Leaving Granada

Tomorrow I say goodbye to Granada. I spent an entire week here which was weird, but it was so easy to. I've quickly learned that long term plans simply don't exist when you're traveling like this. I guess I was just having to much fun with Chris, Conway and Evanya. I have also met some great people at my hostel, The Bearded Monkey. This hostel is a little dangerous as it is so hard to leave. There's hammocks everywhere, a killer restaurant, free internet, movies, books, and best of all a big bunch of other hippie like-minded individuals with whom you can just chat and chill the night away.

I walked through the graveyard here. It is so strange because all over central America, bodies aren't buried. Caskets are placed in little cement aboveground tombs. The rich have huge elegant ones for their entire family and the poor often are buried in the back of the graveyard. As beautiful as the tombs are, I'm a little opposed. Not that I have any issue with dealing with the bodies like that, in fact, I think it's better than putting bodies underground because the tombs can be stacked. The result is sort of like small apartment buildings of corpses. How fun. But what I don't like is how your wealth is so obviously displayed even after you die. In NA grave yards often consist of tombstones that are rather simple and quite similar... everyone is equal...

One other quick thing about Granada... There has always been a fued between Granada and Leon, a City more north. Granada was always the richer, more conservative city, and Leon was always the more liberal city blooming with artists, philosophers, and students. I'd love to visit Leon, but I hear visually it's almost the same and it's farther north than I want to go. Nicaragua has an amazing history. If your interested, check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicaragua. I think william walker is an animal.

Tomorrow I'm taking the ferry to Ometepe. It's a big island in the middle of big Lake Nicaragua. The cool part is that the island is simply 2 joined volcanoes. I'm kind of excited...

What´s Up?

I´ll tell you what´s up.
Granada, Nicaragua... That´s what´s up. This colonial city is absolutely gorgeous. Every house is painted up so colourful and there are amazing churches and monuments everywhere. Horses and carriages still roam the streets and I feel like I walked back in time 200 years. The people here are super friendly too. Chris, from Costa Rica, just so happened to have a friend, Conway, heading to Granada the same time I was. He managed to get some time off so Conway, Chris, myself, and Evanya (Conway´s friend) have all been having a great time on the town. It´s so nice to see Chris again.

After climbing Rincon de la Vieja, John and I went to La Fortuna. We saw lava spewing down the side of Arenal Volcano, and again, I sat in delicious hot springs.

John went home and I went to San Juan Del Sure in Granada with a wonderful couple from Israel. We clicked immediately. I gave my friend Dreadlocks and he knitted me a tam (a hat of dreadlocks). I was in San Juan for 3 days and now I´m here in Granada and I never want to leave. I swam in a lake in the crator of a volcano and got attacked by 5 monkeys. I don´t know what adventure lie in the immediate future, however I´m just looking to sit in a hammock, read my book, and drink a cold Victoria.

You´ll be sure to hear more ranting from me about this subject later on, but this part of the world is so misunderstood. People do horrible things when they´re desperate. There´s a lot of desperation here; roughly 70% of Nicaragua lives in poverty. However there is also so much beauty, so much culture, so much safety, so much respect, and so much realism. The people here are so genuine. If it´s danger you´re looking for, you can find it easily, but if you want to avoid it, that´s easy too. Central America is a work of art.

Oh ya, and when I was in a hostel in San Juan Del Sur, there was a huge painted map of the world. In southwestern Ontario someone had added in ¨Parkhill¨ in pencil. I slyly added in Ailsa Craig.
Small world though...

Volcan Rincon De La Vieja

This is the most beautiful place I have ever been in my life. John and I hiked 9km up to the crator of Volcan Rincon De La Vieja, then 2 km over to the Crator of Volcan Van Sebeebachh then 9km back down.

Words can´t describe the beauty of this place, and my pictures don´t do it any justice either.

I´ve never felt so alone, so small, so light..... so good.

La Casa

Habitat For Humanity was an excellent experience. There isn´t

even a whole lot to say other than I feel good about helping others

out the way I did and I had fun time doing it. I met great people...

lots of people came and left and I became good friends with some

of the locals. My family was great and the Miestro on the

construction site was a riot.


The people in the office were extremely unorganized here, but

once the initial configuriung was done and I was on the site, it was

better. That big group of Canadians had everything all figured out.


It´s obvious which office has their crap together.

As much fun as it was, I was ready to leave when I did. Let´s just

say that hard physical labour in a near-equatorial sun is a little bit

draining. Work was 5 days a week and weekends weren´t always

jam packed with sleep...


