ok, where to begin????

people have asked about my bruised rib... so Ill try to explain... I was swimming in a crater lake in Nicaragua near Granada (which was incidently very good for my skin... maybe the sulfur???)

There was a dock about 10 metres from the beach with a ladder on it. I didn't use the ladder the day before but thought I would climb up it. There was a good layer of slime on one of the rungs so I thought I would take my chances and jump on it to hoist myself out of the water. I slipped but managed to get airborne long enough to impale myself onto the top part of the ladder....

(picture of lake and dock that i slipped on above)

suffice to say that was about a week ago and am still aching.

spent three days in San Juan del Sur in Nica which felt ueber-touristy... but was very beautiful...


and enjoyed a good gang of people...


oh and also bought a new hat to replace the old one:


then headed to Isla de Omotepe for 3 nights in the center of lake Nicaragua... the island is born of two volcanoes (one still active) and covered mostly with farms, horses, these funky birds that follow you around that have long tails... and like the sound of castanets....

1st night spent at Finca Magdelena (a farm) only to discover that the next day some guy from the World Bank showed up in a helicopter and had some sort of "meeting" there... kind of bizarre... slept on a tarp bed (not so good for my rib)

the next two nights went to a different finca and ended up sleeping on a bed made of wood for two nights... also not so good for my rib.

Yesterday on a whim with a friend headed to Costa Rica with the promise of sleeping on a matress... have found one... feeling better.

Was not so excited about Costa Rica because of the tourist reputation that it has but came along with a friend for the ride.

Am in Tamarindo now.

Shocking things I have found about Tamarindo:

1) There are no tamarinds in Tamarindo
- incidently , I couldn't find any lions in Leon either... (those pillars in front of people's houses that usually have lions.... they have rabbits in leon) , nor could i find grenadines in granada... but im not so sure they're related...

2) There are soooo many Canadians and strip malls here it feels like Whister.

Will spend a couple of nights here so that maybe my ailing rib will get better and maybe go get an x-ray....

... soon to come... the sounds of granada....