19
Dec
2009
New Years 2010 Deciphered
Since I’ve been in my own little world lately, I figured I should get in at least one blog update before rushing off for my 6th New Years abroad. In this order, the past five were Edinburgh’s Hogmanay street party, Rome’s Piazza della Repubblica, Edinburgh’s Hogmanay (rained out, drying off in a tiny hotel room watching Paolo Nutini sing in Edinburgh Castle on TV), a night train from Cairo to Aswan in Egypt, and a beach party in San Juan del Sur, Nicaragua. You never know when this string of celebrations will, for good or not, end. In fact, had I not sold my house in November, I’m not sure I would have felt so free to make these plans, particularly for a bit beyond a month of time on the road!
I also rarely posted trip specifics before, but it’s amazing how much more free you feel when you don’t have to ponder that you’re advertising an empty house! So, as things stand, I leave Dec 26th bound for Dublin, Ireland. I arrive the 27th and will be there a whole night! The morning of the 28th, I’ll be hopping straight on to a 6 day Paddywagon bus tour that rings around the whole isle. Granted you can only see so much in such a short period, but I’m considering it the appetizer. Beyond that, I have literally no plans until I leave for Paris on the 23rd of January. So, I have weeks to spend in Dublin certainly and perhaps revisiting somewhere from the tour or I’m looking a lot at the Aran Islands off the Southwestern coast. The largest island, Inis Mor, is about 9 miles long and at its widest point, about 3 miles wide. At this time of the year, there won’t be many tourists and it’s mostly a pedestrian place with some awesome prehistoric forts and beautiful geography. The photos I’ve seen of it call my name, but there’s a chance that somewhere I visit at the outset will call me back louder. Any one with Ireland suggestions, by all means, feel free to drop them my way!
On the 23rd, bound for Paris for 5 nights before returning home for winter and more reflection time. You see, at the outset of this grand experiment, the plan was firmly spending my savings on some good old fashioned travel time. And it may well stay that way, but I’m also toying with the idea of spending some of my savings on something a bit more lasting if I can find the right place, probably in one of Georgia’s “second cities” - preferably closer to the mid-state. It may surprise some of you that I nearly put down an offer on a house in Macon this month. At the literal last moment, I decided to shelve that idea for the moment.
Why not Atlanta? Atlanta was a chapter of my life I wouldn’t exchange. Like any good book, it had its highs and lows, and it set the stage for learning how much I loved seeing the world beyond and, of course, it was where I learned to love being behind a camera so much. But I also don’t relish returning to Atlanta. I would not be so bold as to say never. There’s especially some soft spots in my heart for intown Atlanta where I lived my first two years. They were the poorest years of my life (getting started after college), when every penny mattered, but it seemed everything was on my doorstep of my tiny apartment and it was the most diverse community in which I’ve lived. So, you can see, genuinely no hard feelings, but I have also grown weary of the size of Atlanta, not the people but the sprawl, for now anyway. Each trip back to see friends or handle business has reminded me what it’s like to sit in grid lock traffic and how frustrated I got not being able to get somewhere 10 miles away in less than an hour. If Atlanta can ever escape the car and embrace mass transit, it could be an awesome place.
So, I may come back at the end of January and decide to start down a new path, or I may come back and plan some more travel starting in Spring, or if I have an incredible light bulb go off, I may figure out a way to do some of column A and some of column B.
Where did this new direction come from? While I was already reading a lot about small living before my summer adrift, I’ve had a lot of time to really read about a lot of different topics, specifically centering around small living, urban homesteading, and trying to have a smaller impact on the world. And I don’t per se see myself in a travel camper (believe it or not, heavily considered), I do see that even my 1,500 sq foot town house was more than I ever needed alone. There are families, living in less space than I had to myself. Some are actually here in the US, but most you’d read about here have done so out of choice, i.e. the (hopefully) growing realization that we don’t really NEED 3,000 square foot houses. All they become is places to pile more and more belongings. Anyone who saw my storage unit would know that I’m in no danger of becoming an ascetic monk soon, but I have over the past few years (and will continue to) shed some of the things in my life that are truly just retaining space. Having a smaller place to keep your stuff is its own mandate to deal with excess. And if I can wing a way not to be paying for that space over 30 years of my life, all the better. When you look at how much of your budget is spent on your house and all the stuff in it, you’ll realize that those mortgages are not just a promise to pay a loan but an anchor to a way of life that may not offer you as much satisfaction as you thought.
Anyway, before I get all mystic and hippie-like here, I’ll let it go at that. I’m happy to discuss with anyone who’s interested and you are free to use it for my sanity hearing later. 
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!
I hope that everyone out there who I’ve known over the years has an awesome holiday! This is as close to a card as I’m sending, but the sentiment is heart felt. Even if I don’t talk to you every day, I think of people I knew last week as well as many years ago quite often. And even if I’m awful at responding, I love to hear from you about what’s going on in your lives! Merry Christmas and Happiest year ahead to you all!
