Chasing Cars

We have only been back in Portland for 2 weeks, but so much has happened in that relatively small amount of time. In the next few paragraphs, I will take you along the ride as we made our way back onto American soil and got ready for the holiday season.

Julia ended her last post by telling you that we booked a 2nd night in the town of Matagalpa. This turned out to be a very good choice. The town is surrounded by hills and there is a well worn trail that leads you to the top of one of those hills. We paid a little bit (70 cents) to enter the property and quickly were surrounded by moss covered trees and flowing water. I greatly enjoyed this as it had been way too long since we last hiked in the woods. The payoff at the top is a spectacular view of the city below. We clumsily tried to take a photo with Julia on my shoulders but nothing came out worthy of showing on the blog.

Waterfalls

View of Matagalpa from lookout

After the hike, we strolled around town doing some shopping. We bought gifts and found a liquor we have been wanting to stock up on for our wedding. Thus our packs became a little heavier. That night we ate some infamous jalapeño beef, fell asleep to the sound of fireworks (we assume as a prefunc before the "Feast of the Immaculate Conception" taking place the following week, or they just love fireworks).

The next day (Friday), we caught a bus to a town higher up in the hills, called Jinotega. A smaller settlement but it still had plenty of discount clothes stores to wander through. We are intrigued by the abundance of cheap clothes stores around Central America and here we got to see how the system works. Trucks unload tightly wrapped white bundles at stores. The stores then stock them in a back room and when the racks get low, they unwrap a bundle of mixed unwanted American clothes and put them in the appropriate place. Sometimes they just dump the clothes into a large bin and let people rummage through, charging around a dollar per item. We were able to find some good stuff, most notably some christmas pajamas for Julia and a high quality Kansas Jayhawks Paul Pierce jersey for Micah.

The rest of our time in Jinotega was spent walking through the hillside cemetery, eating street pizza and pupusas, looking at the holiday displays in the central park, and regrettably eating Chinese food for dinner. The last thing on that list would haunt Julia for a few days after, causing her to think she got the Zika and making the long travel day back to Gran Pacifica an arduous journey.

View of Jinotega from the cemetery

Central Park holiday display with cars driving by

Despite Julia's belly full of regret, we made it back to the resort on Saturday and successfully hitchhiked the last 11 km yet again. This time, all we had to do was step off the bus and Spencer (son of Angie's boss, Patrick) just happened to be driving by and slowed down when he saw some white people. We hopped in the backseat and after a quick stop at Burrito Bandidos for a drink, we were back "home". On our first night back, the resort was celebrating the opening of their new hangout spot called "Meatgrinders Beach Bar" (the name refers to the surf break it overlooks). Julia stayed home but I joined in for some of the fun. They had a local dance group come to perform and lead dancing, which was a success.

Dance party

Thankfully, Julia began to feel better on Sunday, and we could help them setup their Christmas tree and play with the kiddos for the last few days of our trip. Also, that meant we could fully enjoy the resort's staff Christmas party that took place all day Tuesday. The workers got their families bused in and the day began with some popcorn, cotton candy, face painting, balloon animals and a clever clown. We understood very little of what was said, but the locals were crying with laughter.

Other activities included 3 piñatas, a bounce house, sand volleyball, buffet food, pool time, and an oceanfront slip 'n slide. Not a bad way to spend our last full day at Gran Pacifica. I will let the pictures tell more of the day's story.

The setup for the staff party

Kaiden seems confused by Julia's face paint

Dominic enjoying the party

Kaiden hitting the piñata while the clown makes jokes

Notice the girl is jumping while she hits the Santa piñata

Even the clown played volleyball

Slippin' and sliding

Wednesday was the day after the Tuesday party, and that was the day Angie and Osman drove us into Managua in order to catch our flight the next morning. We accomplished a good amount that day; Julia saw a dentist to get a filling put in (for $35), we bought some final gifts from the market, and we got to see lava flowing in the crater of Volcano Masaya. It was a very cool sight, seeing the lava change colors as it sloshed around and crashed against the walls. The view was better than the pictures below make it seem.

Lava in Volcano Masaya

A closer look

We stayed our final night in a hotel near the airport, and braved a dark walk for our last taste of Nicaraguan street food. For the most part, our transport back to Portland was smooth. Our original flight home was from Atlanta - San Francisco - PDX, but as the Pacific NW was hit by a snow storm, flights became delayed. We luckily switched to a direct from ATL - PDX and made it home on time, but our bags did not. They would take the scenic route; Julia's arrived the next day, while mine took 4 days to land on our doorstep. We weren't too worried since the shorts and t-shirts they contained were not needed in the snow. Plus we received compensation from Delta for our troubles.

Jumping back into real life quickly, we enjoyed the beginning of the holiday festivities with a cocktail party that Friday and the church cookie walk on Sunday. Julia was back to work on Monday, but the busiest part of our first week back had to do with cars. Purchasing a new vehicle has been on our mind for a while and this seemed like the time to get it done. So, we decided to post Julia's 2003 Honda CR-V on craigslist at a dream price, just to see if it got interest. Surprisingly we got multiple inquiries right away and soon were scrambling to figure out the logistics of selling it that same day. Fortunately my brother Chris was in China for work and his car was available to use, and without it we wouldn't have been able to meet a man that afternoon who would give us a wad of cash in exchange for keys. It was then that we looked at each other and said "I guess we are buying a new car".    

