León

HEODRA
On August 15th we had our first day at the Hospital Escuela Oscar Danilo Rosales Arguello- or better to say: battled our way through the bureaucracy of the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua. Philipp and Jakob have been working in Surgery, Lili in Pedeatrics and Karoline in Obstetrics and Gynecology. The HEODRA is one of the biggest hospitals in Nicaragua- aside from Managua- and health care is free to every patient, who comes here. Our first impression of the hospital: crowded, unorganized and dirty...and yes, there are cockroaches in the operation room! The beds are rusty, the walls are moldy, there are families hanging out in the halls with lunch for their loved ones, and the humidity makes your white coat hot and sticky....no, no aircon! What's more, the Nicaraguan Spanish is fast, full of colloquials, and half of every word just gets swallowed on the way out...the first days were tough! Especially for Philipp. He had to hear a lot of : "Pero el no puede hablar bien, verdad?" (But he can't speak Spanish very well, huh?). But he stuck it up! and diligently went to Spanish classes in the afternoons.
The HEODRA is a teaching hospital and there are a gazillion students in white coats running around everywhere. The teaching programs really impressed us: the Nicaraguan students just spit out the right answer all the time! And even the exact dosages of medications... But we console ourselves in thinking that that is not all it takes, right? :)
But from the patients side...not such a romantic picture: forget privacy, get bombed with antibiotics, and when in pain: stick it out, man! Technical rescources are present, if not to say abundant. Many of the ultrasounds, endoscopy machines, operation utensils and scrubs are old ones from somewhere in the world, where a private hospital boss with shiny white teeth decided to buy a fancy new exemplar of it. And most things are in good shape! Then again, wasted resources do make you sad though: artificial ventilation by hand for 48 hours, just cause the ventilation machine is broken and no one knows how to fix it...

We both feel like we learned a lot. Philipp got the chance to stich up patients and Karoline saw one childbirth
after another, and even got the chance to attend!

 Lili and Karo at "Labor y Parto".

 Student class at the Emergencia with Dr. Alonso.

 The "Expulsivo".

Student group with Anne at "Labor y Parto".

 León cathedral.

At the FSLN museum.

The weekends: Poneloya, Playa Asseradores and Playa Roca
León is not far from the beach, luckily, and Poneloya is the closest. Although the surf was not too exciting,  the fresh seafood was tasty and the beaches lonely. A nature experience to remember: playing in the waves with big swarms of little manta rays surfing the shorebreak!

 At the "Mercadito" on the way to Poneloya.

 River crossing to the Isla is Poneloya.

 Walking to our lonely beach.

 A fisherman's catch...

Playa Asseradores is another lonely beach further north with a small fishing pueblo, where the rules of the streets seem more like the Wild West than the 21th century! ...and our hostel owner Joe was quite the character, too. A twice around the world sailor, who fell in love with a Nica on his second way round. We also took boat trips out to the surfbreaks, where the waves were choppy, but surely the closest one can get to surfers dream of solitude. And hey, it was our last surf trip together...probably for a while to come :(

 At Portunica, "Joe's Place".

Day trip to Playa Roca after a rough night with Flor de Cana...

Our ride...

At Playa Roca.

Philipp left this morning with Liligret, so for him the long trip is over! I have 4 weeks to go and am already feeling "herzschmerz" for Filipe...

More photos soon!
Karoline

Last days of our travels...and then León!

Granada and Masaya
We spent couple of days in Granada and Lili really kicked our lazy beach bums: we walked all around the city, visited the churches and the fortress, had pancakes and café con leche for breakfast at the Garden Café (every day), quesillo on the church steps at dusk, roamed the mercado for the real Nica eccentricities, went to a musuem (!), ate fried guapote fish from the Lago de Nicaragua, and did a girls day shopping for artesanías in Masaya. And of course hung out in the hammocks at our nice hostel...

Church in Granada.

 At the Oasis Hostel.

 In Masaya at the Mercado Nuevo.

Quesiiillo.....

Playa Popoyo
Yes, it was time again to soak up some sun and and catch some waves! The chicken bus trip to Popoyo was a minor desaster- what took us 10 hours should have taken about 4...well, that's Nicaragua. But after an ice cold Tona and a swim in the ocean everything was forgotten. Philipp surfed the beachbreak a lot and we went on beachwalks, read books and played Ligretto :). On the last day we took a boat trip to a reefbreak with some American surferdudes- and were reminded that boat trips are well worth the effort! Nice head high slow rolling waves and so much fun! On the way back to the hostel everybody was in the best of moods and ready to eat some fresh fish and drink rum, but then the back window of the car broke...shattered into a million pieces. Philipp was the unfortunate one, who had slammed the door. Arrgh. Not so nice and quite expensive ending to an awesome day of surfing...

