Beach, Volcano, Beach
Here are the latest pictures: http://www.flickr.com/photos/29084171@N00/
I am in Nicaragua now. I spent the last couple intense days on Isla Ometepe, a double volcano island in the middle of Lago Nicaragua, where you can find the only freshwater sharks. Emily, Sebastian and I spent one day at the beach relaxing before undertaking the big hike. We made it up the smaller of the volcanos, which just about killed me since it was about 8 or 9 hours straight up and back. I was grabbing onto branches and slidding around in mud and today I am enjoying my second day of achy muscles. But it was pretty amazing to stand in a lagoon on the top of a volcano, despite the fact that it was pretty cloudy.
I got a little tired of the backpacker crowd and I'm staying in a little more of a local joint here in San Juan del Sur, where there are realty offices all over and you can find old anniversary of the revolution postcards stuck behind other older picturesque postcards in the souvenier shop. Nicaragua is clearly a lot poorer, especially on the island, which is still mostly rural with unpaved roads and tiny huts and animals running all over the place, kind of like you would picture. But I don't have much of a sense of things here yet since I feel like I am still getting my bearings. Tomorrow I will escape the touristy spot and head up the coast to another beach. And eventually I will be heading to Granada, which is also supposed to be pretty touristy but it will put me closer to Leon and Esteli, which will be pure Nicaraguan from what I have heard.