Top o' the mornin' to you?

Good morning from Dublin, Ireland!

It's a little culture shocking/jet laggy...but I think I am starting to adjust - four days in. 

To answer your question: I am here because my dad is the coordinator of a high school educational trip to Europe every few years. I convinced a friend to come with me (it wasn't too hard) and we are staying a week after the group leaves to backpack Northern Ireland as well. I am also trying to extend my trip a few weeks to stop by and visit some friends in England. But we'll see about that one...

So far, our trip has consisted of a seven hour flight, a layover in Frankfurt, (I slept! woo!) and spending time in Dublin. 

Basically, Dublin is a big city that is everything I think of when I think of European and Irish - well dressed, stylish Europeans, old historic buildings...

...statues, parks, cars on the other side of the road, street musicians...as well as buildings with Irish names and tons of lovely Irishmen speaking in a heavy (wonderful) Irish accent.

It's really green. Not the people - they all wear dark black and grey to match the sky, but the decorations, shops, random leprechauns, and the grass. Especially the grass. No snow here, even though its colder than Wisconsin.

We spent most of two days getting to know Dublin. 

We visited a cathedral (after awhile they're all the same...but pretty cool anyway.)

Mall...

Cafes...

Parks...

Typical Irish Buildings...

Monuments...

And random, awesome looking streets.

And the best part, a night of Irish music and traditional dancers. It was so fun to listen to their reels and jigs and watch them dance.

People are amazingly talented. 

(Video on my Facebook!)

Today to Galway! Cheers. :)

The rest of the story...

So, what happens after two months of crazy adventures in a foreign land; after meeting countless people, playing with kids...

 

...climbing volcanoes, trying new things...(did I mention we rode on top of a school bus? It's pretty intense trying to avoid tree branches!)

...learning strange cultures, volcano boarding, and having to deal with living (a few days) with no money and having to get a new passport?

Well, I come home, listen to a ton of Central American music, try to make food like "they" do, dance in the kitchen, talk to my new friends on facebook while looking at pictures, and plan my next trip. (No joke, but that's a different story.) Currently, I am also trying to write with an extremely painful wrist (thank you man with knife) and trying not to think about how much money I lost (thank you man with knife) or how many beautiful photos I now do not get to edit (thank you ma-- err...nevermind...)

Anyway, I've had countless people ask about the last few days of my trip, so instead of repeating myself 500 times, I thought I'd type a quick (hahahha) story-like explanation for you beautiful people who support me in my crazy life. :)

Monday morning. A morning that is already looked down on, but 3/3/14 was promising to be an especially "exciting" Monday.

Sophie and I left our $5 bedbug/eager Nico boy/hammock/couch hostel around 6:00 in the morning and after a quick breakfast thanks to a kind fellow traveler, we hopped in a cab with a guy we had gotten a number for - we had heard awful things about sketchy Managua cab drivers, so were playing it safe to try to avoid any more unwanted excitement. (Like this...)

At 6:45 we arrived at the super fancy American embassy. Apparently our taxi driver is known for driving around peace corp members, so at first we were treated like royalty - and then Sophia decided to be honest and say we were just travelers, not volunteers, and we were sent to sit and wait among countless other "normal" people.

Sophia, thankfully, used her fluent Spanish to convince the security guards to let us in after about an hour of waiting - at first we were told the lady we had to see was with someone, and then we were told she was gone that day, and then finally the security guard realized that we were an emergency case and let us in. 

The process was surprisingly simple. After getting through airport-like security, we filled out some forms, paid a bunch of money, ran outside next to the highway to get an awful passport photo, and then returned, waited an hour, and left the embassy with a new, temporary passport. I was amazed at how simply it went considering how things could have gone. 

After the passport we had to drive across town to migration which was in a really sketchy part of Managua. This was the hardest part of the whole process because no one could understand the form we had to fill out - me, Sophia, or the nice Nicaraguan guy who tried to help us. Sophia was amazing and convinced the people to work with us, and we got our entrance stamp. Of course, they stamped it with the wrong date which added a little more stress, but, we got it fixed, got out of there and to the bus station, and even had time for lunch.

