By: Kelly
Now that I've been in a relationship for a semi-decent amount of time, I thought I would impart my vast bank of knowledge on you. Because you know, life is completely different once you have a boyfriend. Except not at all...Still, I guess I can tell you what I've learned. It isn't groundbreaking stuff; most of it is really obvious. But it's the kind of stuff that I always used to subconsciously doubt in the back of my mind so maybe I can lend it some more credibility. Because I'm so credible.
Lesson #1: Remember when I complained about the way girls invade your privacy once you get a boyfriend? How I bitched about the way they swarm around you with their incessant congratulations and badgering about how the two of you got together? I got what I wanted pretty quickly because everyone shut up pretty fast. In fact, it turns out what people do later is even worse than their original reactions to your changed relationship status. After you've been dating your significant other for a month or so and they see that you are still blissfully happy but not nauseatingly so, the subject of your relationship becomes completely taboo. If you dare bring him up, even in the context of the conversation, you get reproachful looks and hasty topic changes. I wish I could understand this but I really can't. Is it because they don't have what you have? Is it because back when they were congratulating you, they never really expected your happiness to last? Is it because they no longer feel needed by you and feel threatened by your non-dependence on someone else? Because at least if I were dependent on my boyfriend, I would run to my friends at the first sign of trouble because I would need comforting and another crutch to lean on. Whatever, the world may never know.
Lesson #2: Relationships are very anti-climactic in the best possible way. Before you have a real one, they're just this enigmatic concept that seems to transcend human understanding. Sure on paper a relationship is two people who share common values, enjoy spending time together, and are attracted to one another, but in reality, there must be something more MAGICAL than that. Relationships are christened with mystical holy water of which only taken people can be blessed. But no, it turns out relationships are no different than any other aspect of life- strange, wonderful, complicated, and painful from time to time. Relationship relationships aren't all that different from the other types you've had throughout your life and they aren't something of which to be scared. Your partner should be your best friend first and your lover second. As long as the foundation is something familiar and stable, nothing will be too foreign to you to handle. Sure it will feel like work sometimes and you'll hate it but nothing worthwhile comes easy in this life.
Lesson #3: Except, I lied. There is something unique about relationships, obviously. While the thrill of the chase is the uncertainty and the newness, the thrill of a relationship is the certainty and the familiarity. You're probably saying, duh. But what was revolutionary about this to me was that I could actually enjoy the benefits of a relationship as much as the benefits of the chase. When you're single, you revel in feeling special because you're the object of the attention of a bunch of guys and are owned by no one. When you're taken, you revel in feeling special because of that attention from the same guys except you are even more unattainable to them because there is no hope for them whatsoever. AND you get extra attention from a guy who worships you because he won what he thinks should be un-winnable. It's disgusting, the lengths a girl will go to in order to have her ego flattered. (I seem to recall saying the same about guys in one of my first posts...) I always thought I would be bored and dissatisfied because I'm the girl that runs away and analyzes but now I honestly believe every girl has the possibility and likelihood of finding someone who she will one day allow to catch her. The warm fuzzy feelings are just as good as the pulse and mind racing ones. And that still boggles my mind on a daily basis.
Lesson #4: All that garbage about the importance of communication? 100% true. A relationship won't survive a week if you let your pride get the best of you and you refuse to talk about something. Otherwise resentments just build up and build up and it doesn't take long for them to completely halt everything. Granted, in my relationship tension is generally released when my boyfriend drunk texts me and if he weren't so blunt the rest of the time, I would see that as highly dysfunctional. But luckily he is very blunt. He never hesitates to tell me something because he thinks it will hurts my feelings. And as a result, I know everything he says is real. When he compliments me, I know it isn't fake flattery but completely genuine and therefore much more valuable. Me? I tend to not tell him the good or the bad and hold onto all of my cards which is probably bad, but I'm working on it.
Lesson #5: Sex doesn't change a thing. I was warned by multiple friends that it would mess everything up based on their personal accounts but honestly, all sex does is enhance the way things already are. If there are insecurities there, they will be exacerbated. If there is manipulation or uncertainty, it will multiply after sex. But if things are generally good and you are confident in yourself and your relationship is healthy, it isn't going to change a thing. You will be amazed. I think parents and society brainwash girls into thinking the second they have sex, they are going to feel guilty, dirty, used, and hurt but it definitely doesn't have to be that way. The only reason a girl would feel that way is if she had sex with a guy as a favor to him or for some other equally stupid reason (everyone else is doing it, to make a guy like you more, etc.) As long as you do it because you want to enjoy it selfishly in addition to it being a way to get closer emotionally to your partner, you'll feel no regret; in fact, you'll feel empowered. Don't let sex become another mind game. It's way too good for that.
Monday, May 30, 2011
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
The Selfishness of Love
By: Kelly
So I recently finished reading Atlas Shrugged and all I can say is, wow. I always joke that becoming a radical is an integral part of the college experience but I honestly think Rand is misinterpreted as extreme by people who haven’t read her work. She’s not “conservative” by today’s standards; she doesn’t fit into any mainstream ideology. She just trumpets rationalism and individual freedom above all else. I’m not going to get into the politics of it all (even though it’s tempting) but I wanted to post some of her quotes about love and relationships. Her opinions on romance reflect her entire life philosophy.
Arguably the most famous line of the whole book is the solemn promise that defines Rand’s moral code:
“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
This is where people incorrectly perceive Rand as celebrating “greed” and “selfishness.” She makes a convincing argument that these terms have been twisted to mean something else and that in reality, it is our greed and selfishness that is the saving grace of humanity. We call our values “values” for a reason- in order for them to have meaning, they must be earned. In order for us to live by our values, we can never just give or take based on need. Love is not an act of charity. She says, “The symbol of all relationships, the moral symbol of respect for human beings, is the trader. We, who live by values, not by loot, are traders, both in matter and in spirit. A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved.”
How exactly is love a transaction? The price we pay is our emotional attachments and the reward is “the joy we receive from the virtues of another.” Therefore, she turns the popular idea of morality on its head. In reality, love requires no sacrifice and it is not unconditional. Real love is NOT blind, contrary to popular opinion. One of the most asinine characters in the book illustrates this popular notion in the following dialogue:
“I want to be loved for myself- not for anything I do or have to say or think. For myself- not for my body or mind or words or works or actions.”
“But then…what is yourself?”
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t ask it.”
Later on, the same character says, “Love is its own cause! Love is above causes and reasons. Love is blind. But you wouldn’t be capable of it. You have the mean, scheming calculating little soul of a shopkeeper who trades, but never gives! Love is a gift- a great, free, unconditional gift that transcends and forgives everything. What’s the generosity of loving a man for his virtues? What do you give him? Nothing. It’s no more than cold justice. No more than he’s earned.”
