I booked everything ahead of time due to it being Semana Santa or "Holy Week" due to Easter. This turned out to be a minor mistake (to the tune of $30), I normally don't book ahead and should have known better. I crossed the border into Nicaragua with some expats and they insisted I go stay on a hippie perma-culture farm called Zopilote. We parted ways and then I went on to my next travel connection and found some girls who said the same. So I forfeited deposits and first night stay fees and went with the girls
![Wink ;)](./images/smilies/icon_e_wink.gif)
Zopilote was different than any other hostel I have stayed at. It truly was a meeting of the minds. Heavy topics about life, time, the point of working etc were discussed with surprising openness. The entire farm was huge and built on the side of a volcano. We slept in hammocks. Nothing here went to waste. For example, shit was collected and used to fertilize the vegetables. If given more time, I would have liked to spend a month here volunteering to learn about self-sustainability. I met a very interesting agriculture engineer from Spain doing that exact thing. I attended a very emotional cacao ceremony about opening up to fellow humans, how we all share similar fears and desires, looking people in the eye, among other topics. It was the trip-iest, four hour long, thing I've ever done without being on drugs.
Unfortunately, all the free-love lured me into a false sense of security. We hiked up the volcano for two hours (ow broken leg) in pitch darkness for a full-moon party complete with LSD (I refrained), a massive bonfire, trance music, rum and hammock sleeping. Being the trusting Canadian I am, I left my phone, wallet, and american cash in my hammock while I joined in the all-night party. In that sense, I was lucky only my phone got stolen.
Serendipity shined on me though, within four hours of hiking down the next morning I met a fellow Albertan who by pure chance had an extra smart phone. He sold it to me for $30! We struck up a convo and he was a small business owner near my hometown. I appreciated being able to pepper him with questions all week. Talking to him was probably worth the $300 I'll spend on a new phone when I get home.
Everyone here was gluten-free (no real celiacs tho
![Rolling Eyes :roll:](./images/smilies/icon_rolleyes.gif)
Some general thoughts from the trip...
-It's fucking hot here. I bitch about the cold plenty but I take it all back. How do so many humans live in constant +30 degree weather. At least in the cold I can add and remove layers. I can't shed skin to cool off. Not a complaint just an observation. I've been in tropical climates before but clearly I romanticized what it was like.
-I got food poisoning on Good Friday and I thought I was either going to die or spend a night in a hospital. I was so dizzy and shaking so bad the (very nice) hostel owner had to help me stand up and walk me to the toilet to puke. I spent all yesterday in bed and have spent all of this afternoon on the computer due to fatigue. I've never had anything that bad before. I think I lost 5-10 lbs based on how my shorts are fitting. That leads me to my next thought...
-Expat ERE probably isn't for me... between not being able to eat gluten and generally having a low tolerance for heat, I don't think I'm cutout for the lifestyle. I love the adventure, meeting interesting people and speaking Spanish but certainly my next trip will be to a first-world locale requiring a first-world income. Valuable lesson I suppose.
-Could 2017 stop being awful maybe?
Sorry for the wall of text with no pictures. I will upload some when I get home and back on decent internet.