Lesson learned

The west of El Salvador is a little more "undeveloped". We are in the extremely small town of Tacuba, with only one place to stay. However, it is a great place. They have pretty much taken us in as family, and we love their dog Rex. We watched a movie and had a beer with their son, and enjoyed dinner with them. They also run tours up into the local National Parque Impossible. We thought the name was just some clever way of keeping people out. Due to the recent rain, we were unable to do a canyon tour that we wanted. Instead, we headed for the vistas hike. Our guide, Maximo, informed us that it is not a very hard hike. It started out not so bad, until we hit the forest. I guess you could call it a trail, if you push back the trees on both sides, you can make out a crack ahead. And if you brush the bushes away from your feet, you might be able to see where you are stepping. I guess we didn´t learn our lesson from the Maderas hike in Nicaragua. The guides do the hikes a couple of times a week, it IS easy for them. Grasping for vines and trees became the regular reaction as to not fall down the shear faces of the terrain. There was one thing however, that we were not supposed to grab. And of course, in a desperation flail, I did. The bamboo had tiny hair size splinters that lodge in your hand. If you rub them off, they get on your other hand! With hundreds of splinters in my hands, I stopped grabbing things... good idea right? Wrong. Then I kept slipping, one time almost kicking my sister in the head, while sliding a few feet on one foot, only to catch my balance on another bamboo shoot! The views however, where rather amazing, we could see all the way to the Pacific. The hike continued on, and I don´t think I have ever sweat more in my life. Our guide was great, he showed us the extremely dangerous mountain white crab, responsible for man deaths every year (I just made all that up). The hike down was just as treacherous, until we made it to the road, and walked through the lemon groves. It smelled great, and all I wanted to do was mop a floor. When we got to our ride back to town, I was more than happy to ride in the back of the truck enjoying the artificial breeze.

Country stroll

The next day I woke up feeling a little revived, maybe I am not getting older. I found out that is not the case on our way up to the Laguna near town. We are in Alegria, El Salvador. A small town nestled in the volcano rich country. The book once again lied to us, saying the laguna was a 2 km walk down from town. It was up, and they didn´t inform us that there is a road the whole way, but walking was good for me in my old age. The walk felt good, and the Laguna was beautiful. The mineral rich water was glowing green, and the cool air was refreshing. We walked around the laguna and headed back to town. I had a warm glass of milk and took my afternoon nap. Tomorrow, we are heading to the opposite side of the country, in one days drive!

Birthday wishes

So, I asked for a Spiderman birthday cake, and a new computer game, world of warcraft 16. Instead, I got a 9 hour drive, including two border crossings. In feeling old, I decided to buy a bottle of rum and my favorite hot sauce (enough for a year or two, hotsauce not rum). The possitive side is that we are now in El Salvador. We celebrated both accomplishments, new country and now I am now old enough to grunt when I get out of bed. We drank some rum, and I taught Laura how to play indian poker. Laura asked me "what happens in a tie, wait, tie goes to the loser, right?". I informed her that in poker, we are all losers. 27 and counting, Happy Birthday me!

