Un montón de fotos!

In this edition of the my evolving blog there will not be a unified story nor a long and involved story either.  Rather a collection of photos from my recent adventures with some captions to help tell the story.

Volcano Boarding: This is a nascent 'sport' similar to sand-boarding but with the goal being to set speed records (In fact watch this video to get an idea of how fast is possible) while sitting on a peice of wood with a little pedazo of formica pasted onto the bottom.  The pictures should help get the idea too.

The volcano with the road leading up to it.  It's an active volcano that has erupted over 20 times since its birth in the 1850s.  The last eruption was in 1995ish so we're due an eruption soon...

From the top - like I said, active with the steam and hot rocks to prove it.

Gotta do the tourist thing!

Absolutely beautiful.  Can't wait to see how the panaromas turn out!

These are our sweeeeet protect my skin jumpsuits.  Unlike sandboarding, volcano boarding hurts when you fall over - and I fell over a lot!  In fact I was god-awful.  They clock your speed wit the record being about 87kph at the bottom.  The max in our group was 50ish and mine was a whopping 24 - but it sure felt fast...

You can just make out our truck at the bottom...it's super steep

Laughing cause I was awful.  Laughing for joy that I didn't end up with a bloody head or black eye (both happened in my group). Laughing that I will never get all the black soot out of my hair, ears, mouth.  Or just a combo of all of the above.  And looking forward to the ice cold beer waiting in the truck...

Poneloya - or my first visit to the Pacific.  Leon is super close to the beach and it is a normal weekend excurision for the Nicas.  Turned out to be a lousy beach day but that doesn't mean the food wasnt good...

Doing the - this is the 1st time Ive touched the Pacific dance and thinking "wow i cant wait to swim in this in a few weeks!)

Sopa de marina - Riquisima!!!!  What you can't see is the half of a fish that's hiding under all the shelled goodies!  And the best part - it costs a whopping 6 dollars!

The aftermath.  It's hard work to eat all that food!

It's nice to eat with a great view.

Struck me more like Africa than Nicaragua...

Fiesta de San Jeronimo:  The Nicas love their fiestas.  The week before was the Virgen of the Merced.  This time for San Jeronimo.  But the difference was night and day.  Virgen de la Merced is a rather religious affair with masses, the rosary and very little alcohol.  San Jeronimo is a giant party with only 1 mass, no rosaries and lots and lots of rum.  I spent the Thursday night in the hospital of Leon with the surgeon who nworks in El Sauce and sutured alot of drunk guys with head lacerations.  So the next morning I had to go see what the deal was all about.

Here's the scoop and recipe for disaster.  Make a turtle-like shell to put over your head and body - without a way to see.  Fashion a head that nominally resembles a bulls head.  Find two large, preferably sharp, bulls horns and attach to the head.  Find people to bang on some drums.  Gather with a bunch of people who have similarily built turtle/bulls and buy lots of cheap rum and beer.  Put the turtle/bull on your head and while your budies pelt the shell with sticks jump up and down and spin around.  Repeat for 36 hours.

The statue of San Jeronimo.  All in all a very interesting event.  The best part - I saw at least 2 guys I had sutured the night before back out on the street the next morning - bandage on head and rum in hand.  Gotta celebrate!

El Sauce - a bird's eye view.  On the first day I walked back from the hospital I saw this little mountain top in the near-distance without any trees on the top and thought - wow I bet the view from that is awesome!  I tried to make plans to climb it but it didn't work out - until yesterday.  And I was not disappointed.  The walk was simple and I passed some beautiful houses a good hour away from Sauce and not very accessible except for on foot.  A good way to see another part of El Sauce.

That's El Sauce down there!  And a bit to the right - the Hospital.

Well worth the trek!  Another one where I can't wait to see what the Panoramas look like.

But just so I wouldn't forget the fact that I am in Nicaragua - the poorest Spanish speaking country in the world and the 2nd poorest country in the western hemisphere.  At least they have a Zinc roof.

This week I will be heading off to Honduras to experience some more Latino culture, some Mayan ruins and even a chance to hang with some Rochester peeps in San Jose.