Big Orange Backpack

I´ll begin from the unfortuate incident, and then go backwards, and then a bit forwards.

I got in a major bicycle accident yesterday. We rented bikes from our hostel in Isla de Ometepe to go up to see the petroglifs. I didn´t exactly know how much of a bitch of a ride it was, or that the petroglifs were actually just barely visable markings into stones. So we went uphill to these carvings in little stones, and felt pretty pissed about all the effort we put into getting there. We felt thankful, however, because the way back was mostly downhill. This, as it turned out, was not a good thing. I was going down a really big hill, and I was riding my breaks the whole time, but I was still going a lot faster than Michelle or Vanessa. I hit a stone or something, and next thing I knew, I was doing flips down the rest of the hill. I landed with the bike on top of me, and I was laying on the ground, not quite out of shock yet. Vanessa saw it and ran over and asked if I was okay, and I said apparently pretty calmly (I don´t remember) ¨You know, Vanesssa, I think I really hurt myself. Did I break anything?¨ I crashed next to a little store, and before I knew it a man was carrying me over to it, and I just kept muttering ¨muchos gracias senor!¨ I was sobbing by the time they sat me down, but through the tears I was still able to demand a photo be taken. My knee was already the size of a cantalope by the time I was put down in the chair at the store, a matter of a minute or two after the crash. As it turns out, I´m pretty sure I didn´t break anything. An hour later I was at the clinic, and a woman was getting all the dirt out of the big cuts on my right toes, right knee, and left hand. When she was cleaning out the one on my hand I was screaming and sobbing more than I think even my 5 month old niece Abigail can pull off on her best days. That pretty much sums up the incident.

The day before, our first full day in Ometepe we took a walk down the Ojo de Agua (the eye of the water) where there is a natural kind of pool that was quite fun to splash around in for a few hours. Today we took the ferry back to the mainland, and while it almost capsized in the rough waters, we are here and alive. We took a taxi to the beach very close to the border of Costa Rica, in San Juan del Sur - our current location. I can walk, or hobble, a bit now, but I need another day or two before my knee stops looking like a melon. I think we´ll head to Costa Rica on Saturday or Sunday and spend a few days in Miguel Antonio before catching our flight a week from yesterday..

It´s been quite the few days. It could have been a lot worse, I could´ve really injured myself, or broken bones or something. But right now, I would really rather be on the beach than finding new cuts everytime I change clothes.