I always hated when people said, “If you loved me, you would ______.” That is someone demanding you live for them rather than for yourself on the basis of nothing. That suggests that love is unthinking and irrational. A man who sacrifices his values, or anything he deems just and good, for the sake of someone else, has committed the greatest of follies.
It is the just nature of love that makes it beautiful. When we love, we are celebrating ourselves. We’re saying, THESE are the qualities and ideas that I hold most dear. When I look at you, I see the embodiment of the traits that I’ve chosen to govern my life. In order for the words “I love you” to have any significance, the “I” has to hold meaning. Otherwise, who cares? This is why pride is important and not something of which to be ashamed. Rather, “pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value, and like all of man’s values, it has to be earned.”
She says that any time we doubt ourselves, “every feeling of inferiority and secret unworthiness is man’s hidden dread of his inability to deal with existence.” We reject our ability to live, to fight, to make decisions and face the consequences- in essence, what it means to be human. This is why honesty as key. Honesty is “the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud.” She says there can only be freedom in honesty. “People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one's reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked.”
She also says that our physical and emotional desires are permanently intertwined. Our rejection of one set results in a failed attempt to compensate with the other. By choosing to live in a constructed dream world rather than having the strength to face life as it is, we make ourselves slaves to a delusion and live a veiled existence. If we reject our physical desires and the material world, we search for solace by seeking an alternative emotional release. An example is the woman who receives no sexual fulfillment from her husband and throws herself into church or work. If we ignore our emotional desires, we turn to physical pleasures for an escape. An example of this is the man who cannot face the broken feelings of his family and turns to drugs, alcohol, or an affair for temporary satisfaction. Unless the twin desires remain intertwined as they are meant to be, you can never be satisfied. And they can only remain intertwined if you accept the responsibilities of observing, analyzing, and responding to the world around you, even when it’s hard and it hurts. Rand says, “Only the man who extols the purity of a love devoid of desire, is capable of the depravity of a desire devoid of love.”
This connection between the physical and the emotional is best described in this quote, which also sums up the point of this post:
"Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a person's sexual choice is the result and sum of their fundamental convictions. Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive and I will tell you their entire philosophy of life. Show me the person they sleep with and I will tell you their valuation of themselves. No matter what corruption they're taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which they cannot perform for any motive but their own enjoyment - just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity! - an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exultation, only on the confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire. It is an act that forces them to stand naked in spirit, as well as in body, and accept their real ego as their standard of value. They will always be attracted to the person who reflects their deepest vision of themselves, the person whose surrender permits them to experience - or to fake - a sense of self-esteem .. Love is our response to our highest values - and can be nothing else."
So what is the application of this knowledge, that love is selfish? It’s not to say that in a disagreement with a significant other, you demand my way or the highway. It doesn’t mean you should only consider what you want, rather than what the other person wants. This is the standard definition of selfishness, not Rand’s. Instead this allows us to recognize that the reason you "put others before yourself" is because seeing the person you love unhappy will make YOU unhappy. At the end of the book, two characters that are in love face a dilemma. The man is wanted by the police and when his lover goes to him, she is tailed and they arrest him. Before the police arrive however, he tells her that she must pretend she hates him and had every intention of turning him in. If the police were to find out that he loves her, they would torture her to get him to obey their commands. He says that if that ever happened, he would kill himself immediately because he would rather die than see her in such pain. Rand’s point is, that would be an entirely selfish act of love. If you choose to honor the wishes of someone else because you love them, it is not a sacrifice. It means that the joy you receive from seeing them happy is greater than the joy you would receive from pursuing your own desire. The benefits outweigh the costs. Or in the example I just used, the costs of seeing your lover suffer is not worth the benefits of staying alive. I’ll end this with a conversation I had a while ago with my boyfriend. He was asking me about this guy I used to like and why it didn’t work out. I told him, “He was too selfish to care about me.” He smiled knowingly and said, “I’m too selfish not to.”
So I recently finished reading Atlas Shrugged and all I can say is, wow. I always joke that becoming a radical is an integral part of the college experience but I honestly think Rand is misinterpreted as extreme by people who haven’t read her work. She’s not “conservative” by today’s standards; she doesn’t fit into any mainstream ideology. She just trumpets rationalism and individual freedom above all else. I’m not going to get into the politics of it all (even though it’s tempting) but I wanted to post some of her quotes about love and relationships. Her opinions on romance reflect her entire life philosophy.
Arguably the most famous line of the whole book is the solemn promise that defines Rand’s moral code:
“I swear by my life and my love of it that I will never live for the sake of another man, nor ask another man to live for mine.”
This is where people incorrectly perceive Rand as celebrating “greed” and “selfishness.” She makes a convincing argument that these terms have been twisted to mean something else and that in reality, it is our greed and selfishness that is the saving grace of humanity. We call our values “values” for a reason- in order for them to have meaning, they must be earned. In order for us to live by our values, we can never just give or take based on need. Love is not an act of charity. She says, “The symbol of all relationships, the moral symbol of respect for human beings, is the trader. We, who live by values, not by loot, are traders, both in matter and in spirit. A trader is a man who earns what he gets and does not give or take the undeserved.”
How exactly is love a transaction? The price we pay is our emotional attachments and the reward is “the joy we receive from the virtues of another.” Therefore, she turns the popular idea of morality on its head. In reality, love requires no sacrifice and it is not unconditional. Real love is NOT blind, contrary to popular opinion. One of the most asinine characters in the book illustrates this popular notion in the following dialogue:
“I want to be loved for myself- not for anything I do or have to say or think. For myself- not for my body or mind or words or works or actions.”
“But then…what is yourself?”
“If you loved me, you wouldn’t ask it.”
Later on, the same character says, “Love is its own cause! Love is above causes and reasons. Love is blind. But you wouldn’t be capable of it. You have the mean, scheming calculating little soul of a shopkeeper who trades, but never gives! Love is a gift- a great, free, unconditional gift that transcends and forgives everything. What’s the generosity of loving a man for his virtues? What do you give him? Nothing. It’s no more than cold justice. No more than he’s earned.”
I always hated when people said, “If you loved me, you would ______.” That is someone demanding you live for them rather than for yourself on the basis of nothing. That suggests that love is unthinking and irrational. A man who sacrifices his values, or anything he deems just and good, for the sake of someone else, has committed the greatest of follies.
It is the just nature of love that makes it beautiful. When we love, we are celebrating ourselves. We’re saying, THESE are the qualities and ideas that I hold most dear. When I look at you, I see the embodiment of the traits that I’ve chosen to govern my life. In order for the words “I love you” to have any significance, the “I” has to hold meaning. Otherwise, who cares? This is why pride is important and not something of which to be ashamed. Rather, “pride is the recognition of the fact that you are your own highest value, and like all of man’s values, it has to be earned.”
