Sunshine on Leaf

Can I just say one thing right off the bat?  And, forgive me for shouting but…

I'M NOT READY FOR WINTER YET!!!

We've have just had an absolutely glorious weekend here in Chicago - temperatures in the high 70's, clear blue skies with oodles of sunshine and just the lightest of lakeside breezes to keep you comfortable.  It was, quite simply, perfect.  The kicker being, of course, that this is expected to be one of the last good weekends before the Chill hits the fan, and our weather starts to become deeply unsociable.  At least the Canada Goose coat is already on order, so this year, I'm prepared!

Anyway, how then to spend this beneficence of sunbeams, this deluge of D vits?  Enter Calvary Cemetery, which is located right next door to my apartment building.  I've driven past it now dozens of times but have not yet stopped in to explore.  Well, I decided that today was the day - i just received a new FitBit from my company (um, thanks) so now have a new gadget to play with for a few weeks before I get bored of it and it joins the Body Media and Jawbone in the Discarded Tech drawer. 

Note about the Discarded Tech Drawer: Its a pretty rough place to be, btw.  If you venture into the furthermost reaches of said drawer, among the tangle mangle of unidentifiable cables that you still can't quite bring yourself to throw out (and so dutifully cart along with you in every house move), you'll find lost treasures of yesteryear within.  A chronology of crap, with phones of ever diminishing size and ever increasing unintelligibility.  Apples, blackberries, peaches, whatever.  Its a veritable fruit salad in there)

But, for right now, its my latest and greatest New Shiny Object so off me and my FitBit trotted to get in our 10,000 steps and to explore da hood.

For those of you blog-watchers who are history buffs, here's some interesting factoids about Calvary Cemetery: http://www.catholiccemeterieschicago.org/history.php

For those of you blog-watchers who don't give a stuff about history but need to know the "in" place to be, well here's a link for you too - who knew you could find cemetery reviews on Yelp?!   http://www.yelp.com/biz/calvary-cemetery-evanston

  

Impressive, huh?

I think cemeteries are fascinating.  I'm not in the least religious, so they don't hold that type of significance for me, but as you look around at these massive memorials and edifices, you do wonder who on earth these people were?  What warranted such a grandiose crypt for the Cuneo family?  What did they do in life that enabled them to afford such material comforts in death?  Some of the family tombs rivaled any I'd seen in the Ricoletta cemetery in Buenos Aires (burial place of Eva Peron).   I wonder if any of them were "connected"? (fresh off of my Prohibition tour the day before-  more to come on that in my next blog).  Looking at the dates on the tombs and gravestones, a lot of them dated back to the mid 19th century, so the detail and handiwork of the engraving and ornamentation was very impressive indeed.

I wandered round for an hour or so, enjoying the peace and quiet and unexpectedly having to avoid really rather quite a lot of Canada geese poo on the roads (who knew they liked to hang out in cemeteries during the fall?).  Also, much to my delight, I came across a horse chestnut tree and - all Brits will know what that means - CONKERS!!!  I haven't played conkers since I was a kid, so I delightedly stuffed my bag full of a couple dozen to take home for Christmas (and perhaps Thanksgiving too, Sarah?).  Let the conker wars begin!

After my mausoleum meanderings, I strolled along the lake for a bit - again, enjoying the sound of the waves lapping against the rocks and imprinting to memory its gloriously unfrozen state.  Evanston does actually have some quite nice beaches along the lake - i'm not a beachy-type person (damn sand gets everywhere), but can still appreciate them from the safe distance of a nice tarmac-ed sidewalk.  However, just to make sure I wasn't forgetting who's really in charge, good old mother nature had left her calling card on just a few of the many thousands and thousands of trees here, a precursor of whats to come and a reminder that She's the Boss.  

Get ready for LeafMaggedon.

Here are some pics from my day's amble (13,000 steps and 7miles, btw) - enjoy!

Overcompensating, much?

(grave) Diggin' the scene

Reservoir geese

Probably one of the most imaginative tombstones
in the cemetery - a tree!

How thoughtful.  Not sure what the protocol is
for tombstones shaped as benches…didn't sit on it, just in case….

Mumsie….dont you be getting any ideas now….

Oh yes.  BRING IT ON.  ConkFest 2014, here we come….

Lake-side view

I can understand the dogs, but….

Could almost be Florida, right?…..

Except for this little reminder from Mother
Nature that WINTER IS COMING SUCKERS!
Thanks, bitch.

Rather unfortunate spacing on this signpost, don't you think?

Your mission, should you choose to accept it…..

