Sights, sounds, and smells of Nicaragua.

Almost there. Few more hours and I am boarding to the plane that will take me back home. I would stop right at this moment because the sad feels definitely has room when I get back to Winnipeg.

Anyhow, so after a day of travelling last Wednesday, I finally got to San Juan Del Sur, Nicaragua where I met a Norwegian friend that I made during my Colombia-Panama boat trip. If you want to party with backpackers all over the world, San Juan Del Sur is the place to be. It is also a great starting point to go to surfing points. There is also a taco chain in every corner which will definitely make you want five every time you encounter one. One day I am bungee jumping in Costa Rica, the next day I am surfing in Nicaragua. Life could never be any better. Going out every single night is very tiring though, I must say, but definitely worth it.

Friday was travel day where me and my Norwegian friend went to Granada on an adventure. You can pay taxistas to get you around the country for a very expensive price but of course, as travellers, we wanted to get there the hard way. We took chicken buses from chicken buses to get to the next destination. The buses were literally school buses made to a public transporting vehicle. Imagine the yellow school buses we use to take in school, but occupied with travellers, vendors, families and all sorts of people trying to get around Nicaragua. The scorching sun was not helping either. I sweat buckets just sitting down with the feeling of being in a Bikram Yoga session.

Granada is very special. It looked like a colonial Divisoria in the Philippines. Our hostel was near a wet market and lots and lots of churches. Me and my Norwegian friend went to Laguna de Apoyo, which is an idle volcano where there is a lake nearby where people could swim. Definitely beautiful.

Granada was not a party place though, we found ourselves stuck binging on restaurants because we could not find a decent bar that would play music. My last night, we went to a karaoke place where no one was singing. They were playing reggaeton music with lyrics on screens but no one seemed to be performing. It later turned to be a salsa-slash-bachata club.

Before I left to San Jose today to catch my flight, me and Marie went on a chocolate making class. Our teacher Ismael taught us how to make three different chocolate drinks and a chocolate bar. We went through the whole process of chocolate making from scratch and even got a certficiate at the end. So cocoa tree grows, then harvest season comes from September to December twice a year. Cacao beans are harvested, fermented, then roasted. After being roasted they are grinded until they become very pasty. From then chocolate is ready to be made to a drink. We made Mayan, Aztec and European chocolate drinks and a chocolate bar.

Two major things I missed in Nicaragua: Sunday fun day in San Juan del Sure, and Isla de Omatepe. My plans changed a lot and I was able to miss these two events to see. Oh wells, I for sure would be back though.

On a different note, less good things are always expected to happen when travelling. Yes folks, thieves seemed to be on the loose when me and Marie were in San Juan del Sure. Thursday night, Marie lost her Ipad and Iphone through this thief who pretended to be the hostel owner's nephew. Friday night, I lost almost $200 while I was out having drinks. DO NOT, I REPEAT, DO NOT LET THINGS LIKE THESE SCARE YOU. I put this on my blog to serve as a reminder that we always have to be careful. No one wants things like these to happen and it just was me and my travel bud's moment. Those people probably needed the money at this point in their life and hopefully we were able to help them. Also, karma is an itchy bitch so I would let karma do its work. All in all, Nicaragua was still a very positive country with nice people.

Modern coloured Catholic church. 

San Juan del Sur sunset. 

Jumping shot. 

Sweating. 

Mexican roller coaster bus rides part 2.

Yep. Bus people. 

Laguna de Apoyo. 

-Chocolate making pictures are yet to come.- 

Much love!

Eat, Pray, Love and Sippin Jugo de Mango de Leche

I am off to my last few days in Colombia as I prepare to go on a boat to Panama. I am going with this tour group and stay a couple of days in deserted islands somewhere in between Colombia and Panama. From Medellin to Santa Marta to Cartagena, a lot has definitely happened as I learn so much more about my self, other people, and the country I have been wanting to go to since who knows when.

I finally got to see the beach! YES! I saw and felt paradise as I hiked for two hours to see a land that came straight out of a screen saver. I also spent a night on top of a cliff, swinging on a hammock on a cold windy night. IT WAS AMAZING. I also went out to surf in Palomino but other than that, the city is very relaxed and is very easy to get addicted to. This was in Parque Tayrona which was an hour bus ride from Santa Marta. After a night there, I went to Palomino as well and stayed a night. It was like an English village! I was not even able to say bye to people I met there since I had to catch a bus and they were all still sleeping.

I am currently in Cartagena where I divulged into the colonial culture of Colombia. Last night we were partying through a reggaeton concert in the city square with locals, and the next morning I found out that the city square is actually a market place for rich people to buy slaves during the 1600's. Cartagena definitely made me want to download a lot of reggaeton music to drive to.

Definitely met a lot of people so that means more goodbye-s. The non-cold person in me definitely wanted everyone to stay. I have got so much more things to share and I am pretty sure I have got so much more things to learn from these people too but next thing I know, everyone, even I, is leaving. I have got a lot of things going on in my head right now that I wish I could have said to people that already left, but maybe sometime soon. Who knows?

Three years in a row I have not celebrated mother's day back home. All I have done is called my mom but hey mom, happy mothers day, your greeting is in my blog now! I know you like those cheesy poem things I used to make when I was a kid and I know I am still good at it but I am not going to do it just because. ;) <3 nbsp="" p="">

#Eat

#Pray

 #Love 

 Palomino.

 After an hour of hiking, I can really feel the beach!

 Florien and Suzanne. Girls I met from exchange in Mexico 2 years ago. 

#Makememylatinababy

 #Hamacas

#SippinMangodeleche

Much love!

A day worth blogging for.

This is the first post you will hear from me whining about Mexico.
I would give it a very light twist as well.

International students with a student visa lasting 180 days needed to register that visa again here in Mexico.
I was very fine with that but I would never want to visit the immigration office ever again.
I came back five times just to freaking get this freaking little thing...

Yep. I woke up very very early on my Wednesday break FIVE TIMES just to get this thing.

First time: Very normal. I even blogged about how happy I was I only needed to go another time just to obtain this form. Compared to other students that needed to go back a couple of times just to get everything handed in.

Second time: I came back to receive this form but turns out I wrote my name wrong.

In the Philippines and Canada, my name goes "Justin Edrick Cabuhat Monton." But here in Mexico it is "Justin Edrick Monton Cabuhat." My mother's last name at the end. I did not know that until after 2 weeks I came to the visa office. The online account they gave me to check if it's ready said it was indeed ready.

Third time: Since I did not have the necessary documents with me to hand in another application on the second time I went to the visa office, I needed to come back 3rd and accumulate. Everything went well again so I just needed to wait for another 2 weeks.

Fourth time: Went there very early again, waited for almost an hour then their freaking computer crashed down! Their employees did not know if it will be working again so they did not tell us to leave. I waited with my friend for 3 freaking hours in that office hoping that their system would work and give us our effin visa. But no! They made us wait 3 freaking ours with the end result being nothing!

Fifth time: Which is today. FINALLY! EFFIN FINALLY! I got this small form! So happy I do not need to go back to that visa office ever again!

So for future exchange students going to Mexico, this visa thing is for sure the first headache you would face.

Hate it with passion.

On another note... 

Whenever we go to another city, we always try to find Churros with chocolate or other syrup inside.

We frequently failed but heck, I FOUND A CHURROS PLACE 15 MINS WALK OUTSIDE MY HOUSE!!!!! So very happy! She only works Tue-Sun 6:30-9:30pm though so starting from now, since I end late every Thursday, I will walk and buy Churros from the lady! So so so so so so good!

Much Love.