Below Average

Spoon has a new album out called Ga Ga Ga Ga Ga.  I’ve been listening to it nonstop now for about 2 weeks - it’s a departure from some of their earlier stuff, but still quite good.

We’ve uploaded our Nicaragua photos to Flickr.

Check them out!

We arrived back in Seattle on Sunday evening at around 1:00 A.M.

It’s hard to describe Nicaragua.  It was certainly one of the best vacations I’ve ever had.  The Nicaraguan people we encountered were warm, caring, and went out of their way to make us feel comfortable.  Granada was historic and vibrant; Ometepe was verdant and peaceful; San Juan del Sur was the perfect beach town.  I’d very much like to go back.

Here’s a shot from Ometepe that shows the view from our hotel there.  It’s one of the few active perfect cone volcanoes in the world, called Concepion.

We arrived in Ometepe yesterday.  We arrived at around 2:00 in the afternoon, after a relaxing lunch on the west side of the lake.  We hemmed and hawed about doing the hike up the Volcanoe Maderas, finally deciding to skip the Volcanoe hike.  Today we rented a divorce kayak (fits two people) and kayaked about three or four miles to this river inlet on the lake.   The water was only 12 inches deep in the inlet, and we go stuck a few times - the wildlife was amazing though - lots of birds and various domesticated cattle - it was an interesting blend of wildlife.

We are here for one more night - tomorrow we are heading to San Juan del Sur, which is on the Pacific coast, where we’ll do some swimming, see some turtles, go for a sail, and maybe do some fishing. More tomorrow.

Yesterday we hired a car for the day, along with a strapping 24 year old Architecture student named Jorge.  Jorge was great.  He opened doors for Heather, helped her up and down climbs and ladders, and in general, made me look like an impolite jack-ass.  Plus he was strapping.

Meh.

Actually he was super nice - didn’t speak a lot of English, so it made for an interesting day.  I’d blurt out a verb or a noun, and we’d proceed to dance around it for 30-45 seconds, after which either a consensus would have been made or not.  Very interesting.

First we went to Volcan Masaya, which is a steaming hulking crater that you can drive right up to - the air smells like sulfur and it’s easy to understand why missionaries in the 1500s thought the thing was the source of demons and bad spirits.  They were so convinced that they erected a massive cross that looks over the caldera - quite the imagery.

Afterwards we went to Coyotepe, which is a famous prison located outside of the city of Masaya.  US Marines fought here in 1912 on one of our many unjustified incursions into Nicaragua (the United States has sent Marines to this section of the world 26 times since 1870).  It’s amazing after what the United States did to this country (interfere with elections, attempt to get people killed, start and back coups, etc., etc) that the Nicaraguans don’t hate us more.  They keep saying “americans beautiful”, “bush not”.

Went to the Market at Masaya, where we picked up some souvenirs.  Nothing too incredible.  Afterwards, we went to this little town called Catalina where we got ripped off for the second time of the trip - we paid about $8 more than we should have for lunch (so its not that big of a rip-off, but my pride is still wounded).

Following lunch, we headed to a famous artisan town called San Juan de Oriente.  This town had the most amazing pottery - we picked up some hanging candle holders / pots for $10 a piece.  Quite amazing.

When we arrived back in Granada, we took a boat tour of the Granada Archipelago, called “Isletas de Granada” (or something like that).  There are about 350 small isletas, or islands, that sit protected on the west side of Lake Cocibolca.  These isletas are amazing - the houses are owned by coffee barons, famous Nicaraguans, and more Americans than one would suspect.

Last night we had dinner at Monna Lisa Pizzeria, a cute little pizzeria joint that had amazing pizza.  We shared a pie, had three beers, and two desert drinks for 270 Cordobas, or $15.

Today we are on to Ometepe Island, which is the largest freshwater Island in the world.  We’ll be there for three days, and Internet access may be sporadic - we’ll do our best to keep posting.

Adios!

It’s the morning of our third day in Granada (monday morning).  Yesterday Heather & I went to do a zip line tour on the eastern slopes of the Mombacho Volcanoe.  The outfitters we went with were called MomboTours, based out of here in Nicaragua.

The canopy tour itself was incredibly safe - there were two redudant steel cables, along with two connection points to the harness (and the harness itself was top notch).  There was never a point in the entire tour when we weren’t hooked up to some line or rope or connected somehow to avoid a fall.  Very professional.

Although the “rappel” at the end was less a “rappel” and more of a free fall.  You are dangling 60 feet off the ground off the branch of a Cebia tree and the guides basically drop you until you are 1-2 meters off the ground, at which point they brake.  Heather went first, and lets just say that she was quite unprepared for the experience.  Hehe.  Her scream of excitement soon turned to a scream of terror about half way down, to the collective sounds of laughter from the guides and a slight chuckle from myself.  She sounded a bit like a mix between scooby doo and an opera singer.

