The island giveth and the island taketh away...

Isle De Ometepe
The name Ometepe means ‘two hills’ in the native ‘náhuatl’ language. The island is located in the 5th largest lake in the world, Lake Nicaragua. At one time the lake was connected to the pacific ocean, but a series of Volcanos poped up isolating the lake from the ocean. As a result a rare fresh water bull shark became a legendary feature of the lake. In the 60's the Nicaragua government allowed the Japanese to hunt the sharks, at the rate of 20,000 a year for 10 years. Now spotting the sharks is extremly rare except near a river that leads to the Carribean side. The climate here is based around the rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season is from May to December and usually involves a couple of major showers a day followed by sunshine. The result is a kind of eternal summer, but the locals call the dry season (now) summer. The temp is typically between 75 and 85 degees but occasionally gets down to 68 and up to 95... it is a rough life! The lake also rises a few feet with the rainy and dry seasons. The rainy season was a large
My hostel in very near Santa Cruz which is at the intersection of the Maderas loop.
The island is easily split in half between the Volcanos. Maderas is smaller and inactive. It is a muddy and challenging 8 hour climb to the top and back. At the top there is a small lagoon. The road around the volcano is almost impassable at parts. The rain washes the dirt away and is left with large rocks everywhere. The villages are very small and friendly, and you get the feeling that you are in a very remote part of the world.
Conception is a the larger volcano and is VERY active. The last major eruption was in the 1950's, but it blows off some steam about every year. The two major cities on the island our on this side, Moyogalpa and Altagracia, and a paved road connects the two. To climb Conception take 12 hours and is a very step and difficult trek. It is almost impossible to get to the top and look in the crater. The upper half is void or trees and lots of wind, sun, and gravel await. It does make for beauftiful pictures!
The people of the island are extremly friendly and helpful. About half speak some English and only a few speak it well enough to converse. All across the island are ancient pre columbian artifacts, carvings, and painting... called petroglyphs. VERY little is known about people the inhabited the island at this time. A few people have come up with theorys, but with little facts to base them on because no real research has been done. My theory is the Anasasi tribes from the 4 corners walked down here of serveral generations. The stone carvings are incredible similar.
OK, I must serve dinner. I have made BBQ brisket tonight in a little tribute to Kansas City.

keep your mouth closed while riding a bike

I just purchased my plane ticket back to the states. I am not sure if there is a betting pool on if I was going to come back, but whoever had April 21st wins. I am scheduled to arrive in KC around 2pm on that Tuesday. Any volunteers to pick me up? I am still not sure what I will do once I return, but I will keep you updated when I figure it out.
Story time:
On Monday I decided to go to the nearest place with internet, a 1 hour bike ride to a hotel in Santa Domingo. We were without internet for 3 days and I needed to check e-mails about the possible gig in Alaska. On the bike ride there I was going down a hill and a sizeable bug flew into my throat. At first I tried to cough it up with no avail. Then I just tried to swallow it, and again no good. I am now realizing that I have caught a wasp in my throat because I can feel it sting me. After a moment of panic, I realize the only thing I can do is to keep going and find help. A bit down the road I find a small tienda and buy some aqua. At this point my throat is swolen and in pain, but I realize that if I havent stopped breathing by now, I will probably be ok. I get the internet place and get some ice. In my head I think this is bad, but should only hurt for a bit and then get better and hopefully the ice will help. After about 5 minutes on the internet I realize that my throat is getting much worse and I am not going to be able to sit it out. I find a school close by, and thanks be to God, they had a small clinic room with a nurse. He had a look in my throat and told me (in Spanish) that the stinger was still in there and he would have to get it out. He tried with some cotton swaps, but with no luck. He then told me that we would have to go to Altagracia (slightly bigger town on the island) to the clinic. Luckily he was going and said he would take me, but he also had to visit a patient and it ended up being a 2.5 hour truck ride. At some point I could no longer swallow, but I held it together and was able to breath ok. Once in the clinic he took me to the dentist who held my head down and pulled out half a wasp that had been lodged in my throat for 4 hours. After that I went to get ice cream and starting feeling much better. I also had to get some medication for the swelling and to make sure it was all cleaned out. By the next day I was feeling right a rain and I havent had any ill effects.
Looking back on the situation, altough it took a long time, I was well taken care of and it only cost about $2 for the medication I needed. I actually think I prefer the third world health care to the privitized version we have in the states.
Otherwise, not much has changed around here. Hope everyone has a lucky Friday the 13th!

same 'ol thing

Not much new to report. Things don't change much on an island. We did have a pool party on Monday that was a lot of fun. There is a small pool/holding tank on the property that we cleaned out and filled up with fresh water. We made rum punch with fresh fruit and I BBQed on a make shift grill. It was a great day until some left over embers from the grill blew onto the wood pile and almost burnt down the bodega (tool shed). Bri, the girl that has been helping me, is leaving this weekend. A guy named Ty is going to take over. He is from Canada and will be a fun edition to the cast of characters here. He is only 20, and a bit of a party animal, but hopefully we can keep things under control.
Many people have commented about me being in Costa Rica. Just to be clear, I am in Nicaragua. I know from a US perspective it may be hard tell the two apart, but to people here it would be like confusing the US and Canada. Costa Rica is very beautiful, but it has become very Americanized and expensive. The people there are also very good a dealing with tourist, but also good at taking your money. Nicaragua is still very remote and the people here are very nice. They are not use to tourist and in general are extremly nice and interested to meet and talk with you. It is also a beautiful country with many amazing places. To some up, Nicaragua is cheaper and the people are nicer than in Costa Rica.
The national dish here is Gallo Pinto (black beans and rice). Normally serverd with Nica chesse (similar to feta) and eggs. It is somewhat bland, but can be eaten for breakfast, lunch, or dinner. Nicaragua was plagued by civil war until 1989. This means the population is young and mostly women. The island I am on, Ometepe, was insulated from the conflict and the population here is actually 2 men to every women. The civil war was provoked by the States in an attempt to overthrow the government. The US's involvement here is much like it's involvement in the Middle East now, trying to mess with a place for its resources under the guise of "political" issues. The goverment was overtrown and a democracy was set up. Since then the socalist party was won the elections and regained power. Some watch out baby boomer population, I live in a semi-communist state!
OK, there is a little history for you. I will write about the Island itself later.