365 days project... 1 new thing each day for a year

I am officially back from Honduras!!

With an amazing year of traveling,learning and growing behind me, I am so excited to share with you my next adventure.

I am going to begin a very exciting and memorable "new things"
project, in which I will be trying something new every single day for one
year. This project will begin on October 9th (my 29th birthday) and will
end exactly one year later on my 30th birthday The inspiration originally
came to me from a friend of a friend. She had embarked on this amazing
adventure. I followed her project and then a year later another friend
embarked on the same journey. I have now seen it done twice, so I am hoping third times a charm ;)

Before beginning my year-long project, I am enlisting the help of my
friends and family to give me ideas, which will make the project more
meaningful and interactive.

If you are interested in helping, I would love for you to share your ideas
with me. If possible, please send me a list of 10-15 ideas (or more) for
things I can try (facebook message me or email me kaseeley@gmail.com).

They can include ideas for going to new places, trying/cooking new foods, new hobbies, adventurous activities, charitywork, silly and crazy things that will embarrass me... use your
imagination! I will also be enlisting my new fourth grade class to help me
complete some of my projects. So keep in mind that some should be kids
based (9/10 year olds).  Please send me your ideas by October 9th if you
wish to help. I will be posting my "new things" on facebook and on my blog (applestomanzanas.blogspot.org) everyday so that you can follow me
throughout the year.

I am so excited to begin this project and your ideas will make this all the more special.

Panama...the Amazing!

I know what your thinking....didn't you get back from Central America over a month ago?

 

The answer is yes I did. But, like you all must know, American life has caught up with me. I was thrust into the world of buying a car, fixing my computer, getting a job and moving back to Denver.

 

So sadly my blog took a back seat for a little. But let's not forget the most amazing part of my travels:

 

Last, but certainly not least: Panama.

Crossing the border. Literally one of the scariest things. The boards were very unsecure. One wrong step...... and me and my 50 pound bag were headed straight into the river!!

Life vest check! If our boat capsizes it might be due to the fact that my backpack weighs as much as a small child!

Our boat ride to Bocas del Torro

First night, what a beautful sunset!

Don't mind if I do a little swinging while I watch the sunset. :)

 

Colleen, Kristin, myself and Jenna enjoying some drinks on our last night together in Panama!

 

So many places to see before I die!

 

But first up, the Carribean Ocean on a catamaran for the day.

 

Kristin and I enjoying some chill/tan time.

 

After some much needed chill time. Kristin and I were headed to Panama City. I can't say we chose the best route. But after a day and a half of travel. We finally arrived!! WOW!

View of downtown from Casco Viejo, the oldest neighborhoods in Panama City.

"More graffitti, less anouncements"

 

 

 

It is a must to go to the Panama Canal if you are in the city.

Just enjoying the view, waiting for boats to go through.

 
 

Nicole, Kristin and I, doing a little shopping.

Next up a little bike ride through Panama!

 

And I am off....



Just enjoying a night out on the town.

 

But the next day we were off to the San Blas islands. After a 5 hour jeep ride, we sat around in the rain waiting to get on our boat to the islands.

 

 

I can't say we were all that thrilled about taking a boat ride in the rain.

 

But it proved to be worth it. The clouds sitting on the hills of the main land of Panama.

We were enjoying the sunset on Iguana island, which is owned by the Kuna tribe.

 

Our awesome hut. 8 beds, cockroaches, and no working light. Welcome to Iguana Island.

\

Loving life in San Blas.

 

Mi mejor amiga!

:)

Here are a few of the Kuna men, who made us delicious lobster dinners.

 

Roommates in the hut :)

 

Say good-bye to San Blas islands.

 

 

After an amazing time in Central America. My last hours were spent with my best friend Kristin. We bought some awesome hats and took in my last hours of daylight in C.A. 

Unbelievably blessed!

 

 

Pura Vida en Costa Rica

Costa Rica: Pura Vida

Life in Costa Rica is much different than life in the other Central American countries. It is much more developed and Americanized. I knew it was going to be different, but I still found myself gawking at the nice houses, expensive American cars and over all development of the country.