Sophia and I enjoyed our last hour together and celebrated the fact that we had successfully made it through a traveler's worst nightmare. I waited as long as I could to get on the bus to avoid saying goodbye, but, goodbye always happens. So, after a crazy difficult goodbye to my dear friend Sophia, I was headed back to Costa Rica. An hour or two into the trip we reached the border and had the simplest crossing of my life - the bus staff took our passports and got them stamped to exit Nicaragua, we got them back and stamped to enter Costa Rica, our luggage was scanned, and we were back on the road.

As soon as we were officially in Costa Rica, I felt a huge, unbelievable wave of relief. It's amazing how comfortable the country has become, even the unfamiliar areas. The bus made its way through the country as the sun set - My last sunset in Central America for this time, unfortunately on a bus, but breathtakingly beautiful nonetheless.

I tried to sleep, but I was so excited to see my friends and relieved to be out of Nicaragua that it was difficult...The ride took forever, but finally, finally, we started driving through the familiar city, San Jose. The bus station was just a few blocks from my friend's house, but when I showed the taxi drivers my friends' address, they wanted to charge me 3,000c - $6. Um. No. (It shouldn't cost more than a dollar, but they think every blonde tourist is stupid....)

I asked a few different drivers, but no one seemed to know where the address led to- even though every taxi driver in the past had no problem, and I could have walked in just a few minutes. (But walking at night with a big bag and blonde hair is the dumbest thing a tourist can do...)

One of the taxi drivers I asked took the piece of paper with the address and after a quick glance motioned me to come with him. He took me a few feet away to a large taxi with two guys inside and handed the paper to the driver. He asked where it was, and the driver gave the paper an instant glance before saying, "get in." At that point I was getting a little sketched out and informed them I'd find another ride...There is no reason that all three guys were needed, and that's another common robbery technique. Not like I had anything more to take, but I was sick of dishonest, creepy people. Instead, I borrowed a phone and my friends were there within minutes to get me. Should have just called them in the first place...

We spent the night and morning catching up a bit in between their studying (to be lawyers!) and in the morning Gerardo took me to the airport and we tried really hard not to be sad as we said goodbye...It never, ever works.

And suddenly, I was on a plane, flying back to the states. The day before I had told someone that I shut down my mind in travel mode and just went with the flow because at that point, your trip is over and you just want to be home. Luckily, thanks to my temporary passport and a short story about how I got all my stuff stolen, I was quickly waved through immigration and customs with no problems. I even got three seats to myself on the plane to Minneapolis, making for a quick flight because I slept the whole time.

And definitely not important but important anyway - when I stepped out of the airport, I was not expecting 16 degrees to feel that cold. I guess 60 degree difference in a few hours really is a shock to the system. Ha. 

Being home is amazing, but my hunger for adventure is far from satisfied. Soon, there will be more adventures and more stories for you to read, but right now, I need to do some processing from the last two months...and especially the last two weeks. 

Yep, that is THE waterfall. The place where life decided to make my trip a little more exciting. :)

Partly because of what happened at that waterfall, and partly because you are all so awesome, I have sososo many people to thank, but for the sake of space; for those of you I can't tell in person:

---THANK YOU!! To Sophia for being my lifesaver, my translator, my shoulder to cry on, and everything I needed when everything I needed was gone. Don't know how I would have survived without you. Love you, woman!!!

----THANK YOU to my amazing Costa Rica brothers Jenner Alfaro and Gerardo Sanchez Jimenez (and Felix!!) for being my family and home away from home. For the fun times, taking us everywhere, valentines flowers, dropping everything to come rescue me from creepy taxi drivers, and sharing your food. You guys are the beessttt!!!! :D

----THANK YOU to my Sonati friends - for letting me stay there, for making us meals, for the countless hugs and for assuring us that all would be fine after I lost my money and passport. I miss you crazy kids already! (Fu, George, Michael, Anthony, Ali, Sjoerd, Elske!!)

----THANK YOU to the Heisers and Foote family in Panama for being a channel of grace and love and allowing God to use you to impact my life, for welcoming us as part of your family, and for introducing me to a real live scorpion. :) 

----THANK YOU to every single one of you who has been there for me 100% offering love, support, and money. You are all my backbone and what keeps me going. (Honestly, you probably fuel the fire. Muaha.) You will never know how much I appreciate every single one of you guys.

