Nicarauga

Sorry for the long break in between blog posts! For some reason I just never sat down and wrote one even though I have had tons of fun and new adventures. I’ll write about the biggest: Nicaragua!!

Our school planned a trip for us to Nicaragua. Now, they have this mandatory international trip to work around some logistics. When you first enter the country, your passport gets stamped for 90 days. However, that’s not enough for our semester. Also, getting Visas is tough because Costa Rica only issues them when you are inside the country. Because it is expensive and a hassle, we just leave the country for at least 3 days and, when we return, we get another 90 days – plenty of time to finish off our semester abroad.

 This particular adventure began at 3:30am on Thursday. Yes, 3:30am! I got up and gathered all my things, including the chocolate chip cookies I made to share along the way. I tried to sneak out of the house without waking anyone up and nearly succeeded – the sliding door in the hallway woke up Flor. She saw me out of the house and wished me safe travels. The bus was at the institute when I arrived and half of my fellow students were there, so I didn’t have to wait alone. Because I was early, I got a big seat in the front all to myself! Everyone piled on and we were on our way. We talked for about 10 minutes and then everyone fell asleep.

I woke up for breakfast in Liberia, a town about 1 ½ hours away from the Costa Rican- Nicaraguan boarder. The town is in the Guanacaste providence, and it was HOT! San Joaquín de Flores is in the central valley where there is more protection and elevation to keep the temperature cooler. The heat of Guanacaste and Nicaragua was similar to Wenatchee in August with 90-100 degree weather. After breakfast, we got back on the bus and travelled to the boarder. I lost track of how many times we had to show our passports, but we finally made it to the Nicaraguan side. Because we had a private bus, the process took a bit longer than we were expecting. We had to wait for 2 hours to get our passports back from the immigration office! Once we finally got them back, we were on our way to our final stop, Granada, Nicaragua.
 

Driving through Nicaragua, we realized something. Our air conditioning in the bus couldn’t keep up with the heat, and the hot air from the windows only cools you down so much. We endured the hot car rides for the weekend, and I just told myself it was all part of the adventure.

Granada! Granada is a beautiful town and is very popular with tourists. It is a shining example of colonial architecture with its cobblestone streets and painted houses. Our hotel, La Gran Francia, was located in one of the oldest buildings in Granada. All the buildings are very colorful and the people are friendly. We had time to explore and then went to dinner in Masala, a town about 1 hour from Granada. Masala had a souvenir market, but everything was very touristy and the prices reflected that. We were all excited to come back to our hotel at night and enjoy the wonderful air conditioning! After a long day of traveling in hot weather I was ready for bed.

Friday morning rolled around. We had an early breakfast and left to tour Leon Viejo. Leon Viejo was one of the earliest settlements in Nicaragua. It was abandoned and covered by earth due to the eruption of Momotombo. Even now, 75% of the city is underground and they are still in the process of excavating the foundations.

After Leon Viejo, we journeyed to Leon, the big, bustling town. We had free time to explore. I walked with Megan and we visited a bakery for lunch followed by an air-conditioned coffee shop. In the afternoon our group met back up at the cathedral, and we got to climb onto the roof! The views were spectacular! It was definitely the highlight of Leon.

Coming back from Leon was not much fun for me. I was beginning to feel the first part of food poisoning. L Friday night I spent a lot of time in the bathroom, and luckily I had wonderful roommates who were very understanding. I have no idea what I got sick from, but the one good thing is that I was done being sick around 11pm on Friday so I managed to get some sleep and was ready to go with the group on Saturday.

Saturday morning after breakfast (I was hungry since there was nothing in my system!) we went on a boat ride around the isles in Lake Nicaragua. There are some FANCY houses! We even saw the summer lake house of the owner of Flor De Caña, the Nicaraguan rum. We really enjoyed the ride and the water and wind kept us all from getting overheated. The boat ride was followed by a car ride to very touristy town where the main attraction was the viewing of the Nicaraguan Crater Lake. It was very beautiful, but there were many people selling things and asking us to buy trinkets. We saw a couple of tourists pay through the nose for small trinkets. We didn’t buy anything because we knew we were going to real market in Masala after viewing the lake.

The local market in Masala is a swarming mass of life and people selling everything under the sun. The market was broken up into sections – each one for vegetables, meats, fish, souvenirs, pharmacy products, shoes, clothes, and anything else you can imagine. Megan and I walked all the way to the end of the market and it was in the midst of cabbages I heard one of the funniest piropos (catcalls) yet. We heard a man say,  “Wow! Beautiful! I’m going to move to Miami!”. Megan and I had a hard time not laughing. Here we were, two gringas from Washington State and Illinois in a Nicaraguan market and the guy thinks we are from Miami. It does make you think about how a big country like the US becomes very small and general, and for some people, anyone from the US is from Miami. In my experience down here, the USA is broken into Miami, New York, and Los Angeles. This viewpoint has been very interesting and it has shown me how people from Central America think of the US. Anyway, back to the market! The prices in Nicaragua are very cheap, so I bought some small trinkets, two hair clips, and a famous Nicaraguan hammock! I was hoping to buy a pair of sandals for $8, but alas, the curse of big feet struck again! The largest size offered was 39, and I am a 40. I guess it just wasn’t meant to be. Thank goodness for Target back in the states!

