I came here with the intention of teaching yoga, but the construction of the yoga platform is a bit behind, so I have just been helping out on the bar along with the other volunteers. Most nights there are about 20 or so guests, and some people have stayed here several weeks, just hanging out, not doing much. Thats pretty much how it goes here. People hang out all day, and then when night falls people start drinking. Right now I am having a hard time adjusting to the lifestyle, but I try to run and do yoga in order to keep a little bit more active. There are things to do.There are surf lessons, you can go horseback riding, and every evening there is a big game of volleyball. I havent had a surf lesson yet but hopefully tomorrow.
But I haven't written in a while so I am going to backtrack. I left Honduras at 4 am, crossing first into Guatemala, then El Salvador. I arrived in El Tunco, a surf town in El Salvador around 9:30. I met a german guy in Copan who had previously been in El Tunco and he convinced me to stop there in order to break up the trip to Leon. Not much in the town besides surf shops and bars, but this was my first time on the Pacific so a big event in my travels. The beach was black sand, which I have never seen before. Very hot in the middle of the day. I watched the surfers for a few hours and went swimming but the waves were a bit too strong to really swim.
The best thing about being in El Salvador was that I got to eat pupusas in the country that invented them. I love pupusas, they are my favorite Central American street food. They are made by forming a ball of dough and then stuffing the ball with cheese and beans and fillings, and then squishing it out flat into a slightly thicker than usual tortilla. They are served with a spicy sauerkraut called curtido. So good.
In Honduras the most common street food was Baleadas. A baleada is a a large tortilla made from wheat folded in half and filled with a small portion of beans, meat, egg, and veggies. I ate baleadas nearly every day in Utila at a spot called Mama Rosa's. Some friends and I began using baleadas as our price comparison for everything else on the island. Baleadas always won. Mama Rosa also made pastelitos which were like empanadas for 50 cents. Almost everywhere in Central America you can get a filling meal for under $3. Not necessarily a healthy one, but it does the trick. The Main Street food in Guatemala was tamales which are banana leaves filled with a mixture of maize dough, cheese, beans, and other things. Seeing a pattern here? Every country has had their variation on the same 3 or 4 ingredients. Not sure what the street food is here in Nicaragua because when I got to the hostel after hours of driving I didn't feel like exploring and instead had the most amazing pizza I have had in the past few months in the hostel restaurant.
I have a feeling I won't have too much to write about while I am here at Surfing Turtle Lodge, so I am going to save that for the next post at least.
just a word to say I'm reading your blogs, enjoy trying to imagine what you are experiencing each day. Here at the farm, n ot much imagination needed. feed the critters, milk the cows, tend to the new births (13 lambs so far) and of course, plant stuff: onions need to go in, and I have tomato transplants 2 ft high that have fruiit on them already. A sheep died, very sad, it was Suzie, and a fluke death just before she was ready to give birth. I really took it hard.
ReplyDeleteCamelia broke her leg and tore the tendons in her ankle last weekend, she had an operation last monday, is at home off work for 5 weeks. and off the farm too! she is not planting, she is 'planning'. the garden.
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