Nicaragua...a solid country so far...

Alrighty...so I got back to internet access before I expected. I´m in Nicaragua, and there´s really nothing to be scared of I think--the people are all really nice (today on the bus I met a woman who invited me and some friends to dinner!), I'm still alive and haven't yet gotten robbed! I hope all is well with all of you! So since my last post...

I got a bus at 430am from Monteverde that took me to the Panamerican Highway, where I got onto a nice, overly-airconditioned-but-that´s-better-than-roasting bus that took me through the Nicaragua-CR border (overwhelming with ´coyotes´ who want to change your money for you) to Rivas, where I took a taxi 10 minutes to the a Lake Nicaragua ferry, where I paid 1.50 to go an hour to the island of Omotepe, where I made myself PBJ sandwiches in the square (town of Moyagolpa) and waited for a bus to take me to the bottom half of the island where I found the classic hostel Finca Magdalena (also a quasi-organic farm), which is the base for the 6 hour roundtrip hike up the smaller, nonactive (for the last 3000 years), less dangerous volcano (I know lame right) that has cloud forest at the top and a lagoon in the crater. The next morning (Tuesday), I paid 5 bucks to hike up with a guide, along with two Brits who are on a 2 month surf trip and otherwise work for Oxfam and a middle-aged Californian and his entering-college son. It started raining almost immediately, but was only mist by the time we got to the top. The hike was a very slow/steep 5 km through a trail that by the 2nd km had turned into a small stream. After the hike (where Jack the Brit told me he thought both U.S. political parties were pretty much the same--both controlled by corporations and that the U.S. is headed to the gutter within the next presidential term)... I went down and swam in the lake, walked through the rural island towns, and the next day got a ride with my hikemates to the bus station on the mainland, where I took a bus to Granada, where I wandered around the city looking at churches and cool Spanish architecture (which I know next to nothign about) and really bright colored buildings. Then I had a burger at a sports bar to catch a couple innings of Wakefield and the Sox. Then the next day I took a bunch of boiling hot buses through Northwest Nicaragua and made it to Rancho Esperanza, where I´ll be for the next month (but the phone service got changed and they destroyed the old one before implementing the new one so there´s no phone and no internet...but they have a pickup truck for emergencies...I may not be able to contact you for a week or two). Anyway, Nate and his longtime friend Stephanie weren´t there (because he had to go to the capital to check on a machete wound on his thumb), so I was welcomed by Moises, a Nica in his 20s who is caretaking for a few days, and two cousins (23 Angelina, 25 Michelle) from the Bay Area in California who have been there for 2 weeks and will be there for another month. They showed me around, told me stuff and then we had dinner, where I met don Juan (night security guard--more of a guard against pigs who dig holes in the yard) and Jackie, one of the two cooks. The Rancho is perhaps the most relaxing place I´ve ever been. The town of Jiquillio looks like Kiribati. All the roofs are thatched, very few houses have full walls, everyone has chickens and pigs and dogs, kids are adorable and often walk around in just underwear. The village is almost strictly reliant on fishing, so there´s a bunch of simple (but not wooden and with no outriggers) motorboats. The beach is pretty deserted and stretches for miles (up until the mangrove system--biggest in Central America @ 8800 hectares) which is at the border to Honduras and stretches into nearby El Salvador). So the only sounds are the bus a few times a day honking, the ocassional dog bark (not as much as Steve Downs´), and the chickens and roosters clucking/roostering. The Rancho is less than 2 minutes walk to the beach (you can clearly hear the waves, which are varying size, when I got there a bit smaller than Reid State Park). There is a big lawn, dotted with square, thatched-roofed bamboo-walled sand-floored cabanas (12 ft by 12 ft-ish). I got one of them to myself (with a mosquito-netted double bed, a bunkbed, a fan, a nightstand, and a chair)for the volunteer rate of 7 bucks a night. 3 meals a day prepared for you is 7.50 a day and water is 1.50 a day--so about 15 bucks a day for everything you need. Then there´s a very maneaba-like main hut thingy,with a couple tables, 6 hammocks, a decent-sized library (with a lot of really good books I want to read), a nice surround sound system with a bunch of good CDs, and an upstairs loft with beds as a dormitory for backpackers). There are composting toilets, refreshing showers, and a badminton/volleyball net (I think...it wasnt set up). There´s also a drum and a guitar to use (score!). The only bad thing so far is that my cabana got raided by biting ants for the chip wrapper in my shorts this morning... The kids come each day for 2 hours in the afternoon to color and play kickball or similar activities. I´m going to be playing with them and also helping Nate and Stephanie start a garden (as Nate´s hand is hurt). So yeah, I learned all this, relaxed and read for the afternoon, and then decided, seeing as Nate and STephanie were gone and I didn´t know when they were getting back,to go along with Michele and Angelina on their weekend excursion to Leon, the somewhat less-touristy (than Granada) but c. 1520ish old Spanish colonial town that asked for William Walker´s help to fight a civil war for capitalship against Granada. We got here today (I am now free to wander around without my huge fucking backpack). We went to a museum of¨Myths and Legends¨ with some really creepy displays, then to a huge cathedral that reminded me of Toledo, Spain. Then we looked at a portrait exhibit of people who lost their lives in the REvolution, then we found a hostel, and who should be sitting on one of the couches but Nate and Stepyhanie from Jiquilillo!!! So, we talked to them for a while (Nate is very mellow and they´re both very very cool--childhood friends from Cumberland, ME). Tonight, were going to a fire-dancing thing at the central square and then out to a bar or two. Tomorrow we´re going to the Museum about the Sandinista Revolution, a rooftop tour of the cathedral, and Central America´s best modern art museum, then maybe out for a movie. Sunday, we head back to Jiquilillo to relax, read, play with what are apprently very very cute kids, do some gardening, swim on the beach, and hang out. Apparently another longterm volunteer guy comes tomorrow. Alright--that´s all...again I hope all is well--looking forward to getting back in touch with some of you.