I Don’t Know Where I’m Gonna Go When the Volcano Blows

I finally know what Jimmy Buffett meant when he sang this song and I had this catchy little tune in my head as I peered over the rim of an active volcano on the first day of my Nicaraguan vacation adventure.

Vulcan Masaya is a short distance from the Managua airport and you can drive your car right to the top of an active volcano! There are warning signs telling you to back your car in just in case you have to leave in a hurry. Other warnings include getting under your car if rocks start spewing….somehow I don’t really think that would help much. But it was an impressive site and almost overwhelming as I breathed in the noxious gases from the volcano.

The volcano was nice little side trip but we only stayed an hour which is much longer than the 20 minutes recommended on the warning signs. Hey what can I say …we are adventurous.

Stay tuned for more adventures including finding Jesus and an interesting massage.

Cat “Hot Lava Momma” Cathy

COPS Managua

Relieved we were allowed to enter the country we got our rental car and happily headed toward Granada with a poorly hand drawn map and my navigation system with extremely limited Nicaragua data. It was clear very quickly that this is a very poor country with lots of people walking or riding bicycles with not one or two but THREE people on one bicycle! It was not even an hour since I was reluctantly allowed into the country that our next big adventure happened…A police traffic stop.

Apparently we missed a school zone and we were pulled over for speeding. I say ‘apparently’ since I’m still not sure. As mentioned previous we don’t speak much Spanish and the cops didn’t speak any English. A male cop stopped us who looked pretty young and harmless except for the big gun he was carrying. For some reason he decided to send the female cop over to deal with us. (As a side note I was impressed to see a female cop and it’s good to know women have career opportunities there). We assumed she was sent over since she spoke English but no such luck. We struggled to understand what was going on but I didn’t feel too scared since she was very nice and polite.

Finally we realized she wanted to keep my boyfriend’s driver’s license and have us drive to a bank and pay a fine and bring the receipt back to get the license. Now we had already spent all morning in airports getting here and we had no clue where ‘el banco’ was so we started to get a little stressed. So what could we do but ‘bribe’ the cops. Actually we just gave them the fine amount of 300 Córdobas (about $15). I was afraid she would think we were trying to bribe her and we would end up in a Nicaraguan jail! Luckily she accepted the money and let us on our way. I really think she did us a favor since we seemed like your typical clueless tourists and she was tired of dealing with us.

So although it was a bit scary at first we were yet again on our way. This time to something totally safe like the rim of an active volcano!

Cat “Bad Boys Bad Boys What Ya Gonna Do” Cathy

Threat to the Third World

My boyfriend treats me to only the best the third world has to offer and our latest adventure vacation to Nicaragua was the most exciting and adventurous vacation to date! If you grew up in the 80’s like me the only thing you associate with Nicaragua is a long civil war with Contras and Sandinistas. So I was originally shocked when my boyfriend suggested this country as a place to vacation. But in time I realized that it would be a big adventure and was relatively safe these days.

I got off the airport in Managua to be greeted by a heat sensing camera and people wearing surgical face masks. It's important to note here that I have a bit of a sinus problem. I’m not sure why and I just call it ‘part of my charm’. But in a third world country so worried about swine flu that they are using a heat camera my little annoyance almost turned into a vacation stopper!

I sniffled (something I’m known to do) as the customs agent was looking at my passport. Apparently this is a good sign of swine flu so I was quickly escorted to a back room by a ‘doctor’ for probing and other scientific experimentation. This was a bit scary since I was in a foreign land and no hablo español. Somehow we managed to decipher that they thought I was sick and wanted to take my temperature. So the nice ‘doctor’ put a thermometer under my armpit. I was thankful my temperature was normal and a bit grossed out when the ‘doctor’ promptly put the thermometer back in the case…no cleaning…no sanitizing.

But I was allowed to enter Nicaragua and our adventure began. Stay tuned for our next adventure – bribing the Nicaraguan cops!

Cat “a sniffle a day keeps the doctor away” Cathy

Kites, Boards and Lots of Pictures

I’ve posted before about trying kite boarding. I’ve spent lots of time and money on this hobby for very little reward. I have a short attention span so usually I would have given up by now but for some reason I kept trying and it FINALLY paid off!

