Weekend Adventures

This past weekend was full of adventures and now I have a cold as a result.  However, it was well worth it. 

I started off by leaving Boaco Thursday afternoon (as I don't teach on Fridays) and met up with another volunteer in the department of Matagalpa.  I visited with another TEFL volunteer in the same town whom I hadn't seen in quite awhile so that was fun.  We were super gringo that night as we strolled the town in shorts and t-shirts carrying our pizza and ice cream.  Kids on every corner shouted out "pizza" as we passed by.  I guess that's better than the usual "gringa" or various catcalls.  Needless to say, it was a nice night to relax and enjoy some good ol' American food. 

The next day we headed up to Esteli to meet up with some other volunteers.  The main reason for this trip was to celebrate my sitemate's birthday and he had planned a cool hiking trip up in the department of Madriz.  So, we found our hostel and the other volunteers and looked for something to eat.  After another day of traveling and with a long day ahead of us, we decided to take it easy and not stay out too late.  We stayed in a neat little hotel in Esteli that was a little pricey for us volunteers (about $9 a night), but it was clean and had hot water so I was ok spending a little more than usual. 

Saturday we got up and gathered some supplies (snacks) at the local grocery store, then piled into our rented microbus and drove up to Somoto, Madriz, known for their rosquillas (a baked cornmeal treat).

We finally arrived in Somoto and we met our guides.  At first I was thinking it was a little silly to have these guides and be paying so much, but they definitely came in handy.  They took us hiking down to the river and we walked along the rocks to cross over the shallow water.  As we are in the dry season, the water is very low.  However, we did find deeper water so we could float.  It was perfect timing because we just started to sweat through our clothes...

We were thankful to have those guides with us as they had water-proof bags to carry our clothes & cameras and they pointed out all the cliffs that we could safely climb and jump from.  As an added bonus, we ended at one of the guide's house where they happen to sell meals to hungry hikers after their long journey.  We scarfed down chicken, rice, beans, and tortillas (nothing new here) and started back toward Esteli.  Before we left Somoto though, we stopped to buy rosquillas.  Usually I don't really like these because they usually taste stale, but in Somoto they are much better.  I bought some for my host family and then realized they had left for their finca...well I guess I have to eat them all :)

After we arrived back into Esteli, the guys wanted to scope out the bars to find a TV big enough to watch the latest March Madness game.  We found a restaurant to have Steven's birthday dinner and situated our table so that everyone had a view of the TV.  After dinner we went back to the hotel and Steven's girlfriend had made a cake so we got to eat American style yellow cake with chocolate frosting--oh my gosh how I've missed this so much!!  It was amazing!

The next morning we went to a neat little garden restaurant where they serve fresh baked wheat bread and European cheeses.  It was quite a cute little place and there were some beautiful flowers. 

I finished off the weekend spending a little more time with someone special...