Two years ago I took a tour of an organic coffee cooperative in highlands of Nicaragua. The Danilo Gonzalas cooperative was named for a teenager from the area who died fighting against the Contras in the 80’s. I reached the cooperative, traveling with by guide Jessica from ¡Un Buen Viaje!, by local bus from Matagalpa to San Ramon, and then 3km hike to the rural community of La Reyna.
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During my Nicaragua trip, I visited the coastal Isla Juan Venado Nature Reserve as a day trip from Leon for wildlife viewing. With my guide through Nicaragua, it was a 45 minute local bus ride from Leon to the town of Las Penitas on the coast.
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The morning two years ago began long before first light when I left leaving hotel in Leon. We made our way about 6 blocks to the office of Quetzal Trekkers by 4:30. There we met up with our two Quetzal guides and two Danish tourists. The six of us discussed briefly the days plan hike the Cerro Negro volcano. Then we packed our lunches and hurried 4 blocks to the bus stop only to wait in the dark 45 minutes for the first bus to arrive. The Leon guides apologized explaining the local bus schedules were not always unpredictable.
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One of the things I like to do when in places like Glacier National Park is to take a drive near sunset or sunrise to watch for large animals that come out at this time of day, usually away from human activity. However this trip last week I encountered a bunch of Bighorn sheep in a place I was not expecting, in the middle of the day near the most congested road in this part of the park.
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I am slowly getting around to organizing/culling photos from prior trips. Almost two years ago I visited Leon, Nicaragua, for a few days as part of a 2 week trip around the Ultramaraton Fuego y Agua event. (The next race, by the way, in February 2012 is open for registration).
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In April I visited White Sands National Monument in New Mexico. I arrived in the afternoon and went straight to the park after checking into a motel in the town of Alamogordo. It was a windy afternoon. I hiked the first short mile loop trail I came across to get an introduction to the terrain.
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A couple of months ago I took an extended weekend to travel to New Mexico for some hiking and photography.
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This time last year I was experiencing Christmas time celebrations in Granada, Nicaragua during the week before the Ultramaraton Fuego y Agua. I happened to arrive during the Purísma celebrations. This is a celebration of the Virgin Mary in early December that lasts about 2 weeks.
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The 2nd annual Ultramaratón Fuego y Agua (fire and water) was held on Dec 12, 2009 on the island of Ometepe in Nicaragua. The race had 25k, 50k, and 100k distance options. Ometepe Island is located in Lake Nicaragua. The island is formed by two volcanoes, Conception and Maderas, joined by an isthmus. The race courses involve climbing one or both volcanoes. Conception is an active volcano (hence the Fuego/fire) and Maderas has a lake in its crater (hence the Agua/water).
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The Calzado de Ometepe Kids 5k was a charity event held in conjunction the Ultramaraton Fuego y Agua on Isla Ometepe in Nicaragua, allowing the race a way of giving back to the people of the island. This race was for the school children of Ometepe Island to promote fitness and provide shoes for the children. It was held the day after the ultramarathon
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After the morning bike ride to visit the farming community (described previously), the taxi that was hired for the rest of the day picked us up and drove us to the city of Masaya for a visit of the city and nearby Masaya Volcano nature park.
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This 5th day in Nicaragua my tour guide, Jessica, had arranged a full day. It began in the city of Granada with a visit to the Empowerment International NGO, and bike tour out to the countryside to visit a farming community the NGO was working
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My 4th day in Nicaragua began similar to my third day, escorted by my guide Jessica, catching the same local bus we took the previous day to La Granadilla, except this time we
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I visited the farming community of La Granadilla as a day trip from the city of Granada, Nicaragua. The morning started with an excellent breakfast prepared by the family with whom I was boarding.
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Last December, I arrived in Managua in the early afternoon after an overnight flight from Buenos Aires via Miami after 3 weeks in South America. The Miami connection allowed me to call home on my cell phone without the international charges. The flight was less than 3 hours from Miami.
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After some time on the Big Island of Hawaii, I went to Maui for a few days. I did not stay long enough to see the whole island, so I don’t have a lot of story to tell on this island. But I will share a few pictures.
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Last month I visited Volcanoes National Park in Hawaii. The first day’s visit I was with friends and we stopped at several of the overlooks to see the Kilauea Caldera, overlooks of the Kilauea Iki crater, and a walk through the Thurston Lava tube. At the time, areas of active lava flow were not near access points that would allow visitors up close views.
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I was expecting Death Valley National Park to be all flat desert and sand dunes, and so I was surprised to find much more variety of terrain throughout the park. There were salt flats below sea level next to 11,000 ft mountains, sand dunes, and
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After my stopover at the Guadalupe Mountains last month, I originally was going to check out Big Bend Ranch state park. In this trip I was taking a week and a half to visit some state and national parks for Photography and also to get in some trail runs as part of my Jemez race training. After a long scenic drive I saw the signs said the highway was closed
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A few weeks ago, I took a week and a half vacation touring some state and national parks in the western US began with a stopover in the Guadalupe Mountains National Park. To save travel time, I had gotten flights from Austin to
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