---And most importantly, THANK YOU GOD. For loving this pitiful soul of mine through it all, providing these opportunities, and protecting me when I decide to run after bad dudes with knifes. :)

Now back to planning my next trip...... 

Alive and Stuffless

This post is going to take forever to write, and is most likely going to be my last post for this trip. This is partly because I no longer have my lovely ipod to carry with me to type whenever I have time, and because I am typing on a Spanish keyboard that is just a little bit difficult to get used to. This post is also going to probably be the most exciting (and awful) post you will ever read from my blog...I hope anyway. Somehow though, I doubt it will be true...my traveling adventures may never end, though hopefully I will never have to relive this one.

I was hoping that after my few days of excitement things would calm down and everything would go smoothly for the last few days of my trip, but here I sit wide awake at 1:30 am after paying $5 for a couch just to get eaten by bedbugs. After a few itchy hours, I switched to a hammock where I tried not to fall out for a bit, and then the nice young Nicaraguan guy working here offered me a room telling me it was really no problem. I was pretty excited, thinking I could get a few good hours of sleep before having a long, stressful day getting a passport and trying to return to Costa Rica so I agreed, just to find out it was his private room. Ay yi yii...I guess the safest option now is to pull an all nighter, writing this blog post that I would rather push from my mind. 

So, I think that I can now say that I am (becoming an) experienced traveler.  I don't think that being an experienced traveler comes easy, and for me, thankfully, it hasn't happened too fast. But, thinking about everything that I've experienced; and now after having everything of value stolen, getting threatened with a knife, running like a mad woman (barefoot) through the woods after some guys, giving a police report, having to deal with having absolutely no money and no passport....I think I am getting there.

My mind is still in shock days later. I can't really wrap my mind around what happened, or mentally, where I am at now. I keep going between being completely happy and fine - I had mentally been prepared to lose everything which helped a lot, and after being in Central America for so long I was lucky nothing had happened this far - and then emotions switch and I am completely angry, sad, and offended.

After volcano boarding on Monday, I spent a lot of time debating whether or not I wanted to stay in Leon. I loved it there and had met a ton of friends for the first time since I came to Nicaragua. But, after talking to several people and realizing that I only had one week left of my trip, I decided that there was too much to do and see to stay in one place too long. So, Tuesday morning I packed up and jumped on a bus to Esteli. A few minutes later, my dear friend Sophia climbed on! She had been considering going to Esteli at a different time, so I was surprised to see her - but soo happy!

We spent the two hour trip talking and laughing and discussing our trips and taking pictures. We kept saying how glad we were that we happened to be going at the same time to the same place, and after the next few days, we were even more thankful to be together.

We checked into Hostel Sonati with our group of backpackers.



I felt so cool walking down the street with five others with giant backpacks. I fell in love with the Sonati hostel and the people and staff who worked there. It is small and comfortable, and the same group had been here the whole time, so it really just felt like we are one big traveler family. We took turns making dinner and hung out all the time.. just a ton of fun and such a great atmosphere with great people. The place is also completely run by locals which is always better because you get the inside look at the place, whereas if the hostel is run by foreigners, its most likely a party place. Not always, but I have found that I like the local-run hostels a lot better.

Wednesday, the group decided to go repelling at some waterfalls. I spent a lot of time considering going or staying and checking out the town. I didn't want to pay to go repelling since I had done it before in Costa Rica, but I did love waterfalls. So, I went along, my camera and most valuable things packed safely in my backpack - I had heard so many stories of people having their stuff stolen from hostels so I never wanted to take the chance. Ha. Sometimes my decisions are definitely the wrong ones.

We caught a little chicken bus, then walked for about an hour through beautiful farm country. Then, our group split and half went to the top of the falls to repel down, and the other half and I went to the bottom. I chose a comfy little spot on the rocks with a perfect view of the waterfall. Besides one small group of locals, we were alone at the falls. A few minutes later, the locals left and it was only our small group.

A friend asked me to take some photos of him while he repelled, so he let me use his amazing wide angle lens! I stuck it on my camera and took some pretty sweet pics...unfortunately, I can't show you, but I did borrow this one photo from a friend...

