Back in Nicaragua for a Minute

Art Model, @Kayci.Lee, ©2018 Terrell Neasley

"Never forget that the nurturing and preservation of your own muse is job one. Lose it and you may be losing a great deal."

~ Robert Genn

And when I say a minute, I really mean 2 months. Yay! My 4th visit to Nica!

As much as I "thought" I was up for a Argentinian winter, naaah... not so much. A lot of it came down to money and the expense of gearing up for the harsh cold, and then flying all the way back down there. Lima is the last line of latitude for the cheap flights heading to South America. You can hit all the major cities down south and you're not spending thousands to get there... til after Lima, Peru.

The budget airlines stop at that point. Maybe La Paz in Bolivia has some decent flights available, but Spirit does not fly to La Paz. I'll likely end up there soon at any rate. It may not be in the thousands (flying one way. I usually fly one way tickets.), but you're looking at double the price that you could go to Lima which might be about $350. Again... One way.

Art Model, @Kayci.Lee, ©2018 Terrell Neasley

After Peru in March, I came home for my Mother's Birthday, stayed stateside for a bit visiting the kids, as well... which was great, I might add. Taught my grandbaby how to ride a bike. I might have gone military style on her a bit, but she can ride a bike now, whereas the day before she couldn't. God, the bruises, tho...

When it came down to leaving again, I'd have been flying out into a wall of Argentinian winter. Soooo.... No. I jumped down to Nicaragua for a bit. And you know what I forgot?? It's hot as f... (okay, Mama might be read this.) So I'll say hot as f...oreigners in a hot ass place that they are unfamiliar with. (Dang it! Sorry Mama!)

Art Model, @Kayci.Lee, ©2018 Terrell Neasley

The last time I was in Nica during a June month, it was 2015 and it was so hot and humid, my ex-girlfriend passed out cold and almost went down a flight of stairs. Yep. Saved my ex's life. I'm sure she's grateful. Honestly, that was in May. We didn't leave Nica til June 3rd. I had moved her up into the mountains where it was cooler, but heat rises and so did that temp even at higher elevations. We cancelled the last month of the trip and headed home, after 3 months on the road. I still got some badass shots of her and with her. You can see my 4 blog posts with her here =>  Post 1 / Post 2 / Post 3 / Post 4

More recently though, I was in Nicaragua just last year. BUT IN JANUARY! I was with Art Model, Kayci Lee for that whole month (See that BLOG POST HERE) . I'd say it was temperate, but not so humid and muggy like now. This is what I was thinking about when I made my reservation and decided to come back here... sort of taking a break from my travels by still traveling, I guess. But you get my meaning. I'm not on the same path that I was on traveling through South America. Nicaragua is a cheaper place to wait out the cold. AND I am getting in some much needed writing, reading, and hopefully some shooting. But damn, this heat! I may forego Isla de Ometepe as I had planned and head north again. Maybe up into Somoto Canyon, past Esteli, near the Honduran border, and explore that.

Art Model, @Kayci.Lee, ©2018 Terrell Neasley

I'll know soon enough for all that. I'm going to leave from Granada on July 1st and go somewhere either north or further south. No biggie. I'm going to let my shot selection decide that, I think. In the meantime, I'll continue my writing and my reading in my exceedingly comfortable bed and breakfast. I doubled my stay here at Casa Silas B&B. I get a great breakfast every morning. The place is owned by Rob, a Canadian who married a local girl here and decided to relocate a little more than a decade ago.

Granada is relatively quiet. I don't see many tourists here at all. I've met a couple of girls twice and a guy from the US once. The travel advisory has this place at a Level 3. I think they should rethink that. Yes, there was some civil unrest last year and it carries on even now, but at no where near the same magnitude. On top of that, one American was killed last year here during the uprising. Before that, 7 US citizens were killed here out of 2 million to visit from 2009 to 2017. Can you say that in the city that you live in? The DR can't say that and they are a level 2. They've had 7... I say again, SEVEN recent tourist deaths that have all be mysterious. Nica is getting a bad break right now and it's only hurting a good economy.

Art Model, @Kayci.Lee, ©2018 Terrell Neasley

These shots are all new edits from my last time in Nicaragua. As I mentioned, Art Model, @Kayci.Lee came with me for the first month of my trip, January 2018. I went back through to see some of her images for this blog post and wanted to revisit some new edits with a B&W mindset. I can see this is going to be a challenge. Going forward, I'm shooting with B&W edits already in mind. On the other hand, the edit process is quicker. This is going to be fun, though. Enjoy.