Bienvenidos a Nicaragua

We crossed the border into Leon on the Tica bus and were greeted by men standing outside the border fence waving wads of cash offering to change your colones into cordobas, each one attempts to shout louder than the other every time someone approaches claiming to offer a better rate. Transactions are made through the fence as security looks on, without much interest. I tried to change my currency at an actual bank in Leon and the security guard told me it was not possible and instead directed me toward a random man at the street corner holding wads of cash. Driving through Nicaragua it is common to see vehicles, motorcylces, and horse drawn carts, all sharing the road. And why only have one person on a bicycle when you can fit a whole family on one? Much more efficient way to travel, or just hop in the back of someone's truck for a small fee and the they usually take you wherever you want to go. It's a strange contrast, people walking around with Smart phones and others with ox and cart or sometimes just a man powered cart loaded with firewood.

We are staying at a Hostel run by an organization called Sonati http://www.sonati.org/en/ which is 100% non-profit with all proceeds going to support environmental education in local schools. Environmental education is so important here because the government does not have an efficient garbage or recycling program and therefore people do not know what to do with their garbage aside from throw it on the street. Another problem that we were alerted to while on our hikes was the rate of deforestation. Farmers are clearing the forest to make room for growing crops but at the current rate it is going to destroy the natural habitat, and it causes other problems like landslides because the forest is no longer there to act as a buffer. In a place with so many inactive and active volcanoes, landslides are a big problem and cause a lot of destruction. Sonati aims to educate children in hopes that they will grow up to think differently than their parents and become future leaders in protecting the environment because when we protect the environment we are essentially protecting each other as well. 

We went on two treks with Sonati, one involved climbing up Cerro Negro, Leon's youngest volcano that errupted in 1999. It's so young that it is still black and smouldering at the top with no vegetation yet. That's why it is possible to toboggan down because it's like very rough sand on the one side. So we hiked up one side that felt like climbing up to Moredor and when we got to the top it was so windy and my friend almost got blown right off the volcano! But we saved her, no worries, and put on our jumpsuits, gloves, and goggles and sat down on wooden toboggans and slid down to the bottom, whoo!! I only wiped out twice, which appeared to be the norm, and at the bottom I discovered I was covered in volcanic ash from head to toe, but nothing a little cold shower couldn't fix. 

The next day we hiked up Telica, another active volcano, with two girls from Denmark and a local guide. First we stopped at some natural hot springs, but not the kind that you could swim in, just pits of boiling mud bubbling up from under the ground and steam everywhere which is collected and and transported in pipes to provide energy to the city. Next we hiked, and hiked, and hiked, until it rained and then we found shelter under a Mango tree but not before we were all completely soaked from head to toe. So the rest of the hike was down in soaking wet shoes, and clothes, the clothes were not so bad because they dried fairly quickly afterwards and prior to the rain I was really hot so that part was refreshing. But the shoes, well, on the way back down I discovered that both my heels were raw and bleeding, so I wrapped them up in gauze and continued on. The views were indescribably incredible, and once at the top of the volcano, we could peer into the depths of the crater and see lava flowing at the bottom and listened to the steady flow like that of a fast moving river. The amount of steam rising from the crater is incredible and if the wind picks up it is intensely warm and foul smelling, like sulfur. We watched the sunset as we ate supper, a picnic on top of an active volcano, I didn't even know that was on my bucket list, but I think it should be on everyones now. The way the sun lit up the entire valley before it disappeared for the night, left us all awestruck. There was no way I could take a picture that would capture the perfect beauty of that moment.  

I also cannot properly describe my experiences without mentiong food, so I will only tell you about my new favorite snack, plantains that are fried like crispy chips and served with hot sauce, que rica, so delicious. 

Entonces, me encanta Nicaragua y estoy disfrutando mi tiempo mucho en este pais. 

Pura Vida

Pura Vida is like the motto of Costa Rica which directly translated means pure life. When you ask the question, Como esta, you often get the response, pura vida. I'm not sure that it totally makes sense but I go with it. My Mama Tica or host mom told me that a was una chica pura vida because I was willing to try anything and eat anything and be open to new experiences. I think that was the best compliment I could have received from her, I like the idea of living pura vida.