Plus I have a video to prove it.

The ride up to the Canopy Tour was bumpy, to say the least.  We were in 4WD Land Rovers, and we were being bounced around - 3 - 4 feet vertical drops and side to side movements were pretty normal.

After that we walked around the Mombacho crater - that was impressive - the volcano is dormant but there are fumeroles that vent gas and steam, ala Yellowstone.  There are three separate eco-systems that the walk takes you on.

Last night we watched the first half of the super bowl from our Hotel, drinking famous Nicaraguan Rum with Cokes (3 drinks for $5) and trying to decipher what the announcers were saying in Spanish.  Then, we headed to a restaurant that served traditional Nicaraguan BBQ for dinner, followed by drinks at a hotel that is several hundred years old off the main plaza here in Granada.

Today we are doing a tour of all the small little villages around Granada.  Another update tonight.

What’s hot, steamy, full of friendly people, and overflowing with cheap beer and food?

Granada.

We arrived today.  Flights went without a hitch - apparently I have overcome my fear of flying because Heather reports that I was “out like a light” for most of the flights.  Had a brief moment of panic as a guy in a blue uniform brusquely grabbed our luggage after clearing customs and made a bee-line for somewhere - didn’t say a word to us.  Fortunately, my “I’m much bigger and will suplex you” look combined with the fact that he just wanted to bring our luggage to the curb meant that there was no drama.

Granada is great.  Really friendly people, cheap, and hot.  We’ve setup a tour tomorrow to go up to a volcanoe and do a zip line tour (we’re going to repel down the face of a 60 feet jungle tree) and on Monday we’ve hired a driver to take us around to local villages so we can look at some of the markets and other sites.

More updates tomorrow.

One of my new year’s resolutions was to try and stay semi-commited to doing more photography.  I want to generate / print one photo a week.

Well I immediately broke that resolution, as is so often the case with resolutions made in a drunken haze.

I was digging through some photos tonight and recalling last summer - we made it to Sasquatch - what a crazy weekend that was - thunder and lightning, hail the size of marbles (and fifteen minutes in a porta potty), unanticipated responses to hand rolled cigarattes, and great music.  Here’s a shot of Heather that I liked.

We are leaving on our trip to Nicaragua this Friday!  It’s hard to believe that it has come so fast.

Here is a map that shows our rough itinerary.  Float your mouse over the push-pins to get details about each place.  Make sure you zoom in so that you can see the lay of the land.

Here is our rough itinerary:

• Feb. 2nd - Leave Seattle @ 10:00 P.M on a red-eye towards Atlanta
• Feb. 3rd - Arrive in Managua @ 12:45 P.M.  We hired a driver to take us from the airport to our hotel in Granada.  We’ll be staying at Casa de San Francisco.
• Feb. 4th - Granada.  Volcanoe?  Day Trip to Masaya?  Zip Line Tour?
• Feb. 5th - Granada.  Volcanoe?  Day Trip to Masaya?  Zip Line Tour?
• Feb. 6th - Isle de Ometepe.  Today is a travel day.  We’ll hire another driver to take us to Rivas, where we’ll catch a ferry to Isle de Ometepe.  We’ll be staying at Hotel de Omaja.
• Feb. 7th - Isle de Ometepe.  Horseback riding?  Petroglyph tour?  Hike a Volcanoe?  Kayak?  Lie on a hammock and do nothing?
• Feb. 8th - Isle de Ometepe.  Horseback riding?  Petroglyph tour?  Hike a Volcanoe?  Kayak?  Lie on a hammock and do nothing?
• Feb. 9th - San Juan del Sur.  We’ll make our way to San Juan del Sur on the Pacific Coast.  We’ll be staying at Pelican Eyes.
• Feb. 10th - San Juan del Sur.  Surfing / Sailing / Relaxing on the Beach.
• Feb. 11th - Fly back to Seattle @ 1:00 P.M.  Arrive back in Seattle at 11:00 P.M.

It’s been raining in Seattle for 23 days and counting.

That’s right. For the last 23 days, it has been gray, gloomy, and wet. Good thing it is snowing prodigiously in the mountains.

Anyways, I started to think about a recent trip that I did with Mark Aiken to Sand Point, a local park in Seattle which used to be the home of a naval station. I actually had the opportunity to visit the naval station right before it closed - I bought a walkman there.

It’s been closed for eleven years now, and we did a photography trip there on a beautiful day recently. Most of my shots sucked, but this one was salvageable.