The next couple days were spent scouring the internet for mid-sized SUVs and walking around used car lots. One lot in particular left us with a story to tell, as a young woman helped us out despite knowing very little about cars. She had just recently gotten the job after she had bought a car from the company. She said her only requirement for her car was that it had an input for her phone so she could play music. We stopped asking her car questions after that revelation. She then proceeded to show us a car that was the dirtiest we have ever seen. Apparently there was a misunderstanding about whether it had been detailed, and clearly it hadn't. Dog hair filled every crevice and we didn't even want to sit on the seats. An Eastern European mechanic tried to sell us on it saying "We clean up for you, it will be like new when we are done" and "You drive this car you will love it, this is a great car". The whole scene was kind of entertaining but a little sad as we really thought this could be a good car that currently looked horrible. We refused to test drive it because of my dog allergies and we didn't want to stick to anything.

On the way back to the office, we talked about the holidays with the young sales lady, and she shared that her family had escaped war torn Kosovo when she was 3 and that they had spent 6 months in hiding. It was a random thing to hear and makes you wonder what other crazy stories seemingly regular people have.

After the car shopping on Wednesday morning in Portland, we luckily escaped town for Kelso to see Julia's parents before things got crazy in the metro area. The snow began to fall at 1pm as we were heading north, and by rush hour when we were peacefully watching the snow accumulate, the city streets became a mess and friends spent hours in their cars trying to travel a few miles. The next day, the main roads were good and we looked at more cars, but Julia's scheduled work for Friday had been cancelled. All of these events became important factors to us getting a great deal on a vehicle.

View of Julia's parent's house with the snow

We came across a posting on craigslist for a 2013 Honda CR-V for a price just slightly out of our range. After inquiring if the seller would come down a little, we met him in the parking lot of a QVC in Beaverton. The car looked and drove beautifully and the price seemed too good to be true. The man was from South Korea and just finished 18 months of work for Portland State University. His english was decent but not great, so some questions couldn't be really be answered. We had to trust our gut, and then when our gut told us to buy it, we had to determine if we could spend all of our savings, and then how we could get all of that cash in hand to give to the man by tomorrow. It was a good learning experience. We didn't plan the movement of money very well but got lucky that Julia's parents had just liquidated some assets and could lend us some cash. Plus our current landlords (Lucas & Tarah) were able to lend us a chuck of change as well. We spent a lot of time in banks the next 24 hours and somehow, when the final stack of bills was handed to our new friend from South Korea by the bank teller on Saturday afternoon, we were the proud owners of an expensive piece of machinery.

Our new ride

Well, that was the biggest news from our time back in Portland. The other notable events are as follows; Saturday night was our friends white elephant/ugly sweater party (I came home with some truck shaped taco holders and Julia scored some wine flavored gummy bears), we began registering for wedding items at REI and Macys, we went ice skating for Julia's work Christmas party, I babysat some nephews and took them to OMSI along with my Dad, we both had good friends in town causing us to stay up late 2 nights in a row, and finally... Julia has accepted another travel position, this time in Federal Way, WA starting at the end of January.

Currently, we are up in Kelso to celebrate Christmas with Julia's parents. Sunday, we will head down to my Dad's and celebrate with most of my family. Hopefully all of you are having a happy holiday season and thanks for checking in on us. (Please consider the comment above and the picture below as our Christmas card to you)

From our family to yours

Glory Days

There's a bit of nostalgia for me in visiting my sister at Gran Pacifica. It is a place associated with happy memories and it has become a comfortable second home. I'll be the first to admit that I am nostalgic about many parts of my life. As much as I enjoy planning the near future, I spend a lot of time reminiscing over happy times from my past and wondering how to recreate them. I imagine one day moving back to Montana; if I could live in the pseudo-trailer apartment from my sophomore year of college with my best friend and swing dance every weekend, I would in a second; and I'd love to quit my job (yes, again) and travel for a period of time longer than a typical vacation. But if I am never able to repeat theses things, at least I know I'm able to return to my sister's home and step back into the same lifestyle with the same people that make this place worth returning to.

 In León we chose to head "home" instead of a side trip north. We spent two days in León, gorging ourselves with jalapeno chicken (Nicaragua's signature meat dish), climbing atop the roof of the blindingly white cathedral, and some basic shopping. We caught a bus from León to Managua, confronted the bus helper for intentionally overcharging us (impressively, only the 3rd time in all of our international travels we feel this has happened), and got off at the cross roads. Timing was impeccable as the bus we needed to switch to picked us up on the side of the road within a few minutes, and we were on our way.

Blue skies

Volcano views from the cathedral

Luckily, little changes at GP (Gran Pacifica) between our trips so it does feel like we were just here weeks ago, instead of an entire year. There are small, notable differences: few new houses have been constructed on property; there are crayon marks and dirt on the walls that we spent weeks painting; piña coladas have returned to the happy hour menu. Otherwise, our days and time at GP have been the same. Although now we're helping my sister and her husband keep two small humans alive.

