Merry Christmas!

I’m back for the holidays and have already had a great time seeing people in Denver and am enjoying family time in Texas.

Initially, when I said “I am moving to Costa Rica,” some people took that statement very literally.  I guess I didn’t really have a great way of saying “hey, I’m going to Central America for an undefined period of time and am not really sure when I’ll be back to everyday permanent life in the U.S.”  Once I started backpacking around I found it impossible to stop and as Ryan says, “I just feel like I want to see everything!”  So, I guess that is what I am going to set out to do.

 

So, what is my plan you ask? … I have no clue!  I’d love to do this: Asia-> Europe->Australia/NZ->Africa-> S. America, etc. but I’m not exactly made of money.  I’ve had ideas from teaching English to working on cruise ships to doing freelance photography work, but at this point I haven’t decided what I’m doing.

Anyway, here are my final impressions and thoughts on Central America/Costa Rica:

• Latin America culture is fun, well spirited, and welcoming
• Surfing was fun, but I still prefer skiing
• I really am happy I speak Spanish and believe if you are going to travel somewhere extensively you should take the time to learn the language.
• All the evil things I came to hate about Costa Rica (drug dealers, prostitutes, bugs, etc.) really are the only negatives I have to say about it
• Ryan was probably the best travel partner I could have asked for.  Having someone so laid back and on the same page about traveling and life in general made my experience that much better.  I won’t ever plan a backpacking trip with someone who doesn’t share my style of travel.
• While America may not be the “greatest” country in the world, I still am so glad to call it my “home.”
• I will miss the food in Central America
• Sunny beaches > Snowy Mountains… Skiing>surfing… just my opinion

I look forward to sharing more of my travel experiences with those of you who kept up with my blog.  Until my next trip!

-BP

Some of my last pictures....

  Dressing up as "pirates" for Tony's bday... we tried!

Honduras - Going at it alone..

The entire time I've been in Costa Rica I have been thinking about going to Honduras.  A college friend of mine by the name of Cameron works there for Mission Lazarus (more about that later) and I have been dying for a way to give back and stop living such a selfish life here on the beach in Costa Rica.  So with all of that in mind, I made up my mind and took off from Granada to Managua.

My trip just getting to Honduras was quite the adventure.  After 2 long bus rides that included me sleeping on top of a giant cardboard box full of towels, falling asleep and ending up in some mountain town alone 2 hours out of the way (thankfully the other bus patrons loaned me 50 Cordobas, about $2.50, to buy another ticket), 2 hours back towards the border, two taxis to get to the border, crossing it alone in the dark, and finally dinner with, and a free ride from, one of the border agents... I finally arrived at a gas station in San Marcos De Colon and met up with Cameron.

In summary, Mission Lazarus is a refuge for children who have more or less been beaten up by the world.  At the Mission they are taken care of (mentally, spiritually, emotionally, and physically).  It sits on a 1000 plus acre ranch with horses, cows, and other livestock.  This also includes storage facilities, maintenance areas, offices, a hotel and restaurant, etc.  My goal in being there was to help out in whatever way I possibly could (keeping in mind that I had just thrashed my body via scooter fall about a week prior).  For two days I helped mix about 60 bags of cement and pour the floor on a church they were finishing up.  It was pretty fun being the token "white guy" on the crew and working my butt off, plus it REALLY helped my Spanish.  I did all sorts of other things in my 5 days there as well including helping haul 2 1/2 tons of beans and corn out of the mountain and helping sort out their food donation packages.  All in all it was great being around other Texans and volunteering.

On my way back to CR I was set to take the TicaBus all the way from Tegulcigalpa (the capital of Honduras) to Costa Rica.  The problem I found out was that the bus left at 5:00AM, there was no place to crash at the station, and no place cheaper to stay for the night (or really 5 hours) than about $50/night.  So I got the genius idea to buy a movie ticket and then stay up at a Dennys (I know, weird right!?) until my bus left.  After hanging out with two travelers I met for a bit in old town Tegus, I headed back to the more modern area to catch "Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1."  Now, my only reason for purchasing this ticket was because it was the latest and longest movie they had and I knew I could sleep there.  However, I was so curious to see what this whole Twilight crap was about I decided to watch some of it.  Let me just say outright that this was one of the top 5 worst movies I have ever seen in my life.  A short synopsis (as someone who does not and will never read one of those horrific novels): Girl gets married to a vampire, she gets pregnant with some demon child, the wolves get ticked off at the vampires and they fight, then she has the baby, almost dies, and everyone freaks out, then (SPOILER ALERT!!) she turns into a vampire and the movie ends... just terrible.  After that garbage I walked to Dennys, had french toast  and eggs for about $4, 5 cups of coffee (I am not a coffee drinker), and watched drunk Hondurans come in and out all night until it was time to head out.

