OMG. It has been so ¨tranquilo¨ and-or procession dominated Semana Santa (Holy Week) holiday here, that this is the first time an internet cafe has been open for me to type! Where did we leave off? We were still in Guatemala, making our way from Xela to San Pedro la Laguna, in the Lake Atitlan region. Lake Atitlan is a big lake, surrounded by volcanos with lots of small pueblos or villages along the coasts. Coffee plants can be seen in most yards or small farms. Several painted murals decorate buildings and churches. You take a small boat to-from each of the villages across the lake. We decided to stay at San Pedro, a small, colorful village of the 4 or 5 to pick from.
To our surprise, a Chabad House was here, with LOTS of Israelis visiting. It was Sabbath, and although invited to join and have Sabbath dinner with the community after the service, we chose to listen to some of the prayers and then go have Thai food. A bit intimadating with this crowd. What can I say? We learned that over 200 Jews were to celebrate Passover Seder in San Pedro. Apparently, they were setting up a tent in a nearby football field. South and Central America travel seems to be the ¨right of passage¨ for Israeli´s getting out of the Army who want to travel for a while. It used to be Nepal and India when we were there back in 1989-90, probably still is, but the Latin America trek definately gets plenty of traction. I digress.
We walked to a few of the nearby villages one day. Both our book and the people we asked, were very clear about ¨the line¨ where it was no longer safe to walk. As we confirmed for the 3rd time with 2 officers on a motorcycle, they looked us over and said ¨no es buen idea, es mal idea¨ (not a good idea, a bad idea...to continue on foot). So.....talk about good PR, community service and not wanting us to get robbed or whatever on their turf, one of the officers got off the bike and WALKED us to the next village! Yep, Vincent the police officer, escorted us about half an hour with no incident. We enjoyed our conversation with him all in Spanish, about the area, his family and the few poor young boys who were assaulting gringos. Thank you Vincent! Aaron also took time to get his hair cut in time for the holiday.
Next up, we returned to Antigua for more festivities leading up to Semana Santa and Easter. The town was teeming with people, both foreign and local traveler. They say, worldwide, Antigua is 2nd largest to the number 1 celebration in Sevilla, Spain for this holiday. More alfambras....sawdust street designs and onlookers, in this case, two girls behind a grilled window.
 |
| 80 men carried this one! Huge. |
We leave Antigua, home of our volunteer stint and Guatemala, once again confirming our enjoyment of this culture, its people and diverse geography. Onward to Managua, Nicaragua....an alleged 20 hour bus ride door to door. Pick up at 4am, Guatemala City departure at 7am, box breakfast and lunch, decent seats but no AC, irratic WIFI and oy, bus breakdown at 3:30pm.. Good news....we stopped at gas station so we could eat, pee, sit in the shade and meet our fellow travelers. Bad news.....4 hours later we continued, not pulling into Managua until 6am, yep.....7 hours later than planned. The border guards did not help speed things up. UGH. Had to pay 2nd day hotel, a whooping $20 but it was well worth it. Shower, sleep, eatting and chilling by the pool and we were ready to join Lauren, my majhong friend, Jane´s daughter for Seder! Seder was 24 young, US gov´t type folks at the beautiful home of Alicia, head of USAID and a friend of Lauren´s during her stint in Nicaragua as a Peace Corp volunteer. A fabulous Seder feast, affikomen and all.
We are so glad Lauren invited us and truly enjoyed the meal and broad range of interesting, committed people we met.
We left the Seder by taxi (arranged by Lauren through Peace Corp taxi pool) and went directly to Granada, a beautiful city, full of colonial buildings, more churches, a relatively new pedestrian street of hotels and places to eat since our last visit here, and a long promenade like walkway along the coast of Lake Nicaragua (Lake Michigan like in size), where local families have picnics, listen to music and chill. BTW, Lake Nicaragua fyi, was originally thought to provide passage from Pacific to Atlantic before decision was made to use Panama ergo, the Panama Canal! As for us, we ended up taking an impromtu boat ride for an hour to several surrounding islas formed long ago from one of the volcanos blowing. For the right price....improptu works just fine! Saw monkeys, beautiful birds and some amazing homes of the Nicaraguan rich and famous or not. If you ever watch HGTV International Homes, these could be some of em. Enjoyed fish and chips at OHare´s, speaking at length with the owner from Dublin. Lots of foreigners have moved-retired here to enjoy the economy, tourist business and hot weather.
A day trip included a visit to Pueblos Blancos (White Houses), which have since all been painted various colors. It´s a good thing we didn´t take a bus there or we would still be looking for Pueblos Blancos. Our guide took us to all the spots, family owned candy maker, beautiful Lake Apoyo and a pottery factory among other sites. Nope....we didn´t buy a thing, except some of the candy. Hey, you know what these are?
We left Granada by bus, took a one hour ferry ride and are now in Ometepe, an island of two prominent volcanos, to do some light hiking to see monkey and birds, a few days beaching along Lake Nicaragua (fresh water waves) and whatever. Rented a scooter to see much of the island yesterday, including the clear spring pools called Ojo de la Agua, Eye of the Water. Check it out
All about Ometepe as well as pics below.
|
|
| Ometepe International Airport is one strip between volcano and lake! |
 |
| Huge Blue Magpie, beautiful bird |
It has been good to hear from several of you. Kudos to brother Jer and Marti on landing an apartment in NYC, glad brother Bob is up and around post hip surgery (Go Blue!) and in general, glad friends and family are holding their own and feeling well. Think of you all often. We leave the island tomorrow and head to Corn Islands, both Big Corn and Little Corn. This is an area we were not able to see our last visit. It´s on the Carribean side of Nicaragua and should be lovely way to wrap up our travels, let the final snow disappear from Boston and return on the 9th. A BIG, GREAT Happy Birthday KAB. Adios amigos.
Susan and Aaron
 |
| Adios Ometepe. |