In my Spanish class there were two guys from California, myself, and the instructor. The classes were really informal which was great because we just had conversations in Spanish and the instructor would correct us when necessary and use teachable moments to help us learn proper grammar, different verb tenses and new vocabulary. We had some great conversations about our personal lives, our views on politics, religion, education, and controversial issues, and stories of our adventures here in Costa Rica. After conversing in Spanish for 4 hours a day we found it hard to think in English afterwards which told us that we were in fact starting to think in Spanish, which is a pretty cool place to be when learning a new language.

So my mornings in Costa Rica consisted of 4 hour Spanish classes followed by an afternoon hike from my house to the hostel were my friend was staying, and I mean hike because Monteverde is a city built in the mountains so if you walk anywhere you are either going uphill or downhill, never straight and it is quite a workout. But the view is so incredible I can't even begin to describe it. Some afternoons were full of adventures like the Canopy Tour Zipline through the Cloud Forest or driving ATVs through mountain trails  or hiking in the backwoods by our Spanish Instructor's house to find this incredible tree with roots and branches that formed a story high bridge over the river or climbing up a Fikus tree that's hollow on the inside with enough twisted branches for one to find foot holes all the way to the top. And some afternoons were spent with my host family, teaching my 15 year old hermana Tica how to play Pink and Adele songs on the piano or playing futbol with my 8 year old hermano Tico in the kitchen with a ball made of yarn so that it did not destroy anything. One night I even went to Zumba with my Mama Tica and hermano Tico. On the way home I told them that Zumba was on Monday nights in my city too. My hermano Tico says, maybe the whole world has Zumba on Monday nights, and I think, maybe it does, because for all the differences that there are around the world, there are lot of things that are the same no matter where you go.

Sunshine, new friends, mountain views, adventures, and Spanish conversations, all in all, a great week in Costa Rica, pura vida.

Momentos (Moments)

Sitting around the t.v. in Monteverde Backpackers hostel watching futbol, Panama vs. Canada, I get hit with a pillow everytime I accidentally say soccer, "No, es futbol!" I start reading the players names on the backs of their shirts and Alonso and Luis laugh at my pronunciation, I'm glad my accent amuses them. They chat away en español and I follow most of the conversation, occasionally contributing, and it feels so comfortable to be here, en Costa Rica, watching futbol, speaking in Spanish.

That evening I went to meet my host family, at first I went to the wrong house because Costa Rica does not have street names or house numbers, for example, my host family's address is "In front of Hotel Manaquin, 2nd house on the left." The taxi driver says, "I think it's this one" so I knock on the door and introduce myself and the guy is friendly and thankfully knows what I am talking about because his wife is a teacher at the school and kindly points me next door, I guess I miscounted, he must have been the third house on the left.

My host mom, Norely, is so friendly. We chat all evening until her family gets home from their day trip to the beach. Sometimes I forget that I am speaking another language because the conversation flows so naturally and other times I stumble through a sentence trying to remember each word and the proper verb tense. But the moments when I forget I am speaking Spanish and I'm simply speaking...those are indescribably incredible, learning another language is like opening yourself up to another world.

The last moment worth blogging about is the moment during the Zip-line Canopy tour when I am standing on the platform about to do the Tarzan swing, essentially they attach you to a long rope, push you off the edge of the platform and you freefall and then swing out above the canopy in the Cloud Forest. In the brief moment, before they opened the gate and pushed me off, I was thinking, why am I paying this guy to push me off a cliff? Which was followed by intense screaming and an adrenaline rush, and then the realization of the beautiful jungle that I am swinging in, like Tarzan, only wearing more clothing and more safely secured to the rope.

Pura Vida.

Why Souvenirs?

I've decided to join the world of blogging as a way to keep in touch while I travel around the world this year. I figure it's an easy way to follow my adventures and remember the stories I will encounter along my journey. I called my blog "Souvenirs" partly because it's from a Switchfoot song that I love, and also because my most meaningful souvenirs are never the little trinkets that you can buy but the moments that you never expected, the experiences you can't really describe, the mental pictures that a camera could never do justice to, and the people that you can share all of that with. I want to share all of that with you even if you can not come with me in person, your encouragement has given me the courage to take flight on this exciting adventure. So stay tuned! First stop, Costa Rica!!