If You Like Visiting Granada

The title, in case you couldn’t tell, is to the tune of “If You Like Pina Colada”. Which, as catchy as it is, is actually a pretty disappointing song. Don’t believe me? Read the lyrics. This was not, however, the case with Granada, which ended up being not at all a disappointment, and in fact, way better than we expected. 

Anyways, we want to start out this post with a BIG THANK YOU TO GRAMMY, POPPY, AND SHERRI!!! (My grandparents and aunt). They gifted us with some money for Christmas, and we put it toward the events that I am about to two events that I’ll talk about in further detail below: 1) The tour, 2) The chocolate class.

Instead of spending one of our last days running (probably quite literally) from bus to bus on our way up from Bahia Majuagal up to Granada where we planned to spend the tail end of our trip, we decided to hire a driver. Which, let me tell you, is just as cool as it sounds. Fortunate, as well! Because I really don’t know how we would have left that isolated beach without someone knowing when/where to pick us up. Probably (literally) walking 15 minutes down the beach with all of our stuff to a more populated beach, where we would hopefully be able to catch a taxi or shuttle or something to bring us to San Juan del Sur, where we’d have some hope of finding some way of getting where we wanted to go. Luckily (thanks to Grammy, Poppy, and Sherri!!), we didn’t need to go through that ordeal. Instead, Luis picked us up at exactly 7:00am from our beach paradise for a day of moseying up to Granada, and seeing all the sights along the way. The one we were particularly excited for was seeing lava!

It was a lot of fun having our own driver. We had a general pre-discussed route (see lava, see a pretty lake, etc. end in Granada) but along the way, we were able to make other requests. For example, when we got in the car, we immediately requested a place for breakfast and coffee. And he delivered! We ended up at this delicious (cheap!!!) little restaurant that had a great breakfast of gallo pinto (rice + beans), plus eggs and cream, along with lots and lots of coffee.

So from there, we went to another impulsively added stop: a fruit stand! We told him we wanted to try some of the great local fruit, and brought us to a little fruit stand on the side of the road with a bunch of fruit we had never had before. Of course, we tried all of it. Some was weird, some was delicious, and some we had no idea how to eat. All in all – a great experience!

From there, we went to the top of a mountain to look into a lake in the middle of a volcano crater. It was a cool spot that I think is a little lesser known, judging by the fact that we couldn’t find it in our trusty guide book. Super pretty! There was also a little market where I got a few shirts. So that’s fun.

From there we went to a bit market where we moseyed leisurely and drank passion fruit smoothies, and then continued onto the main reason we hired our driver in the first place: LAVA!!!! With so many volcanoes around, it seemed a shame to leave Nicaragua without seeing lava. Kenny is constantly spoiling me, so I was glad to make sure we got do to this for him! Apparently, there’s one volcano that you can drive up to, look into, and see lava. I don’t think either of us knew what to expect – I think we had some combination of the lava in Aladdin and The Lion King in our heads. It turned out, it was nothing like either of those – but it was still super cool. I wish the photos captured it better! The lava was moving fast. You could see it way down in the hole flowing (churning?) like a river. Super crazy. Super cool. Definitely worth the trip.

 And then from there, onto Granada! We arrived in Granada without a place to stay. Luis dropped us off at a potential place, but we ended up not taking a room there for a few reasons, the primary one being that the room available didn’t have a fan and it was hot. So we wandered the streets, occasionally consulting our guide book, and seeing mediocre accommodations after mediocre accommodations. I guess we don’t really need privacy, right? I guess it’s okay if we’re in sketchville, right? Ehhh. . . nothing was seeming quite right. UNTIL, a large Irish man came out of a hostel that had been recommended in our book, saying, “Are you guys looking for a room?”. We had passed up on that hostel because of the “Sorry, we’re full” sign on the door, and I asked if they had just opened up a room. He said he had just put up the sign because he was taking a nap and didn’t want to be disturbed. My kind of people. J The hostel was perfect. The room was perfect. The Irish man who we came to know as Gerry was perfect. The location was perfect. Nothing could have made this place where we would spend the capstone days of our trip any better.

Gerry gave us a map and some recommendations for what to do. Kenny and I had come into the city with two things we wanted to see, so we decided to start there so the next day would be free for whatever came up. We first walked to the cigar factory, where you’re supposedly able to watch them make cigars and even try rolling one yourself. Unfortunately, they were all out of supplies and wouldn’t be restocked until Monday. Still, it smelled great and Kenny came away with a few souvenirs. From there, we went to the chocolate museum, where we were able to go on a short tour learning about how chocolate is harvested and made (including samples), and (THANKS TO GRAMMY, POPPY, AND SHERRI!!) sign up for a chocolate workshop for the next day.

THEN we wandered over to El Camello, a restaurant recommend by Gerry. When we walked up, we saw Gerry there enjoying dinner, and we said hello. We chatted for a while, and he introduced us to Leroy, his friend and owner of the restaurant. We talked with them for a bit, and then proceeded to have a DELICIOUS dinner (that I’m guessing Kenny will talk about in more detail). From there, we went back to our lovely hostel, and called it a night.

Kenny’s Thoughts: Let’s see. . . spending our last few moments of the sitting on the beach reading was really lovely, and I was shocked at just how punctual our driver was, and how different it was from what I expected and what is normally Nico/Tico time. I really enjoyed all the different markets and trying new fruit, but I think my two favorite parts of the day were seeing an active volcano from the top down, and eating some of the best barbeque I’ve ever had in a local restaurant in Granada. I had no idea lava churned so fast inside a volcano – it was really hauling. We also got super lucky with an amazing hotel run by an old, really funny Irish guy. Gerry was a good guy. Oh ya, we also went to the cigar factory and the chocolate tour! The free chocolate tour was a ton of fun, and I was happily surprised with just how generous they were with all the different types of rum as free samples. I think that’s all my thoughts.

Ahhh, how sad I am to be writing about our last day! I wish it was just one of many more to come. I guess I’ll have to be comforted by the fact that this is that last day of just one trip, and that there will be many more to come.

Our last day as nearly perfect. We spend the day eating lots of the hostel’s free bananas and talking with Gerry. He makes the best pancakes – super thin, and then covered in lemon juice and sugar. Trust me, it’s better than it sounds.

What a great start to the morning!

From there, we decided we should do something  before our 11am tour, so we wandered the city and climbed the bell tower in the cathedral, which yielded a beautiful view of the city.

After a smoothie and a bit more wandering, we made it back to the hostel in time to change into swim suits for our BOAT TOUR!!!! The Bella del Mar boat tour is a tour of the islands (there are a bunch of islands off the coast of Granada in Lake Nicaragua) in a big, shaded boat with a bar/restaurant on board. It was so wonderfully relaxing. The tour lasted a handful of ours, and there were probably only about 10-15 guests on board a boat that could probably hold 100(??). It cruised around slowly, and we were able to sit in the shade and watch the view. So incredibly lovely.

