Top 5 Summer Moments

Once I finished school, I thought I would have more free time to do as I please. Boy was I wrong! I may not have had mandatory readings to do and essays to write, but this summer I worked my first 9-5 job, and after adding on an hour commute (each way), I felt the weeks just slipping away. Not to mention trying to balance time to see friends and family felt as though I was working another job in itself! That being said, I still did manage to have some wonderful adventures and moments that I will never forget. So here they are, my top five favourites moments of summer 2013. 

I know what you're thinking! One of my favourites moments from this summer was really spent eating cake? But yes, this year's birthday cake (made by my fabulous mother) was so amazing that my mouth waters just thinking of it! Maybe it was because last year we were away on my birthday, and the slice of restaurant cake was not exactly extraordinary, or maybe it was because she put so much heart and soul into the cake. As you know, chocolate chip cookie dough is my weakness, and this baby had it all over! Best birthday cake ever!

As you saw with all my planning here, that busy June weekend where I hosted a Champagne Birthday Party and my Graduation Gathering, was such a special weekend. On the Saturday night we celebrated, Gatsby style, for my boyfriend's birthday, and on the Sunday I was showered with love from all my family and friends. It was such a wonderful, heartwarming weekend and one that I will always remember. 

If you already know me you'll know that I love live music! So, when Mumford and Sons announced their Gentlemen of the Road Tour- Simcoe Stopover, I knew I had to go (despite the fact that camping was necessary and I haven't camped since Girl Guides). I went with some friends from school and it was the most amazing weekend! We arrived after a long drive on Friday and by the time we set up our tent we were only able to catch Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeroes play. We woke up early on Saturday and went into town, which was completely gentlemen-ified. It was amazing to see how the whole town embraced the 2-day festival. The streets were closed, there was moustaches and top hats everywhere, and all the local people had volunteered to help out. By Saturday night we were ready to see Mumford and made our way through the 35,000 person crowd to get to the front. We had the most amazing view and the music was incredible, just as I anticipated. 

Before I started my internship I was able to get away to Central America for a quick trip. It was an amazing time filled with adventure, beautiful scenery, and ultimate relaxation. We learned so much about the region and the local people were so kind. There is still so much more I would love to have seen in that region, and just thinking about it is making my desire to travel grow! Hmmm.. where to next?

If you would like, you can read more about my time in Costa Rica and Nicaragua.

Lastly, I have never felt so proud, excited, nervous, liberated and invincible as I did on my graduation day. It was such an amazing moment and definitely it has become my most memorable day of summer.

**This post may be premature, seeing as I have pretty exciting long weekend plans, however I felt as though a post was long overdue! 

One Day in Nicaragua

{amazing view from the top of La Marced bell tower}

I was up well before our alarm sounded at 4:20 am, but still found myself running around trying to pack passports and other essentials that we would need on our day trip to Granada. We made it to the lobby of our hotel just before 5:00 am and awaited the arrival of our bus that would take us on the excursion. While in Costa Rica we had planned a day trip to Nicaragua to get in as much exploring of Central America as we could in our limited time span. The Nicaraguan border is an hour and a half from where we were staying in Guanacaste, so we knew we wanted to set out early enough to beat the border traffic buildup. Unsure of how long crossing would take, we decided to stop at a local restaurant for a traditional Costa Rican breakfast, obviously including rice, beans and plantains. It was a good idea since our anticipated 20 minute crossing took over an hour. 

The border, which the locals call La Frontera, appeared out of nowhere on the highway that spans all the way from Mexico to Panama. The Costa Rica-Nicaragua border is the only one in all of Central America, so while we waited for the officials to verify our passports we listed to the friendly locals tell stories of recent attempts to pass over with hundreds of kilos of cocaine, headed north, and hundreds of thousands of dollars, headed south. On the other side of the border there were dozens of trucks parked on the highway. Apparently it is typical for transport trucks to wait at the border for 3 days- suddenly our wait time didn't feel so long! After a quick stop in the duty free we were back on the road for our first stop at Catarina's Viewpoint. 

Catarina's Viewpoint looks onto the Apoyo Lagoon. The view was break taking, so we took a seat to listen to the locals play music, and then browsed the souvenir shops.  Our next stop was visiting an artisan market in the town of Masaya. Here we sipped local coffee and shopped the open markets. 

After a bite to eat we headed for Granada, which is one of Nicaragua's most important cities, and is also known for it's colonial-era architecture and vacation homes on Lake Nicaragua. Naturally I was excited when I found out the best way to get around the city was by horse carriage. We rode into the colourful city and walked around to check out some of the oldest, most beautiful buildings and churches.

With a few cervezas in hand we next hopped on a boat to cruise around Lake Nicaragua where I was assured we would not see any sharks (apparently I missed that episode of River Monsters where we learned bull sharks can live in fresh water). We sailed past a few of the 365 islands, saw some beautiful vacation homes and even fed monkeys!

{ignore the make-shift splint and take note of the palm grasshopper that the local kids made for us}

With the Mombacho volcano behind us we headed back to Costa Rica around sunset. Although the day was a long one we had a fantastic time in Nicaragua. I hope you enjoyed these (long) posts on my brief but memorable trip to Central America. There is so much more to do and see but I'm  just glad we got to experience a few of its beauties.