Tooth Extraction in Leon, Nicaragua

A bunch of things happened between Popoyo and Leon but I have been wanting to write this specific post for a long time, so I'm skipping ahead because the beauty sometimes with being an adult is I can do what I want. While I was home in the states I had a single wisdom tooth coming in that was recommended I get it taken out. The tooth would probably start pushing my teeth and at this point I have never had braces and would like that to stay true. I thought about getting my tooth taken out while I was in Panama or Costa Rica but it never seemed to work out and later I found out it would of been a lot more expensive there.

I read a few blogs about people getting their teeth cleaned and expats who go to fancier dentists in Leao or Managua but I was going for the cheap local vibe and that is exactly what we found. Next to a little store (I think it sold meat) there was a single room dentist. There are bunch of them in Leon with the same kind of look and sign. The nice thing about these types of dentists is they are first come first serve so you don't have to worry about appointment. I was able to talk to the dentist almost instantly. I showed him the paper my dentist gave me to give to the surgical dentist back at home. It was a picture of all the teeth in the mouth with a huge X over the tooth that needed to be taken out. I thought this would be obvious enough that I wouldn't have to worry too much about lost in translations. He told me he could do it and it would cost roughly $50 which was cheaper than my copay back at home.

He sat me down in a chair that had rips in it and while checking my tooth out I was a bit surprised to see his hands were shaky. Everything was a bit disorganized and the organizer in me was going crazy, I wanted to ask him if we could trade this extraction for me to clean his place up because it really needed some help. I had read about the machines they use which sanitizes their instruments and was please to see he pulled his tools out of one of these machines.

The needle was bigger than I remember them being. My dentist at home maybe a bit expensive but I feel like I'm paying for it. They numb you on the outside first with gel and while they stick you with the needle they lightly rub your shoulder which for me actually does wonders. Oh and you can't forget the TV glasses so I can pretend to be in a different world while they do this. This guy though just jammed his hands in my mouth while trying to look inside my dark crevice of a mouth with the dim light.

The one room dentist offce

Surprisingly when he stuck me with the needle to numb me up it didn't hurt that bad. When he started shaking and tugging with all his might less than 5 minutes later I was surprised again that I didn't feel really any pain. When he showed the tooth to Nicolas I was even more surprised that it was done and over with so quickly. If I would of done it at home they would have put me under and it would of been a long process. While paying him the money and getting a prescription for antibiotics and mild pain meds my ideas of what you NEED in a dentist dramatically changed.

And out comes my tooth

All these things I thought I needed to be able to go to the dentist were things I lived without just fine. Part of traveling is learning the differences between needs and wants. For me they continuously change with each trip. My needs and wants were different before I visited Uzbekistan with my mom and they were different when I went to Peru and again they changed after this dentist trip. Sometimes I hear other travels say "wow they have absolutely nothing but they are so happy". It is very true that many of the places I end up traveling are very poor, but its one thing to be able to recognize this versus actually feeling this.

I keep thinking that we have these experiences of loosing things and getting things taken from us because we need to learn more what its like to have nothing. Each trip we get rid of almost everything and live out of our backpacks but at the same time we could hold more value in our backpacks than some people will hold in their whole lives. Its such a strange concept to feel, literally feeling my backpack and thinking about this. Sometimes I wonder if I deserve this wealth that I have, what makes me so special. Nicolas told me yesterday that he will make more than one day than one of his friends will make in a month. I have these struggles in my head but then I wonder how people that have millions don't have these same feelings. I'm a college graduate making minimum wage having worries that I have too much and I'm too wealthy while the people we would actually consider wealthy don't seem to be feeling this.

For me I am the lucky one, not the millionaire. I think sometimes money can warp the mind but I was lucky enough to grow up with always enough but not too much where I can't see anything else. I'm lucky that my mind is open to these changes.

Just for today show Gratitude.