Then, my personal favorite part, was when we anchored at the base of a volcano. The steam from the volcano made it so the water in the river running down was heated up, so where it poured into the lake (where we were) was super comfortably warm. There was a water slide off the second story of the back of the boat, places where you could jump off the second story, and a floating table to hold your beer. Is that the life, or what? We got to swim and slide and jump for about an hour, until it was time to get back on our shaded luxury boat and mosey back for an hour while eating chicken nachos. How much does an experience like this cost? Glad you asked. A whopping $15 each. Gosh, am I sad to be leaving this place.

After the tour, we spent a little bit of time in the hostel because during the boat tour, I stupidly had decided to go down the slide face first and somehow hurt my eardrums pretty badly (they’re feeling better now). So I wanted a little time to nurse my wounds before we headed off to the chocolate workshop in the afternoon.

The chocolate workshop ended up being especially cool, because we were the only ones!! As a result, we got a private workshop where we started with cocoa beans, and went through all the processes of grinding them and turning them into chocolate drinks and chocolate bars. Kenny and I were each able to design and make a chocolate bar. I did nibs & sea salt, he did cinnamon & chili pepper flakes. What a great experience! Thank you, Grammy, Poppy, & Sherri!!!

From there, we wandered in Parque Central for an hour while our chocolate set. During that time, Ken found a painting he really liked. It was $35 and unfortunately, we only had about $28 worth of cash left (in any currency). They couldn’t go below $35 and we didn’t want to pay the ATM fee to pull out more money when we were leaving the next day. So my  husband, genius that he is, offered up his $9 Amazon watch as compensation to cover the difference, and they accepted it in an instant! So now we have a really pretty blue painting of the Ometepe Island. You’ll have to come over and see it some time.

Then, back to El Camello for dinner again! This time, brisket (Ken) and satay chicken (Lila). Both life changing meals. It was SO GOOD. We hung out with Gerry and Leroy for a while and they lamented that other travelers weren’t as great as us. You think I’m kidding, but I’m not! Apparently we’re pretty enjoyable company. J

And that was how we ended our last night on the road! This morning was an early morning with coffee, Gerry’s pancakes, and then an easy ride to the airport. Now, we’re waiting to board our flight to Panama, where we’ll make the connection to SF. You can probably expect one more blog post from me (there are some wandering thoughts I want to string together), but for now – I’ll turn it over to my handsome husband.

Kenny’s Thoughts: The last full day was really a memorable one. It was wonderfully waking up slowly, and chatting with other members of the hotel, while the hotel owner – Gerry – made pancakes for all of us. The pancakes were awesome, and I’m a new convert to the English way of eating pancakes, with sugar and lemon juice, and nothing else on top. Except I also had bananas. When we eventually got out and onto the boat tour, that was a ton of fun. There were only about 12 other passengers, and it was a big double decker boat, that just slowly sprawled around the little islands in the northern part of Nicaraguan Lake. We enjoyed speculating about buying one of those little islands, because they apparently run from about $10,000 - $500,000. It was a lot of fun when we finally got to the warm water outlet from the side of the volcano. We really enjoyed jumping off the boat, splashing around, and drinking beers from our floating table out in the lake. I was really bummed for Lila when she hurt her ears, but I was happy to see her recovery over the rest of the day. It was neat seeing our first and only spider monkey of the trip, through binoculars. It was a small island, and the only resident is a single spider monkey, and he seems to have a fun life out there. And doing our big chocolate workshop later in the afternoon was a ton of fun. We enjoyed getting much more details on the history of chocolate, how other people consumed it in the past, and competing on chocolate bean grinding, while enthusiastically chanting the supposed old Mayan chant of “mate, mate, chocolate”. Pretty sure that chant was just for tourists, because nobody called it “chocolate” until the Spaniards in the 1600s, but it was still funny and enjoyable. I’m excited to try out or chocolate bars that we made. I also really enjoyed our last meal at the barbeque place. Really wish that restaurant was close to home – I’d eat there all the time. It really was an amazing trip, and I’m sad seeing it come to a close. I think that’s all my thoughts.

Mostly Nothing And Also Monkeys

1/5/2016

I haven’t written in a little bit. Partially because we haven’t had wi-fi for a few days, so there would be no way to post. Partially, because I didn’t want to. We’ve been doing a lot of nothing for a few days, and nothing is sacred and shouldn’t be interrupted. Even with something I love as much as writing.

After a series of transportation options (bus, taxi, ferry – the whole gamut), we arrived at Isla Ometepe a  few days ago. Isla Ometepe is an island made out of two (active?) volcanoes in the middle of the Nicaragua Lake.  The island is bigger than I had expected, but still small enough that you could drive the circumference in a few hours. . . as long as you had 4WD. We arrived in the evening at our hostel, which is at the base of the smaller volcano, on the side with no paved roads. It as a slow (but beautiful) drive to get there. The hostel was a little oasis, with its own “beach” (waterfront – no sand) and a sea full of hammocks. There were very few people checked in there. Most of them older or quieter than the people at the hostels we had passed on the other side of the island on our way there. The mood fit the setting, which is always nice.

It felt like our own little paradise, which was amplified by the fact that – even though we had though we booked bunk beds in dorms – the woman there gave us a beautiful private room. I even tried to set her straight about what we had thought we booked, but she showed me her booking chart which agreed with the room she gave us, and that was the end of that.

It was in this room, in our little corner of island paradise, that we spent that evening and the following day. Our activities consisted mostly of hammock laying/reading, beer drinking (Tona & Victoria Frost FTW), and kayaking. Lots of kayaking. We rented a kayak for the day. Ken was nervous, because he had heard them called “divorce boats”, but I like to think that we did quite nicely. Our first outing was to Monkey Island, which is appropriately named. We saw a few Capuchin monkeys, which was super cool. We kept our distance, though. Back at our hostel, there were lots of signs about the viciousness of the monkeys, and we got a firsthand experience of it when a different kayaker got too close and a monkey jumped down and growled (hissed?) at her. So, we felt like we made the right choice there. We avoided the big (embarrassing) disaster of being attacked by a monkey.

For lunch that day we wandered down the dirt road until we came to a little shack that looked like it might serve food. We asked, and they did, and we ordered “dos almuerzos, por favor” (two lunches, please). There  aren’t a lot of lunches when your restaurant is a shack. Lunch consisted of a very fishy-looking-fish, plantains, and literally the best rice and beans we’ve  ever had in our lives. Holy crap. How does anyone make something so simple taste so good?  We thought about asking her to show us, but then remembered ignorance is bliss and let it go.

