Corn Islands, Part 2

About a kilometer away from our hotel on Big Corn was an incredibly gorgeous beach that, apparently, no one liked to go to.  The water was clear and gorgeous, the sand was soft, there was no trash...and yet, the tourists tended to prefer another, more restaurant-filled, beach instead.  This was much to our delight, since we got the run of the place.  We spent our first day at this beach, after checking into our hotel at around 8:30 a.m. (hooray for early flights!), along with several other of our days.  

At our favorite beach, Long Bay. 

Where is everybody?

Our spot

Daniel really loves the underwater camera. 

I made a few friends along the way.  

I guess I should mention that, aside from the amazing beauty and friendly people, I don't have a whole lot to share with you about the trip.  This is not the place for someone looking for an eco-adventure or a lot of night life (although, admittedly, we didn't really seek out the latter...).  If your idea of a great getaway is laying around ALL day in paradise, reading... then Big Corn is great!

Little Corn Island, on the other had, we found to offer a bit more for the tourists.  This was the place to find the scuba divers, the hippies, the backpackers, the expatriots who made excellent food, and the snorkeling tours.  The island is small, and there are no cars.  We arrived to a muchacho, Mizael, holding up a sign with our names on it. He led us past the divers, hippies, backpackers, and restaurants, then cut across the jungle-y part of the island to the tranquil coast on the opposite side.  After a short hike through the sand we reached our awesome, rustic, beach cabañas.

Over all, this trip was unforgettable.  I can't believe it's so undiscovered, and yet that's exactly what I loved about it.  

Corn Islands, Part One

Tomorrow I go back to work for the last nine weeks of school! I can hardly believe that we're in the fourth quarter and the end is near.  

For those who are keeping us in your prayers, Daniel's Visa appointment at the embassy is in ONE week, on Monday the 16th.  Please pray that we have everything in order and that all goes well. 

And now I shall recant the gloriousness that was our past week....but in parts. As you may know, Daniel and I went with three of my friends to a place called Big Corn Island in Nicaragua.  To get there, we first travelled by bus to Managua, Nicaragua.  Around 3:00 in the afternoon on Saturday, we stepped out of our rolling refrigerator (aka TicaBus, with central air) and caught our first glimpse of Nicaragua.  It wasn't a flattering first impression.  Aside from the sweltering heat, I recall barefoot boys begging and offering to help us with bags and a pair of skinny pigs rummaging through trash.

We were not there yet--just at the border. After passing through customs-part-one we got back on the bus and headed on our way... or so I thought.  Really, we just crossed a bridge and stopped again at another checkpoint.  Parking in a line of vehicles waiting to be fumigated, our bus gave an abrupt shudder and turned off.  Seconds later we could hear the driver, now outside, shout that the bus broke.  I'll skip ahead (past my unreasonably hopeful optimism that it was all just a misunderstanding...) to the part where the bus person informed us that we had to wait there until they could send another bus from Managua (at least 3 hours away..)  Let me just summarize by saying that there is not much nothing to do at the border of Nicaragua.

The beginning of our wait... still in fairly good spirits (and
still trying to pretend it wasn't actually happening)

A little big later, boredom had set in even further.  

Nighttime at the border.  Not fun. 

The surprising highlight of our stay at Nicaraguan customs was when a bus full of fellow Pinares teachers, en route to Costa Rica, rolled in.  Sadly for them, they told us all about how their bus had broken down only an hour into their trip.  However, unlike ours which died in a fairly civilized place, theirs decided to stop in the middle of nowhere, where they were forced to sit on the side of the road for THREE hours waiting for a replacement.  Eeww....

Finally, around 7:00, our new bus came for us and we reached Managua around 10:30.  We checked into a hotel that was far too cute for our meager six-hour stay.  At 5:00 a.m. the next morning we trekked to the airport, gallo-pinto breakfast in hand.

"Gallo Pinto" is the Costa Rican/Nicaraguan
name for rice and beans... and it's oh-so-yummy!

The national flights terminal at the airport

Our boarding passes

Friends on the trip.  The girls were Cara, Sarah, and Stacy.
Let me just say that it is lots of fun introducing yourself
to people when most of your names rhyme.  We changed Stacy's
nameto Farrah by the end of the week, and Daniel became
Ezra, too... for consistency, you know.  

 Finally, after an evening and a morning of far too many lines and far too much waiting, we disembarked our small plane and stepped onto the most beautiful island I've seen!  

More to come! 

Mallory Came to Visit!