She says that any time we doubt ourselves, “every feeling of inferiority and secret unworthiness is man’s hidden dread of his inability to deal with existence.” We reject our ability to live, to fight, to make decisions and face the consequences- in essence, what it means to be human. This is why honesty as key. Honesty is “the recognition of the fact that the unreal is unreal and can have no value, that neither love nor fame nor cash is a value if obtained by fraud.” She says there can only be freedom in honesty. “People think that a liar gains a victory over his victim. What I've learned is that a lie is an act of self-abdication, because one surrenders one's reality to the person to whom one lies, making that person one's master, condemning oneself from then on to faking the sort of reality that person's view requires to be faked.”
She also says that our physical and emotional desires are permanently intertwined. Our rejection of one set results in a failed attempt to compensate with the other. By choosing to live in a constructed dream world rather than having the strength to face life as it is, we make ourselves slaves to a delusion and live a veiled existence. If we reject our physical desires and the material world, we search for solace by seeking an alternative emotional release. An example is the woman who receives no sexual fulfillment from her husband and throws herself into church or work. If we ignore our emotional desires, we turn to physical pleasures for an escape. An example of this is the man who cannot face the broken feelings of his family and turns to drugs, alcohol, or an affair for temporary satisfaction. Unless the twin desires remain intertwined as they are meant to be, you can never be satisfied. And they can only remain intertwined if you accept the responsibilities of observing, analyzing, and responding to the world around you, even when it’s hard and it hurts. Rand says, “Only the man who extols the purity of a love devoid of desire, is capable of the depravity of a desire devoid of love.”
This connection between the physical and the emotional is best described in this quote, which also sums up the point of this post:
"Love is blind, they say; sex is impervious to reason and mocks the power of all philosophers. But, in fact, a person's sexual choice is the result and sum of their fundamental convictions. Tell me what a person finds sexually attractive and I will tell you their entire philosophy of life. Show me the person they sleep with and I will tell you their valuation of themselves. No matter what corruption they're taught about the virtue of selflessness, sex is the most profoundly selfish of all acts, an act which they cannot perform for any motive but their own enjoyment - just try to think of performing it in a spirit of selfless charity! - an act which is not possible in self-abasement, only in self-exultation, only on the confidence of being desired and being worthy of desire. It is an act that forces them to stand naked in spirit, as well as in body, and accept their real ego as their standard of value. They will always be attracted to the person who reflects their deepest vision of themselves, the person whose surrender permits them to experience - or to fake - a sense of self-esteem .. Love is our response to our highest values - and can be nothing else."
So what is the application of this knowledge, that love is selfish? It’s not to say that in a disagreement with a significant other, you demand my way or the highway. It doesn’t mean you should only consider what you want, rather than what the other person wants. This is the standard definition of selfishness, not Rand’s. Instead this allows us to recognize that the reason you "put others before yourself" is because seeing the person you love unhappy will make YOU unhappy. At the end of the book, two characters that are in love face a dilemma. The man is wanted by the police and when his lover goes to him, she is tailed and they arrest him. Before the police arrive however, he tells her that she must pretend she hates him and had every intention of turning him in. If the police were to find out that he loves her, they would torture her to get him to obey their commands. He says that if that ever happened, he would kill himself immediately because he would rather die than see her in such pain. Rand’s point is, that would be an entirely selfish act of love. If you choose to honor the wishes of someone else because you love them, it is not a sacrifice. It means that the joy you receive from seeing them happy is greater than the joy you would receive from pursuing your own desire. The benefits outweigh the costs. Or in the example I just used, the costs of seeing your lover suffer is not worth the benefits of staying alive. I’ll end this with a conversation I had a while ago with my boyfriend. He was asking me about this guy I used to like and why it didn’t work out. I told him, “He was too selfish to care about me.” He smiled knowingly and said, “I’m too selfish not to.”
Tuesday, May 17, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
Saturday May 7th /Sunday May 8th
The next morning I still felt sick so I stayed at the hostel and read while the others went and hiked up another volcano and saw a torture chamber for political prisoners. When they got back, we got lunch and then did some souvenir shopping in the handicraft markets in the city. I just got a decorative plate to give to my parents to hang in the kitchen where they display items from our travels. I saw a little boy with what I assume was elephantitis- his head was four times the size it should have been and his mother was holding him in her lap and supporting his head. It was terrifying and sickening and horribly depressing to see…There were also lots of children running around who belonged to the people who worked at the market. One boy was making different things out of long reeds of grass with quick, nimble fingers. He gave Destiny and I these beautiful detailed hearts intertwined with sculpted flowers. By this time, we literally had enough money to pay for the bus to get to the airport so we couldn’t pay him but we gave him some mango and a hug and he didn’t seem to begrudge us the cash. He seemed to be enjoying himself, just giving out the stuff he made. Later on he gave Jeff a cricket he made and Jeff gave him some money so I felt a little better.
Once everyone had their purchases, we got on a bus to Managua. We got to the bus station after dark and it was the only time I actually felt unsafe because even the Managuans will tell you what a dump the city is and to get in and out as quickly as possible. We were looking for the bus to the airport and even though it didn’t take us more than two minutes, in that time three guys tailed us. I didn’t see because I was walking really quickly behind Jeff but Carolanne and Matt were trailing behind. Apparently a woman was motioning to them and they mistook her for begging when she was trying to warn them about being pickpocketed. Carolanne is diabetic and was wearing her insulin pump and they must have mistaken it for a camera or some other expensive technology because they took it and ran. She was really upset because it was an $8,000 device. Luckily it was the last day and she had a loaner with her for traveling, but it was still really unfortunate. The bus took us to the airport and I had a semi-decent conversation with the man sitting next to me in Spanish. By semi-decent, I mean I used about fifteen words in Spanish, understood nothing that he said, and did a lot of nodding and smiling.
Then we were at the airport and found Rachel sitting at a table at a restaurant looking dirty, exhausted, and very dazed. She could barely talk when we found her and she just sputtered about how happy she was to see us. Mike walked over a little later from the corner where he had been napping and we found out that after we had split up to get back to Nicaragua from Costa Rica, they had had a really hard time hitch hiking back and had been accidentally taken to the middle of nowhere to a pineapple packing plant. They ended up spending the night in the same hotel we had all stayed at together. The next day they made it to Playa Madera and stayed there for the rest of the trip. I couldn’t help but feel satisfied that we had done so much more than the “adventurers” who left us so many times because we weren’t going their pace. Fake instance of karma, to be sure. We boarded the plane, flew home, said our goodbyes, and my dad drove Destiny and I home. Words can’t describe how anxious I was for that plane to touch the ground so I could get home and shower and drink gallons of water and bask in the air conditioning.
