My Adventures in Central America
Part 6 - Nicaragua
Say hello to Nicarahua! This country is slanting exceptionally beautiful, with amazing purple, but politically unstable, and don't push the tourism. Adrian thinks they have the potential to kick Costa Rica's butt if they put money & effort into bringing tourists into the country. Sounds like it should be good!
Day 27 Playa El Tunco to León
This morning our alarms went off at 3.20am. So early!! Fortunately, everyone was organised so we left right on 4am.
We drove for 3hrs to La Union, which is a border port for El Salvador. The bay is actually the border for 3 countries: El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua. When we arrived we went straight to the immigration office and handed over our passports. Then we all went to Pollo Campero (Latin KFC) for toilets and food. I got a chicken sandwich (crispy fried chicken burger with egg & cheese), some mini hash brown bites and a coffee.
By the time we got back to the bus with our takeaway, our passports were ready to go. We collected all our luggage and walked to the dock, about 5mins away. We had a small boat, similar to the one at the jungle lodge in Guatemala.
The first hour was alright, pretty scenery, lots of magnificent frigate birds and brown pelicans, and a pleasant breeze.
Then we were given ponchos and told we might get a bit wet with some splashes. Wet is an understatement! We got drenched! My backpack was getting wet and I was very worried about my camera gear so I took my poncho off to cover my bag instead. I got soaked to the bone. As I was at the back, I swapped with someone at the front who was seasick. By this point my eyes were stinging so bad from the salt water. They gave me a new poncho and took my bag to our under the tarp with the luggage. I basically ended up with the plastic bag on my head with a tiny breathing hole at the neck just so I could keep my eyes dry. It was awful!
It certainly made us feel like illegal boat people! Drenched in a small boat, trying to reach another country!
When we finally got to our destination, Potosi, Nicaragua, they basically beached the boat and we had to jump out into the water and walk to shore. No dock or anything, just a black sand beach.
There was a local man there who carried all our bags to shore. We had a welcoming party at the beach: 1 immigration official, 3 Navy men & 1 Army man with a drug dog.
We had to lay our luggage on 1 long line, and our day backs in a separate line. First, they ran the dog past everything a few times. Then the Navy men searched everything. Every day pack, every hiking pack. They opened toiletry bags, camera cases, checked our food etc. They wanted me to open my painting, which is sealed in a plastic tube, but as I was halfway through ripping the packing tape off, he changed his mind.
After everyone was checked, we put our stuff on the bus and walked to the immigration office. Here, Adrian collected all our passports, our $13 USD entry fee and gave us customs forms to fill out. This border takes a long time as every single passport has to be entered manually into the system. They don't have passport readers here as we are literally at a building on the beach in the middle of absolutely nowhere. We just had to sit and wait. Lucky we had snacks!
From the time the boat beached to the time we drove away, it would have been nearly 3hrs. There wasn’t even anyone else there, it's just because they search every single thing then do the whole immigration process manually.
At 1.30pm we began our drive to León, our first stop in Nicaragua. They said it was 1.25hrs to a servo for toilets, but traffic was busy so took slightly longer. I waited in the bus but it turns out everyone got fried chicken when they went in! So much for just going to pee!
At 3.45pm we drove the last leg of our journey, which took us an hour. Since we left our lodge this morning, it took us 12.75hrs to complete our travel today. It was certainly a long, hot day!
We checked into our hotel & this time in in a twin room with one of the sisters. Almost straight away the local guide came by to chat to us about tomorrow's optional activity: volcano boarding! I am very excited for this! Basically, we will be going down the side of an active volcano on a toboggan/sled. Awesome!
Then Adrian took us on a walk around León, showing us the supermarket and ATMs. Then we went to the main park (no grass) and he gave us more info on the city. It is quite pretty and very busy. We decided to meet for dinner a bit later.
I went walking around on my own and then went to the supermarket for some fruit. I was surprised to see that most of their milk comes in packets, not bottles/cartons. Very weird!
After a long shower to wash the salt water off me, I headed to the restaurant. I chose a homemade Nicaragua plate as my meal and a pre-mix can of local Nicaraguan alcohol (like rum, made from sugarcane). My meal consisted of pulled pork, rice, refried beans, Creole salad and plantain chips. It was yum!
