Lovely Nicaragua

Nicaragua is amazing!

The last 5 days in Nicaragua have been great. Okay, the border was a little crazy, but I like that these Nicas have a little more spark than the Ticos (Costa Ricans). The border was just chaotic with people even going as far as trying to sell us the customs form for $1. Of course we aren't going to fall for those traps though, and we got without problems.

Then we went to Isla Ometepe. It was actually very big (we only got to see half) and it gets it's name for an indigenous word that means two mountains. It is gorgeous as it is surrounded by Lake Nicaragua and has two large volcanoes on the two parts. We enjoyed walking around and also going to these natural spring pools. We even hitch hiked a ride part way back to our hostel by the 'milk men.' Kind of funny. We also met a really nice couple from Canada and England who had an adorable coffee shop with delicious breakfast food. Dad, I thought of you as you would have loved these great entrepreneurs!

After the two days on the island, we took a ferry back and went to Granada. Awesome!! We got there, explored the very loud and colorful food (and other goods) market right by our hostel and then also into the town and the lake front. At night we went out dancing with this crazy (but fun) 43 year old woman named Kimberely. She's from Florida but lives in Costa Rica now (she had to come up for visa reasons). She definitely out partied us, but she was sweet too. Granada was a great place for people watching, walking around (in the sun and heat!), great food, and some pampering. We both got pedicures and I got my first massage ever today too. Kind of painful, but also felt good. I definitely hope to get back here some day!

Now Jen and I are in Matagalpa and we are going to do a coffee tour tomorrow morning and a chocolate tour in the afternoon. Yummmm.

Abrazos from Nicaragua,

Taylor

Rafting, Turtles, Monkeys

This is so difficult....I can't even try to keep up with all that I have been doing. Between the limited internet access and all the fun we do in a couple days, unfortunately this blog just doesn't do this experience justice. I'll try a quick overview though...

RAFTING!!

Amazing! Literally the best rafting experience of my life. It was just so exciting the whole time with lots of huge rapids. We didn't really know what we were getting ourselves into, but Turrialba doesn't mess around. Rio Pacuare is the 5th best river in the world for rafting! Sweet. Our guide was so-so, at first he kind of yelled at us, but I guess he was just intense. Jen and I were on a boat with 3 Spaniards and they were good rowers. Thank goodness because there were some tight squeezes. I actually fell out twice...and one of those time the whole raft tipped over. Our guide (from Patagonia) told us that was the first time he had flipped this season, but it always has to happen to someone and it actually was fun! I got a couple new bruises, but it was seriously amazing and beautiful! The Spaniards were cool too, and we actually we went out for dinner with them that night too....good to practice some Spanish and hear the 'vosotros' :)

Then to Tortuguero...

We had to take 3 buses and then a boat to get to this remote 'island' part on the Caribbean coast called Tortuguero. It is a little jungle spot (no cars allowed) and when we got there we got right into a tour for the night to see big sea turtles laying eggs. It was so cool. It just happened to be this time of year, and it is quite the process. We went out with a guide at 10pm to see these turtle come out and then dig huge holes to lay about 150 eggs in, which will hatch in 60 days. It was of course a slow process, but it was cool to see it. Then the next morning at 6am we had a jungle canoe tour. We went around for 3 hours on this little canoe and got to see 3 species of monkeys, sloths, caymen, and many types of birds. I loved the monkeys, of course! It was fun too as we met these fun British friends (Max and Sophie) and a sweet Dutch couple. They really helped make our experience in Tortuguero great.

Now we are in one last Costa Rican beach: Playas de Coco. Then we will head across the border to Nicaragua. I will try to avoid the sun at all cost (aka more spf 50)...I am still peeling like crazy!!

Moving on up to the USA!
Love you all!
Taylor

Panama and Costa Rica

Internet has been more limited recently, so sorry for not updating very well.

Boquete was a nice, cooler town. We rented a moped for the morning, and Jen put her life in my hands to take us around all day. We went though the outskirts of town seeing many indigenous people out in their cute, colorful dresses (I wanted to buy one actually, but the tourist price was SO expensive!). We also passed by the coffee plntations and all the lovely lush vegetation. We also did the "Quetzal Trail" along the river deadending at a waterfall.

Then onto crossing the Costa Rica border - literally we walked across a rickety old wooden bridge with plenty of gaps to fall through! We crossed with this crazy Dutch guy and 2 Swiss guys who were on our bus. It was simple enough just kind of old and scary. We also gained an hour crossing that crazy bridge! So we got to Puerto Viejo (the beach) by 5:30pm, got a hostel and dinner. Everyone here has long dreaded hair and it feels like everyone is a tourist. I think a lot of gringos live here now. It has a very strong rastafarian vibe!

