Blogs from Mombacho, Southern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean

Breakfast again was delicious and this is definitely becoming one of the best meals of the day. I just cannot get enough of the queso frito as it is so delicious and the gallo pinto for breakfast hits the spot. Not sure how I am going to cope heading back to the real world after this trip and not having this breakfast everyday. Today was an early day as we were on the bus at 9:00 am to head for Volcan Mombacho. The family had arranged a fantastic caballo vallo for us in a house up in the middle of Volcan Mombacho. After the ride over, we got up to the spot where the busses drop us off in a little guard house and from here we transfer into army bus transports to go up to ... read more

Today is the mix up point and the big change in our travels. Justin, James, and Jeff headed off to Ometepe while Matt and I began Spanish school. Because they don't have as long, they wanted to see more and get surfing. Justin wasn't planning on doing school so he headed ahead with the others and will rejoin us when we catch up. Starting at 9am we headed out to One on One tutoring. It was a great way to start the day, four hours of pure Spanish. Being very intense we were pretty burned out afterwords. Both of us had four different teachers each and mine happen to give me a ton of homework. After a late lunch we headed back to the hostel where we socialized for a bit, then began studying. After an ... read more

So on the Sunday we finally head to Granada, where some of Frank's friends were flying down to meet us. We arrived to find a huge cowboy festival going on, with the streets full of horses and lots of DJs blasting out music while locals danced around in their cowboy gear. We wondered around the streets for a while and walked up to the Lake with a great view of Ometepe Island but unfortunately tons of sandflies so we didn't stay long. After a while though, the strong sun and hundreds of smelly horses forced us back to the hostel where we sat around for a while relaxing before Frank's friends arrived. Frank's friends were cool, although one was ill so he went to bed early. The rest of us, along with some others at the ... read more

Na de fokkie - die hier trouwens niet slecht is - weer op pad met Gustavo richting Mombacho. We proberen zoveel mogelijk Spaans te praten: Gustavo apprecieert dat wel en wij leren nog wat 'slang' bij in t Spaans. We zijn te weten gekomen dat, ondanks het drogere klimaat hier, de Mombacho door de hoogte in een nevelwoud ligt. Dit hadden we trouwens ook al gemerkt want in een cloud forest is de kans op regen redelijk groot ;-) De volledige krater lag in de mist dus veel viel er niet te zien. Historisch/geografisch intermezzo: De naam Mombacho betekent 'knielende berg', de vulkaan is nu een 1100 m hoog. Bij de laatste uitbarsting is de hele top naar beneden gekomen waardoor er ook grote scheuren in de kraterrand zijn ontstaan. De grond is hier heel vochtig ... read more

We arrived in Granada shortly after leaving Ometepe but again travelling with the English girls it cost me a fortune in taxis. This is where I got my first real taste of what I expected of Central America, its still touristy but has a very authentic feel to the place. I found it really easy to get around and knew a few people in the hostels near by which Id already met in other places so we were able to go out in groups. A group of us went cliimbing the bell tower of the church whilst a funeral was going on seemed a little strange but gave great views of the city from above. The following day we woke to heavy rain so wasted a day in the bars. I met Ray from New Zealand ... read more