el día siete; day seven of 7 days of sunsets

"Life happens when you're busy making plans....." John Lennon

This concludes the mini series of 'Seven days of Sunsets.' I found it fitting ending the way I began, sitting on a sailboat in the bay, listening to friend's play guitar and not a care in the world.  Life is too damn short (pardon my french), we should enjoy every minute we can.  Drink wine with ice cubes in the daytime, laugh out loud, take cold showers and enjoy them (ha), and when you can- end your days watching a sunset in the middle of a bay on a sailboat.  

PS: want to spend 10 minutes doing something, watch this:Perpetual Motion

el día seis; day six of 7 days of sunsets

 "The talent for being happy is appreciating and liking what you have, instead of what you don't have."-Woody Allen

Either you like Woody Allen or you don't, I'm for him.  I like it when life makes you laugh, when the good things are free, when everybody's smiling, when even a view of a sunset from a balcony can seem magical.

These photos were taken from my new/current humble abode.  From the balcony. Ridiculously beautiful  sunsets are one of the things that make you stop and say "ah" in life- like people's reaction (or maybe its just me) to a fireworks show...when you're mouth is open slightly, and your eves grow larger- these epic feelings shine just as bright every time, its as if they never lessen because maybe it really is magic.  

Einstein said, "If you don't believe in magic or mystery, you might as well be dead."  

As for me, I believe in both. 

el día cinco; day five of 7 days of sunsets

Sometimes, take that back most of the time here I get this sense of being locked into some kind of time loop- living the movie of 'Groundhog Day' yet the setting is dripping with the unbelievable colors of sunsets and the scene is warm and relaxed.  It isn't disappointing, it isn't freezing, the colors don't remind you of Puxsutawney, Pennsylvania, and I don't watch game shows over and over (though I would never pass up some cervezas with Bill Murray-ever), but for me I'll take this kind of groundhog day. 

 I took some pictures from the South end of la playa for this day. San Juan del Sur began as a small fishing village (many would say that it still is) so there is the port on the south end...not this day in particular but many days guys gather and play their own adapted form of baseball in the sand.  

I like this end of the beach.  My favorite tree is down here, the white flowers have perfect bright yellow start in the center and its the only tree like it in town..Boston loves it here too, he runs himself into exhaustion, all adorning what I swear is a dog smile...

"Do you ever have déjà vu, Mrs. Lancaster? I don’t think so, but I could check with the kitchen." Groundhog Day, 1993

el día quatro; day four of 7 days of sunsets

I decided to take pictures from the North end of the beach here in town for this post.  My battery was too low on my phone so the flash wasn't working, but some of the shots like this one of the sunlight seeping out through the coconut and sour orange trees came out beautiful (this was just in passing on the way to la playa).

We landed under some abandoned huts made from palm and weathered wood, and watched the scenery.  (Saw this awesome bug)

The best part about the North end is that there are very few tourists.  Sometimes I lay out here in the sun and read or float on my back in the water for long periods of time just looking up at the mountain :) The only people that you see down here are locals; fathers pulling in nets with their children helping and small families clinging together on a motorbike...pretty peaceful, you can see the reflection of the sunset on the beach huts and town buildings...

"Everything you can imagine is real." Picasso 

el día tres; day three of 7 days of sunsets

I decided that today the sunset pictures would be through town, or actually taken through the street lining the beach.  In San Juan del Sur, there are about 3-4 streets that make up the town, the one closest is dubbed the beach street, (then there is the street with Ducks Surf Shop and Barrio Cafe, and then there is Market Street-which I currently live on).  All these were taken from the beach street, either walking past, or through a tienda.  

PS, that picture below is not a bit touched up, that's how beautiful this place can be...

el día dos; day two of 7 days of sunsets

For me I like to begin my week with a list of errands, and check them off one by one, so that by the time the sun goes down I feel accomplished and well deserving of an ice cold Toña.  Monday always ends at a bar on the beach (rather an extra large thatched beach hut) for "Take it Easy Mondays".  Cheap beer, cheap appetizers, great view, live band, sand on your toes, perfect.  