Then we all headed back to the hotel and crawled into bed. Most people were able to sleep in the bus, but the long day off travel has taken it out of us.
Day 28 León to Granada
This morning, most of us got up early to go volcano boarding. We met our guide and boarded 2 vehicles. I got to sit in the tray of a 4WD with 5 others. The rest sat in the back of an enclosed troop carrier with air con. The drive took us about an hour to Cerro Negro volcano. It was very bumpy, especially on the volcanic sand.
Once we arrived we were given a handmade denim backpack containing our jumpsuit, goggles and gloves. We put our cameras, phones and water bottles in the bags and collected our board. The board is a flat piece of wood with 3 ridgy bits and a short rope. It also has some stainless steel attached to the underside.
We began walking up Cerro Negro. It is composed of loose volcanic rocks, gravel and sand. And it is black, so in the baking sun, it is extremely hot and hard going. We stopped several times for water and view breaks. Surrounding the volcano is lush green lands and green volcanoes. Cerro Negro stands out because it is a big black barren behemoth amongst all the greenery. Here are some views.
We got to the edge of the old crater and it was blowing an absolute gale! It kept the temperature down which is good, but standing on the edge of the volcano with strong winds is quite scary! One wrong foot and a strong gust of wind and you get a fast-tracked slide to the bottom!
After some pictures we went down into the old crater. There were some steam vents we could feel the steam, rocks that you could feel the heat, sulfur deposits, sulfur gas and 1 lonely tree with 2 huge bee hives.
Oh, and King Kong!
Then we went and collected our things and continued walking up to the summit. After some more pictures and stunning views, we left our things again and walked around the summit to the new crater. In total, there are 5 craters. If it erupts, the new crater is where it will blow. We could look down into this crater and stand on the edge behind great photos. The rocks were so hot! You can tell it is an active volcano just by the heat.
Then we headed back to our things and began getting ready for our main event. We put in our jumpsuits, tied them at the ankles, put on goggles, gloves, face masks/bandanas and put everything else in the bags which sat inside our jumpsuits on our chests. Don't we look sexy?!
Then we walk down a little to the starting point. The local guide went part way down so he could watch and give the all clear for the next person to go. We had 2 lanes, about 5m apart, and they are well worn so the boards should stick to them. Hopefully!
To use the boards, you sit right at the back with your butt behind one of the ridges. You lean back, hold the rope & pull it towards you to raise the front of the board. Your meant to keep your feet off the board to make your go faster but you can put them on the board close to your butt.
When people started going, they were actually a lot slower than we were expecting, which was good! The fastest people have gone at over 100km/hr!
When it was my turn, I turned my GoPro on and got ready. I was sweating up a storm and ready to get down so very much looking forward to this! It takes a bit for the speed to increase but after we passed the guide, it got steeper and you pick up a litre more speed. It was so much fun! The video doesn't show the speed very well but oh well.
My GoPro stopped filming just before I stopped moving as the memory card got full, which was annoying.
At the bottom I collected my board and went to join the rest of the group. We stripped out of our jumpsuits and gear, and then emptied the huge pile of gravel in our shoes. Our legs were so black from the dust! We will also have dust on all our orifices so that will be fun to clean!
We were given some baby wipes to clean our hands then given a slice of watermelon and pink dragonfruit. We also got a drink.
We began talking about our trips and decided it is the best activity we have done since we began in Mexico. Big call!
We boarded the 4WDs again and headed back to town. Unfortunately, we were nearly 45mins later than planned so we only had 15mins to shower, pack & check out. Yikes!
I stripped and tried to get in the shower. To my horror, there was virtually no water! I had both taps on full, and only got a few drips! Aarrgh! I'm covered in black dirt, I need a shower! I ended up using the water in the sink and splashing it on me to clean up. What a nightmare! Then I quickly packed and headed to reception.
Adrian decided he was going for a burger for lunch and said anyone could join if we wanted to.....so everyone came! We went to a café called Manchos, and I got a BBQ burger. It was beef, cheese, bacon, caramelised and homemade BBQ sauce. It was absolutely delicious! I couldn't eat it all it was so big! The burger & a can of sparkling water cost less than $10 USD.
