Entry 11- Nicaragua

Trip Journal Time! Those words, the infamous words we have to say to each o0ther every couple of weeks. Many of our experiences now are puncuated at the end by, 'That's going in the Trip Journal'. There are only, however, two situations in this trip which sometimes leave us at each other's throats: 1) Looking for a place to stay after travelling for 12 straight hours when we're hot, hungry and tired. You have no idea the stress relief that comes with finding a place to stay, putting down our way too huge and heavy bags and throwing ourselves on the bed. 2) Writing our Trip Journal. 'Nuff said.

We left Teguicigulpa in Honduras for Granada which is an old Spanish colonial town in Nicaragua. We were a little worried as to whether or not we would be able to find a place to stay since it was the start of the Semana Santa Holy Week in Central America. It's the week before Easter Sunday and is the biggest holiday in CA. The entire population of CA (90% Roman Catholic) practically goes on vacation and most of them are in search of beaches. Granada is on Lake Nicaragua so we knew that it would be packed. This was also enticing since we definitely wanted to see some celebrations. We met Adam, a Canadian guy, when we were leaving Tegucigulpa and the three of us stopped in Managua, the capital city, along the way. We thoroughly enjoyed some McDonald's and went to see 'Ocean's Eleven'. We were once again amazed by how nice some areas of the city were. The next morning we finished our travelling to Granada and were able to find a place to stay. Our Hospedaje was pretty laid back and we met a lot of other couples who were really down to earth. Everyone would cook together in the kitchen at night and get to know each other. The conversations that we have with travellers are often mindblowing. Most of these people are under the age of thirty and yet the experiences that they've had are incredible. Stories will be flyin' back and forth about everything from driving jeeps around Tibet to camping near lions in South Africa to boat trips from Panama to Tahiti. We can't wait to share some of these with everyone when we get home.

We stayed five nights in Granada and almost every night there was a different procession that was lead through the streets leading up to Easter Sunday. There was a small band and some men carried various statues of Christ on a platform on their shoulders. It was really moving and we were happy to be able to witness it. The beach area was absolutely hilarious. There was a Nicaraguan literally every square foot in the water. This is how all the beaches around the country look during this time. Somehow over fifty people managed to drown this year (which is down from seventy last year) during Semana Santa. A lot of the locals get drunk and don't know how to swim. How they manage to drown when they are completely surrounded by people is beyond us.

A group of us organized a boat trip to the Las Isletas island chain off the coast of Granada. Lake Nicaragua is HUGE and this is only one of several island chains in the lake. Las Isletas is composed of 365 islands and our guide slowly took us through many of them before taking us to a swimming area. Many, he pointed out, were owned by Americans. This brings us to another topic which is the insane amount of Americans that we have met in Nicaragua. Given the US's past with Nicaragua, one would expect fewer Americans here than in any other Central American country. The exact opposite is true as we met very few in Guatemala or Honduras, but we've met a ton here. Many are doing volunteer work and many older couples are retiring here. We must admit we have really enjoyed meeting and hanging out with Americans since this is the first time in our trip where we have had the opportunity to do so.

On Easter Sunday we attended Catholic Mass which was really boring, only because it was in Spanish and we're not Catholic. Also we forgot how incredibly ritualistic it was. That night we cooked up a fantastic dinner that left us comatose since we over-ate and we're not used to overeating on this trip. We had coconut chicken with sweet and sour sauce, garlic and onion mashed potatoes, corn and bread. It was an Easter feast, and we ate it all.

The next day we said our good-bye's and left with a Dutch couple, Aster and Jaap, on a four hour boat ride across the lake to an island known as Ometepe. Originally, there were two separate volcanoes that rose out of the lake. One of them erupted and the lava formed an isthmus between the two, and the whole thing is now called Ometepe. You can imagine how amazing this looks as you approach it by boat. We headed for a Finca (coffee plantation) on the southern side of the island which also offers food and accomodation to travellers. Finca Magdalena sits up on the lower slopes of Volcan Maderas, with a great view of the lake and the giant Volcano Concepcion. The Finca is owned by a collective of families and it was given to them by the Sandanistas during the Revolution. They grow organic shade coffee using no pesticides or chemical fertilizers and they sell it through a non-profit organization in the Seattle area. The organization is ran by students and all the money from the coffee sales goes right back to the Finca, with no middle-man taking the profit. Therefore, many of the families in the collective have amenities that they otherwise wouldn't be able to afford. It's great how it works, and we were there when a group of the students were spending their spring break on Ometepe volunteering for the collective and the surrounding villages.