Pretty cool, right?? It definitely was for awhile...

After taking a few photos, I left my comfy seat on the rocks and headed to the main area with Sophie. Our friends repelled down, and then since it had gone quickly, they decided to go for one more round. Sophie decided to stay at the bottom, but everyone else left, leaving just us two girls on shore and one guide in the water beneath the waterfall. Since they couldn't take their bags while they repelled, everyone's bags were in two piles for us to watch, one pile was a few feet behind us and the other right next to us.

One thing about Nicaragua is that there is trash everywhere - cigarette butts littered the ground, plastic floated in the water, and countless soda bottles littered the place. I found a bag and decided to clean everything up while we waited for our friends to return. I left my bag beside Sophie and walked a few yards to the side to pull slimy bags out of the water. As I stood, I noticed two people walking down the hill behind us to the right. The waterfalls were quiet and empty, and because it is so common for locals to come and swim and show off to foreigners, I disregarded them. I started to pick up trash and didn't see the guys again, so I figured they must have gone up the other side of the valley.

I filled the bag with gross trash, really sad that people felt the need to litter, really annoyed that people threw their cigarettes on the ground, and amazed at how much trash littered the place compared to the other Central America countries I had visited.

Then, I heard shouting. At first it was just one person, but then every single person in our group started yelling. My first thought was that there was some awesome thing to see, so I stood up and turned around.

Definitely nothing awesome to see. Almost in slow motion, I saw a male, red shirt, holding my bag in his right hand. My thought: why is someone moving my bag? However, after another moment, I realized that he also had Sophie's bag and one other and there was another guy a few feet away. They seemed really relaxed, but a second later, they both started to run. I dropped my bag of trash and took off after them.

I know what every one of you is thinking, and I'm probably going to get a million moms and friends lecturing me, but right then, I didn't exactly think about anything besides the fact that some dude was running away with MY bag and MY money and MY passport and basically everything that I absolutely needed to survive. Seriously, your brain does some weird things sometimes and makes you believe that you have super powers.

So, with my newly found super powers, I started running barefoot through the Nicaraguan jungle after these two dudes with our bags. A few feet in, I tripped, but apparently I didn't realize it and kept running (later, the guys repelling said I had fallen and they were amazed I kept going. I don't really remember that...) We ran over rocks, logs, sticks, thorns, up little hills and down again, and I was catching up to the skinny guy holding my bag. I tried yelling something to convince the dude to stop, but I'm pretty sure he was deaf because he kept running. And, he moved my bag from his hand to his back. Of course it was mine on his back. Amazingly, he dropped one of the other bags. I jumped over it, and I think I fell a few more times, but my superpowers kept me going. 

Then, miracle of miracles, the Nicaraguan dude fell face down, putting me pretttyy close to him. I hadn't considered what I was going to do when I caught the guy, but him being male gave me one good option.......but then, apparently the kid (kid meaning my age) never had anyone teach him to play fair, because as he was on the ground he turned around, threw a few rocks, and pulled a knife out. I stopped. I stared at him, seriously annoyed, and starting to realize that everything valuable that I had with me in Nicaragua was soon going to be gone forever.

After a few minuscule moments of staring at each other and me trying to memorize his face, he turned and disappeared, leaving me standing alone in the middle of nowhere. At that point, I didn't think about my stuff. I had been mentally preparing myself to lose everything from the time I started considering going to Nicaragua. I did, however, start to think about how much pain I was feeling. I started shaking and looked down to see my leg completely bloody. I had smashed my knee, cut my feet, smashed my elbow (I would show you the bruise that takes up my whole arm, but I don't have a camera...) and sprained my wrist pretty badly. 

I turned to walk back to my friends, and started to realize how far I had run. I couldn't stop shaking, and started to do some sort of sobbing cry. My mind was numb. I was numb, but I kept telling myself it was okay as my heart threatened to beat out of my body.

After a few minutes walking, I heard my friends yelling for me. They ran to meet me, asking questions, saying they were worried, wondering what I was thinking...My friend Jezreel helped me walk back, taking our time, and comforting me as I sat on a rock and tried not to hyperventilate while crying. It's funny what happens when your super powers (adrenaline) wear(s) off.

