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Published: April 20th 2007
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We started our Nicaraguan adventure in San Juan del Sur in the south west. From the Costa Rican border we jumped on an over crowded ´chicken´ bus. These are actually old yellow American school buses just like in the Simpsons, and they provide a rattly, dusty, cramped, bone-crunching, cheap and interesting way of getting around.
Nicaragua is an incredibly poor country (the second poorest in the northern hemisphere after Haiti) and has had a very turbulent recent history. It also has an incredibly young population which I think brings its own problems as there is increasing violence and gang troubles - we were lucky and never saw anything but we have since met other travelers that are scared to go to Nica which certainly makes me fell like a brave and intrepid traveler!
Anyway, San Juan is a little seaside town which is really popular with property buying Americans. We arrived here at the beginning of Samana Santa which is the time leading up to Easter (a major event in this very Catholic country). As a result it was full of drunk, male Nicaraguans! So we didn’t stay too long traveled on to Ometepe. This is an island
in the middle of a massive lake created by two volcanoes and looks so impressive. During our time here we hired bikes and did a grueling cycle which involved going uphill for a few hours, coming back down was fantastic though!
Our next stop was the beautiful colonial city of Granada. We were so impressed we decided to stay and do a Spanish course for a week. So we spent a pleasant, but dull, week here drinking coffee and learning verbs. We opted to live with a family during this time which was an interesting experience. We really ended up staying with a woman on her own who was very nice and very religious! I had to pop on a fake wedding ring and invent a fake wedding and we had to sit through many hours of 70s film versions of biblical tales! We did manage to improve our Spanish though and Neil is pretty confident and I can ask where the toilet is and conjugate regular verbs!
Anyway we then moved north to Leon. We had high hopes for this city as we had heard only good things and we were not disappointed. It is a trendy
university city, full of art and culture. We found a great English/Canadian run hostel (The Cedar House) serving up the most delicious food and decide to extend our stay. Until this point our social life had been a little lacking (we were in bed by 9 most nights!!) so we took advantage of the people and cheap beer and stayed up a little later. The city was great to explore with interesting street art covering the walls, a stunning cathedral and pretty cobbled streets. The only problem was the heat as it was over 40degrees and so we had to move as little as possible.
It was in Leon that we did the coolest thing ever!! Volcano boarding! This bizarre sport involves sliding down the side of the active volcano, Cerro Negro, at incredible speeds in an orange jumpsuit! It could only happen in a country with no safety regulations! We set off at around 3 and carried our very heavy board up to the top of the Volcano. The Volcano is made entirely of sharp bits of black rock and erupts about once every 7 years. At the top it was really windy and it was definitely the
A weary cyclist!
Neil does have longer legs than me! scariest bit as you have a drop into a crater on one side and back down on the other! The 360 views were amazing though. Neil then ran down into a crater with some other crazy fools whilst I sat at the top watching Neil chasing his hat around and planning the quickest escape if lava appeared!! As the sun was setting our slightly crazy Australian guide explained how to go straight and slow down and then we were off! I certainly didn’t break any speed records but Neil zoomed down! It was absolutely brilliant and I can’t imagine I’ll ever do that again.
After all this heat and excitement, we spent a couple of days cooling down in the mountains at a beautiful coffee plantation and resort called Salva Negra then on to Laguna de Apoyo near Granada. This is a stunning crater lake with pure bright blue water and we spent a couple of lovely days swinging in hammocks and reading.
Anyway, we are now heading south through Costa Rica again and into Panama. Still looking for that elusive sloth ...
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Big jack
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Sounds like you are having a ball, it is really bringing out the green eyed monster in me. I can not wait to get over to south america, at mo we are planning our escape from life in new zealand, though only temporary as we will be back next year. looking forward to catching up in the uk, jack and rose