It was a week of picture perfect Caribbean beach scenes. Water too blue to be real lapping at white sands, hammocks swaying, palms rustling, and a reggae rhythm leaking out of thatched roofed bars. Roatan is all of this plus good cheap diving in crystal clear water. It´s the sort of place folks find excuses never to leave.

We were ready for a vacation from bus rides, repacking, hostel searches, and restaurant food. We were also ready for some new conversation and hanging out with our friend Cory. Alas, a stomach bug wrecked his trip before he even left Seattle, but he set us up in the lap of luxury in Roatan. Without him we roamed around the big two bedroom apartment with a kitchen and a great porch right off the beach wondering what to do with so much real estate. A kitchen might not sound like much of a treat to those of you who live with one but for us a chilled glass of ice water, breakfast cooked to our desire, a fridge full of food, ice clinking in our rum drinks, and a midnight snack are things of our dreams.

Thanks to Morgito directing us to Coconut Tree Divers we launched into a week of warm water psychedelic reef dives with coral in such shapes and colors no drugs were necessary. Outstanding diving brought us face to face with hawk-billed sea turtles, leopard rays, and green moray eels. M conquered her fear of enclosed spaces 110 feet under water on El Aguila wreck and learned to love the back roll entry (get your heads out of the gutter! It´s the best way off the boat in your gear.) The dive boat ¨Wish You Were Here¨was about the only motorized vehicle we used all week.

Paradise don´t come cheap. . . that beach side plate of garlic shrimp sets you back ten bucks at the cheapest joint in town. You want an avocado? Those are two for a dolla´. That juicy mango? Buck a piece, ouch! We put the kitchen to good use and relished the chance to host one dinner party and a cocktail hour. We missed Cory but stuffed our bellies and managed to enjoy some new conversation anyway.

As if a week of diving wasn´t enought to test M´s fear of water, we spent the last two days doing some white water rapid swimming, rock jumping and rafting. We think she´s stronger for it.
All the excitement was for C´s belated B-day, thanks Miss Patti & G-pa. He was grinning like a Cheshire cat, except when the river whirlpooled his head. Check out the video on Flickr in our Honduras section (I know, just turn your screen.)

Next up, Donna and Robert are joining us for 10 days of adventuring in Copan Ruinas and Guatemala. Maybe we can get a guest posting!

Central American Studies

When we planned our trip to Central America I knew almost nothing about Nicaragua. I had a vague notion of a dangerous war torn country. I was too young in the '80s to understand what was happening in the news, but I was aware enough to have my image of Nicaragua shaped by cold war political pundits and media coverage of controversy.

It's now impossible to marry my pre-arrival conception with my in country experience. Nicaragua is astounding. It is a breath taking ring of fire. Volcanoes rise up shoulder to shoulder across its surface. The austere peaks and dry jungle are tempered with vast lakes, many now filling extinct volcanic craters. Aside from its natural beauty, Nicaragua is full of proud, kind people who are quick to laugh, easy to engage in discussions and unerringly helpful to wandering travelers.

Surprises ruled our travels in Nicaragua. Our first night on Isla Ometepe in the middle of vast Lago Nicaragua, we ran into Alyssa Martin, Pomegranate's Vista volunteer who we haven't seen in a few years. We spent the next days catching up, climbing Volcan Concepcíon and eating our hearts out. Together we booked into the best hostel in Granada, Oasis Backpacker's Hostel. As we slipped our hot sweaty selves into their postage stamp pool we realized that our splashing companions were a trio of Mastatal folks we'd said goodbye to just three days before. That same night the seven of us, eagerly led by Alyssa, made a mad dash to catch the second half of a local baseball game. We sat on the dry grass to the side of the stands, drinking beer, cheering for the Granada Tiburones and entertaining a gaggle of giggly admiring kids.

We escaped the mind melting heat of Granada to Laguna Apoyo, a jewel of a crater lake where we planned to dive and spend one night. We were so seduced by the cool rippling waters lasso of bucking body core temperatures and a star lit night dip that we couldn't leave. We stayed a week studying Spanish with Lorenzo, the most adept language teacher I've ever studied with. Our short two week visit to Nicaragua yielded too many good experiences to keep my blog short... A sunset volcano tour, crawling into a cave swirling with bats, talking politics with Lorenzo, asking directions from a family in Ocotal during a blackout only to go on a town tour in their car and share dinner in their home. Where to stop...

