Poco a Poco

I FOUND MY BEACH! El Salvador waves were too big, Tamarindo waves were too small, but these waves are juuuuust right. I´ve been surfing everyday twice a day and found such a good teacher, Samurio. He claims to be ranked 4th in Costa Rica. I got here 5 days ago and plan to stick around for another 6. It´s been really nice to sit still in one place after fast-paced travels. I´m still terrible at surfing, but am improving in tiny but measurable amounts each day...And no matter how beat up I get out there, I love every freaking minute. Poco a poco.

My first solo night here after Rachel and Stephanie left I found a little beachside rastaurant with a sushi bar. They were out of rice so I was only able to get the tuna sashimi, which I supplemented with papas fritas (random, I know). Maybe it was the freshness of the fish. Or the magnificent people watching (it was like being at a surf-magazine photo shoot). Or the delicious discovery of french-fries dipped in wasabi soy sauce (trust me, try it). Or the fried salmon skin strips that the sushi chef, a sunny blonde guy named Johnny who´s lived here for 6 years but is from the Czech Republic, brought over for me to try. But it was perfect. When I was leaving, Johnny said "see you in the water tomorrow" because he recognized me from surfing that day, and with those words turned me into a real surfer.

The next day I met the crew that I had people watched the night before and it´s a rad group. One of the guys owns-runs the Tico adventure lodge which I am now staying at and highly recommend. Last night we had Johnny come over and prepare us a private sushi feast.

Old men and the sea

Samurio doing what he does best

Sou-shi chef

documented happiness

Border Crossed. Costa Rica

Final days in Nicaragua were an unsuccesful few spent on Isla de Ometepe. Unfortunately I didn´t get to enjoy to its fullest due to a few complications in path including rain storms, power outages and disgusting overpriced carrot-spaghetti dinners.

A snippet of the departure breakfast at beachside "vegetarian restaurant":

us (reading off menu): What is the plate of the day?

lady behind counter (with vacant eyes): Curry, but it´s not available til 12:00

us (trying something else off menu): ok, what is the breakfast plate?

lady: Curry, but it´s not available til 12:00

us: Ok, we´ll just have fruit and granola

lady: I´m out of granola and fruit except mango

us: er, mango smoothies all around...

But it sounds like the crew I left behind struck it good after my departure and that it is not a God-forsaken place. As bummed as I am not to have seen that island´s good side, I happily had to run off to Costa Rica to meet up with Stephanie and Rachel (friends from forever, familiar faces new places). Next time I suppose. Girl-time in Tamarindo was a blast. I´ve Made some surfing progress! The waves in Tamarindo were more apropriate for beginners than the huge ones that pummelled me in El Salvador. It made me realize I was learning without a bunny slope. Now we are in Playa Samara. We had an awesome morning of playing on the beach. Stephanie led us in a morning workout sesh(never hurts to travel with a personal trainer) that turned into a hilarious photo shoot.

An Ometepean Quinceanera

leaving Ometepe

Greeting Costa Rica

I heart Nicaragua

Nicaragua has just about the right blend of feist, beauty, culture, history, and grit for my liking...

Started off in Leon for a few days. Leon was the setting for some of the most dramatic scenes of Nicaragua´s revolution, including the assassination of the president, Samoza (a dictator, but US supported) in 1956 by Rigoberto Lopez Perez a young poet. I´ve only begun to scratch the surface of learning Nicaragua´s history and the US role in it, but it´s pretty whack. The current climate is interesting becuase basically the former guerilla forces are now in power (President Ortega is connected to the Sandinistas, or the FSLN who led the revolution in the 60s, and who have always been condemned by the US government). So for example in Leon, the hero statue is to Rigoberto Lopez Perez, not to the assassinated former president. Leon in particular is a bastion of Sandinista pride, with politically themed murals splashed all over the place, and residents ready to tell you their opinion at the slightest invitation. Maria Propina (her first name really was Maria, but Propina means tip, because that´s what she wanted) caught me looking at the memorial to Rigoberto Lopez Perez and proceded to tell me all about the revolution and explained the city´s murals. After that I went to the Heroes and Martyr´s Museum which is essentially a collection of photos of all the fallen revolutionary participants, run by their mothers. After that I was sitting in a cafe when three Nicaraguan law students befriended me and invited me out for a birthday drink because one of the guys was celebrating. So I tagged along for a fascinating session of rapid fire spanish political talk and beer. I hung out with them (struggling to keep up the whole time) most of the afternoon and then three gals I´ve been travelling with met up with us for dinner. The guys showed us to the best spot for street food, and it was pretty fantastic. By the end of it all, my brain hurt from the pace of the Spanish and from all the politics. But it was a great insight.