Then we had to race back to the hotel to pack the bus. We ended up leaving 20min later than planned but oh well.
We began our drive to Granada. It should take 2hrs, but today is a huge party day in Granada as it is their patron saint of the city day. Every single day on the year has a saint and every saint is allocated to a city in Nicaragua. When it is that city’s patron saint day, they have huge street parties.
Well after about an hour, we entered heavy rain and then a big thunderstorm. This continued all the way to Granada. The drive took 2.5hrs but then it took a while to work out how to get to the hostel as the streets around it were closed for this party. In the end we had to have permission from the police to park in a closed street, get out and walk through the rain in the middle of the chaos.
And it was chaos. Absolute, out of control, drunken chaos. There were men on horses, one who learned over the side of his horse and vomited all over the ground, and another who peed on his horses leg/foot. Gross! It was a relief to get into the hostel. We are in bigger dorms this time. 7 girls in mine.
Then a big group of us went out into the streets to check out this party thing, clinging close together. We went to the main square where there seemed to be a big dance party. Just before we got there though, some of our group had seen people dragging a dead cow through the streets towards the square. Thankfully we didn't see that!
It seemed to stop after a few songs so we walked a little bit then headed back to the hostel.
We had a briefing from a local guide for the next days activity. It is called 6 in 1 Nicaragua. It is a 10hr day and includes 6 stops around the area. I’m going to do it.
Adrian then told us that the staff at the hostel have said this is a different celebration in the streets and there are a lot of out of towners and the streets are not very safe for foreigners at the moment. Granada is normally exceptionally safe, but not during this party. Plus, it was bucketing down. We made the decision to stay in tonight and order pizza for dinner.
A few of us spent a while going through photos and videos from today's activity. I discovered that Samsung has an object, shadow and reflection eraser in the photo editor so I was able to erase some people from my images and I produced this stunning panorama:
The pizzas turned up at 8pm and they were good, but very thick base. I had one with corn, ham and mozzarella. I also had a few drinks as they were super cheap. $1 USD for a pre-mix can of local rum hard seltzer.
After dinner, I went and had a shower to properly clean up from the Volcano, then went and chilled in a hammock to write this. Man, I really love a hammock, but I want one that swings by itself.
Day 29 Granada
We had to be up fairly early this morning as we were being picked up at 9am. 12 of us had chosen to do the 6-in-1 Nicaragua tour. 6 stops in 1 day.
Breakfast at the hostel was a mess. I asked for mine at 8am so I would have time to pack my bag. I received it at 8.50am. I was the last to get it, even though I was the first one waiting for it. Eventually, when I got told ‘uno momento’ again, I cracked the shits and went to my room to pack. I was so annoyed! I had huevos rancheros (aka Mexican eggs). I only had a tortilla and 2 fried eggs as the tomato sauce was so unbelievably spicy.
When we finally left, our first stop was the supermarket & ATM. It is very much a cash society in Central America. I bought a few cans of local pre-mix ($1 USD) and some bottles of Coke Zero (50 cents each!). We loaded them into the esky then headed to out first stop: a boat tour on Lake Nicaragua.
Upon arriving, we boarded a small covered boat and started cruising through some little pathways. It was very beautiful. They were created to provide a calm passage during rough weather.
One that we stopped at is owned by some guy who owns a coffee company that I have never heard of. His boat was in the boat lift at the front and on the side of his boat were lots of tiny bats! He also has a helipad on his islet!
We came to a tiny islets with a few trees on it called Monkey Island. Apparently, some monkeys are rescued from hunters etc and places on the island for a while before being released into the wild. We saw several spider monkeys. As soon as they saw us they came swinging through the trees to see us. Some companies feed them, but ours didn't, which is good. These guys are funny looking and look like they have a death mask on their face! Just like this emoji 💀!
Then we headed back to the dock. We could hear some howler monkeys as we approached. They are so loud and distinctive, as they growl like a bear. There were 3 that we could see, high in the trees.