Well, here's something a bit fun, after the "fun" of the last few days.  I've just picked up attending a gastroenterology conference next month in Vienna, which will be great for work - and also great for taking a couple days off afterwards to explore!  My conference ends the afternoon of Wednesday 22nd October - and I'm booked to fly home from Vienna first thing in the morning on Sunday 26th.

Your job then, blog-watchers, is to come up with my itinerary for those three days.  What should I do?  Where should I go?  Should I stay in Vienna and see the sights locally?  Should I rent a car and drive somewhere else?  Should I get a flight and hop across to some other part of Europe for a couple of days?  Where should I stay?  (you get bonus points if your itinerary uses my Starwoods rewards points for the hotel).

The rules for this contest are:
1) please don't bankrupt me
2) don't get me arrested
3) no driving more than 4hrs total in a single day
4) one distinct thing to do or visit each day

The prize for this assignment are
1) bragging rights
2) my eternal gratitude
3) some kick-ass blogging
4) a slice of sachertorte jiffy-mailed to you

May the best blog-watcher win!!

When life hands you lemons….demand coconuts*

Greetings, blog watchers. Well, its never a dull moment, is it?  This post will be fairly short and sweet - as you all know, I have a rule about not posting about work (too much of a potential social media quagmire).  However, last week was a fairly exceptional one - and one in which you, dear reader, may also have some investment in.   To put it in a (coco)nut shell - yet again, I find myself in a period of uncertainty with my job.  My company announced on Tuesday last week a complete restructuring that has left me - and many others in my part of the organization - without a definite role.  There won't be any certainty about how things shake out until mid-October, so until then, I just have to try and do the best I can to keep focused, work hard, stay optimistic and not Completely Freak Out.

Oh… and drink lots of rum-based cocktails with similarly shifted colleagues.  Yep, after a rough week, really the only thing to do was to get our coco on and head for this spectacular tiki bar in Chicago called Three Dots and a Dash (I'm not entirely sure the rationale for the name - maybe after an evening spent consuming their potent potions, the power of speech will have left you and Morse code will your only form of communication?).  The Three Musketeers for the evening were my good self and two awesome colleagues, Jonathan and Lauren.   Both live in the city so the choice of venue was theirs, and I had made sure to wear my finest tie-dye tiki-chic for the occasion.

Well, I'm pleased to say that it was just the job after a crappy week.  We had an absolute blast - the atmosphere was fun, the drinks were mind-crunchingly strong and the witty repartee was flowing (amazingly, we seemed to get even funnier as the evening wore on).  But it was the garnishes.  Ohhh…. the garnishes.   Words cannot express just how spectacular they were.  Especially after the rum had started flowing.  Each new beverage seemed to attain dizzying new heights (or maybe that was me?), with banana dolphins, minty bushes (ahem), clouds of dry ice, before the finale of the Flaming Crystal Skull.  Bloody marvelous.

Needless to say, I had a bit of a crushing hangover the next day but it was worth every last sugary drop!    If you are looking for a fun night out where you can forget about it all for a few hours, then this is your place!!  http://threedotschicago.com

Yes.  That IS a dolphin fashioned out
of a banana, an olive and pineapple leaves.
Sheer bloody genius.

Zombie Skull in preparation

Our professional garnish arranger at work

Stand back, light blue touch paper and retire..

Eyebrows still intact

Ta-da!!!  Shazam!!!  Not at all unsafe to be drinking a
cocktail with a big open flame on the top.

See?  We're all (hopefully still gainfully
 employed) professionals.  We got this. 

Close-up.  Indiana Jones ain't got
nothing on this baby! 

Our bar neighbors' mini-frosty skull

*shamelessly pinched from the latest Coco Vita ad campaign.  Thanks, creative marketing professionals!

Adios, Los Patios!

As with all good things, they must come to an end (which Debbie Downer first said that, btw? I bet they were fun at parties).  The only problem with 6.30am flights back to Chicago is that they involve 3am pick ups from the hotel - and, consequently, not really being able to sleep at all.  I don't know about you but, once you wake up at 12.30am, its game over - no falling back asleep for me.

Anyway, I don't want to leave Nicaragua without sharing with you a bit more of this oasis of calm that has been my home for the last week.  It really has felt like a home from home and - for most of the week Lisa and I have been here - we've had it pretty much to ourselves.  So, I'd like to share it with you, dear blogwatchers, in case you ever decide to visit Nicaragua and come to Granada.  It won't disappoint.  Here is their website: http://www.lospatiosgranada.com

View from my favorite spot, tucked into the corner of the couch.
Best for blogging.

Bromeliad!
Site of my Spite and Malice throw down with Lisa.

Perfect for lounging.  Or monster games of chess.

The view back towards the lounge area

View from my balcony.  Room 5.
Did not suck.