The afternoon consisted of more hammock laying/reading, more beer, and lots more kayaking. Kenny timed it perfectly so we turned back at exactly the right moment to arrive safely back at the hostel about 5 minutes before the sunset. My husband is something special.

We left very early the next morning on two of the most bizarre bus trips I’ve ever been on. On the first bus, the hoisted us on through the back before even answering our questions about where the  bus was going or how much it cost. The second bus literally had a stampede to get to it. People throwing their bags onto the bus and then climbing on afterwards. No order or lines – every man for themselves. Kenny and I did pretty well. We managed to secure one seat on the bus, that we shared by me sitting on Ken’s lap. I’d say that was pretty good, considering there were so many people standing that they couldn’t even close the doors. That bus took us to a ferry that brought us back to the mainland.

Kenny’s Thoughts: The Island was really gorgeous. It was wild seeing two volcanoes appear so close to each other and create such a unique environment. I think the highlights for me were seeing the capuchin monkeys on Monkey Island while kayaking around it, seeing them in their natural element - fishing and warding us off - was really exciting and gave a much better feel for the animals than any zoo could have. I also loved just how relaxing our time at the hostel was, and how utterly gorgeous our view was from just outside our door. Reading in the hammocks and drinking a few cold beers was extremely refreshing. The bus rides out in the morning were also something to behold. The busses utterly filled with bugs on the inside, and seeing a mob of people run at the multiple entrances trying to get on, was unlike any public transit experience I’ve ever had. It was also fun eating a meal from a local restaurant, where you say, “what’s on the menu” and they say “fish” and you say “okay”. The fish and the plantains were tasty, but that was probably the best beans and rice I’ve ever eaten. I don’t know how the heck they did that, but that was unbelievable. Also, that fish was probably the sketchiest think I’ve ever eaten. Fortunately, nothing  bad happened. I really liked kayaking – I think that’s my last point. I think that’s it. I forgot to talk about the geckos! Something I thought was really neat was how the hostel had embraced what they named, “Asian House Geckos”. They were geckos that specialized in eating all the insects around. So there were signs letting people know, “Hey! There will be geckos in your room and around the grounds. And they’re not pests, they’re so you don’t have to deal with mosquitos.” And they were really effective. It was fun over dinner watching all of them sitting in shadows near light bulbs, darting out and snagging a bug or two. Apparently geckos don’t bug me at all, and I thought this addition was awesome, and thought more people should adopt this. I think that’s all my thoughts.

From the mainland, we took a Taxi to our hostel on the beach. We had decided (over lunch the previous day, as had become our pattern), that we couldn’t leave Central America without some quality beach time. So we had booked a room at Hostal Matilda.

We had already grown to like our cab driver, Luis. So much so that we had booked in for our return trip/adventure up to Granada (which I will talk about after it happens tomorrow). BUT, it was at this point that we became super THANKFUL for Luis. I’ll back up a bit. North of San Juan Del Sur (a big beach town) there are three small beaches. Think of the beaches as the tips of the prongs on a three prong fork. They are close to each other, but it takes a while to get from one to the other by road (all the way up and down the prongs). Does that make sense? For the sake of this next section, it may help you to know that “Playa” beams “Beach”. We had meant to book a room at a hostal in Playa Marsella, which is supposedly a super relaxing beachfront. In fact, I had even written it down and we had asked Luis to drive us to Playa Marsella. We were on our way there, when I got a nervous feeling in my gut and impulsively double checked our trusty Lonely Planet guide book. Whoops! We had actually booked a room at a hostal in Playa Maderas, which is the most “happening” with a cluster of hostels, a few restaurants, and a couple places to rent surf of boogie boards. He asked what hostel we were staying at, and we said Matilda’s Hostal. He said that he knew it, and that it wasn’t at either of those beaches, it was at Bahia Majagual (“Bahia” = “Bay”). We told him our book said it was at Playa Maderas, and he drove us to the fork in the road (thank goodness this happened before all the road split off), and sure enough! The sign for Matilda’s Hostal was pointing the same way as the sign for Bahia Majagual. So that’s the road we took. Honestly, we hadn’t even given this beach option a second thought. There was nothing in the guide book about it except that it exists and has very limited services. You know what, just for fun, I’ll write literally everything that our book says about this beach. For comparison’s sake, usually when the book talks about a location it has at least three sections for Sleeping, Eating, and Activities. For Bahia Majuagal, this is literally all it said:

“This beautiful bay, with its steep, white-sand beach, is perfect for swimming – watch the rip current, though. It has only average surfing; you’ll need to walk about ten minutes to get to the big breaks. Note that tourist services are quite limited here”

And. . . that’s it. Except for an end note that you need 4WD to get here – not true. Luis drove us here in his small (4WD-lacking) sedan, albeit quite skillfully. But – thankfully – Luis knew the hostal and was able to do just that, drive us here skillfully.

Again, we lucked out. The hostal was beautiful and perfect. You enter from the beach into a courtyard full of trees and hammocks. Our room ended up being the first one on the left – the one closest to the beach. We could walk from our bed to the beach in less than fifty steps, with the only inconvenience being needing to duck under the hammock hanging on our personal porch.

The book wasn’t lying when is said that services were limited. Apart from this hostal (which in and of itself has limited services), there are two other “restaurants”. One right on the beach, on the other side of the courtyard wall from our room, and the other about a three minute walk overlooking “Sunset Beach” – named for the obvious reason that it has a perfect view of the sunset.

It is here in this perfect little beach town (using the word “town” liberally), that we have wonderfully proceeded to do mostly nothing. We’ve been pretty good at it, if I do say so myself. Our days have consisted of reading, tide pooling, swimming, hammock swinging, eating delicious(!!!) burritos, sun screening, and wandering between beaches to try different  foods/drinks. Note able events include waking up this morning and shortly after being greeted with half a dozen howler monkeys (I’m guessing that’s what they were – Justin, you would know for sure) grunting in the courtyard. It sounded humorously like a child impersonating a monkey! Wearing clothes that were barely thrown on after the sudden excitement, we wandered around the courtyard following each grunt (howl?) to the deliverer. And then to the next. And the next. Pointing them out in amazement in the treetops above the courtyard. It was awesome. So awesome that I’m not even going to post a picture, because I feel  like our pictures do the experience justice, and I don’t want you to come to the mistaken conclusion that the experience was any less awesome that I tell you it was. It was super awesome.

Other notable events: we both finished both our books and Kenny got to experience for the first time the wonder that is a take-one-leave-one hostel bookshelf (one of my major simple-joys of travel); Kenny got stunk by a jellyfish(?), but don’t worry, he’s okay); and we went horseback riding on the beach near sunset time, which felt like a fantasy.