Things I learned from the trip:
-I would be the first to die in a disaster situation. Like, I would be the first to give up and lay down rather than try to walk to safety. Or I would be the first to drink the salt water and choose hallucinations rather than reality.
-I don’t want to study abroad in Africa anymore I don’t think. I was considering it for a while, and I still want to make it out there, but not in the romantically simplistic and wild way I was picturing before. I realized it’s not particularly romantic doing the things I had to do and even though I proved I’m strong enough to do it, there were too many instances when I was unnecessarily unhappy for me to want to go traipsing through the African jungle.
-Momento mori. You’re just constantly reminded of your mortality when you can feel your body screaming at you to stop or you have to constantly search for clean water.
-You can’t really escape your humanity. One of the reasons I went on the trip was so I could appreciate all I have and have a better idea of how people in other parts of the world live. I definitely think I did that, but the problem is it can never really stay with you, that appreciation. You might think of it every now and then, but for the most part, once you’re home you slip back into your old expectations and forget about what you saw. I was shocked by how quickly this happened once I got home. I was marveling at all of the possibilities my kitchen held and then when I went to take a shower and found my shampoo was gone, I was livid. Then I remembered I spent a whole week without shampoo, and that most people don’t even have shampoo, and couldn’t help but laugh at myself because no matter what you do, you can never be 100% compassionate. It would drive you insane, feeling bad for everyone all the time.
-The little things truly are what matters. It was really amazing, being forced to take the time to marvel at a sunrise or to gaze at the stars. Gulping down water after a vigorous hike- even finding a hike to be therapeutic. Laughing with friends, appreciating the kindness of strangers, feeling the thrill of not having a plan or knowing where your next ride or meal would come from. That is the spirit of adventure.
Once everyone had their purchases, we got on a bus to Managua. We got to the bus station after dark and it was the only time I actually felt unsafe because even the Managuans will tell you what a dump the city is and to get in and out as quickly as possible. We were looking for the bus to the airport and even though it didn’t take us more than two minutes, in that time three guys tailed us. I didn’t see because I was walking really quickly behind Jeff but Carolanne and Matt were trailing behind. Apparently a woman was motioning to them and they mistook her for begging when she was trying to warn them about being pickpocketed. Carolanne is diabetic and was wearing her insulin pump and they must have mistaken it for a camera or some other expensive technology because they took it and ran. She was really upset because it was an $8,000 device. Luckily it was the last day and she had a loaner with her for traveling, but it was still really unfortunate. The bus took us to the airport and I had a semi-decent conversation with the man sitting next to me in Spanish. By semi-decent, I mean I used about fifteen words in Spanish, understood nothing that he said, and did a lot of nodding and smiling.
Then we were at the airport and found Rachel sitting at a table at a restaurant looking dirty, exhausted, and very dazed. She could barely talk when we found her and she just sputtered about how happy she was to see us. Mike walked over a little later from the corner where he had been napping and we found out that after we had split up to get back to Nicaragua from Costa Rica, they had had a really hard time hitch hiking back and had been accidentally taken to the middle of nowhere to a pineapple packing plant. They ended up spending the night in the same hotel we had all stayed at together. The next day they made it to Playa Madera and stayed there for the rest of the trip. I couldn’t help but feel satisfied that we had done so much more than the “adventurers” who left us so many times because we weren’t going their pace. Fake instance of karma, to be sure. We boarded the plane, flew home, said our goodbyes, and my dad drove Destiny and I home. Words can’t describe how anxious I was for that plane to touch the ground so I could get home and shower and drink gallons of water and bask in the air conditioning.
Things I learned from the trip:
-I would be the first to die in a disaster situation. Like, I would be the first to give up and lay down rather than try to walk to safety. Or I would be the first to drink the salt water and choose hallucinations rather than reality.
-I don’t want to study abroad in Africa anymore I don’t think. I was considering it for a while, and I still want to make it out there, but not in the romantically simplistic and wild way I was picturing before. I realized it’s not particularly romantic doing the things I had to do and even though I proved I’m strong enough to do it, there were too many instances when I was unnecessarily unhappy for me to want to go traipsing through the African jungle.
-Momento mori. You’re just constantly reminded of your mortality when you can feel your body screaming at you to stop or you have to constantly search for clean water.
-You can’t really escape your humanity. One of the reasons I went on the trip was so I could appreciate all I have and have a better idea of how people in other parts of the world live. I definitely think I did that, but the problem is it can never really stay with you, that appreciation. You might think of it every now and then, but for the most part, once you’re home you slip back into your old expectations and forget about what you saw. I was shocked by how quickly this happened once I got home. I was marveling at all of the possibilities my kitchen held and then when I went to take a shower and found my shampoo was gone, I was livid. Then I remembered I spent a whole week without shampoo, and that most people don’t even have shampoo, and couldn’t help but laugh at myself because no matter what you do, you can never be 100% compassionate. It would drive you insane, feeling bad for everyone all the time.
-The little things truly are what matters. It was really amazing, being forced to take the time to marvel at a sunrise or to gaze at the stars. Gulping down water after a vigorous hike- even finding a hike to be therapeutic. Laughing with friends, appreciating the kindness of strangers, feeling the thrill of not having a plan or knowing where your next ride or meal would come from. That is the spirit of adventure.
Thursday May 5th and Friday May 6th
The next day we woke up at five and headed for the border. Jeff was furious when we were told we had to pay $12 each to cross the border but eventually we did and exchanged our money and took a bus to San Juan del Sur. Then we alternated between walking and hitching rides to Playa Madera. The area looked the way I pictured California to look and it was on the Pacific Coast so I don’t think I’m too far off. We went to the Surf Camp Hostel and met up with Matt and Carolanne who had managed to make it all the way there the night before and had spent the night. We debated getting a surf board but Jeff wasn’t a fan of beaches so we decided to climb on the rocks, swim, and eat and then head out. It was the most gorgeous beach I’ve ever been to and it was a super relaxed atmosphere with tons of surfers lounging around in hammocks and playing guitars. We walked around the rocks and looked at crabs and sea urchins in the pools of water and then got pina coladas and hamburgers and got in the water with the waves crashing over us. Then we split into groups again, this time Jeff and Carolanne were together and Matt, Destiny, and I were together. We walked a while before being picked up by a couple living in London with a second house in Nicaragua. The man was from Sweden and the woman was from New Zealand. They dropped us off in Rivas and we took a bus to Granada where we met Jeff and Carolanne at the coolest hostel we had been to by far, called the Bearded Monkey. It was half inside and half outside with all kinds of cool wall paintings and hanging chairs and pools of water. Unfortunately, I was getting really sick and laid down on the bed in our room and passed out. The sun from the beach gave me a migraine and my body felt broken in like a hundred places from all the activity. Plus eating the fruit and drinking the water was catching up with my digestive system, which was pretty miserable. So while everyone else was enjoying happy hour and taking advantage of the free wifi, I slept like a baby. They went out and got dinner and brought me back something and then we all went to sleep.
