Backtracking a bit...

So I discovered that my camera's connection cable also fits Dr. Steele's camera - which rules, since she naturally takes way more pictures than I do. Plus, this way, I'm in the pictures, instead of random people you folks out in blog world may not know.
So this was our first night at the hotel in SeaTac.


I made barf bag puppets on both planes. This one is "el Burro"


The wind here is super strong. When we went sailing my hat nearly flew off.


I tried to take Wolfy for a swim...

Here's me, getting LOST... can't you just see Jack 'n' Kate off in the distance?

This part was fun - someone found a snorkel, and we took turns using it.

Monkeys!

Our sailboat, as seen from the beach:

Getting on the motorboat to head back:

Geronimo and another guide-boat-sailor-guy (with Wolfy)

Wolfy with our fried plantains and cheese:

Wolfy tries to get into the sangria

Pictures!

The horses:

A guy tries to stuff a chin strap in my mouth:

Cows that got in the way on the road:

The boss 'n' me, ready to go!

'
Our location:

I start off:

Dr. Steele and Wolfy survived!

We tried this trick too, but didn't get a good photo...

More later - it's dinner time!

"Too many donations"

Hooray for Regina (Webster) and Cody (MWI)!!! We've just been informed that our trip is the most-donated-to World Vets trip supplies-wise - and our office brought nearly half the stuff! Way to go us and our awesome vendor reps!
The morning adventure of zip-line fun will have to be documented in full later because the camera that went along is currently on a hike, but it was awesome to begin the morning by leaping into the common room in my batman shirt singing "dananananana dananananananana - ZIP-LINE!" Things went uphill from there (literally) since we had to truck our way up to the top of a ridge to start the zip line rides. On the way, we checked out some trail-riding horses we plan to get a little more friendly with on Friday morning. Sadly enough, I was too busy hanging upside down and making ridiculous super-hero poses on the zip line to actually see any of the monkeys that other folks saw.
Silly me.

First Dinner

We asked both Geronimo from the boat and some random gringos we met on the street where we should eat dinner. Both times, we were told that we should go to both Timon and Colibri. Timon won out tonight - turns out it's an open-air seafood place right on the beach. Three daring members of our crew had octopus, and one had an entire fish, face and all. The rest of us opted for less exciting fare and went with foods like steak and spaghetti. The waitstaff must have heard we were on our way because they were out in force to greet us, seat us, and ply our table with pitchers of sangria. I tried their fruit punch - very thick, pulpy, sweet, and yum! The food was mostly pretty good. I heard something about the shrimp tasting funny, but no bad news yet. Tomorrow there's a zip-line trip lined up, followed by setting up the clinic to start hardcore with the spays and neuters on Tuesday. Also, we have word that we'll get to repair an ear hematoma on a dog as well. Should be fun, since we don't have hematoma supplies. Time to get creative!!
After we sleep.

Sailing

Today, our group had a "rest day" - meaning that we slept until 9ish, a bunch of us hiked into town looking for a market that turned out to be really, really far away, so we got a couple of taxis back to our villa. Then we all went out on a sailboat run by the Pelican Eyes tourism company - the boat guys were very friendly and helpful, plying sailors with guacamole and beverages while we sailed about an hour north to a sandy swimming beach. When we dropped anchor, the little motorboat pulled up to our sailboat to take us to shore. Someone said something about swimming in. Well, if anyone here knows me, they know what happened next. Yep, off the boat, into the blue-green awesomeness, and off for a swim that ended up much longer than it looked from the boat. I was starting to feel a little LOST when i waded up on to the sandy palm-beach shore to wait for the motorboat (yes, i beat them) and the other people who followed my lead and swam in - including our fearless Dr. Steele. After a little relaxing, we followed hermit crabs, saw monkeys, and someone found a snorkel in the water. So then there was snorkeling - and it was awesome! I saw spiny urchins, limpets, fish, fish, those electric blue fish, some stripey sucker fish, big fish, tiny fish. Sorry, I don't know my fish names.

After the beach, it was back out to the sailboat for a sunset ride back to San Juan Del Sur, and now we're waiting for our ride out to eat.

In the meantime, let's see if this batch of photos loads properly:

The Villa:

The boat trip/beach:

We're here!

The first leg of our trip was the flight to Houston. Not so bad, as airlines go. I made barf bag puppets and did a puppet show for the folks seated behind us. They were not as amused as I had hoped they would be. I left the puppets behind, hoping they would brighten the day of some unsuspecting puppet-finder. Then we discovered that Judy had left her glucometer and insulin at the hotel in SeaTac. Fortunately, as she was telling us and others in our group, random strangers overheard, happened to be diabetic, and happened to have enough supplies to fix her up. They refused payment, and went on their separate ways. We don't know who they are, but thank goodness that they exist - we love you guys!
Our layover in Houston was over 3 hours long - plenty of time to hike from one end of the world to the other (all within the same concourse!) and then find out that they were switching gates around and we'd have to go more than halfway back. So I got some power-walking in today. Lunch consisted of various airport food court foods - mine were mostly Italian, but I snuck in an Auntie Anne's pretzel too. Yum! Although the flight info we were given said we'd only be served a snack on our next leg of the trip, the flight staff handed out salads and cheeseburgers on the next plane. This time, the barf bag puppet I made was a burro. He did not present a show to the folks behind us as someone's water bottle decided to empty part of itself on my seat, and I took a nap on a pile of napkins. By the time we landed, got through customs, and got out to meet the rest of our WorldVets team, it was about 10pm Nicaragua time. We loaded up onto our bus and headed south for about 2 and a half hours. Then we drove around San Juan Del Sur for another HOUR because the driver didn't know where we were headed, and none of the locals he asked could explain it to him. Eventually someone got ahold of someone who sent a moped delivery guy to meet us and show us the way. It was a great adventure, and now I'm pretty sure I could find my way to just about any night spot in downtown. There's an Irish pub, a karaoke bar, a bunch of hotels, and of course the "Crazy Crab Beach Club" which I can still hear up at our villa, despite our being eons away at the top of a cliff. There is a swimming pool right at the edge of the cliff, and the villa is the most open, airy, awesome house I've ever seen. Photos will follow, but it is way too dark and way too late to mess with that right now.
Happy Daylight Savings Time!

The joy that is Sea-Tac

It's almost like coming home - the airport air smells like airport air, the Starbucks every 50 feet smell like Starbucks, and, as per usual, I am sooooooo tired and wander the concourse in a zombie-like daze... I've spent more time in this airport than just about any other public place since the great "stranding of 98". That was a 2 1/2 day fiasco. This is just a few hours, but oh, the memories. We've got our snacks, books, and whatnot, and we found our gate, and so far (knock on wood) they haven't announced any delays or cancelled flights. Fingers crossed it stays that way.
We'll keep you posted.