Yesterday, we went on a 13km bike ride (well 26 km in total roundtrip) from Puerto Viejo to Manzanillo. It is a beautiful rainforest/beach path. We saw a big iguana, a monkey, and a sloth all in the day! Awesome! The beaches are amazing here in Costa Rica. This morning I woke up early to see the sunrise, but it was too cloudy, and then went running along this path again. I almost felt like a real runner....the things they say about the altitude is true. I could run so better at sea level now! I was drenched in sweat, but it was great and fun. Then we were on buses all day and are now in Turrialba. Rafting tomorrow!!

Let me out!

So I made it out of Colombia! - finally. It really is a beautiful place and I wish I could write better things about my experience there, but it was just an exhausting couple days. I got to the airport Thursday morning 5 hours early and made it to my gate 10 minutes before heading out. They wouldn't let me leave! I literally had to buy a flight back to Cali to leave Cali - they say for Panama immigration reasons, but I had NO questions/problems in Panama. err. The important thing is I did finally make it out and was so happy to be reunited with Jen in Panama City!

Panama, on the other hand, has been great! No problems. Panama City looks like a big US city with huge sky scrapers and lots of US restaurants. We stayed on the other side of town though, Casco Viejo. It is more normal like other parts of Latin America. We got a hostel, took a nap (10 hours sleep in 3 days...I was exhausted!), and then got up to get some cookies and water from a local store. Then some guys from the hostel, Mark from Santa Barbara, CA and Valerio from Rome, Italy, came in our room to hang out for a while. It felt like a college dorm scene actually.

Friday we explored the city a bit - going through the pirated goods market and then to the Panama Canal causeway. We rented bikes, got delicious frozen lemonades, and walked around. It was lovely and fun, although we were VERY sweaty! We made it back to shower and relax before going to dinner and out on the town for the night. We went to a classy bar with a live salsa band on the waterfront. Jen and I went with Mark and Valerio and Valerio's Panamanian friend. One daiquiri was all I could afford, but it was still fun and great people watching!

Saturday we took a ferry boat off the canal to Isla Taboga. It was a nice little getaway from the city. We just stayed on the beach all day and walked around a bit to get DELICIOUS batidos..papaya. My favorite! When we got back to the mainland we got dinner...camarones al ajillo (garlic shrimp)! Then we got our stuff from a hostel, realized how bad we actually got burned ;), and left to the bus terminal. The bus wasn't until 10:45pm, however, so we first had to kill a little time at the mall next door seeing the movie Despicable Me....a cute, animated movie. It was a great way to pass the time though in the AC before getting on the bus to David. A double decker! And we were on the top level, front row...kind of scary at first, but then it was great for leg room and comfort. A smooth bus ride later, we made it to David and took a school bus here to Boquete.

Today we have just napped and hung out for most of the day - enjoying lots of band practice. Someone needs to teach these kids how to drum and play a trumpet! Tomorrow we are going to explore around here more and rent scooters! Should be fun.

2 days until Costa Rica.....aka MONKEYS!!!

Love you all!
Taylor

CALI!

Hey Y'all.

haha That's what I get for traveling with a Southerner ;)

Just a quick update as it's been pretty crazy recently.

The last couple days in Cali have been quite the adventure. We arrived and loved it! Finally to a place we enjoy. There is tons of action, lots to do, and beautiful, hot, sunny weather. On Monday, we got here, walked around, had a delicious lunch, and took a nap. Then later we went out for dinner and ice cream and ended up going out dancing with some other people from our hostel for awhile. It was fun...athough unfortunately these gringo boys (from England, France, Utah, and a girl from Chile) couldn't really dance. But whatever, if you're at the Salsa capital, you've got to at least try!!

Then yesterday, we went to San Cipriano to go on these train carts with motorcycles (I'll have to add pictures!) to get to a river to swim, tube, and cliff jump! Cool. The ride there wasn't too bad and 5 other foreigners ended up joining us on our bus...a couple from Australia (James and Jackie), a Peruvian guy (Herbert), a German girl (Eva), and an Austrian guy (Chris). We joined in with them as a group for the day. We got on these crazy carts for the ride down, swam in the river (it was so hot and humid!), and even cliff jumped into the river with some of the local kids and teenagers. Then we got a big lunch and decided to head back - you have to get back onto the carts back about 30-40 minutes to the freeway.

Well, that's where the 'crazy' part of Cali comes in...we were in a bit of a choque on the tracks...a motor train cart accident if you will. It honestly all happened so fast that all we know is that we didn't stop enough and ran into another cart head on. After that, we all basically remember waiting in a rain storm and pulling out whatever tissue, towels, neosporene, bandaids, etc we had. We had to get back on another cart then again and eventually get to the main road area where we got on a bus to Cali - which yikes there was a lot traffic, so we didn't get back until 9:30pm. We got back to the hostel and the lady working took us immediately to the ER as Lauren's foot was quite inflammed. Just like any ER in the word - it took forever!!! We were there from 10pm until 3:30am only to return again this morning at 8am to see the specialist. Lauren broke her foot in two places and twisted her ankle pretty bad. What this sadly means is that she will be heading back home to the US tomorrow :( The good news is that she is in a cast, it is only a broken foot (versus head, spine, etc), and she at this point doesn't need surgery. I also luckily walked off with only some minor cuts and bruises.

