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Published: January 27th 2013
Utila
Getting ready for a dive in the Auxilary boat as the big boat broke down a day after we arrived!!!Hola chicos! It's been a wee while since the last blog so I thought I best get cracking with the next one. We're in San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua at the moment and have been here for just over two weeks. We're staying at a Spanish school, trying to retain a few words and have still got another week of lessons here. Anyway, let's go back to where Ben left off...
We ended up staying on Utila for two weeks-a week longer than planned! I was a little bit bored there from time to time whilst Ben was off diving but I managed to survive! (Well, actually it wasn't so bad sometimes being a diving widow because I downloaded a great book on my Kindle-'The Hundred Year Old Man Who Climbed Out of the Window and Disappeared' which I read in a hammock overlooking the sea-brilliant!) Before leaving Utila, we got to see 'The Hobbit' and I got to do some proper snorkelling with Ben. I'm a bit of a wuss when it comes to swimming and snorkelling so this was a great achievement for me! It was amazing-I'd never seen anything like it! We saw fan coral, brain
Utila, Bay Islands, Honduras
Crammed in like sardines in the back up boat, the spectacular reef made up for it though. coral, 'tube' coral and various hard coral as well as trumpet fish, angel fish, two big silver trigger fish and lots more besides! (the week before, we snorkelled just off the pier near the diving school and I saw my first moray eel-hilarious-and a bat fish and trunk fish-weird!) Obviously, I was holding Ben's hand as tight as I could all of the time and I must say I was quite overwhelmed by the whole experience as I'd never seen such depths! It was a fantastic experience though and I now just need to learn how to clear my mask under water so that Ben doesn't have to hold me up above the water everytime!!
We finally left Utila on Wednesday the 9th of January to head for San Juan del Sur in Nicaragua to start at Nica Spanish School on the 14th. The journey we had planned was a ferry to La Ceiba, a bus to Tegucigalpa, another bus to Managua and then a local bus to San Juan del Sur. However, things didn't quite go to plan! This is what happened...
We got the ferry okay at half six in the morning to La Ceiba then
Utila, Paradise Divers
A view of our Dive Centre/Hotel on Utila, Honduras. got a taxi to the bus station. From there we got the bus okay to Tegucigalpa but the journey took a couple of hours longer than it should have due to two accidents. The first one looked like a pretty straight forward crash(?!) that held us up for half an hour or so but the next one (which I completely missed as I was dozing) was a bit worse. Three people were killed and so this held us up for longer. We arrived in Tegucigalpa at about half four-what a shit hole! On the approach to the city, the capital of Honduras, you could see it was a sprawling mass of higgledy piggledy buildings and once in the city you could see it was...well, a shit hole! Full of pollution, dirt, rubbish, run down buildings, lots of rough looking people...really quite threatening and intimidating. You could feel the tension in the air as you stepped off the bus! The bus dropped us off in a really rough barrio (neighbourhood) so it wasn't a very nice introduction to the city with the highest murder rate in Central America! We were just in the middle of telling each other to ask if
Tagusigalpa, Honduras
Not such a lovely place, infact the capital of Hoduras and murder capital of Central America, scary was not the word!!!! we were in the right place when a lad who was also getting off our bus asked us, in English, if we were okay. This was our first meeting with Robert, a Mexican American and who was to be our best pal for the next few days! He was heading our way so we decided to stick together...thank God cos he spoke fluent Spanish!! (this obviously made everything so much easier for us as we had loads of transport to sort and he was our saviour!) We got a taxi to a hotel (in the tourist part of the city!) and then went out to find out about buses to Managua and to eat meat, rice, beans and tortillas! (which was to become our staple diet for the bloody forseeable future!) Even the tourist area felt slightly dangerous and the lady at the hotel told us not to stay out late so we went back to the hotel quite promptly to get an early night and meet up in the foyer at half six in the morning to get the eff out of there!
The next morning, after free coffee and biscuits, we got a taxi to the Tica
Loco driver
Not happy at all with the dickhead bus driver, over taking a line of three wagons on the brow of a hill etc!!!! bus terminal to buy a ticket as soon as the office opened, to go direct to Managua. Unfortunately, the bus was full but they had spaces for the next day. None of us were prepared to stay in Tegucigalpa another night so we ended up getting a local bus to a town called Choculteca. What a crazy bus ride. The bus driver was loco! He needed to overtake anything and everything in his path, be it on a blind bend or the brow of a hill. But even though it was a hair-raising experience, at the same time it was highly amusing for me because of Ben's reactions!! Every now and then I'd hear a, 'Oh good God', 'Oh Jesus', 'Oh my God' !! At one point he even made the sign of the cross! Hilarious. I couldn't stop laughing at him so this made the journey seem less perilous to me!! Lots of locals on the bus were being sick and a guy came round regularly to check that everyone was okay and to hand out sick bags! We arrived in Choculteca, without a scratch, safe and sound (perhaps just a little shaky) and then quickly jumped on a
La Ceiba to Gagusigalpa
crazy overtaking manoeuvre. shuttle bus to get to the border of Nicaragua. On the way, we were stopped by security guards who made everyone get off the bus and told us to get our backpacks off too. One of the guards asked me to open my bag so I did but she didn't search it. She looked at her pal, they exchanged a few words and laughs and then gestured that I could close it again. It was then that I realised I had most of the mucky washing at the top of my bag and it stank! They obviously didn't want to touch it! They did the same with Ben and Robert and then we were on our way again!
