The Life of a Chosen Few (Leon, Nicaragua)

So, it has been officially over two weeks now. I am still adjusting to many things. First off, living out of a backpack with only 4 tanktops, 4 t-shirts, a few shorts, and 7 pairs of underwear is tough. I washed a bunch of my laundry yesterday, as I was down to my last pair of underwear, when I returned to the hostel at 5pm they were all still very wet because of a huge downpour that occured, they are still drying as we speak. I am wearing the same underwear I wore yesterday. Manually washing your clothes is not an easy job, it was a bit of a spectacle for one of the cleaning ladies at the hostel. She was so kind to me and taught me the most efficient way to do things, however I wasnt able to understand half of what she was saying in Spanish. I stare, smile, nod, and then carry on. She then corrects me again, until I get it right. I tell her in my broken language and shabby grammar that she has a hard job! This is similar to everything else I do here, a fish out of water, as I would normally say in my cultural diversity workshops. I dont understand the language, the culture, the bus systems, the traffic, the way of living.

The humid heat sometimes is unbearable, it slows me down, makes me tired, makes me lazy, and it makes me sweaty and eventually dehydrated.

Living in dorm rooms with shared washrooms is also a challenge, not knowing who you will be sleeping with, not knowing how disgusting and damp the showers and toilets will be, having people disturb you in the middle of the night (although, I am normally the only that snores), not knowing if you will wake up with bed bug bites all over your body, and the list goes on.

As well, living life on a tight budget can be difficult as well. Manuela and I have only been eating full meals in restaurants once a day and then just having street food or simple breakfasts in the meantime. Thank god for Manuela, she speaks almost fluent spanish, plans everything, and bargains like a stubborn bull. She has saved a load of cash thus far!

So.... the other day on the beach there was a sign at this one hotel that said something like "You are living the life of a chosen few". Hmmm... it makes me think and ponder about things. It is so easy for me to sit here and complain about this lifestyle, that I have chosen to do on my own will by the way. And then I look around and see where I am and who I am surrounded by. Back in Granada I met this one guy (Kenny) who was only on a 2 week vacation, he was from the states and working at a bank. He told me that Nicaragua was so eye-opening for him and he now know why people travel so much. He said he used to roll his eyes when he would meet the cliche "travelling has changed my life" kind of person. It is so true though, travelling is a privilege for me as so many others never get the chance. I was chatting with this Nicaraguan guy last night from the Atlantic coast of Nica, he is black and a minority over here on the mainland, going to school to become a pharmacist. He told me all these beautiful things about his culture and how he hopes one day to explore the world as well. Two days ago, a young child with a disfigured face came to me begging for coins, and I suddenly had flashbacks of my travels through other impoverished countries, like India and Cambodia, that have made me want to become a social worker in the first place. I am blessed to have had a mother who struggled as an immigrant in Canada to raise her three children and still support her family back in the Philippines. I will never forget this.

So, despite all my moaning about wet damp clothes, irritable skin, and dodgy dorms, I am so glad to be doing what I love to do. Living on a "tight budget" put into perspective is ironic. Kenny pays $75 per month to go to university here. And dorms, by the way, are the best ways to meet other people from around the globe. I have been hanging out with this guy Greg, or G for short, who grew up in the ghettos of Philly, telling me his stories in life, telling me his perspectives on politics, and his aha moments here in Nicaragua. Just yesterday he said, "Can you imagine if people in the states had to hand wash their clothes? Shit, they´d go ballistic!"

Despite it all, I was able to get a nice haircut.

Back to the Mainland (Leon, Nicaragua)

Sights in Little Corn

After a full week on Little and Big Corn Island, a flight back to the mainland, and a bus ride to the colonial college town of Leon, I feel as though I am back to reality, whatever that may be for me. The last day I spent in Little Corn kinda felt a little isolating. Manuela and I joked about being on Castaway and we even found a little lost coconut standed on the shore that we nicknamed Wilson. We didn´t end up going to Big Corn as we had planned originally, but went a day later and was still able to partake in the Emancipation of Slavery festivities. Therefore, the day prior Little Corn was stranded, and all I had were my ruminating thoughts of this and that. It is amazing how a gorgeous island can turn into a desolate land ready to haunt your mind with craziness.

 
I am looking forward to Leon, it seems like a tranquilo kind of place with a variety of things to do. Seems very eco friendly here with a lot of nature hikes and organic restaurants. I might try my hand at Volcano Surfing... essentially, I would hike up a volcano and then take a sled or a surfboard down the mountain side. Don´t worry Mom, it is safe!

By the way, my foot is healing nicely! I would say it is at about 60% recovered. Phew.

Tough Life (Little Corn Island, Nicargua)

Here I am, day 3 on this small, isolated island of 700 inhabitants. It doesn't feel like Nicaragua, more like a tropical Caribbean island, with a mixture of races, languages and accents. 

The water is so clear you can see the bottom for a good 500 meters out, and so warm you feel like you're in a jacuzzi that was turned off only an hour prior. The sand is so fine, it's as if you can use it as brown sugar. 

The first day the waves gently whispered my name, slowly and seductively. My foot wound stopped me from the temptations of entering. They say, salt water is good, however luke warm sea water is full of bacteria. So each day I have been very careful, only going in for 5 minutes at a time, and sometimes raising my foot above the water so my wound is untouched. 

