Don't you just love when life seems perfect!! Especially when it's all thanks to your personal choices, actions, and committments...even more so when the future holds only improvements to the now!! — Matty Beavis
Thursday, August 23, 2012 (DAY 172)
Wi-fi ends just shortly after completing and uploading my latest blog and I still cannot understand why it is so difficult for this consistency, but then, I am reminded that this part of the world is still developing the technical capabilities that so many of us grew up with, especially those that remember dial-up speeds and the endless AOL compact discs that would arrive daily in the mail. Wow, did I just pigeon-hole myself in to the generation that experienced the inception of what we now know as the modern day Internet, cell phones, the first Nintendo, but that also that experienced riding bikes with neighbor friends staying out of the house all day until the street lights came on, drinking out of the garden hose and not out of Aquafina bottles, phone calls that began with, “I think they are here, let me check…(yelling their name to come to the phone followed up with the obligatory), I got it, hang up now. I said HANG UP!” I know that every generation will have different variations in childhood memories, and I feel that even sitting here in Nicaragua, with often painfully slow connection speeds, that it has brought me back to how fortunate I was to grow up with the experiences I have had. I mean when you have people hanging metal cables from the power lines, essentially stealing electricity that is ran down to their wooden shacks, it’s not a wonder that much of Central America has caught fire, or, at the very least exploded power transformers daily. Actually, this may very well be the cause of the rolling blackouts that tend to occur every other day for either brief periods or entire days.
Wi-fi ends just shortly after completing and uploading my latest blog and I still cannot understand why it is so difficult for this consistency, but then, I am reminded that this part of the world is still developing the technical capabilities that so many of us grew up with, especially those that remember dial-up speeds and the endless AOL compact discs that would arrive daily in the mail. Wow, did I just pigeon-hole myself in to the generation that experienced the inception of what we now know as the modern day Internet, cell phones, the first Nintendo, but that also that experienced riding bikes with neighbor friends staying out of the house all day until the street lights came on, drinking out of the garden hose and not out of Aquafina bottles, phone calls that began with, “I think they are here, let me check…(yelling their name to come to the phone followed up with the obligatory), I got it, hang up now. I said HANG UP!” I know that every generation will have different variations in childhood memories, and I feel that even sitting here in Nicaragua, with often painfully slow connection speeds, that it has brought me back to how fortunate I was to grow up with the experiences I have had. I mean when you have people hanging metal cables from the power lines, essentially stealing electricity that is ran down to their wooden shacks, it’s not a wonder that much of Central America has caught fire, or, at the very least exploded power transformers daily. Actually, this may very well be the cause of the rolling blackouts that tend to occur every other day for either brief periods or entire days.
Since I am limited with my ability to communicate, I feel that I must apologize to my family first, and then to my friends, since my only opportunity to update my status to let everyone know that I am heading to Costa Rica tomorrow is borrowing the free Wi-fi at a local restaurant that has just enough bars to complete the task. Once this is done, I sit back and take in the beauty of leaving for a change of scenery–knowing tomorrow at this time I will be in an entirely different country, but most likely with similar views since I have decided upon the final destination of Playa Tamarindo, which is also on the Pacific Coast and only about 200km (125 miles) south of my current location. The necessity of this trip is primarily because my 90 day tourist visa is about to expire, and while I find it humorous at the thought of being considered an illegal immigrant, I also know that this can bring with it daily fines. I am also welcoming this escape as an opportunity to clear my head over all that has occurred over the past few days back home, mainly the death of a good friend that was young with many years remaining to old age as well as my grandfather that lived a long and often difficult life watching many pass away during the many years he lived. Even though I have set out on this great journey alone, as a backpacker you are never truly alone, and so, this timing I feel is perfect and will allow for a time of reflection.
Returning back to the hostel just shortly after 7:30pm, I begin to feel the adrenaline rush and excitement of leaving one place for another. The sense of adventure rushes back to my soul for the unknown, even amid feelings of anxiety as I pack the small-borrowed rucksack that Marc left for me to use. It is an exhilarating feeling because of the freedom that you feel–being able to leave at the drop of a hat without worrying about a checklist of things to complete or people to alert before doing so, but it is this liberating freedom that continues to make me feel appreciative of the choices I have chosen to make and live out, and encourage you to find that freedom in your own life by searching for the restrictive and negative areas of your life and begin that change today. Just as everyone has their own path to walk, I hope years from now you will not regret the opportunities that were afforded to you–passing them up because they existed outside of your bubble of comfort, but that you had an open heart and an open mind to what life can truly be–an adventure that has more rewards than you can imagine when you are willing to following that calling in your life.
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