hello world

Allow me to preface this post by saying that it attempts to sum up an entire month of craziness. Righto, now where to start?

I'd say a run-down of the strange series of events that led to me traveling to Nicaragua is pertinent. Last month, my parents traveled here for a week-long dive trip. In the process, they met Dr. Ken McKaye, who has done approximately a whole freaking lot of pioneering research on cichlid fishes in the lakes of Nicaragua and Malawi. As you are likely aware, parents like to talk about their kids, so at some point my B.S. in Marine Science and lack of employment came up. Apparently these traits make me a resource with potential usefulness around here. Imagine my surprise when I learned I had a week to prepare for an indeterminate number of months in Nicaragua!
 

Laguna de Apoyo from the crater rim

I arrived at my primary "base of operations" at Laguna de Apoyo (a volcanic crater lake) without incident. It's absolutely gorgeous here, and although the beach isn't large, it's close by for easy swimming/kayaking/whatever else access. I also frequently stay at another "base" at Xiloa (another crater lake), which has better access for shore diving and whatnot. I've done two out of five dives toward my Advanced Open Water certification there. On a slightly related note, I caught some nasty respiratory bug a few days after I arrived in Nicaragua, so the incessant coughing kind of inhibited my diving until last week.

Coming to Nicaragua obviously means I have to speak Spanish, so I took lessons for the first two weeks I was here to dust off the grammar (and resume my eternal wrestling match with the subjunctive tenses toward the end). I still have problems with what I'll call "speaker's block," where I can follow conversation pretty well, but the fluency and speed of my responses leaves quite a bit to be desired. But hey, I haven't had to use Spanish for years, and it's only been three weeks, so I figure I'll just keep trying and the problem will resolve itself over time. Right? Man, I hope I'm right.

I have no idea

Okay, this post is getting pretty enormous, so I think I'll wrap things up. I'm not really used to keeping up with a blog (or taking lots of pictures when I travel, for that matter), so my updates are probably going to run on "Nica time," which you can probably infer is this country's equivalent of "island time." Sometimes it's frustrating, sometimes it's a godsend, but you always have to go with the flow - you don't want to be too much of a gringo, after all.