John and I are currently in La Fortuna (again for me). We´re

toured around for a few days but John has to go back to the US

on thursday. I however will be going to Nicaragua for


unimaginable good times.


Just a p.s.

There´s going to be a pretty mean blog comming up. We hiked to

the crator of VolcanRincon De La Vieja the other day. I have never

seen anything so beautiful in my entire life. I´ll explain and show

you all later.

I got to start the house... just wish I would have gotten to see it finished.

Tropical Bungee

Have you ever jumped off an 80m high bridge?

NO?

Well don´t, it´s scary as shit!

John and I went bungee jumping a few hours ago. It was the most intense thing I have ever done in my entire life. It was pure terror as I started falling, but that´s what made it such a great experience. I think everyone should experience sheer terror on a safe level at some point in their lives.

It was a little painful for a couple reasons. The straps attached to my ankles were really tight and take a hell of a lot of pressure. I was alsounfortunate enough to have the bungee cord smack my left foot on my first bounce, causing some brusing, as well as some bleeding. I don´t know how a massive bungee cord could draw blood through my sock, but I suppose I was falling pretty fast.

However, despite the pain, bungee jumping is great and I highly recommend it.

Edward Forty Hands

Edward Forty Hands is a rather foolish game that is of growing popularity among young adults. Extensive information on the game can be found here.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Forty-Hands

http://www.edward40hands.com/

John and I, having no plans for friday night, decided it would be a perfect opportunity togive the game a try. Technically we weren´t playing Eduard 40 Hands as we were drinking 2 litres of beer, not 80 oz, as 40´s of beer aren´t sold here, but whatever. We had our host-father tape the liters to our hands, then tape the caps to strings attached to the bottles so we could close them. So John with his Pilsen and me with my Imperial set out of a night on the town (drinking in public is legal in Costa Rica). We decided we´d take a bus into Poas, a near-by town, and meet some friends. We paid the bus driver with coins we had previously put in a bag and wedged under my pinkey finger. (We cheated a little bit as we left our pinkeys exposed. However we thought we deserved some slack, seeing as we would have to somewhat function in public). When we got on the bus it was packed... packed with staring Ticos. The bus driver was laughing his ass off, especially because we had to stand the whole time without hands to support ourselves. I accidentally hit a girl in the head with one of my 40hands. However, instead of being upset, after I apologized she preceeded to ask my how old I was and where I lived, then her friend commented on my delectable appearance that evening. (readers take note of the potential for getting picked up when one assaults someone with their beer bottle) We then met our friends (other volunteers and one local) in the park and had a gay old time in a well named bar, Pollo Frito (Fried Chicken), and yes, still with our 40hands.

I give this game 5 Stars.

Vida a hora...

So apparently I can speak Spanish now. Going out to bars and needing to speak stricktly Spanish probably helps...

Habitat is a lot more interesting now. The walls are almost done and all the volunteers know eachother a lot better. However, volunteers come and go quickly. Two just left, including one of my room-mates, Jimmy, but 12 Canadians are comming to work for all of next week... oh how I do love Canadians.

My host family took John, Jimmy, and I to Poas Volcano. It was really cool becasue it´s still active, it has the biggest crator in the world, 1km diameter, and there´s a lake in the crator that boils. The bad new was it was too cloudy to see the 1km crator or the lake. At least there´s some cool vegetation at that altitude...

Quick note: I haven´t seen a single cat since I got here. Lots of dogs, but no cats. What´s the story?

I´ve mostly just been chilling out after work at the house. John and I met some people in a town near by so we´ll probably hang with them now and again. We´re going to try to fit in some hang-gliding next weekend.

Ok. Hold the phone. I was just told one of the most important things I have ever heard in my career as a human being. Rage Against the Machine is playing a show called Coachella on April 29th. My return flight is April 23rd, my 19th brithday is April 25th, and I have to be in Southern California for the 29th. Close but totally do-able. Mom, Dad, I need the car for a few days when I get back...

http://www.coachella.com/

Ketchup and Mayo

A quick update...

Habitat is getting a little more exciting. We are actually building the walls now, not just digging holes.

The other volunteers and I went to the beachtown of Jaco for Sat and Sun. It was, well, a crazy time. There was a beautiful white sand beach and we met some good people on the ride down. I even had a conversation with a pimp in a bar. It was, well, depressing, but interesting.