Actually, that could use a bit more description that lumped into a list. We saw some other people riding horses, and when they stopped, we talked to the guide and got his number. One thing we liked about him is he seemed like a legit cowboy. Clothes, demeanor, the confidence with which he road. He could have been straight out of the Mary Kate & Ashley “How the West Was Fun” move (Okay, fine choose your own cowboy movie). Okay, even I’m going to revise my movie. He was from some Clint Eastwood movie . . . one of the cowboy ones, not Grand Tarino. But really, truly. He was a badass.* For proof, here is a picture Kenny took of him riding up the beach on his horse, bringing in tow the two horses for me and Kenny. Does he not look awesome, or what?

So, as you put together by now, we booked a time to go horseback riding with him. He showed up like the aforementioned badass he is, with our two horses in tow. And we got to horseback down the beaches and through the forests, and it felt like I was living in a fairytale. It felt so dreamlike and surreal. Kenny has a way of making my dreams come true.

So I know that it sounds like we did a lot, but trust me when I say we haven’t. Or at least, it hasn’t felt like it. It’s been very relaxing. We went to sleep and woke up to the sounds of the waves. The days have passed leisurely, and the time has only been marked by when the sun is hottest and when we get hungry. These few days have been a lovely escape, and a memorable and relaxing part of our trip.

Kenny’s Thoughts: I really loved it here. While seeing the different sights we have in Costa Rica and Nicaragua, taking this slow respite in this tropical beach paradise has been really refreshing. Our days here have been easy going, and utterly enjoyable. It’s hard to believe that the beach could be so close –and that’s saying something coming from someone that went to UCSB for school. This place couldn’t look more like a catalog of a beach paradise, if I tried to make it so. Also, the food shack right outside the front entrance to our hostel has, I think, the best burritos I’ve ever had. It was really fun this morning when we woke up around 6:45 to what sounded like the deep frustrated bellowing of some sort of weird monkey. So we threw on clothes and ran outside, and saw a squirrel and a monkey having a standoff. It was so funny, because the squirrel was making that stereotypical chittering noise – that movie they make in movies – and what I can only assume was a howler monkey was making a very guttural and very stereotypical bellow back at the squirrel. It was really exciting to see, and was made more so by the multiple other howler monkeys that came in as reinforcement to the calls of the first  monkey. And pretty soon, right outside our door early in the morning, we were surrounded by howler monkeys. All hollering and claiming this area as their turf. It was really cool to see. Our sunset horseback ride on the beach was also wonderful and extremely romantic. Our trail guide was what I can only describe as a Nicaraguan Clint Eastwood, mixed with a Malbro man. But a lot thinner, and super leathery skin. It was a lot of fun just trotting around on the beaches and through the local jungle, just the three of us. Oh, and the ceviche! Lastly, a local restaurant has hands down the best fish ceviche I’ve ever had – bar none. Anyone looking for a tropical surf paradise, I couldn’t recommend this place higher. I think that’s all my thoughts.

*Sorry about the language – nothing else seemed to fit.

Happy New Year! Lovely Llano Bonito & Adventurous Monte Verde

Wow! A new year! And if you had told me how I was going to celebrate New Year’s Eve, I wouldn’t believe you for a second. Maybe I could believe it of myself in extreme circumstances, but definitely not of Ken. It’s not his style. But before we get to how we celebrated, let’s rewind to the circumstances and events leading up to it.

Thursday, December 29, 2016 – The Last Slow Day

This was a great day! In the morning, we visited the coffee coop, which I’ve talked about. What I didn’t mention is that it also included a coffee tasting and coffee gifting. 

Coffee tasting/smelling

We tried to buy a bunch of coffee, but they kept giving it to us. But I still vow to buy some online! For lunch, we went with the Fernandez family to go FISHING in stocked pond. Ken and I both caught three fish. But don’t get any ideas about us being great fishermen, Ken also caught a tree, and I caught my own leg (and have the hook mark to prove it). 

Baiting his hook

Ken catching the tree

The fishing pond was in this beautiful little spot out in the middle of nowhere, and we got to ride in the back of the truck to get there, which I love. They cook up the fish you catch right on the spot, which is a lot of fun. 

Me with my fish

The spot was run by a little family. There was a little boy (probably about three) who was proud to show us how he picks coffee. Ken helped him out a little bit, and it ended with the little boy continuing to tell Ken where all the high ones where to fill his basket – super cute. 

Ken helping the kid pick coffee

Oh, and while Ken was on the seat to a little zip line, he nearly got attacked by the biggest spider I had ever seen! It looked kind of like a black widow, but the but was about the size of a tootsie pop – literally. He did a great job at staying calm, cool, and collected while Eligio used a stick to remove the descending spider.

After lunch, we got to go see the family that I had stayed with during my first time in Llano Bonito! It was like no time had passed, except for all the kids were much, much taller. They fed us and gave us coffee, and we were able to walk and pick guavas (Ken with kids on his shoulders), and it was absolutely lovely.

Ken helping Josue pick guavas

The family I stayed with before - now all grown up!

Ken’s Thoughts: I had no idea that making coffee was so complicated! And one product they had was so cool. It was a little cloth/paper packet that’s disposable, that folds open and hooks over the side of a coffee mug, and turns any cup into a drip coffee device. I think that the fold out coffee packets were extremely innovative, and I don’t see why more people don’t do it. Also, it continued to surprise me that even though these people don’t have much, they just continued to give what they had to us. We were both very appreciative. And I wish we could ride in the back of trucks like we can everywhere else, because it’s a lot of fun. I thought it was really cool how in their culture, the kids want to start picking coffee at a really young age to be like the adults, so the kid had his own mini-bucket with straps that he could practice with. And apparently they’re not afraid to recruit help from the local tourists. Also, that spider reminded me that I do, indeed, have a fear of spiders. (From Lila: Anyone would be stupid not to be afraid of that spider. That thing was a man eater). And I just couldn’t get over how beautiful the whole landscape was. It was crazy seeing the people that lived there look at it like it was mundane and every day. I think that’s all my thoughts.

View from the back of the truck on the way to fishing

Now, we’re going to transition a bit into a different format, and I think it will reveal why our New Year’s Eve was as it was. It was a bit of a marathon from here, so I think bullet points and timelines are appropriate to keep everything straight. I’ll elaborate when needed.