22
Mar
2009
Goodnight Nicaragua y Costa Rica
The thing with journeys is they pretty much all end. Obviously Nicaragua and Costa Rica ended months ago now. But I carry these trips with me for awhile longer as I pour through the photos, editing and culling the ones that I most want to share. And in the process, reliving the moments, remembering new friends, recalling all those little moments of connection with the larger world that made me go and made me sorry to leave.
This is my way, of course, to say that the Costa Rica and Nicaragua album is complete. It’s filled up with memories that I hope you enjoy and maybe it will encourage someone else to make the leap to leave their warm cozy beds and see a little more of this wide world.
Masaya Mercado
This was where we had lunch on our last day in Granada, a little market near Masaya Volcano. Although you saw tons of locals, the market was filled with trinkets for tourists. It’s actually an old market but it was destroyed during the war in Nicaragua in the 70’s and 80’s and was recently resurrected.
Granada Cementerio
Having seen the main cemetery in Granada twice from a van, I had to find my way back to it one afternoon before we left. I didn’t have nearly enough time to really take it all in. If you’re ever there and the least bit into cemeteries, check it out, it will not fail to amaze.
I also had to check out what I was told was the oldest church in Granada before I left, and I just made it there at dusk.
Dusk at Iglesia de San Francisco
The colors were very nice especially against the dusk sky…
Judy Wants A Close Up
Judy was pretty much a pet. She flew free but she knew that Daniel and Olivia who ran the eco lodge would feed her and take care of her. We had been watching her and Olivia got her down for us for some close up shots from the paparazzi. Solentiname was a beautiful and challenging place. I definitely saw that I could only live without some of the western basics for so long while staying here, but I still look back on it happily as a very cool life experience. Why is it so often that those are the experiences we wouldn’t be so keen on repeating??
Things to do while on Solentiname
Tranquility - Sunsets over Solentiname
Goodnight Nicaragua!
After leaving Nicaragua, we had two nights in La Fortuna and then a final night after a late arrival into San Jose. Believe it or not, I hardly took any photos. After a week in Nicaragua, a gorgeous place with some truly nice people, La Fortuna seemed so touristy that I just didn’t see anything I wanted to shoot. Instead, I did a canopy tour and soaked in the hot springs at Baldi every chance I got! I basically did the bum thing for two days before the long drive to San Jose and the early morning rise to the airport. Still here’s a shot of one of our group, Chrysta Brown, a photographer, who bungee jumped and the most photographed church in Costa Rica (apparently because of the volcano behind it).
Chrysta Jumping!
Iglesia de la Fortuna y Arenal
There’s a ton more of course, but that’s all in the album for the adventurous ones to hunt through. I’ve no idea where the wind will take me next but it it’s even half as much fun as this trip was, I’ll be a happy camper.
21
Feb
2009
Granada And Masaya Photos
Have been delayed in my photo editing by various things of late, but managed to get up the rest of day 1 and a little of day 2 in Nicaragua’s colonial city of Granada. As I’ve stated before, Granada was a place I already wanted to come back to before I had even left. If you’re traveling on your own, in my opinion, you should plan for several days here to really take it all in.
Pulperia Guadalupe!
Granada Cathedral
Granada Crosses
On the morning of day 2, we took a drive out to Masaya Volcano Park. I had been holding out for this chance to see a volcano. It was an included (i.e. pre-paid) activity and best of all, it was a drive-in Volcano! Putting it in perspective, most of the volcano’s we’d seen previously either involved hours of walking, slogging through mud, or both. Masaya Volcano hasn’t been particularly active since an eruption over 300 years ago. So, there’s a road leading to the edge of the main crater and you can walk a few trails near it to get varous views of the active crater and nearby extinct craters. A very nice activity for someone who’s interested in seeing a volcano but doesn’t want to, say, walk for 8 hours.
Masaya Volcano Crater
Contemplating - Masaya
Masaya - Ants Marching
There are more photos of both Granada and Masaya Volcano in my album of photos from Costa Rica and Nicaragua. Hope you’ll check them all out!
3
Feb
2009
Flavors of Nicaragua
Continuing the upload of photos from my trip, these will all be from Nicaragua. In fact, the vast majority of my photos will be from Nicaragua. We were barely in San Jose. Liberia was only a couple of days, and by the time we got to La Fortuna, once more in Costa Rica, it was a touristy place and I was all about zip lining and relaxing in the hot springs. Ha! I digress!
After our departure from the beauty of San Juan del Sur, we made our way to the island of Ometepe, which is in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. If you’re as remotely uninformed as I was before this trip, you’ve never heard of Lake Nicaragua, a large freshwater lake, in fact, the largest in central america. It has a number of islands in it, the largest being Ometepe, home to two volcanos. I’ll state now that I didn’t visit either of them. They were gorgeous from a distance, but an 8 or 10 hour hike did not hit me as how I wanted to spend a day.
