Our Man in Granada

A great idea that would make an even better law

"...staff at Stanfords, the world's biggest map and travel guide store, have just won a deal designed to minimise their impact on the planet. Anyone who works for the company who is planning a holiday in Europe gets an extra day off if they travel by rail or bus rather than by air."

What a truly brilliant idea.  Rail travel beats flights any day and if you're given extra time why choose planes, airports and the misery of post 9/11 customs and security?

Whole article here.

Stephen Colbert on soup and Stephanie Colburtle

Nice mention for Nicaragua and turtle soup.

Great Turtle Race update: Still no movement for the worryingly inert Drexelina and Sundae while Windy, cheered on here by YGYHF, opens up a 30 mile lead.

She's got to stop for a jellyfish snack soon, right?

Worried for Drexelina and Sundae

As Windy backed by YGYHF absolutely flies into the lead - 20 miles ahead of his nearest competitor, the LFD-backed Stephanie Colburtle, it's still the two slowest turtles that remain the biggest talking point.

Further Reading

Two links for you but only one post:

I wrote this for Travel Happy.  One of the lengthier piece I have written in a while.  It basically outlines my transition from Vietnam to Nicaragua and draws parallels between the two countries.

I'd obviously like to hope that it's not as dull as I just made it sound. Go read it...it's really not that long.

Anyway, thanks to Blogburst, it has also cropped up in SFGate which appears to be the online sister of the San Francisco Chronicle.  Article here.

Sounds exciting, huh?

Well..

According to Technorati - SFGate has 116,121 links (actually make that 3 more now).

But I've had maybe two visitors from there all afternoon.  I'm afraid there's little more than tumbleweed blowing through here this evening.

Hmmmmm......

Whistles

Drums fingers

Checks watch

Coughs.

I'll just check my stats one more time before dinner.

Cowabunga - turtles are go

They're off.

Eleven turtles are on their way from Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands to stay in an all inclusive resort and attend a conference on egg laying, fisherman evasion and survival strategies.

Okay so I lied about the last bit.

But they're really moving and you can check their progress here.

After a day it's Windy as backed by You've got your hands full.  Followed by ...

Oh hang on...

Just checked.  Jeez these thing move around a bit.  It's all changed.

Okay - at 1.10pm Nica time.  Here is the leader board - with turtle jockeys.  If they shuffle again it's not my fault:

Sorry Windy, you've slipped form 1st to 6th in a matter of minutes.  Cramp? Stopped for a snack? Shark attack?

1st Stephanie Colburtle - Living for Disco

2nd Genevieve - Justin at Gadling

3rd Billie - Me - Go on pet.  Just hang with the leaders...bide your time.

4th Purple Lightning - Water, Wasabi & Wile

5th Freedom - Bob Piper

6th Windy (what happened?) - You've Got Your Hands Full

7th Turtleocity - Close Your Mind Tracks

8th Saphira - Cult of Degan

9th Champiro - Nicaragua Living & Investing

10th Sundae - Minxlj

11th Drexalina - Rambling Traveler

The website is actually quite fun, despite having way too much Flash - beloved of designers hated by anyone who ever actually wants to find out some information.  As a result I can't actually link to specific pages.  But you can literally see them move and swap places.  It's the best reality TV ever.

The site also shows, hilariously, that both Sundae and Drexelina appear to be on land and heading towards the Nicaraguan border.  Perhaps they've got other plans?  A plane perhaps? I like a turtle that thinks outside the shell.

Okay, as I said, it changes every second so it's worth keeping up with and actually quite exciting.

Feel free to cheer them on via the comments box.  Cos that's bound to inspire them.

Last Chance - Two Turtles Left

So..less than 48 hours to go and only two turtles left to allocate for the Great Turtle Race.

Come on, there must be a couple of willing turtle jockeys out there.

To quickly go over it again: on April 16th, the turtles set off from Costa Rica.  They swim to the Galapagos.  We track them all the way and we find out who is winning. 

