Mando & Eric, We Miss You

Hola Kids,

It´s 8:35, do you know where your Joysie is? That´s right, in the dang pool. We´ve been hangin´¨Granada-style¨ for the past several days and that means pool time. This city is hot, boyz and girlz. You need a pool and the Hostel Oasis provides. Thus, you are stuck with me for this week´s post.

Notice the title of said blog. We miss our buddies. Eric & Mando rock to travel with in domestic or foreign countries. (Even though bro is afraid of getting scammed by the locals at every turn...haha). They are some of the only people we know who can survive 15-plus-hour travel days via plane, taxi, boat, bus, etc., stifling heat, no-water-waterfall hikes, steep volcanoe hikes, more taxi rides, more heat and the general alertness that comes with international travel. All four of us do it with mostly a smile, and we had a blast.

I wanted to fake-scam Eric right as he left baggage claim, but the bastard was onto me. Joy and I were spotted immediately as those dudes exited the termial at Managua International. We were staying about 50km south of Managua on Isla Ometepe, a two-voclanoe Island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (i believe the largest lake in Central America), and the hotelier, Ryan Cassidy, from Finca Mystica our Isla Ometepe hotel, set us up with a taxi ride to the boat launch. A taxi is a great way to welcome your incoming family members to Nicaragua, as you skip hours long bus rides & scorching midday heat. Plus, Mandy was psyched to sit shotgun and impress Martin, our cab driver, with her fluent Spanish. Joy and I were excited to travel with a Spanish speaker again, and Eric was in a general state of shock feeling certain Martin was taking us to some remote alley in Managua where he and his epidermis would meet the business end of Martin´s shank. We were only too glad to disappoint me brother, as we arrived to the boat launch in San Jorge. A quick 45 minute boat ride later, and we were aboard another taxi to Finca Mystica at the base of Maderas on Isla Ometepe.

The proprietors of Finca Mystica, Ryan & Angie, lived a better part of their most recent lives in Steamboat Springs, CO, and have only recently opened their 4-cabin hotel January 2011. We felt fortunate to be some of their first guests, and the experience was amazing. Mandy was in Xanadu. Angie was a vegetarian, so all of her meals included more than one veggie option. AND they were huge on sustainability, environmental conservation and resource conservation...uhhhh...yea...Mandy likes that too. No flushing unless you take a duce, shower at night if at all (there´s a lake down the road, man) and each meal was cooked mostly from food stuffs grown on the property.

In our short 4 nights & 3.5 days at Finca we came to love the Island, Ryan & Angie, the local people and the volcanoes that loomed to the west & north each day. What follows is the account of that stay and our travels to San Juan Del Sur & Granada.

Day 1 - arrival, beers (Tona), star cicle with the brightest sky any of us had seen since traveling to Hawaii in 2005, baby fresh sheets and a good night sleep after a long-ass travel day.

Day 2 - breakfast, plenty of veggie options, french press coffee, waterfall hike (it had no water and proved to be the hottest day we spent on the island), jump in lake, all is good, dinner and local fiesta. Ryan and Angie invited us to a local Reggaetone dance at the junior high. This was a fundraiser AND the 5th grade graduation. The entire town of Meredia was to attend, and we had our party hats strapped to the chin. HOWEVER, the fiesta turned bunk as too many hombres and not enough damas showed up, so we spent the evening sharing mass Tona with the locals at some random cantina. 15 giant beers = $12. Eric and I both fought to pay that bad boy...haha.

Day 3 - breakfast, plenty of veggie options, french press coffee, KAYAK around the lake to the Rio Istlan and saw mucho birds. I almost had a great picture of the magestic heron until our other boat mates decided to offroad the kayak into the marsh scarring all but the mosquitoes from there to Managua. We enjoyed mass Tona on the beach at Carlitos, more food to die for at Finca Mystica and then to bed for the mornings Volcanoe hike. 7 am bizzles.

Day 4 - breakfast, plenty of veggie options, french press coffee and a 65-year-old guide with a 24-year-old wife striding up the road to lead us happy suckers on a 16km hike up a 4,000 foot volcanoe. We started from 100 feet, so let´s call it a 3,900-foot ascent. After our near heat exhaustion on the 3km waterfall hike, we all thought our hours were numbered. BUT, MAN, we couldn´t have hiked this volcanoe any better. Mando scampered up the slope, Eric waltzed up the ridge, Joy jogged through the jungle and I prowled the pinnacle. Shoot, the only one who didn´t make it was the guide´s much younger, 24-year-old wife. Apparently, asthma does not suit a moutain climber. Seriously, she was an asthmatic and she hoped to join her 65-year-old, chian smoking, immortal up this and the other volcanoe 4-5 times per week. I think not. By the way...we drank mass Tona upon strolling back to camp AND Eric & I had enough left in the tank to do some Ometepe-style laundry in the lake before dinner. We´re talking rocks, soap and lake water just as the local do.

