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Published: December 7th 2006
Leon Cathedral
Oldest in Central AmericaAfter a long, hot and sweaty journey from Costa Rica we made it across the border and into the port town of San Jorge in Nicaragua where we caught the ferry to Isla de Ometepe.
The island looks the most impressive from the mainland as it is made up of two volcanoes joined in the middle with a small strip of land in between, pretty stunning.
After a good nights sleep we ventured off for a day of exploring the island on a local's moped that he graciously hired to us for the day (Nick wanted to go for the more poweful dirt track bike but I had my reservations after seeing how the locals drive). Our first stop was to a beach and a nearby lagoon whereupon we discovered we had a puncture in our back wheel, just our luck! After pumping it up with the hotel's pump we were told that we would be able to make it until the next town to get it fixed, such optimism.
About 1km down the road it went flat again so we started pushing the 3km until the next town, I had to chuckle but I don't think the
pusher was too impressed. Our luck was in when we passed a village where a mechanic fixed our puncture for the grand sum of 1 dollar. For the rest of the day we visited another port town, Altagracia, that was a bit dull, a beach called Santa Domingo that was experiencing 30 mph winds (well thats what it felt like) and a swimming hole where we could swing from a rope - apart from the moped that was the most fun we had all day!
A funny thing happened on our ferry trip back to the mainland, midway the ferry started circling, we thought thats wierd and went on deck to see what was going on. One of the docking ropes had fallen off the ferry so one of the crew had to jump in and get it and then we had to double back to get him..well it was funny at the time.
The next day we ventured onto Granada, a touristy town with nice buildings and restaurants but it seemed pretty quiet to us, except from when Nick got woken up by 4 hippies singing outside our room at 9.30am.
Masaya was our next stop
Hammock Making
Masaya is famous for Hammocks - we bought one to make travelling more dificult! which we really liked, its infamous for its arts and crafts so we (well I) took much pleasure from spending the afternoon sauntering around the Artesenia market. We also visited a few houses where you could watch the hammocks being made, that was really interesting, it only takes them less than a day to make a family size hammock, of course we could not resist purchasing one for our garden that we have yet to buy! The evening was spent watching baseball with the locals in the town's stadium, a good night out and all for 50 cents - I got in free beacause I am a girl. After the game we went into town to watch some traditional dancing that was colourful and well coordinated, unlike the marching bands that we had experienced previously on our trip.
Our last day in the Masaya region was spent visiting the Pueblos Blancos (White Towns) that were not white at all but quaint all the same. The town of Catarina was set on Laguna de Apoyo which we had to scramble 45 minutes down a path to get to. The trek was worth it (even though I did see a snake)
Old Hospital - Granada
Closed since the war in 1979 as we had a beautiful dip in the lake next to a posh hotel.
On our way to Leon we stopped off at Volcan Masaya where you can stand by the edge of the crater and breath in the Sulphure fumes, pretty cool but it gets to the back of your throat after a few minutes. We spent a couple of nights in Leon before heading onto Honduras where we relaxed, walked around the city and went to the cinema, not much excitement but we have to have a break sometimes!
Lots of love to you all, enjoy all the christmas celebrations, Sal and Nick.
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william
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Nicaragua is beautiful
Nicaragua is beautiful is a great nation, Nic no have rival in the central america, Nicaragua and this greats lakes, wonderfuls volcanoes, beautifuls cays in the caribean ocean, one pretty CAYON, cayon off Somoto, great crateric laggon, APOYO in catarina, APOYEQUE in managua, MASAYA in masaya, COSIGUINA in the volcano cosiguina, maderas in the volcano maderas, Nicaragua is more than LANDS AND LAKES AND VOLCANOES, Nicaragua is History and culture, BEAUTIFUL NICARAGUA.