We came back to Granada around 5pm and had the rest of the evening to ourselves. Most of us walked down Gringo Street (yes, tourist central :) ) and got gelato. Ellie, Brenda, and I went to Mass at 6pm in the Cathedral. That was a really cool experience, and the church was beautiful. We did experience a bit of cultural differences though. Ellie went up for a blessing, and the sister who was giving out the Eucharist didn’t understand why Ellie had her arms crossed. The experience made us all chuckle.

 After mass a group of us went to dinner at a fancy, Asian-fusion-American restaurant. The prices were very reasonable! I had a chicken crepe, fruit tea, and a dessert crepe all for $11 USD. It was fun having food that I normally wouldn’t get in Central America. After talking for a long time, I called it a night and returned to my air-conditioned room for a wonderful nights sleep!

Sunday morning came. We all had breakfast, I exchanged my Cordobas (Nicaraguan money) for Colones (Costa Rican) and then we set off back for the border. When we got there, we were all ready for a long wait. This time we took our water, books, and money with us off the bus! Luckily, we only had to wait 45 minutes. On the Costa Rican side we had to take our bags through customs, and I had to answer some questions from one of the officials when I got my passport stamped. I was the first in line and had no idea what he was asking me! David, one of our professors and administrators, had to step in, and it was a good thing he did! The officer wanted a list of everyone and I didn’t have it (obviously!). It was one of those moments were I thought my Spanish was sufficient but I was reminded of how much more there is for me to learn, especially when I have to talk through the plastic screens to a customs official. :)

We all endured the 6-hour car ride back to San Joaquin. I say endured because the air conditioning still wasn’t working. Getting back to San Joaquin felt great! I came home, unpacked, and took a wonderful shower! The adventure in Nicaragua was very fun (except for food poisoning!) but nothing beats the area you are comfortable with and your “own” bed.

There are 51 days left in my Costa Rican adventure – I hope to update you all sooner rather than later. This weekend I plan on attending a FIFA women’s U-17 game, so hopefully I can share that experience with all of you.

Have a great day and enjoy the first official day of spring!!

It's March!

I can’t believe it is already March!! Let me fill you in on the past two weeks.

After the adventures of Tortuguero, I had a “normal” week. I say normal because its so different only having three days of class. Thursday was a work day, and then on Friday a group of us went to Ojo de Agua. It is a small water park with 3 or 4 different pools, a restaurant, and two platforms of different heights to jump off of. We all jumped off the top, and when the Tico guys saw us jump, they miraculously had the courage to jump off too! It was quite funny.

We all enjoyed the sun, and after coming back, I went to bed! On Saturday, we met around 8 o’clock and took the bus to San Jose. We walked around and explored a bit, then went to the Puntarenas bus terminal. It was very crowded, because everyone, ourselves included, decided to attend the Carnival over the weekend. Luckily, they had plenty of extra buses running. The bus to Puntarenas took about 1 hour and 45 minutes. The town was full of people when we got there, and we had fun exploring the market, listening the music, and just people watching. The market was special because it normally is not on the beach – two cruise ships were docked at Puntarenas, so the market was for them. Surprisingly, the prices were comparable to the markets in san jose. I bought a bracelet and a t-shirt. It was funny buying souvenirs with colones because most people were using US dollars, and therefore, the vendors had trouble making change for me. It just shows how big of a part tourism plays in Costa Rica.

We spent all day exploring, then went to dinner as a group. After dinner, we caught part of the parade before we had to leave. The parade was a good example of Tico Time. The parade was suppose to start at 5, and we did not see any signs of life until 6:45 pm. We enjoyed the few groups we saw, then caught the bus back to San Joaquin. On the way back, the bus stopped at the airport. Our tica moms had told us that it was easy to get off there, so we disembarked and asked around. We caught one of the many buses to Heredia, and it dropped us off right in San Joaquin! We saved about 4 dollars each and over an hour of travelling.

The next week passed by rather normally. I went out to ladies night for the first time, and all the drinks for the ladies were free. It was definitely an experience, and I got carded for the first time ever. We got home at 1am, and for a girl who loves sleep, it was interesting. When I woke up around 9am, my mom teased me saying “good afternoon” and asking me if I brought the bread for breakfast. they have a saying that if you are going to be out super late, you might as well stop at the bakery when it opens. 

Thursday and Friday were homework days. In history, we had to read and summarize the early history of central America by writing two papers, so it was important to get started on those. On Friday I experienced my first ever Costa Rican downpour! It was crazy to see the grey sheets of water, and the sound was incredible. The water was welcome here in the central valley. Right now, we are in the peak of the dry season, so any water is wonderful. I also loved how it helped control my allergies by batting down the dust.

Saturday, March 1^st rolled around!!!! Its crazy! Anyway, 4 of met at 11 o’clock to explore the town of Sarchí. Sarchí is known as the artisan capital of Costa Rica, and also known for their furniture stores. We took a bus to Alajuela, then Alajuela to Sarchí. We got off on the outskirts, then explored and shopped our way into the heart of the town. One of the main artistic products of Sarchí are their painted oxcarts. We saw a shop where we could watch people painting – the amount of work that goes into one ox cart is truly incredible.

In the center of the city we found the world’s largest ox-cart. See the picture:

We enjoyed exploring, and then caught the buses back. We arrived in San Joaquín at 7pm. I ate dinner, sat with my tico family, and monica read over my second history paper. All in all, a relatively calm evening.

On Sunday I woke up, went to church, ran, and went to the gym. I wrote this blog post, and got caught up for homework and ready for the week. Update you all soon!