Thursday morning Mo joined us for breakfast at Betty's. Again, Betty cooked a traditional Latinoamerican breakfast with lots of fruit, avocado, tomato salad, fried plantains (!!), and rice & beans. At 9am we left for San Jorge where we boarded a one-hour ferry to the island. The island is made from the eruptions of two volcanoes. The lava from both volcanoes has connected to form one island. The natural sites are amazing but the people on the island seem unhappy and the service we received at Hotel Paraiso was extremely poor. The place (not much different than mainland Nicaragua) is evidently [View Full Entry]

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The soothing sound of churning waves. The fresh smell of salty air carried by a cooling breeze. Powerful sunlight, filtered through leaves and tree branches warms as it's absorbed into my skin. Soft grains of sand between my toes. The flat line of the horizon formed over the distant ocean as the earth curves out of sight. Soft, billowing clouds float effortlessly in the blue sky, constantly shifting and morphing shape. I take a deep breath, simultaneously taking in the ambiance of the moment. The present, the now, the moment, that infinitely thin film between the limitless future and the endless [View Full Entry]

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¿Hablas Español? by George After an important stop in San Juan Del Sur we once again packed our "sacks" and got on the chicken bus. Despite pontificating with Rob and Rachel about the name we were still none the wiser after a whole bottle of Flora de Caña, the local rum. Popular suggsestions included "They pack you in like chickens", "It´s possible you could sit next to one" and my personal favourite "It´s what the drivers like to play". Anyway, despite our ignorance as to the name´s derivation we arrived safely in Granada, the oldest continually inhabited city in Latin America [View Full Entry]

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My pants were stolen (not while I was wearing them - from the clothes line) and my camera is broken. Grrrrr... On the plus side, I did get to see something today that makes NY cab drivers look perfectly docile - on the microbus ride from Granada to Masaya, another microbus edged in on my drivers route, which caused him to park diagonally across the highway, blocking a very important shipment of Flor de Caña. When those drivers had the nerve to yell at him, the money guy on the bus pulled a baseball bat out of nowhere, and started pounding [View Full Entry]

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Despite the increase in tourism to Granada and the many new developments, one cannot go anywhere without being besieged by children asking for money, or selling food or cigarettes. It is hard to know what to do, and whether to give or buy anything. I find it difficult to turn a blind eye when an eight year old boy with no shoes asks me to buy his pastries. Plus, the look of happiness on his face when I give him a few cordoba (a few US cents) breaks my heart. This happens in a place where speculation by American investors has [View Full Entry]

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We are in Granada now, a Spanish colonial town in Nicaragua. The hotel we are at, The Patio de Malinche, is a beautifully restored Spanish building with red-tile roof, and gorgeous brick courtyard with swimming pool. Granada is the most developed of all the places we have been to. The buildings have been restored with fresh paint, the roads are free of potholes, and there are tourists milling about. Similar to Leon, the city centers around the Cathedral and Central Park. The houses are brightly painted in shades of orange and blue, and horse drawn carriages wait for patrons. Like Leon, [View Full Entry]

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But I swear I am leaving today - and not in the sense of the 3 lies of traveling (which are 1. I'm not drinking tonight, 2. I'm leaving tomorrow and 3. I love you). I haven't decided yet whether I am going to slowly make my way back up and stop in Leon and Esteli (both in Nicaragua) or if I am going to to undertake the long trek backup to Honduras (12 hours! and that's not even to my final destination). (I'm apparently feeling very parenthetical today.) Granada has been lovely, or I should say Hostel Oasis has been [View Full Entry]

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Said our farewells to Rene and Li Nhi at Rivas, they departed for the Tica Bus heading south, we went in the opposite direction on yet another chicken bus, our backpacks ended up on top of a load of dirty vegetables. Read good reviews about two hostels in Granada, the Bearded Monkey and Oasis, one a bit more lively than the other. We plumped for the quieter Oasis, especially when one traveller declared that it was the best hostel he had stayed in. Overheard an English girl on the bus mention Oasis, made the mistake when we reached the bus station [View Full Entry]

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For some reason we were stricken with the idea to climb a volcano. This, despite the various literature telling us it was extremely difficult and required one to be very fit. The smaller volcano on Ometepe takes approximately 7 to 8 hours to climb, and we wisely chose Maderas vs. Conception (which takes ten). We set off with our guide Felix at 8:30 in the morning from El Encanto. Felix is 44, but is extremely fit. He entertained us with his poems, songs and anecdotes from his life. He told us that he is known as 'The Chinese' because of his [View Full Entry]

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Beautiful city on Lake Nicaragua [View Full Entry]

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