Back working in Acapetahua

We realized while telling stories of our travels we have never really filled you in on the day to day of our life here in Acapetahua. We work in an office (sometimes). Below is a picture of Travis working at our corner of the meeting table that we use of a desk (shared with a defunct TV and variuous boxes). There are 15 people who work in our office and only 8 desks. We managed to steal a chair from reception but sometimes have to share the wooden chair in the background (which is broken, and falls apart if you use the backrest). Currently the fans do not work which makes working in the 95 degree heat a bit unbearable. We do have wireless internet and ONE phone for the whole office. I never thought a government office could run on one phone. But here we are. Notice the tire in the background, sometimes there are leaking batteries and gas tanks in that room too. There are pigeons living in the ceiling and a mouse that lives in the wall next to our "desk". I refuse to use the office bathroom which is outside in the courtyard. I have no problem with the bucket flush if there was water available but there never is. There is however ALWAYS giant cockroaches in the bathroom. I choose to hoof the 3 blocks back to our house when I get the call of nature.

Part of our job involves going out ot various communities. We worked out at an embarcadero (boat launch) during the holidays. the best part of the day was when the fishermen brought their fish to the fish buyer who takes the fresh fish to hotels and resorts all over Mexico. This sailfish or "pez bella" was sold to a fish buyer for 100 pesos ($10!!!).
These are some baby Jaguarundi kitties that had lost their mom in a fire. We kitty-sat them for a day deeding them raw meat and milk from bottles. They were fiesty.

Jaguarundi full grown (web photo)

Tulum, Mexico

The final leg of our journey included a trip to Playa del Carmen to meet up with my (Jackie's) mom! Playa was a cool, tourist trap of a beach town but with more style than Cancun. Lots to do and eat and lots of tourists. One cool thing we did was head out to the nearby Tulum ruins in Tulum, Mexico.

For the Ruin enthusiast, the ruins themselves (as ruins go) are nothing spectacular. Their location makes them incredible. They are located directly on a Caribbean beach overlooking the blue water. Beug here makes Mayan life seem pretty good, aside from the human sacrifices and turmoil.
After a hot afternoon of checking out ruins we hit the beach for a dip.

My mom and I. Count the iguanas in the background.

Corn Islands, Nicaragua (Caribbean Sea)

Turquoise blue water, white sand beaches, cool ocean breezes, awsome snorkling and cheap fresh seafood, must be the Caribbean. We splurged a bit and spent a couple of days out on the Corn Islands. They are 2 tiny islands off the Caribbean Coast of Nicaragua.

Big Corn Island from the air. The Islands are inhabitated by people of British West Indies descent so most people on the islandds speak pigin english. Think Jamaica, mon.




The local family first billboard, Caribbean style

We found out by suprise that every Sunday was the local baseball tournament. these boys were fully kitted out in mostly matching uniforms and played with a lot of heart.

The Crowd, probably the best part. During the entire game either reggae or honky-tonk country played (even during pitches) no rock, hip-hop or other type of music. The gentleman who manned the music was kind enough to turn down the volume during pitches.

The beer was cold and the cheapest in town. Anyone who has been to a baseball game knows thats not the norm. A case of COLD beer was raffeled off during the game. We didn't win it.

The Scoreboard was run the old fashioned way by some local kid standing in the sun flipping wood slats as the innings went by. The blank spots are where they ran out of numbers.

Miraflor, Nicaragua

Miraflor was a really cool part of our trip. Its a series of communities in the north-central highlands of Nicaragua that work together to grow and sell their crops and preserve their way of life. They also conduct tours of their area and arrange homestays.

Miraflor from a viewpoint.
We were able to meet up with our pal Andi and her boyfriend, Gabriel in Miraflor.

Picking carrots for lunch and dinner on the farm we stayed at.

Still using traditional forms of farming. This guy drove his beasts of burden with voice commands as he hand plowed the field. The plow was hand-made of wood.

I almost got them to approach me.

This is called a "Yunta de Bueys" basically a team of oxen. These oxen were used to pull a cart of horse feed.

Hot chicks in Miraflor.

Travis checking out a saddle typical of Nicaragua.

We (Andi, Gabriel, Travis and I) spent 2 days hiking the highlands of Miraflor with our guide Arlen. We also stayed with his family on the farm.

This is the inside of a Mata Palo. Its a parasitic plant species. It is dropped into a tree by a bird and is one of the only plant species that grows downward. Slowly choking the tree until the tree dies and all that is left is the Mata Palo shell. This particular Mata Palo is 250 years old.

Trav trying to climb the Mata Palo. It was a bit too slippery.

On one of our hikes we stopped at this waterfall.

Here is Travis and our guide discussing the best jumping off point on the waterfall. Dont hit the rocks!!

The water was FREEZING! But we couldnt resist a dip and jumped in with all of our clothes on.

Sunset in Miraflor.

San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua

San Juan del Sur is a cool, laid-back little surf/turist town on the Southern Pacific coast of Nica. It is the home of chilled-out surfers, burned-out ex-pats, and the Nicaraguan elite. Basically, you an find all kinds here, from canoes to yachts and huts to mansions, but the town has a cool vibe and it is really easy to relax. Lots of irie travellers here too, not sure if that is good or bad.

Not everyone is so eager to join the rat race.

Looking cool on the beach....

The view from above.Sunset from our hotel room.

The other side of the beach, the hidden surf spots are over here.

Sunset from the beach.

If you do find yourself down in San Juan del Sur, be sure to hit up Big Wave Daves for the best burgers and breakfasts you will find.

Ometepe Island

Ometepe = "Two Volcanoes", which is a fitting name for this island because it has in fact 2 volcanoes. The island is located in the southern part of Lake Nicaragua. This was definately a hightlight of our trip. We hopped in the back of a pickup truck from Granada to arrive at the ferry to get to the island. On the island we stayed at a coffee finca (plantation) which specializes in shade grown, organic coffee. This finca was also the jumping off point for hikes up the Volcan Maderas.

Coffee plant. The coffee at the finca was delicious as you can imagine.


The view from the hammocks

We explored around the island. Its very lush and tropical.

Transporting bulls.

Transporting bananas.

Howler monleys (mono congo) were abundant. You could hear them all of the time.

These were just down from the finca where we stayed.

The view of Volcan Concepcion from the trail up Volcan Maderas. It was a grueling 5 kilometers straight up the mountain. the have not heard of swithchbacks I guess. we were sore for two days. I dont think Travis will ever forgive me for making him go.

Petroglyphs, Mayan, really old.

Coral Snake we found on the trail. We also saw a white faced monkey (mono cara blanca) but it was too elusive for a photo.

Action shot of Travis. The entire trail was like this, very eroded, very steep, very slippery and very muddy.

The entre trip took 8 hours. 4 hours up and another 4 hours to get down. At the summett was a crater that housed a lake. It was foggy and cold and we couldn't see the lake through the fog. But we did see some other cool places on the trail.