ok i have only been here a few hours but i think i really like it a lot. It´s beautiful and colorful and cleanish and they have the best casa de culture i´ve seen yet, with things like dance and singing classes (!!!!) and a movie theater (!!!!!) and, i don´t know. I just really really like the feel. I was worried it would be hideously touristy but really it is not so bad. Nothing like San Juan! I think i´m going to stay and at least do a week of spanish classes and maybe more. huzzah.
when i was just walking into town, right by the place i wanted to stay, some guy called out at me from the neighboring hostel "hey! where are you from?" and i said "where are YOU from?" and he said "guatemala" and i kept walking. I thought he was a proprietor for the hotel trying to make me come stay, and i was having none of it. Then, a few hours later i was walking around and this sweaty guy with a backpack is all "why did you ignore me earlier?" and it turns out it is the same guy, and he is actually travelling also. I talked to him for a bit, he was switching guesthouses for a cheaper one, and he invited me back to get high, and well, you know what a sucker i am for getting high. so i went with him to this other hostel which was hellza cheap, $2.50 a night for a private room. Not hideously nice but not bad, certainly nicer than some places ive stayed in for double that. And so we got high and talked a lot and i practiced spanish and he practiced english, though as he lived in the states for 10 years he didn´t need all too much practice, really. Anyway, he seems like a cool enough dude, though of course he has already offered to teach me salsa, spanish and share his room (which has two beds, i´d be paying slightly over a dollar a night). So obviously i am keeping my distance a bit, but he didn´t even try anything. Hurrah! I suspect he will eventually, but whatevs. Y´know? Either i´ll reject him and he won´t be too upset or maybe by then i´ll think he´s cool enough to be ok with the idea. Anyway, i am currently paying $7 a night to sleep in a dorm, and i´m considering moving to a private room here for 11. Which is expensive. But i do really like the room, and i also really like having a place i can lay around naked in and smoke weed in and study spanish in. y´know? so maybe i should move to the cheap place. But i guess i´m thinking maybe i´ll treat myself to a week in the fancy place, and then if i decide to stay longer i´ll move to the cheap place. We shall see.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Monday, October 20, 2008
Saturday, October 18, 2008
verdict: san juan del sur sucks. well, mostly.
So, i´ve finally left estelí (after almost 5 weeks there, which pretty much flew by). I stayed a few days in masaya, a town which we´d heard sucked but actually turned out to be kinda awesome (artisan´s market in a giant, block-long and wide crumbling gothic fortress, gallo pinto, cheese, tortilla, plantain chips, salad and chile all wrapped up in a plantain leaf for 22 fucking cordobas, which equals about a a dollar and ten cents), though it did pour the entire time. I´d been vaguely following the hurricane news and we seemed totally clear; but then i didn´t look at it for like three days and the next time i looked there was a giant fucking tropical storm directly over central america! Guatemala i guess got the brunt of it, but it warned of flooding in honduras, el salvador and nicaragua as well, and fuck, it was right. It´s the rainy season so obviously it´s been raining a lot, but this was pretty extreme. I guess Managua got hit really bad, there are pictures in the paper of cars in the water up to their headlights, and a dozen people or so have even died. fucked.
however! today was the first day of sun, just a brief shower in the afternoon. And it was fucking hot. I´m in San Juan Del Sur now, where i arrived yesterday, and initially i thought it was the craptown of craptowns. Some lovely tidbits i overheard in my first few minutes of being at my (horrible, surfer infested) hostel:
"what do you think, boys? either german or israeli for sure". -a group of shirtless, drunk boys, trying to decide what nationality beth (welsh) and i (american, obvs) were
"i think it might be better if i just puke"-a sick boy in my dorm, at around two (!!) in the afternoon
"i was gonna snort some viagra, but then after we made out we never even hooked up, and i didn´t want to just be sitting around the hostel with a giant boner all night"
so. first impressions were grim.
however, i sucked it up and went out last night, mostly because this dude adam kept vaguely saying he might smoke me out; however, i actually really don´t even like smoking after drinking, and i don´t really like smoking at night because it just keeps me awake. I´d much rather smoke and go to the beach, or smoke and organize my bag, or smoke and study spanish. But i think i´m a bit in the minority there, at least as far as lame western boys who are in this town go.
I lasted till a bit past midnight and then gave up and went to sleep.
