en route to Manizales

Crumbling homes cling onto impossible inclines as their deteriorating walls struggle to support their own weight. Our bus slingshots around switchback curves over the crest and down into the fog looming over the green valley. The sun breaks through casting golden highlights on the terraced mountain sides. The driver seems to have physic abilities to predict oncoming cars as the swerves to pass trucks on the two lane road with blind corners at every turn.

Encontramos ORO en Minca

Where to begin...

My day has started just before 7 am. I took the short and muddy walk down from La Casa de Andres to Oscar´s house to recieve some therapuetic Shiatsu. His porch not only overlooks Colombian jungle canopy but also Santa Marta. I much prefer the city from here.

Blink Think

It was but one inner moment
some small, spark of forlorn mysticism
that I began to come to
How in the tender, enticing, and fleeting aspects of time
the perceptions of humanity roll over each other, confront one another
to bespeak of a past long forgotton

As I sit among the swaying palm trees
the golden light glistens through the sharp leaves
I take in heavy breaths and exhale a deep, damp fog over myself
The crickets begin their songs and the town falls into a quiet slumber before the night owls
begin their screeching calls. High in the black sky the ancient navigators wink their eyes and I know now
this is the time when I will grow most.  My neck hairs prickle into dozens of bumps and my ideas ebb and flow
An enchanted garden planted within my soul stirs and all that lies before my eyes is wonder, excitement, and adventure.
Find yourself says I, accept a new way of living, untie those restless nots and let the inner troubles of your soul dissolve.

Yohan

.: out to sea with impetus :.

Capt. Arvid Mykjaland

The time is 4:37 am and we have all maybe slept for an hour at most. We crawl out of bed and go through our routine of packing our bags. This small ritual has become an art form, especially since everything we own is carried on our backs like turtles. If done incorrectly we feel more like donkeys.

Tip of the Iceberg

   Crossing back to Costa from Nicaragua required four buses, and a ferry ride...by 8am Steph and I were holding on for dear life off the back of a chicken bus literally overflowing with bodies headed for the boarder. Somehow they managed to stuff Katie into the 6 inches of cubic space remaining. The locals thought it was absolutely hilarious that the gringas had to hang off the side like regular ol nicas.

Adios Ometepe con agradecimiento...

 ¨Now that my heart is open it cannot get closed or broken.¨

-taken from Ivan in La Fortuna, Costa Rica

Even though there are times when this statement may not seem entirely true, there are experiences that continue to open our hearts and create space for more love and compassion.

El ultimo atardecer en Ometepe

"Out of the midst of the beautiful lake Nicaragua spring two magnificant pyramids, clad in the softest and richest green, all flecked with shadow and sunshine, whose summits pierce the billowy clouds. They look so isolated from the world and its turmoil, so tranquil, so dreamy, so steeped in slumber and eternal repose. What a life one might make among their shady forests, their sunny slopes, their breezy dells, after he had grown weary of the toil, anxiety and unrest of the busteling, driving world..."
             Mark Twain, 1867 'The Twin Mountains' on his trip to Ometepe

It is easy to forget that there is a world outside the island of Ometepe... The sun rises and sets, and the days pass with a fresh breath of tranquility. Digging in the dirt brings about a childlike nostalgia...memories of times when being covered in mud was an accomplishment to be proud of.