Nicaragua 2/19/9

We grew up on the shore of the largest freshwater lake in the world -- actually a few miles from shore. That is supposed to mean something, but mainly it has been an affliction. I am restless and claustrophobic unless I can see a wide open expanse of water. Mountain tops work okay for a while, but water is what I crave. Try living anywhere else and you shrivel up, or run into walls, cars, bad men, unfortunate situations...water is in our blood.

That's the curse of the great gitchie gumee. It haunts you. Whenever we have traveled, we seem drawn to large water spaces. I lived on the shore of the North Sea while studying abroad. Woody chose the big island of Hawaii as one of his winter stopovers. Despite being midwesterners, we are not land lovers by nature.

However, this does not mean that we have spent much time in that cursed lake. In fact, despite many discussions about why it would be a worthwhile endeavor, neither of us have driven around the lake nor have we traveled to the Susie Islands or to Isle Royale. I suppose this is one of those we-live-here-so-we-don't-do-the-tourist-things. There is a lot of that in our small town. I went to our historical society once in fourth grade. It was fascinating. I have never been back. We went moose hunting on the moose viewing trail when our cousins visited in 1995 --- no need to go when you live there. So, the lake: we should be familiar, but frankly, we don't know much about it. Maybe if we hadn't given up family vacations when Woody finished high school...

This kind of delinquency in our home culturing causes awkward situations and inconveniences out in the big world. Take this, for example, from Woody:

"we have crossed safely into nicaragua, spending the night in esteli. today i think that we will ride northeast to the miraflor reserve. sounds like a good place to see. from there i do not know exactly. the island of ometepe, in lake nicaragua, is the largest lake island in the world, i think. that means that it is bigger than isle royale--would help me to discern had i ever been to isle royale. the island is actually two volcanoes joined by a lava flow. we can put our bikes on a ferry and head out there, which i think we will do when we get that far south."

And oh yeah, at some point on this journey, Woody decided we really ought to plan a brother-sister circumnavigation of Lake Superior by kayak. How's that for total disregard of my blanket prohibition on all family vacations until death?

-- luludilly