The next few hours (and days, now that I think of it) were a blur. We headed back to town, thankfully in the back of a truck because my feet hurt so bad I could barely walk. We canceled our credit cards, went to the police station to file a report which consisted of pretty unofficially joking, handing out free condoms and saying how important they are, then a very bored looking guy writing down our information. When we got the reports back, it was the exact sheet he had written on, with a few signatures and a stamp. Who knows if anything was even copied or actually reported. 

Surprisingly, at that time, I was okay. I told myself I was prepared. I had no passport or money, but you can wire money and people lose their passports all the time. However, that proved to be more of a challenge than it was worth. Apparently you can't get a passport without money. And apparently you can't get money without a passport. Thankfully, my dear friend Sophie still had her ID and helped we got some money sent to her. 

The hostel was incredible and let us stay for free, and we got so close to everyone through it all. Everyone shared dinner duty, and I have definitely gotten to meet and see how incredible people are -- even if there are two bad guys who try to ruin everything.

The next morning, I could hardly move. I walked like a cripple for two days, and couldn't put any pressure on my left hand or right arm. I kept telling myself it was worth it for the one bag the guy had dropped - at least one friend didn't have to worry about loosing his camera or credit cards.

Sophia had a hard time the first few days; I hadn't realized it, but as my back was to her and I was picking up trash, she had been holding her bag when the guy came and grabbed it. When she didn't let it go, he pulled the knife and calmly said, "suave, suave." Having a knife pulled on you changes things somehow. Because Sophia (19) was trying to work through everything, I think I just blocked it out and just dealt with the facts and what had to be done.

For some reason (probably just because it's Nicaragua) the embassy, of course, was closed on Friday, so the soonest time I could get to get a passport was Monday - two days after I had been planning to return to Costa Rica. I shrugged it off and decided to enjoy the rest of my time in Esteli, and I definitely did. The longer you stay somewhere, the harder it is to say goodbye, and of course there were amazing people to fall in love with in Esteli. Some of our friends left a day before we did, and it was so strange to be at the hostel without them.

We basically just hung out for a few days, but Saturday we realized we needed to get out and do something, so we headed to Miraflor, a reserve about an hour from Esteli that is known for being "natural" Nicaragua.

 

We rode horses all day and ate two wonderful home cooked meals made by a family who lives out there. We had two guides...

...and I had a pretty great horse that liked to run...

So, we ran through some absolutely incredible land, and despite everything, I couldn't help but be in awe of the beautiful country.

So anyway, there it is. Part one of the story. The next two days will probably be the most intense days I've ever had traveling: Goals for the next three days: Get to Managua. Get to US embassy by 7:00 in the morning. Get a passport, fill out a ton of paperwork, get to immigration to get an entrance stamp, get to the bus station by 1:00, get a bus to San Jose, make my few dollars stretch enough to get me out of the country, (no food for the next three days!) make my flight on Tuesday, and bring Wisconsinites warm weather. Not really holding my breath for any of it. My life should be a movie. Ha

But I'm not really worried. I've made it this far. I'm still alive, I'm still breathing, so I am okay. And amazingly, as terrible as it was to lose everything; passport, money, cards, drivers license, ipod, camera, three lenses, batteries, favorite backpack, etc etc, there is also a small bit of relief in it as well -- I no longer have anything to lose, so I don't have anything to worry about! Hah, okay, not exactly true, but it holds truth. It's just stuff, and now I have a story to tell, and battle scars to prove it. 

And I know you all probably have a million questions, so I'll answer one. I still love it here. Despite everything, I still wake up every morning, happy to be alive, and happy to be in Central America. I've had my moments of being incredibly angry that I lost my stuff, offended that anyone could disrespect anyone that much, and sad that people feel the need to do that. In my mind, I hope it is justifiable by thinking he is just trying to feed his starving cow or something, but deep down I'm pretty sure he is just an adrenaline junkie who wants to buy drugs. 

Now the biggest decision: Should I sleep with bedbugs or a well meaning Nico. Ha. If only all decisions were that simple. Hammock wins it.

Today, I slid down a volcano on a tiny wooden board...

