow we finally made it across and met Christian and Alexis. Alexis is a full time car runner. He makes 4-5 trips to the USA to buy used cars (really nice ones) to sell for profit in Costa Rica. Christian was on his first run, but he was running a school bus to Costa Rica. And now we know how school buses from the USA made it to Central America, people like Christian decided to make some money and drive them down to sell them. Business venture anyone? But they were really friendly and we chatted for a long while and they told us some pretty wild stories of surviving the roads in Guatemala and bribing police officers. Fun!

Later, we made it to where we thought we would stay the night; Jicaro Galan. But every hotel was dirty and over priced. So we hopped back on the bikes to continue to the next town. Before we reached it I saw a watermelon stand outside a church. I decided it would be a good spot to ask about if they was somewhere we could stay (plus we could buy a melon!). The women selling the fruit led me to the pastor of the church. And Melki, the pastor, graciously let of stay on the floor in one of his empty rooms. But we were the town show that night. Everyone came to see the two Gringos. While we chatted, people walked by and stopped to gape. While we ate, kids stared in from all windows to see if we too eat with our mouths. When we were winding down for the night, kids stared in the windows to find out, it we too, sleep. It is interesting because we go through some areas where people are very respectful of us, and others where people are not. I suppose it wasn't "disrespectful" per se, but it was not how people of the town treat each other. But we did spend the night safely and ate homemade cheese and butter. Heavenly!!

Next day we were up and out before the kids of the town could catch us! We went not too far to a town called Choluteca. It is a quaint little colonial town. As usual we made it to a big town on Sunday hence everything was closed. But we did have our clothes washed in a washer as opposed to a hotel sink! We did watch an amazing Mexican movie. I realize I can't even begin to write about how bad it was. And ate fried bananas with eggs and tortillas! Awesome goodness!!! (I will be ending every paragraph with exclamations)

Then we went for Nicaragua. We had another crazy border crossing. Ate another watermelon...same old same old. Got caught in some rain showers. (The pictures are from those) Then the town we were trying to make it to never showed up on the road as far as we could tell. And it was starting to get dark and we couldn't make it to the next big city that has to exist. So, we had to stop and ask a couple of random women on the side of the road if we could sleep outside their house. Amazingly they said that would be fine. They helped us buy food for dinner and even offered us a spot inside to sleep on an unoccupied bed. It was a blessing at the end of a long day with an uncertain end. The only bad part was they were fairly poor. And us being seemingly rich Americans puts up a divide that some people cannot get over. They were very curious about what kinda of money we made, how much things cost and those kind of things. At times it can make conversation uncomfortable. It is sobering to know at the end of the day we will probably always have infinitely more opportunities than those we meet. We left this morning and find ourselves in the lap of luxury here in Leon, Nicaragua. A shower, trash can and wireless internet. I guess that is just how the world is.

Ok Pictures!!

All the kids from Melki's village Guanabo #1 some scenes, then the priests, their dogs and myself!

We left Guatemala by hoofing it up some serious hills in the rain. Due to weather and elevation gains we were forced to spend the night at the border, but we found a very nice, albeit simple, place to stay at a family inn. The water turned brown around 8 in the evening due to torrential rain, and there was gum stuck to the wall next to my bed, but we were dry and cool. Good enough.

In the morning we crossed into El Salvador - that makes 5! The initial ride was lovely - the weather was beautiful, the road was freshly paved, and it was 10 km of downhill! The first thing we made sure to do was stop at the grocery store. We made an unsuspected discovery of a new pastry - semita. It was just dense, flaky pastry filled with fig jam. Delish! As we continued on we felt very fortunate for our situation. The traffic here has been far more sparse, and the road conditions much better. It's wonderful to actually get to enjoy riding again.

The first city that we cruised into was Santa Ana. Rough around the edges is an understatement. It had a feel similar to Belize City - not the safest place, and not enough money to go around. We hunted for spokes for Eric (yeah, they've been breaking again...sigh...), but without much luck. In our whirlwind tour of the city we saw the huge, gritty market, and took advantage of all the fresh produce and got some for dinner. We also swung by the fancier (relatively) center of town and each had fresh fruit juice. Also delish!

The main reason for stopping in Santa Ana was to avoid San Salvador. The homicide rates are through the roof in the city, violence is often at random, and traffic and pollution are oppressive. We thought it best to avoid the situation. So, finding some spokes that would do in a pinch, we made a run for the coast. How beautiful it is! We happened to be in the right place at the right time and met Carlos. He was staying at a friend of his' summer home, and invited us on in to stay. And we did - for two days. Carlos and his family left, but we were well taken care of by Miguel, the groundskeeper, and his children. We went for early morning swims on the deserted black sand beach, ate local food, laughed with the kids, ate delish banana bread, and relaxed after a week of mentally tough riding. And, I'm happy to report, I have nearly made it to the end of War and Peace. I'm just bummed that it won't make it home to my library - we are ready to ditch the 696 page hardback sucker!

