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Published: December 21st 2004
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George of The Jungle
Terry flying through the jungle on our canopy tour of Volcan Mambuchu outside of Granada. Hello all:
I tried to post a few days ago and must have done something wrong because I am not able to find the journal. So I will try again. We have been in Nicaragua for a week now. We flew into Managua and we could not believe all the people at the airport. We were relieved to find Oscar, the host of the guest house we were to stay at holding a sign saying "Kathy Briggs". He loaded us and our packs into his tiny Daiwoo car and off we went. Wow, driving in Managua is crazy. Sure am glad we decided against renting a car, I do not think I could drive in Managua. Horns were honking everywhere, when a pedestrian, another car, a bicycle, horse cart or whatever else might be occupying the road is in your way you simply beep beep the horn and plow right through. We saw some pedestrian laying in the street with a crowd of people gathered around, some taxi had run him over.
It was a relief to get to Oscar´s house. Our accomadations were nothing fancy but they worked. There were some other guests there, one guy from Quebec
Traditional Dance of Nicaragua
A photo of only one of the many beautiful dancers we had the fortune to watch perform at the Vienes Verbena (Thursday Festival) in the Masaya Mercado. and a very nice couple from Norway. Oscar was anxious to talk to us, he is learning English and wanted to practice. He told us often that he liked visitors from the United States, they spend more money than the Europas he said. His english was very hard to understand and Terry and I were so tired we could not remember a word of Spanish.
The next day Oscar took us around Managua. The city is very large and very loud. He drove us throught the Mercado Orientale, the largest market in Central America. It was such chaos, very overwhelming to us small town Colorado folks. Made Denver seem sparsely populated in comparison, much less Paonia or Basalt.
Wednesday morning we were ready to leave the big city. Oscar took us to the bus station where we caught a chicken bus to Masaya. The bus got rather crowded, we felt lucky to have a seat for us and our packs. Once we made it to Masaya we got off the bus we were like fish out of water. We looked up a hotel in our travel guide and flagged down a taxi to take us there. The hotel was about 5 miles back from where we had come from, Hotel Volcan Masaya, next door to the Volcan Masaya Reserva entrance. The grounds at the hotel were beautiful.
Once settled we flagged down a chicken bus back to town to find a meal. Without our heavy packs we were much more prepared to deal with the chaos of Masaya. Masaya is the handicraft and art market for most items made in Nicaragua. Beautiful hammocks, pottery, leatherwork (alligator), carvings, furniture. We just looked, Terry bought a cigar only. We found a great place to eat and while there a couple sent a beer to our table then asked us to join them. They spoke about as much english as we did spanish so communication was comical, yet somehow we got by. We laughed and had so much fun with them. Everyone we have met has been very nice and helpful. We have been told many times. "Welcome to Nicaragua and thank you for coming" The children are learning english in school and like to say "Hello, how are you?"
The next day we visited the Volcan Masaya, an active volcano where we could look inside, if you could see through the sulphorous vapor rising out of it. The top of the volcano was eerily void of vegetation compared to the land beneath it. The lava flow spread for miles. The last eruption was in the 1700s, although in 2001 they said it burped out a boulder that landed in the parking lot at the top and smashed someones car.
From Masaya we took another chicken bus to Granada, a beautiful Colonial town established in the 1400s I believe. The architecture around the town square is really incredible. Granada appears to be quite the tourist trap. Many foreignors from all over the world, many languages. It was nice to speak english and be understood. The guest house we have been staying at is owned by a wonderful woman from PA. There was another couple from the states staying there who have been living in Latin America for 10 years, and another young girl from Boulder, who was here to study spanish for three weeks at one of the many spanish schools in Nica. When we went to dinner a guy at the table next to us commented on Terrys chaco sandals (I would use apostophes if I could figure out how to get there on this spanish keyboard), the guy turned out to be from Denver, a student from DU over here working on his thesis.
The next day we booked a tour of Volcan Mambochu, along with a canopy tour. This volcano is in a cloud forest and much more vegetated than the Volcan Masaya. The trees, plants and flowers (orchids) were beautiful. The houseplants that we struggle to grow were so thick you could not walk through them without a machete. Te stayed on a well taken care of interpretive trail. The canopy tour was a blast. We flew from tree to tree from a pulley on a cable, high above coffee plantations and banana trees, 15 cables in all. It was really fun.
The next day we hired a boat to take us out into Lake Nicaragua and through the islets out of Granada. This group of many small islands, most of them privately owned, was like a paradise. Many of the islands had very large homes on them, one home to an island. Talk about paradise, mucho dinero. We pulled up to a small island where there was no house and a monkey swung from a tree and onto our boat looking for bananas. Startled me, I took many photos but I must have been shaking because the are all rather blurry. The capitan told us he was looking for bananas, obviously they were used to turistas. There were several monkeys visible in the trees. These islands are something to behold. The ones not built on for their natural beauty, and the ones built on for the incredible engineering.
The food has been great, we have not gotten sick, and the weather is very pleasant. We have felt very safe since we left the big city of Managua. Terry is already talking about when he returns to Nica, he is really enjoying the place. I am too!
I will try to post again before Christmas. I have been trying to upload photos on this site and so far have not been successful. It worked at home but is not working here, darned computers! Maybe next time I´ll get a photo on here, for now I´ll send som very large files via email to a few. I am hoping somebody will let Mom see this over the holidays. Hasta Luego (until later)
With Love from Kathy and Terry!
P.S. Molly, send more money! lol
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anonymous
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Wow
Amazing trip and so cool to get it all in almost real time instead of waiting for you to come home and tell us about your trip! Have fun, be safe, and keep the news coming!~ - Linda Lujan