Esteli Balcony Covers Series - Part 11: Mykonos

http://www.mediafire.com/?2jc2987368w2j68

To download the mp3... if you would like...

So... I haven't done a new recording with singing in over a month and a half.  For the comeback of the Esteli Covers Series is an epic song, first showed to me by my brother Jonathan... And being as the next post features Jonny, I figured this song would only be appropriate.

It's called Mykonos, by Fleet Foxes, found on their Sun Giant EP... I seriously recommend you getting the original of this song... a heck of a lot better than any cover.  But being as my bro requested it, I gave it a shot.

This recording features a whole slew of guitars... well four tracks as usual... but I finally got my hands on a classical down here... so it's got the two guitars and the bass as well... so that was fun.

Well that's it... hope you like it.

Adventures of Esteli !!!

February has been yet another action-packed month.  After all the traveling and hectic agenda of January, it was nice to settle down in our home and assignment of Esteli for a couple weeks.  But even when we are back home, we've had several more mini-trips, near and around the areas of Esteli and northern Nicaragua.

To start off, check out a pic of our awesome super-bowl party:

The one and only, Bridget, hosted a great party to watch the game.  There are a few visiting brothers here in this pic: The two up front in the middle are a couple bethelites, Joe and Louis, who stayed in our place for a few days.  Then, the dude on the floor in the back is Chad.  Friends with Bridget, he stayed with us for a while also.  Awesome dude, originally from Minnesota, same place as Bridget, and moved to DR.  But he travels everywhere because he's involved in international hall construction.  He told us tons of cool stories of the places hes been and seen, his latest trip being Republic of Georgia and Azerbaijan, near Russia.  Awesome stuff.

Who would have known that this place was only a short ten minute drive from our house in Esteli? Bridget knew... So, after the arrival of Chad, we went to some really cool locations, this waterfall being one of them.

Here's our crew at the waterfall.  Veronica, Chad, and Bridget. 

 Jenga with rocks

So apparently, this is the waterfall during the dry season.  Much less water than what it usually is.  Bridget said if we went in December, that's when it's the fullest.  I jumped in the freezing, mountain water, which was super refreshing... but still super cold... Esteli is in the mountains and doesn't get that hot mid-day compared to other places in Nicaragua.

And now, for the remainder of this discussion, I'm going to talk about my second-favorite place I've been to so far in Nicaragua, best being the Laguna.

The Canyon Adventure.

The drive was about 2 hours north of Esteli, almost at the border of Honduras, but it's worth it.  After the drive, there is a short hike to the innards of the canyon.

Chad getting up-close and personal with some cattle.

Yea... I didn't want to post this, but I felt like I just had to talk about it.  Bridget's funny and likes to make shy-type people, like me, feel uncomfortable, you know, that brutal thing supervisors do.  (if you don't know what a supervisor is, then ask someone who knows about that personality test).  So, here we are holding hands... I'm probably thinking to myself there: "goodness, why is this happening."

I know it's an unnecessary amount of hiking pics, but heck, why not throw in a picture of people crossing a stream on a log.  Enjoy it.  Hey, you know if you right click on this picture, you can save it into your picture folder and keep it forever?  Why not  ......

Here we go, the start of the real canyon.  The river gets deeper and narrower and so do the canyon walls.

Pictures of nature...

Our tour guide: a kid with a shirt saying, "I am a Nicaraguan."

We did some adventurous things.  Here's Phil doing some rock climbing.

The scenery slowly changes as you get further into the canyon.

Unfortunately, the pictures can't grasp the depth and awesomeness of being at the canyon in person. 

And here was the grand finale.  We were brought to a deep, wide, pool section where we could climb up really high and jump.  The pictures make it look so much less than how it really feels.  It was maybe a 40 foot jump... probably something like jumping 3 stories.  Here's Chad, being the first one to take the leap.

I love this picture that Bridget took for some reason.  You can see Phil at the top, looking down, and me in the water on the opposite corner.  I counted a 3, 2, 1... and then screamed GO! ... I guess that helped 'cuz he went.

As such.

Not gonna lie, it's intimidating... you just tell yourself to go, or have someone else tell you.