We follow the same pattern each day- breakfast once we get out of bed, practice throwing the frisbee with Kaiden, make faces and noises at Dominic in an attempt to make him laugh, eat lunch, swim in the pool, eat dinner. We spice up the schedule occasionally with walks, rides in the golf cart, fishing (unsuccessfully) for barracuda, and trips to the beach. We haven't yet made it golfing or surfing, but we're content for now.

A few of the men

Micah and Osman fishing off the point

Fighting a big one (seaweed)

Dominic's first swim- cheeks and chins for days!

An evening run in the rain before jumping in the pool in p.j.s (Julia, Micah & Kaiden)

Two days have differed from this norm. The first of those days was Thanksgiving Day. If you recall, last year we made the turkey, gravy, and stuffing with Mark's help for the restaurant's "American" Thanksgiving feast. After hearing stories of how awful the Canadian thanksgiving meal was one week prior, Micah and I gave Angie the ok to offer our services again this year. Her boss accepted, and we made a grocery list for items needed to cook 30 pounds of turkey and 3 batches of stuffing. As the day approached, there was some hesitation whether the dinner would occur, thanks to Hurricane Otto's projected path floating just south of us. By Wednesday evening, we got the thumbs up to cook regardless, with hopes that the 70mph winds and heavy rain wouldn't hit until late Thursday night or Friday morning. All was smooth and by noon, we had 1 turkey in the oven with the 2nd turkey on its way to begin the cooking process. When Micah returned to the condo where we were working for the day after turning the second oven on, he stated with disbelief that some random person had just told him that we were evacuating. We shrugged it off, but two minutes later the boss' daughter frantically stormed in to the condo and told us that Angie sent her to evacuate us immediately. We quickly learned that there had been two earthquakes, approximately 60 miles off the Pacific coast and just north of us, registering at 6.8 and 7.2. We decided to turn all ovens off and ended up ridding with Angie in the golf cart off the property and <1km further on the bumpy dirt road to slightly higher ground in preparation for a possible tsunami. Most of the restaurant workers and permanent residents were already there; the Nicaraguans were telling jokes and laughing, the gringos were a bit more concerned. None as freaked out as the intern they currently have at GP though, who told Micah she was practicing holding her breath in anticipation of the large wave that was going to hit her. The entertainment, at her expense, was amusing.

The calm before the storm

Slightly higher ground

There were reports of the water receding, indicating a tsunami was coming. We sat in the shade on the side of the road, Kaiden showing his mini dump truck to the local construction guys, for just over an hour and a half. We learned that there was in fact a small tsunami, likely just a visible swell and large wave. When we got the ok to return with the warning that we were still on tsunami alert due to potential after shocks, Micah and I turned four ovens on and got back to work. Dinner was only 30 minutes late despite our set backs, and we ended up not needing to use the 3 natural disasters that hit as an excuse for gross food; the turkey and stuffing turned out great. And luckily, Hurricane Otto's side effects missed us that night, and didn't hurt the country as much as was feared.

"Cheers"ing to a memorable Thanksgiving

Our other atypical day at GP was this past Tuesday. Micah and I, with the help of a girlfriend of my sister's, were able to pull off a surprise baby shower/welcome home BBQ for Angie, Osman, and the niños. We cooked hamburgers and drank Toñas with 20 of their friends, and made people tie yuccas around their waist and fight to be the first to get the tip in a bottle. Our friend from Texas who reminds us of George W was the priceless winner.

Yucca in the bottle

Party

Yesterday we rented a vehicle and headed into Managua with the family. We took advantage of cheap foreign healthcare and went to the dentist for $30 per person, followed up by some market shopping. Around 1 o' clock, we said adios to the others and Micah and I took a taxi to the bus terminal to head north. When traveling to Nicaragua from Honduras, the map revealed that the only part of Nicaragua we'd neglected to visit was the north eastern towns. Since we headed to GP after León, this was our chance. We boarded a chicken bus with 56 locals and a goose and drove up the mountains to Matagalpa. Once arrived, we dusted off the cobwebs and began our hotel search. After four attempts, we found a winner one block off of the smaller of two central parks, a great view of the urban city, and less than $20/night.

We set out to explore last night and discovered that this bustling city thrives on its coffee plantations and used clothing shops with few tourists. Nestled in the highlands, it's refreshing to wear long sleeves again. We walked through the parks, stepped into the cathedral and peeked in a few of the stores. Had success in one store in particular, where we purchased Micah an authentic Nicaraguan wedding ring! Found our typical plate dinner and were reminded of how well Nicaraguans season and cook their meat.

Full plate of grilled meat, gallo pinto and plantains for $3

Iglesia Catedral San Pedro

This morning we both agreed that this town deserves a second night of our attention. We always enjoy towns where there are few other gringos to be seen, the food is cheap, and there are hills to climb. We paid for a second night and are now planning our last few days on the road. Need to soak up as much of this budget traveler lifestyle as we can, knowing that we'll be back in the U.S. and putting on work clothes before we know it.