Our first stop was La Fortuna. It is a town located next to Arenal Volcano, which is normally an active volcano, but it has been dormant for the last 10 months.

Volcan Arenal

So in the words of most Americans "Go big or go home", we decided to take that approach on our adventures in La Fortuna. Our day was going to consist of a waterfall/crater lagoon hike in the morning, a swim in a watering hole, eat lunch, hike the lava beds at the base of the volcano, go swimming in hot springs and complete the night with dinner and a delicious rum drink... I wasn't joking with the "Go big or go home"!!

Let the day of madness begin. First up, waterfall hike. 

Hanging bridge

Headed up to the crater lake. Volcano Arenal in the background. 

Hanging from a vine. I felt very Tarzan inspired being in the rainforest.

Wow, look at that volcano!! ;)

Our day of fun was great. We were exhausted, but the next day, Kristin and I were headed to Tortugero. The most popular beach in the Western hemisphere, for sea turtles to lay their eggs. We were both so excited but getting there was a bit of a hike....

3 buses, a taxi and a boat ride later, we were officially in Tortugero!!!

On the boat to Tortugero. 

 It was a bit of an interesting day, but we made it. After sleeping the night away, we were up bright an early for our canoe ride through the canals to check out the rainforest.

Our 6 a.m, canoe ride. We saw three species of monkeys: spider, white faced and howlers. We also saw crocodiles, 5 different species of heron, iguanas, butterflies, lizards and Cayman toucans. According to our tour guide, we were lucky ladies to see all those different animals.

A little lizard we saw.

Our canoe ride was great. But let's be honest, Kristin and I were most excited to potentially see sea turtles laying their eggs. Fingers crossed we were going to see some :)

Sunset before checking out the sea turtles.

So that night we got on our "darkest outfits"...

Yes, I am wearing a shirt with a skull drinking... No judging. It is the darkest shirt I own down here. 

We headed out for an adventure of a lifetime. We weren't sure what to expect. We had heard that we could potentially see turtles, but since it wasn't peak season it was a crap shoot whether we would see some. So we left with fingers crossed.

We had the same tour guide, the one who said we were lucky girls. She kept insisting we were lucky girls and she hoped we had the same luck as the morning. 

It was pitch black as we walked along the beach, stars shining above, and waves crashing around us. It was picturesque. It started to rain, which only added to the mysterious moment of walking on the beach in the pitch black, searching for these amazing creatures following their natural instinct. 

All of a sudden, our guide tells us there is a turtle coming out of the ocean. Now let's be honest, it was dark, I mean very dark. At first, you think your eyes are playing tricks on you. Is it a huge log?  Or is that really a sea turtle. But as your eyes start to adjust you realize these gigantic dark figures are indeed sea turtles, slowly making their way up the beach. However, as we stood their, a group behind us came up quickly to observe her. But these large animals are incredibly sensitive to the vibrations on the beach. She became spooked and went back into the water. She sensed danger, which alerted a nearby turtle, who also turned back. 

At this point, I wasn't thinking we were very lucky. 2 turtles.... 0 eggs layed. 

But we continued on and found a hawksbill turtle who was in the middle of camouflaging her eggs under sand. She then made her way back to the ocean. This was neat to see but I was dying to see a turtle lay her eggs. 

But luck was on our side. We found a green sea turtle, who was in the middle of laying her eggs. I got to watch her eggs drop into the hole she had dug. She layed 114 eggs, which is pretty average for a green sea turtle. 

There was a conservation group there, which ended up tagging her and measuring her (she was close to 4.5 feet!!!!) to track her life and her potential babies. 


I couldn't believe, I was so fortunate to watch her lay her eggs. An unbelievably moving moment to be sitting on a beach, bright stars above, the sound of waves crashing in the background and an endangered species laying her eggs. 

It was phenomenal to watch. There aren't very many words to describe how amazing it was. 

I am not sure how I am going to top that one!!! Kristin and I walked away just awestruck by the beauty we just captured. I would love to share pictures but no pictures are allowed, so hopefully my description paints the beauty that I saw.