Day 5 - breakfast, plenty of veggie options, french press coffee, pay the tab and bid bien viaje to Ryan and Angie. Couldn´t have had a better time for our first several days together, and we decided not only would we do Granada BUT we would mix in a bit of beach time in San Juan del sur. A short boat ride, complete with a Spanish-viewing of the American movie classic Sparticus, and we were cruising at 60km per hour in a taxi to San Juan Del Sur. We decided posted up and bedded down in the Gran Oceano. After suffering a brief panic attack, numerous shakes, cold sweats and siezures over the cost ($45 per night per couple), I relaxed and was able to enjoy the AC, pool and sweet hot shower. Shit, the water was too hot. I had to ask that it be turned down. WOW! We looked into a sunset cruise for the next day, bought some Tona and relaxed by the pool until heading out to dinner & ice cream. It was to bed fairly early, as we anticipated a long day of beach sitting, relaxing, sunset cruising and, of course, Tona drinking.

Day 6 - breakfast, not as many veggie options, no french press coffee, BUT FREE and included in the room cost. Our original sunset cruise was auctioned off to some private party for, no doubt, more than our $10 per person price, and we were forced to look for other boatmen. No shortage, and we found a couple ready to take us ´criusing´ at 2 pm. We´d be back by 7 pm, and they boasted snorkling, something our other cruise company did not offer. We felt good and went down to the beach to drink Tona. Our boat left at 2 pm on the button thus beginning our cruise. Turns out, our cruise, looked much more like 2 local fisherman taking 4 tourists out on the afternoon leg of their normal fishing day. We helped them bait hooks, we helped them reel in tuna & mackrel, we baited more hooks and fished for snappper, the sea was rough, we trolled slowly and we all wondered ´when do we snorkle.´ AND then we got to the snorkle spot. No joke, about 1000 meters off shore, rough seas, couldn´t see a damn thing and our fisherman dude jumped off the boat with a mask and some sort of hook. He said it was for lobster, but Mando, Eric & Joy agreed it was a shark deterant and opted out of the snorkle portion of the trip. I jumped in, followed our armed guide around the boat and, though not speaking much of the other´s language, decided that, without visability, snorkling not much fun. So, we jumped back in the boat, gutted about 20 fish and make tracks back our beach just in time for sunset. Not exactly as advertised, and I don´t think Mandy bargined for fishing & high seas, but an experience nonetheless. Plus, I got to keep a Tuna and had it cooked up for $4 at the restaurant of choice that night. Pretty funny walking around town with a plastic bag of Tuna.

Day 7 - breakfast, no options, leftovers from yesterday, half-cup of coffee, butter, no jam but the pool looked nice. We traveled mightly to Granada this day in a chariot of the gods...just kidding...it was a busted up taxi, BUT only $10 per person for like 40km. WOW! Joy and Mando bargined like crazy for that deal, and Eric & I said ´thank you.´ Arrived to the hostel Oasis in one hour, and were greeted with another pool, our own rooms and our own bathrooms. NICE. Decided we should purchase more Tona, immediately. We hung poolside, grabbed some hotdogs for lunch...yea, HD´s are big down here and plotted dinner as well as our activities for tomorrow. Those activities included pool sitting, walking ´round town, Tona drinking and a kick-butt tour to an active volcanoe, complete with hiking, caves, bats and the promise of LAVA. (side note - we found the Mombacho Cigar Factory this day and decided it might be one of the only places in Central America that my Dad might feel comfortable...they roll their own stogies, serve them poolside with scotch, Mombochitas (skantly dressed ladies) and Playboys for reading...oh yea)

Day 8 - no breakfast, free coffee, smattering of street food around the market, hot walk around town, poolside before Volcanoe tour. The Volcanoe tour was everything the sunset cruise was NOT. We hiked up the live Volcanoe Masaya and could barely get to the top because of the noxious gas spitting from the crater. We hiked the inactive portion to get a better view, watch the sunset and hike down to the caves where a mass exodus of Friut, Nectar and Insect Bats were departing for the night´s hunt. COOL. All this before seeing the eery glow of lava from the Volcanoe´s heart as the night blackened. EVEN COOLER. (side note - you can go to youtube and search Volcanoe Masaya Eruption and watch sick footage of this Volcanoe erupting with tourists videotaping in 2001). Check it out. We enjoyed our last dinner out, a little less Tona, as Mando & Eric had to get up at 4:15 am, and talked into the night about all the great times in Nicaragua AND the fact none of us got scammed for money, passports our lives. Take that US State Department Web site. Our chatting was soon interrupted by some high-school-sponsored spring break, so we turned in at about 11 pm.

Day 9 - Mando & Eric depart. Chris & Joy are sad, so Chris takes Joy to a baseball games where we have Tona, some kind of nacho and pig-foot potato salad, wrapped in a banana leaf. Yippee.

Until next time...Ciao!

CP