Next stop was back to Granada for a quick city tour. We went to the square and heard about a few of the buildings and memorials. We also found out that yesterday was an annual traditional bull running event. They have multiple bulls and set them loose in the streets 😡 This made me angry obviously with the animal cruelty.
The third stop was a 30min drive to a town called San Juan de Oriente to a pottery place. We had a demo from the men and then we could shop. As this is done in the traditional indigenous method, these pieces are able to survive for thousands of years in perfect condition. They were exceptionally cheap too! I got myself a little clay shot glass and it was only $3 USD!
Next was a viewpoint overlooking the Laguna de Apoyo. This is a big lake in the crater of the volcano. The view was awesome.
Then we drove down into the crater to a beach resort. Not an ocean beach obviously, but a crater lake beach. Here we had 2hrs free time. The resort is built into the steep sides of the crater. We sat for a bit, had some fruit and cracked open the cocktail Macau, which is the national cocktail of Nicaragua. It is basically Flor de Cana rum, with fruit juices. It was very good! The tour guide had brought 5 gallons for us!
Then some people went into the lake. We had free kayaks & stand up paddleboards, and you could just swim. I swam out to the floating platform and back, then got a kayak. There were some people a fair way out so I kayaked out to them. It was so calm and peaceful.
Then I headed back and found out we didn't have long left. I got out and changed back into dry clothes and had some rum punch while I waited for everyone else.
Our next stop was the handicraft market at Masaya. By this stage everyone was tipsy on the rum all our made for an interesting visit! There were so many souvenirs and I managed to find a really nice shot glass.
The final stop of the day was a visit to Masaya volcano. This is an active volcano that you drive to the summit of, and then look down into the crater to see the lava. At the base of the park, you have to pass security, hand over your alcohol as it is banned in the park, get wristbands and pay. Then you drive to the carpark at the top. We got there during daylight and when the steam cleared got could see the glowing red lava. It was very cool!
As it got darker, it got more and more impressive (and exciting!). This was by far the highlight of the day.
Then we got back in the bus and left the park, retrieving the esky on the way. Then we drank the rest of the rum while singing party songs in the bus.
When we got back, we were very hungry as we hadn’t eaten all day, other than some snacks (mmm Doritos!) so a group of us went to a local restaurant for dinner. I got a mixed nachos (beef & cheese) and it was so good! Probably my favourite meal of the whole trip! Possibly it is because I was so hungry, cardboard would have been amazing, or it was just that good!
After dinner, Adrian took some of us to a local bar/nightclub. We had our Big Night Out that was postponed from the night before. He bought a round of shots (it was a brown rum & it was absolutely awful!). There was 1 spare so we played a game to see who would get it and I lost the game so it was mine. Gross! Burned for ages! We had some dances which was fun. Then I decided it was bedtime so Adrian walked me home. He said walking solo at night wasn’t a great idea.
Day 30 Granada to Isla de Ometepe
We started early today for our travel, leaving the hostel at 8.30am. The plan was private van, 2 chicken buses, ferry and private van to each or destination. The chicken buses worried me the most as you cannot keep an eye on your luggage.
The private van was just to take us from the hostel to the ‘bus terminal’. This only took 5mins. At the terminal, which was the side of the road in a residential area, all our luggage was thrown (literally) up to the roof and secured on the roof racks. We boarded early so we got seats (prearranged with the driver). For those that may not know, chicken buses are the local public transport, famous known as chicken buses due to the fact that they carry anything and everything, including people’s chickens! They are cheap and can be worse than a can of sardines. Adrian told us on his first trip to Nicaragua with 2 friends, the bus was so crammed that you were literally grinding hips & butts on the people next to you.
Today the bus got quite full (and extremely hot!) but not quite that full. We were lucky we boarded 30mins, early and got seats. There were no chickens on our bus but there were begging people, singing begging kids and a preacher guy preaching to the bus.
It was about 1.5hrs to the town of Rivas. Then the bus driver dropped all the locals off then took us to a spot to meet our next chicken bus. This one was a van style, and luggage went on the roof again. We had a 30min drive to the ferry port. We literally drove right through the middle of the market! People just got on & off anywhere they wanted. It was a very full van!
