Still no luck on the cookbooks... oh well. I am certain of their location, however. Covert operation? Good riddance...
I have been spending the summer or 2010 working, working, working... yet the outcome has not been as fulfilling as I would wish! I have debt to pay off. About 2000 to my private university, 1700 to my mom for Nicaragua trip, 800 to Jcrew, and about 250 to my sister for helping me out when I am strapped for cash, which seems to be every time we go to Target, oddly enough.
Ive saved some money but not nearly enough to pay all this back right now. I have opted to not attend Thomas University, and am going to start driving over to Valdosta State for classes starting in the Spring. I feel like I will never finish school!! But onward I press:) I officially work for 3 different places here in Thomasville: Mode Boutique, Cafe Marebella's, and (drum roll, please)...Ruby Tuesday's! Woot woot, right? Its money. I need it!
Ive been sharing the task of making a long distance relationship work with Rob. I will drive over to St. Augustine or he will drive here, about a 2.5 hour trip. Its a crazy idea to try and keep this up until January, but he is a really great guy and has me on the floor laughing most of the time. He is a good person to his core. He left this morning to go home after spending the weekend here and Tally for a baseball tournament for his Collegiate Summer League. Woohoo Baseball.
I wrote a paper about Nicaragua. I am posting it. Here it is:
I have tried several times to sit down to do this consuming task of writing a 3000 word paper about one subject that interested me the most while on my excursion through the beautiful country of Nicaragua. Each time I have found the task too daunting and procrastinated on purpose so not to overwhelm myself with trivial details such as reliable sources and correct citations, when really all I want is to sit down and truly tell my account of the exploration of the practically unscathed beauty that makes Nicaragua one of the most beautiful countries I have ever had the joy of discovering. From the very beginning of the voyage, before I even stepped foot on the rich foreign soil, I was in awe of this piece of land that had made so many of my fellow travelers seems as if the country itself had enchanted them, much like the taunting of a beautiful woman, my companions were so lovesick for this country that they kept coming back for more year after year. My fearless leader, Rich McWilliams appeared to be the worst off. Nicaragua had stolen his heart nearly a decade before yet still his obsession with it prospered. It was true love from the very beginning, for better or worse.
Basically, this paper will be a fluid stream of thought about some of the small details and obvious particulars that I took to heart and burn true in my memory months after leaving Nicaragua. My apologizes will come now, I am sorry my paper is not as structurally sound as it could be, however this is my voice and my writing style so in essence I believe that this will be more entertaining than just the facts. I will begin with baseball (just go with me on this), then I would like to move onto my not only physical but also mental journal of hiking the Volcano Maderas, and last but certainly not the least of my interest the Importance of Ecotourism to the country of Nicaragua.
Honestly, I was not too keen on the idea of going to a baseball game in Nicaragua. We were set to get on the ferry that afternoon and in my mind that’s what I was excited about doing, not going to watch a boring sport with guys running around bases. I had been to a few professional games before back in the states and my favorite part of the game was the Seventh Inning Stretch where we got to do the cute little dances. However, for the most part I remember them being very tame; every one sits down watches the games waiting for something exciting to happen. Remembering this from my childhood, I took my travel journal into the stadium because I knew this would be a great point to sit down and catch up on my entries. Yeah…. I was wrong! As one website describes it, “Nicaraguans have a different idea of how to watch a baseball game. Teams have cheerleaders and pep bands, and the noise at games can be deafening. There are a lot of food vendors, selling pretty much any type of food available in Nicaragua, and the vendors are not restricted to the aisles. A cold beer at a Nicaraguan baseball game costs the equivalent of one dollar” (Broughton, 2009). Yeah, that’s a little closer. In actuality, the baseball game seemed to be