Friday, December 30, 2016 – Travel Day

• 5:00AM Wake up! - What’s kind of weird about waking up at 5am in Llano Bonito, though, it that we woke up to a bustling house. Everyone was already up, cooking breakfast, getting ready for work, etc.
• 5:50AM Bus adventures start! - We bussed from Llano Bonito to San Pedro, San Pedro to San Jose, and then took a taxi to a different bus station where we bought our bus tickets to Santa Elena for that afternoon.
• 11:30AM Children’s Museum – Wandered over to the Children’s Museum! Which ended up being pretty awesome, because a) they had coat check for our backpacks, b) there were lots of different exhibits, and c) the Spanish was simple enough that I could read most of it. Here’s Ken reenacting the spider attack:
  
  Then we stopped for Chinese food on our walk back to the bus terminal.
• ·2:30PM Bus to Santa Elena  - We bussed to Santa Elena, which is a little tourist hub/town right outside Monte Verde, which is a giant cloud forest. Similar to a rain forest, but more cloudy. You probably figured that out for yourself. One thing we were really excited about was seeing the animals, but most of them are nocturnal, so the best way to see them is with a night walk. Most of them start at 5:30, so we thought we had missed them when our bus pulled in around 7:20.  So when we checked into our hostel and learned there was one at 8:30, we jumped at the chance! So after impulsively signing up, we quickly changed clothes, and grabbed dinner.
• 8:30PM NIGHT WALK – Got picked up for the NIGHT WALK!!!! The capital letters are on purpose – it was that cool. We were in a group of about seven of us. We were the only Americans, which at first we thought was pretty cool, but turned out to be a bit of a bummer because it turns out that camping is kinda an American thing, and as a result, non-Americans don’t have as good flashlight etiquette (i.e. not shining it right in someone’s eyes). But despite a couple blinging moments, it was still an awesome experience. We bussed out to the middle of some forest, and then we followed a guide as he took us on winding paths up and down and back and forth looking for animals. I don’t know how our guide did it, but he was able to find things that we never would have been able to find. We saw a huge stick insect, an orange knee tarantula, a sloth way up in the trees, a few kinkajou (which our guide was super stoked on because they’re endangered and really rare to see!!), a frog with super red eyes, and a few super poisonous snakes that will kill you within two hours if you’re bit by them (a guy tried to poke it to make it move – but the guide thankfully stopped him, saying that he was already in strike position). But my absolute favorite thing that we saw was a sloth super close up. It was probably five feet above our heads, all stretched out because it was eating. He was swinging upside down in the (harsh!) wind, but seemed not to mind it at all. He was just happily munching away. We watched him for a really long time, and although I’m sorry that I don’t have any pictures to show you, Ken and I were thankful to not have our cameras because we were able to just soak up the experience. The guide said that it had never happened. After the night walk, we bussed it back to the hostel, arrived back around 11pm, and went to sleep.

Ken’s Thoughts: Driving through San Jose in a cab and bus, I felt glad that we didn’t set aside a lot of time to spend there. Maybe I’m not a big city person, but it seemed like there were a lot of better ways to spend our time – like out in the rain forest. I’m glad to have witnessed it, but I think I’m satisfied with the amount of time we spent there. The drive up to Monte Verde was beautiful, but a bit different than I expected. I had an image that most of Costa Rica was all rain forest and jungle, but as we got close to Monte Verde, it started to get that way. Once we arrived, the whole area was beautiful. I really liked our hostel and our double room – it wasn’t just function, it was nice. And we were both so thankful to have a night tour offered up to us! And just an hour after we had checked into our room. And that night tour might have been the highlight for me for Monte Verde. Pretty much that and the zip line tour were my favorite things. It was really exciting seeing all the nocturnal animals active and in their natural habitat, while in the complete black other than our flashlights. And you know you found something truly great when you’re tour guide, who is a season veteran, is in awe of multiple things you saw that night. Being able to watch a sloth from just 6 feet away eating and in his natural habit was really amazing. And while I don’t know much about kinkajous, it was clear from our tour guide’s reaction that our seeing it really was something special. I was really happy with just how many animals we got to see. I think that’s all my thoughts.

Saturday, December 31, 2016 – Grinding Monte Verde

Do you know the term “grinding”? I learned it from Ken. It’s a video game term for getting as much out of a game as possible, as quickly as possible. This wasn’t our original intention for Monte Verde, but hey, things don’t always go as you plan.

• 6:15AM Wakes Up! – Ken woke up to scope out options for the day and signed us up for the hanging bridges for the afternoon (bridges though the treetops).
• 7:05AM Wake Up – Ken woke me up saying, “time to wake up, we’re leaving in twenty minutes”. So I get dressed, we shovel down breakfast, and we jump on a bus headed to Monte Verde.
• 7:25AM Monte Verde! – We opted out of doing a guided tour for Monte Verde, and instead paid our entrance fee and entered the park with a map and super stylish ponchos.  

         One of the cool things about going without a guide is that we could go where we wanted, when we wanted (and we saved money!!). The only problem, though, was that we didn’t know where to look for things, or what they were when we found them. Our main priority was seeing the mammals that we had seen the night prior, so we felt okay to not pay someone to help us find the birds. Still, I was a little bummed when we would find something and I wouldn’t know the name of it. Praise the Lord for my creative husband! He came to the rescue with some homemade names for the birds we saw, which oddly was completely satisfying for me. We saw a bunch of chirp-chirps, three fat-fats, two packs of chub-chubs, two poof-poofs, and a handful of black humming birds. No quetzal, unfortunately. We’ll save that for another trip. J We hiked (and I mean hiked! Steep, big hills), until it was time for us to put a little pep in our step to get out of the park and catch the last morning bus back.

• 11:45 Lunch & Impulsive Decision Making – When we got back from our morning adventures, we chatted with our hostel owner about different bus options for tomorrow. We were considering moving on from Monte Verde the next day, but we didn’t know where we wanted to go, or when. He gave us some options, and we said we’d talk them over during lunch. So we walked down the street to a Soda (small restaurant), and got some food while going through guidebooks. We decided to take the 4:20AM bus out the next morning (whew!), and we also decided that despite thinking we were okay skipping the canopy zip lining (we had done zip lines before in Santa Cruz and felt pretty satisfied), we still kinda wanted to do them. And when in Rome, right? So we decided to talk to our hostel guy about if it was possible to join a tour late in the afternoon. So after lunch, we walked back to the hostel and booked the early morning bus ride, and tried to see if there was a late option for the canopy zip lining. The problem was, we already had tickets to go to the hanging bridges at 2:00, and that was the same time that most the last zip lines were. Our hostel guy said he’d call the company and see what he was able to do. Turns out that the same company that offered the hanging bridges offered the zip lines, and we could do them both if we left RIGHT THEN! Emphasis on the RIGHT THEN! So we booked it and changed our clothes quickly while he called a 4WD taxi, and then we took the taxi up the muddy mountain and into the forest.
• 1:00PM? Hanging Bridges and Zip Lines – We started with the hanging bridges, which was super cool. It was a path through the cloud forest that had eight giant bridges through on above the tree tops. It was awesome. It took a little over an hour to walk the whole thing. I keep using the word “walk”, but make no mistake, there were times we really had to hoof it. We were able to see some more chirp-chirps and chub-chubs, which was fun. And we even saw a monkey! It was very, very cool. 
  
