Alive and well!!

HELLO!!!! I have been so busy for the past little bit and honestly this is the first time that I have opened my laptop in 2 weeks. That is quite an excellent feeling! I have been loving Nicaragua and life in general so here are some of the things that I have been up to:

Last time I blogged I was still working. I have officially been on break for two weeks now. I had a good end to the semester, and I already have many classes confirmed for next semester! I also applied to start teaching reading with the company that I teach math. So now I will teach reading with Air Reading and with Book Nook I will teach math and reading! This hopefully will get me a couple of extra classes and that will really help financially. 

As far as the travel to Nicaragua went, I was super nervous about needing a yellow fever vaccine, but I ended up not needing one. It took about four hours to cross the Costa Rica/ Nicaragua border which is way longer than normal. Because of the craziness of the holiday season, it took forever. I am glad that I hired a shuttle because I got grouped with other travelers and we did the border together and got to hang out and talk to one another which was really nice. Actually, my first night in Nicaragua I went out for food and drinks with some people from my shuttle! It was really cute. 

I finally made my way to Leon which is where I spent Christmas. I also took a shuttle but didn't talk to anyone until I got off the shuttle and started walking towards my hostel. Another girl was walking to the hostel, and we started chit chatting and she was so nice. She was meeting a friend and that friend ended up being in my room. We all got lunch together and then hung out nonstop for the next couple of days. They are from London and friends from home. They were only planning to be in Leon for a few days but then they extended their stay so they could celebrate Christmas in Leon and also go to a beach party of Christmas Eve! I was so glad that they extended their stay because we hung out all Christmas Eve and Christmas and it was nice to have good people around. In Leon we went sledding down an active volcano which was actually insane. So beautiful and such a unique experience! We also ate lots of good food and drank lots of good drinks. We did quite a bit of celebrating. In Leon they have these party buses and the people who are working just keep feeding you drinks and blasting music, all while the bus is moving. Such a fun experience! I also met some other people through my new London friends and traveled with a German guy when we all left on December 26th. 

The German guy and I went to Ometepe Island which is on Lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua is the largest lake in Central America and there are times when you can't see the other side of it. The travel there involved a shuttle that caught on fire, a ferry, and then renting a moped. The island is pretty large and so it is recommended to rent a scooter so you can see more of it. The German guy convinced me that I could ride a scooter with all of my bags, in the dark, and the rain and so I agreed to rent my own scooter. He drove in front, and I made him promise to go slow at first. It all went really well! I'm so glad that I ended up renting a scooter because it made my time so much easier and so much more fun. And now I know how to ride a moped!! It took us 1.5 hours to get from the port to our hostel. When we got there, there were three beds left. One bottom bunk, one top bunk above the bottom one, and then another top bunk across the room. He took the bottom bunk, and I took the top bunk directly above him haha. We ended up spending my whole time in Ometepe together. We went out to eat together and on our first full day on the island we drove around the entire Maderas volcano. Ometepe has two large volcanos and so the volcano looks a bit like an infinity sign. We drove around the Maderas volcano and stopped at a beach to drink a beer and watch the sunset. Then we got a really delicious dinner. The next day we hiked up the Maderas volcano which actually was so brutal. It took 8 hours, and it rained for some of the hike, and it was really slippery. Lots of loose mud and loose rock. When we got to the top, the view was not even visible. It was so foggy which was kind of a bummer. The feeling was rewarding to finish the volcano hike, but it left me so sore. I also needed to get ice cream so bad, and the German guy and I got double scoops. 

After Ometepe I traveled to Granada. I have been here for a couple of days, and I will be here for a couple more days as well. I am doing a Spanish school and a homestay, so I am living with a lady and her mom. My friends that I celebrated Christmas with were in Granada for a couple of days and so I got to hang out with them a bit. I was hoping to get tickets to this party on New Years Eve, but they were all sold out, so I spent New Years Eve with my host family and actually fell asleep at 10:30pm. Granada is a cool city with lots of fun architecture and it is right on Lake Nicaragua. My Spanish school has been going pretty well, we are reviewing things that I learned a super long time ago but have since forgotten. I will be in Nicaragua for another week and then I meet Reese in Costa Rica! Nicaragua has been so fun, and I have been making so many memories. I am excited for another week!