the social event of the week and the natives were going all out on this HOT Sunday afternoon! There were thunderous roars from the crowd unlike any I have ever heard, the stadium was so full that it seemed to be swelling and pulsating from the overspill of fanatics. Never in all my travels have I been witness to such madness as I found at the baseball game. I looked around in wonderment, dumbfounded by how much fun these people were having watching baseball of all things. In my blog I simply stated, “Everything was dirty, covered in years of candy and soda. The roars from the crowds were so impossibly loud and full of such exuberance that you would have come to the conclusion that nothing else mattered in the world except that game. And I remember thinking to my self...THIS is was baseball is about. Hard working week... and everyone comes together on Sunday and enjoys throwing their trouble away for just a couple of hours and they get to enjoy the greatest past time in the world, baseball. They had horns, and drums. And if they didn't they used bottles in ways that I didn't know a sound like that could be made with a plastic Coke bottle. If baseball were this full of life here in the states, I would go to every single one I could....it was like a party, with entertainment, and all your friends you haven't seen all week. They know how to play the game in Nica”(Manwaring, 2010). It was at this moment of the trip that I really began to evaluate the natives of Nicaragua. They truly were hard working people, pinching pennies (or Cordobas) just to get by. Seeing their faces as we passed through each town, you would think that they each shared the burden of carrying the entire globe on their shoulders. They begged, maybe stole to be able to put food on the table, yet they knew the pleasures of being able to release it all and enjoy their beloved pastime, baseball. I think that we could really learn a little something from this display. Whether the lesson is to take time to enjoy the little things, or let work be work and let fun but fun. Somewhere we have mixed business with pleasure or business with home life. I felt supremely humbled by my experience at the baseball game for some reason. It was as if I had pitied these people from this “underdeveloped” country. “Poor them”, I thought, “I wish there were something I could do to help.” On the contrary, they seemed so oblivious to all the amenities they were missing out on and because of this they were truly able to enjoy the little things in life, like a baseball game. Also I was able to immerse myself in a population of them, hear how they spoke to each other, and really see their social structure. This event taught me more about their culture then the rest of my experiences in Nicaragua. Baseball, who would have guessed.
In one of my blogs I wrote, “In total I climbed 3 volcanoes, one which was an 8 hour hike, 7 miles to the top and 7 miles back down. I conquered Maderas of Ometepe Island in Nicaragua. A feat few have accomplished. Despite being the smaller volcano on the island of Ometepe, Maderas still is a huge volcano, almost 1,400 meters high. Coffee plantations are located at the bottom part of the volcano. More uphill grows a cloud forest . For a reward, there was lagoon in the inactive crater of the volcano. However, much to our dismay, it was too foggy to even see it.
Ascending the volcano was only possible by foot. The trail started off quite steep but in good condition. We passed some petroglyphs and a nice lookout from where we could see the Concepción volcano and the lake. Hiking got tougher from this point. The humidity transformed the trail into a muddy, slippery path. The more we climbed, the worse it got. Sometimes we had to really climb instead of walk.
There were trees everywhere, so we didn’t get great views. And especially when we reached the cloud forest our view was completely restricted to nearly 6 feet in front of us. Which to me was a good thing, I wasn’t able to look up and see how steep the climb in front of me was. I just kept looking where my feet were going and hoped I would reach the top soon.
Hiking to the top took about three and a half hours. From there, we continued and descended to the lagoon. This required some tough climbing. The crater and the lagoon itself were cool and covered in mist. To stand at the edge of the lagoon that is surrounded by trees and covered by a mysterious curtain of mist when monkeys howl in the background was quite a special experience. This was our reward, but we had only half finished our journey.