  
  
  

          BUT THEN we suited up for the zip lining, which we were happy about but in a kinda apathetic “ya, I guess this will be cool” kind of a way, AND IT WAS AMAZING!!!!!!!!!!! One of the coolest adventure activities I’ve done in my life. Up there with the Macau bungee jump, which I love love love. Ken and I went first and second, which is always great. I thought it would mean no waiting, because we were in the front. But it was so well run that nobody waited. I would be surprised if I was on the platforms for more than 45 seconds. There was a person on every platform ready to receive you and send you off. And you were only there as long as it took them to receive you, connect you to the safety wire, unhook you from the previous zip line, hook you to the next one, and tell you to go. Honestly, it probably took about as much time as it just took for you to read that sentence. Very impressively run, which added to the experience because it didn’t detract from the magic. ALSO, with it being so cloudy, you often times couldn’t see the receiving deck, so you felt like you were just going forever. Some of them you went through the trees, others you went over. There were about 13 zip lines in total. Highlights for me were the 800m one where Ken and I got to go together, because I wouldn’t have been heavy enough to get across by myself. 800m!! Did you catch that? That’s a little over half a mile (right?)! This was a super cloudy one and you couldn’t see the receiving station until you were almost there, but you could see all the forest around you. Such a cool experience to share with my favorite guy!! The other highlight was the last zip line. Ken and I opted for the additional $10 option to do a superman harness for the last one – which was 1000m!!! That’s like 5 miles! (Okay, not really, but it felt like it). That was awesome, because we were laying on our tummies, connected to the zip line from our back. Because we were facing down, we couldn’t see the zip line, only the forest passing below you. WE weren’t able to go together, but we did go at the same time on neighboring zip lines. I remember looking back and seeing Ken racing forward like a bullet. My husband is awesome. It was so cool to see the forest passing by below. At points, the clouds were so think that the water stung my face – but it was worth it. I was smiling so big that I drooled all over that rain forest. J It was AWESOME. I’ve never done anything quite like it. Definitely a highlight of the trip so far. Then, soaking wet from spending a day in the clouds, we bussed it back to our hostel.

Another cloud forest picture

• 5:30PM Dinner  and Such -  After showering and changing into clean clothes, we left to do some recon and preparation for the next day. Where our early bus leaves from, grocery shopping, etc. Then we went to Taco Taco AND HAD THE BEST BURRITO I’VE EVER HAD! Maybe it was just because I was starving, but it was really, really good. Slow cooked beef. Super good. Oh my gosh, so good. With a delicious mango salsa. My mouth is watering just thinking about it. It was delicious. Then we went out for Costa Rican craft beer. We tried two different beers at two different places, and both were underwhelming.
• 8:15PM New Year’s Eve Celebration!! – Here is the moment you’ve been waiting for! But tell me, how did you celebrate New Year’s Eve!!?? You must be saying. Well, I’ll tell you. After a marathon of a day, we packed up and climbed in bed, and we were fast asleep well before 9pm. Not at all what we expected, but exactly what we needed. Happy New Year!!!!

Ken’s Thoughts: Even though the day turned out to be a fully action packed day, it felt really fun and not stressful. I don’t think we could have done Monte Verde any better than we did. The two of us zip lining through the rain forest is something I’ll always remember. It really is a beautiful place, and I feel like anybody who is in Costa Rica who is capable of making it there should make it there, but it is COMPLETELY touristy, so I’m glad we only spent one day. The cloud forest have a really different feel than a normal rain forest because of the constant thick mist – the cloud that is almost always on top of the forest that you’re in. And it gives the place a very surreal feel, only being able to see 100 feet or so into the forest before it disappears into the mist. And even though it’s always completely damp and mildly drizzling on you, you just don’t mind. The mist especially enhanced the zip line experience, ‘cause there are many times that you’re zipping along, and it looks like your line just goes on forever, because you can’t see the start or end of your line. The food in Monte Verde is nothing to write home about, except for the one burrito shop that we found. They were awesome. The local breweries were fun to sample and had a lot of fun ideas, but were ultimately pretty lacking. It’s fun how in Costa Rica there are just dogs running around everywhere, and they’re all super friendly. I really liked the German Shepherd puppy in our hostel. Oh, and the bridges! I really enjoyed walking through the bridges that took your right through the trees in the cloud forest. It allowed you to see a whole new part of the forest really closely that I had never experienced before. I also really enjoyed seeing a few monkeys up there! And with all the mist rolling around, it just felt very picturesque on the bridges. There’s also something really refreshing about the air in a forest that I really enjoy. By the end of the day, I was completely pooped, and had no problem falling asleep at 8:30. Happy New Year. And that’s all my thoughts.

And that brings us to today! We took a bus to a random intersection where we were promised another bus would pick us up – which it did. And now we’ve just passed the Costa Rica/Nicaragua border, and we’re on our way to a port town where we’ll take a boat to a volcano island in the middle of a lake where we plan to spend the next few days. (Most likely with no internet – do don’t be worried when there aren’t any posts for a while).

Congrats on making it through this beast of a post! And Happy New Year!!

P.S. I wrote that all on the bus. Now as I post this, I'm sitting in an internet cafe in Nicaragua. Our phone is charging so that we're able to put money on it, and Ken is out looking for food. Life is good!!!!! Pura Vida. :-) 

Generosity

12/30/2016

I wrote the last post form atop my beloved soap box. This post, I write from my knees. It has been so humbling to be around such generous people. There has been no end to their ability to give of themselves. Examples of it have included the bus driver who called his taxi driver uncle to drive us, the people in the wrong house we knocked on who sent their 12 year old (?) son with us to make sure we got to the right house, Nena (who I stayed with last time I was in Llano Bonito) who gifted us with light-up crucifix from her mantle, and the Fernandez family, who let us stay with them and fed us endlessly. One of the most startling examples of generosity, though, has been that of Eligio’s time.

As I mentioned before, there are only two months in which coffee can be harvested – December and January. We didn’t learn this until after we had arrived, otherwise we maybe would have avoided Llano Bonito out of fear of being a burden. I know that in the United States (and especially in my own life), there is a stressed-work-aholic mode when timelines are near and the work is yet to be done. Socializing is one of the first items to drop off the calendar when work is needed, and I would be unlikely to accept guests at that time. Even when it’s not a huge deadline – even if it’s just mildly inconvenient – I’m likely to make up excuses not to be generous with my time. I think my time is my resource that I’m most tight fisted with. I’m happy to give/share/lend my stuff or money, but my time is often relinquished reluctantly.