When we got off the ferry, we muddled our way to a spot to wait as a group while our guide found our driver. It was a busy little port, being the only real way on or off the island. The first thing I spotted standing there was this lovely sign. The bright colors against the bright sky screamed for a photo. As we were in travel mode, my camera was buried, but I dragged it out anyway.
Deliciosa Aqui!
We stayed at a cute little hotel that would have been on the beach if the rainy season hadn’t just ended. Most of the group went for nature hikes or slogging up muddy volcanos. I decided that neither fit the bill for me. I just desparately wanted to wander some streets, which were nowhere to be seen near our hotel in the midst of a long dirt road. Luckily, there were buses running frequently and my guide was able to hook me up with what bus would take me where…. I didn’t really care where so accepted Altagracia as my destination. I got there on what most of us gringos would refer to as a chicken bus. Called as such because people carry whatever they need to on the bus, be it livestock or other. I experienced a few of these in Mexico. The trip into Altagracia wasn’t much to comment on. Seats were full but there was plenty of standing room. The ride back later would be totally the opposite, hopelessly overpacked by any standards but somehow everyone was cheery about it, even me.
The neat thing was, that these buses were all former school buses from the states. The first one I got on, I took a look, and sure enough, not only was it a Blue Bird, it was made in Fort Valley, Georgia, a hop and a jump from home. Here’s one of those so familiar blue bird buses on the streets of Altagracia.
Blue Bird Bus!
While the streets of Altagracia were cool, it was a small town and my absolutely favorite find was tucked a few blocks off the main square, a small cemetery. Actually, for the size of the town, it was a respectable size. Anyone who’s meandered through my photos know that I jump at the chance to wander cemeteries. There’s something really intriguing about seeing the different burial practices in different places. It varies even in the states, but I digress! I worry when I wander foreign ones, especially where I don’t know the language and might have trouble explaining my purpose, but when I saw the grazing horses and bull, I figured no one would worry about me desecrating anything.
Resting Places
Crosses To Bear
Crosses of Altagracia
Time on Ometpe passed by quickly and before we knew it we were on our way to Granada, probably one of my favorite places of the trip. A bit bigger and a gorgeous city. I’m just starting on the photos, but here’s one to whet your appetite for the colors and textures of this place.
Worn
There’s more of course, if you check out the full Costa Rica and Nicaragua album, even a few more of Granada, and of course more of Ometepe!
27
Jan
2009
A Few Days In Central America
Things have been busy the last few weeks, but I’ve also found some time here and there (like on a plane back from Chicago one late night) to edit some of my photos. And thus I have the chance to share some of the warmth and beauty of Central America with you all.
My first full day in Costa Rica found our GAP adventures group bound for Liberia. After a long bus ride and checking into the hotel, we made for the beach! Even coming from Atlanta, it was like someone turned the clock back to summer suddenly. While it doesn’t equal the gulf beaches, Playa Hermosa, which means beautiful beach, was as advertised.
Stand By Me - Playa Hermosa
We Three - Pacific Sunset
The next day, we enjoyed a boat ride through Palo Verde, that although near Liberia was quite a bumpy ride. The highlight of the boat ride for me was definitely the monkeys, although we saw a couple of crocs and a ton of birds as well. The monkeys were totally looking for handouts and were used to them despite the signs that predicatably said to not feed them. We were good travelers and didn’t offer them a morsel.
Really No Food? Panhandlers of Palo Verde
The afternoon was free to wander. I did a bit of ambling on my own and later with a couple of other photogs in the group, Chrysta Brown and Jennifer Young. Liberia had a hint of tourism, particularly on the main strip, but the town had plenty of bright colors and peeling paint and was really what I had hoped to find.
A Little Bit of Everything - Liberia
Iglesia Católica de Liberia
The next morning found us bound for Nicaragua. I honestly didn’t have a lot of expectations for Nicaragua. I had heard a lot of great stuff about Costa Rica and what I had heard about Nicaragua was encouraging. Our first stop was San Juan del Sur, an up and coming coastal destination and a perfect place to ring in the new year on the shores of the Pacific, literally on the beach. The first New Year we saw in together was the UK in honor of the guys from Scotland. UK new year happened to be very close to sunset.
San Juan Del Sur Sunset
If Liberia had been colorful, then San Juan Del Sur was positively a riot of color, mostly pastel. Between New Years Eve celebrations, a day spent on a sailboat and a night watching sea turtles hatch, I only had one morning to really explore SJDS, but it was a rewarding morning.
Pick A Color - Streets of San Juan Del Sur
Yellow Meets Blue - San Juan Del Sur
This is just a taste, if you want to see more of Costa Rica and Nicaragua, the full album is going up here.