Our main reason for going to the Finca was that it's a great place to stay and that it's a really good starting point to hike Volcan Maderas (which is inactive). We organized a guide and headed off for the top. We were really excited to get to the top of Maderas because it has a crater lake and a pretty cloud forest. We had heard that it was a muddy trail and we had seen some people the day before with mud all over their boots from hiking it, but we didn't realize how muddy the trail really was until we got up there. (Hey Keith, we felt like Muddy Mud Skipper). As we entered the clouds we realized that the trail was so muddy because of the condensation from the clouds dripping onto the forest floor. It was worth it though because the cloud forest was beautiful. We reached the top and could see down into the crater and the lake. With the help of a rope we scaled down a rock wall into the crater and took a long break beside the water. It was really beautiful but was definitely deceiving. It seemed as if we were sitting beside any old lake surrounded by hills and trees, while in reality we were 5000 feet in the sky inside an old volcano. Definitly worth being covered in mud.

The next day, we visited some ancient petroglyphs which can be found all over the island. They were mildly interesting, and we found ourselves wanting to get back to play some more Euchre. Yes, Euchre. We were shocked to find out that they play it all over Ontario and Quebec. We thought it was just a Michigan card game, but were glad to find out that it's popular elsewhere. Another part of the Finca that we really enjoyed was a wild parrot that would hang out and entertain the travellers all day long. This bird was fascinating and would let you pet it if it was in a good mood. Never before have we so enjoyed being woken up at 6 in the morning. Right around this time he would start doing his best 'cocka-doodle-doo' impression, which would be followed by other impressions before he would bust out singing Spanish songs. You really couldn't do anything but sit in bed and laugh until you got up. We truly realize now how cruel it is to put large, intelligent, magestic birds like these into cages. After seeing them flying gracefully around the volcano in their natural environment, we can't believe that people actually stick them in little cages and make them spend their lives there. We bought a piece of pottery with a parrot engraved on it so we can always remember that bird when we look at it.

We left early in the morning one day en route to the Pacific coast. We had planned on doing some volunteer work on Ometepe, but were unable to since we don't speak fluent Spanish. We thus had some extra time to play with, so we decided to spend it where else, but on the beach. First we had to get there. Ometepe was funny in that it took two hours by bus to get from one side to the other even though it's only about 20 miles long. You can imagine the condition of the roads (and the buses because of the roads). Our journey to the coast was not long, but it was interesting. We were up at 3:30 am and walked down to the road in the dark where we got our bus at 4:45 am. Two hours later we arrived at the port and got a boat leaving Ometepe. The ferry from Ometepe to San Jorge took about an hour, and we had to sit on top of the boat on our backpacks because there was no room on the deck below. There were no guard rails or anything to keep us from sliding off the roof, and some of the waves had the boat rolling so much we thought we might slide into the shark infested water. Yes, there are sharks in the lake. They migrate from the Caribbean down the Rio San Juan and can adapt to the fresh water, the only ones in the world who do so. They are probably not big enough to hurt a person, but it sounds cooler when we say that we almost fell into shark infested waters. Anyway, we got off the boat and encountered a very friendly taxi driver who informed us that there were no buses going to Rivas, the town we wanted and that we could only get there by taxi. He was telling us that while we were walking by a bus that had Rivas posted in the window with a man shouting, 'Rivas! Rivas!'. Sure, no bus to Rivas. This always happens and we really have learned that there is one type of person that you never, ever trust while travelling, and that's a taxi driver. So, we took the bus, of course, to Rivas, to wait there for our last bus to San Juan Del Sur, the town on the Pacific that was our destination.

