-->
After numerous requests from my fans, here is an update on
our travels to Nicaragua (Only 18 months late). My apologies it’s still in a “this is what I did on my
summer vacation” format, but I just can’t get this out otherwise. Also, be advised that since I am so far
behind and frustrated, I am not doing much fact-checking on this post. Without further ado….
 |
| Laguna Apoyo |
Last year, for my 30th birthday, I asked Grant to
make plans for a trip someplace new.
I had about 2 weeks to do the trip, as I was on a rotary job, and could
only take 30 days off. I could not
participate in any meaningful way in planning the trip. By plan, I mean pick a
place and buy a ticket. Other than
that, we never do much planning anyway.
After skimming through our various Lonely Planet guides, and
after staring at a map of the world, Grant settled on Nicaragua. When Grant e-mailed me about it, I’ll be
honest, I was like most Americans, and was a little dubious. What I told Grant though,
was “Hell yeah, let’s go there!”
He explained that Nicaragua actually has one of the lowest crime rates
in Central America, and we found out later that it’s violent crime rate is lower
than Costa Rica’s. Plus, it isn’t overrun with tourists and condos like in
Costa Rica (not that we know first hand, as neither of us have been there.)
I came home, threw myself a party, then two days later we
flew to Managua. Based on advice
on the interwebs, we only stayed one night in Managua, then hopped a bus to
Granada, a picturesque colonial town on enormous Lake Nicaragua.
 |
| Heart of Granada |
When we arrived in Grenada’s town square and got off the bus, the first thing we noticed
was IT WAS FREAKING HOT! It was
siesta time, about 2pm, and we had no hotel arranged. We sat down for some coffee and beers to get our
bearings. We then started huffing
it around town looking for a hotel.
All the locals were staring at us like we were crazy. When we finally found a place, the lady
told us as much. She was fanning
herself, moving slowly, and basically implied “you idiots, can’t you see it’s
hot this time of day? That’s why
we don’t work in the afternoons.
Why would you walk all over town with a backpack in this hot sun?” This was all said with her eyes and
comment about the heat, mind you, not directly. But we understood. Unfortunately, for the rest of our trip,
we were still too stupid to not travel at the heat of the day!
 |
| Street Art in Granada |
We saw all the sights Granada had to offer, taking a boat
ride amongst the isletas, formed by the nearby volcano erupting and throwing
huge boulders into the lake. That
was fun. Not a huge adventure, but
nice. I had no problem finding
good vegetarian food on the main drag off the town square. We also did a guided tour of a nearby
volcano, though we could have handled the longer hike as it was much cooler at
the top. Our guide was really nice, and we got our first taste of the civil war
that racked Nicaragua in the 80’s. This guy was one of the boys that was sent to America so as not to be
forced into the army at the age of 12, so he spent many years in Texas. (We
later met several men his age not lucky enough to be sent out of country for
the war)
 |
| A view of Las Isletas from the Volcano Mombacho |
|
 |
| Granada Church |
|
 |
| Granada Lakeside Street scene - the rush hour |
|
One of the
highlights of our stay in Granada was a huge international poetry festival. Apparently, Nicaraguans, or “Nicas” are infatuated with poetry, so this is one of the world’s largest poetry
festivals. The lady who owned our hotel excitedly explained that her youngest
daughter was participating in the festival. This is how she described her child, from the best we could
decipher; “her words are like sugar on her toungue” It sounded nice in Spanish anyway. I doubt you’ll find any town in America, or Europe even, who
turn out in such force to listen to poetry. The whole town was in the zocalo (town square), including
children, teens, and the elderly, as well as tourists from all over. We didn’t fully participate in the
festivities, but on stage that night were many, presumably well known,
international poets from all over the world. They each read a poem in their own
language, then one they wrote in Spanish. Or perhaps it was their poem
translated into Spanish. I’m a
little hazy on those details. I’m not a poetry buff, but it was fun to see all
the enthusiasm of everybody, including teenagers!