I was told to caption this one "thug life"

el día uno; day one of 7 days of sunsets

It seems that every day I am pulled in by the undertow of our amazing sunsets in San Juan del Sur.  If you were here you'd understand.  So I am starting this series of sunset photos, where I take shots of the sun descending on the ocean 7 days in a row, and from 7 different locations in town.  Boston and I had an opportunity to go out on a friend's sailboat yesterday, which is sitting in the bay, for sunset.  Enjoyed some great food and drinks, and got to see the awesome views- this time from the water.  So begins 'siete días de puesta del sol...'

PS: just began watching 'An Idiot Abroad' thanks to Project Free Tv, and can't remember the last time I laughed so hard, super hysterical

Living in Jurassic Park

This is not only San Juan del Sur, but if you look around, it's Jurassic Park.  Every day when we go to sunset  (Boston and myself) we sit in the exact same spot; there's a super tall palm tree to put my back against, a small patch of grass for Boston to nestle in, and view you can only experience if you were to teleport here for sunsets.  
Before the sand touches the sea in front, each sunset people are playing volleyball and there's a soccer match that is played by what seems to be at least 25 people.  Wouldn't trade this time for any time at the moment.  I always bring a book, sometimes a cerveza, and attempt to read but always am swept away by a combination of the sights, sounds, experience, and reality.  
I was laying out with a friend the other day and looking up at the clouds when I brought up the fact that I think the birds acrobating above looked just like pterodactyls .  She said they they in fact were.  That was the end of the conversation.  We went back to tanning.  I try every day to capture a picture of these pterodactyls at sunset, one day I hope to be successful.  This land is like make believe. 
I remember when I was traveling before, though it wasn't nearly for long enough as those I met had been at it, speaking to someone about how much of an experience I was having living and smiling and soaking it all it, and they said to me, "Have fun, just remember you have to come back to reality sometime."  My responds forever will be 'why?'  

You can live out your fantasy today, and your dreams don't have be kept in a secret room in your head only to be entered in sleep hours- but they can be outside your door...or even at a beach with your back to a palm, a sunset only magic can make, and pterodactyls circling above.

♥ Brooke y Boston

comit, buy a ticket, get a tan, live ♥

It's day one of Nicaragua's Independence day parades, and the worse morning ever to have a throbbing head aka hangover.  I feel like i want to wear my knock off ray bans the entire day.  Cooked a plantain, hoping that it will have the potassium I need in this type of situation, wishful thinking.  Last night was maybe the 3rd 80s party I've been to since moving here.  (All held at the token winning hostel- Pacha Mama.  I ended up at the hostel when I was backpacking a few months back, it came down to a beachfront hostel versus one with loud (good) music, a ping-pong table, and pancakes every weekend.  The latter obviously won.)  The best thing about these parties is the fact that you can not even begin to describe accurately the scene to other people.  Just one of those things you have to be at to experience.  People dress up to the theme as good as a drama squad would for a live play, like its the last party on earth, like its New Years on 1999 and the 'Party like its 1999' song is playing in the background. Its good crazy.  You know when you dance in your bedroom when no one is looking, (or maybe your dog and cat are staring at you like you're crazy), and how happy you feel when you're laughing out loud and its so funny you don't even care how loud you are, well blend those feelings together, that's how an 80s themed hostel party with funny characters and good friends feels like.  At least that's my best shot at a description.
So despite my head pounding it was a fun night.  You know its right when you can dance without caring, you know you're happy when you whistle more, you know you're alive when you've pushed yourself.  All for today, on to feeling as good on the outside as I do on the inside.

PS: for a good story visit http://www.markbarry.com/lawnchairman.html and Robert Fulghum is a genius.

Adios

It's currently 930, my alarm which is set to Escape by Jimmy Buffet is repeating itself because I keep hitting snooze, there has been a marching band outside practicing on my street for at least an half hour, and Boston has noticed I actually opened my eyes a bit- so he is sitting next to my head peering over me looking for more signs of life so he can kiss my whole face and spin in circles (only turning right like Zoolander- so many people have observed) until I take him outside.  Normal morning.