The bus stopped just before the border so from there we got a 'bike tuk-tuk' to the Honduran departures office. We then got back on the bike to the Nicaraguan passport control and then on the bike again to get another bus! The next bus was going to Leon, which is where Robert was heading anyway so as it was on our way we decided to jump on too. We also decided to stay in Leon so ended up at a
Managua to Leon
me and rob cramped up in microbus bit of a party hostel and signed up for the pub crawl that evening...with much deliberation over a few drinks of course! We all had a good night. We had a free shot in the bars we went to-one with live music, one with karaoke, one with salsa dancing and the last one was a club. Needless to say, none of us made it to the club!!
We managed to drag ourselves out of bed reasonably early the next day to get a taxi to the bus station and then a bus to Managua. There wasn't much conversation on the shuttle bus-well, I don't think there was...I was snoozing for most of it! As soon as we go off the bus, there was a bus just about to go to Granada where Robert was heading so we said a quick goodbye to our new pal and got a taxi to another bus station to get a bus to San Juan. As soon as we stepped out of the taxi a guy had hold of Ben's bag and was taking it to a bus that was just about to leave for San Juan...apparetly. It took us to Rivas, which is
on the way to San Juan, but stopped there for us to change buses. I explained that we'd paid to go all the way to San Juan so they gave me some money back. (nice try, you buggers!) We then waited ten minutes for another bus and it left after another half an hour! Now, this was a proper chicken bus! (a chicken bus is a retired American school bus now used as a bus to transport locals...often with chickens!) Whilst sat on the bus waiting for it to leave it was mental. Loads of people kept coming on to walk up and down the aisle tring to sell all kinds of food and drinks-chicken, rice, sweets, fizzy pop, water, biscuits, tortillas...the lot! It was packed...I can't believe they were actually able to move up and down the bus past each other...it was a right squeeze! When we finally left, I actually had a chicken staring at me for the first part of the journey whilst it was being held under a woman's arm!
Finally, after three days, we were in San Juan del Sur! We went to one of the nearest guesthouses and booked two nights for $20
Tuk Tuk
TUK TUK with pedals, to take us the couple of kilometers across the Honduras/Nicaragua border. a night. We then went in search of the school and found it quite easily as San Juan is really small. We met Fernando, the owner of the school and after a twenty minute chat about the school etc we went for a couple of drinks, then pizza, then bed. The next day, (Saturday) we went back to the school to meet Maria Jose, Fernando's wife, who made us a coffee, talked us into staying at the school rather then on a Homestay-with a local family-and invited us round for tea that night to meet the other students. We then went for a couple of beers, a bit of dinner and then to the beach so Ben could have a dip in the sea. After we'd showered and changed we had a couple of swifties in the Irish Pub(?!) for dutch courage purposes and then went to the school. Maria Jose and Fernando were doing a bbq in the street and the other students were sat outside. The food was lovely and the students were older than we'd expected and only spoke Spanish to us...it was hard work! We managed to get away with a bit of English and found
Funky Chicken Bus
Old U.S. school buses shipped over to Central to start a new life as local crazy chicken buses. that two of the students were from America and one from Quebec. When we left, we went straight back to the Irish Bar to chill out and speak English for a bit! Result also that the owner, who was a local, spoke perfect English and played 80s English tunes via the internet! Just what we needed!
On Sunday, we dropped our bags off at the school before going to Hermoso Beach with the other students (Vanessa, Justin and Luis) whilst Fernando and Maria Jose got our room ready. We just chilled out all day. I literally spent the whole day in a hammock (well, I went for a little stroll as well!) whilst Ben had a swim and had a go at surfing. (He actually managed to stand up for ten seconds in the end!) Back at the school, we discovered that not only had the owners relocated to another room so that we could have theirs but that the place was infested with tics!!! Nightmare! We must've killed at least sixty in our room and the other students had a fair few in their rooms as well. We were assured that the place was being fumigated the next
Volcano
Yo no se la nobre!!! Los seinto. One of the 17 Volcanos in Nicaragua. day but I was close to checking into a hotel for the night! Ben managed to get the problem under control with the aid of towels, toilet roll and Raid, to block all gaps under doors and in walls so that it was insurpassable for all creatures...great and small!! We didn't get much sleep that night...and it was school the next day!