After Leon, I headed to Granada, which is where I am now. It was "founded" (conquistadored) by Hernández de Córdoba who named it in honor of the Spanish Granada. I was in the other Granada in April, and it is interesting to see the architectural influence of the namesake. The beautiful old colonial buildings have the most fantastic courtyards (a nod to the moorish). Everything is brightly colored but covered with a layer of grime, and there´s always a slight carnival-vibe in the air with break-dancing street performers, pinata stores off the central plaza, and horse-drawn carriages for hire.

Beer and Sandanistas

One of the many murals of Leon. Notice Uncle Sam

Street scene Granada

Street heat Granada

My first Pupusa and Bag of Coke...

It´s not as bad as it sounds...

A pupusa is a lovely little Salvadorean treat, essentially a super thick corn tortilla with a filling in the middle. It´s like an integrated quesadilla. Sold to you hot off a street griddle, 2 for 25 cents. A lot of places sell coke in glass bottles here, and if you want that coke to-go, they pour it into a little plastic bag and give you a straw!

After my time at the beach I hit up San Salvador for a day, and for the first time on this trip I felt a tad scared. I felt really out of place, and didn´t see another tourist the whole day. Out of the places I´ve been it´s probably the least on the travel track so I guess it´s just not as padded for a foreigner. That combined with getting stuck in the middle of nowhere in a torrential downpour, and having to catch a bus at 3am made for a less than favorable impression. But rather than dwelling on the discomforts...I experienced the interior of a most amazing church, Iglesia San Rosario, while I was there. The building is one big arch with the sides filled in. The arch is composed of vertical multi-colored stain glass panels, and horizontal curved concrete panels. The sun streams through the windows (no panel´s modern pattern repeats) and drenches all the pews and people below in color. It feels like being inside a rainbow. All of the seams of the building were left open so air and street noise seeps in. Absolutely breathtaking.

bag o´coke

pupusas and more

interior of iglesia el rosario...

Enough really is enough

I recognize that the title of this blog reveals my biggest desire for this trip... I arrived to a remote little beach El Salvador 5 days ago with precisely that goal in mind. But it turns out that Surfing lesson #1 is patience. As in, you can´t rush the ocean. There was a big swell and the waves were too big, especially for beginners. So instead of surfing I sat with my toes in the water. Read a book in a hammock. Did yoga like it was gonna save my life. Thought. Struggled through some frustrating bored moments (one of which I think might have actually just been a chocolate craving). Watched a sunset from first blush to total grey. And could I really ask for anything more? The time alone allowed my thoughts to take on a rounder, more complete shape than my typical scattered fragments.
But still, by the third day I felt pretty isolated. Partly because everyone else at the hotel-surf lodge spoke french, not my language barrier of choice for this trip (mind you it was 4 hot surfer guys speaking french, which similarly resembles my image of heaven). I felt restless and so decided to move 2 beaches down where there is more of a tourist scene. I´ve been rewarded with lots of interesting interactions. I sat down for about 30 minutes with Vladimir, the El Salvadorian baker who sells his locally famous banana breads, brownies, and baguettes one street off the beach (his job rivals the lady selling pies on the beach in Yelapa, Mexico as my most covetted). We chatted in Spanish about all sorts of things. And the banana bread was awesome. Then at dinner I met two guys from Texas. And no one from Texas is a stranger.

