Rice and beans and public buses

I've been in Nicaragua for almost a week now and am really digging it! Sarah and I parted ways on Sunday, she heading to Guatemala off to a yoga retreat and I headed to the colonial city of Leon in nica. It took me two days to get there but that is what trips to Central America are made of... Long ass bus rides of varying degrees of comfort. I splurged and took tica bus which is like greyhound back home since I would be on this bus for about twelve hours. The border crossing was easy and I got dropped off in Leon at a hostel I had no reservations at. Of course, they were full. Ended up at Bigfoot hostel which is basically a party hostel but I ended up sleeping heaps because I got a cold. Highlights of my time in Leon include:

- visiting the 300 year old cathedral in the centre square

- finding the lady behind the cathedral that everyone talks about on trip advisor who makes the best street food ever

- my inner Cheryl Strayed perishing instantly as I hiked for one hour up the Telica volcano with a bad head cold and almost died

- looking into the crater of said volcano after watching the sunset and seeing lava 

- finally buying one of those cute colourful bags everyone had in utila 

- ordering my first drink en Español 

I met this cool girl from Denmark in my hostel named Siw (pronounced like Sue) and we decided to travel together for a while since she is going the same way as me. We went to the surfing turtle lodge in las penitas, where we did not surf and we did not see any turtles lol the waves were maaassssiiivvveee and we had just missed the last babies hatching. BOO! I did end up doing lots of hair wraps and making some moolah so that was cool :) it was a beautiful place right on the beach and I could hear waves crashing from my bed and feel the sea breezes on my face. Heaven. 

The next day we decided to go to Laguna de apoyo, an imploded crater lake near Granada. Again, I had no reservations booked but I figured something would work out. We were joined by new friends Anna from Germany and jack and Alice from the uk. We got there by public transportation which was absolutely hilarious, we are so lucky that both Anna and Alice speak really good Spanish! We ended up walking around for about 5km total trying to find a place to sleep. We eventually ended up at the estacion biologica which is more of a research centre that happens to have the most ghetto accommodation known to man. Buuuut by that point we just wanted to put our stuff down and go to bed! But not before having a swim in the lake. I was so sweaty and gross from being on packed buses all day and wandering around like Mary and Joseph because all the inns were full I just ran down to that lake and jumped right in! It was so refreshing and made the whole journey worth it.

Today we have a full day to relax in/by the lake and tomorrow we move on to Granada for a few days then off to ometepe! 

Hope spring has sprung at home and that everyone is well! I'll be flying home April 11th with my mama from Costa Rica but stopping in Toronto for a few days, so really looking forward to that! 

Peace, love, and gallopinto (rice and beans!) 

Soph xx 

Also... I found these beautiful kittens today!!!!! So happyyyyy

first full day in aus!

wednesday i got everything all sorted out. i didn't set my alarm and i didn't need to because i woke up at 1am, 5am, 7am and finally 930am. i ended up going to bed at 745 the night before, so i basically got 14 hours sleep! obviously i needed it!

i decided to set up my bank account and cell phone today. i headed over to commonwealth bank, and a super nice gal helped me get my accounts figured out. then i went to telstra, picked up a mobile SIM card from the convenience store right next door. it's pretty weird how the pay as you go plans work here. i got a $30 card which gives you $250 in credit to use for phone calls and texts. and 400 mb of data which really isnt a lot at all! i've been trying to use the wifi i found in this park and i pretty much sat there for a long time today figuring stuff out on the phone and posting my blog from yesterday! 

i went back to the hostel to have some lunch (ramen noodles lol) and to charge my phone and laptop. i got some reading in, and then this guy came over and started talking to me. he was from morocco, and then his friend from france came over and my two italian friends joined as well. it was super interesting, they were talking about the different political situations and stuff and how it was in their countries. i felt sort of dumb because i am so out of the loop with all that stuff! 

then i decided to walk to the beach. it is about a half an hour walk but i wanted to go anyway! the walk was really nice, it was cool to see all of the different styles of houses, they all looked so different! i'm pretty sure it was the rich area of town, and there were a lot of yacht clubs and things along the way. the trees and plants are all really cool too. two houses i passed along the way had lemon trees! and one had a little orange tree :) so cute! 

the beach was lovely! white sand, seaweed on the shore, it looked and smelled pretty much like nova scotia haha and the water was cold enough to be nova scotia almost! definitely not swimming time for me. the weather was very cold and cloudy today, but it actually got warmer in the evening and the sun came out. this made my walk home very enjoyable! i got pretty warm so i took off my sweatshirt and just had a tshirt and scarf. the looks people were giving me were so funny! here they were in puffy down jackets looking at this girl walking around in a tie dyed tshirt LOL! it must have been 16 or 17 degrees out in the sun and they were all bundled up.

at this point, all i had eaten was a cliff bar and a cup a soup, so i was really starting to get hungry. all i wanted was pizza... i couldnt find it anywhere! it seems like there are a ton of sit down type restaurants here, but no fast food. all i wanted was pizza pizza lmao! i ended up getting subway nooooo!!! here i am halfway around the world, and i end up getting something i could have eaten at home?! ugh. i went with my classic veggie (although they had no pickles, which was a cryin' shame!) so i scarfed that down and headed back to my hostel. i met up with julia and chiara, who were about to head to the grocery store to get something for dinner. i went with them and shopped at coles for the first time (last time i went to woolworth's) i'm super happy i went, because julia ended up finding hello kitty pasta! i got really excited and explained to her my love of hello kitty and all of my hk things i have at home :) i also bought some pasta sauce and some tim tams! can't believe i have been in australia for a whole day and hadn't bought them yet! 

then we sat outside with a bunch of people in the back patio area just chatting, most people were smoking and drinking, which is the standard (it is a hostel here! haha) everyone was really confused when i told them i don't drink much. i got the whole "you're canadian though, you guys love drinking!" too funny. met some cool guys from the uk, and julia and chiara met some more italians, so they were chatting it up. what a beautiful language. i told julia to say something really mean to me, or to swear at me, and even that sounded so lovely! lol
then i went back in the hostel to check out some wall postings of cars for sale. i found one good one, but its from june so i doubt it's still there. i might text them tomorrow to double check. then i was looking on gumtree and found a few options. i sent some links to my mum to show wayne, so hopefully he will be able to point me in the right direction :) 

now im just sitting on my bed writing this, and was talking to another girl who lives in this room. she's from belgium and has been living in this hostel for one year! this whole lifestyle is just so new to me, it is crazy and overwhelming and intriguing! i've been here for one day and i've already met people from italy, morocco, france, the uk and belgium! that would never happen at home! i feel like i've learned so much already :) she was saying that this place is like a trap, once you stay here you never want to leave and a lot of people don't! there are a lot of long term residents here it seems, so everyone knows everyone which is cool. i think it would definitely take me a while to get used to this lifestyle, especially because i don't party a lot so i feel like i don't fit in as well as most people. it's still very neat, but i am looking forward to having a room to myself and putting my clothes into drawers in margaret river :) 

as for right now, i think i'm going to get ready for bed, eat some tim tams and read a bit, like the nonna i am haha (i practised some italian today!) 
xoxo soph