Then there’s Eligio. Not only did he let us stay with us in his family’s home, he also sacrificed his work at a really crucial time of the year. Whereas his usual work day is from 5am – 6pm, for two whole days, he played host to us. He took us on coffee tours, brought us out to lunch, and really showed us Llano Bonito. We also saw him sacrificing his time for other people. We went with him to fix a plug at a friend’s house and later to pick up and drop off a computer for someone.  I think that I’m struggling to put into words how much his example of generosity meant to me. But that’s okay – it still made its impact, even if I can’t explain it. Hopefully I explained it well enough that the uniqueness came across. J

Ken’s Thoughts: Even though they have extremely little, they’re not afraid to give what they have. They reminded me a lot of the minister in the begging of Les Mis. Every meal they made for us was a different dish, and they were all delicious, and yet simple. I think that’s all my thoughts. 

Us with the Fernandez family

Coffee: It’s Not a Drink, It’s a Lifestyle

12/28/2016

I don’t even know where to begin with today – so I guess start at the beginning. We woke up at a leisurely 8:30 this morning. We had beans, rice, and eggs for breakfast with – to appropriately kick off the day – coffee! The best coffee ever, Ken says. Ken got goose bumps (happy bumps, we call them) drinking it. Then Eligio asked if we wanted to go on a walk to see the coffee. Yes! Always, yes.

So we went out the back door, and bam! We’re in the middle of the coffee plantation. because Llano Bonito is in the middle of the coffee country. So we walk through this maze of coffee, led by the best guide ever. 

Eligio told us all about the different coffee varietals, the dangers to the coffee plants, how important coffee is to the culture and livelihood of the people here (it’s the only crop they export and the lifeblood of the community), and how long his family has been here (80 years!). It was so eye opening to see the work behind something I take for granted every morning. He showed us the different dangers to the plants – bugs, fungus, parasites, etc. – and how they tried to combat each different danger naturally (mostly by introducing a different varietal, which in turn introduced a different adversary).

Ken and I even had the chance to help pick the coffee! We strapped the baskets onto our hips and picked for about 10-15 minutes, and together, we picked (according to Eligio) about 26 cents worth of coffee – woohoo! Clearly we weren’t cut out for this. But he said that we did a good job, and we were very selective in our choices (we tried to only pick the super red ones).

One of the things that really struck me about what I learned today is how dependent this community is on coffee and how easily it seems that it could be wiped out. So many things need to come together, and so many things need to be avoided, in order for there to be a good coffee crop to be harvested in the TWO MONTHS that it’s able to be harvested. Yep, you read that right. They only harvest coffee in December and January. The rest of the year, they prepare. They take care of the plants, prune them, clear debris, etc. but only for two months do the harvest the berries and get paid - $2/basket, $6/bag.

Living in Silicon Valley, there’s such a giant diversity of jobs and sources of income available. Would it be a huge deal if Google went under? Yes. Would it destroy all of Silicon Valley? No. Here, coffee going under could destroy this community. What it could look like for coffee to go under, I’m not sure. But it sure makes me want to get back on my soap box about organic, fair trade coffee! It’s a soap box I’ve forgotten for a while, but I’m always happy to pull back out and stand on whenever I have the chance. Especially after spending a day with Eligio. So many of the troubles they’re up against could be eliminated with the introduction on harmful pesticides, but they choose not to use them because they want to be natural. I really admire that, and that’s something I want to choose to support! But even more important that the organic part (to me, at least) is the fair trade part. For those of you who don’t know, fair trade means that the workers involved in the production of a product are treated and paid fairly. These guys work hard. The mountains are steep and hard to walk on, let alone pick coffee on. The baskets are huge, and it takes a lot of hard work to fill them up. It takes a lot of work to carry them up the hill. It takes a lot of work to load them into the truck. It takes a lot of work to load them out of the truck. Gathering coffee takes a lot of work – hard work! And these are families that depend on the fruits of their labor. Eligio even said that it’s extremely tiring work, but it’s what you do to provide for your family. And I really admire that! So, standing up here on my soap box, I’m declaring that I’m really going to try to buy solely organic, fair trade (emphasis on the fair trade) coffee whenever possible – even if there’s a slightly higher dollar amount.

Going back to our day, though, (a bit quicker now, because there’s something else I want to get to), we came back after our long walks and had a delicious lunch. Then we loaded into the back of the pickup truck to head down to the reservoir. I was grateful to be driving, because the last time I went down there five years ago, we walked. And it was a long walk. But this time, we piled into the back of a pickup truck! Which, if we’re being honest, is one of my favorite places to be. I don’t have any pictures of us there, but here is a picture of how I distinctly remember feeling:

The reservoir was beautiful! It stretched beyond what we could see. 

From there, we went to meet and visit all of Eligio’s family. They all live together in a little barrio (neighborhood). His parents are in the 70s and 80s and look healthier than I do! They had awesome fruit (we had passion fruit), a million chickens, and even some pigs. The pigs were especially interesting because a) they were HUGE, and b) the family catches the gas released from the pig poop and use the methane outgassing from it for their stoves. Holy crap (literally), that’s resourceful.

After coming back, some other people came over to drop off the coffee they had picked. Eligio and Pachi (his wife) took note of how much everyone contributed, and then we went with Eligio to “help” (we were no help) drop it off at a drop off point, which I’m having trouble describing. Thank goodness for pictures. They dumped the coffee into big, metal measuring devices, and after the device was full, the opened the bottom and it dropped through the wire floor into the huge basin below. Then Eligio received a receipt for what he delivered, which I assume he can turn in somewhere for money.

I have another thing I want to write about, but I’m super tired. Ken is feeling cuddly, and I’m feeling sleepy, so I think I’m going to call it here. Tomorrow will be a great day!!! And I want to be ready for it. Goodnight!

12/29/2016

I still want to talk about the other thing I mentioned (spoiler: it’s about the intense generosity of the people here), but after today’s events, I think I’ll finish up my coffee thoughts. Today we had the pleasure of touring the Cooprativa – the Coop (“Co-Op”) where they produce the coffee. There were multiple steps where they divided the coffee into tiers of quality based on weight, size, and shape. There were silos where it was stored and ovens where it was cooked. The coffee was baked in multiple phases (this is even before the toasting that most people were familiar with). It was crazy to see all the different parts. What was especially cool, though, was that before we got the tour, we got some time to ask the head-boss all our questions and he told us about the production. He ended up being our tour guide as well, so we were able to continue to ask questions. But it was interesting to hear his thoughts about the victories and trials of their business. This is when I pull out my soap box again, which is why I wanted to include it in this post. It’s still the fair trade/organic soap box, but now with an emphasis on the organic. The price of producing coffee in Costa Rica is really high, especially compared to neighboring countries. Each plant (I think I’m remembering this correctly) costs about $180 to maintain and produces about $200 annually.  Often times, all the coffee is exported because nobody local can afford to buy it. I was really impressed with this Coop, because they’ve started program to make sure their associates (workers) get to keep some of the coffee they make. They’ve also created programs to re-plant any trees they cut down for wood (for the wood burning ovens), ways to compost the pulp of the coffee and give it back to the farmers to hopefully increase the harvest, and a bunch of other ways to make sure they’re supporting their workers, staying environmentally friendly, and making good business choices. What I admire about this company is that they do all three – it would be really easy to just do the last one. SO, last time on my soap box, I announced that I was going to try and buy only fair trade, organic coffee. Now, though, I encourage you to do the same in order to support operations like this. Most coffee shops have a fair trade, organic option (Starbucks, Peets, etc.). AND, if you’re feeling compelled, you can even buy from Llano Bonito HERE.

