Since our last post a lot has changed, but before I tell you about the present I should talk about how we finished off in San Marcos and what has happened. Our last day 4 of us (Dan, Bobby, Max and I) decided to doing some exploring and ventured off up into the Mountains behind San Marcos and found a gorgeous waterfall. That night we celebrated halloween. With all of us dressed up in costumes we met at dinner and attempted to eat, but this was difficult for everyones costume was very comical. Heidi was a cat, Dan was Danielson from Karate kid, Bobby a lovely Lion, Max the Genie In the Lamp, Kaise a Rasta man (with dreads), a GI Jane done to perfection by Andy, Karen a troll/gremlin/I dont know but it was awesome and Celia and myself represented Oregon by being the best hippies we could be. The rest of the night was spent boogying in our outfits that each of us came across on our travels. All of us literally huddled in a dense cirlce and danced for a good 30 minutes never breaking character of what we were suppose to be. We ended the night around 12 and only slept for 4 hours before rising and hitting the road for our last city in Guatemala, Antigua.
Our best best experience of Day of the Dead was in Sumpongo, a city on our way to Antigua. After pulling off the road and into a pig slop of a parking ground we walked into a feild of kites. Both big,small, bright and dark, kites were every where. Each one was usually attached with a laughing little kid blindly running around. You had to be aware at all times for the strings that would be at head level or a diving kite. Some kites took months to build and exceeded 50 feet high. These ones were designed with elaborate colors, each different than the other and portraying a message both with words and images. People had come from all over to look at and watch the flying beasts. It was really awesome trying to articulate each message and observe such a cultural fesitval. The reason for the kites was to honor their culture and to remember and apreciate the dead.
Once in Antigua we hit the city hot quick because we only had a afternoon before we left the next day. The city was beautiful, full of very old buildings, churchs and beautiful parks, some buildings dated back to the 1700´s. That not after dinner we all found ourselves stuck in a rain storm. With 10 blocks to go and no rain jackets we dashed through the city getting soaked. It was great! The next morning, once again we rose at 4 to catch a plane. We said our goodbyes to the amazing country to Guatemala but took our unforgetable memories and expereinces with us and was off for our next adventure, Nicaragua.
We are staying in a hostel that is right outside the city of San Juan Del Sur. The person who has created the hostel is a 31 year old Oregonian, who had a dream to one day come to Central America and begin building his own hostel. Being here and observing what he has done is very inspirational. It really shows how you should believe and follow your dreams and how they can manifest into reality and through hard work you can do anything. Since we are away from the city there are no buildings or noises, other than howler monkeys in the distance and the sound of waves crashing on the beach. From our balchony we can see the blue Pacific. The weather here is mid 80´s with little spells of rain, but warm rain! During the morning after gourmet breakfast´s we help Tyler with whatever we can around his property. The afternoon is then left up to us. The beach is only a 5 min walk down the road and is visited quite often. A few of us have put alot of time into learning how to surf. The waves however are no joke! Almost everyone has be able to get up and bust some moves. I however thought I was a little too good and tried going out with the big boys and was crushed by a gigantic wave but now am able to ride farily big waves. At first I had no idea what I was getting myself into. While some put a lot of time into surfing others have just swam and relaxed back at the hostel.
All is good here. Everything in life is positive and beautiful. I want to say thank you to my mom dad and sister (Jill, Carl and Madison) for encouraging to travel and supporting me. I myself and everyone have agreed that this was the best descision. We´re all so happy to be where we are at. I love you mom, dad and mad. Thank you again
Alex B.
Karen- Is Harvesting love betweeen both parts of her cake and learning she can eat it to. She´s working on maintaining the fine balances in life, self respect and is getting excited to do the things she can´t on the go.
Andy- Focising on pressence. Patience. Contentment. Catching beautiful waves in soft warm waters. Under refreshing rain storms. Rainbow skies. Tropical cost lines in my eyes. Dirty fingers gardening in the day. and many prayers to sichebenieptevan…God of seven balls, to whome my supplications have this far produced scanty results. Hence the patience mentioned above. Slowly buy surely, I take big work…one step at a time. : )
Max- Focusing on yoga, gerneral mental and physical health. Hoping to find some answers to cosmic curiosity through beginning a practice.
Kaise- Focusing on getting back to full gealth so I can surf some waves for the first time. Also learning more of the history of Nicaragua so I can pass on yje history to everyone.
Celia- Hey everyone at home in P-town! Love you all. Focusing on keeping a positive state of mind, and being active. Learning to surf here in Nicaragua.
Bobby- Opening up my arms and my mind. Shedding the shell of uselessness, harmfull characteristics: seeking my truth all the while.
Heidi- Trying my best to soak up as much knowledge as possible here at Parque Madera. I´m learning that is possible to combine my dream career of sustainabilty, Botony & living abroad. Tyler is extremely inspirational & I am excited at the thoughts of what is to come in my future.
Dan- Focusing on keeping focused. Loving the beautiful beaches and weather and people of Nicaragua. Hopign to get plenty of surf time. Working on all aspects
Alex- I am wanting to work on being consistent and being content with who I am and what I want to be. Focusing on how I can be the best person I can be and doign this while catching the biggest wave I can… without dying. = )
Thanks again to you parents. I can´t explain how thankful we all are. We love it!
