The whole day went exactly how it should’ve. Maybe not on paper, but it went exactly how I had expected it to. I arrived, panicked, only 1 hour and 45 minutes early, which was less than the recommended 2 hours & thus, I had commenced nervously stroking my thumb across where my ring usually is, in an attempt to twirl it even though I had intentionally left it at home. Surprisingly, that area isn’t raw. But all the worry was for nothing, & we sat on the opposite side of security 15 minutes after our Uber dropped us off. The first flight was exactly what any Spirit flight is- it boarded late, there seemed to be no organization, & an army of babies shrieked the entire 3 hours & 7 minutes. The second flight boarded over an hour late, and as the pilot explained something about a valve not working & this issue historically causing fires, I reminded myself that I was getting what I paid for— a $300 round trip flight to a country 3,000 miles away.
We landed, worried that our private taxi hadn’t stuck it out until 2:40am, and went through customs. Nothing of note, other than that Nicaragua charges you $10 for a tourism visa. Interesting.
Thankfully, our taxi driver was standing there waiting, with my name haphazardly scribbled in baby blue marker on a piece of printer paper. His Spanish was fast and I found it hard to understand his accent, so when he mentioned something about waiting for a friend, I nodded & Bryce & I waiting for a few minutes before he returned, shrugging, and we left, off to Hostel Paradiso.
Even though it was 3am, I was buzzing from anticipation & I kept recalling memories from Guatemala that served to heighten my excitement. The car felt like it was driving in circles, but I had (of course) checked Google & knew we’d be going pretty far east & slightly north before we’d hit a road that ventured south. 40 minutes into the drive, I pointed out the window & laughed as Bryce looked shocked to see a real life horse and buggy, traveling along dark and bumpy roads at 4am. When we finally arrived at our hotel, it looked like we had 2 rooms booked. I later found out that, even without physically being present, Dad was messing with my plans. *Shrugs*
The next two days don’t have any exciting stories. No near death experiences or once-in-lifetime activities. We just spent 48 hours floating around a lake in the middle of a volcanic crater, enjoying good (cheap) food, getting really sunburnt (@Bryce), & cursing when I forget to throw the toilet paper in the trash (you’d think I’d have learned.)
A little about the laguna: The crater of Apoyo was formed approximately 23,000 years ago, after a strong volcanic explosion left a hole measuring 3.7 miles in diameter. Time went by and subterranean waters and rain filled the crater and the slopes became covered by vegetation. Today this crater is considered to be a sleeping volcano, in repose, with certain volcanic activity still present through a few hot springs in its interior. Bryce lost his sunglasses after jumping into the water, & I urged him to go diving in for them. Needless to say, sunglasses are lost for good and we later found out that the lake, at its deepest, is 175 meters deep. 🤷🏼♀️
I started a book yesterday; a cheesy murder mystery that I judged myself for reading. Finished it today and spent $3.99 on the next book in the series, forgiving myself for ignoring the CFA and all related derivatives, quantitative methods, and FX arbitrage information that is slowly trickling out of my brian. I only checked my work email once, surprised to see it so empty before remembering it’s a holiday, and otherwise enjoyed an entirely switched off day.
We spent both days on the beach, drinking watermelon mojitos (me) & jalapeño mango margaritas (Bryce.) At night, as the sun was setting, I practiced yoga on a platform that looked out to the lake and had a hammock in front of me. I watched as the
hotel set off fireworks on NYE before heading to bed and falling asleep the moment I turned off the lights at 10:45pm.
So, apologies if you expected more entertainment. But, never fear, because today, Bryce & I are off to meet up with our dad & his new girlfriend. While I imagine there will be many stories that don’t make the blog, my dad tends to keep everything, for lack of a better word, interesting when he shows up, so I’m sure I’ll have enough stories to share.
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