Blogs from Southern Pacific Coast, Nicaragua, Central America Caribbean - page 12

When I am in a new situation or meeting new people, there is always a moment when everything sort of clicks together in a way that was different and better than before. I often describe myself as a “feather in the wind”. That is, for the most part, I am lucky that I have a personality where I can have a good time in virtually any situation. So, I am not surprised that I have been having a blast from day one of this trip. I’ve enjoyed the activities, and I think that the group is great. But, there was a moment when everything went from fun to really clicking – a new level. And, for me, that moment was in Granada. I loved Granada. As is typical at this point, I can’t skip talking about ... read more

After a manic two weeks of pretty much non stop liver abuse I decided that it was time to head to the beach for a bit of R&R and no drinking. An Aussie called Adam that I had met in San Jaun del Sur and I headed off to a hostel at a semi-secluded beach that was about a 30 min shuttle ride from SJdS and then a 20 minute walk with our packs along the beach to the hostel. Spending three nights doing absolutely nothing was certainly what my body (and my liver) needed in life. The hardest decision that I had to make one day when waking up was deciding whether I wanted to go for a swim in the Pacific Ocean, which was about 10 steps from the entrance of my hostel, of ... read more

We had an 8.15am departure this morning which was a welcome change from some of our previous early morning travel days. We piled onto our mini-bus to take us the 1.5 hour journey down to San Jorge where we waited for a short period until our little ferry arrived. The ferry was more like a mini-barge, space enough for 2 vehicles and we all sat on top to enjoy the views as we sailed across to Ometepe Island. Ometepe Island sits in the middle of Nicaragua's largest lake, aptly named Lake Nicaragua. The meaning of its name literally means two mountains as the island has been formed by these 2 massive volcanos rising up out of the lake. Of the two volcanos, Concepcion is the largest and remains one of the world's most active volcanos, the ... read more

We got up this am at 7.01am, cos 7am was just a bit early! We had private transport this am so we could start a lil later which was good! We went down to Bigfoot Hostel again for breakie and had oatmeal to keep us going. It was a pretty short travel day today – only about 3 hours to Granada. We sat up the front and Ben wrote a blog while I just chille dout to music. We had one stop along the way in the capital city – Managua for some snacks etc. We arrived around midday and everyone automatically fell in love with Granada! There was a few volcanoes around and really colourful houses and cleaner streets thn Leon. It had a really cool feel to it. Not dis-similar to Antigua! It was ... read more

GRANADA, NICARAGUA: After we got dumped off the bus to Managua in the middle of nowhere and swindled into a $10 cab we arrived at our hostel in the colonial city of Granada. The whole thing seemed a little shady; literally we're climbing over seven people with our bags over our heads and before I can even step off the bus our belongings are being transferred to the cab, like we had arranged for him to be there waiting for us. I knew $10 was way above the going rate, but at that moment I just wanted to get there with least amount of effort possible. After the experience at the border and being squished into a cramped chicken bus my wits were already shot! Our hostel was very basic but in a good location. We ... read more