sigue lloviendo

Jaime went surfing a couple of days ago and someone stole his flip flops while he was in the water. So he’s walking around flip-flop-less. He was mounting his bike to ride home the other day and I said, pobrecito Jaime, you don’t have any shoes! And he just goes… aah it’s cool! No worries! [...]

holy hike

Back to the bloggero! How I’ve missed you. Sorry for my absence.
I’ll preface my grand hike story with this news story from the Associated Press. Note the dateline.
Volcano erupts on island in Lake Nicaragua (November 25, 2007)

MANAGUA, Nicaragua: The Concepcion volcano in Nicaragua sent huge columns of ash into the sky in eruptions that prompted a [...]

voy pa’ el volcán

Hi ho, hi ho, it’s off to Ometepe I go.
Today I join this very interesting group from Austin and travel to la Isla de Ometepe, and then tomorrow we will climb 1,600 meters up an active volcano in the middle of the biggest lake in Nicaragua. My guidebook says it takes 10 to 12 hours. I’ve got [...]

a day in the big city

Yesterday, I went to the big city of Rivas, Nicaragua. La ciudad grande. It really isn’t that big of a city, but bear in mind I currently live in the middle of a rainforest, in the smallest town I think I’ve ever visited. At the last moment, after my 11 o’clock class, I jumped in [...]

the blue butterfly

In continuation of last night’s prattling:
Ah, quiet. Monday night means Rob’s departure. This also means the departure of his two very cute sons who are also, incidentally, six and seven years old and inclined to do little boy things, such as make noise constantly and cry occasionally. So, it’s quieter here. The group of Austin-ers are [...]

peanut butter and plantains

Sunday evening rolls in again as I sit outside and watch another Nicaraguan sunset. The clouds wander in over the ocean. I listen to my iTunes on shuffle, and Ben E. King with ‘Stand by me’ comes on (If the sky that we look upon. Should tumble and fall. Or the mountains should crumble. To [...]

updates throughout a night and day without electricity

Power—electric energy—came to Gigante in 2000, Juan said last night. How often does the power go out now, I asked. De vez en cuando. Once in awhile.
Updates in the midst of a blackout:
The power went out at 2 this afternoon, and I spent the hour of my afternoon class slightly irked because the fans [...]

what?

Surfing and I are on a break. Time shall tell if it becomes a break-up. I spent yesterday in a state of surfing-induced disequilibrium. I got knocked off my feet by a particularly normal sized wave yesterday morning, and surfaced with a sharp pain in my right ear and throughout my face. I guess I [...]

surfear

Surfear: yes, that is a real Spanish verb. Guess what it means? Guess what I cannot, for the life of me, do? 
I asked Jaime for the day off from surf lessons yesterday. Sunday, I went with him and Rob and Rob’s kids (6 and 7 years old), and it seemed as though I had regressed [...]

sunday sunset

(written last night)
It’s sunset at Brio, the best time of day. La puesta del sol. For the past week I’ve had to teach class at this hour, but now I’m free to enjoy it as it is meant to be enjoyed: sitting outside, enjoying a warm breeze, sipping cold beer out of a bottle. 

Bug spray on dry [...]