And, the group pic.  Here's our crew: Phil, Lynette, Bridget, Chad, and myself. 

Now I understand why Bridget made sure to take us to the canyon while Chad was visiting.  It really is a must-see place and awesome day trip when you're visiting Esteli. 

Later.

Esteli Balcony Covers Series - Part 10: Endless Summer

http://www.mediafire.com/?xfldk37ujmmr16j

To download the mp3... if you would like... (quality is much better)

This is a great theme for a legendary surf film from 1964 called, "The Endless Summer," which I just watched today actually, making me want to record a version of this song.  It was performed by The Sandals for the theme for the movie... This was one of the first things I remember learning on guitar... and has always been one of my favorite simple tunes.  The song gives you such a calming feeling of being on the beach and the waves... something truly ingrained into someone who came from Long Island... the beach is a necessity.  I recorded guitar and bass guitar this time... along with a bit of percussion made by slapping the side of my leg.  I felt like the title, "Endless Summer" is especially fitting as well, because leaving L.I. in October and being here since, completely dodging all the effects of the winter time and all that coldness... and coming back home to the warmth... this has really felt like an Endless Summer...

Enjoy

Laguna de Apoyo

Definitely my favorite place I've visited so far in all of Nicaragua.  The Laguna is a nature reserve, a gorgeous natural crater lake, preserved by the Nicaraguan government.  It was really nice and refreshing to see a place here in Nica that was kept clean and taken care of...

A friend from L.I. came to visit us for a week, prompting us to take him to a few popular destination spots here in Nicaragua, such as the Laguna, Granada, and Masaya...

There he is... Mr. Rob Anderson... super excited to begin his Nicaraguan experience

We took Rob to Esteli to see our home and assignment... a few days later, we took him to a whole bunch of places, as previously mentioned... Laguna de Apoyo was the only place we really took any pictures at... so that all I'm gonna talk about.

Here it is: Laguna de Apoyo... a crater lake, formed from a volcano that imploded on itself thousands of years ago...then, filling up with rain and underground mineral water...You can see one of Nicaragua's volcanoes way in the back, which is called Mombacho.

There's a whole slew of hotels and hostels around the laguna... we chose this place, called the Monkey Hut...

The Monkey Hut was like a 'lil mini resort built on the steep slope of the crater that drops down to the water

 The gorgeous Laguna de Apoyo

We had a whole bunch of fun... here I am trying to learn how to back-flip into the water... when Rob took this pic, I ended up sideways and flailing around...

A pic of Jordan's mustache... notice how some of his drink is caught in the bare, middle part of the stache... Jordan's stache has made it to the stage when it starts curling... as you can see... and he's very proud of it

 Playing the Monkey Hut's guitar one night...

The laguna reserve was a very peaceful and quiet place... relaxing on the hammocks was perfect

Roberto in a huge, hallowed out tree we found while walking

 Saying goodbye to our broski at the airport

Seeing some new places in Nicaragua such as the Laguna was great and Rob had a blast during his week with us here.  Laguna de Apoyo is a must-see place for someone traveling in Nicaragua... definitely would like to go there again.

enjoy

Pura Vida

Pura Vida... a very common phrase you would hear, so integrated in the lives of Costa Ricans, it has become a flexible way to say a greeting, farewell, or even thank you... but basically, since it's a country based around tourism, you'll see the phrase on all kinds of shirts and countless types of souvenirs, etc...

The day of leaving the missionary home in Managua, Phil and I embarked on a 10 hour-long bus ride from the capital of Nicaragua, to the capital of Costa Rica, San Jose, which is basically smack in the middle of the country... We took a nice coach bus called Trans-Nica, and crossed over the border... Immediately after leaving Nicaragua, you can see a difference in how the country looks and is presented... Just from looking out of the window on the bus, there was next to no garbage on the side of the road and everything was greener. Unfortunately, even though it's the same land, it's taken care of so much better in Costa Rica.  Our goal was to meet up with a certain crew of wintery people, from the land of Long Island, who could not wait to soak in some Central American sun, at the airport there in San Jose.