The next day we wandered through the markets of Granada which had stands with every type of food imaginable: fruits, vegetables, grains, breads baked in the shapes of animals, and all types of meat including enormous decapitated pig heads. One thing that was really popular down there was this drink that was sold in plastic bags with ice. It was called cacao and was similar to chocolate milk but better. After perusing the market, we decided to visit the Pueblos Blancos (white towns) between Granada and Masaya. We took buses to them and at one of them there was an extinct volcano with a huge lake in the center that beat the lake at the top of the Volcano Maderas a thousand times over. We took a little taxi up to the top of the volcano and then hiked down the lip to the lake to go swimming. It was completely deserted and ridiculously beautiful. The hike back up wasn’t fun but we got some cokes at a restaurant up there and rested up a bit before heading to the next village. There we saw a sloth hanging from a tree in the middle of the park and went to a restaurant for lunch where we got tripe soup. I’ve never thought Latin Americans were particularly good at making soup and this was just their usual broth with a heaping pile of cow intestines in the center. It was revolting. I ate a few spoonfuls of the broth but that was it. I had already been feeling so sick that I had no appetite to begin with. Jeff wolfed his down while Matt and Carolanne made a valiant effort before giving up and Destiny was the only smart one who ordered the roasted chicken. After that, we got on a bus to Masaya and found a cheap hotel. I was feeling really sick once again so I slept while they went out and got dinner and looked at the town.
The next day we wandered through the markets of Granada which had stands with every type of food imaginable: fruits, vegetables, grains, breads baked in the shapes of animals, and all types of meat including enormous decapitated pig heads. One thing that was really popular down there was this drink that was sold in plastic bags with ice. It was called cacao and was similar to chocolate milk but better. After perusing the market, we decided to visit the Pueblos Blancos (white towns) between Granada and Masaya. We took buses to them and at one of them there was an extinct volcano with a huge lake in the center that beat the lake at the top of the Volcano Maderas a thousand times over. We took a little taxi up to the top of the volcano and then hiked down the lip to the lake to go swimming. It was completely deserted and ridiculously beautiful. The hike back up wasn’t fun but we got some cokes at a restaurant up there and rested up a bit before heading to the next village. There we saw a sloth hanging from a tree in the middle of the park and went to a restaurant for lunch where we got tripe soup. I’ve never thought Latin Americans were particularly good at making soup and this was just their usual broth with a heaping pile of cow intestines in the center. It was revolting. I ate a few spoonfuls of the broth but that was it. I had already been feeling so sick that I had no appetite to begin with. Jeff wolfed his down while Matt and Carolanne made a valiant effort before giving up and Destiny was the only smart one who ordered the roasted chicken. After that, we got on a bus to Masaya and found a cheap hotel. I was feeling really sick once again so I slept while they went out and got dinner and looked at the town.
Wednesday May 4th
The next day we woke up around six and decided to go see this waterfall that we thought was right down the road that Matt really wanted to see. First we got breakfast from this little buffet line that was really good. Breakfast generally consisted of eggs, plantains, beans and rice, and either mango or pineapple juice or coffee. We realized the waterfall was farther away than we thought and so we faced the same dilemma as before- to hitchhike or to take a bus. Mike and Rachel immediately took off and hitched a ride and we took the bus. When it dropped us off, we walked down a dirt road that was supposed to lead to the waterfall and was dotted by lots of Costa Rican houses. It was a cool little road because it was certainly not a touristy spot and was pretty too. We asked people how far it was to the waterfall but determined that Nicaraguans have no perception of time or distance because throughout our entire trip, the answer was always “media hora” or “diez kilometers.” The road ended up being insanely long and we walked ten miles just to get to there. We tried hitching rides but no cars seemed willing to pick up five dirty teenagers. One truck dropped a crate of pineapples and we were so hungry and thirsty that Matt actually peeled off the exterior with his teeth and we all ate some. At one point in our walk towards the end when we were really desperate, we saw Mike and Rachel in the back of a pick-up truck, grinning maliciously at us as we trudged up the hill. We tried to signal the truck to stop since we all could have fit in the back but they didn’t, and Mike and Rachel did nothing to stop them. Jeff took off running after the truck all the way up the hill but it was no use. I was livid.
Once we got there, our hopes were dashed because it was a national park, which we weren’t aware of, and those cost a lot of money. The ranger told us it would be $10 each and we all just sat there forlornly for a good 15 minutes, unable to muster the energy to go back down but very unwilling to shell out so much money (remember, we had been arguing with each other over 50 cent bus rides so $10 was almost unthinkable in Nicaragua). Finally the ranger charged us each $1.60 and told us if we were stopped to pretend we were some of the American volunteers they took on to do research in the summers. We happily agreed and entered the park. It was my favorite nature walk because it wasn’t grueling or hot and it was very beautiful. There were thermal pools that we swam in and bright blue streams that met orange streams and intertwined while maintaining their individual colors. We found Mike and Rachel when they were on their way down when we were on our way up. We agreed to meet them back in Nicaragua later if possible. We made it to the waterfall where an enormous congregation of Costa Rican policemen and women were gathered taking pictures of themselves next to the waterfall. We took a few pictures and moved on without them noticing or caring about us. We hiked down and out a separate way than the way we came and tried to find a ride but had to resign ourselves to walking once again. We were walking through farmland and asked a man in his yard for directions. He dropped his tools and promptly began leading us. We found out through Carolanne that he actually owned the entire valley. Everything that we could see and more was his and had been in his family since silver was used as currency. His family had bought it for less than 200 pesos and he was immensely proud of all his crops as he showed them to us. But the road he brought us to was just being put in and was a construction zone. He was really angry that it was cutting through his farm. He waved goodbye and told us it would be about a 30 minute walk. Right. So we started trudging up the hills and were really exhausted when Matt began singing “The Bear Necessities” from the Jungle Book and we all chimed in. After a short while we were over the moon to see a truck stop to let us climb in the back. We laughed in that way you do when you’re so tired everything is hilarious and it was like biting into that mango again- nothing felt as good as sitting in the back of that truck looking at the green valley with the wind in your face.
