Buenos Noches!Phew...the last two weeks seem to have flown by.
Nicuragua is an extraordinarily friendly country and I only wish we could have spent more time there, it has so much to offer, although it could do something about all the holes in the streets...
It has some amazing volcanoes and crater lakes, beautiful sunsets, fantastic surfing (if that's your thing) and stunning wildlife. Also, the rum is to die for, especially a brand called Flor De Cana. Bottles sell for around $5 and they are extremely drinkable. There is a 4yr, a 5yr, a 7yr, 12yr and apparently a 20yr. I intend to try them all and report back.
So, we finally managed to leave the island of Utila and after spending one night in Tegucigalpa, the decididly dodgy capital of Honduras, we finally arrived in Granada. After a couple of unsuccessfull attempts to find accommodation we are eventually offered a room in a house affilated with a youth hostel called Hospidaje La Libertad ($15/rm inc breakfast and free internet), a really cool collection of rooms around a courtyard with a fountain. We spent the rest of the evening just wandering around people watching and eating pizza. Granada is a very picturesque colonial town nestled on the western side of Lago Nicuragua which is so large it seems more of a sea than a lake. It reminds me very much of Antigua in it's layout and color scheme.
The next day we arose late and spent the day just doing our admin. Every now and again you need to stop somewhere and spend time on the boring stuff like laundry, writing emails, buying bits and pieces from the shops etc. It's amazing how quickly a day passes without actually seeming to have done anything. One of the great things about being away for so long is that when you want to, you can just decide to do nothing for the day and just sit around being lazy. This doesn´t happen (with me anyhow) when you only have two weeks somewhere. I'm always up at the crack of dawn planning the day to get the most out of the trip which means you get a lot done but at the same time is not really relaxing. It's refreshing not having to think like that although Mel will testify that this behaviour still rears it's ugly head every now and again, and probably more often than that!
Anyhow, after mooching around all day we decide to go and catch happy hour at The Bearded Monkey. We had just left the apartment to head out for the evening when I heard Mel cry out behind me. I turned around in alarm, my adrenaline already rushing through my veins to see Mel chest high in a manhole(womanhole?) in the road. I rushed over and pulled her out (surprisingly easy on adrenaline!) and sat her down on the curb. I really expected her to have broken her leg or some ribs but luckily she came away with only some bruising and a nasty cut on her stomach that we decided required stitches. After enquiring at the hostel we managed to find a local pharmacy/surgery that was open and within half an hour a doctor had arrived and stitched her up good and proper. And all this cost only $10 and she was seen to quicker than she would have been in the UK! So far, I am impressed with the Latin American health service.
By the way, the reason why there are so many holes in the road in Nicuragua is that thieves steal all the covers for the scrap metal value.
The following day, not wanting to be deterred by her injury, we hired bikes and cycled up to a local butterfly farm and spent the afternoon chatting with the owners about butterflies. They recommended a local comidor for dinner and it was here that we discovered the delights of the Nicuraguan rum Flor de Caña after accidentally ordering a bottle of it...
When we both came around, we realized it was morning and that we had arranged to spend the day at a lakeside lodge called the Monkey Hut, part of the Bearded Monkey hostel. It's set in a beautiful location on the edge of a crate lake and we nursed our heads kayaking and swimming although Mel didn't because she wasn't allowed to what with her stitches and that.
We vowed to leave Granada the next day and headed to the Isle of Ometepe. This is an island consisting of two volcanoes in the centre of Lago Nicuragua. At this point we were travelling with our German friend Marcus who we first met in Guatemala, then in Utila and then found again in Granada. I knew we would probably bump into people again and again as there is a north south 'trail' which a lot of travellers follow but it still surprises you when you turn up in some seemingly remote part of a different country and meet someone you know. Also, it becomes a bit of a joke saying when after each emotional goodbye you just bump into the same individual a few days/weeks later. But you never know so you go through the motions anyway. Actually, one of the upsetting parts of this travelling lark is that you make quite intense friendships with people over a short period of time and then wave goodbye knowing that you probably won't see them again.
So, we found a really cute hospidaje in Altagracia called Hotel Ortiz($5pppn) run by a very friendly fellow who called himself Mario. He helped us by informing us of the various excursions speaking Spanish very slowly.
In the morning we took the local bus to Agua de Ojo, a natural spring on the side of one of the volcanoes, it was very pretty. We then walked down to Playa Santa Domingo where we had lunch and it started to rain...very hard. When the last bus back failed to materialize, we waited over an hour in the rain watching the monkeys, we decided to try to walk the 7kms back in the dark. Luckily, after about 30mins we were picked up by some lads in a 4x4 and soon realized that walking back was a stupid idea.
29th Nov
We leave the hotel and Marcus (for definitely the last time) and catch a ride to Chaco Verde on the southern tip of the western volcano. Chaco Verde is a small national park and a place to chill and watch monkeys and that's exactly what we did as well as imbibing more of Nicuraguas lovely rum. We left the island the next day to head towards San Juan Del Sur just in time to miss the sunset. San Juan del Sur is a small surfers paradise on the south western point of Nicuragua and apparently blessed with fantastic sunsets! We stayed in the Hospidaje Casa 28 ($5pp, horrible beds).
The next day we headed for La Flor, a turtle conservation refuge some way south of San Juan. We had heard of an expensive hotel there that the guide book said we could also camp at but when we arrived they wouldn't accept us and were asking for $80 a night for one of their cabinas! So we had one other option, to try to get to the rangers station on the beach and stay there. We hitched down there and managed to avoid paying the $27 charge for camping on the beach by agreeing to set up tent next to the station on hard ground. We cooked potatoes for dinner that we had brough from the expensive hotel. Then went to the beach armed with our torches to find turtles. We bumped into the park wardens who let us wander around with them. It was a good idea as no sooner as we had started they found us a newly hatched nest of baby turtles making their way towards the sea and freedom (I say freedom loosely as only one in a hundred of the babies will actually survive the various dangers inherent in the journey).
Minutes later and we strike the jackpot! Large tracks lead us up the beach to a line of palms where underneath a large female leatherback is digging her nest so that she may lay her eggs.
It's an incredible sight and we stay there for about an hour whilst she lays her eggs, the rangers allowing us photos providing they are taken from behind! We leave before she returns to the sea but the next day we return to find a set of tracks leading back to the ocean.
After returning to San Juan Del Sur for one night we headed for the border at Peñas Blancas which we crossed with minimal fuss before finishing our journey at Liberia, our first stop in Costa Rica!
Facts:
Currency: Cordoba 18 to one dollar
Best rum: Flor De Caña 7rs
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