And finally after 4 days of waiting, the ocean finally allowed me to surf. Well, 'surf' is maybe an overstatement...I stood up for about 3 seconds under the tutelage of Manuel, my 19 year old cutey patooty instructor. I guess that´s better than bad.

Playa Zonte

Playa Tunco

A whirlwind of Semuc Champay and Tikal

Last week went at light speed. After leaving Antigua I went to Lanquin to see the natural caves and pools of Semuc Champay. The hostel I stayed at was perfect, nestled down by the river amongst mountains. I slept outside in a hammock and woke up each day with the sun. Huge, delicous dinners were served communally in a setting of great people watching. I signed up for a tour of the caves and Semuc Champay, which was a trek in true Indiana Jones fashion. We started into the caves wearing just bathing suits, each of us holding a candle. Apparantly they extend a full 11 kilometers, of which we only explored about 500 meters. At points we had to swim stretches while holding our candles above water, duck under waterfalls and climb over lumpy stalagmite formations. It's another world in there. At points the surface of the rocks look slimy and fleshy, at others reptilian, and sometimes crystaline. Whatever the case they look like they are growing, which I suppose they are in their eternally slow way. Finally out of the caves we took a quick float down the river before heading to Semuc Champay itself which is a series of natural pools created at a point in the river where the water rushes under the limestone bed and the water that percolates up through the bed creates a series of clear and cool pools. It was well deserved relaxation after a day of caving and hiking.

The following morning we headed to Flores, a small town in the middle of a lake which is close to the Tikal ruins. Found an awesome restaurant where I had an avocado, banana, yogurt and honey smoothie. The next morning, it was an early rise to get to the ruins before the heat set in. Tikal, I love you. Wow. I can't even put into words the majesty and mystery. The jungle had swallowed the whole massive thing up until it was discovered in 1840something. They have only unearthed about 30 %. Nobody knows for sure why Tikal was abandoned, possibly drought, famine, overpopulation. But once humans left it, the jungle reclaimed it completely. While walking through, our guide was pointing out all the covered up pyramids and they just look like big hills except that the tree roots sit on top of the earth instead of borrowing deep. It is unbelievable that these structures were built without the use of the wheel, and without any metal tools. The traditional building method of the Mayans was to build on top of existing structures. The interior spaces never changed and are tiny as most of life was lived outdoors. But after significant events, a new layer would be added to an existing pyramid by building up all surfaces by about 3-4 feet. I couldn't help but see the parallel with the final layer that the jungle added.

pools of Semuc Champay

Temple IV

Jungle vertigo

Lava rocks

I loved Antigua. I spent a couple days just checking out the city. The buildings are awash in saturated colors and the streets are cobbled. Every few blocks is a beautiful cathedral or some ruins of a cathedral or convent (much here was damaged in a series of earthquakes). It´s quite cosmopolitan and teeming with tourists. Get this...Tuesday night I went to a restaurant with another traveller staying at my hostel. About 20 minutes into the meal a friend of mine from college that I haven´t seen in about 6 years walked through the door. It was one of those world shrinking moments. Turns out she´s been living in Antigua for 2 years, I had no idea. We had dinner together the next night and got all caught up.

I took a trek up active Volcano Pacaya. It´s not everyday that you get to roast marshmallows over lava...add that to the top ten food experiences of my life! Hiking up there was like walking through a martian landscape. Everything was lush-as-usual then suddenly completely barren and desolate. All the rocks are holy like sponges with a slight multi-colored, metallic. They sound hollow when you walk on them. At a certain elevation the heat starts radiating from the, you have to be careful because in some spots it´s hot enough to melt shoes. We went up as far as possible and saw the lava between the rocks. Unfortunately she wasn´t flowing, but even a glimpse of lava was good enough for me.