Then we started on our descent, which as soon as we finished our sandwiches we had to hurry and start back up the crater of the volcano due to the amount of rain coming down we were in for a rough time. There were waterfalls of mud and rock, and this climb was the most difficult and frustrating for me, I broke my hiking stick so I had to climb on my hands and knees up the crater then borrowed a fellow hiker’s stick to safely make my way down the mud slide and rocks. Descending the volcano took at least the same time as ascending. The whole trip took about eight hours. It was well worth the scratches and heat going up and the slips on the way down to say that I have scaled a volcano”(Manwaring, Blog Spot, 2010). In my blog, I made it quick, concise, and to the point, however, in reality, Madares was a “bitch”! The first 30 minutes I was already cussing and ready to turn around and wait at the bottom for the rest of the group to finish. The heat and the steady incline were killing my smokers’ lungs and I wanted to throw the towel in. But everyone just kept going and so I marched on, my feet were already pointed in that direction so I kept going in that direction. I was in pain literally all the way to the top and all the way back down. It never got easier. I was waiting for the moment I would come into my own mind and give myself the strength, like a little pep-talk, to push forward. I had no such moment. It was not until days later that I realized what I had accomplished both physically and mentally. Obviously I made myself stronger physically by actually going all the way up and all the way back down. One of the women who was hiking with us had accomplished a triathlon and she actually said that the volcano was harder. Unbelievable, I really cannot believe that I made it without hurting myself, I am strong, but really I am very proud of myself and everyone else who made the hike. Mentally, it was harder to deal with. You know I just kept putting one foot in front of the other and I knew that would lead me to the top, but the question was whether my mind would get in the way of my physical capability. To be honest, I almost stopped several times, in my mind I had decided to turn around, but again my feet were pointed forward so I continued up and onward . The most self empowering part is when I got separated from the group on the walk back down. I was not going as fast as the few in front of me and there were a few that were having a harder time getting down due to knee trouble or exhaustion. So I kept moving down, and I reached a point where I honest to God thought I had made a wrong turn and went down the wrong trail. I mean, I was headed downward, that I was thankful for but maybe I wasn’t going to end up at the same place of origin. But without missing a beat, all these fears melted away when I saw the coffee plantation and soon after I saw the familiar face of our plucky leader, Rich. What a welcoming site. I was finished. I conquered Maderas.
The wide variety of ecosystems found in Nicaragua would astound you. Everything from rain forests, dry tropical forest, beach, volcanoes, and the list just keeps going. This diversity in landscapes makes Nicaragua ideal for the unique crowd who travel to countries primarily for the eco-tourism. “Nicaragua is a country of great biodiversity - mostly due to its excellent geographic position. Within the boundaries of the country, you will find Central America's biggest rain forests, the dry Pacific Coast and the wet Atlantic areas as well as mountains and volcanoes. This great range of geological features provides an abundance of different habitats in a relatively compact area. From rain forest and dry tropical forests to savanna-type plains and aquatic habitats, Nicaragua attracts a variety of wildlife. Without a doubt, Nicaragua's biome diversity is perfect for Ecotourism.
Ecotourism in Nicaragua continues to grow as tourists become more comfortable with visiting the country - especially after its turbulent history. It will also improve along with the country's tourist infrastructure. The up-side is that Nicaragua's natural areas remain fairly untouched and are thus ideal for ecotourism in Nicaragua. Interestingly, new species are still being discovered in pristine areas. Those planning an ecotour in Nicaragua must realize, however, that it can be difficult to spot the fauna, particularly in the forested areas. Travel to these out-of-the-way areas can be tiring and facilities are somewhat primitive in certain locations. Fortunately the situation does continue to improve”(Nicaragua Channel).
On our trip to Nicaragua, we were fortunate enough to have a couple of amazing field guides. One in was Erik Van der Something…. A German botanist, living in Nicaragua, working at the Ave Maria College and married to a very young very pretty Nicaraguan woman, Yvette, who also is a botanist. She was very outgoing and energetic, and I thought Erik was very intelligent but creepy. An interesting love story I would like to know more about. They are both botanist who specialize in orchids. Without Erik it would have been nearly impossible to have traveled to the areas where we were able to spot the specialized fauna. Although the accommodations were always out of the way and the locations were always quite primitive, it would not have been the same experience without Erik or the bugs,dirt,etc. I believe in the upcoming years being able to travel to the areas without guides will become a realization. Nicaragua is starting to realize that tourists do want to come to their country, so they are trying to make it easier to enjoy their natural resources. The land and the people are so beautiful, even though I did not come home with the same admiration as my comrades, maybe, I am glad to have seen and experienced Nicaragua.
