I had been telling myself for about 3 weeks that I needed to update my blog and write a new post. I guess this could be used as an example in a manual on how to procrastinate. Anyway, the past 3 weeks have been quite eventful. The first weekend in July I went with some friends to San Juan del Sur, which is otherwise known as gringo paradise. It used to be a quite fishing village, but has since turned into a huge tourist hot spot beach town, with a strip of restaurants, bars, and hostels. (picture below is view from beach at sunset)
While the actual San Juan del Sur beach is nothing to write home about, the beaches in the surrounding area are pristine. They have great waves for surfing, or just for jumping around in, and they are very secluded. We were fortunate to have access to my friend's trooper of an SUV, as well as her superior off road driving skills, to survive a flat tire in Managua and make it to these beaches. While the town, filled with foreign tourists, backpackers, and surfers, made me a feel like I had left Nicaragua for the time being, staying out till 5 am on Saturday night, a true baccanal, brought me back.
As if spending the weekend traveling to the beach wasn't enough, the parents came down last week to spend some time with me, and to see Nicaragua. I guess it's a good excuse to travel when you have a kid in a foreign country. We were able to make it to Leon, Granada, Omitepe, and then again to San Juan del Sur. The trip was a blast, the highlights being my hike up Volcan Maderas in Ometepe (causing me to rip a hole in my shoes), and seeing a turtle lay eggs on playa flor. It was nice to be spoiled for a week (hot water and AC in the hotel rooms).
(Me after hiking 3 and 1/2 hours up to the crater of Maderas, it was another 3 hours down in a down pour).
It's unbelievable to think that I only have 3 weeks left here. There are exciting things coming up with work. I am supposed to be the featured guest on our radio show on July 26 talking about the work that we do with 1 in 4 back at Conn. Additionally, I am slated to be an extra on the TV show, as they need some foreign extras for a scene. I'm still waiting on the date for that, but it should be in the next few weeks!
Stay tuned for hopefully more posts soon. I'll try not to have a 3 week break in between this one as well, but no promises!
Until next time, from Nicaragua,
Alex
