June 2008
1 post
Been down so long it looks like Up to me
Its been months since I even had the will to write in this blog, and I apologize to those of you who were actually keeping up with me, I dropped the ball in a big way.
When I fled Nicaragua it was tough turmoil for me. I found myself lying to my friends for some of the reasons why I needed to leave. I couldn’t tell them, in Spanish, that I was too lonely to stay in their country… that...
April 2008
31 posts
Travelling...
San Juan del Sur, goodbye, finally to Managua to Ocotal… hopefully by 6pm.
I have had an incredible amount of time to think lately, lying on my back in my hotel room sweating out the afternoon and staring at the wooden slats in the cieling. Most evenings I walk the curve of the bay from rocky cliff to rocky cliff, maybe three miles, just to pass the time. I came here to Nicaragua to escape a stagnation that was threatening to devour my persona. Crippled by seventeen...
The bad way
Why is it that I always seem to find the bad way to lose weight? In 2004 it was Dengue fever, trimmed me right down. Now, its bank-induced poverty. This is starting to get bad. According to the FedEx site my package has not moved in 36 hours. Should I have expected anything else? Get royally screwed over by my bank, only to have FedEx line up for their turn? I wrote them, pleading for someone to...
Why is this worth $93? →
Explain to me how an international priority letter languishes in a terminal for 24 hours without moving! This is barbaric.
The Worst of Times = KNBT
I truly loathe having to write the post I´m about to write. I hate to even think about what happened to me and how furious it makes me. I have been working to relax myself here, to unwind and re-learn satisfaction… and this damn near erased weeks of effort. I woke up at 4:30 am on Wednesday morning to finish packing up for my trip to Corn Island. I meticulously packed my bag to its most...
The Best of Times + Colibrí
Well, the Flyer´s delighted me, and made all of my foolish decisions worthwhile with a stunning road victory in overtime against the Caps. I was riotously inebbriated, drinking liberal pours of Woodford Reserve that I brought along to my new favorite bar in Nicaragua. (they let me drink my own liquour there, I think I paid 50 cents for each glass of ice! Amazing) Additionally I finally made it to...
Goon
Walking to dinner the other evening with two lovely ladies, I caught out of the corner of my eye something that ruined me. I knew what it was, I didn´t need a double take… it was commercial animation of Comcast Sportsnet. I almost cried, I lept in and confirmed… there on satellite TV was game 6 of the Flyers vs. Capitals series. There was nothing I could do! I had to stay! I had to...
On the grid, Off the grid
Hello again, Far too much to write in far too little of a timeframe, but I´ll do my best to be succinct. I really wish I would´ve been able to keep up with my earlier pace of blog writing. I certainly haven´t been wanting for stories to share. When John was here I never really had the free time to write, and when I finally did on Ometepe, the price of internet access was 8X what it is elsewhere...
The Death of Majagual
Sic Transit Gloria Mundii I watched as the water taxi crept onto the beach, backwards, at a place I didn´t recognize. The captain killed the engines and lifted the outboard out of the water. A long painted wall stretches from hill to hill, barely leaving thirty feet of shadeless, scorching beach at high tide. Two 20-foot platforms stand out like prison towers. I don´t reconize any of this. As the...
The Motorscooter Diary
I woke up this morning at 730 and headed out promptly on my rented scooter. Nothing quite like waking up whizzing around on third world roadways! Seriously, there is nothing on the planet like tearing ass down the “highway” and seeing a dual oxcart coming the wrong way up the road, in the passing lane. Seriously picture that, you wind a bend and look ahead… What’s that?...
Long lost Travis
Hello again folks, I realize there has been a dreadfull absence in my correspondence and for that I apologize greatly. I will try and fill you in as best as I possibly can about what’s been up the past 5 days or so. After returning from my brutal ascent of Momotombo I checked my email and recieved John’s flight information. He was to arrive in Managua at 6:30pm on the 4th of April....
Momotombo and the Chronicles of Terror
3:45 am, Wednesday, my alarm goes off and I stumble out of bed. I couldn`t get to sleep the night before because of nervous tension surrounding this hike. Weary, I grab my pack and head over to the Quetzaltrekker´s house. I meet everyone on the hike, eat a quick breakfast and pack up the food and cooking utensils we will be using on the overnight. My bag weighs in at perhaps 45 pounds… most...
Las Peñitas
So the other day I met up with a cool dude named Abbas, he hails from San Fransisco, CA and is here in Nicaragua on business to start up a new non-profit called Global Glimpse. We chatted a bit and then head out together to have lunch. I had some grilled pork and he had a pan-seared fish that was scooped out of a holding tank live with a net. Both of our meals were marvelous… we enjoyed a...
March 2008
30 posts
Houston... tranquility bay here
So yesterday I completed my second career volcanic ascent climbing Volcán Cerro Negro outside of Leon. Cerro Negro is one of the youngest Volcanoes in the world and also one of its most active, having risen to a height of 800 meters since it first split out of a field in 1850. Imagine going to check on your crops, ¨yep. There´s a giant rip in my field and fire is shooting into the sky. Damn¨ The...
Rain Comes Falling Down Today, Sun is Shining...
That line is a lyric from one of my favorite songs. The flipping nature of life is bizarre. I`m speaking metaphorically here, it is still very much in the heart of the dry season. I have yet to see an ominous cloud during the day. So yesterday I was paying US$20 for a dingy off-green room, with a pillows as soft as a rolled up pair of jeans, and two dead cockroaches of considerable size on the...
This transmission is coming to you
You got it. Leon, Nicaragua signing on! Just wanted to let you know that I accomplished a ho-hum day of travel and made it into Leon without incidence. I absolutely abhor the journey here, if ever anyone doubted the third worldiness of Nicaragua they need only take the bus from San Isidro to Leon, watching it serpentine its way down the practically bombed out road. I did feel calm, knowing that...
Ocotal, N.S. signing off
Well, the time has come for me to pick up and head onwards. I feel well acclimated now after 2 weeks down here. My language skills have returned to about where I left them in 2004. I relearned all the good cursewords I need to show someone that I´m not a complete Gringo. Eesh, mentioning that word makes the hair stand up on the back of my neck. RANT NUMBER 1: In the past, the word gringo was a...
¡Mi suerte es el suyo!
Some days on this planet just surpass even our wildest imaginations… and when they are long overdue for a sufferer they bring tears to their eyes and full wonder to their hearts. This morning I woke up slowly, tossing and turning in my bed. I didn`t feel too good about the coming day. There was a bunch of noise out in the streets and I rolled around restless. I managed to use my stereo...
Tales of White Bear and Brown Rabbit
So the night of St. Patty`s day I decided to have a late meal at one of my favorite places to eat in Ocotal. El Bar Deportivo. Thats right… The Sports Bar. The only one. I`m not sure what really makes it a sports bar other than the fact that the owner happens to be an avid fan and player of several sports. I had wanted to have a shot of Johnny Walker, just one, something to make me feel...