I went to the beach to try kite boarding after work recently. This time was different since I was on the land instead of in the water so a smaller and less intimidating kite is used which helped tremendously. On the land you use a mountain board which is kinda like a skateboard but for off road. The gods must have been on my side since the winds, sand and sun were all favorable that day. So I put the trainer size kite in the air and was feeling a slight pull down the beach from it. It started off slow…so slow walkers were going past me. But hey they were power walkers! My friend and coach told me I needed a bigger kite but I was scared. Finally after seeing the backside of countless power walkers I reluctantly agreed. The bigger kite made all the difference and I was cruising along at around 15-20 mph. I was so excited and happy that I was singing as I zigged and zagged down the beach. This is such a fun sport and great for me since it combines the beach, sun, bikinis and lots of upper body exercise all into one fun filled activity.

But wait there’s more! I have to admit I’m a bit of a show off or ham as some might say. Well I guess kite boarding is still somewhat new and definitely an attention grabber with the huge colorful kites in the sky that can be seen for close to a mile. Several people saw me and decided I was picture worthy! Yep a British couple, Asian lady and several others stopped to take photos. With my limited control I don’t think they realized they were putting themselves in danger but thankfully no harm was done. I felt like a celebrity which made me feel great and added to my joy of this sport. I think my monthly hamming it up needs were met that day!

I still have a long way to go but it was a blast! I can’t wait to do it again and get in more vacation pictures!

Cat “Coming Soon to a Beach Near You” Cathy

New Exercise For Catastrophe Cathy

That fact that I’ve taken up a new exercise probably won’t surprise many of you since I’ve blogged about many new sports and hobbies in the past. But this exercise is different…it’s for my eyes. Over the years I’ve noticed my vision was not great but when I almost failed to renew my driver’s license due to the eye test I decided it was time to take action.

Yes I know I could just wear glasses but I don’t like the way they look and they are uncomfortable to me. I could try contacts but they are uncomfortable too. Plus I’ve heard that glasses and contacts just make your eyes get lazy and you will need stronger and stronger prescriptions. Another option is Lasik eye surgery but that just seems too drastic at this point. So I decided a natural approach of diet and exercise was worth a shot.

Since I already take some vision supplements in addition to my healthy balanced diet, the only thing really left to try was eye exercises. I found six basic exercises that I try every day. They are easy and relaxing. Even if they don’t help, I doubt they will do any harm so it’s worth a try. It’s only been a few week and I do think I’ve noticed some improvement. I know there’s a beautiful world out there and I want to see it all! I will keep you posted on my progress.

Cat “I can see clearly now” Cathy

Cathy the Tailor

My grandfather was a tailor and apparently a very good one. I guess some of that runs in the family blood since I had to use my mad tailoring skills on my work clothes recently.

I purchased some new work pants but they didn’t quite fit right and I wanted to get them synched up in the back just a bit. The tailor wanted $16 for each pair! Well that equates to more per hour than I make as an engineer and was almost as much as I paid for the pants so I just couldn’t justify it.

So I decided to put my sewing skills to the test. Keep in mind the last time I touched a needle and thread was probably high school so this was not a small task. But I did it and the pants look pretty good! It was simple, saved me a bit of money and made me feel like Martha Stewart. (I’m assuming she sews but I’ve never seen her show and could be totally wrong).

So the moral of this story: if you are cheap like me you will realize that you can accomplish many things on your own to save money. Actually a better moral is: it’s good to challenge yourself and try new things!

Cat “Thanks Grandpa” Cathy

Chain Gang

I recently received a chain email that was sent through my bike club. This means about 300 people got the same chain email which said you would have many years of bad luck if I didn’t forward it to X number of people. This is one of my biggest pet peeves. I just don’t understand why anyone would forward things like this to people they consider friends.


I deleted the email but promptly wrote back to the sender. I told him I have to send 100 emails to avoid bad luck and all of them are going to him. If he doesn’t read them and cluck like a chicken when the moon is full he will have bad luck in the form of smelly feet whenever he bike rides for the next 10 years. I was trying to keep it light and funny and yet still get my point across…I hope I accomplished this.

So let’s do everyone a favor. If you have a sweet or funny email and you want to pass it along that’s fine. It should be done at your own discretion. ANY email that threatens you with bad luck or smelly feet or anything else and tells you that you HAVE TO forward it should be deleted. That’s what I always do. I’m not going to let an email determine my actions.

Cat “Wishing you 50 Years of Good Luck for No Particular Reason or Action” Cathy