spent such an amazing weekend on the island of ometepe. it was sad to leave san juan, but i caught the ferry over to the island on this boat filled with people and livestock and made it to the island two hours later. on the ferry i met these two guys from france who are in central america making a documentary film about kids' perspectives on education. we met a couple from quebec, so the five of us hopped in a van and two hours later (while listening to 'take my breath away', among other smash hits) on this bumpy road we'd made it to hippie heaven. finca magdalena is this awesome cooperative organic coffee farm that also has a hostel (i got my own room for $3 a night) with a restaurant, and is partway up one of the volcanoes. there are two volcanoes on the island as well as tons of banana farms, coffee farms and petroglyphs. the island is in the middle of lago de nicaragua, this enormous lake in the middle of the country. my two canadian friends i'd hung out with in san juan met me there that night and the next day i met some other great people from holland and humboldt county and we got a group together to hike to the petroglyphs and swim in the lake. i think i've definitely slowed down since.. so gorgeous there. we could hear the howler monkeys in the evenings, and just like on the osa peninsula in costa rica, they sound like some enormous beast hiding out in the forest. after having a totally relaxing weekend hiking and drinking rum and watching the stars and listening to the french hippies have an acoustic jam sesh, i made it back to the ferry the next day and promptly left my ATM card in the bank machine in rivas, this town near the ferry. uhhh. since i was just 30 minutes from san juan del sur and it was sunday and i couldn't get back to the bank, i decided to head to san juan for the night and try to get my card back in the morning. it was actually nice to go back there for a day and run into some people that i'd spent the last week with. ended up getting my card back too!
(wow, they are totally playing purple rain in this internet cafe!)
so now i'm in granada, which is gorgeous and colonial and colorful. it's the biggest place i've been to in awhile and it took a few hours to adjust. i am staying in this amazing colonial house in this private wooden bungalow/shed in the back. i have my own double bed and bathroom and i am psyched. started spanish school yesterday at this fancy school where they switch teachers each hour. it was pretty overwhelming. however, i met this awesome woman from bethlehem, pennsylvania (jameson, are you reading this?) who's a lawyer in her 50s and we spent the entire afternoon together walking around this town. she convinced me to take some dance lesson with her yesterday but when we showed up it had been cancelled. so beers and a walk worked out fine too. the spanish is starting to sink in: when she asked me a question yesterday i immediately responded "como?"
also, you know you're not in san francisco anymore when you get cat called by a cop with a machine gun. yes.
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