Cheap food & cheap beer... you can't go wrong!

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Deano and I met up in San Jose and headed north up to Nicaragua. It was a long bus trip (something I hadn't experienced for a long time, having lived in Montezuma for a while now), and crossing the boarder was a pain in the royal ... Anyways we eventually got there and met some great crew on the bus. Two guys from the States, Stefan and Desmond and an Italian gal, Johanna. They were lots of fun, and fortunately were heading in the same direction as us. Johanna spoke excellent Spanish (well being European of course you speak at least 5 languages... I envy that so much!), though mine is improving rapidly I still envy those who speak it fluently and sound like locals. The 5 of us made our way to San Juan Del Sur, a well known and popular spot for backpackers as it is close to Nicaragua's most famous surf beaches.

SJDS was a really pretty spot, but it wasn't up there with one of my faves. It had a fun nightlife and we met some great folk. We also experienced gorgeous sunsets on the horseshoe bay, had fun checking out the surf at Maderas surf beach and enjoyed the cheap sodas (small local cafes that serve typical food, such as Casados which are beans, rice, salad, vegies, and meat/fish or chicken, SOOOOOOOO delicious, big serves and super cheap, b/w $3-5 in Nicaragua, Costa Rica and Guatemala) and beers. We spent a few nights here and enjoyed the company of Stefan, Desmond and another gal we met, Mercy, but we were ready to move on pretty soon...

After a few night in SWDS Dean and I headed to the ferry to Isla Ometepe (and Island made up of two volcanos joining together) which is just stunning. We met some more fun crew and stayed in a very small town not too far from one of the volcanos we planned to climb the following day, Volcan Maderas. I went to the hostel next door to ask about climing the volcano and who should be there but some crazy cats we met in SJDS on our first night out. Guus (from Holland) and Haley (from Manchester, coolest accent EVER!!). They were both such characters. It was freaky how much Guus reminded me of Tom (Tommo you boys are so similar, and not just because you are both Dutch, honest) my Dutch friend I travelled with for two months in South America. His laugh, voice, accent, facial expressions, manerisums, how much he smoked, how he loved beer, really was crazy. Also his and Haley's relationship was so similar to Tom's and mine! They had only met about 5wks b4 and were best friends, they had so much fun together and shared everything with each other, just like Tom and I did, it really made me miss YOU Tommo!! So I booked Deano and I in for the hike up the volcano the next morning. I was stoked that Haley and Guus were doing the trip with us, we had a fun day ahead of us.
We woke early, about 5:30am, and headed to the hostel next door for a 6am breakfast b4 our big climb, 1300m high. We we supplied a packed lunch and a large bottle of water, we then piled into the truck and headed to the base of the climb. Our guide for the day only spoke Spanish, which suited me fine as I love to practice. Within half an house of climbing my heals were blistering and very painful, I hadn't worn my hiking boots for quite some time. The hike I would have to say was the hardest I have EVER experienced. I was in AGONY with my heals (you will understand when you look at the pics) and I am not the fittest person so it was altogether a struggle. Haley and I were pretty slow, but our guide hung back with us, though he tried to egg us on as much as he could. We complained a lot. Though it was tough, it was such a beautiful hike through cloud forrest (meaning the forrest really is in the clouds, amazing) and the four of us, and a Spanaird we gained along the way, and our guide all had a FAB time together. We sloshed through deep puddles of mud, swung from Tarzan vines, slipped over many a time (well Haley did 😊), and had lots of laughs... and breaks 😊 Unfortunately it was so clouded over and misty (and cold up there) that we wouldn't view the beautiful lagoon we were hiking to reach (one of the main reasons we chose to do the hike), which we were all disappointed about. However we had such a fun time together as a group that we weren't too worried. The hike down was nearly as hard as the hike up. The relief when we got part way was evedent, though we thought we were much closer than we were... We were all struggling with walking by this stage after a 4 1/2 hour hike up and close to 4 down. When Jorge rocked up in the truck we were all so relieved and so eager to put our feet up and kick back with a beer and some FOOD!!
The relief when I took my boots of is unexplainable, and a shower certainly helped ease the pain (though the stinging water in my blisters was agonising) of the muscles. That night we celebrated our big hike and good company with lots of rum, beer and food! Was loads of fun and I enjoyed practising my Spanish with the owners.
The next day we headed to Granada with Haley and Guus. We had such a funny trip there. Haley is a constant barrel of laughs, so loud and out there, just halarious. We encounted a very funny insident on the trip there in a small town where a local guy was walking around touching people. Everyone he passed he touched. So of course Haley, being Haley, touched him back. It may not sound so funny, but it really was halarious. We finally rocked up at the Bearded Monkey, a popular backpackers in Granada where we were meeting up with my friend Mel. We checked in and dropped our packs in our room. Met Mel, who had already checked in, and then ventured out to explore the town. We had food (for the first time all day) at a yummy cafe and downed a few beers, arhhhhhhh beer. We were lucky enough to whitness a grand drumming band with a guy who did the most amazing spinning with his drum sticks... and meet some lovely lil local boys, who spent a good hour with us. I can't remember their names but they, brothers, were all of 5-7years old and were mesmorised by Haley's big hair and bright green eyes. After food we headed out to a bar called Imagine, where there was a gal from Germany playing live acoustic music. She was amazing (in fact we enjoyed her so much that a few of us bought her cd), Haley was teaching us all the "right" way to do flaming sambuccas, it was flamin' crazy if you ask me! But good fun! By the end of the night it was just Deano, Haley and me out, if I remember correctly we ended up visiting about 5 different bars.

Mel and I spent a day wandering the main market in Granada and then headed on to the main church tower which was a hard climb, only because my legs still hadn't gotten over the climb up Volcan Maderas (it seriously took close to a week before I could walk properly without any pain. I felt like an old lady. Pathetic eh?!) From the top of the tower there was a huge bell and a pretty view over Granada. We then headed to a fortress which was built in 1749 and was used to interigate and execute enemies. When inside the fortress we discovered thin slots all around the building only wide enough to fit a rifle to shoot at enemies, something I have never seen before. They have now turned the fortress into a centre for art, they run an art school and display the artwork, some beautiful pieces. Mel and I decided we had done enough sight seeing and it was beer O'clock. Nothing like a beer in the warm sun on a cobbled street whilst people watching. We were joined by two bubbly, enthusiastic young girls of about 8 years. They were very entertaining and enjoyed helping us with our Spanish, playing with our cameras and singing. I just love that they are so comfortable to come up and start conversation and hang out with strangers. That certainly wouldn't happen in any Western countries. I love relaxed feeling of freedom in Central America.

We spent a few days in Granada, wandering the streets, markets and some of the tourist sights, and enjoying relaxing in the hammocks, reading, watching movies (on hang over days) and meeting loads of cool crew at Bearded Monkey... oh and making the most of the happy hours, damn alcohol is cheap in this country! Mel and I had a bit of a stomach bug but nothing to write home about. It's pretty normal when travelling, though I was lucky and only had it badly three times, in 14mths travel.

All in all Nicaragua was a lot of fun, probably more to do with the fun crowd we were hanging with than anything else, but Mel and I were ready to move on and hit up GUATEMALA!!!

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Photos

Wave rock
well that's what I call it anyway