The ginormous bathroom - almost the size of my
first apartment in Manhattan!

Looking out from my room across to the balcony, with
the heavy roller blinds made of bamboo

My room 

Funky arty skull-things

My bathroom - and more bromeliads!

My room for my last night (had to move from the balcony suite) -
still gorgeous, Room 1.

Well, as I sit here in my favorite seat in the lounge, waiting for the clock to tick round to 3am and to fly back to what's looking like a chockablock week already, here are my final thoughts about Nicaragua - what I loved and what I did not care for:

Did Not Care For:

• The mossies and being eaten alive.  I have so many bite marks on my legs, I'm sure if you joined the dots, they would spell out "FOR GODS SAKE, USE MORE DEET"
• The low-level squits I've had for the last couple of days now.  Not enough to be incapacitating.  Enough to be wary of farting.
• Cassava.  Circumstantial evidence connects it to the above.

Loved To Bits:

• How clean everything is.  OK, some of the buildings might look a bit ramshackle from the outside but everything is absolutely spotless.  No trash on the streets, all the buildings are nicely painted (even as you get further out from the center of town).  Wherever you look, someone always appears to be sweeping.  
• How quiet it is.  I realized, after a few days here, that one of the reasons this place feels so different is that you can barely hear any traffic noise.  The occasional car but nothing like the constant stream of traffic back home.  In its place, music.  And not annoying Justin Bieber (sorry Thomas) chart-type music, but local, up-tempo music that just wants to make you dance.  No wonder everyone from Latin and Central America has good rhythm - they are infused with it, every single day
• How respectful people are, especially as a single traveler.  For example, people will still come up to you and try and sell you things.  Thats to be expected.  However, one observation I soon made was that - unlike other countries I've visited - if you just smile and shake your head once, no, that they respect that and move on.  They don't constantly bug you and follow you and hassle you.   Even the guy with the guitar who comes into the restaurant looking to serenade your lunch won't bother you if you just say "no thanks".  I loved that.
• How much pride people take in their country and how much of it is already protected by national reserves and eco-preserves.  Makes you feel very hopeful for the future.
• The fact that none of the volcanoes exploded whilst I was here.

Day 6: Hiking the Mombacho Cloud Forest

Mombacho reserve and our hiking trails

And so, sadly, our trip to Nicaragua is starting to draw to a close.  Today was the last of our organized trips with Tierra Tours - a hike round the Mombacho volcano.  Mombacho is the big cone-shaped volcano that I can see from the balcony of my room - its a "stratovolcano", is 1344m high and is considered extinct, having last erupted back in 1570.   Our hike was to take us into the Mombacho Volcano Nature Reserve, one of the 78 protected areas of Nicaragua.  There were several different tour options that we could have picked - Lisa had read all about the "Puma Trail" in her Lonely Planet guidebook, so was up for doing that one.  However, we soon discovered - on talking to the guy from Tierra Tours - that that particularly hike was the most extreme version of those available, taking about 6-8hrs to complete and was "very challenging".  Instead, we opted for the middle version - not the easy peasy hike, but instead a 2hr or so one, which would still take us to some of the highest points of the volcano and still likely kick my out-of-shape ass.

It was a good call.  

I think if we'd opted to take the most challenging hike (called, we later learned, the "Mombacho Extreme" which no-one ever chose) I'd either still be up there or would be dead.  No kidding.

Our guide picked us up at 9.30am, so there was time for a leisurely breakfast and a couple hands of C&F before we set off (Loopy - you got the "F" right…close with the C, but not quite right…).  Fortunately, Lisa's beginner's luck winning streak appeared to have worn off and, combined with an unprecedented run of lucky deals, I'd been well and truly whuppin' her ass and had pulled level again in our unofficial championship stakes.   There was still hope for an ultimate Holloway victory.  

You are…riiiiiight….here!

Our guide Byron was particularly good today - perfect English and very knowledgable about the area, its history, population demographics, flora and fauna - you name it, he knew it.  The drive to the Mombacho Reserve took about 30 mins to the base of the volcano, where we then started to climb steadily upwards.  The vehicle we were in was a 4x4 All Wheel Drive - the reason for which became apparent, the higher we climbed.   Our ascent upwards was temporarily halted for about half an hour, though, as a tree had come down in the huge thunderstorm the previous day, so we had to wait until a local clearing crew chopped it up enough with a chainsaw so we could pass.  From their, the cobblestone road got progressively steeper and steeper, until you were having to hold onto the seat in front of you to stop yourself sliding backwards off your seat!  Not sure what the steepest gradient was, but it certainly reminded me of some of the more heroic hills in San Francisco, thats for sure!

Cloudy forest.   There's a volcanic
crater hiding in there somewhere….