 In Rivas waiting for the bus.

 On the boat trip.

The self-sufficient surferette...

León - The Last Stop!
Another horrific bus trip...this time just hot and sticky and smelly and pushy and crowded! Saw Managua only from the taxi window and then hopped on the bus to León. Wow. León is a different life...we really like the vibes of this city, very "buena onda" as they would say here. León is a university town and one can really tell. We will be spending the rest of our trip here- 4 weeks for Philipp and 8 weeks for Karo- and will be working at the Hospital Escuela Oscar Danilo Rosales Arguello, the teaching hospital for the Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Nicaragua.
Our first week we spent exploring the city, finding the best comedors and the best coffee places :). Lili and Karo also took two little trips to La Paz Centro, just like any little ol' town in Nica, and Estelí, a city in the Northern Highlands. It took some time and effort to find a room for rent in León- and we looked at the worst s***holes- but we did find a place with a room that actually has windows, a real matress, a decent toilet and wireless internet. Yes, one has to admit that a certain comfort level is just fine :). Lili is living with a cute little old lady a bit outside of town. And Jakob has arrived from Göttingen and has moved into our place. So now we are four!...and it is time to wake up our brains from their deep sleep and start getting serious!

 León.

Street food at the fritanga.

Hospital Escuela Oscar Danilo Rosales Arguello.

Until soon,
Philipp and Karoline

Apropos, we both enjoyed this mural...

July

Dominical and Puerto Jiménez
After San Juan del Sur we were craving some brainfood...surf and  Spanish school  sounded good to us, so we took the chicken bus back to Costa Rica to Dominical- a small hippie town with lots of gringos. But we had some good times with the  language school kids and a nice little room with a hammock outside :). The weather was horrible- so rainy that the river overflowed and the ocean turned muddy. No surf. Highlight of the week: Liligret´s arrival! She is Karo´s roommate from Goettingen and will spend the upcoming two months with us in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.
From there we went to Puerto Jiménez on the Peninsula de Osa. Lots of rain, but our two day trips to Cabo Matapalo on the jammed colectivo were well worth the effort: big waves and beautiful beaches in midst of the jungle near the Parque Corcovado...Truely, un sueño for surfers.

Boca de Sábalos
A pit stop in San Jose and two days of traveling, when 2 long bus trips and two ferries on the Lago de Nicaragua and Río San Juan took us to the lonesome town of Boca de Sábalos. We would never have stumbled across this place on our own had it not been for our friend Silja, who works here on a cocoa bean cooperative. Just some impressions: waking up to the next door neighbors boom blasting reggaeton, fried chicken at the muelle, evangelicals singing their hearts out karaoke style (the whole village is blessed with those fine tunes and lyrics almost all day long...), watching for the giant Sábalo fish in the Río San Juan, learning how cocoa beans are processed...and making chocolate from scratch!, long hike through the deep muck with "gummistiefel"- a true neccessity here, a giant river shrimp dinner, and hearing all about Silja´s time here and her successes and struggles with the campesinos and life out in the campo. A Nicaragua experience out of the ordinary- but very ordinary- for sure!

The appropriate attire.

After a long walk in the campo...Tona.

The cocoa bean tour...

Making chocolate.

Isla de Ometepe and Granada
The four of us traveled by ferry (12 hours from San Carlos) to the Isla de Ometepe, basically two connected volcanoes in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua, where we spent 3 days at a Finca Verde. Vegetarian food, kids learning English from volunteers, laid back time in the hammocks reading, then jumping in the lake for a swim, bike rides and a long hike to the Ojo de Agua and a beautiful waterfall! And some impressions on politics in Nicaragua during gallo pinto lunch with the the occasional grunt of a pig and the boak of a chicken...

And now we are back in Granada!

Until soon,
Philipp and Karoline

Overland to Nicaragua

Rincón de la Vieja
After our long stay in Playa Negra, we felt that the saltwater and sunshine was not doing our brains too good...and we decided we needed a change! It so happened that Johnny- a good family friend from home- was close by and we met up in Liberia, northern Costa Rica. The three of us spent a night together in the Parque Rincón de la Vieja in a cozy little lodge with a moutain feel to it and took a fabulous hike through the Park- sulfurous hot springs, lots of wild animalitos, and not another human soul around! The park was actually closed on that monday, so we pulled kind of a sneeky move and hiked in from the far side of the park :). We did not, unfortunately, see the volcancito that we were looking for...bad navigation and too much talking and looking for wildlife!
Johnny, it was some good times with you and a treat of a hike through that beautiful jungle. So happy you joined us!