After we were dropped off, we got something to eat and split up into two groups to try to hitch hike our way back to Nicaragua. Matt and Carolanne went together and Destiny, Jeff, and I made up the other group. We hitch hiked with one man for a while and then hitch hiked with a taxi the rest of the way to Liberia and then took a bus to La Cruz. It was too late to cross the border so we got a room in a hotel for $5 each. We stumbled upon a carnival in the town center and found out we’d missed the bullfight by just a few minutes. Destiny was so elated to be at a carnival that she jumped in the now empty pin where people were gathered and danced around. She was asked if she was high by the Nicaraguans. Jeff opened his backpack and got out his swim trunks saying, “I have red shorts. Want to be the bull, Destiny?” So he jumped down there too and waved them around while Destiny snorted and pawed the ground and charged to her heart’s content while I filmed the whole thing. Then we watched the mariachi band for a while and rode the swings before getting ice cream and heading back to the hotel to shower for the second night in a row and sleep. (in real beds!)
Once we got there, our hopes were dashed because it was a national park, which we weren’t aware of, and those cost a lot of money. The ranger told us it would be $10 each and we all just sat there forlornly for a good 15 minutes, unable to muster the energy to go back down but very unwilling to shell out so much money (remember, we had been arguing with each other over 50 cent bus rides so $10 was almost unthinkable in Nicaragua). Finally the ranger charged us each $1.60 and told us if we were stopped to pretend we were some of the American volunteers they took on to do research in the summers. We happily agreed and entered the park. It was my favorite nature walk because it wasn’t grueling or hot and it was very beautiful. There were thermal pools that we swam in and bright blue streams that met orange streams and intertwined while maintaining their individual colors. We found Mike and Rachel when they were on their way down when we were on our way up. We agreed to meet them back in Nicaragua later if possible. We made it to the waterfall where an enormous congregation of Costa Rican policemen and women were gathered taking pictures of themselves next to the waterfall. We took a few pictures and moved on without them noticing or caring about us. We hiked down and out a separate way than the way we came and tried to find a ride but had to resign ourselves to walking once again. We were walking through farmland and asked a man in his yard for directions. He dropped his tools and promptly began leading us. We found out through Carolanne that he actually owned the entire valley. Everything that we could see and more was his and had been in his family since silver was used as currency. His family had bought it for less than 200 pesos and he was immensely proud of all his crops as he showed them to us. But the road he brought us to was just being put in and was a construction zone. He was really angry that it was cutting through his farm. He waved goodbye and told us it would be about a 30 minute walk. Right. So we started trudging up the hills and were really exhausted when Matt began singing “The Bear Necessities” from the Jungle Book and we all chimed in. After a short while we were over the moon to see a truck stop to let us climb in the back. We laughed in that way you do when you’re so tired everything is hilarious and it was like biting into that mango again- nothing felt as good as sitting in the back of that truck looking at the green valley with the wind in your face.
After we were dropped off, we got something to eat and split up into two groups to try to hitch hike our way back to Nicaragua. Matt and Carolanne went together and Destiny, Jeff, and I made up the other group. We hitch hiked with one man for a while and then hitch hiked with a taxi the rest of the way to Liberia and then took a bus to La Cruz. It was too late to cross the border so we got a room in a hotel for $5 each. We stumbled upon a carnival in the town center and found out we’d missed the bullfight by just a few minutes. Destiny was so elated to be at a carnival that she jumped in the now empty pin where people were gathered and danced around. She was asked if she was high by the Nicaraguans. Jeff opened his backpack and got out his swim trunks saying, “I have red shorts. Want to be the bull, Destiny?” So he jumped down there too and waved them around while Destiny snorted and pawed the ground and charged to her heart’s content while I filmed the whole thing. Then we watched the mariachi band for a while and rode the swings before getting ice cream and heading back to the hotel to shower for the second night in a row and sleep. (in real beds!)
Tuesday May 3rd
The ferry docked in San Carlos as the sun came up. We got off and walked through the crowded market streets to an immigration office so we could get the documentation to go to Costa Rica after getting some breakfast. Matt hit it off with the Nicaraguan receptionist (unintentionally- he was just being his natural friendly self and making conversation) and ended up getting a free coke, all her contact information, and an invitation to her house for dinner that night. We offered to meet up with him later, all of us grinning to ourselves as we observed but Matt very nicely told her he needed to go with the group. We exchanged our Nicaraguan cordobas for Costa Rican collones and boarded a boat that would take us down the San Juan River and into Costa Rica. We had some ice cream and saw some monkeys in the trees on the shore. After an hour or two we arrived and went through another office to get our passports stamped. We realized we didn’t really have a plan for Costa Rica which was more problematic than it was in Nicaragua because things are much more spread out in Costa Rica. We spent most of the day debating what to do and waiting for the bus. At one point we were trying to find the bus station and accidentally followed a little girl back to her school. We ate lunch and I had a hamburger, already resigning myself to my American habits since I wasn’t very impressed by the local food. Everyone had a taste and declared it the best hamburger they’d ever had.
Mike and Rachel and Carolanne were in favor of hitchhiking to the next city, Los Chiles, but when we asked about it, people said no one did it and it would be difficult. Jeff wanted to wait for the bus and after a tense argument, Mike and Rachel decided to go their own way hitch hiking. We waited for the bus and watched an adorable little boy kick a Coca Cola bottle around and a pack of stray dogs defending “their land” from another pack. We also spent half an hour in an internet café and shot off quick emails to our parents letting them know that we were okay. The bus that we eventually boarded was filled with school children in uniforms. We were on the bus for quite a while and I was shocked at how far they had to travel to go to school.
Eventually we got there and actually met up with with Rachel and Mike, who I honestly thought we wouldn’t see again until the airport. Looking very smug, they told us how they had been there for hours and had already showered and gotten a beer to share. They snuck us into their hotel room and while Destiny and I were taking our first real shower, the others except for Jeff went out to get some food. When we got out of the shower, Jeff hightailed it to the bathroom and all of a sudden I understood what everyone meant when Jeff disappeared and everyone said he was “going volcano.” Destiny and I could hardly stifle our laughter and choked out that we were getting something to eat and would be back soon. I did not feel comfortable walking around a city at night at all so I quickly pulled Destiny into the restaurant right next to the hotel where we got French fries and beef empanadas. Outside we could see a man with a baseball bat on the next corner which scared the living daylights out of me. When we left I was all for running as fast as we could the 100 yards to the hotel but Destiny hissed at me that we would look suspicious so we walked quickly back and I don’t know if he saw us or not. Still resentful towards Mike and Rachel for their unnecessary spiteful attitudes, I refused to ask for a spot on the bed and they certainly didn’t offer to share it with anyone else so even though we could have easily fit one or two more people on the bed, or could have at least distributed the sheets and pillows, they took it all and the five of us slept on the tile floor with our packs as pillows. I was able to sleep by throwing my few articles of smelly clothing on the floor and lying on them.
The best thing about the trip was that the previous situation was generally so bad that I was always happy to move on to the next thing. I didn’t have a bed to be reluctant to leave so as soon as the sun was up, I was happy to get going. And generally at the end of every day, I was so tired from hiking that I didn’t care about my sleeping conditions.
