¡Adios Centroamerica!

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Firstly, apologies for my tardiness in updating this folks. Although I´ve only actually been out of Central America for just over a week, it already seems a long time ago. That probably says something about how much was crammed into my first week in Peru, but we'll save that for a different tale.

Last time we spoke, your intrepid traveller (that's me) was getting sick and tired of cities, and wanted to head somewhere for a bit of peace and quiet, ideally with somewhere to swim, perhaps a bit of hiking, hammocks, and a monkey butler. Luckily, all of that lay nearby (bar the butler, but I got over that), just 30 minutes away from Granada on a chicken bus. By now, you´ve hopefully guessed that being as it was a chicken bus, it took over an hour to get there.

Laguna de Apoyo

Laguna de Apoyo is a beautiful crater lake, with possibly the nicest water to swim in I encountered in all of Central America. There also existed a really good hike up to a Mirador, where you could see over the whole lake, Volcan Mombacho, and even down to Granada and Lago Nicaragua. It was at this Mirador I first became addicted to buying assorted pan dulce and biscuits that every shop in Nicaragua seemed to sell. I'm not quite over the addiction yet.

Apart from the hike, there wasn't much strenuous activity to be had around Apoyo, so days just got whiled by swimming, a touch of kayaking, and even a spot of fishing. I'm very proud to say of all of us that had a go, I was the only one to successfully land a fish, and I did it twice. The second one was cooked up that night, although I think it would have taken more than Jesus and a few loaves of bread to make it feed the 5000.

In fact, Apoyo was full of achievements for me. I singlehandedly triumphed in a game of international Trivial Pursuit (beating teams from Scotland, Ireland, Canada, Argentina and the USA) and also perfected my forward somersault into the lake. But I'll stop going on about that now, or I'll be accused of boasting.

Sadly, I couldnt stay at Apoyo forever, but leaving was tempered by the fact that my next destination was to be Isla de Ometepe, an island formed by 2 volcanoes in the middle of Lago de Nicaragua. First though, I had to get through Granada again, with about an hour to get to where my bag was stored, get money, get lunch and get to the ferry. Fortunately, I arrived with about 1 minute to spare. Then the ferry was delayed for an hour. Typical.

Isla de Ometepe

The ferry to Ometepe was a fairly uneventful 4 hour crossing, but we were met there by a full drugs squad, with sniffer dogs, balaclavas and all. My smelly socks didn't set off any alarms, so we were allowed off. I'd come to Ometepe with 2 couples from Apoyo, and we went to Hospedaje Ortiz in Altagracia, where we were greeted by the owner, Mario. Mario then proceeded to give us a half hour long introduction to the island, complete with our itinerary for the next few days. Although we didn´t plan to follow it at all, it was very nice of him.

The next day I followed Mario's itinerary. This involved renting a bike out, and going for a ride around the island, visiting some petroglyphs, going for a swim in a hidden pool, and stopping for pan dulce (the last bit was my itinerary, not Mario´s). It was a really fun day, although the bikes weren't in great nick, and I continuously battled with the chain all day. I should count myself lucky, Terry and Fran, an Irish couple I met who also rented out bikes that day both got punctures halfway round the island and had to walk back.

I was still feeling quite sore the next day, so getting up at 6 for a 10 hour hike up an active volcano might not have been the best idea. That´s what Mario's itinerary said to do though (so much for not following it). Three of us went up that day, me, an Aussie called Andrew and our guide Juan. To say it was tough was an understatement. We were always walking on loose rocks, and quite often we couldn´t see our feet through the undergrowth. To top this off, towards the crater, there was a fearsome wind pushing us towards oblivion. We survived, and have the photos to prove it, but that trip was the beginning of the end for my camera, which is currently on life support. Coming down was even harder, but eventually we got back to Altagracia, and rewarded ourselves with pan dulce (what else?)

During the hike, Andrew and I had decided to head over the other side of the island the next day. This meant deferring from Mario´s itinerary, but sometimes these things have to be done. We were to head over on Sunday, which was to be my day of rest after 2 tiring days. Unfortunately, it was also a day of rest for the buses, which left us with no choice but to hitch. Sadly, hitchiking on Ometepe isn´t the easiest task, as theres so little traffic. And this is how, on my day of rest, I came to walk about 6km with my full pack on.

Once at the other side though, I sat in a hammock, and hardly moved for 2 days, apart from going for occasional swim in shark infested water, and to get to the table when we got hungry. Perfect. Once the batteries were more or less recharged, Andrew headed to Granada, and I made for the coast.

San Juan del Sur

So, here I was at my last proper stop in Central America. Quite fittingly, as it was a conclusion, I ended up bumping into lots of people I´ve met over the last couple of months. In my dorm alone there was Yaniv, who I travelled with in El Salvador, and Steve, who I met back in San Pedro. Then also in the hostel there was Mark and Emma, a Scottish couple I met in Granada, and shared a mutual appreciation of porridge with. Then on a wander round around the town, there was Terry and Fran in his favourite haunt, the ice-cream shop. It was that sort of place.

There´s really not much to tell about what I did in San Juan though, because the answer is really not much. Sat around on the beach, swam in the Pacific, ate, and had a couple of really nice evenings/nights with a good bunch of people. San Juan really isn't the sort of place you go to do anything (unless you surf, which I´ve decided I don't), but its a great place to do nothing.

And so that was it. On the morning of the 7th, I got on my final chicken bus and crossed into Costa Rica, to stay at Tony's before flying down to Lima the next day. The journey was meant to take 6 hours from San Juan, Nicaragua to San Jose, Costa Rica. It took 10. I think that was rather appropriate.

So hasta luego Central America. I'll be back.

Stewart

Photos at More Nicaragua

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Photos

Laguna de Apoyo
Some fool standing in front of a crater lake

A hard day's fishing
Two fisherman share the spoils of a tough day.

The new limo
My transport around Ometepe. Note the custom made hand cushion

Volcan Concepcion
From the ferry as we left Moyagalpa dock

Volcan Maderas
I quite like the halo of cloud over the top of it.

Crater of Volcan Concepcion
I didn't fall in (close call though)

FSLN truck
Elections were coming up in Nicaragua, this is how they tried to gain votes.

Ometepe at sunset
Number 99999 in the "sunset photos" collection

Isla de Ometepe
Isla de Ometepe from the ferry back to San Jorge