John, Jimmy, and I ate at a little restaurant by our house last night. Between the 3 of us we got 4 different dishes. Every single one was absolutely smotheres in ketchup and mayo. I do love mayo, but no, it was not a pleasurable experience.

Habitat for WHOmanity?

Well, here I am.

I just finished digging a 2mx2mx1.5m hole. We dug the foundation out then tied rebar for hours. Concrete should start soon.

My host family is pretty good. They´re super friendly. They do my laundry and cook my food. I live with 2 other volunteers from the states which has it´s ups and downs. The up is that I have people to chill with, the down is I´m not forced to learn nearly as much Spanish. One of them is is Jimmy. He´s a fairly stereotypical rich American boy. Private highschool, goes to Princeton, and plays football. He´s tall, built, has a smiling face, but there´s still that undercurrent of ¨I´m better than you.¨ that you picks at the back of your mind. Then there´s John. He has some ¨nerd-like¨tendencies, but hey, so do I. Definitely a solid guy.

Building has been, well, ok. I hope it picks up in excitement although I doubt it. I suppose I´m still a little upset with Habitat for there unacceptable lack of organization. I had communication with them for 5 months prior to my arrival and they didn´t have a placement for me until the 15th of January... Not to mention many lost e-mails and untimely responses. The meeting my group of volunteers had with them was fairly uniformative and somewhat unprofessional... However, they are undergoing huge administrative changes right now so I guess theres that. I just don´t think they should be accepting volunteers.

BUT, here I am, I have a smile on my face and a shovel in my hand and I´m ready to build a house.

Moving on...

San Ramon has been absolutely amazing. Chris and Luisa have been too good to me. They have provided me with food, shelter, and themselves as friends which has been the best part of all. Days here consisted of either helping Chris build the massive stone retaining wall around his property, or going into Palmares with Melissa.

Let´s talk about the wall. Chris and Luisa and their 2 children Lukas and Fiona are moving about half a kilometer outside the city to a property that they recently bought. They´re buliding a huge retaining wall around their property on which will stand a Bed and Breakfast. They´re hoping to cater to interesting North Americans who are interested in the true history and culture of Costa Rica. No matter how the building turns out, the very people running it will make it worthwile. Plues it has a breathtaking view of the mountains.

Let´s talk about Melissa (far right). Melissa is the daughter of a friend of Chris and Luisa´s. She´s been awesome to me and has showed me all over San Ramon. I have to say I would have been quite bored without her. (Although, I did just meet a very flamboyant guy from Ohio on an exchange, but that´s neither here nor there.) She´s studying to become an English teacher, so it works out well. She also has quite a few friends that speak a little or a lot of English.

Let´s talk about Palmares. Palmares is a city near San Ramon which means Palmtree. For two weeks of the year Palmares is turned into a massive party. It´s sort of like a big fair, but drinking in public is legal here... so it escalates to a party quite quickly. I went with Melissa and some friends to Hectar El Father, a Reggaetonista. Reggaeton is an extremely popular kind of music here that incorporates rap and reggae. The same shallow lyrics you´d expect, but still great for gettin jiggy...

Let´s talk about me leaving. On Wednesday I´ll be leaving for Volcan Poas. That is where my Habitat placement is.

Let´s talk about sex, baby.

Let´s talk about you and me.

Let´s talk about all the good things

And the bad things

That may be...

Where the streets have no name

Before I begin, yes, that is a transport truck upside-down.

There are lots of unstabilities here in Costa Rica. 1) Let´s start with the roads. In Puerto Viejo there were potholes everywhere. Despite the obvious negatives, it was kind of cool. It added to the controlled chaos. Bikes and cars and dogs and people everywhere... Aside from unfriendly holes in the road, the roads often come dangerously close to massive cliffs when driving in the mountains. Often times all you need to do is stick your head out the window and look down and you´re stairing an unending abyss in the face. Ya....kinda scary. I´d say this truck driver had it lucky.

2) Now there´s also the weather. It´s a little more stable right in the mointains, but in Puerto Viejo it would be sunny and beautiful, then within 20 mintues it would cloud over and drizzle rain. Plans would get canceled, books would open, but then no sooner had you decided to blow off the day, the sky would clear up and the sun would pump you full of good spirits again.

3) The home enertainment scene. When you rent a movie from any video store, there´s a damn good chance it´s burned. Yes, people here rent pirated movies that some Joe Blow downloaded and burnt onto a DVD. Now there´s also a chance that it´s a screener (litereally some Joe Blow sneaks a video camera into a movie theatre and films the screen... weak).

