The Journey, Part Two

(Wed 9 August 2006)
We had breakfast at the hotel and left for San Jorge when our driver arrived around 8:30. We got there around 10am and the next ferry was at 10:30. While waiting, I made friends with a nice Nicaraguan lady and talked in Spanish. She asked if Rob spoke any Spanish, because he was not saying anything. I told her that he spoke a little Spanish, he was just shy. A little boy named Alexi (12 years or thereabouts) also befriended me. He told me he would help with our luggage (obviously, he wanted cordovas) and he discussed with me the pro’s and con’s of either buying our ticket ahead of time or waiting to buy it on the boat. When we decided to buy it ahead of time, he went with Rob to the ticket counter to make sure that everything went okay.

The boat ride was pretty smooth. It took about an hour and a half, and then all chaos broke loose. I forgot how crazy it is getting off the boat in Moyogalpa. Kids rush onto the boat, grabbing your luggage so you give them cordovas for their help. It was all we could do to keep track of everything. It was pouring down rain, which didn’t help matters any. There was a guy who would not leave my side and got us a ride to Mérida, shared with 3 other people. The bumpy car ride began. I was constantly scanning the trees, looking for monkeys. I was surprised at how degraded everything looked and kept hoping that once we got to the Maderas side there would be more forest. No such luck. All too soon (1-1/2 hour) we got to Mérida and I hadn’t seen anything that looked like monkey habitat. When we got to the hostel, there was a bit of confusion, but I found Alvaro and eventually a girl named Gisele showed us our room. Small but cozy. The best part is that we have our own bathroom. Am so excited words can’t even explain. They fixed us food and we ate lunch with Alvaro, looking out at the water. Merida is so beautiful. Its on a little peninsula jutting out into the lake. Our room is looking right out onto the water. There are mango, coconut and banana trees all around. There is some kind of flower blooming and everything has a beautiful smell. I feel very happy here, like this is going to be a really good place to stay. The internet connection isn’t quite in place yet, but Rob rigged up something so we could do email and even online chat with our parents for a bit. As long as I can find monkeys and the TT holds out, this is going to work out just fine.

Here are some pictures that I took during the ride from Moyogalpa to Mérida