Needless to say, we haven't slept much in last 2 days, we have eaten 1.5 meals (we shared one today) in days, and we are to sad to be saying our goodbyes. It is really not clear yet God's will in all this, but we are trying our best to keep our spirits up. We are so thankful that there were no very serious injuries and that we had these other (now) friends with us that were so supportive. God is good and clearly His plans are much greater than ours!

Please pray for Lauren as she heads home tomorrow: for her to be out of pain, have a community to love her at home, and a safe, smooth flight. I will miss this girl terribly!! In the last week and a half we have laughed and smiled so much, and she has been so great at just taking everything as it comes. Maybe she'll be back for San Diego!! In addition, please keep Jen and me in your prayers. I am still going to be meeting Jen in Panama City tomorrow to continue our travels. I am still trying to wrap my head around the fact that Lauren won't be there anymore, but I am excited to keep going on this amazing adventure!

Love you all!
Taylor

Starting Out....Traveling!

Yes, I will be traveling a lot in the next couple months, and I have definitely started out that way! Yesterday (Friday) I spent most of the day on bus going from Quito to Tulcan and then crossing the border into Ipiales, Colombia. The border was a breeze and quite a bit more relaxed than the Juarez-El Paso border. Good thing I've had lots of practice at border crossing ;) There wasn't really that much to do in Ipiales, so we just got dinner, found an internet cafe, and was back in the room by 7:45pm. I know, we're crazy party animals!

Today (Saturday) we got up and walked to the bus terminal to catch a bus to Popayán. It was a nice, little (18 passenger) bus, but still it was a long ride. We left at 9am and arrived in Popayán at 4:30pm without stopping at all for any kind of food and only one little 5 minute break 2 hours into the ride. Oh, and one little pause to get passport checked. Of course we were the only gringas on the bus and 3 officers had to come on to check us out, and as we were pulling away make comments. I will miss being so famous and beautiful down here! Only some people came on selling sugar cane and fruit, but nothing else. We were starving when we got here so we went right across the street to an "almuerzo" spot. It was a great huge meal, including soup, juice, spaghetti, rice, beef, and a little salad for 3800 pesos ....wow so expensive! haha It really was like $2. It's funny how everything is in thousands, because it makes everything seem so expensive.

Well, we are going to stay here in this tiny little locker (aka room) tonight and explore around here tomorrow. We need a break from all the bus time! It's exciting to be out on the road and starting the adventure though. Next update: CALI!

Abrazos, Taylor

Transitioning

Well, it's been an awesome year!

And my time here in Quito is now actually coming to an end. It still feels surreal, and I cannot believe how quickly a year can past, but really I cannot complain. I have been so incredibly blessed this year with God working in the most amazing and often unexpected situations. I know now that God put me here to grow. I have made amazing relationships, but also relationships that might be difficult to maintain even though they have made such an impact on my life. I've learned a lot about myself, relating to other people, and accepting another culture. Not everything was easy this year, but I can say that I have been genuinely happy. One of the greatest examples of this to me was Christmas. Wow, so far away from home and my family, but also I can honestly say it was one of the best Christmas times of my life. It was very different and I was sad at first, but God brought our community together that week to create a family - playing games together, going ice skating, watching Christmas Classics, etc. I'm definitely going to need time to process more, but I want to tell you all thank you for the prayers and continuous support. I am blessed!

Moving on...

This Friday "la aventura" continues for me as I leave for Colombia. For the next 2 months, I will be backpacking home through Central America. My friend Lauren has already made it here to Ecuador safely, and we are about to begin this journey, meeting our friend Jen in Panama City on August 12th. We are doing it 'no reservations' style...aka we have no real plans made, but we do have a tentative schedule and a couple hot spots. We are going to see a couple cities in all 7 Central American countries, as well spend time in Colombia and Mexico. In the beginning of October, we will be ending in San Diego, California visiting my Aunt Kitty and Uncle Scott! I cannot wait to start and see where this new adventure takes me.

I ask again for your prayers! Beyond my excitement, I am nervous and asking for prayers for an open mind. I pray for good fellowship with Lauren and Jen as we embark on this journey together. I also pray that I can live in the moment and be excited and ready for each new day and place. Finally, I pray for safety. I have confidence that God is good and will protect me as His child these next couple months and beyond.

Thank you in advance!
Much love,
Taylor

PS I will be trying to update this blog every couple days as we begin traveling. I don't know how available internet and computer access will be all the way through, but I promise that I will try to do my best!