Life: An Observation from a Park Bench

Whew it's been awhile. Sometimes circumstances make it difficult to get to a computer to peck away at the keys, even just for a moment. Time operates on a completely different scale when traveling, days can feel like a lifetime or fly by faster than you can rip pages off the calendar. Looking back at when I started, it feels like I've been down here quite a while, and sometimes I have to take a vacation from my vacation. Instead of waking up at the crack of dawn to go exploring or take some kind of tour, sometimes it's nice just to relax around the hostel reading a book or post up on a park bench to observe the rhythm of life in a foreign country.

As the sun rises at about 5:30am every morning, people are out and about from the first light of day or aurora till sundown (atardecer). Street vendors roll out their carts to sell fresh empanadas or quesillos, newspapers are sold to the shopkeepers rolling up their garage doors and sweeping out their tiendas and churchbells chime to tell you it's time to get your day going. The grind of blenders liquidating ice, fruit and milk into delicious batidos emerges from the comedores serving desayunos (breakfast) to those that start their work days early.

At about eight to 9am is when things really get going. The sun is now higher in the sky and the reddish hue of dawn has been replaced with bright and warming rays of golden light. The sidewalks are flooded with people heading to work in all directions; the streets with cars honking their horns, bikes and pedestrian overflow. The banter of shopkeepers chatting with friends passing by is punctuated by the street vendors who have started announcing their products over all the commotion with high-pitched, piercing calls of "quesillo!", "empanaditas!", "rosquillas!", "guineos!"...

One can learn a lot about a place by posting up on a park bench or in a cafe along a busy street. Sometimes the best thing to do is simply observe life over a cup of coffee from the lush mountains of Matagalpa, Nicaragua, or a delicious batido with your favorite fruits blended into one refreshing concoction. Once you find yourself in tune with the daily life of a city, your mind can play it back to you over and over in an endless, time-lapse fashion. Only then can you truly understand a place that was once completely foreign to you... I recommend trying it someday.

Nicaragua: Tierra de Lagos y Volcanes

Land of Lakes and Volcanoes. Within minutes of entering the Repulica de Nicaragua from the southern border with Costa Rica, one is confronted with the sight of volcanoes, which becomes commonplace as one travels north along the volcanic region that lines the Pacific coast. Of the first and most prominent Volcanoes are Concepcíon and Maderas, which form the fabled Isla de Ometepe and rise up like giant pyramids out of the glassy surface of Lago Nicaragua, the largest lake in Central America. Concepcíon is still active to this day, with its most recent eruption in 2009. Sulfurous smoke and ash still billow from the pointed top of this volcano, which can be witnessed from the nearby colonial city of Granada.

Nestled along the western edge of Lake Nicaragua, Granada has amazing views of the lake, Isla de Ometepe and Volcán Mombacho, whose violent eruptions have left it little more than a gaping crater towering above the city. Just northwest of Granada lies Laguna de Apoyo, which is yet another volcano that blew its top years ago. It later filled with water and formed a clear, sparkling lagoon. Its depth has been estimated at around 250 meters (around 750 feet!) and some believe that it actually connects to the Pacific Ocean via a subterranean channel. Swimming in its warm, turquoise water, I was stunned by the abrupt drop-off in the lagoon´s floor, which gave me a sensation of vertigo when I thought about how deep it reached toward the center.

Near León, Volcán Telica is another opportunity to see an active volcano and even bubbling lava within its crater at night. The hike to the top crossed through fertile fields of beans and corn, before finally reaching a steep, winding climb through thick forest to crater. When our group reached the top, unfortunately, it was raining so hard that all that was visible was giant plume of white smoke pouring out of the gaping mouth of the crater. Luckily our lively expedition representing France, England, North America and Nicaragua had planned ahead and brought a bottle of Flor de Caña to warm our insides while we waited for the sun to set. We huddled together next to a large boulder for about 45 minutes hoping it would clear up enough for us to see the lava below, but the rain was relentless and soon we were all drenched to the bone.

While I have yet to witness any lava, Nicaragua has given me the chance to observe active volcanoes more than I ever imagined.