At the port we were all desperate for the toilet so we dumped our bags while Adrian got our tickets. We were one of the last to board the ferry. This meant no seats. Myself and 2 of the British people went on the middle deck and stood in the aisle. I ended up dropping my hiking pack and sitting on it. I wasn't going to stand for 1hr!
There was a very cute little blonde Canadian girl walking around, so Jacinta and I started a conversation with her. She is 6 and she lives in Nicaragua for the moment. She (and her family of course) is coming to the island to visit friends. Towards the end, her dad came over to check in her. They can get 6mths tourist visas for the country and will probably end up splitting their time between Canada and Nicaragua. The kids are home schooled and the mum is Aussie. They started in Mexico and are living the nomad life. The girl is so friendly and inquisitive, and quite knowledgeable on her travels. It was a pleasure to have someone new to talk to.
Isla de Ometepe is an island made of 2 volcanoes in the middle of a huge lake. The huge volcano is the active Concepcion. The smaller volcano is the dormant Madaras. The shape of the island is like an infinity sign.
By the time we arrived at the port on the island, we were getting hangry. None of us had had proper food, and I was after 1pm now. Most people were hungover and desperate for food. I had only had 2 choc chip biscuits.
Fortunately, Adrian gets hangry too so he asked our new drivers to stop at a pizza restaurant. After the last pizza were such thick crust, I decided not to get pizza. Big mistake! They were thin crust, smelled and looked amazing. I got a beef burger, which was good. I gad a slice of margherita pizza that someone didn’t want and it was delicious!
Then we continued to our homestay. Turns out the homestay is located right on the edge of the lake. It isn't a homestay like we had in Guatemala. This time we have our own separate rooms with bathrooms. We don't even need to see/speak to our hosts if we don't want to. I'm in a room on my own, but the host dad has a second room with 2 other girls in it. The homes are all in the same area and right outside my door is a courtyard, with 2 other rooms coming off it.
We had to head back to the central common area for an activity briefing. The guy gave us 5 options. 2 volcano climb tours, 1 petroglyphs tour, 1 Island tour and 1 beach/waterhole tour. I really wanted to do the island tour as it was a 1hr walk in the jungle spotting wildlife, a beach visit and then waterhole visit. They require a minimum of 4 people though and most people just want to go spend the whole day at the beach (I can't imagine anything worse, I'm not a beach girl). Looks like I might be going nothing then since I can't do what I want.
After the briefing or was free time until 6.30pm so I laid in a hammock and started writing this, catching up on the last few days. Just before dinner, the Canadian girl asked me about taking a taxi and going to the jungle nature reserve on our own and then going to the beach and/or water hole afterwards, by taking a tuk tuk. So now we might be doing that.
Dinner was a home cooked meal of chicken in a tomato & vegetable sauce, rice, lettuce & plantain chips, along with fresh pineapple juice. It was very good, but a huge portion. Unfortunately, the pineapple juice was proper fresh pineapple, which tasted very nice, but burned my tongue.
Then I laid in the hammock for another hour, uploading photos and chilling. At 8.30pm I went to my room to watch some TV and have a shower.
Day 31 Isla de Ometepe
This morning I was feeling a bit apprehensive about going out on our own without doing my own research.
The Canadian girl and I had a delicious breakfast with our host parents (scrambled eggs, rice and beans, and corn tortillas). It was all very good (except the corn tortillas, I don't like them). We also had some amazing Nicaraguan coffee, which was so smooth it was easy to drink black, and not bitter at all. We also had fresh lemonade.
We got ready to go out and I asked Adrian a few questions to make sure I had things straight in my brain. Then he asked the lady who runs the homestay program to organise a taxi. She asked him to pick us up, take us to a place, pick us up, take us to a second place then pick us up and bring us back to the homestay. All for $50 USD, with a driver they trust to take care of us.
When he turned up, he was in a tuk tuk, which was cool. Our first stop was the Charco Verde Nature Reserve. This place has a green lagoon, a jungle you can walk around to see monkeys and a butterfly house.
We went to the butterfly house first. There were so many butterflies inside! One I have never seen before and some common ones (like the monarch butterfly). We walked around for a while as it was really nice and calming.
