boquete-village of much beauty

Panama a true gem

Well I left off my last blog entry trying to leave matagalpa again. I did finally leave for Managua the next day on the early express to Managua. The delux bus to San Jose, Costa Rica was suppose to leave at noon. The almost 4 hour wait was agony as we had no one who had accurate information on when it would arrive in Managua. Luckily there was a nice shopping center across the street. These are not common in Managua but they do have bars in the food court. I had to get some American dollars cashed and the bar was the only place to do it. It was so nice getting slightly bombed on a huge Pina Colata to dull the bus schedule blues. The bus of course arrived in San Jose at 1:30 A.M. Luckily my hotel reservation held. My bus buddy, a young Nica college, student and I went exhausted to our rooms. Except she got to sleep. I showered and rested since I had to get up in 3 hours for the bus to Panama.

The taxi driver took me to the wrong terminal in the morning. So a second taxi driver had to chase down the only bus to leave on time for my entire trip. The bus driver let me get on without a pre- bought ticket. After that life got better. So I feel I really worked hard for my right to be in this awesome country. I will definitely not use King Quality buses again, deluxe or not.

Panama is probably the most beauty packed into one country I have ever been priviliged to travel in. It is the cleanest Central American country. It seems to me better than Costa Rica in standard of living and is not as crowded. The cool mountains are wrapped in mist, and rainbows, especially Boquete. The people are generally friendly and helpful. I can not believe one quaint, flower decked town after another in the mountains.

So, of course, I applyed for some teaching positions. With very little effort I have a school interested in hiring me. Problem is Panama has very strict laws that no one can take a job that a Panamian can fill. This private school in David needs a native speaker in English with a teaching degree. Difficult for them to fill that with a Panamian. I interview on the 17th. I will give it a week for the results. In the mean time I will continue to explore this little gem. Actually not so little in size as i had expected. Back to the packers trail. Probably the Boca beach region as soon as the weather there clears up. A very cheap island nearby maybe my Christmas away from home. I fortunately stayed in Boquete with 3 fun Americans for 5 days. Have run into amazing travelers all along the way. More on Panama soon. I just get so excited, when beauty comes so cheap.

Stuck in Matagalpa still

Well this week has definitely been the downside of traveling. I had planned to leave on Monday or Tuesday. Fortunately an inportant package arrived. It was definitely OK to leave now. Except some interesting Americans staying at my hotel invited me to go with them to Esteli another mountain town I had not had a chance to explore. So off I went with them Tuesday afternoon. We had a great time but I had fallen about a week prior. SoI could not hike as I wanted to a neat waterfall area with Alan the intrepid hiker from ---Boulder. A very small world. Came back the next day, promptly got a stomach bug. Took 2 days to get better. Luckily travelers tend to help each other. A very kind Brit staying at my hotel went and got me some medicine. The chiropractic appointment I had booked days before fell through. Quite common for appointments booked more than 1 day in advance. I was told in Spanish, which I am improving at, he was Shy? No other chiros in town. I was amazed. My Nica friends could not get a bead on one for me either. I decided wherever i teach next semester, the town has to have a good chiropractor. So by Friday at least my tummy is better, so I book a ticket on an Express to San Jose, Costa Rica. Also booked the night in San Jose, and the following night in David, Panama. There was about a half day involved doing all this. Except for the music nothing seems to happen fast in Nica.
Off early Saturday for a town close by to catch the express super deluxe, suppose to be hassle free, 9 hour trip. Except this bus, from the best line recommended online etc, never came. I waited at a dusty bus stop for almost 2 hours. Back to Matagalpa and my travel agent. He calls the bus line and lo the bus broke down and was still not running. There was not another bus till the next day. It was definitely one of the worse travel days of my life. I did get the ticket reissued for the next day from Managua which I had been avoiding traveling thru due to safety and theft issues they tend to have. I finally went to a nice restaurant to eat and have a drink. I seldom drink but this day called for many actually. First place I went was too busy andI never got served. I had to try 5 different drink choices from the the second places liquor menu before they had a drink they could make? Do not ask The $2.50 huge delicious salad almost made up for the fact I could only have 1 drink if I wanted to get up early, to hurry up and wait, on Sunday to try to get to Costa Rica. Please wish me luck on finally getting out of Matagalpa.

