Friends are like Waterfalls: Cool and Beautiful

Sitemates!
So close yet so far from Boston


We made it to the waterfall!
Donut on a String

The first time Alyson came to Nicaragua, she came with Scott. They had a bit of a mishap crossing the Costa Rican border so we ended up vacationing in San Juan del Sur. This time she came back with Justine and they flew directly into Nicaragua. While they did have to run from one end of the airport to the other, almost missed their flight and had their bags arrive a day later than they did, I would say that we spent our time together very well. We started the trip in Leon city with a VIP room at Barbaro´s, buckets of beer, pizza, wings, dancing, doughnut eating contests and a piñata, as well as some emotional birthday cards from home. The next day, we made our way to the beach to enjoy a sun and sand filled birthday party. All of my favorite people came (a couple good ones were missing…) and we just celebrated. We celebrated with fried fish, cake, Lindsey playing Happy Birthday to me on her violin, night swimming…I honestly could not have asked for a better birthday. My family sent some awesome gifts and I missed a lot, but it was a great 26^th birthday.

One year older (but really feeling the same as before), we traveled up to Corinto to show off my current home to Juss and Al. We went to Espigon, Paso Caballo, my work, the central park…they saw it all! Then Tuesday morning at 5 am, we boarded the bus and began our adventure to Ometepe. 3 hours in a bus to Managua, 1 hour and 40 minutes to Rivas in bus, 20 minutes to San Jorge in taxi, 1 hour and a half in a boat that was constructed in 1905 (I kid you not.) to get to the island and finally 1 hour and a half in bumpy bumpy ride in a Jeep to arrive, por fin, after so many hours, at Finca Mystica. And here we are.

2/29/2012---Today is leap day! We spent it leaping over rocks, streams, waterfalls and a volcano. Woke up to the same serene scenery from yesterday and decided to test our strength and cardio skills with a hike up to a waterfall. The hike was 10 K roundtrip from our doorstep at the bottom of the volcano to the mists of the waterfall. We walked through a plantain field to arrive at the main road that lined the lake. On this side of the island the water is much less choppy than where we came in on our boat ride. We continued walking along the road, passing by cows, bikers and pretty garden fronted houses until we got to the entrance of the waterfall. After paying our 3 US dollar entrance fee, we started up the volcano. I guess we were expecting a semi-easy mosey of a walk…while I did not die, it was most definitely not “easy”. Very much enjoying it and with thoughts of showering under the sprays of the waterfall, we continued over fallen trees, under dangling vines and up and up and up and down (really just up) loose rock and dirt paths. We kept to our half hour per kilometer pace and arrived sweaty and tired to the falls after an hour and a half hike. But what a refreshing swim! Alyson, Justine and I jumped out of our clothing and jumping right in. I did not want to get out from underneath the falling water. The water pressure was much better than my one-stream-not-always-running-water shower. And the cold water was more refreshing after our 5K hike. We sat by the water, watching it stream and spray down towards us, while we lunched on PB + J sandwiches with lemon sandwich cookies. Lucky to have just missed the 30 child school field trip, we basically had the waterfall to ourselves, besides 2 attractive Spanish men and an older portly sir in a Speedo. After swimming and laying there for a couple of hours, we headed back down and celebrated at the bottom with a Toña. The beer must have given us some luck because on our walk back to our bungalow, Alyson spotted through the trees an almost complete rainbow that had formed in front of the volcano that we almost halfway (possibly…) climbed. We ate a delicious supper of coconut chicken curry, paired with a Jamaica juice with rum, and passed out early.

The trip was fantastic.