Then we started our jungle walk. We could hear the howler monkeys. So loud! The jungle was so green and lush. It was beautiful.
About ½ of the way around, we heard a monkey very close. They do sound quite terrifying! We saw 2 in the tree above us! The photos didn't turn out great due to the lighting, but it was still cool to see them.
About 2/3 is the way around we find a beach. It was really pretty and you could see the little volcano.
We had 45mins before our taxi tuk tuk was due back so we went and sat in the butterfly garden. It was really nice. Then it started raining. Torrential downpour! I didn't have a coat so I was drenched. I ran to a tunnel they had in the garden to get out of the rain. When it lightened a bit, I made a dash for the entry to the reserve to wait inside. I was drenched through all layers to the skin!
Our driver was early (almost unheard of in Central America), and he took us to Ojo de Agua, which is a volcanic spring. Not a hot spring, just a spring, as we found out. We paid our entry, got changed and headed to the water. It is a gorgeous clear pool surrounded by jungle. But it was cold! We swam for a bit then decided to go to the restaurant for food.
We both ordered nachos, which were terrible. They didn't use corn chips, they used corn tortillas (yuk!) and some weird sour cream/mayo type sauce. While eating, we had some visitors of the 4 legged variety. We had 6 at one point! One of them had good manners and sat politely waiting. One stood quietly, and one was highly experienced in putting his head in your lap and rocking those big sad puppy dog eyes to get food. As we weren't going to finish our nachos, we gave them some food.
By the time we were done, some others from the group turned up as the beach they went to was crap. We all got back in the water again and then got hit with another torrential downpour. Gotta love wet season!
My travel partner for the day and I had to leave before everyone else and our driver was early again. He drove us neck to our homestay, which took 50mins. We saw lots of cows, pigs and horses on the side of the road, grazing.
I went and laid in the hammock for a while to relax. A bit later, Adrian came back. He had been out bike riding all day. I mentioned some people had said they might go to sunset at Punta Jesús Maria, which is a sandbar hurting it into the lake. He decided he was going so all 6 of us decided to go. We hired bikes for a discounted rate, then rode the 2.5km to the point. It was tough at times, as volcanic sand is not easy to ride through!
We made it just as the sun was shining behind the mountains. The sand is black and the water was so warm! As the sun confined setting, the sky turned an amazing pink-purple colour. Opposite the sunset, the reflection and colours in the clouds covering Volcan Concepcion were stunning. We stayed for about 30mins, then decided to head back as it was getting dark.
On the way back we had to ‘trust our instincts’ and ride without lights in the dark and without streetlights. It was scary! Especially when you can't see tree roots or rocks to avoid! It absolutely poured yet again so Adrian took all our phones in his dry bag. By the time we got to the road (1km) all our delicate bits were sore & bruised from the bumpy trail! We did however, get to ride through a thousand fireflies, which was absolutely incredible! On the road, it was much better. Smooth and less bumps. We even got to ride on the airport runway tarmac! Straight after this, Adrian gave us our phone back so we could use the torches on them to light the trail back to the homestay. This was a very nerve-wracking experience as it was very sandy, very bumpy and very dark. We all made it back in 1 piece though so that's the main thing.
My 2 homestay companions and I had dinner with our family in their home. We had a delicious pork in sauce, with rice and beans, and an amazing mango juice. They make it from fresh mango that they have frozen, water and a bit of lemon. We had several glasses!
Then the girls went to bed and I went back to the common area to lay in the hammock and use the WiFi. Adrian was there so when he finished sending us information messages, we had a big discussion about the activities in Costa Rica. I am feeling overwhelmed as I want to cram in everything in Monteverde, but also undecided on which activities to do in La Fortuna.
Then I headed to my room to pack and go to bed. We have to be up early the next morning (4.30am) but I’m not sleepy so I'm going to be tired tomorrow.
Nicaragua has been a wonderful place to visit on our trip. There are so many different things to do! Volcanoes, architecture, history, beaches, nature, wildlife! The political climate is not great, but we had no issues and I definitely think it is worth visiting.
Off to Costa Rica tomorrow and I cannot wait!!