FINISHING UP IN MATAGALPA

Well this will be my last week of teaching here. It has been very rewarding. I have met some facinating folks and feel really rewarded with the results of my teaching efforts. It is wonderful to feel real career satisfaction once again. There are a lot of NGO´s here helping to relieve some of the extreme poverty in the rural areas especially. Some of my students work for these groups and share the amazing challenges they face. Part of the benefit of teaching is I meet many Nicas i would probably not meet easily otherwise. Many are professional folks who come right after work 5 nights a week to improve their job potential by knowing some english. Also many of the NGO´S have english speaking staff who need decent translators. As part of ny assignment work I am training them to be guides through the writing and speaking assignments. They can often pick up good extra money this way. These folks have to work very hard to stay alive for the most part. My friend who is a vet took me on a tour of the facility he runs on thur. He has a crew of over 200 on his combined over 200 acre organic farm. He gets paid $600 american. His wife who is a bookkkeeper earns $220 American. They just get by. Rent is cheap here. Gas, Protein food items, and electronics are amazingly expensive. I rarely see Nicas with laptops.
The organic farm and ranch i went to had been clear cut of lumber around 20 years ago by some large co. and not replanted. With the help of a Dutch NGO they bought the land and reforested. Planted coffee bushes, fruit trees, vegtable gardens etc. The trees are creating good shade grown coffee. the monkeys which had disappeared returned to eat the fruit. I got some great, probably hard to see here, pics of monkeys and a sloth on this piece of paradise in the jungle. One threw some fruit down on me and the picture taking was on. I found out my friend was drafted into the Sandinista army in the late 80´s. His brother was killed in the fighting. He could not con´t his university education because of the war. He got an offer for a free 5 years in Russia for med school. He took advantage of that. I have met several folks here who have received their education in what we call communist countries. He would have prefered a U.S. education but you sometime have to take what you can get for free when you are dirt poor as he was.
I will probably be leaving by bus, early next week for S. Nica and go thru C.Rica on my way to look for jobs in Panama for next semester. I will try to send you an update on the delights of Panama from there. I am grateful if i do not find the situation that suits my heart there, that i am told i will have a job waiting here in Jan. Take care your hearts and those close to then. love, Helen

nicaragua splendor

Well I have been in Matagalpa, Nicaragua for about 5 weeks now. It took a little while to meet the local ESL employers & decide who i prefered to work with. I settled on a very relaxed school that allows me complete control over my lesson choices. So I am really having fun teaching nights Mon.-Fri. and 5 hours on Sat.The students have given very positive feedback that they enjoy my lessons etc. I have a total of 27 students- mainly young adults 18-28. They are very motivated & fun, which makes up a little for the really lousy pay. I am hoping that this first ESL teaching experience in many years will make my next job easy to get & better paying.
The semester ends here the end of Nov. Little did i know they take their "summer" break for 2 months. So I will go to a similar highlands area in Panama in December. Its a cooler Mountain region very beautful also. If i do not get a job starting next semester there I have job offers here & hopefully can return here to do a full semester.
I go somewhere solo or w/ friends every Sunday. Its been fun to see so many different spots always taking the "chicken buses". its not my choice but if its the only way to get somewhere thats how i go. (they don't usually carry chickens). They tend to be noisy & crowded so i am beginning to think the chickens might be referring to the passengers. I am including some pics from Selva Negra my favorite place close by. Whole Foods sells their coffee. It is an awesomely beautiful place. Part exclusive resort, part eco preserve that is quite huge & does have lots of wild animals & birds. I love the hiking trails there. The hard to see seated guy in the pics was a student who took me on a hike thru there. He introduced me to the owner. She said she'd like to hire me next year to homeschool her 3 grandkids A.M. & teach some of the over 200 employees who work w/ the tourists ESL. I can not think of a more idyllic place to live & work. We will see where she & I are at next Fall. It is amazing the interesting Nicas, tourists, & expats i meet. You never know who you will be meeting next. A few of the expat older guys I have met I would put in the dubious catagory. Kind of wonder how they earn their money & who is backing them. Well enough for now. Anyone of you who wants to visit S. Nicaragua, S. Costa Rica, or Panama the first 2 weeks of Dec. let me know. Its always fun to share the fun. My planned travel partner can not go so i am available. Till next time, ENJOY LIFE. peace, helen

helensdiario

hi all, at long last i have started a blog. That way if you are interested in my journey i can share it with you and as my title suggests also keep it for diary purposes as well. I think when one is traveling we feel guilty about not giving special attention to our old home friends and the new ones we make on the way. so i will still try to get out individual emails as well. The main gist of what i am doing will be available here. Since not everyone i relate to is a fan of Facebook this was a more inclusive choice.

I hope to do some backtracking about the first 5 weeks of my journey but for now i will just say i am settled in and very happy in Matagalpa Nicaragua. It met all my requirement after Oaxaca Mexico where i could not find an ESL job. So its got the cool mountain climate. Spring like weather all year. Lots of protected and biodiverse nature areas. The Nicas as we call the locals are very warm, friendly. fun folks who really make time for fun, family, and sharing with others. Also 72% of the pop. is under 30. A lot of those folks are very motivated to making their county more tourist friendly. So a lot want to learn English. I have been offered everything from a Sat. ESL position to Directorship of a European Language Academy and other interesting choices. Enough for now I need to go do some volunteer work, Teaching ESL to poor but motivated teens


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