I took one pic in San Jose... here it is...

This was a monumental moment for me... I always imagined getting Wendy's only when I got back to Long Island... I never thought they would have one here... so, when I saw that on the bus... I told Phil, "Yea, we're going there." To eat a JBC in Central America was an epic experience... In the words of Dan Huber, "I owned." (I wish I knew how to say that in Spanish)

Why did I take one picture of a fast food restaurant for all of San Jose?  Because San Jose is a grimy, hole of a city, inland of Costa Rica, and there was no reason to hang around there... that may sound harsh, but we were just there to get to the airport... our destination involved the Pacific Ocean...

So, who came to visit us?

The Taboadas and Chattertons.  Here we are enjoying one of many delicious meals.  We got to enjoy a week with them at Tamarindo, a very nice beach and vacation spot, on the Pacific side of Costa Rica...

We took a nice, healthy, 4 1/2 hour ride from San Jose, to Tamarindo, which was just what everyone needed after a long day of traveling, via bus or plane... to arrive at Tamarindo Beach, which looks like this:

A huge, wide open beach with pretty consistent off-shore wind.  Most of the time, the waves were nice and small, great for long boarding and paddle-boarding...

Another pic of the beach at Tamarindo... the tide would go out really far, making the beach over double the size...

The view outside the balcony of the hotel room... very nice

 The view of the hotel from the other side... You can see it way in the back there, nice and close to the beach

The town basically consisted of just restaurants, hotels, souvenir and surf shops like these... very touristy, but it was nice to be in such an accommodating place for a change...

Found this giant, over-sized bugster dead on the ground and decided to keep him

Just to give you an idea of the town... it's not really a good example... but it consists of all those shops I mentioned earlier... it's a really cool place to just walk around...in Tamarindo, you will find lots of tourists, surf bums that decided never to leave, and local Costa Ricans, profiting from all the foreigners

Finally got to surf!... after about 4 months of living in the mountains... seeing the ocean and then surfing for the two days we rented the board was such an amazing feeling...

Austin having a blast on the boogie-board

Emily enjoying her mariachi band experience, when they start playing a song for you at the dinner table

A nice group-photo of the kids at one of the many restaurants in Tamarindo...

Pic in Tamarindo... Phil, LJC, and JMD

 Chatts in Costa Rica!

Henry and Rachel and the sunset at Tamarindo

This pic was requested to be put on the blog... Here I am with Corinne... the Chatts call me their long-lost brother or twin... maybe my awesome mustache brings out the strong Chatterton qualities my face seems to portray...

We did some exploring... we went to a couple other beaches... this one was called Playa Conchal... here, there were no waves... more like a calm, bay type beach...

The Three Siblings...

Phil and Corinne

Big bro and Lil bro

Hanging from a tree at Playa Conchal... and I took the worst fall...I'll pretty much say it was an epic fall...

yes... we went on an ATV tour at Playa Conchal... that was a blast...

Here's an adorable pic... Phil and Corinne with faces covered in all the dust and dirt from the ATV rides... it could be like one of those orbit gum commercials... *ching* look at my white teeth shining through this grimy face... yea, anyway...

Playa Conchal at the end of the day... it was a nice getaway from busy Tamarindo for a couple days

The canopy tour zip-lining was fun and exciting... here's a bunch of pics from that...

Yea, zip-lining through the trees was great, especially if you've never done it before... we even got to go upside down.... Here's Henry holding his head, flying through the trees haha..."Holy craaap!" ... that was great

One of our last days at the beach... here we were at Playa Avellana... Phil set up his Nicaraguan made hammock, and if you look closely you might see someone in the tree

Lunch at Playa Avellana

A nice pic of the Taboada Family together on the last day of the vaykaysh

Here's our crew, sunset on the last day...

Costa Rica was a blast... This blog's supposed to be about Nicaragua-related things... but taking time to see some friends and family, and a week to relax, was very important and definitely a huge part of this whole Central-American experience... After 3 1/2 months in Esteli, it was refreshing to finally see the beach, and meeting friends from New York made it even better....

Ok, that's about it... thanks for tuning in...

O and by the way...

They're Offish