I was so fortunate to have my best friend and sister come hang out with me for a week! She just finished her spring semester at UF and came down for a break. We started out fast, leaving early the morning after her arrival for San Miguel de Allende... a huge ex-pat colonial city. It was beautiful and artsy, but I was a little turned-off by the number of foreigners.
We spent about a day in all (we left early, not staying the second night as we had planned). We explored a local art university, drank coffee overlooking the plaza, and spent a morning at the hot springs.
While in Guadalajara, I tried to show Mallory the sights--some of them Mexican, others not (like the Indian restaurant).
We were invited to dinner at the house of the Cardenas family, the family of my student, Zuriel (the one responsible for the Pandas Praying Club). She made delicious Pozole (a soup with hominy) and taquitos. After discovering that Mallory's name in high school Spanish class was Chela they whipped out, and gave her, a mug engraved with that name (who knows why they had it..?).

The Cardenas Family!! I love them so much.

Mallory shopping in the Artisan Market.

The cathedral in San Miguel. It's pink color is the natural color of the sandstone in the area.

Cross-cultured bus ride. :)

Abril...

Springtime!
I'm sorry about the time between posts. Here are some things that I've done lately.

Balnearios
Well, at the beginning of my spring break I traveled a few hours outside of the city to a place they call the balnearios. Which is this natural spring-fed pool you can pay to enter. It was really cool because we drove through endless dry, baren desert... finally we pulled through this cute little pueblo (the kind with little old men sitting outside doing nothing buy watching the cars go by). Emerging on the other side, we were at the balnearios. We climbed down a few stairs and were immediately in the middle of this gorgeous ravine cut out of the rocks by this water! Totally unexpected based on what you have just driven through.


























My Best Friend's Wedding
I went home for most of my spring break because Mackenzie got married!!! I can't stop telling people how wonderful the whole process was! The preparations, the rehearsal, the wedding, the reception-everything-was perfect!!
After having been away for so much of the pre-wedding process, I didn't really feel like I deserved my Maid of Honor title.
But, I'm just so glad I got to be a part of it. I doubt if I'll ever again see anything like the Booth wedding.



Felicidades Mackenzie and Martin!!!!




















April....
So, since returning to Mexico, I've jumped right back into the swing of things.
School has been a little crazy, with the Mexican school board telling us that we would be administering their big standardized test two days last week, but they ended up never showing up. Those tests are tentatively scheduled for next week, but who knows. Can you imagine the school board just NOT bringing the tests on the week (or the days) they told the school the children would be taking these important exams. Wow. I'm not in Kansas anymore...

I went to the Zoo yesterday! It was my first time and, aside from normal things about zoos that have never really please me, and aside from the rude people who threw sticks, chicken, Cheeto's, and other miscellaneous items into animal pens with no staff anywhere near... aside from all of that, it was a lovely zoo and a really great day! The highlight was having a giraffe eat from our hands on the safari!
Next up: Mallory is coming to visit!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Absence from and return to the real world

I have been so fortunate to have my mom, sister, and best friend visiting me for the past week and a half. They arrived on Thursday the 7th. Mom and Mallory stayed until Friday the 15th. Mackenzie extended her trip until yesterday (Tuesday) morning.
While they were here, I tried to show them the most Mexican, or just nicest, areas. We visited Tlaquepaque, a quaint artsy town nearby, we did all usual the downtown activities, went to the VIP theater, and took a tour of a Tequila factory in the town of Tequila. They also spent some time in my classroom and got to meet my crazy kids. After Mom and Mallory left, Mackenzie and I went to the beach (Playa Manzanillo) with Joy and Jenny for the weekend. We stayed at a hotel where Joy had stayed previously, and it was SO cute! A little family run place right on the beach with a nice pool. We ended up spending most of the time in the pool because of the startling amount of washed up jellyfish and puffer fish on the shore. After another day at school with me, Kenzi took off back to the states, too.
Now, I'm trying to finish up the week and 2 days I have left of school, without becoming the monster I sometimes feel is growing inside.
This year is just toooo long.
Today's insane field trip didn't help my nerves much, either. I wont go into it, but I'll summarize by saying that it would NEVER have happened in a school in the states. We were downtown, in busy streets, crossing busy streets, with very little supervision. More than once I almost cried or puked from frustration.
However, I don't want to end on a bad note. All in all, my last few weeks have been glorious and I look forward to my summer at home. I return on July 1st.
Click below to check out my pictures!

Visitors!