Another shameless plug: BUY HERE!! 

(dang it, I couldn't find websites to connect to those intended links. BUT mark my words, I will find them and spam you with them.)

Okay, it’s late again. By which I mean it’s 9:15pm, but that’s late here in this early-rising community! We’re waking up at 5am tomorrow (whew!), so I should get to bed. We’re happy and safe! Can’t wait to write more. J

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles! (Okay, Planes, Taxis, Busses, and Feet)

Yesterday was a MAJOR travel day. We arrived in Panama early in the morning, went through immigration and customs, stood outside, breathed in the air, and then went back into the airport. We only had a few hours for the layover – not enough to see the city, but enough to get a quick look around.

While waiting at our gate for our plane, Ken and I both fell fast asleep sprawled out on the airport floor. Only sleeping 1.5 hours in the night prior (red eye flight) will do that to you. We didn’t manage to get seats next to each other, but that’s okay. We were close enough that we could still communicate telepathically – by which I really mean making faces at each other. 

Our flight from Panama to Costa Rica was an easy one. From there, we took a bus to the outskirts of San Jose. The busses couldn’t enter the heart of the city, because there is a city wide festival/fiesta going on that people come from all over Costa Rica to enjoy. We wandered around the street festival, had some delicious street food and coffee, and eventually caught a taxi to the Musoc (a bus brand) station. From there we bought tickets to San Pablo on a bus that departed in two hours. With two hours to spare, we wandered around a bit more and stumbled into a bar. When we entered the bar, it was like a movie where the record scratches and everyone looks at the newcomers. Everyone turned and looked at us, the giant white man (gringo suave, as I’ve taken to calling him), and his blonde side kick. The bar was packed with 40-somethings, and the music was loud. I noticed later that a microphone was being passed around, and it was some sort of karaoke event. One the shock of seeing us set in, some people gestured us to join them, others gestured for us to go upstairs, others just kept staring, and others didn’t pay us any attention. Not wanting to wield our backpacks in the crowded bar, we headed upstairs where we ordered food we had no idea what it was and Imperial, the beer of Costa Rica. Both yummy.

Then we walked back to the bus station, and about a half hour later, we were off on our next leg of the journey!

The funny thing about this leg, though, is we had no idea how long it was. We knew we were supposed to be on this bus, and we knew we were supposed to ride it to the end, but we had no idea if it would be 20 minutes, 1 hour, or 6 hours. It ended up being somewhere in between (3 hours??), and by the time we arrived out our destination, it was dark and wet from rain. Our bus driver called his uncle, who is a taxi driver, to help us continue on our way to Llano Bonito. His uncle showed up in his jeep taxi, and we loaded our stuff in and were off! Super windy roads through super tiny towns. We hoped we were headed in the right direction, but if were being honest, we had no idea.

But we were! And eventually, he dropped us off in the heart of Llano Bonito! Success!! Except – we still didn’t know where we were staying. We started asking if people knew Eligio and Pachi, and walking in the direction they mentioned. And walking, and asking more directions, and walking, and asking more directions. And finally, we knocked on a door we thought was the right one – nope! But we were only two houses off, and their son would show us the way.

So Zach kindly walked us to the correct house, and we were welcomed with open arms! The fed us and gave us our room, and I their kids (where were about 12 when I was here 5 years ago) are huge! And my Spanish worsened, as did their English – so that’s been fun. But overall, we couldn’t be happier. They couldn’t be lovelier. And we are thrilled to be here.

I can’t wait to write more about Llano Bonito. Waking up here, the coffee, etc. But we’re going on a hike soon, and I want to make sure we’re ready.

But before I go, Ken’s thoughts!

Ken’s  Thoughts: Getting here felt like an adventure! It was fun not having all the details figured out and having a lot of room for spontaneity. I’m surprised how helpful people were. And how people didn’t seem to mind pantomime. And the meat on the stick from the street vendor was really good. I think that’s all my thought on the trip here. Oh, except also that it’s utterly beautiful here – it’s gorgeous!

Aaaaand, We're (N)Off!

Written on 12/26/2016. Sorry for the delayed post. 

Do you get it? “And we’re Noff” like Noffsinger? But also like Off to a new adventure? Clever, I know. Danyelle – I made a pun!

Okay, puns aside, we’re at the airport! Kenny has gone foraging for forks and water, and I am guarding the stuff. In an hour and twenty minutes, we’ll board our flight for Panama City, where we connect to head off to our final destination, Costa Rica! We’re going back to Llano Bonito first, (see this post, this one, this one, and this one), and then meandering our way northward until we fly out from Managua, Nicaragua on January 7^th. It’s a bit of a quicker turnaround than usual, but hey, that’s adult life, right?

We’re super excited. We don’t totally know what to expect, but that’s the fun of it! I’ve realized, though, that I’ve been a little bit more worried about this trip than other trips. I want to make it really good for Kenny, and I feel responsible because I’ve been to some of these places and I’m more experienced (albeit rusty) with this travel style. Whereas before I didn’t really care what happened, now, I’d feel really bad if I accidentally put us on a bus that brought us multiple hours in the wrong direction.  But Kenny, saint of a husband as he is, has assured me that he’s happy even if anything goes wrong. He’s just excited to be my adventure buddy. And I’m excited to be HIS adventure buddy. And I think this will be a really, really awesome 11 days. J  (Wow! Only 11 days! I’m excited to see what we can do with that time).

Kenny’s Thoughts: The blueberries muffins* I’m eating are delicious, and I’m very excited to be doing an international adventure again. And I’m excited for the coffee!

*I made them this morning to get rid of extra blueberries.

P.S. In the event that you read this before 8:15pm PT, please pray that there are some no-shows on our flight so that Kenny and I can sit together.

Noffsingers Take Over Yosemite

It may not be a huge international trip, but Ken and I went to Yosemite and it was lovely. I love scrolling through old blog posts, and I know that in the months and years to come, it will be fun to stumble across this again...in fact, I might end up posting a few other videos from past travels, just so they end up here.

But without further ado, here's our trip to Yosemite: