Nicaragua!

Well this past weekend was quite the experience! First of all my friends Lizzy and Jessica went with me to Nicaragua because we had a long weekend! We left Friday morning at 9am from San Jose on the TransNica bus! It was a very nice bus compared to other buses we have traveled on here in the country. We had air conditioning and everything! :) It took about 8 ish hours for us to get there, crossing the boarder and everything. That was interesting! After getting stamped out of Costa Rica we had to wait for like an hour before we got our passports back saying we were stamped into Nicaragua. On our trip we stayed with a friend of Lizzy's named Anna! She and her family were so sweet to us and it made the whole trip so much better!!! :) Friday night we just hung out and we ate Pupusas. They were pretty much some type of a tortilla with beans and cheese in the middle. They were sure delicious! Saturday we went to the beach called San Juan del Sur which was like 30 minutes away in a taxi. We spent the day there eating, playing in the ocean, talking, and walking around the city of San Juan del Sur. It was very touristy but it was also very beautiful. Then we went to Anna's grandpa's house to hang out there and check out the lake that he lived by....yes there was an ocean on one side and a lake on the other...it was crazy but cool! Her grandpa lives in a legit 3rd world house....Brick/cement walls with dirt floors and sheets used as doors. plus it was just plain old school looking. Oh the shower was just a square brick walled structure and a pipe just barely tall enough for me to stand under and it was outside...so cold! Her grandpa is a tailor so he had an old school peddler sewing machine. It was really cool! After we hung out there for awhile we had to go back and do homework :/ boo, but since we didn't do our homework before we had to do it Saturday night. Anna's mom made Nicaraguan tamales and they were absolutely delicious! Sunday we went to the city of Granada which is very touristy also, but it was a nice city to look at. It is the old capitol of Central America so it was very historical. Then we went to Masaya to the huge market there and we spent tons of time and money there on some really awesome things! I very much so enjoyed this part of the trip since it was obviously the part I looked forward to the most! ;) hahaha but it was a great experience! The bus ride there and back was a whole other story in general. I'm pretty sure they have never seen white, blonde girls in their lives because 99% of them stared at me! I was slightly uncomfortable, but I couldn't really do anything about it so yeah! We just hung out on Sunday night because we were exhausted from all the traveling and shopping from that day. Then today we had to catch the bus at 9am to come back to Costa Rica. Praise God that we made it through the boarder and back okay and we made it home safely! It was a 9 hour bus ride back to Barva today so I was so bus sick and tired when I got back! When I got home I had to shower so I was less disgusting from sitting on a hot sweaty bus all day and I had to finish my homework so I can pass my class! It was an amazing trip and I am so glad I got to experience it, but honestly I am glad I live with the host family I do here in Barva! Nicaragua was really nice, but it is definitely 3rd world and they don't see too many white blonde tall girls! As of right now I only have 11 days...or 10 days starting tomorrow until I leave Costa Rica! I have a lot to do and little time to do it in so I guess I better make the most of it!! :)