 |
| Mombacho Volcano from Lake Nicaragua Las Isletas tour |
|
 |
| Pirate's Eye view of Juicy Granada from Las Isletas |
|
 |
| A rescue monkey in Las Isletas |
 |
| Along the Lake Shore, Granada |
|
 |
| Colorful Granada |
|
 |
| The Granada area from Mombacho |
 |
| Just think of all the Puma wounds that could be avoided!? |
|
 |
| Pretty Nature Mombacho |
After a few days of taking in the sights of Granada, we
grabbed a taxi to Laguna Apoyo, a crater lake in another nearby volcano. We arranged for a private room in a hostel right on the water. They served three squares a day at a
reasonable price and had a lakeside bar open until 10pm, with free use of
kayaks, etc… All for $25 (not including beer and food). As we kept discovering was true for all
of Nicaragua, the lake was even more isolated than described in the guidebook. There wasn’t really a town to speak
of. There were a few illegal
restaurants by the shoreside down the path from our hostel, but nothing too
special. The bathroom facilities
were a little rough near the local’s restaurants. We ordered several tostones, cheese and meat, from one
establishment, and when we had leftovers, some local kids came by and asked if
they could have the food. Not knowing
local customs, and what to do in these situations, we said of course you can
have our leftovers. The kids
happily grabbed our appetizers, while the locals looked on like it was nothing
(a good thing in our opinion!) and perhaps a little approvingly? The Nica’s can be hard to read as they
are a little more reserved than a lot of the cultures we’ve spent time
with. At any rate, the little
shacks were good for a change of pace from the hostel bar and restaurant.
 |
| Evening on Laguna Apoyo |
 |
| Stunning Laguna Apoyo Accomodations |
|
After Laguna Appoyo, we went to Granada, and after a few
minutes of aimless wanderings, hired a cab south to San Juan Del Sur (get it,
South, del Sur?) for $50. I
thought I was going to die in that cab ride. The kid drove so fast, with cows, busses, you name it, in
the middle of the road the whole way.
We survived.
San Juan Del Sur is the gringo’iest town in Nicaragua. It is mostly old Canadians, eh! but not
too bad all things considered. But
we still went a little crazy with the North American culture invasion. The next day we continued to splurge
with the cab rides, and hired a cab for the day to take us to several isolated
beaches.
 |
| Sunset, San Juan Del Sur |
|
 |
| San Juan Del Sur Happy Hour: Agua, Tona, and Nica Libre |
The first beach, Coco Beach, we were literally the only
people there. Incredible. We had hoped to be able to buy a beer
at the one restaurant on the beach, but it was closed that day. The cab driver offered to track down
beers for us at a local friend’s convenience store. We sighed, acknowledging these would be “expensive” beers,
but thought it worth it. Well, not
only was our driver fast, but he handed over the beers with change, for the
regular price! This was another
surprising thing that we finally got used to –the complete honesty and
friendliness of the locals. Not to say that we assumed otherwise, it’s just not
the norm in our own country, so is always a pleasant realization while
traveling that you can, within reason, trust your fellow man.
 |
| Coco Beach looking toward Costa Rica |
 |
| Oh the crowds! |
 |
| This is the busy tourist area? We love it! |
 |
| Ahhh Nicaragua |
 |
| The river over the road makes this impassable without 4wd in the rainy season |
After Coco Beach, we went to the beach where Survivor
Nicaragua was filmed. This huge
tourist attraction had…one shack selling burgers, a couple of surfers camping
and taking lessons, and us! Total
isolation, drop dead gorgeous beaches to yourself. And this is the “gringo” area!
 |
| Survivor Nicaragua? |
 |
| Survivor beach, a great surfing destination? |
I should mention quickly that these beaches were all
accessed via slow bumpy dirt roads with several stream crossings which make
these beaches totally inaccessible by car a lot of the year. This is untapped beauty at it’s
best. It’s not going to last long,
that’s for sure.