Did you know that volcano boarding is actually a thing?? I would say that it takes extreme sports to a whole new level, but aside from the fact that you are sliding nearly straight down the side of a volcano at up to 90kph on a billion tiny rocks that jump up and try to eat your face, it isn't all that extreme.

(That's the slope we slide down.)

After a 45 minute minivan ride on the most bumpy and uncomfortable road in Nicaragua (in my book anyway...) we arrived at Cerro Negro Volcano, a beautiful little bump in the ground made up almost completely of black volcanic rock. 

We were given a board...

...and a backpack, and for the next 40 minutes our team hiked up to the peak while carrying our equipment. Beneath our feet, we crunched stones that sounded like packing snow or tiny little shells, and stepped carefully between loose boulders that at any moment could roll away and crush us all. 

Cerro Negro is one cool volcano! (Er, hot.) It is an active, smoking, sulfer smelling volcano that is overdue for an eruption. In 1999, it had a little mishap and lost some of its lava. It left a neat "frozen" river though!

As we walked, we discussed our sanity and wondered what on earth would posses people to seek entertainment in such a way as to speed down a volcano on a little board. We didn't come up with any answers, but our guide assured us there was a Bible in our equipment bag so we could pray before our decent. He was kidding, but it didn't really make us feel better about what we were going to do.

At the top of the volcano, the wind threatened to to tear our boards out of our hands, and we could see several other volcanos. The photo doesn't do it justice, but the view was incredible.

We paused for some last minute photos...

(It looks like a fake background, but it's really not!)

...and opened our equipment bag to find our sledding gear!

Oh yeah, sledding ready! The suits are necessary to keep the flying sand and pebbles out of your clothes. It did an awful job, so I can't imagine how dirty we would be without them!

We put on the jumpsuits, knee pads, an elbow pads, and started to get the rundown on controlling our boards...

The rules were simple: lean back, feet back for breaks, pull rope, and keep one hand behind to steer. Sounds simple enough, right? I was pretty excited to be wearing such an awesome costume...

Or maybe because I was gonna slide down a volcano in 30 seconds - when it took 40 minutes to go up. Originally I and two other guys had been planning to actually "snow board style" it down the hill - standing up with a board strapped to your feet - but our guide said its not nearly as fun, so we settled with sitting on the sled.

There were two trails to choose from: a fast and a slow trail. Of course I opted for most extreme. After a bit of hesitation to push myself off the top of the volcano, I was off, sticking my feet in the gravel in front of me and my hand down behind. Rocks flew in my face and my goggles made it nearly impossible to see; I felt as if I was going to slide faster than my board, and slide off the front to roll to my death. At one point, the sled trail took a nose dive and I wondered who on earth came up with such a sport...

But just like that, it was over, and I survived!

Seriously, though! The things we humans  do for a little adrenaline! 

At the bottom of the hill, we took our suits off and shook pounds of sand out of our clothes, shoes, ears, and hair. I'm pretty sure I still have some in my hair though...

Besides that burst of adventure, I have been staying in Leon and loving almost every minute of it. It is such a beautiful, active yet peaceful town. There is so much to do and so much to see!

My favorite part, I ran into a good friend we had met in Guatemala!! It is so incredible that the world can be so big and yet small enough to run into people in different countries more than once. So, I have been spending time with wonderful people from the hostel as well as Chapi and his Nico friends! 

Last night we went dancing and had such a great time. One of Chapi's friends happened to be a dance teacher and taught me some more meringue! I absolutely love dancing meringue (mer-ang-gay) and its so fun to watch people who really know how to dance! And these people definitely know how to dance, especially Chapi. Seriously the best little dancer in the world, and he is such a happy soul, always. 

In the morning I again ran I to him on the street and he invited me for breakfast - I wish I had pictures of it, but he made the strangest meal ever. It was good, of course, but I have no idea what it was! Something that looked and tasted a bit like a mix of tofu and potatoes...as well as a drink made by soaking "tamarindo" beans in water. So weird, but so good. 

Then, for quite awhile we sat around and the Nicos played guitar and drums and sang for me. They would make up songs that made no sense and we would all end up laughing and rolling our eyes.

Such happy times; such great people.