Mike and Rachel and Carolanne were in favor of hitchhiking to the next city, Los Chiles, but when we asked about it, people said no one did it and it would be difficult. Jeff wanted to wait for the bus and after a tense argument, Mike and Rachel decided to go their own way hitch hiking. We waited for the bus and watched an adorable little boy kick a Coca Cola bottle around and a pack of stray dogs defending “their land” from another pack. We also spent half an hour in an internet café and shot off quick emails to our parents letting them know that we were okay. The bus that we eventually boarded was filled with school children in uniforms. We were on the bus for quite a while and I was shocked at how far they had to travel to go to school.
Eventually we got there and actually met up with with Rachel and Mike, who I honestly thought we wouldn’t see again until the airport. Looking very smug, they told us how they had been there for hours and had already showered and gotten a beer to share. They snuck us into their hotel room and while Destiny and I were taking our first real shower, the others except for Jeff went out to get some food. When we got out of the shower, Jeff hightailed it to the bathroom and all of a sudden I understood what everyone meant when Jeff disappeared and everyone said he was “going volcano.” Destiny and I could hardly stifle our laughter and choked out that we were getting something to eat and would be back soon. I did not feel comfortable walking around a city at night at all so I quickly pulled Destiny into the restaurant right next to the hotel where we got French fries and beef empanadas. Outside we could see a man with a baseball bat on the next corner which scared the living daylights out of me. When we left I was all for running as fast as we could the 100 yards to the hotel but Destiny hissed at me that we would look suspicious so we walked quickly back and I don’t know if he saw us or not. Still resentful towards Mike and Rachel for their unnecessary spiteful attitudes, I refused to ask for a spot on the bed and they certainly didn’t offer to share it with anyone else so even though we could have easily fit one or two more people on the bed, or could have at least distributed the sheets and pillows, they took it all and the five of us slept on the tile floor with our packs as pillows. I was able to sleep by throwing my few articles of smelly clothing on the floor and lying on them.
The best thing about the trip was that the previous situation was generally so bad that I was always happy to move on to the next thing. I didn’t have a bed to be reluctant to leave so as soon as the sun was up, I was happy to get going. And generally at the end of every day, I was so tired from hiking that I didn’t care about my sleeping conditions.
Monday May 2nd
The next morning we got up at five and followed the guide we hired to the base of the Maderas Volcano which got a 4/5 for difficulty levels of climbing. I had serious doubts that I could do and was really worried about ruining the hike for everyone else by going too slow or needing to turn around halfway up, but when I suggested I wait for them at the hostel, Mike convinced me to do it. Once we got to the base and began hiking, my confidence rose because it was much more gradual than the trail we had taken to the waterfall the day before. For about an hour, we took frequent breaks at Destiny’s request but then realized it would be better to go at a slow pace continuously than to keep stopping. I led the way behind the guide to set the pace since I was the novice and that worked well. We saw all kinds of wildlife- Nicaraguan blue jays, giant electric blue cicadas, and some kind of lemurs. About halfway up the landscape changed with the altitude into wet tropical forest. We were traipsing through mud and mist and even though this was when most people started to find the hike arduous, I was in my element because I guess my inner redneck loves mud. We became concerned because we were really low on water and still had a ways to go, but we decided we’d be okay because there was a lake at the top of the crater (the volcano was dormant) that we could draw water from to purify with iodine. So at that point our motivation to get to the top was somewhat stronger. When we finally made it, two of the guys attempted to swim in the lake but it was almost complete mud with maybe ten inches of water on top. We filled our bottles and cleaned the water with iodine. It was still a murky brown but I really did not care.
We had to get going quickly because we needed to be back in the village by 3 to return the motorcycles so we wouldn’t have to pay even more money for them (we were already anticipating fees for minor damage to the bikes and didn’t want to deal with late fees). We split into two groups because Mike realized he had left his retainer on a rock when we had stopped for a snack on the way up. He and Jeff were experienced hikers and had no trouble getting back to the spot and finding it. They beat us back to the hostel by two hours while our well-meaning guide took us on a much longer route down the volcano that was supposed to be easier. Altogether, the hike took about eight hours. At the bottom we ate some mangos we found on the ground and nothing in my life has ever, or will ever, compare to the sensation of biting into that juicy fruit. We hadn’t eaten breakfast before the hike and had climbed the volcano on an empty stomach so finding those mangos was heaven.
We didn’t have time for a shower, just a quick rinse off before we rushed off to return the bikes. All of our money went to paying for those bikes but I thought it was worth it. We got more money from an ATM and we spent very little from that point on. After taking care of that, we caught a bus to the shore and ate a quick dinner before getting on a nine hour ferry across the lake to San Carlos so we could cross the border into Costa Rica. For “first class” we paid $6 and were on the top level of the ferry with benches with leather seats that, while not air conditioned, at least kept the bugs out. That was when we found out about Osama bin Laden and I was mad that I was missing America’s irrational reaction to his death. I slept surprisingly well for the full nine hours, though I was nauseated by my own stench at that point.
We had to get going quickly because we needed to be back in the village by 3 to return the motorcycles so we wouldn’t have to pay even more money for them (we were already anticipating fees for minor damage to the bikes and didn’t want to deal with late fees). We split into two groups because Mike realized he had left his retainer on a rock when we had stopped for a snack on the way up. He and Jeff were experienced hikers and had no trouble getting back to the spot and finding it. They beat us back to the hostel by two hours while our well-meaning guide took us on a much longer route down the volcano that was supposed to be easier. Altogether, the hike took about eight hours. At the bottom we ate some mangos we found on the ground and nothing in my life has ever, or will ever, compare to the sensation of biting into that juicy fruit. We hadn’t eaten breakfast before the hike and had climbed the volcano on an empty stomach so finding those mangos was heaven.
We didn’t have time for a shower, just a quick rinse off before we rushed off to return the bikes. All of our money went to paying for those bikes but I thought it was worth it. We got more money from an ATM and we spent very little from that point on. After taking care of that, we caught a bus to the shore and ate a quick dinner before getting on a nine hour ferry across the lake to San Carlos so we could cross the border into Costa Rica. For “first class” we paid $6 and were on the top level of the ferry with benches with leather seats that, while not air conditioned, at least kept the bugs out. That was when we found out about Osama bin Laden and I was mad that I was missing America’s irrational reaction to his death. I slept surprisingly well for the full nine hours, though I was nauseated by my own stench at that point.
