Made it to Morgan's Rock

It's 9:30PM, Samantha and I are hanging out on our swing-bed, completely unplugged (No TV or Wireless) listening to the waves crash ashore from our Swiss Family Robinson jungle style bungalow.  We are perched on a hill, hidden to all except our neighbors and the surrounding wildlife.  The best part about it  is we have a perfect little balcony that provides stunning views of the sunset.  

Our morning coffee spot. 

Rewind six hours.

We had finally arrived at Morgan's Rock around 4:00PM today which was after a not so terrible day of traveling.  I had been wrong in my earlier post about the total travel time from Miami in which I had originally stated as a 3 - 4 hour flight from to Managua.  The actual total flying time was only 2 hours and 15 minutes! 

So after about five hours of flying time, and one curious but well tempered baby sitting next to me, we had landed safely in Nicaragua, there was just one problem.  It was de ja vu again to our trip in Myanmar, the airlines had lost our bags (technically all bags but Lindsay and my bags since Lindsay's somehow made it through and mine was a carry on).  All hope was not lost though as our bags were located in Miami and should be with us by breakfast the next day. 

What was on the other side of our drive. 

Once our bag dilemma was situated at the airport, we headed out for our 2 and half hour trek to Morgan's Rock on the Pacific Coast.  It felt at first as if we had traveled back five time zones and were back in Asia.  In reality, I was on the same time zone as everyone back in Chicago.  Within minutes of leaving the airport, I could tell Nicaragua was very third world.  In fact, 50% of the population lives below the poverty land 80% live on $2 a day - which will make me feel guilty the next time Samantha and I shop at Whole Foods.  Nicaragua is actually one of the poorest countries in all of the Americas.  The drive felt very similar to my trek to the Last Resort in Nepal.  People inhabited tin shacks and electricity-less tinder block houses as horses and cows wandered the roadways looking as  they had not eaten in weeks.  This type of poverty was expected and is something I have seen a few times before.  Yet every time I come across it,  I always feel so fortunate to have been raised the way I was.

After exiting the city limits and driving more though the countryside I slowly drifted off for a much needed nap.  I awoke in the backpacker city of San Juan Del Sur which was the location of where our resort was located.  I will get into the details of our resort later, especially after we do more exploring but to give you a perspective of just how big it truly is, the drive from the front entrance to the reception was 15 minutes.  At the front gate we were greeted by a handful of howler monkeys hanging from the trees which is not an unusual site at Morgans Rock.  Snakes, lizards and scorpions may also not be so unusual so I will be checking twice before I put on my shoes or get into bed.  

After the usual tour of the grounds, Samantha and I headed down to the beach for a quick run.  We had made a New Years Resolution to work out each day in January so we were not going to let a little air travel screw it up.  The beach was jaw dropping - desolate, soft sand, luscious jungle back drop, the right size waves and of course a perfect Pacific sunset.  As the sun sank into the fire-lite sky I knew I was going to like Nicaragua and as I listen to the waves crash against the shore now, I am excited to see what we have in store.

The sunset.