Back on the Mainland

I left my students and the beautiful town of Merida on Saturday morning, and took the long bus to Altagracia and then Moyogalpa. Darwin happened to be taking the same bus and I get teary-eyed both when he got off and again when I was on the ferry off the island. Man, will I miss those students. I miss them already!

In Altagracia I visited Dave´s friends to give them photographs and t-shirts. They loved them. I took some more photos of them, which I will post later. I was amused, because the guidebook was right that they want to look really nice for photos. One woman even asked me to wait a few minutes (and someone brought me a chair to chill in for a few minutes) while she got her daughter, who was nicely dressed up for her photo.

After photo fun, Maira, who showed me where to go for the photos, and her sister Delba? walked with me to Si a la Vida, which is a group home for boys. I bought some of the gorgeous bracelets they make, because the Sandia prep school kids had been wearing them and I wanted to buy some, too. I had previously learned that the boys use the money from selling the bracelets for trips, so I bought a few to give away as gifts. Most of the kids were out playing a sport, but one was chillin watching TV and making a bracelet, so I sat and learned a little more about the operation. Noel, who works there, said that there are 16 boys there right now. I didn´t stay very long, which ended up being good, because getting off the island took all day.

As I got off the boat, a taxi driver started talking to me and asked if I needed a ride. I said I didn´t know, because I wanted to get to Granada. He offered the ride I´d
previously taken for 5 at $2, so we went to Rivas, only to find (as he had warned) that there were no buses to Granada. Not wanting to chill in a hotel in Rivas, I paid him to take me to Granada. It was a fun ride, and I was telling him about my little car and my cat. It turns out he´s friends with Byron at the Hacienda Merida! That worked out very well.

He took me right to the Hostel Oasis, which I had found in the guidebook Dave so graciously lent me (it´s coming in handy, so thank you!). The dorm price went up $3 from what the book said, but that was expected.

I drank the water, so I ended up being sick yesterday morning. I slept most of the day, alternating between bed, hammock, and chair. It was not fun. I met some people from Denver and a dude that´s living in Costa Rica right now, so we all went to a sports bar for dinner. I got a kick out of the fact that I saw a Braves jersey hanging up. I´ll be posting pictures of this gorgeous city later.

Today the dude living in Costa Rica and I are going to Volcan Masaya (an active crater), and hopefully also to a crater lake to swim. We shall see. Yay for volcanoes. :)