4) And finally, my personal favourite, there are no addresses. No street has a name here and no building has a number. Where I am currently staying is 150 m east of the Plaza, San Juan. Advbertising may look something like this, "Pablo Muflas - 200m south of the old KFC ("old" because it went burnt down and in it's place is a shoe store, which are freakin everywhere here) then 50m west, beside the big oak tree.

On the up side, what isn´t unstable is the people. Ticos (Costa Ricans) are very friendly. Chris (mi amigo) and I went to the hardware store for a couple things and it took us 45 minutes because everyone has to stop and shake hands and talk with everyone. ¨¿How´s your family?¨ ¨¿What´s up for today?¨ ¨¿How´s that massive stone wall comming along, Chris?¨ etc...

I´d say it´s a fair trade. A few holes in the road and some random weather patterns for a big bowl of pleasentry.

Volcanos and Pipas Frijoles

We left Puerto Viejo quite ready to leave. It was a lot of fun, we did some ziplines and flew from platform to platform high up in the canopy, but the week had been tiring; we were ready for a change. We went to Pan Pay, a lively bar, for new years eve and hit the sack shortly after 12:00. A 5:30am wakeup call the next morning and we hit up an amazing 30km white-water rafting tour through the rainforest.

Later that day we arrived in La Fortuna. It sported this beautiful active volcano, however it was often too cloudy to see it. We stayed in Hotel Monte Royal and received a ton of help from Fransisco, the owner, and Paola, his incredibly attractive daughter. We hit up Baldi Hot Springs which was complete with waterfalls, 20 different temperature pools, and swim-up bars. Despite the volcano and lava-warmed water, we decided to leave La Fortuna a day early. The food was less than amazing, not to mention nick getting served Keiser, a non-alcoholic beer, so we hopped on a bus and toured through the mountains to San Ramon to visit our friends the Panzers.

So here I am, it´s January 5th and my family will be heading to the airport to fly home in less than an hour. I still haven´t heard from Habitat as to my exact start data but hopefully it´s soon. Until then I´ll be hanging with the Panzers and helping them build a massive stone retaining wall around their new property with a gorgeous mountain view.

Oh ya, I finally saw some wild monkeys! My vacation is complete...

Dreadlock Holiday

50% of my love of my locks was that they made me unique. Well not anymore. In this beach town of Puerto Viejo roughly 1 in 8 males have dreads and a few of the girls too. (No Grandma, that doesn't mean I'm going to cut them off any time soon...)

The culture shock has settled. It reached its pinacle when we rounded the final corner of the airport and saw swarms of people plastering family last names on signs all over the glass. But now I don't think twice when a wierd rabbit-goat-cow-camel is walking down main street or random dogs roam the streets.

The music is a definite plus. The reggae scene is huge here. I hear Thievery Corporation everywhere and it reminds me of home. But as soon as I get a little homesick I just look up to the palms...the trees of eternal happiness.... or something like that.

I just finished talking with a Canadain named Lee. He grew up outside of Toronto and went to Western. He saw my flag and we started chatting. He's been backpacking for 3 months and will be for another 1. He started in Belize and he's gotten here in those 3 months. He's reaffirmed my interest in Nicaragua, specifically Ometepe, which is an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua made up entirely of two volcanoes.

Surfs Up

Nick, Jay, and I went surfing today. The waves were a little big (yes, much bigger than in this picture I swear) and I've never funneled so much salt water in my life, but damn, surfing is amazing. We had a bit of an asshole instructor, and I also got clipped by a fellow surfer and sliced my ankle open, but good times all around. Time for the 3km bike back to the house in Playa Cocles.

Mi Casa

All day on a plane and in a van x-mas day and we finally arrive to our little cottage in the jungle.

There are almost no walls and in the few that do exist there are huge windows that open all the way; makes sense when it never snows here...

No monkeys yet, but tucans, lizzards everywhere, and the craziest flower's
ever.

Lots of time just chilling on the beach and exploring. No big tours yet but we've got volcanoe's and horses and white water rafting and all that good stuff planned.

The food is delicious and cheap (and so is the beer) and I don't think I'll have a problem living off it for 4 months

T-Minus...

It's December 22nd and two questions pop into my head...

What the hell am I about to do with my life? And, Am I crazy?

And I guess my answers are, well, whatever I feel like, and No, I sincerely hope not.

December 25th at 7:00am I fly into my destiny... or something like that.