Nicaragua....another lesson learned

Nicolas has always wanted to go to Nicaragua. He talked about it the first day I met him so I felt like when we arrived to this country we were completing something he started a long time ago. Nicaragua was going to be surf. surf. and more surf. Of course we arrive at the last bus station and there are no buses to the town we are planning on going to Popoyo but there are never buses all the way to this town. We either needed to take a bus to the closest town and walk or take a taxi. It was kind of late and Nicolas was anxious to see the ocean so we took a taxi all the way to Popoyo.

When we arrived the taxi driver took us to his aunts house where she had a small cabin/shack, no running water and an outdoor shower. It wasn't the best conditions but it was cheap and Nicolas liked the family. They cooked us up some carne asada and we were hooked, ready to stay in the shack for the next week.

During high tide

There was a river that ran in the back but during high tide the ocean would come in and we had an ocean view from our door. Setting up our hammocks I could lay there all day reading especially if I had gone surfing once or twice. Nicolas would surf early morning before light, sometimes 3 hours, come back have breakfast then take me surfing. Sometimes he would go out again or we would go together for a sunset sessions. So many hours surfing and resting that the days flew by and everything seemed so perfect regardless of the lack of running water but I felt like there was something up.

The first day my phone disappeared and I swore that I put my phone on the bed. Nicolas thought I must of left it outside or it was misplaced somewhere in our messy room. Since we didn't have internet there anyways I was in too much of a need for the phone so I didn't look the hardest. After almost 10 days staying at this place Nicolas said we needed to take more money out. That didn't seem right, he keeps track of every dollar we spend so he looked at the numbers and I was right, there should be no reason we would need to take money out. After a bit we realized that they had been slowly taking money from us probably since the first day.

So their place is at the end of the road, Popoyo only has one road. Mendoza's, they have great carne asada but be weary to stay here. We found that one of the boards was actually movable and there was a perfect man size hole for them to come into our room from the adjacent room that was locked whenever they wanted. We moved to Popoyo Loco after we realized our money was missing. 

To end on a positive note I had an amazing time surfing at Popoyo. I caught some great waves that really got me stoke on surfing and it helps have such a great teacher. 

Breaking Plans and a Beautiful Waterfall

We did have a house stay lined up on the Caribbean side but it wasn't for us. We decided to move on to Nicaragua but yes we had to go through Costa Rica. We thought we might stay in Costa Rica for a week or two but when we arrived the very first bus driver was a complete dick. He charged us way too much for the boards then when we got off at our stop he started driving off while we were taking our stuff out from under the bus. It didn't feel like "pura vida".

We stayed at a very nice eco-hostel for the night but it was $20 a piece for us to have a private room with shared bath. It was a lot more than we were used to spending. Nicolas went grocery shopping and it came to almost $30 which was more than some of our shopping trips at home. Everything just seemed so expensive, the people not the most friendly so at this point we decided to change our week stay to a 2 night stay.

So here was the thing that made Costa Rica worth every penny. While waiting for our bus to the next spot we realized that our times had been off and the next bus wasn't for another 2 hours. This couple sitting with us with matching backpacks and brand new lonelyplanet book told us about this waterfall they just came from that had a natural waterslide. Nicolas heard fresh water and slide and was already saying lets do it. We stored our bags across the street at a liquor store then started the "short" hike to the waterfall. If you are ever in the area the name of the town was Uvitas, little grapes.

After a hot hike, we paid the $2 entrance fee and walked down to the waterfall. It was picture perfect, clear water, and beautiful surroundings. Somehow we scored and we had the whole place to ourselves which was beyond amazing. So the fun began.

Nicolas enjoying the cool fresh water

So when you sit at the top looking down it seems that you are going to fall right into rocks but somehow it projects you forward away from danger but it was definitely scary for me. Nicolas went down the slide twice but I only was able to go down once because we ran out of time and we didn't want to leave our stuff alone.

Going down the natural water slide for the first time

For not having experienced a whole lot in Costa Rica this was the best thing we could of done. It was so incredible and worked out soo perfect you couldn't help feel like it was meant to be.

A skip and hop later we found ourselves with another stamp on our passports, Nicaragua.