Hiking San Cristobal

so, i just climbed the highest volcano in central america. it's called 'san cristobal'. it was pretty much a nightmare. yesterday, a school bus dropped us of in a rural community at the foot of this volcano. we had to walk 8 kilometers (with backpacks and 2 days water supply) uphill just to get to this guy's place where we could hang hammocks up and sleep. we woke up at 4:30 in the morning to start climbing.
guys, newsflash: i don't think i'm a climber. it was probably one of the most miserable things that i've ever done in my entire 22 years. we hiked uphill (duh) for about 2 1/2 hours in the forest before we hit the last 2 1/2 hour climb uphill in pure SAND AND GRAVEL at a 60 degree angle. I gave up. I got close enough in my opinion to what could reasonably be considered "the top" and sat down in the dirt with another girl we went with and we decided that we knew our limits of volcano climbing and that we'd sit down and just hang out in the cloud (we were that high up!!) so then it started raining really hard on the way down and the sole of one of my hiking shoes just came right off. i was rather frustrated to say the least, but did not cry. i think there are more blisters on my feet than toes but i made it home in one piece and have some interesting pictures which i posted today. the new address for my pictures is: http://picasaweb.google.com/elizabeth.p.slack. go there!

Still alive

Something about this heat just adds a sense of urgency to everything I do here, unless I'm sitting on a hammock in front of a fan. Every time I go to the internet cafe, I only focus on the most imperative to-do items and then get the heck out. It doesn't leave me much time to think of interesting blog entries.
So here I am, in the air-conditioned Peace Corps office, still in a hurry because I have a bus to catch back to Chinandega here in about an hour.
In recent news, I moved! No longer live in the same teepee. My landlady's grandaughter and her boyfriend broke into my house and stole my laptop, iPod, digital camera, electronic dictionary that I forgot I had, and the corresponding chargers (good move). With the help of the police, I got all my stuff back. And they figured out who it was because of a footprint the dude left on my back door when he kicked it down! It was like CSI Nicaragua style...
So, every cloud has a silver lining it seems. I found a house that actually has a drop ceiling as well as a zinc roof (I only had a zinc roof before). And my new landlady lives next door and she's REALLY nice. I couldn't ask for more.
So, who's coming down to visit? I've got more space than before and a double bed and a cot! Enticing, right? :)

Elizabeth