Now that we had safe accommodations for the night, we decided we should explore Managua. We walked to a nearby park called Loma de Tiscapa. The park has a monument honoring the leftist rebellion leader, Augusto Sandino. Sandino gained prominence in leading rebel forces against US marines and US-backed Nicaraguan governments in the 1920’s and [...]
We broke a cardinal rule of traveling on
the trip to Managua. We didn’t have
hotel arrangements prior to our arrival and we were getting into town in the
late evening. We will often get into a
community during the daytime without hotel arrangements and canvass the area
for the best deal but at night it is virtually impossible.
We [...]
“You don’t have enough stamps in your
passport to F$@# with young H.O.” –Jay-Z
It was Monday and I was feeling the desire
to move on. We had been with Otto for
the past four days and we knew he needed to get his life back to some level of
normalcy. We also needed to be in Costa
Rica by the [...]
Dear Gentle Reader,
On Feb. 1, I leave for Abuja, Nigeria for ten days. I am going with a group from Michigan State University and presenting a nonprofit worskshop and meeting with local officials in the communities that we will be visiting. During that time Patrick will be on his own. The question for you -that [...]
Since the wedding ended so late, we were slow in waking up on Sunday. We decided that we would make plans for the day over lunch at a restaurant called Mono Loco (Crazy Monkey). Mono Loco showed American Football and had an Internet café. After I ate, I let Otto and Patrick watch football while [...]
I woke up on Saturday morning fairly early. I was still nursing my stomach issues so I had stayed in Friday night while Patrick had gone out with Otto, Isabel, and Otto’s friend, Pancho. I went for a run in the morning while Patrick slept. The sidewalks and streets of Guatemala City are not the [...]
We were about an hour outside of Guatemala City and the sun was slowly setting. The bus continued to barrel through the curves of the road. We were on our way to see our friends, Otto, Ana Cris, and Isabel.
We had met them three years earlier during a New Years Eve/New Years Day party [...]
We had decided the night before to break up the ten-hour bus trip to Guatemala City by stopping in the city of Coban for a night. We also decided to take a minivan shuttle vs. one of the old American school buses. We thought the minivan shuttle would be more comfortable and be quicker because [...]
After we finished our tour of Tikal, we had a late lunch and said our goodbyes to Max, Luis and the Canadians. We then grabbed a shuttle to Flores and took a room at the Hotel Las Peches ($11 US each.) After a shower and some time on the computer, we decided to take a [...]
We woke about around 6:30 am, packed our belongings and made our way to our pick up point. Max (the laundry guy) was waiting for us with a big smile on his face. We were joined by a group of four Canadians. Renee and Melanie had just finished university in Calgary and were traveling in [...]