Nicaragua is working hard to recover from a century of bad governments and American Foreign Aid. The Samoza family cruelly ruled Nicaragua from the 1930s through 1979, stealing from the populace and sending its people deeper into poverty. In 1979 the popular Sandinistas rose up and ousted the dictatorship. Quickly American "aid" began flowing, not to the new left leaning governemnt, but in the form of clandestine, subversive support of the Contra fighters working to put Samoza back in power. For ten years the Contra tried to overthrow the Sandinista government using U.S. training and arms. The Sandinista's potential to reform their country was hobbled by U.S. Interference. Thousands died in the struggle before the U.S. backed out when the Iran-Contra fiasco came to light.

Our role here is disgraceful. When we should have been helping the people, we were hindering. Luckily the Nicaraguan people are strong and resilient. It gives me hope for the future to see what a country can overcome, and is still overcoming. I leave Nicaragua with a better understanding of Central American history and much thanks for its many lessons and warm embrace.

Communing in Mastatal

We boarded a bus and fled San Jose, Costa Rica, eager to find the much lauded Rancho Mastatal (RM). Our Seattle Academy friend, Melinda, described RM as a paradise of sustainability, a perfect match for us. In a dusty, rusty, dilapidated school bus we climbed into the mountains jostling over rocky roads and precarious curves. Each turn sent vegetable sacks lurching and crated chickens squawking in indignation. Two sweaty hours later we hopped off in a dust cloud. Welcome to Mastatal. It looked bleak until the bus pulled away revealing Rancho Mastatal´s bougainvillea strewn entryway across the road. We trundled through the gate and entered another world where nary a telephone, plastic bag, cinder block or pig product could be found.

Rancho Mastatal is a visionary endeavor. It is first and foremost an environmental education center. The owners, Robin & Tim, host experts who lead workshops ranging from cob construction to tropical ecology to wilderness first aid. They also run an internship/volunteer program where folks stay at the Ranch for two weeks, three months, or even years. The volunteers get their hands dirty in sustainable building projects, permaculture, furniture building, cooking and whatever else they have the initiative to dream up. Finally, there are guests like us who troop into the mix just to soak up the fabulous creative community vibe for a few days.

The Ranch is gorgeous. Tropical gardens surround small open air structures perfectly fit to their environs. All of the buildings have been hand built or rehabbed using local hard woods, bamboo, cob (like adobe), mosaics, natural plasters and locally available materials. Sleeping spaces, classrooms, composting toilets, and outdoor showers all rise to the height of art pieces with their natural textures and hand made details. These amazing spaces Tim, Robin and hundreds of volunteer hands constructed over the last 6 years.The meals at Rancho Mastatal are nothing short of astounding. The cooking crew of three volunteers turn out scrumptious vegetarian, whole foods meals for the 20 to 30 people living at RM. Incredibly, Robin has designed a system where she can feed everyone without creating a mountain of garbage. She buys in bulk, provides beer and sodas in returnable bottles, and all the produce goes straight from the delivery truck into her collection of vegetable baskets. Each meal generates almost exclusively compostable waste. Three times a day we´d hear the conch shell calling us to gather around the hand made wood tables stretching through the Ranch´s shady portico. With praise to the cooks and our fellow Ranch mates we´d dig into tasty meals and good conversation.
We spent our days contemplating our future careers, reading through the Ranch´s sustainability library, taking hikes to swimming holes in the jungle, and making trouble in the kitchen. Canuche even weaseled his way into the last couple days of the Ranch´s timber framing workshop.

It was a treat to put the packs down for a week, get to know great people and join in Rancho Mastatal´s vibrant no waste lifestyle. It was inspiring to see Tim, Robin and the crew living a life that exemplifies their ideals. We even pondered joining the ranks of those who fail to leave, but Nicaragua called us on. Only a few hours away from the ranch we were chagrined to find plastic disposables creeping back into our hands. We know it is hard to make a plastic free paradise in this modern world. We´re eager to take inspiration from Tim and Robin on our own crooked path. We dream about a life that combines our ideals, our professions, our lifestyle, and our community in a tidy holistic little package...we´ll keep dreaming. We´ve got another two months to come up with a plan, right?

http://www.flickr.com/photos/7927406@N06/ for more picutures of the adventure.

Click here to see Rancho Mastatal´s website