After leaving Playa Mizata we wound up in an equally welcoming but totally different situation. For the first time in my life I attended mass. Back to the beginning...As we go further south 'problems' seem to be getting heavier, so this is a part of the world that we have been looking for more help in. After getting out of a particularly sketchy town that we stopped into for a grocery store and internet cafe run, we needed to find a place to stay. The hotels in the area were through the roof because of the international airport, so we decided to humbly try the church. Without a moment's hesitation we were invited in, offered cold drinks and the TV remote, and that was that. We stayed with three Catholic priests, and one of them was giving mass that evening at the national academy for public security (police academy), so we attended even after professing to adhere to no religion! Afterword we were taken out to dinner for pupusas - delicious discs of corn and rice flour filled with all sorts of delish combinations - and horchata. In the morning we tried to say thanks by cooking oatmeal for everyone, but we were outdone by the heaping bowls of fruit, rolls, yogurt and fresh squeezed orange juice that were subsequently brought out. We tried!

We are currently in Usulutan in a quaint little hotel where a girl "From Jersy" met us at the door. You never know where you will run into English speakers! We spent our afternoon attempting to guzzle 2.5 liters of grapefruit soda between the two of us; cooking beets, rice and a can of pork and beans; heating and pouring olive oil into Eric's ear to relieve the ache he has had; watching the lightning illuminating the volcanoes in the distance; and desperately trying to catch up on internet tasks.

I can't believe that we have come so far and yet so little. We always overestimate how many kilometers we can do in one day even though we have had 5 months of practice, so it always feels like we are behind schedule. And yet, we have no schedule to be behind on. So I try to enjoy all the moments that come to us, enjoy the fact that we have no timekeeping device, enjoy when things get tough, enjoy the obnoxious yells that we get, enjoy making good and bad all relative, and love knowing that the goal is everywhere in between our start and finish points.

Photos: Sugar cane fields, the Pacific!, Miguel and his family, corn fields, two of the priests and their 4 dogs, the watermelon we purchased for 25 cents

Hola Guatemala!

Number of sneezes in Belize:
Merilee: 11
Eric: 128

Eric has what one might call an unusual sensitivity to exposure to sunlight. If only we had kept track in Mexico...

The night before leaving Placencia we re-ran into some folks who we originally met along the highway. Unfortunately we didn´t get to spend much time with them, but it was great to meet more wonderful people. One of them was herself a cyclist, so perhaps we´ll convince them to meet up with us in some other fun country!

We left our little sun-kissed paradise (the last day it was finally sunny, so we hung out on the beach!) early on a rainy morning and had fun cramming all of our gear into a little water taxi...it´s like being at the grocery store and having the heaping cartful of everything, and everyone behind you is just antsy for it to be all over with. Luckily, nothing moves very quickly around here, so it was no big deal.

That day we rode 100+ kilometers to arrive at PG. Yeah, people are so laid-back that they don´t even take the time to call their town Punta Gorda. And there we met Mags. I thought he said Max at first, but then he lifted up his shirt and, lo and behold, his tattoo identified him as indeed Mags. This man with dreds as long as my arm works for a local inn, but it was more expensive that what we were looking for, so he invited us over to his house. We knew we´d have to pay something, but we figured it would be more fun than hanging out in an overpriced hotel room. Although he was a bit of a strange fellow, we spent the night safe and dry, and in the morning he offered us coffee and hot dogs. We packed up all of our sodden things (more overnight rain), bought tickets for another water taxi, got our passports stamped and went to Guatemala. I mean seriously, how boring. This whole country hopping thing is already getting old.

Well, what can we say about Guatemala...everyone is amazingly friendly and kind, we get blessed with cloud-cover every morning, and the scenery is beautiful. I think. You see, we don´t really get to look around. We have spent the vast majority of our time here trying not to get killed on the road. We are too young to die! Plus, I don´t think my parents would be happy if they had to assume responsibility for all my student loans. But seriously, the traffic is horrific, and trucks choose to run us down rather than slow if it is obvious that we have no where to go. It is the oddest thing - people give us all sorts of waves, beeps and thumbs up, but then whiz past us at 60 mph 6 inches from our handlebars. WTF? If only people drove as friendly as they are on the sidewalk.

Good stories from Guatemala:

Amidst a barrage of scooters, bikes, semis and vans, a small red car drove by, a young boy poked his head out of the window, and gave us a smile and a peace sign. That made my day!

Eric went into the market at lunchtime to look for a bit of food, and I stayed with the bikes. I sat next to a little boy of about 4, and he immediately asked what my name was. I told him, asked his name, and then he asked me what Eric´s name was. I answered, and he was quiet for a bit. After a minute he looked at me and said, ¨I thought his name was Gringo because his hair is like this,¨ and he made a gesture with his hand indicating Eric´s long locks.

We stayed at a hotel last night for the first time in 10 days, and there was in it the most amazing fan we have had the honor of using on this trip. We slept like logs. And we only paid $5.

When we got to the hotel, we chatted with the owner a bit. While we were there her son got out a package of cookies and gave us each one. Cute!

We continue to completely confuse people. Guys? Girls? Today we got a ¨Hey Honeys,¨ and Eric, according to our plan, replied with a bass ´Hello!´

Picture this: Eric and I by the side of the road, stuff strewn everywhere, traffic whizzing by. What are we doing? Truing Eric´s wheel. With the ukulele. F# people.

Anyway, that´s life as we know it for now. We´ll be crossing into El Salvador tomorrow, so we´re excited to see what that brings. For now we are off to cook and buy soda - we are thoroughly addicted!

Photos! Well, what little of Guatemala we saw; A butterfly hitching a ride with Merilee, A parrot hitching a ride on my bike, pregnant women sign, burning trash, and a church. That is all there is to Guatemala!

Scorpion drama

And now, something you've all been waiting for! Merilee and Eric versus Scorpion on the big screen!!!!