Two happy sea turtles watchers :)

We left Tortugero happy campers. But our last stop in Costa Rica was Cahuita. 

Boat ride of gringos!!

I will be perfectly honest, all we did in Cahuita was lay on the beach. It was nice to relax for a day!

Standing in Cahuita National Park. Beautiful beach in the background.

Adios Costa Rica!! It was great, you were expensive, but beautiful. Panama here we come!!

Pacha Mama

Nicaragua part II: Pacha Mama


Next stop on our jont through Central America: Isla de Ometepe. It is a beautiful island formed by two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua

The beauty is unfathomable in person! 

So there are those moments when you come up with a brilliant idea, it starts out well and then takes a turn towards the unknown and your standing there scratching your head wondering how you got there. Well, not that any of you should be surprised, but our mountain biking excursion was precisely that.

Who is ready to mountain biking?!

We were headed towards a little village called PorVenir. We started out on a paved road, easy as pie, right? Everyone loves a leisure bike ride. But let's be perfectly honest, that road ended sooner than expected. Our bike ride went from leisure to pure mountain biking in a quick 5 minutes.

Volcano Concepcion

Kristin and I enjoying the view of the volcano.

We continued to bike on this ridiculously rocky and windy road. We were all dripping sweat and breathing heavenly, until I hear "Where the hell are we? We need to check a map." Unfortunately the map was of no use to us. But a local, kindly told us we had biked 4km too far..... WHOOPS!!! 

Now let me clear this up, it is no ones fault, but I will admit Kristin and I were in front, we passed the sign without even glancing up. However, Jenna noticed the sign, but couldn't fathom how anyone could miss the green and yellow billboard. So she figured it must not be the right place to turn off for PorVenir. 

So we turn around in hopes to find the town. As we are biking along, I see a rock painted white with a symbol on it and I was convinced it was the turn off for PorVenir (Jenna once again failed to mention that she had seen the green and yellow billboard for PorVenir and that this white rock was probably NOT the turn off).  So we lock our bikes up and head up this path towards what we think is PorVenir. As we get to the top of this quite steep climb, we are greeted by a group of barking dogs and a nice Nicaraguan man trying to calm them down.

We weren't quite sure what we had stumbled upon.... 

But it turns out, it was a little Tantra community. I am no yoga junkie, but it seemed to be the mecca for those yoga/hippie junkies. Mellow vibe, minimal clothing, beautiful view and a "we are one" family vibe. It was pretty cool. They offered us delicious volcano water (sounded very mysterious, it was just fresh water from the volcano) and let us look around. But not before I had to wash our glasses with volcano ash because it is better for the environment. ;) Gotta love tree huggers.

Kristin and I "glistening" from our bike ride/hike to Tantra heaven.

We even got into the mood. Yoga on a volcano, check yes.

One of the Tantra Yoga rooms.

Seriously amazing!

Tantraville was great, but we were ready to chill out on the beach. So we said good-bye to our Tantra friends and gutted through the last part of our bike ride! Lucky for us it was downhill.

View from the beach, Volcano Maderas.

Kristin and I on the ferry headed back to the mainland. :(

We couldn't be too sad, next we were headed to San Juan del Sur. A cute beach town, located on the Pacific coast of Nicaragua. This would be our final stop in Nicaragua.

The view of San Juan del Sur! Tough life I lead.

San Juan has a huge statue of Jesus on top of one of the cliffs.

Jesus has a pretty awesome view ;) So I thought I would check it out.....

He has an amazing view. I am a very lucky girl. 

Cheezy!

Mi mejor amiga Kristin and I. 

Kristin, myself, Colleen and Jenna enjoying the view from the Jesus statue.

Next up: More Beach time!!!

Yep those are my janky toes, but they have a pretty good view. 

No beach trip is complete without a handstand in the water. 

We are drinking Tona, a delicious Nicaraguan beer. 

The next day we said our good-byes to Nicaragua....

Costa Rica here we come!