I think its because the sun rises so early that people are up and at it at such an early hour here.  To be honest I used to be the type that easily could sleep in until 11 to 1130am, and then have to make myself get up to make some lunch, bypassing the morning and its glory altogether.  It is not that I didn't know I was sleeping half my day away, I just like sleep. Yet it is borderline impossible in Central America to sleep in.  (And it does not help that the street I live on is known as Market Street so there are buses and cargo trucks
seeming to pass directly in front of my door starting @ 4/5am... moving up the mountain next so I hear only birds and the wind and the waves) One good thing about living in this town and finding yourself up at early hours, besides the weird fact that I believe my body skips whatever hangover I might have had for some odd reason, is hearing the Agua de Cocoa guy yelling up and down the streets. Most mornings I wake up and open my door (then open my gate) and pay the cute old man 10 cords and he grabs a coconut from the
fridge he has somehow strapped to the front of a bike/rickshaw contraption and hacks off the top, sticks a straw  inside and you've got natures gatorade, and a pretty sweet snack later if you can find a knife sharp enough and get further inside (or just find the agua de cocoa guy and ask him to chop it in half with his machete).

Living in the center of town has its perks, I see the same people almost every day, minus the backpackers and tourists.  In Costa Rica and Nicaragua for the most part no one says 'hola,' instead we all say 'buenos,'...but funny thing about San Juan del Sur is that in passing people on the streets most people say 'adios.'  I was explained this yesterday, the town is so small that of course you see the same people multiple times a day, so the people here just skip the beginning and middle of greetings and say "adios."  The big lady who has the last booth in the market (whom I thought hated me because of my tattoos last time I traveled here) was the first to say that to me since moving here, I feel slightly better about our disposition and slightly more of a resident :)

The Itsy Bitsy Spider

You can do a lot in a Nica day...
Its 9/11, everyone has sufficiently paid respects using social networks for their medium of choice. The history sucks, we can only keep walking forward, and we will NEVER FORGET.

Today began early, it was hot, no matter how close I position my stand up fan to my face its still hot...I don't know how Boston does it.  I was skyping with my parents last night and my mom asked me to take her through a typical day, so I'll write about today.  Between the hour of 9 am and 10 am I woke and stretched, sliced a mango I had chilled in the fridge overnight, walked Boston, cleaned my little apartment, threw on a bathing suit and headed towards the beach.  @ 10 I met up with a friend by the Barrio Planta Project- la escuela where she is the director (and I am currently volunteering.)  Anyways, clouds were being weird- happens in rainy season- so we walked through town, and grabbed a coffee for 5 cords.  Sat in a shaded area down one of the streets and caught up.  The power and water went out this morning so going to the beach would have been a hot and sticky mess altogether.  Walked back through town and went to the little town bibliotecha.  I love libraries, small, big, old, fancy, doesn't matter.  It's the smell of library books that gets me I think :) Got a library card, note that all the books have that little white sheet with the handwritten due date on the inside front cover still, that brought me back to a happy place.  Checked out 3 books, 'The Skeptic's Guide to The Adventures of Life,''ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN,'& a James Patterson book (which is exciting in itself finding one I haven't read).  Headed to see where a friend's place (hidden behind a restaurant in town).  The storefronts here are so deceiving, I always wondered where the 18,000 people were that Wikipedia said were living in San Juan del Sur.  There are so many hidden mini-streets, apartments, rooms, hallways, winding stairways, its like a whole other secret life.  Like Diagon Alley in Harry Potter (yet not as posh).  Headed to the beach for an hour or so after that.   The sky looked amazing, its been ever since the earthquake that the clouds have been super weird here, oh well.  Read for a bit then headed home.  Water has turned back on but electricity was still out...warmed some gallo pinto on the gas top and had a lunch with a Cat Stephens soundtrack.  Found a classified ad for a job at a surf shop down the beach, went there to apply.  Seems once again that I need to learn Spanish asap because they wouldn't hire someone who wasn't bilingual.  Met Marlon at Gato Negro, local /coffee house/for some reason they have geese in a large pen out back.  Caught up.  Walked to town to see about finding a dog groomer, no luck, poor little lion, I might have to become brave and give being the groomer another attempt.  Poor little lion.  Power turned back on.  Came back home, caught up online with some things, headed up the mountain to visit my friend's new apartment.  Caught up, relaxed a bit, he was making beans, I picked some limes from the tree nearby, and we set up some of his college work that I am going to be helping with.  Left in search of a lemon tree that's rumored to be near the Zen Yoga studio, I have so many things I want to cook with lemon zest and juice, but all they seem to have here is limes, though they are called limons. No such luck.  Just got back to my place and have an hour before sunset.  That's the one thing we never miss, sunset on the beach.  Boston loves this time of day, its wicked beautiful to see, and he runs and prances and gets ridiculously dirty and dreaded in sand but like I said- its his favorite time each day.   He will sit up right in front of me wherever I am and give me that cocked head 'I know I'm cute as hell' look right about this time and be stoked up until we leave and throughout.  So there's a day so far, its not even 5pm, I usually work at the school for a few hours but there was no water or electricity for most of the day.  Welcome to Nicaragua.