While we were waiting for the bus, a taxi driver approached us and asked us if we wanted to go 'Collectivo' (not private) in a taxi to San Juan. It was only 20 cents more for us to do a taxi with him than wait for the bus. So we both jumped in the back seat with our packs, because there was no room in the trunk. There was a lady sitting in the front seat that had her mattress tied to the back along with a ton a crap that filled the trunk. No problem, we were going collectivo with one other person, we would get there faster than we would if we went by bus, this taxi driver we liked. It was soon obvious, though, that as we picked up speed the mattress that was tied to the back was not going to stay tied to the back. A few cars sped around us and honked to let our driver know he was about to lose some cargo, so we pulled over and re-tied the thing to the back. It was only tied with one rope, looping over one side while the mattress was folded in half. It was seriously the crappiest tying-down-job that we had ever seen. We both knew that it wouldn't last, and we were right. As soon as the car got going fast, the air lifted the mattress up like a kite, and it wasn't long before it was airborne. It floated nicely in the air behind us for a few seconds before it finally broke free, and was left tumbling behind us on the road. Pull over again. Retrieve the mattress. Tie it on again, better this time. Drive away again. We were totally entertained by this and it was funny because the lady that owned the mattress thought it was pretty entertaining too. So we were on our way to San Juan, joking to each other about what a funny trip journal story that was going to be, when suddenly the driver started cursing to himself and banging his palm on his forehead. When your taxi driver does that, your heart kinda stops for a second. What did he do? What did he forget? Ooops, he forgot to get gas. So he pulled the car over and we were all stranded on the side of the road out in the countryside.

We were temporarily rescued by another taxi driver who hooked a rope to the front of our taxi so that they could tow it to the top of this giant hill. Apparantly, our driver just needed to get to the top of this big hill and then we could coast the rest of the way to San Juan. So we all got out of our taxi and helped it along by pushing. We thought that we would all jump back in once it got going, but he just kept going and going until he disappeared out of sight up at the top of the hill. All three of us were left standing on the side of the road, with nothing else to do but walk towards where our taxi had disappeared to. Two gringos and a Nicaraguan woman in high heels walking along the road in the middle of nowhere? Yes, that was us. We made it to the top of the hill where our taxi was dutifully waiting for us (thank the Lord) and with some more pushing, we got the taxi rolling downhill. Lucky for the driver, this hill was very long, and he did a good job estimating that we would coast into San Juan. We seriously coasted for about five minutes, and almost made it to the gas station right on the edge of town. Another taxi came to the rescue to tow us into the station and we were done. One thing though, we almost broke our rule of not trusting (or liking) taxi drivers. We thought he was ok, until we discovered that he snipered our calculator from one of our day packs. We were trying to figure out where it may have gone until we realized that we left our daypacks in the taxi while it got towed to the top of that hill. The taxi was out of our sight long enough for him to rummage through our small packs, which don't normally hold anything of much value. But we are positive he took our calculator. It was small and easy for us to miss. Of course, he smiled and gladly accepted our payment for the ride. Go figure.

San Juan wasn't very impressive so we decided to head north to more beautiful and untouched beaches. We were picked up by an Aussie expat named Paul who runs a resort north of San Juan on Playa Majagual. We rode there in the back of his truck with a French-Canadian lady and Ken from Oregon. Ken had been working with tribes for Amnesty International, and decided to take a little vacation on the beach before he returned to the States. We set up camp in Paul's campground and had a look around the place. Apparently, there had been a fire during Semana Santa which had torched the main bar and hang-out/dining areas. Somehow, the whole place hadn't gone up which was suprising since the whole of Nicaragua is totally parched. While we were there we were able to watch the main bar being rebuilt, which was really cool since it only took a week and we were there the whole time to see the construction. The roof, like many in these areas, consists of nothing more than palm leaves placed side by side and tied properly to a wooden frame that's made of tall, thin trees. One side of the leaf has grooves which channels the water downward continually and off the edge of the roof. Amazingly, these roofs can last 7 years or more. The wood frame can last up to 20 years. It is shocking how well these people use naturally occurring things as building products.

To sum up our week in Bahia Majagual, we spent our time relaxing, eating, talking, swimming, reading, and looking for seashells. There are a series of pretty beaches separated by stretches of volcanic rock formations that jet out into the water. The top of the rocky cliffs are covered with various vegetation such as cactus, giant pricker bushes and really dry grass. Definitely a unique beach environment when you're used to the Caribbean white sands and palm trees. The lower rocks that are near the water are home to thousands of crabs, some of which seem to commit suicide by frying themselves on the rocks for no apparent reason. They become really red and when you touch them they shatter into a million pieces. Weird.

