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David here...
As we are a bit behind with the blog, this is going to be a very quick run through of the remaining areas of Nicaragua we visited.
We left Ometepe, using bus, shared taxi, ferry, taxi, bus and finally a bus to Masaya. The bus dropped us off in the middle of a huge market area, and we promptly got lost. We finally found our way to the main square after asking so many people. As we've said before in this blog, as the roads have no names it is difficult to get your bearings. Even people who live in the town do not know where they are on a map. The best option is to just jump into a taxi when you arrive, but we're too stubborn for that. We found a hotel in Masaya, that cost $7 a night for both of us, and it showed as it was grim and cramped. But it was cheap. Actually, we'd ended up in the wrong place. The hotel we were aiming for, the Regis, was next door but poorly signed so we went into the wrong place. Saved us some money though. Masaya is not worth staying
at as the only thing worth going there for is the Artisans market, a large walled area where you can purchase local arts and crafts. We left Masaya the very next day and headed to Managua, the capital.
Managua is the most dangerous place in Nica and has areas that you would just not walk around at night, and some during the day. We got off the bus into a massive market, tried to get our bearings and then jumped into a taxi. Maybe not so stubborn then. We got taken to our first choice hotel, which had no room but offered us a deal at their sister place, but it was too far from the 'safe' area we wanted to stay in, so decided to try and walk to the next hotel. After about 30 minutes of getting no where we asked some Western Union security guards who couldn't help but one of the customers coming out thought he knew where we wanted to be so offered us a lift. Bear in mind this is a city where little old ladies will ask to join you in a taxi and then pull a knife on you so we
should've declined, but he seemed really nice so we just jumped in. His name was Errol and he took us right to Hotel Los Cisneros, where we got $5 knocked off the price and settled in.
Managua doesn't have a centre as such as it is made up of lots of little areas to make one massive whole, thus, all the sights are spread over a massive area and you have to go in taxis. As such we decided to go to the Plaza Inter shopping centre to do some shopping and to go to the cinema, where we saw Thor for £1.20 each. We then went to a bar round the corner called El Grillo which had a comprehensive jukebox, which we took full advantage of. I don't think anyone there had heard Rammstein before...they have now! We also met a slightly mental doctor called Tania. She didn't speak much English but approved of our choice of music.
The following day we went to the Roberto Huembres market for more shopping as we judged the Oriental market to be too dangerous. We wandered round getting good natured shouts of "Slash" and "Welcome to the Jungle" but didn't
feel in the least bit threatened. We spent the remainder of the day relaxing in the hotel before going back to El Grillo for more beer and metal. We ate at a few little family run places near the hotel in Managua and found the food to be much improved on the previous offerings in Granada, Ometepe and Masaya. We left Managua feeling happy about our stop there.
Our next destination was Matagalpa, the coffee capital of Nica. The guidebooks said that it is much cooler here, sometimes downright chilly. They lied, it was just as hot. We got off the bus, asked a friendly Policeman the way to town and he advised getting a taxi, so we did. We got taken to Hostel La Buena Onda and found a little slice of paradise. Big, clean, well decorated room, a massive book exchange, free coffee, even a pet rabbit running around to stroke. The place was a gem. It could get noisy as it was completely tiled, but noise is the norm here in Central America. We headed out to Matagalpa and loved the place. Busy, bustling and friendly. While there we went on a tour of the local
organic chocolate factory and just enjoyed wandering round the town. We thoroughly enjoyed our time here and could've stayed more days, however while in Managua we had booked our bus tickets from Leon to Honduras so had to move on.
We left Matagalpa by local bus after turning down the smaller cramped mini-van direct to Leon, which was a mistake as the local buses we took to San Isidro and then Leon were just as packed. We arrived in the baking heat in the afternoon and walked to the other side of town to our 2nd choice hostel, The Lazy Turtle. The hostel was alright, a bit small and cramped, but had a nice seating area. We settled in and wandered the streets of Leon. This is the 2nd biggest tourist spot in Nica and it shows. Lots of begging, lots of sellers and we felt a general air of hostilty towards us, which was a bit unnerving.
In the evening we went to Los Lobitos for food, in a bit of a dodgy area but friendly enough inside. Then on to a bar behind the hostel, La Olla Quemada. It seemed a nice place, with an eclectic
mix of music. Really disgustingly filthy toilets but as we were not eating and it was bottled beer we thought it would be ok. However, we made the mistake of putting ice into our beer. We'd been so careful about ice on this trip but slipped up this one time and it cost us. Suzanne was up all night in the bathroom being very, very sick. The following day she could barely get out of the room. I was feeling O.K but got worse as the day went on, eventually ending with me having to throw away some takeaway pizza which I had got for myself, which is normally unheard of. The one thing we did manage was to to go to the Ortiz Art Gallery in the afternoon and found one of the best galleries we've been to in the world. Lots of local contemporary art which was of a very high standard. A real gem and well worth a visit. We left Leon the next morning at 05:00, still feeling shaky, but well enough to travel into Honduras. On which I'll give you a word of warning. The Tica bus does NOT stop at the Tica office, but
a random place out of town. Luckily I checked this, but a couple of people came racing up in taxis after going to the wrong place. Just get the Tica office to prebook your taxi for you as they know where they are going.
We've enjoyed Nicaragua, but are looking forward to Honduras.
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Syd ?Joseph
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Hi....found you!
Hi...Am sitting SJDSur....had a hard time remembering which blog etc as we parted off the bus and my mind was already on the next step....Liked Granada...did day trips to Masaya (glad I went but glad I didn't stay there) and a day trip to Lake Apoyo (awesome). Leon for 6 days (long story) and now back here to volunteer...Hope all's well and travel safe! Drop me a line and I'll look for you in Bali someday!