We got up at seven, breakfast was at half past and class started a eight for four hours. Ben's teacher was (and still is!) Fernando and mine is Esperanza- a local girl who lives in Rivas. The first day, I didn't even have a break. Four hours solid of total Spanish and my brain was frazzled! Ben's too but he had managed to have a little break! We then had dinner at half twelve, with everyone speaking Spanish (the other students are quite proficient!) and we then went to a bar to do our homework and chill out! (and speak English!!) We returned just after sunset, showered and changed then had tea at about seven. After that, we went out for a few beers then got a fairly early night. Ever since then, our days have followed
Shelly, Rob and I
on a pub crawl in Leon, Nicaragua a similar routine! The alarm goes off at seven, we have breakfast at half past, class is 8-12, dinner at half twelve. We then go to a bar to do our homework then to the beach until sunset. After a shower back at school, we have tea at half seven and then chill out until bed time! (having said that, the times are give or take half an hour or so... in fact on Friday, we had breakfast at eight, class started at half eight and then dinner was at half eleven...but we're in Nicaragua, not England, so it's okay!) We've spent a bit of time with the other students but they've all gone now. We don't lie on the beach much as it's constantly windy here so you get frequent little sandblasts. We find sitting on deckchairs outside the Iguana bar the best option! There's still a few tics about (they did fumigate the place but I don't think they quite understand that that won't stop the tics from coming! They're also really hard to kill...Ben squishes them with his thumb nail...I don't like to touch them so use a coin!) but nowhere near as many. Apparently, they came
Poor little camper
about 30 young drunk gringos trying to cram into the VW on the way to the next bar in the pub crawl, in with the strong wind that picked up just as we arrived?! We've also since heard that it's 'the season' for them and they appear twice a year. The owners have a dog and because the tics attach themselves to him he's been kicked out of the house whilst we've been here. Ha!
The food here is good but perhaps a little too much in the ways of rice, beans and eggs! However, there's a frequent break from this in the form of 'gallopinto'...rice and beans fried together! (Ben said today it's like Blazing Saddles in our room...true!) They also eat a fair bit of seafood here, which I don't eat and one day they had crab. The smell was so strong that it turned my stomach so I had to apologise and go outside to eat my chicken...which I had to force down! Aside from that the food's good! Breakfast can be amusing sometimes-one day we literally had a dollop of frijoles (refried beans) in the middle of a plate and tacos to dip in. Ben didn't appreciate the fact that I told him it reminded me of something I'd just seen a dog do that morning in
Little and large
Rob and Shelly in one of the bars in Leon. the street whilst we we outside reading. After two nights in the owners bedroom, we asked to be moved to another room after one of the students left and since then there hasn't been many sightings of tics. We've had close encounters with several cockroaches though, a few with mosquitoes and many with ants. (they're constantly all over the kitchen) We've bought our own bleach for the bathroom and Raid for everywhere else so we're okay. Our Spanish is in our head but it just takes a lot of time to process it and get it out!
Right, I'm off now. I've had a few Tonas (local beer) whilst writing this so it's best I sign off now! Before I do though, I think I should mention a couple of incidents that have occurred to demonstrate that it hasn't all been a bunch of roses so far! In Flores in Guatemala, someone broke into our room (twice we think) and stole my camera, Ben's sunglasses, about 40 pound of English money that was in my bag and my three bank cards. (one old debit card, one new and my credit card) I cancelled the cards straight away but they
did manage to use one twice-I've since been refunded the money from the bank. The owner of the hostel was great about it though and in the end we didn't actually lose much-just a few photos from Miami, Cancun and Belize. They refunded us for the cost of the room, let us have an extension on it as we were getting a night bus, gave us the equivalent of the pounds in dollars, paid for the calls to the bank and gave Ben a pair of real Raybans. (Ben also managed to blag a free bbq tea which was lovely...they had mashed tatie!!) We bought a new camera for about 85 quid ready for Tikal so all in all we didn't come off so bad.
The only other bad thing that's happened is that Ben had his wallet stolen. We lost a few dollars and his credit card and our drivers licenses but that's it...no big drama! Ben's dad has since sent us our new bank cards which we now have so we're back on track!
A family of five (mum, dad and three daughters) are moving into the school tonight for a week so it will be
S###k-tash
became this crazy scandinavians nickname for the night, "There's something about Mary" sprung to mind. a bit different for us! On Friday after school though, we're going to Ometepe, an island on Lago de Nicaragua, to climb one of the two volcanos there. (the inactive one!) We're then going to Managua to catch a flight to Quito in Ecuador and from there we fly to the Galapagos Islands to see lots of wonderful wildlife!
Okay, chicos...time to go...the next blog will be from South America!
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Keith
non-member comment
Sounds like you are having a great time, its better then reading a book. Love to you both