It was a fun drive and, as we slowly chugged our way to the top, we passed through acres of coffee beans, all part of the Cafe Las Flores plantation http://cafelasflores.com.  Unfortunately we weren't going to have time to do a tour of the plantation today - however, I did manage to pick up a few bags of their organic, locally roasted coffee beans from the local supermarket on the way home, which would serve as a good reminder of our trip once we got back home (bargain price too - only $7 in the supermarket, vs $11 at the plantation's store!).  It was a good 15kms from the base of Mombacho to where the little hiking lodge was and was a solid half hour drive, so we were very very grateful we hadn't gotten any crazy ideas to try and hike all the way up.  We did pass a couple of people doing just exactly that and, without exception, they all looked utterly miserable.

So we get to the lodge and hop out of the van, have a quick pee and a look inside at the map of the hiking trails.   The first part of our hike was going to be relatively flat and, where we had to go up or down, the trail was carved out into little steps using chopped up slabs of wood.  Some neat recycling, right?  Well…..not so much.  Though having little steps made out of chopped up tree trunks certainly sounds like a good idea (and looks very authentically-foresty), it becomes less of a good idea really rather quickly when you factor in the following equation - smooth wooden round discs + heavy continuous mist + a forest's worth of dead leaves = Mother of All Potential Slip-Fests.  And I know Slip-Fests.  As anyone who has ever hiked with me knows (just ask Lisa), I can trip over air.  I am the Queen of Klutziness.  The Master of Mis-steps.  If you need any more proof, just check out my previous blogs from Patagonia.  All the proof you would ever need is there.   It wasn't so bad on the not terribly steep bits, but boy - further on in the hike, when we hit the Puma trail proper - ay carumba.  As your legs got progressively more tired and the steps got steeper and steeper (at its worst, it was a full on 45 degree slope we were slogging up), the Discs of Death got more and more treacherous.  Its a testament to the endurance and perseverance of my hiking poles that I didn't go skidding off the trail and tumble headlong towards an unfortunate arboreal ending.  

Getting our Indiana Jones on.  Fortunately no
 massive boulders in sight heading our way….

Anyway, that bit of the trail only lasted for about 40mins or so.  I can't remember how much we ascended by in what distance, but it was a lot, in a little.  Again, we were VERY grateful we hadn't tried to do the whole thing - the little bit we'd done (and that had done us in!) was only about a fifth of the hard bits in the whole trail.   Probably some of my insanely fit Swiss colleagues from the Zurich office could have done it - us mere mortals, however?  Not a chance. 

Puma trail bouncer.  No guide, no glory….

Unfortunately, at the top of our insane Dice with Death climb, the view was completely shrouded in cloud so we could see precisely bugger all.  However, we'd seen some other lovely views along the way plus enjoyed the warm embrace of a fumarole - an opening in the ground which issued forth wonderfully comforting swirling mists that enveloped you, soothing and warming your aching limbs and bathing your face with a spa-like dewiness.  Slightly sulfurous smell aside, I could have stood there all day, it was that relaxing.  

But, onwards and upwards (and downwards) - we continued along our path through the forest, our guide pointing out various plants and animals of note.  Unlike the Forest of Death and Spiky Things, there seemed to be much fewer things designed to kill us this time (slip-fest steps aside), so other than the burning agony in my exhausted legs and crushing ache in my chest through trying to breathe, I could relax and enjoy the scenery.  There were lots of bromeliads everywhere (the red poker type plants - and pineapples too, apparently) and dinosaur-era ferns, just to remind us of how recent an introduction to this planet we humans actually are.  We also saw a sloth - a real, pukka, live, in the tree and Not Moving Sloth!!!  It was very cool.  Not sure why, but something about that lump of fur, up in the tree completely oblivious to its surroundings (or aware but not giving a rats ass) reminded me of Dylan.  Not sure why.  Also, as we were in the van on the way down, we FINALLY got to see some Howler monkeys too!  There were about 4-5 hanging out in the very tops of the trees - unfortunately I wasn't able to get any really good pics, but it was great to be able to say that I'd now seen them.  My Nicaraguan Wildlife Checklist was now complete.

So, with that, we headed back to town where we bid a fond farewell to Byron and got a late lunch of fish tacos washed down with the local specialty of rum with orange (I think), before finally making our weary way back to the hotel for a last evening of cards.  

I am delighted to report that - I won.  Better luck next time, Malandro….

Spectacular view that we could actually see.  View
from the top of Mombacho down towards
Granada and Las Isletas

Close up of Las Isletas

The source of the wonderfully warm
steamy mists of the fumaroles

Tree covered in bromeliads

The amazing view from the summit. 

Sloth ball