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Published: October 22nd 2009
Soooo....much has happened in the last week or so, and some of it not very good. But, we'll start with the good stuff first:
Primero, I'm going to post a couple pictures of a wave sequence my buddy Keith caught while we were in Popoyo. One of the best and biggest waves I got all day, and luckily he got the whole thing. As you can see, I still have some things to work on...but I made the drop and I was stoooooookkkkkked.
Anyways, we caught a lift out of Popoyo after sticking around a couple of extra days due to rumors that a swell was coming (it didn't...but no biggie). We partied the last night with our restaurant friends who cooked us up Gallo Pinto and Chicken Sandwhiches many times throughout the week. Marta confided in me after breakfast one day about how hard the life is around there at times. She works 12 hour days for 15 days in a row, then gets three days off to go see her two children. In the meantime, she works and lives at the restaurant (actually sleeps out back). She showed me some pictures from back home, in which nobody
is ever smiling, and she almost started crying. Its hard to connect with such feelings sometimes when our ways of life are so different. Nevertheless, we invited her and Jorge to come play Jenga at the hostel later...I don't know if that will solve their problems, but at least they smiled for a picture!
Back on the mainland, we took a ferry to Isla de Ometepe after eating at 'Pizza Hot' in an attempt to satisfy my pizza cravings. 'Pizza Hot' failed mightily in their effort to pass themselves off as the same quality as 'Pizza Hut' and I was quite sad. Isla de Ometepe is the island that has the two volcanoes on it that we saw coming in to Nicaragua from the bus. Volcan Concepcion is the highest at 1600 meters, and Volcan Maderas is slightly smaller. Unlike Concepcion, Maderas is no longer active and there is a big lagoon filling the crater up top. The first day on the island we rented bicycles and explored. We decided to climb both Volcanoes over the next couple of days, and hired a guide named Luis to help us scale the big boy.
Luis was a good man,
but had spending issues as we found out later. His first and second appearance was of a very clean cut and professional guide. He knew the trails well, and alot of information about the animals, flora, and geographics of the region. He was softspoken, but always willing to answer any questions we had. He got us up and down safely, so at the end of our journey we gave him a decent tip. The next morning, on our quest for breakfast, we ran into Luis again...sitting at the bar drinking beers! This time, he was quite boisterous and couldn't really even say a complete sentence about anything. Apparently he had gone out all night long with our tip money, and was still going strong at 9 am. We noticed that his arm looked a little different from the day before, and he explained how he had gotten into a knife fight just a couple of hours ago. Yikes...
Next, we made our way to the other end of the island to hike Maderas. We decided that since this one was shorter and we already knew about the ecology of the mountain side, we didn't need a guide. Even though
the guidebook says 'do your mom a favor and pay the couple extra bucks', we had grand ideas of budgeting in our heads and started up on our own. The trail sucked more than the first, and when we finally got to the top after not seeing anybody for most of the day, we heard the welcoming sounds of loud americans. From the woods we heard them yelling 'puuuussssyyy' and listening for the echo in the hillside, and thought we were in store for some kids our age. Turns out, it was just two respectable emergency room doctors skinny dipping and running around naked in the opening. They said they were from Cali, so thats my only explanation. Coming back down, we took a wrong turn and found ourselves somewhat lost. Guess we should have listened. Luckily, we ran back into the Cali guys and their guide escorted us in complete darkness back to the main road. Could have been much more interesting.
The next day, we made it off the island and decided to head towards Leon. Its an old colonial town established by the Spanish Conquistadors back in the 1700s. We caught a bus right off the
ferry that took us through the capital city, Managua, where we were supposed to make a connection to Leon. Just outside of Managua, the bus broke down completely on the busiest road in Nicaragua. After everybody filed out and scrambled onto a backup bus, we found ourselves abandoned on the side of the road because our board bags and backpacks wouldn't fit. The next couple of minutes led to a disastrous and frightening encounter. After boarding what we thought was a friendly taxi ride into Managua, we were assaulted by a gang of theives who robbed us using rusty box cutters and knives. They took our surfboards, camera, cash, and debit cards; and threw us out on a dirt road just off the main highway. By the time we were able to get to a police station and international phone in town, I was out a decent amount of money. For the last 4 years, I have put alot of time and work into saving money for this trip. To have a decent chunk of it just taken from me like that was something I've never experienced before and coping with it has been quite hard. In the end though,
I am safe and was not physically harmed. Its going to suck not getting to surf as much though :-(
After a day to recooperate, we finally made it into Leon with our reduced pack weight. We found that the robbers (or 'Ladrones' in Spanish) thieved a couple of things we needed to replace. Mainly; my contact lenses, toothbrush, sandals, and a big jar of peanut butter. Taylor got his sandals stolen too, and its been some slight comical relief to watch him wander around in his hiking boots and wool socks everywhere we go.
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anonymous
non-member comment
Beautiful pics. So sad that they took T bags camera. Hope you are able to get more pics soon. I know this was very upsetting and I so wish I could be there to just give you a BIG hug. I just have a hard time wrapping my head around what could have happen. I am forwarding all the email from friends and family. U. Johnny is the funniest but all of us are so very happy you two are safe. PLEASE be very careful. REmember you are on your dream trip so if you have to spend some extra money for another board and cheap camera go for it and Mom will help you out!