Nicaraguan Adventure
Buenos dias el mundo! I have returned from my weeklong adventure through Central America. If I were to choose only three words to describe it, they would be “test of limits.” The whole thing felt, and continues to feel, like a sluggish dream of heat and color. Hopefully by writing it down, I can separate some of the memories better for myself and will have something something to look back on later since I'm not one for picture taking. (though I've already stolen everyone else's pictures from the trip) I'll start out by telling you about the people I was with, and then I'll make a post for each day and describe what we did. As I get to the last few days, the descriptions will get much shorter because I got sick towards the end and remember less. Anyway, vamonos!
My friend Destiny is in this outdoor adventure club at UF called OAR that does trips all over the world and the United States. They're all experienced hikers, climbers, skiers, kayakers, etc. Destiny really wanted me to come and the plane ticket roundtrip was about $200, and I was promised I'd spend less than $100 while I was down there so I said what the heck, why not, and went for it.
The group consisted of:
Jeff, the group leader. He was 5’7’’, tanned, with the facial features of a Stone Age homo sapien. Looking at him you would never guess he was 28 years old and a world traveler because he was very gentle and shy. Jeff wore one pair of jeans and one shirt for the entire trip. Champ.
Mike, the asshole. Over 6 feet, loping gait, rodent-y eyes that are always scanning the situation for an opportunity to seize. Objectively good-looking, but unattractive personality. He has hitch-hiked across the United States and has been skydiving hundreds of times.
Matt, the angel. Crinkly blue eyes, ruddy complexion, full beard. Matt is a nurse in the psychiatric ward so every time one of us was close to an emotional breakdown, he talked us through it. He’s one of those people everyone instantly trusts upon meeting because you can just tell he has a pure soul. I don’t know what we would have done without our group cheerleader.
Rachel, the fake hippie. Cropped red curls, pale freckly skin, thin, vacant eyes. Hard to gauge her personality because I got the impression she hasn’t figured one out yet. She seemed to be stuck in the middle school stage where you define yourself by the fads of your friends. Plus, she was just really daft….
Carolanne, the linguist. Sturdy build, not very distinguishable. Very nice girl, monotone voice, bit of a blinking problem. She spoke Spanish for the group the majority of the time.
And then there was Destiny and I. I don’t even want to try to characterize us.
Map following our route:
Sunday May 1st:
So our plane left at midnight. First funny thing that happened was we had to fill out immigration forms and Destiny needed her passport which was in her bag in the overhead compartment. I had the aisle seat so I offered to get it. One of the flight attendants was coming and I didn’t want to be in his way so I grabbed her wallet out of her bag and attempted to toss it to her (somehow I thought this would save time and get me to my seat faster?) but instead I apparently nailed the Nicaraguan man who was sitting between us right in the head. I felt terrible but I just broke into a fit of nervous laughter and squeaked out an apology. Luckily he was really nice and found the whole thing amusing.
We arrived in Managua at 2 am and were planning on crashing at the airport until sunrise because Managua isn’t safe to travel at night but shortly after we had all laid down to get some rest, a taxi driver came over and persuaded us to accept a ride. We piled eight people into a five-seater with Mike sitting in the front seat with me on his lap and everyone else crammed in the back. We drove like that for two hours and saw lots of strays, drunks, and prostitutes.
Our plan was to catch the first ferry to Isla de Ometepe, the island in the Lake of Nicaragua, so the driver dropped us off at the shore. The moon and stars were visible and the lake was a black mass lapping at the sand. Rachel and I looked for a spot to pee and had to settle for a shadow behind a house because there were no trees and it was almost all open space. We rejoined the group, next to a tent adjacent to the fence of the dock. A woman was sitting in the corner and after a moment, I realized she was sitting next to a closed casket. Apparently someone she knew had died and she was transporting the body to the island.
We had about an hour before sunrise by that point so we all lied down on these metal benches and tried to get some rest. I just kept stealing glances at the woman in the tent whose face was bathed by the moonlight and I could see her lips moving as she muttered some prayer over the body. It was surreal.
Finally, the sun came up and we milled around on the beach waiting for the ferry. We discovered a monkey in one of the trees we had been sleeping next to and had a good time observing him. People started to gather on the beach pretty quickly, to collect lake water for baths and to set up to sell their wares. There was a thin horse and its foal wandering around as well.
The ferry came and I couldn’t tell you how long the ride was because we all passed out. Once we got to the island, we got breakfast. My omelet was probably the best thing I had on the whole trip. Then we debated what to do next. Our group was torn between trying to hitch rides around the island and renting motorcycles. Eventually, we decided against the motorcycles due to lack of experience and were walking through the town to get our bearings when one of the guys from a motorbike place approached us and convinced us to try them out. Each of the guys took one with a girl on the back but that left one girl left over to ride a bike herself. Destiny wanted to do it and picked it up really quickly, and then we were on our way to visit a waterfall. The road was pretty rough and even Matt, who I was riding with and who had been riding bikes since he was five, found it difficult. At one particularly gravelly part, we actually tipped over and hit the ground. Matt’s elbow and my hand got cut up. Destiny had a few nasty falls, one in which her bike hit a tree and her face hit the handlebars. Her chin was bruised and there were some busted capillaries in her nose but thankfully she was fine, just shaken up. Matt rode our bike up to the others and Destiny and I walked up, leaving the other bike in the forest. We got picked up by these two British surfers who were going to hike up as well. We met up with the others and started the hike up.
It was grueling for me because it was my first real hike in years and I hadn’t established a steady pace that worked for me so I found myself gasping for breath trying to keep up. It was very steep and by the time we reached the top we were drenched in sweat and I was beyond exhausted. We stripped to our underwear and jumped in the water. Once we felt refreshed and rehydrated, we started our hike back down but came across five or six wild horses on the path. Every time we approached, they became skittish and pawed and snorted nervously. A couple of times they actually almost charged at us and we went running for 20 yards or so. Rachel had this incredibly annoying way of pretending to be “zen” and sitting in trees in yoga poses, but then three seconds later she would chirp, “Can you take a picture of me like this for facebook?” When this horse situation happened and everyone was muttering insults about the horses, she put on her holier than thou voice and said, “Guys, shh, they can hear you. Just ask the universe for what you need and she will give it to you.” And she then proceeded to pick up a palm frond and wave it around all airily like a Wiccan or something and the horses actually began to move. It was such a ridiculous situation that I could not stop laughing. Every time the horses stopped, Mike would bellow, “Rachel move out of the way, I’m getting a rock!” and then they would paw in his direction and he would take off running for cover. Eventually the path widened and we inched our way around them and FINALLY made it out. We rode to the hostel where we crashed for the night after getting a quick dinner from a nearby restaurant.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Monday, May 2, 2011
Something to Contemplate
By: Monica
With that said...
I'd go with the former. But that's only because Pride & I have an irrevocably monogamous relationship.
With that said...
I'd go with the former. But that's only because Pride & I have an irrevocably monogamous relationship.
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