The rest of my days are spent with my travel buddy from Austria, Manuela. We hang, we take pics, ww share secrets, we eat, we drink, we sleep, we sun bathe, we swap travel stories, we are pretty much besties. It always amazes me the solidarity between backpackers. She even trimmed my armpit hair the other day!! 

Two more nights, then we are off to BIG corn island, to party it up and celebrate the end of slavery! 

The Little Green Man (Granada, Nicaragua)

Another interesting day here in Granada. I spent the day at Lago De Apoyo, a gorgeous secluded lake surrounded by luscious greenery and small private resorts and local properties. The hostel that I stayed at for just the day provided kayaks, cabana chairs,hammocks, and a cute little floating wooden paradise in about 20 meters out from the shore. So I sun bathed for the first time since I've arrived, swam, kayaked (flipped over twice!) and just relaxed on the lake side with my book and iPod. It was nice to go on my own so I could chat it up with some others if I wanted or just get the solitude I needed as well.

This evening, Lina and Manuela cooked a few of us homemade spaghetti with homemade sangria. Yummy. We then played cards and drank some rum. I introduced Bonjour Madame, which evetually turned into Hola Chica, and the "Little Green Man" was introduced as a stipulation to drinking when losing a round. It then rained, and then it poured. As I type, it still pours!! So this is what rainy season is like. Silly me, thought I'd throw out the idea of frolicking in the hostel's open roofed courtyard, right beside our card playing area. Two goofs decided to just throw me in unwillingly, and here I am now with an scraped foot. Ouch. All is well in the land of fun.

The Beginning (Granada, Nicaragua)

Grenada

Well, it´s now been three days since I left Calgary and it already feels like an eternity since I´ve been gone. It amazes me how time goes so much slower when you´re not doing your daily routine of work and living.

So, here I am in Nicaragua... pollution, the smell of burning garbage, over populated streets, blazing hot sun, humid air, sweaty clothes with beads of perspiration dripping down my face... I love it!! Ahhhh, it´s so nice to be traveling once again in developing and tropical countries. I´ve missed it.

It hasn´t taken me very long to adjust to the backpacker lifestyle. Gone are my days of naivety when I was all bright eyed and cluesless of how to survive. My very first night I was a little nervous about getting to my first hostel, but a simple taxi ride, shared with some guy from the states made it easy. I´m no longer afraid to ask just anyone if I can join them, or share a cab with them, or ask for directions.

My first day in the big capital city was quite boring actually, it consisted of me walking around aimlessly by myself for a few hours and then the first sight of two white guys sitting down at a restaurant, I asked if I could join them. We ended up doing more walking around aimlessly in what they said was the more boring place they had seen in their, so far, 8 months of traveling through Latin America. Great. The highlight of the day was to watch a bunch of teen-aged school kids watch a soccer game in a food court, man can they cheer and holler over the excitement! That night as I returned to my hostel, I basically got kicked out because I supposedly had only booked one night and there was no room for me. Oh well, I once again hopped into a taxi at 6:15pm and went to the bus station and headed for Granada. This is where I am now. A very quaint, touristic, colonial town. It reminds me a lot of Antigua, Guatemala where Jeremy and I had visited a couple years earlier. The second I passed through the town in the bus, flashbacks of Jeremy and I traveling together touched my nostalgic heart and mind. But only for a second.

Anyhow, here in Granada, I´ve connected with some great travelers from a huge array of countries from around the world, all with the same goal to explore and have fun. This is waht I love about backpacking, you learn not only about the local culture, but also about so many other foreign lands.

My new friends (name?, Manuela, Lina)

I´m gone for 7 months, and others have already been gone for 8 or months and still have 4 or more to go! Gee, I´ve been trumped and have a feeling I´m going to want to stay longer if possible. It´s amazing how flexible I am, someone has suggested I no longer go north and then backtrack south. It makes sense, I´m going to skip a couple countries I had originally thought of visiting.

As well, I´ve noticed that times have changed since my last big trip. There´s wifi everywhere, and everyone has their own laptop or iphone with them. Sure makes communicating a lot easier! I´m feeling a little old, but lo and behold, I´m not alone. There´s definitley some others in their 30s or older. Nice.

For so long, many of my friends, family and co-workers asked, ¨Dean, are you excited to go?¨ and I never was really able to say yes. But now that I´m here and in full swing, I´m so excited to be here and am trying to enjoy every minute. This time around, I´m going to try and relax a lot more, no rushing, no over planning, no stressing about this nomadic lifestyle. I´ve been wearing the same outfit for a couple days now, meh...

One last comment, I am so grateful to have spent my last weeks in Calgary surrounded by my friends and family that truly love me. Knowing that I wouldn´t see everyone for an extended time, allowed me to fully appreciate everyone and live each day to the fullest in Calgary. If you´re reading this, THANK YOU.

August 14th, 2011 

Reflection

Just on my bus ride home now from Vancouver, it's a 15hour trip. I'm grateful though for the time to sit and reflect on so many things, such as life and relationships, the crazy weekend Leo and I have had, and future adventures. It's a peaceful ride with gorgeous views. Thank you.

Sent from my iPhone

So great to see Kristy! 

Pride