Planes, trains and automobiles....wait - taxis, buses and pangas

It´s my voice once again. Justin has returned home to the US and I hope you enjoyed reading his perspectives on Nicaragua and his experiences. Now some of you who thought I was exaggerating will know I´m telling the truth.
After dropping Justin off at the airport, I went on my own vacation to the Atlantic Coast to celebrate Semana Santa. Semana Santa is holy week leading up to Easter and in the US it´s acknowledged by church services and family celebrations for Easter, here is a week long party. Entonces, when in (Nicaragua) do as the (Nicas) do. The journey out the the coast is not quite easy. It includes a 7 hour bus ride to Rama, followed by a 2 hour panga, boat, ride to Bluefields and another hour panga ride to Pearl Lagoon. Somehow while Justin was here the travel gods were on his side, unfortunately I lost all of that luck for this trip. It included long periods of waiting, extreme fatigue and dehydration. But it ended up being well worth it.
The coast is like a completely different world when compared to the rest of Nicaragua. It´s got the relaxed vibe of a Carribbean island and it´s a paradise. I will be posting pictures soon. Most of the time was spent relaxing on the beach and soaking in the sun; unfortunately I soaked in a bit too much sun and am returning a little more red than I would like. While there we visited the Laguna keys and it´s literally private island paradises. The views look like some of the screen savers and backgrounds that Windows supplies users with. I´m really not doing the coast justice with this post, but it´s just something you need to see and experience for yourself. I absolutely love the coast and want to go back again, but I may have to fly next time. I enjoyed every minute of the trip up until the night before we had to leave because I was dreading the journey home.
Coming home was the longest day of my life. I was exhausted from a lack of sleep during the week and dehydrated for the entire week. A 7 hour bus ride is not fun, especially if you have to use the bathroom and can´t so I started off the week with a lack of water and no matter how much water I drank while there it wasn´t enough since I sweat most of it out. We successfully made it to Bluefields, but had to wait for a few hours until the panga filled up. Then we made it to Rama to find out that no buses were running. Good Friday is a big party day here and no one seems to work. Rama was like a ghost town, minus the 20 or so passengers looking for a way to Managua. After waiting, again, for hours the bus finally agreed to drive us to Managua, but for twice the price. I could barely keep my eyes open for more than 5 minutes at a time and when finally arriving to Managua, I somehow lost my desire to sleep. I stayed up much longer than I should have and today will finally be making my way back home. Once home I will hopefully sleep for a complete day to rejuvenate myself before classes start up again.
Hopefully I won´t find any critters, like the scorpion Justin and I encountered, waiting for me when I get home.