I find myself with a few minutes to spare, so now seems as good a time as ever to do some reflecting. I´m sitting in a hotel in San Salvador, which is a first for me this trip. First hotel, first day in El Salvador, first hot (lukewarm) shower.
Nicaragua was absolutely spectacular. I don´t think I could´ve started off my travels in a better fashion. I was going from living in an apartment in D.C. to moving from hostel to hostel every few nights. That tranistion can be a bit tough, expecially because of the lack of privacy and time to yourself in hostels. The wonderful thing about them is that there are always people around to socialize with, but the drawback is that you´re around people 24/7. I dob´t think I could have done it without Gabe and Eric. When I couldn´t find other people to hang with, we still always had the three of us. It was also just great to have people there who knew me. After the road trip this past summer, Eric, Gabe, and I definitely know each other´s moods, likes, and dislikes very well. We can read when one of us needs something. That came in handy in Nica, because without that, you have to be constantly looking out for yourself; it´s just a reality of backpacking. Getting a break from that once in a while was really nice.
Something I realized (and something I´m sure Katie will reply to by saying, ¨duh¨) is that backpacking is in some ways very different from normal life, and in some ways very similar. Contrary to what I thought, there are definitely unofficial rules to backpacking; they just happen to be very different from the rules back home. As we met people who had given up their jobs and were traveling for 3, 4, or even 15 months, I realized that they weren´t really traveling as we think of the word. They were just living a mobile life. Sure, some of the hygiene standards don´t apply to backpacking life (you can wear clothes for 3 days in a row without being judged, and you can wear shorts and flip-flops pretty much anywhere), but you still have to take care of yourself. It´s okay to not do laundry and only drink soda and eat junk food when you´re traveling for a week or two, but when you´re backpackign for an extended period of time, you have to do laundry and eat healthy, just like you do at home. Sure, healthy down here might mean gallo pinto and a pina licuado, but it´s still healthy.
And you get into a routine too: Check into the hostel, get settled, grab a Tona or Victoria (the national beers) and go meet some people, drink in the hostel until 7pm, go get dinner with some new friends, keep drinking at the hostel until it closes at 11pm, then go out the bars and party until the wee hours). The good thing about backpacking, though, is that you get the minor variations to keep it interesting: One day, you might fo surfing, the next climb a volcano, the next just read a book in a hammock. One night you might play cards or celebrate somone´s birthday. Plus, when you´re in such a beautiful place, a routine is more of a rhythm than it is boring.
As I mentioned before, I was surprised at how few Nicas spoke English. What I was more surprised by, though, is how few backpackers spoke Spanish, even the ones that were traveling Central and South America for many months. I found that I was usually one of the better Spanish speakers when we went out with other backpackers. Everyone usually spoke their native language nad English pretty fluently, and some knew others, but very little Spanish. (We are fortunate enough that English is the worldwide language of hostels). It´s almost as if backpackers form their own little community within a community wherever they go. There is very little interaction with the locals. They go to gringo barsm hang out in gringo hostels, and do gringo (albeit off-the-beaten-path) activities. I had a friend who spent some time in Nicaragua a few years ago. He stayed with a host family for 3 weeks and did volunteer work. He said his favorite part was becoming a part of the town´s culture and daily life. Looking at the pictures from my trip to Nicaragua, he commented how different our experiences were. Lookign at the pictures myself now, I don´t think I have more than 2 or 3 pictures with Nicaraguans in them.
Now I want to talk about the taxis in Nicaragua. We couldn´t walk 50 feet without every passing taxi honking at us and yelling ¨taxi, taxi?¨. Every taxi that was parked on the street also had a nearby driver yelling ¨taxi, taxi¨at us. If we were in San Juan del Sur, they would start off by yelling ¨taxi, Rivas, Rivas¨(Rivas is the closest city to San Juan del Sur¨and when we would reply ¨No, gracias¨, the driver would then say ¨taxi, Managua, Managua, Granada, Leon, Ometepe¨, (or some variation on that theme), with the idea that if they just said the right city, we would want to take their taxi. Never did it occur to them that maybe it wasn´t the destination we didn´t want to go to, but that we really just didn´t want a taxi. I thought it was pretty funny, but after a while the other people I was traveling with started to get pretty annoyed.
I love beign down here and having very little access to internet and cell phones. It gives me a chance to live in the moment without being distracted by technology. That being said, I really miss talking to my friends and family in the United States. I have a few ¨go-to¨people who I always call when something funny happens or when I just need someone to talk to. It´s been hard not being able to just pick up the phone and talk to them.
Sorry for the lack of transitions and for the multiple spelling errors.
