Part One: Nicaragua - Fun Daytrip turns into Nightmare

---

Well, it’s been a bit crazy here for the last few weeks so I apologize for not getting an update posted sooner.


If you’ve seen any of my recent posts on Facebook you will know that my mother-in-law, Marilyn Macneall, had a serious accident during her visit here which had us all very distraught for the past two weeks. Here’s what happened:


Marilyn and Norm arrived at our house in Playa Grande three weeks ago. After a week or so of just hanging out and exploring the neighbourhood, we all thought it would be fun to take a day trip and see something “a little different”. We initially planned to drive up to the closest volcano, Rincon de la Vieja , to check out the beautiful Blue River and the mud baths . After a bit of investigating, we decided that the river walk would prove too challenging for Marilyn, who was scheduled for a knee replacement in a couple of weeks. She was already having a hard time walking on our rough roads and on the beach, so this just seemed too risky. We decided to play it safe and instead booked a nice, comfortable, one-day bus tour to Nicaragua. The tour would involve only a little walking and if she got tired, she could just hang out in the air-conditioned bus.


Everything started out great with a very early (4:30 AM) pickup, followed by breakfast at a nice little restaurant and then the 2 hour drive up to the Nicaragua/Costa Rica border. As we got closer to Nicaragua, the scenery became very lush due to a unique micro-climate created by the “lake effect” of Lake Nicaragua. It was quite amazing to see, considering how dry the rest of northwest Guanacaste is at this time of year. Finally, we arrived at the Penas Blancas border crossing . This is the main crossing point for ALL traffic travelling along the Pan-American Highway. The lineups are usually many hours long, with commercial trucks lined up far into the distance.


Our guide, Luis, has some proven techniques for getting through the border quickly. This primarily involves cutting to the front of the line (while ignoring all the complaints and dirty looks) and placing a bag with a large bottle of rum in it as a “gift” for the border guard. He then hands over the stack of passports and manages to get his busload of tourists across in about 20 minutes. In some countries this would be called “a bribe”; here, it is simply “effective tour operations” and as a passenger, I greatly appreciated how quickly we were back on our way again. By the way, a bottle of 18 year old Flor de Cana rum at the Duty Free is $35. I'm drinking it as I write this. In fact, I need to pause and get a refill.



Okay, I'm back. The scenery in South-West Nicaragua was similar to Costa Rica, meaning, lots of farms. We passed through the city of Rivas, where I was amazed to learn that during the American Gold Rush of the 1800's, hundreds of thousands of Americans passed through on horse and wagon. They came down the Atlantic coast on ships from New York and then crossed the 18 km stretch of land from the west end of Lake Nicaragua to the Pacific shores where they boarded others ships and sailed up to California. The shipping and coach lines were owned by Corneluis Vanderbildt. (I may be wrong on that, but it's what the guide told us). In fact, the Americans had been intervening and investing in Nicarauga (and all of Central America) on a large scale. This route was to be the site of the original "Inter-Oceanic Nicaraguan Canal" through the Americas, but a massive volcanic explosion provided the catalyst for all investment to switch to Panama and the eventual creation of the Panama Canal. Incidentally, there is still talk of creating a major canal through Nicaragua.

Dominating the view to the east of the highway was the massive body of Lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicarauga is the 19th largest lake in the world and (I'm told) the only lake with fresh water sharks. The lake is also home to Omotepe island. Someone recently told me that Omotepe will "either accept you or spit you out" - in retrospect, I would say this is true of both Costa Rica and Nicaragua as a whole.

There is a large wind farm on the shores of the lake, which is a testament to the Nicaraguan government’s desire to help move the country into the 21st century in a sustainable way. Between wind, solar and geo-thermal (volcanic) powered energy sources, much of central America could be powered by 100%!(NOVERB)renewable energy. Money is really the only obstacle.

The massive amount of fresh lake water also provides for lots of irrigation and we passed some large rice patties – something I haven’t seen in Costa Rica (at least not in our dry area).


Our first stop in Nicaragua was a Maxi Pali grocery store (clean bathrooms, which I highly recommend should you find yourself doing a visa run on this route). I found out that the booze is even cheaper in the grocery store than at the Duty Free (note for next time, if there is a next time). $14 for a bottle of 5-year-old Flor de Cana and $0.50 for a Tona beer. Yes, $6 for a 12-pack. That takes me back to about 1985 in Ontario. Of course, I was only making $5/hr then but on today's wages, you could practically water your garden with beer here. Not that I recommend that (what a waste of beer) but it would make for some interesting tasting tomatoes (anyone else got a salad buzz?).


