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Isla de Ometepe
The two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.Dear Blog Readers,
We left Liberia and Costa Rica behind with a spring in our step fueled on a good smoothie and the most charismatic salesman on our bus to Penas Blancas, the border with Nicaragua. The border crossing was without doubt the worst so far. Dodgy money was changing hands, the bloke giving us entry stamps
genuinely didn´t believe Laura´s passport was hers until she got her bank card out. Ridiculous. The only thing that gave me any pleasure was the thought of anybody actually buying the ceviche that a man was trying to sell from a cool box in 35 degree heat. The bus ride to Rivas was decidedly dodgy and we pretty much kept hold of our bags the entire journey. Once at Rivas we got a taxi to the port and a ferry over to Isla de Ometepe.
Lake Nicaragua is a huge expanse of water in the middle of the country and jutting out from the water are two volcanoes which are joined together to create this beautiful island. It is a truly awesome thing to see as the volcanoes are near perfect cone shaped. Once landed, we got a room in the suitably
Beast From The East
Our beast from the east for Ometepe. Note the helmet! titled Landing Hotel and went out for a wander. The restaurant next to the hotel sold the best fish I´ve had in a long time. I also finished my Nick Hornby book, "How to be Good" - it´s pretty good. I swapped it for the Hunger Games to see what everybody is talking about.
The next day we went for a long walk and found a cheaper hostel around the corner which had a bit more character and was run by some French people so Laura was in her element. We walked out of Moyogalpa and crossed the air strip which is being constructed. No doubt in 15 years time the place will be crawling with rich tourists and the quaint communities and shanty houses lining the airstrip will become bustling tour operators and hotels. After a few kilometres taking in the birds and lizards that crossed our path, we turned to go to Punta Maria Jesus - a sandbar jutting out into the lake. The water wasn´t great but it was nice to dip our feet in a have a drink. As the night fell back at the town, it became a little more lively and we tucked
Moyogalpa
The view from the port looking towards Nicaragua. into some BBQ chicken which was delicious at 7pm but by 7am and 6 visits to the toilet later, I regretted my choice of food!
The morning after we debated whether we should hire a motorbike with the fear that I would poo myself or if I should rest at the hostel next to a toilet. Of course we went and hired a motorbike. It didn´t cost much and they gave us these strange things to put on our heads - they call them "helmets" over here. Anyway, after stalling it spectacularly in front of the owner, I was given a quick tutorial of how to ride it. With the shout of, "Remember! Drive on the right!!!" from the owner fading in the wind we set off out of Moyogalpa and along a beautiful road encircling Volcan Concepcion. About an hour later we stopped at a beautiful nature reserve called Charco Verde. The amount of wildlife on show was spectacular and the howler monkeys were making themselves heard. I still wasn´t 100% and ended up cracking my head open on a tree. Laura nursed me back to health but failed to get a cool photo of me with blood
Granada
The cathedral in the centre of Granada dribbling down my face.
We then continued to Playa Domingo, the stretch of beach that joins the two volcanoes. The beach was lovely but we were running out of time so we attempted to get around the other volcano which only had a dirt track. Just as we turned onto the dirt track the motorbike stopped working! Luckily a local managed to get it started again and told us to get back to Moyogalpa so we raced back (I´d love to tell you how fast we were going but the speedometer didn´t work).
The morning after we hopped on a bus and walked to the Oro de Agua - a natural spring fed by a river from the volcano. It was bustling with tourists but we had a good dip and a few too many goes on the tarzan swing. We began walking back to eventually hail down a bus to take us back. My filp-flops broke en route so I was walking barefooted on the hot floor which wasn´t very comfortable! We got back in time to see a superb sunset. The electricity went out so we could only dine at one expensive restaurant which was only
For Whom The Bell Tolls
The campanologist at work! open because it had a generator!
We got down to the port to get on the "Che Guevara" Ferry off the island and back to the mainland and met a couple of Brits who were motorbiking down from Texas through to Panama. I envied their sensational traveller beards. We got back to the crime-ridden Rivas and had completely forgot it was a national holiday so ended up having to wait for a while for a bus to Granada. It was possibly the hottest and most uncomfortable 2 hour journey and dropped us off in a run-down area of town. We had a nervous walk up through the market and traipsed around for a while until finding a little hostel to put us up for the night.
We went for a walk around the centre of town in the morning and bumped into the owner of the hostel from Ometepe! He showed us a shop owned by a French baker so we bought some bread fresh from his wood stoked oven! We booked into a different hostel which had iPads in the foyer! A show of the times! The weather was so hot in Granada! Apparently the rain is
Notre Dam
The clock tower near our hostel in Granada. imminent. We ventured to the Chocolate Museum which Laura loved and then we found an absolute gem of a cafe. It is run entirely by deaf-mute people so we had to learn some sign language from the useful wall displays to order some drinks. Connected to it is a hammock shop and although the hammocks are double the price of the market sellers, you can see them actually making the hammocks there and the quality is unreal. Furthermore, the money is going to a great cause in a country where there is little to no funding towards people with disabilities (the cafe is the only one of its kind in Central America and only the 4th in the world!). In the evening we went up the bell tower of a nearby church and got some great views of Granada and a magnificent sunset.
The morning after we finally had a chance to Skype home on the iPads and watch theFALLEN´s superb Finalnd tour diaries (check it out on YouTube!). We then got a bus to Masaya - a little town famous for its artisan market. Although the bus dropped us on the outskirts of the town and the surrounding
Laguna de Apoyo
Laura diving in the laguna markets are nothing special. In fact, the poverty and dire sanitation was more on show here than most of the places we had visited thus far. After a few enquiries, we finally found the actual market which was spectacular and had a vast array of items that Laura could marvel, feel, look and drool at.
Our final stop in Nicaragua before moving north to Honduras was the Laguna de Apoyo. Possibly the best swimming spot we have ever been to. Carved into the crater of a huge volcano, the water was beautifully warm and crystal clear. We did plenty of diving, swimming and kayaking although this meant the return of "Le Lobster" as Laura had only put on factor 20 suncream and burnt to a crisp. More surprisingly, I had factor 50 suncream on and I got burnt too! Surely that shouldn´t be possible!? We got back in time to reach a bus that headed to Managua, the captial city, where we had booked a Tica bus to take us to Honduras - the country with the highest homicide rate in the world (I can hear Mum panicking from here)!
Tink and Laura
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Camilla
non-member comment
Your blog came up in my random google search!
Hello Lau and Simon I was googling those hand made hammocks you were talking about and your blog came up! Hope this finds you well. We are currently in Granada after spending a night on the incredible crater lake Apoyo - which I highly recommend. We had a pretty crazy trip to Granada from San Salvador on a variety of interesting buses. We are in Oasis hostel now which is great. Maybe bump into you guys again on the Gringo trail :)