October 2011

After our surprising jaunt up north to help Daniel Ortega and the Sandinista government in the upcoming elections (just kidding, CIA), we're now back on the beach in Costa Rica in the small surf community of Dominical.

While the tide is stronger and the beach is rockier, the waves are bigger and more bodacious.

On the far left side of the beach, we found some cool rock formations.

And also more sand.

So, of course, we had to climb them in search of a nearby waterfall.

Video here.

Not pictured: our slow, precarious retreat.

Over the last few days we have had fun listening to the sounds of Granada:

local marching band
jazz night

Our hostel (The Oasis) had beautiful wall murals that we wanted to show everyone:

We had an excellent breakfast buffet three mornings ago at the Chocolate Museo. We were satiated until dinner with the delicious crepes, omelets, and homemade organic coffee!


I think the cooks of the restaurant were amazed at how much we packed away.

Let's move on from our obvious gluttony!

We continued to roll, I mean walk, around the city during our last few days in the city, enjoying sunsets and the local architecture.

Then the big night came...Kevin's birthday!

I had a huge task ahead of me: find a cake, balloons, decorations, a venue for the party, and a wristwatch that would work for more than one week.

After searching the entire city of Granada (and I really did) I was successful in only one of these tasks... Apparently the people of Granada like raisins in their cakes which is a big "No Bueno" for Kevin. Luckily for me, I found a great chocolate cake and with the aid of several street children I was able to remove all of the raisins!

As you can see in the picture, Kevin found out about the raisins.
We had a great time celebrating his birthday with a lovely Australian couple as well as our kick-ass yoga instructor!
I will upload the videos in the next few days.

On the morning of the 27th, we bid Granada farewell and took the express bus from Granada straight to San Jose, Costa Rica. It was the first time we had felt AC in two weeks. What a glorious sensation.

We spent one night at the Molino Rojo (Red Windmill) in San Jose and then took an early bus to San Isidro in southwest Costa Rica. Once there we made the connecting bus to our final destination, Dominical. We will be here for the next week, soaking in the sun and the atmosphere of this quaint town which is known for its great surfing waves.

More to come on our wild and wacky ride!

We've settled for a bit in the picturesque colonial city of Granada, Nicaragua.

We arrived on Tuesday and suffered another full day of rain but the weather has progressively improved with ample sunshine today. One of the best aspects of this city is the bright and vivid colors of the exteriors of buildings in the old section.

The well-appointed Hostel Oasis is our host, and at $20/night it's a much better deal than a Costa Rican hostel with similar amenities: wifi, computer room, huge communal kitcehen, pool, movie and book library, do it yourself laundry (with a rooftop clothesline), and a hungry cat that visits the courtyard around 3 am and wakes everyone up.

We have settled into a nice routine of cooking delicious meals, ingredients bought at the sprawling outdoor market one block from our hostel, working out and doing yoga daily at the Pure Gym and strolling the main tourist street trying to avoid the children selling flowers and animals made of woven palm frond leaves.

Liz started a 20-hour intensive Spanish class this morning at the well-recommended APC school, located on the main square, in the heart of Granada. Kevin has started a campaign to rid the hostel of cats.

Tonight marks the end of the inaugural Granada International Jazz Festival, an event we have tried to take advantage. Here's proof that we still splurge every now and then on dates.

Liz is wearing a new dress, new shoes, new necklace, and new earrings. All for the low, low price of $28. Kevin is wearing a shirt for once.

We came for the pizza. But there was no pizza.

We came for the volcanoes. But they were shrouded in mist.

We came for the full moon party. But we were a week late.

Instead, we got a lovely private cabana, tons of different butterflies, and some very damp clothes.

Here's a short video tour of our lonely waterworld for the last four days. Note: this was taken during a few dry minutes.

(We're now off the island and drying our clothes out in Granada. More info to come, plus some more videos and photos from the island thanks to Liz.)

From the largest city, Moyogalpa, we have traveled (by rickety bus) across this small island to Playa Santo Domingo, which is located just north of Santa Cruz.

This is a very small town (population 46 we estimated) with an ideal view of the eastern side of Lake Nicaragua.

We rented some bikes to travel to El Ojo del Agua (Eye of the Water).

This is a famous mineral spring that has miraculous healing powers. It makes women look 9 years younger and bald men leave the waters looking like Bob Marley (or so the proprietor said). Kevin has had three haircuts since our visit and people have been asking him why his daughter isn't in school.

The next stop was Finca El Zolpilote, which is a small communal farm just north of Balgue that focuses on growing fruit, vegetables, distilled liquors (like lemon grass and chocolate-coffee), and has on site a fantastic oven in which they make pizza three days a week. We are eagerly awaiting Tuesday when we can feast!

Jan, since you requested it, here is a vid of the composting toilets and outdoor showers!

It has been raining so much that we have had to cancel our hike up the volcanoes. Our trip to the waterfall near San Ramon may also have to be postponed. But we are finding there is still fun to be had and broke the monotony last night by heading to another communal farm to watch "Some Like it Hot" dubbed in Spanish.

Here is a "monkey-raccoon" creature we saw at Finca Magdalena, a communal coffee farm where we had lunch one afternoon.

At each hostel/hotel we have visited I have had to ask if there is a refrigerator on site so I can store my injections. Inevitably, I have the question asked, (in Spanish), what are these for? Kevin reminded me yesterday that I'm not going to make any friends if I just point to my head and say, "Tengo una problema con mi cabeza" (I have a problem with my head). So I'm going to have to do some research to learn how to say, "I have a big problem with my head." I am hoping to have that sentence completed by the time we hit Panama in a few weeks!