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Published: June 28th 2007
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At the bottom
With my board and scars after sliding down Following a rubbish two day journey through most of Honduras from Utilia we arrived in Nicaragua with the nice people we met in Utilia becoming new travel partners Anne and Michael (and briefly Betto whose "African dancing" will never be forgotten) as it turned out we were doing almost exactly the route through to Costa Rica. Thankfully this was our last "long" (traveling really makes you assess what a long journey is, I used to think Uni to Manchester was a long way!) overland journey, and the dodgy buses and bumpy roads won’t be something I miss from traveling.
Our first stop in Nicaragua was Leon, a nice little town which was centre to the recent civil war and full of history, as explained to us in great detail by the ex-revolutionary solider who guided us around the revolution museum (which was essentially a small room of newspaper cuttings and pictures of him and his friends, but he made it very interesting nevertheless). Leon was very hot which made our progress around town exploring a little slow over two days, thankfully having covered so much ground so quickly we have the days to take it easy now and spent
At the top
In my funky jump suit preparing to board down the volcano a bit of time in our really nice hostel and enjoying their swimming pool. As we were in Leon over a weekend we also took advantage of the local nightlife on all three days, Nicaragua is by far the cheapest place in Central America so you don’t feel guilty blowing your budget on going to a nightclub when the entry is only 20p and beers 40p.
The other advantage of our hostel is that it is the home of volcano boarding which took up our third day in Leon. Volcano boarding a legendry sport for backpackers in Nicaragua with many people sporting scars and battle wounds from it, little did I know I would soon have a big one myself! Its pretty much as it sounds, you walk up an active volcano (although there is no lava it was a year overdue to erupt!) and slide down the very steep slope of small black slippy rocks on a small wooden board. Once at the top of this volcano you can also run down the fine ash into the crater 70m down, this run takes seconds and is more of a slide than a run, its a cool experience and
Exploring colonial towns
Using the lonely planet maps is a real emotional roller coaster! lots of fun. Which can’t be said for the 15mins it takes to get our as you take one step up and slide two down! To avoid injury when boarding you wear a fetching orange jump suit, goggles and only one glove as most people fall off at some point as you reach speeds of up to 60km on the 400m course, unfortunately when I came off (and rolled 20m down the volcano away from my board) one of my sleeves rolled up and took a good chunk of my arm! Painful but worth it, volcano boarding was one of the most random and funniest things I have done since coming away, when I reached the bottom I would have been happy to repeat the hour long trek to the top to have another go!
Following on from Leon was a trip to Granada another colonial style town like Antigua and again just as charming. What made it even better was finding the Oasis Hostel, a very plush, almost posh hotel like place with cheap dorm beds, free very fast internet, really nice pool, hammocks etc - really recommend it to anyone who comes to Granada and its certainly
Canopy tour
Zip wiring through the jungle one of the reasons we stayed four rather than just two nights! Again we took our time exploring the pretty centre of town and the huge markets, doing the usual tourist thing of one eye on the pavement the other on lonely planet searching out all the small churches, old buildings and nice coffee shops and restaurants. Having chilled out for two days we needed a break (!) so headed to Laguna de Apoyo, the lowest point in Central America. The Laguna is actually a 6km wide crater of a volcano which through various earth quakes (they get a lot of them in this part of the world) have been brought down to under the water table and filled up as a very deep lake (so deep no one knows how far it goes!). It’s a really picturesque place and the water is thermally heated so great to swim and Kayak in. It was a good relaxed day under the typical tropical storms took hold for the afternoon! Having not seen rain most of SE Asia we have had bucket loads over here at least they are short bursts and the rest of the time is baking hot.
For
Gone with the wind
In 120kmph winds on Conception Volcano, Isla de Ometepe our last day in Granada we decided to go on a canopy tour through the tree tops, having seen this activity in loads of countries we finally decided to go for it seen as only a scary 18 days left! Its basically swinging through trees on 100m zip wires and climbing up ladders to up to platforms in the trees 30m high and finally assailing back down to the ground at break neck speed, all through a coffee plantation on the side of a volcano, yes all very random but still a lot of fun and got some great photos and videos. The good thing about this activity is unlike most things this side of the world they take health and safety very seriously so no chance of falling out of the trees which is reassuring to know, I wasn’t feeling to comfortable at first this high up, however felt I best get on with it and enjoy myself when a 4 year old (yes a 4 year old) was at the front of our group enjoying the experience more than anyone!
Final stop was Isla de Ometepe an island formed by two volcanoes in the middle of lake Nicaragua. Lake Nicaragua itself is fasinating as its the largest lake in the world (the island itself actually has a lake withing it!) so its like being at the coast with its black sand beachs (formed by volcanic rocks), tides and waves due to the shere size of the place. Having arrived following a hefty travel day we werent up to much the first evening but the second day it was all action as we trekked up the steep slopes of the Conception volcano which has erupted 4 times in the past 6 months (which they only told us after we had been up!!!). Once at the highest point you can reach without ropes we were open to winds of 120kmph, a very surreal and scary experience. The following day we were shattered and went for a beach day, taking in the black sands and a little bit of swimming, although not too much as the lake does contain fresh water bull sharks! All preparing for the 4am start the next day for (hopefully) our final very long overland journey into Costa Rica.
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