Lots of updates...

When I last wrote we were on these random islands in the middle of a huge lake in Nicaragua...now we are in Guatemala.
We left the Islas de Ometepe and headed for Granada via the night ferry. Granada was really pretty and full of great churches but the weather was pretty hot and humid. Koehler and I climbed another volcano called Motomba which was completely different from Maderas on Ometepe. First of all, the entire path to the top was paved and then there were 3 loops that took you around different paths. We opted for the free loop which was full of little wooden signs telling about the significance of the plant life, animal life, and clouds. After Granada we headed to another colonial city of Leon. This is known to be more authentic meaning there are less cafes offering muesli and organic foods. In Leon, we went to a volcano to attempt to volcano surf. It was pretty fun. We had a short hike up to the top of a volcano which was covered in small black pebbles. We each had a sled and got one run down the hill. My clocked speed was pretty pathetic so it will not be shared.
From Leon, we made our last stop in Esteli which is a pretty town in the mountains of Nicaragua and offered a nice relief from the heat we had been experiencing. From Esteli, we made the trip into Honduras and in one day of traveling made it only half way to our intended destination of San Pedro Sula. This was due to the fact that we had to take chicken bus after chicken bus after chicken bus until we could get a direct bus to Tegucigalpa, the capital city of Honduras. Interestingly enough we stayed in the same hotel that we were in 3 summers ago when we visited. Free cookies and coffee and I was able to watch the new episodes of the Office and 30Rock.
The next day we finally made it to Gracias, Lempira so that we could visit my host family from Amigos de las Americas. Unfortunately, we arrived late in the evening so we had to wait the next day to walk up and let them know we were here. When we were on our way up to visit them, I was pretty nervous since they had no idea that I was coming, but we ran into Edin who is the oldest son. The last time I saw him he was 14 and is now 17 and a couple inches taller than I am. He went ahead of us and was supposed to keep a secret but when we got to the house Lola, my host mom, said ¨I did´t believe Edin when he told me.¨ We were able to spend 3 nights and close to 4 days with them and it was really great to see how much the kids have grown and the meet Lola´s new son Lester. We were also there on Mother´s Day and after calling our own mothers, went to gathering at Lola´s mom´s house where we able to see other members of the family and to even meet some of their new children. The family has definitely grown in 3 years.
Now we are in Guatemala. Our plan is to see some ruins, explore caves, and eat bagels in Antigua!