Next we hopped a “first class” bus to Ometepe, an island with two volcanoes in the middle of Lake Nicaragua. The bus dropped us at the ferry and we ventured over to the sleepy paradise island.
 |
| The 'big' ferry with Volcano Concepcion in the background |
|
 |
| And this was our ferry! |
 |
| Concepcion and Maderas, the volcanoes of Ometepe |
 |
| At the bus transfer location, enroute from San Juan Del Sur to Ometepe |
 |
| The ship's wheel |
|
|
Ometepe has a lot going for it; including some coffee plantations, some
great tourist facilities and the sleepy quiet off the map feel that we
welcome. Some of the highlights for us include bicycling over to Ojo de
Agua, a beautiful fresh water swimming area, hiking up to a volcano
waterfall, and kayaking through some great scenery with howling monkeys
'yelling' at the barking dogs. While trying to take the bus to the far
end of the island on a rough and bumpy dirt road, the bus broke down.
The locals were given their fare refund, and we were all left to walk to
our destinations. Luckily we travel light and our backpacks are very
manageable. However, it was the middle of the day (again) and thus very
hot!
 |
| Ojo de Agua swimming |
 |
| Dry Season |
 |
| Dry vegetation juxtaposition |
 |
| Bus broke down? Looks like we're walking! |
|
 |
| Kayak Tour to Rio Istian |
 |
| Concepcion volcano |
 |
| Rio Istian and Maderas volcano |
 |
| Evening Kayaking |
 |
| Local cows beating the heat |
 |
| San Ramon waterfall hike |
 |
| Taking advantage of tropical paradise |
 |
| The Bus Stop |
|
 |
| Ometepe Sunset |
|
Ometepe was great and highly recommended. One thing to keep in mind however is "Nica time".
We found that this time zone has a dramatic effect on any travel plans you might think you have. When trying to get from town to town, one must take this time into account. While Nicaragua is physically a fairly compact country on the west coast tourist circuit (we didn't make it to the Caribbean) it still does take some time to travel about. We like to take the chicken bus or maybe even the 'directo' if we think we have a destination but as before sometimes we did resort to a personal cab just to get some distance covered.
That being said, we barely escaped the pull of Ometepe. Our destination was Leon, and though close it was an all day affair to get there including an hour's worth of standing in the aisle on the (barely caught) bus to Managua.
 |
| Poneloya (or Penitas?) Beach outside Leon |
|
Still, using transportation was a breeze and with everyone helpful and friendly we found a hotel and a beer and some great food before the end of the day.
We ended up in Leon on a Sunday, and everything was closed up and all the people were at the beach. We decided to do as the locals and head to the beach! While dangerous with riptides we had fun in the surf along with all the locals. We pressed our luck a bit because we counted on catching the last bus back to Leon - it was completely full when it got to our stop. Not to worry! We climbed on top with everyone else and rode the top of the bus back to town - we had to lay down flat and mind the powerlines and trees! A bus-top full of happy semi-drunk locals and tourists in the middle of the night - what could possibly go wrong?!
 |
| The fledgling revolutionary museum in Leon |
|
As a parting note, we did manage to take a tour of the revolutionary museum in Leon. Fascinating, depressing and informative. The tour guide was speaking only Spanish and though Grant could comprehend a lot, we both missed a lot as well. A terrifying piece of history.
Nicaragua was a great place to travel. We never felt threatened or unsafe. It was also the first place in the Americas where we truly needed to speak some Spanish to get by. While some English could be found, it is difficult to travel there without some Spanish skills. Nica's are more reserved in their personalities and have a softer and quieter cadence than we were used to our Latin American travels. The were some of the nicest people to meet, however. We highly recommended this country to visit. Better than the local grocery store, and cheaper!