Trail blazing

We found a great hostel that ended up being our demise. The hostel was appropriately named Lazybones. We had been on the move for some time and were looking forward to settling into a town for a short while. We had a great dinner, my new favorite (chicken in a jalapeno cream sauce with mashed potatoes), and slept till noon o´clock. With the Internet down it was impossible to contact a friend of a friend in town. We hit up the art museum instead. It started with dark catholic oil painting and I thought I was going to fall asleep standing up. Then miraculously it turned into a great art museum, with pottery and newer pieces from local artist. When we got back we were able to contact Igrid, a friend of Warner´s from when he was down here. We went out to dinner and got to practice our Spanish. They were really kind and unfortunately we would not be able to meet up again. When we returned to the hostel, we ran into Emmy, one of the people we met on the dreaded volcano climb on Isla de Omotepe. We decided it being Saturday that we would go out for a few drinks. We hit up one of the local clubs, and did some dancing. I met a local girl named Gabriella, and was talking to her for a while. When all of us went out for a bit of fresh air, the bouncer would not let us back in. I was done for the night, but convinced the bouncer to let a few of them back in. When Laura saw that I wasn´t inside, she thought I got kicked out, began throwing a tantrum and was out on the street with me. Gabriella asked if we wanted to go to another place for a beer. It sounded relaxing so we hopped in a cab. When the cab stopped at the gas station, we were a little confused. I thought we were making a pit stop, but later I found out that this is the late night hang out. I felt like a high school kid trying to buy cigarettes. We decided to get right back in the cab and head back. Fortunately when we arrived at the hostel we were able to catch a little bit of the gold medal basketball game, however, at 4 in the morning, we only lasted the first half. We woke up on the couch at around 7 and headed for the furnace of a dorm room. We were completely lazy all day, and being a Sunday not much was open. The following day, we headed out for the must do activity in Leon, volcano boarding! Our trip didn´t leave untill later, so we tried to visit the rum distillery, Flor de Caña. They require written permision from Managua so we weren´t able to enter, but got some pics of the wall. Later on our trip to the volcano we ended up being in a group of us, our guide Henry and his trainee Jesus. We arrived at Vulcan Cerro Negro with clouds looming over head. We were certain that the rain would come, however, even after entering the crater, and ascending to the top, it never came. With our sand boarding experience, we caught on quick. I also did something that I never do, I gave my camera to our guide. He scared me the whole way down, sliding on his feet with my camera dangling in his hand. However, he ended up being a pretty good photographer. The lava sand makes for fast boarding, but it also makes for violent falls. I ripped my pants on the one fall, but seeing as they are my brothers, I am not to worried! My knees burned a little, but it was a volcano. It ended up being a great trip, and we really had a blast!

Sweet tooth

After enjoying the air conditioning of the car a little too much, we went up into a little cooler climate. Our first stop in the tri-state area (don´t worry, we are not in New Jersey) was Matagalpa. A quaint little colonial town nestled in the Nicaraguan mountains. We got a little bit of a sweet tooth and headed for a local chocolate factory. Here the process is almost completely done by hand (they still grind the beans by hand), and we got to taste the rewards straight of the forming blocks. After a break tour, and some more sampling, we met the unique Dutch owner. He has a strange love for chocolate, coffee, and the energy drink. After discussing current sociological trends among the design and marketing of energy drinks, we took the time to take some chocolate with us. It was a great place hidden amongst the trees and we were happy to have found it. We decided to only visit Jinotega. It is a beautiful drive up and over the mountains to the small town. We spent time reading up on the disturbing history of Nicaragua while sitting in the square. It is hard to think how much the US government can alter the history of such a country. Laura stopped for a little fun on childrens slide complete with razor sharp rusting sides (don´t worry mom, she is a professional and has her tetnus shot). After brushing up, Laura drove us back over the mountains so I could take some pictures. After a night of relaxation, we headed for the third city in the area of Estelli. Hungry on the drive, we remembered that we had some leftover coconut bread. Laura shoved a piece in my mouth, and I thought... this tastes like blue cheese! After a graceful, yet childish motion, I spit the bread out the window and tried not to puke, and or drive off the road. It didn´t help that Laura was laughing to the point of tears, and did I mention we had nothing cold to drink! After chilling a beverage over the air condition, the dry heaving subsided. In town we went to a museum run by the mothers of the soldiers who passed away in the civil war. It was a great tribute and had some amazing murals. It is sad to see such an event effect a town, as the final battle was fought not far from here. The next day on our way out of town, we headed a couple miles off the highway to a waterfall swimming whole. The water was cold, but the boys playing a version of water volleyball where quite entertaining. The drive to Leon proved to be one of the worst roads yet, and I was in need of a beer by the time we arrived.