Ometepe (The Beginning)

I had a headcold and I felt pretty lost without Jay. It was no big emotional thing- I had known from the start that this was the way things would go, and I didn't feel hurt or anything. But I felt sort of vulnerable and closed off at the same time. The trip from San Jose to the island was some of the smoothest traveling I have done, I landed a hostel, and I bunked down in Moyogalpa, the island's main city, for two days to weather out my cold. It's hard to travel when you're sick, even though colds never seem like much when you don't have one. Also I don't like meeting people when I'm snotty and gross.

Then I headed to Finca Magdelena to hopefully run into Thomas, my housemate to be. He often sells postcards at the finca, so I figured it would just work out. I was still sort of sick and didn't want to talk to anyone. I shared the 20 minute walk up the hill from the bus to the finca with a very French Frenchman. He liked to complain about the walk, which was onerous, but he was not sick. It's amazing, because Thomas is French but he is not like anyone from France I've ever met. He doesn't have the self-important bravado. He's part English, but he's not funny and vulgar like the English guys I've met. He's sort of a gentle, underspoken waif who is really good at saying exactly what he needs and gets along with everyone. He's sort of a watermark presence, in that he doesn't come off really strong but then you miss him when he isn't there.

At Magdelena I met Marcy and Leif, two friends who met while traveling. When I first saw them they were doing crazy modern dancing to the sunset, which I respected. We chatted, and it turns out that Leif is obsessed with coconuts and eats them every day. This was a major and also fairly eccentric thing to have in common. So we went into town to go coconut hunting. No luck, but we did eat at Cafe Campestre, owned by Ben and Sarah from England. I said hi to Ben, and asked him where Thomas lived. Without asking who I was, he gave me clear directions to my new house. This was good becasue who knows when Thomas would check his email and know I was here.

Lunch at Cafe Campestre deserves its own paragraph. I had a spring greens salad with slices of organic roasted chicken, avocado, beets, and honey mustard dressing. And the best garlic bread I've ever eaten on the side. Way out of my budget ( a seven dollar meal!) but really the most delicious food I've eaten in this country. If I ever actually start to make decent money here, I will for sure have to treat myself once in a while. Leif told me about his amazing education with the audobon school. He also did a semester at Kripalu, and is a massage therapist, and knows permaculture and wilderness survival and herbal healing. I wish I knew all that stuff!

That night Leif and Marcy invited me to participate in a full moon ceremony with them. It was also the spring equinox. We stated what we were grateful for and what we inteded and hoped for the future. We sang lots of beautiful rounds. It was so great to share something so special with practical strangers.

Then the next morning, Thomas arrived to bring me home! I was so relieved, because I was worried that the plan would fall through, especially becasue we had been having the minimum of communication since we last saw one another. But it all worked out. He also invited Marcy and Leif to come stay with us for the week or so they planned to be there. So we all set out for home together.