We headed out again for our first major tour stop, the large arts and crafts market in Masaya . This is essentially THE place in Nicaragua to purchase anything from leather crafts, to carvings, to t-shirts, to hammocks, to paintings to.. whatever. We had a massive lunch then walked around for about 45 minutes. We were accompanied by a fully bi-lingual “shopping assistant” who to took us to the best vendors (in terms of price and quality). These guides will approach you in their "official tourism golf shirts" and are there to make sure you have a good experience. In general, I think I did save money by having him accompany us and they work for tips, so the $5 I gave him was well spent. I got some real cigars (most have fake Cohiba labels) and a couple of shirts, Ella bought some hand-made jewellery and a doll in a traditional dress and Charlie got a really nice switchblade for $20 - which will probably get confiscated by Canada Customs when we get home. Nice knife though, I almost bought one myself for fishing and wood carving. The market is huge and we only got through about ½ of it. If I had more time, I would have taken a taxi to Sergio Zepeda’s guitar shop. I promised myself a visit to his shop if we ever come to Nicaragua again, with $400 in my pocket to buy a beautiful guitar or $200 for a mandolin.


Next stop was the incredible Masaya Volcana. This is one of only two volcanos in the world where you can drive your car right to the rim of the volcano mouth (and right over the rim, if you're not careful). The volcano is really impressive and constantly belching sulphuric fumes. In fact, you can only be around the mouth of the volcano for 20 minutes max due to the toxicity of the fumes. You also need to park facing AWAY from the volcano… they don’t really tell you why but I assume it’s in the event that volcanic activity picks up and you need to make a hasty get away. The guide told us a story of a local teen that jumped into the volcano last year, after being dumped by his girlfriend. They did not find a single trace of him. I’m inclined to make a joke about virgin sacrifices but it’s just too sad of a story to poke fun at. Do you see how I made the joke while trying not to make the joke? Man, I’m too clever for my own good. Must be the rum.


The view and drive down the volcano was beautiful. The moon-like, volcanic landscape, peppered with flowering trees, was surreal. I could have spent a day or two photographing that landscape, had I the opportunity. Strangely, there were signs posted throughout the park that you were not allowed to smoke there. Keep in mind that this is a stinky, sulphur-spewing volcano who’s very grounds looked like an ashtray with plants growing in it… but god forbid you should light up a smoke. You weren’t allowed alcohol in the park either, but something tells me that this rule makes good sense given how easy it is to fall or jump into the mouth of the volcano.

> Nicaraguan mom, lecturing her son “and I bet if all your friends jumped in the volcano, you would jump in too?” <


The next stop was the Central Park in Granada . Granada, founded in the early 11th century, is one of the oldest (they claim, THE oldest) Spanish colonial city in the Americas. But its history goes back much further. I'm inspired to do some research into the fascinating story of American filibuster William Walker , who came to aid the losing León faction in a Civil War in Nicaragua but after sacking Granada, proclaimed HIMSELF president from 1856-1857, much to the surprise of the people he was "aiding". He was ousted from Nicaragua and eventually captured and executed by firing squad in Honduras in 1860.

The colonial architecture of Granada is beautiful and I would love to spend more time exploring it with my camera.
We stopped at the bustling Central Park with only 20 minutes available to have a quick look around. The park was full of people: locals out for a stroll, tourists taking horse and buggy rides, vendors selling food, drinks and crafts, kids playing and/or begging for money, a drink of your Coke, whatever you would give them. After snapping a couple of quick pictures, I stopped to buy some cold drinks from a vendor and turned around to find Marilyn laying on the ground, holding her bloody hand up in the air and looking like she was in severe pain and shock… I thought she had been attacked.

Stay tuned for PART TWO to hear the rest of the story.

---

Photos

The hillside
Life in the ashes.

Masaya Volcan
Stairs to the lookout.

Masay Volcana
Feeling like we're on the moon.

The view
The view towards Masaya.

The mouth of the volcano.
Looking into the mouth of Masaya volcano.

Colonial Architecture.
More of Granada architecture.

Granada
Colonial architecture.

Poverty
There is a lot of poverty in Nicaragua, which is very evident in the cities.

Colonial architecture.
This old buildng is being renovated and converted into a hotel.

Granada Central Park
A boy playing on the fountain in Granada Central Park.

Comments

[Mary Lee]

Unfinished and Waiting
Hey Dan, You've become a good tour guide yourself and well worth the $5 tip. I had no idea you were going to Nicaragua, fantastic. But please continue Marilyn's story, you've left us sitting on the edge and waiting. Sounds rather harrowing. Hope you're all okay.

[GuitarDan]

Thanks
Thanks Mary Lee! We're all doing well (now!)