 Hot springs with Johnny.

At Rincón de la Vieja.

Granada
We took the Tica Bus from Liberia to Granada- the expensive option and not really worth the money. In Granada, we stayed at "The Bearded Monkey", a colonial style backpacker hostel with a gorgeous inside courtyard with hammocks and lots of little nooks to hang out. The vibes were different in Nicaragua: more street vendors, kids begging for money and sniffing glue in the streets...But, we enjoyed the city life- making the contrast even bigger- going to nice restaurants and nice little cafes, and also getting to know the good Nica food: lots of gallo pinto (rice and beans) and maduros (fried bananas)! Philipp found the chess club- and played "Blitzschach" against 14 year-old chess wizards...Spent a day at Laguna de Apoyo, a very deep volcanic lake and clear blue water. The colonial style of downtown with the bright and colorful houses makes Granada quite memorable!

Playa Madera and San Juan del Sur
Our trip back to the Pacific was crazy- our first encounter with the real chicken buses. Almost missed the first one from Granada...and jumped on the moving bus while the locals hauled our huge boardbag on to the roof! Along with the big rice bags, vegetables and bicycles :). In Playa Madera we crashed at a surfers hostel right at the beach: no running water and 2 hours of generator electricity in the evenings...the water eventually did get fixed, luckily. The surf was ok, small and crowded. A alot of day trippers come there from San Juan del Sur to drink and party and try their luck on a soft top. Not really our thing. But the evenings and the mornings were quiet with the sound of the ocean. And the low tide was cool, looking for mussels and cucrachas del mar for sopa de mariscos.
A couple nights in San Juan del Sur, no waves and just hanging out at our "Hostal Don Wilfredo", where the local chess teacher lives and was preparing the kids for the next chess tournament :). Watched lots of telenovelas with the mamacita and ate the beast ceviche of this trip!

 Playa Madera.

 Beard trimmin´...

Don Wilfredo.

Hasta la proxima,
Philipp and Karo

Costa Rica

Our first stop in Costa Rica was two nights in San Jose. Philipp finally decided that, yes, his toothache was now bad enough to make a trip to the dentist reasonable. Anna and Madlein,our German hosts, were so supportive and even treated us to an evening of "Tatort"- a little bit of "home" in San Jose! :)
The dentist concluded that a root canal therapy was neccessary, which took us a whole day at the dentists and a trip back to San Jose a week later because of complications during the first treatment...Philipp is now well and trying to avoid Coke and sweeties. Yupp, that´s right!

Good old root canal...

Punta Banco
A long bus trip to the southern border took us to Rancho Burica in Punta Banco, near the famous surfbreak of Pavones. The ranch is literally the "last stop" of the local bus and from that point on there is only jungle and the indiginous reserve of the Guaymí. And rain. Alot of rain! It rained every day for 5 days, and the wind made the surfbreak at our front door choppy and unkind. So it was books and Tico home cookin´ that kept us happy- but for the first time also a little homesick!
Highlight was no doubt our horseback ride with Wilber along the deserted beach and into the thick and slippery jungle. We saw parrots, monkeys, and -our favourite- peresosos!
On the last 2 days we finally got some surf in and Philipp was awarded his first in a lifetime barrel for his patience :). 

El Señor Peresoso.

Playa Negra
Our favorite! surfspot as of now lies just north of the Peninsula Nicoya, not far from the well known Tamarindo. The bus driver dropped us off at the main dirt road and pointed us toward a smaller dirt road...which we followed and found a small surf lodge with little cabinas for rent. Just about 5 minutes walk from the surfbreak. And wow, after our first evening surf with the sunset, the following days treated us to shoulder height waves getting bigger and bigger every day to double overhead barrels! We surfed, surfed, ´til we could surf no more and have some progress to show for it (see pics).

Our stay was very quiet otherwise. We cooked for ourselves alomost every night and hit the (only) local sportsbar for the Mavericks final game and some nachos. We befriended the labrador and her two pups at the lodge and Karoline went to yoga regularly in hopes to find the Zen for those big a** waves. Our initially planned 4 days turned into 15...who wants to join us for our next trip to Playa Negra?

Philipp and Karoline