Today was better, though: the sun came out and i went to the beach and swam in the pacific which down here is blissfully warm (if perhaps a bit, y´know, dirty). That alone made the trip worth it- having been in portland and vermont and new york and then estelí, it´s been over three months since i´ve seen the sea. I missed it.
the other good thing about san juan: the food. because there are so many fucking americans and brits and australians and etc etc etc here, they serve things BESIDES gallo pinto and eggs and tortillas! I ate a fucking bagel today, i kid you not. With cream cheese and tomato and avocado. It was freaking heavenly. And you can get vegetables, like good organic salads, and fresh juice. Nicaraguans pretty much subsist on protein and carbs and eat very little fruit and veg, which can get a bit old. Whenever i eat a piece of fruit i feel like my cells are suddenly coming back to life with the introduction of vitamins into my system.
the only downside: prices are almost as bad as california. A small salad is 2.50, a large 5; my bagel cost me something like 3.50. I´d gotten to the stage where $2 seemed a bit steep for breakfast, so it is a bit of a shock. But, the diversity is welcome, and i´ll be leaving soon, so.
I´m out of time now and this is getting a bit long so more later- but hopefully i´ll be volunteering on an organic farm before too long (!!) so wish me luck!
however! today was the first day of sun, just a brief shower in the afternoon. And it was fucking hot. I´m in San Juan Del Sur now, where i arrived yesterday, and initially i thought it was the craptown of craptowns. Some lovely tidbits i overheard in my first few minutes of being at my (horrible, surfer infested) hostel:
"what do you think, boys? either german or israeli for sure". -a group of shirtless, drunk boys, trying to decide what nationality beth (welsh) and i (american, obvs) were
"i think it might be better if i just puke"-a sick boy in my dorm, at around two (!!) in the afternoon
"i was gonna snort some viagra, but then after we made out we never even hooked up, and i didn´t want to just be sitting around the hostel with a giant boner all night"
so. first impressions were grim.
however, i sucked it up and went out last night, mostly because this dude adam kept vaguely saying he might smoke me out; however, i actually really don´t even like smoking after drinking, and i don´t really like smoking at night because it just keeps me awake. I´d much rather smoke and go to the beach, or smoke and organize my bag, or smoke and study spanish. But i think i´m a bit in the minority there, at least as far as lame western boys who are in this town go.
I lasted till a bit past midnight and then gave up and went to sleep.
Today was better, though: the sun came out and i went to the beach and swam in the pacific which down here is blissfully warm (if perhaps a bit, y´know, dirty). That alone made the trip worth it- having been in portland and vermont and new york and then estelí, it´s been over three months since i´ve seen the sea. I missed it.
the other good thing about san juan: the food. because there are so many fucking americans and brits and australians and etc etc etc here, they serve things BESIDES gallo pinto and eggs and tortillas! I ate a fucking bagel today, i kid you not. With cream cheese and tomato and avocado. It was freaking heavenly. And you can get vegetables, like good organic salads, and fresh juice. Nicaraguans pretty much subsist on protein and carbs and eat very little fruit and veg, which can get a bit old. Whenever i eat a piece of fruit i feel like my cells are suddenly coming back to life with the introduction of vitamins into my system.
the only downside: prices are almost as bad as california. A small salad is 2.50, a large 5; my bagel cost me something like 3.50. I´d gotten to the stage where $2 seemed a bit steep for breakfast, so it is a bit of a shock. But, the diversity is welcome, and i´ll be leaving soon, so.
I´m out of time now and this is getting a bit long so more later- but hopefully i´ll be volunteering on an organic farm before too long (!!) so wish me luck!
Saturday, October 11, 2008
la di da
well, i´ve already written a bit about dance class but i feel it needs to be reinforced. Dance class ruuuules. I´ve decided on my next venture, which is heading to san juan del sur in the south for surfing. Cheaper and amelia recommended. plus, last night i met some guys who i went out drinking with who live there and have businesses there, one of them drunkenly promised beth and i (awesome welsh girl who i think i´m going down there with) that he would get us access to a private beach if we gave him a call. he also promised to get me stoned. so hurrah!
in other news: i have a date on monday. yeppers, a real one. well, maybe. It´s hard to be sure, i guess. And the boy is certainly not really my type. He´s american but his parents are nicaraguan and his dad lives down here and he´s here taking care of his dad who is sick. Anyway, he has hair with gel in it and passes for nicaraguan, so it´s a start, right?