Ken was very cool, and days later he brought his signifcant other, Harp, to the beach to wind down from their grueling volunteer work. There was also an Aussie guy named Tony who had placed 2nd in the Australian Body Surfing Competition. Tony passed along some body surfing pointers and we all enjoyed 'BS-ing' the huge Pacific waves. Nearby was Playa Maderas which is the most popular surfing beach in the country. Neither of us were used to Pacific waves since we grew up near the east coast. Our last day there, we visited Playa Maderas with Ken and Harp and went for a swim since there was only one surfer out catching waves. (Mom, you might not want to read this part). As soon as we entered the water we could feel a strong current heading north which was parallel to the beach. We let it take us up the beach for awhile, ducking under the passing surf as the waves crashed out beyond us. Suddenly, we couldn't touch the bottom anymore and we tried swimming towards the shore to get to shallower water. We all realized at the same time that we were caught in a rip tide that was carrying us away from shore. We knew that we weren't supposed to fight it, but rather that we should try to swim parrallel to shore to swim out the side of it. The problem was the current (not the rip tide) was carrying us towards a huge pile of rocks while the rip tide was trying to take us out to sea. Our only choice was to swim towards shore. The next few minutes were certainly some of the most terrifying of our lives as we struggled to fight the tide while dealing with the huge waves crashing behind us. (Remember, this is a virtually desolate beach with no help and no emergency assistance anywhere nearby). We managed to stay somewhat close to shore and eventually popped out of the rip tide before we were swept into the rocks. We emerged from the water, shaken, realizing our newfound respect for the sea. Never before had we experienced water so dangerous. Pretty scary.

We left Majagual with Ken, just as we had entered. We decided to back track a little and head north to a town called Masaya which is the handicrafts center of the country. We did some gift shopping and met some great people from Israel, Italy and Canada. One morning we all went to visit Volcan Masaya National Park. It consists of two giant volcanoes which together encompass five craters, one of which is still active. We were able to take a taxi to the top which was a welcome change for us since we're used to long hikes to reach the summits. Visiting these active craters is always a funny experience. When visiting National Parks in the States, you won't often be handed instructions such as 'Stay in these areas no more than 20 minutes due to toxic fumes,' or 'If you see flaming rocks flying out of the volcano, try to get under your car to avoid them.' There is definitely an 'anything goes' mentality in these places that is so liberating since we're used to the safety and sue-crazy culture that we grew up in.

We also had a really unique experience exploring the lava tunnels nearby. The tunnels were formed when pressure from inside the volcano forced lava out the sides of the volcano through the earth instead of through the top during an eruption. The tunnels are still there, but there is no 'liquid hot maaaagma' flowing through them. But there are a lot of bats and bat poop. Ancient tribes used to sacrifice virgins by throwing them into the crater to appease the fire god. It must have worked. The volcanoes havn't erupted in about 200 years. These skeletons have been found in the tunnels, but of course we didn't see any. As you can tell at this point if you've been following our journals, we are pretty much addicted to volcanoes. We plan on feeding this addiction further in Costa Rica.

Well, we're back in Granada now, and we'll be leaving for Costa Rica tomorrow. Costa Rica is one of the safest countries in the world, so our families can stop worrying, at least for the next couple of weeks.

Notes:

More on clothing:

American sports team apparel is everywhere here. We literally can't go ten minutes without seeing a Charlotte Hornets jersey, Yankees cap, Red Wings shirt, etc. If we see a group of kids walking down the street, it's guaranteed that at least one of them will be sporting some logo of a sports team from the States. Why this is, we don't know. In Nicaragua, baseball is really popular and some Nicaraguan's play in the major leagues so you would expect baseball logos, but every sport seems to be represented. Interesting.

Measurements:

We've realized on this trip how Americans do some things completely different than the rest of the world. We're so sick of not knowing the metric system and quoting everything in Fahrenheit while every other person uses Celsius. Why the US refuses to switch over is ridiculous given how much easier metric is than imperial. Also, everywhere we've been dates are written dd/mm/yy format, which makes perfect sense. We, however, can't shake the habit of doing mm/dd/yy. We know it sounds piddly, but it really makes us wonder why we're the only one's that do it that way.

Travellers:

It's unreal how many travellers we meet from small countries (in terms of population). We regularly encounter travellers from countries such as Holland, Germany and Canada. We've met probably five times as many Canadians down here as we have Americans and yet they have one-tenth of our population. The math obviously dosn't work out and we often find ourselves asked why that is. We tell people that there are several reasons, although we know that none of them are really valid. An extended break in order to travel before or after college is the norm in many first world countries. Trips like ours are seriously commonplace. We really wish that the importance of travel was more instilled in the minds of Americans.

Thanks for reading, and for your prayers. Hasta Luego!