Updates from the turtle people via me plus any pictures that come our way.  Couldn't be simpler.

So far these turtles have jockeys:

Me & Billie the Turtle
Bob Piper & Freedom the Turtle
Linda of You've Got Your Hands Full & Windy the Turtle
Minxlj & Sundae the Turtle
Justin of Gadling & Genevieve the Turtle
Rambling Traveler – Drexelina
Living for Disco – Stephanie Colburtle
Water, Wasabi & Wile  – Purple Lightning
Close Your Mind Tracks - Turtleocity

Unless I am mistaken that leaves only Saphiro and Champiro.  Who wants them?

Race starts Monday.

Whales safe. Turtles warming up

Good news.  You may remember that I posted this about Nicaragua's support for Japan's plan for commercial whaling.

Well it seems it didn't sit well with the current desire to be seen as both eco and ethical.  According to Greenpeace they've backed down.  Reasons cited include:

"...high quality and well implemented whale watching tourism promotes economic, social and cultural development of local communities, providing educational and scientific benefits, at the same time that it contributes to cetacean populations protection"

Good.  And yes I did have to look up cetacean.

Meanwhile, we're five days away from the Great Turtle Race.  To date we have the following Turtle Jockeys:

Me & Billie the Turtle
Bob Piper & Freedom the Turtle
Linda of You've Got Your Hands Full & Windy the Turtle
Minxlj & Sundae the Turtle
Justin of Gadling & Genevieve the Turtle

Which leaves these fine turtles still available: Champiro, Drexelina, Saphira, Stephanie Colburtle, Purple Lightning and the fabulously named Turtleocity.

Come on pick a turtle and cheer her on from Costa Rica to the Galapagos Islands.  No prizes. Just fun and updates as often as I can.  Also, whenever your turtle is doing some newsworthy, there will be a link for your blog and if you're lucky, one or both of my readers might come and check out your site.

Come on, you know you want to.

Turtle Jockeys Wanted

Now this is good.  Fantastic in fact.

It's a turtle race starting out from Nicaragua's neighbouring country, Costa Rica.

You pick a turtle, which have all been tagged, and you cheer it on its way to feeding grounds around the Galapagos Islands.

Then you follow it's progress.

Mavellous.  There's a Flickr site and everything - which is where the above photo came from..

Ok so the website isn't finished and there is less than a week to go which doesn't bode well but we'll stick with it.

For the record I have chosen Billie.  She appears to be somewhat shark-chewed and a little bit scarred.  But, she's hard as nails I reckon.  COME ON BILLIE.

Does anyone else want to pick a turtle?  I promise to do race updates and keep track of the new photos and reports.   Perhaps we can have our own little league here?  If  you have a blog I can also link it in conjunction with news of your turtle's progress.

There's ten turtles.  I've got Billie, so we need nine more turtle jockeys.  Any takers?

A quick nod to Gadling who did far more research on this than I did.  They also tell you how you can make a financial donation to assist in saving these leatherback turtles from extinction.

Let's hope none of the turtles drift into Nicaraguan waters.

Finally, hats off to the people who came up with this great idea.  Get the website finished and you've got a potential web phenomena on your hands.

More info on the video below.

Nica Trips: San Simian, Laguna De Apoyo

This is all getting a little out of sync, however...

I managed to grab a first trip out of town this weekend gone.  I'd been hanging on for wor lass to join me here - she's got commitments in Aus - before I started seeing the sights.

However Laguna De Apoyo was calling me.  Gin-clear water, monkeys in the trees, breeze etc etc and all just 20 minutes from Granada.  I couldn't wait any longer.

Nicaragua needs water

Several Nicas and Gringos have already told me: "Granada is not Nicaragua".

It's true.

While I'm picking up my perfectly washed and folded laundry and having daily showers, out in the countryside life isn't so easy.