also i made out with a real american boy last night. and, well, today. we´re sleeping in the same dorm. it´s pretty silly, really. i´m not even attracted to him, though he does do good magic tricks and is funny and intelligent and a decent kisser. sigh. but it is nice to touch someone.
anyway, this is supposed to be about travel!
so i guess to sum up i´m having a nice time, leaving town wednesday, probably going to take more spanish classes, still excited about travelling home over land.
oh!
and last night i left my wallet in a fucking taxi coming home drunk from the discoteque, and i thought i was completely fucked because my bank cards were in it and i had absolutely no way of taking out money.
luckily, the most lovely cab driver in all of nicaragua realized, came back that night and gave the wallet to beth, who is sleeping with oto, the sexy hunky nicaraguan who works in the cafe, and she didn´t wake up to give it back to me until 9, about 20 minutes after i´d realized i´d left it in the cab. so, freaking out occured, but not much.
and that´s all for now.
in other news: i have a date on monday. yeppers, a real one. well, maybe. It´s hard to be sure, i guess. And the boy is certainly not really my type. He´s american but his parents are nicaraguan and his dad lives down here and he´s here taking care of his dad who is sick. Anyway, he has hair with gel in it and passes for nicaraguan, so it´s a start, right?
also i made out with a real american boy last night. and, well, today. we´re sleeping in the same dorm. it´s pretty silly, really. i´m not even attracted to him, though he does do good magic tricks and is funny and intelligent and a decent kisser. sigh. but it is nice to touch someone.
anyway, this is supposed to be about travel!
so i guess to sum up i´m having a nice time, leaving town wednesday, probably going to take more spanish classes, still excited about travelling home over land.
oh!
and last night i left my wallet in a fucking taxi coming home drunk from the discoteque, and i thought i was completely fucked because my bank cards were in it and i had absolutely no way of taking out money.
luckily, the most lovely cab driver in all of nicaragua realized, came back that night and gave the wallet to beth, who is sleeping with oto, the sexy hunky nicaraguan who works in the cafe, and she didn´t wake up to give it back to me until 9, about 20 minutes after i´d realized i´d left it in the cab. so, freaking out occured, but not much.
and that´s all for now.
Sunday, October 5, 2008
travel blog
look ma, i created a travel blog!
i think i´m too lazy to really write in it right now, also vaguely depressed because today, for the first time, not one single person emailed me or wrote something on my facebook or whatever. Obviously this should be fine, but goddamnit, yesterday i even wrote a few people, who clearly have no interest in writing me back. ok. I am insecure. In any case i´m doing lots of vaguely interesting things here and some boring ones, i don´t know where i´m going next and suddenly i realize i don´t hardly know anyone who has travelled in central america to ask. Except amelia. So. when i am less lazy i will do that.
now i am going to go back to my hostel and study spanish for a while, and then maybe do some drinking for it is simon´s last night here. which is too bad.
in a week or two i may go become scuba diving certified in honduras, wouldn´t that be kinda neat? i think so. It´s $250, but that´s far cheaper than anywhere else in the world, and the bay islands are the second biggest (or coolest or something) coral reef after the great barrier reef, so it seems a bit like a ¨may as well¨scenario.
alright!
more later.
i think i´m too lazy to really write in it right now, also vaguely depressed because today, for the first time, not one single person emailed me or wrote something on my facebook or whatever. Obviously this should be fine, but goddamnit, yesterday i even wrote a few people, who clearly have no interest in writing me back. ok. I am insecure. In any case i´m doing lots of vaguely interesting things here and some boring ones, i don´t know where i´m going next and suddenly i realize i don´t hardly know anyone who has travelled in central america to ask. Except amelia. So. when i am less lazy i will do that.
now i am going to go back to my hostel and study spanish for a while, and then maybe do some drinking for it is simon´s last night here. which is too bad.
in a week or two i may go become scuba diving certified in honduras, wouldn´t that be kinda neat? i think so. It´s $250, but that´s far cheaper than anywhere else in the world, and the bay islands are the second biggest (or coolest or something) coral reef after the great barrier reef, so it seems a bit like a ¨may as well¨scenario.
alright!
more later.
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