Overall, I found Honduras to be a pretty nice country.  The south where Mission Lazarus was extremely friendly and made me feel like I was back home.  It was beautiful (think Western Colorado landscape) and cold (got below 50 degrees one night).  Hondurans are gentle people who love Christmas more than Americans do.  All this time I have heard how dangerous it was supposed to be by other travelers but I really saw none of that whatsoever, I definitely visit again!

View from the Mission Lazarus Property

 Mission Lazarus Refuge

Nicaragua part dos!

It didn’t take Ryan and I long to realize Tamarindo was smaller than we thought, not that I haven’t fallen in love with the trannies who stand outside of Pacifico or anything, so upon meeting several new friends (including a German, a Slovakian, a Laotian, and a go-go dancer from Vegas) looking to head north we organized a trip for 11 to Nicaragua.  After gathering at the bus stop around 9:00AM (trust me, that is early by our standards) we took off to Liberia and then to the CR/Nica border.  I have control issues... I accept it and I am constantly trying to change it.  With that said, I think I did pretty well keeping my cool while the 11 of us crossed the most god-awful border in the world. 

Some of you may remember my post and pictures from Rio San Juan back in August.  Quite possibly one of the prettiest and most interesting coastal towns in all of Central America, we found it just as enjoyable this time around.  I had a great time chilling at Yajure again with Chely and Liz, the best hostel you will ever find.  Aside from the random seasonal muggings we tried to avoid (nothing says “Happy Holidays!” more than a dull knife to the throat), the food was still amazing, prices just as cheap and company even better.  My favorite thing about San Juan this time around was hiking up to the Jesus statue and seeing the amazing views of the town and Pacific Coast, and spending the afternoon at Playa Maderas, one of the better surf breaks in Nicaragua.

Stop #2 on our Southern Nicaragua tour took us to Isla Ometepe.  Situated on an island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua (the only lake in the world with sharkks), our first hostel was situated perfectly on the beach between the two Volcanoes on the island, one active and one dormant.Don’t worry, as nice as that last description sounded the next 24 hours of my life pure hell. First of all, there was a giant new hatch of gnats that had just occurred right as we landed.  The sky literally looked brown as you looked up and saw millions of them.  So, the next day I took off with my buddy Tony (sending Ryan with a friend the other direction) to find better accommodations.  Tony and I ended up finding this ecological reserve called EL Zopilote, which was essentially a giant, incredible, picturesque hippie hostel but had no vacancy.  Fortunately for us, Ryan found another place and we moved on before taking off for the afternoon.  More than half of the group wanted to climb up to this waterfall and although they said it was tiresome and long I probably should have gone because I ended up crashing a scooter and successfully gave both myself and this Canadian girl 2^nd degree road rash (I’m not sure if road rash comes in degrees but I’d give it at least a 2^nd degree rating). 

I won’t bore you with the details of the crash just know that it ended up with us both going to and getting treated in the island’s only hospital (free, thanks to social healthcare!).  I’m still embarrassed about this a week later and upset for both hurting a friend and crashing something I literally have spent hours upon hours of my life driving.  Fortunately, the day was somewhat salvaged by what happened that night.  It was Thanksgiving after all and since I had made everyone buy food for their own “dish” and had attempted to negotiate a place to cook about 12 times we WERE HAVING THIS MEAL!!!  Crammed into a tiny kitchen (about 6’x12’) at a small Nicaraguan restaurant with no more than 3 tables we took turns cooking for ourselves and allowing them to cook for their customers until finally our feast was ready.  They don’t have turkey on Isla Ometepe but massive quantities of homemade mac and cheese (mom’s recipe of course), mash potatoes, and deviled eggs were consumed.  I did miss Skyping my family and watching the Cowboys win but I can definitely say this was a great, fun-filled, exciting Thanksgiving!

Stop #3 started with us taking the ferry back off the island where I, my buddy Will, and 4 girls (can’t be mad at that right Ryan?) all headed to Granada.  Granada is hands down one of my favorite places that I have ever been, you might disagree with me on that but I loved the mix of art, food, culture, activities, and architecture.   I’ll spare you all the stories for now and simply share my pictures with you instead (a combo of mine and my friend's pics as always):

 Nicaraguans love baseball and this game was so much fun!  Right behind home plate for $1.25 with drinks and food under $1.00... take that MLB

 

La Parada de los Caballos "Horse Parade"

Fancy wedding in the largest Cathedral in Granada.  There was a fireworks show after in the plaza.

 

 View from the bell tower at one of the Cathedrals... the next several are of the churches in Granada.

 

 

 

 

 A couple pictures of me... thanks Kelli!

Cutest kid in Central America that I have seen... hands down. 

I am currently in Honduras helping out a ranch/children's refuge and heading back to CR soon.  I'll post about my experience here when I return!

Mucho Amor,
BP