On the beach earlier I began reading the book, 'ALL I REALLY NEED TO KNOW I LEARNED IN KINDERGARTEN,' by Robert Fulghum today and he wrote about the children's song 'The Itsy Bitsy Spider.' The spider always gets right back up and heads back up that spout, no matter how many times he gets washed down, he just gets up and keeps on.  Puts things into perspective. Thought I'd share.

Natural Disasters, check

So i am thinking that this week might be the one where I begin my blog. It is Sunday, September 9, 2012 and we just got news that about 51 kil north of Managua (Nicaragua's capital) San Cristobal volcano erupted causing over 3000 people to be forced into evacuation. (San Cristobal volcano) The pictures on Google are cool but its kind of freaky considering the week we have been having.  Lets see,...I woke up this past Wednesday morning my first earthquake(7.6 magnitude earthquake)- my entire little apartment shaking, as if I were awaking in the galley of an old ship during a storm.  My dog was freaking out and I just couldn't wake enough to quickly figure out what was happening, when the tv-which is mounted to my wall began violently swaying I figured it was a bit more serious then the one people were speaking of in town that happened a country away a week or so ago.  But I guess I was just exhausted from staying up on Photoshop the night before that I went back to sleep.  That was around 8:30 am.  I awoke to several messages from my dad about an hour later with lingo such as, "CALL ME ASAP," and, "TSUNAMI WARNING GET TO HIGH GROUND."(Tsunami warning) My friend called me right then and said that they were getting coffee at a cafe in town right in the heart of the taxi's hangout so if there was a need to flee at least they could jump in a cab.
I remember being a little kid and going through the 'what to do if there's a fire' scenarios, and what to grab quickly, where to meet if we get separated, but its hits home, no pun intended, when you look out your window and see people, some that you know, running away from the ocean and looking back, then forward, all the while yelling on their cell phones.  That's we the flight motion kicked my butt.  I grabbed my storm proof quicksilver backpack, a bathing suit, toothbrush, poncho, passport, small bag of food for Boston, chap stick, whatever electronics I could quickly find, filled up 2 bottles of water, and I think that's it.  Funny thing is I put my suitcase and whatever was on the floor of my apartment on my bed, as if a tsunami would only be inches deep.  Ran down the street with Boston to Barrio cafe. Joined friends and we began walking up towards the mountain directly behind town, there is a swanky resort called Pelican Eyes; hoped in someones SUV and ride up the the resort pool.  There we sat, a bunch of backpackers, tourists, and locals, watching a beautiful beach, awaiting a tsunami.

Nothing happened, we overpaid for some beers and eventually headed back down to town.  A few hours later town was back to normal. So in the course of 5 days I have been involved/around 3 natural disasters, cross those off my list. :)

                            

<br>