good people

here are some stories about the great people i have met so far...

some stories were left out before because i wasn´t sure if my parents were reading my blog... :)

i have met some really nice people during my travels. they have been so helpful and kind. i started my trip to centro america meeting a young woman named beth. she´s from texas but was visiting her father in managua. she was so concerned for me because we were going to be landing in managua at midnight and nobody was picking me up at the aeropuerto. she and another woman warned me that taxis are not that safe because anyone can have a taxi in nicaragua. they freaked me out with their concerns and warnings. here i was starting off my trip trying to feel confident and they confirmed some of my fears. she offered to see if her padre could drive me to a hotel for the night so i wouldn´t have to take a taxi. when we got to the airport and i met her dad he insisted i stay at their house. what? they seemed like genuinely nice people, but all the rules say not to trust strangers. but my instincts told me it was safe and probably my best option as he also offered to drive me to my bus terminal the next day... they took me to their beautiful house and i tried sleeping on their couch. i woke up the next morning to the maid who made me gallo pinto y huevos. when we parted ways beth gave me a bible. did i tell you there are a lot of missionaries that go to nicaragua?

david was my nica bus escort. who helped me not get hustled by the taxi and ferry drivers along my way from managua to ometepe. he also hiked around the island in circles with me trying to find serena´s house... my directions were- la casa de serena atras del estadio de futbol. serena´s house is near the soccar field. there is more than one field. i ended up hiking through barbed wire and corn fields to finally find her house.

jersey peeps... recently, in playa samara i was starting to get antsy. i thought samara was what i needed,rural and peaceful, but it ended up being too small of a town. i would try and go out and walk around town and i would be done in 10 minutes. playa samara is a place you go to lay out on the beach, solamente. because my travel book is a central america book covering every country, the blurb on samara was so brief. i asked this couple on the beach, that were each reading costa rica travel guide books, if i could take a look at one because i didn´t know what there was to do in this town. they felt the exact same way. they invited me to dinner with their friends that night. nicolea (nick), carla (born in venezuela), meg and carlos (born in argentina) are from jersey and are such fun. they have great stories to tell.

we all decided to stay the following day in the neighboring town called playa carillo to check out something new. we found hotel rooms, went to the beach where they taught me how to dive under waves instead of letting them crash on me, and had a fabulous dinner at this argentine couple´s restaurant. best food. we ate great meat, had dessert and coffee, drank wine and closed the place down. i took the bus to san jose with meg and carlos today.