Nicaragua!! - Blogabond

From Liberia in Costa Rica to Granada in Nicaragua – it's not actually that far in distance but as we were to find out they do like to take their time at the border crossing point. Nicaragua is a very poor country especially when compared with Costa Rica. There is political tension between the 2 countries and things don't look like they will improve too soon. Nicaraguan immigrants are sneaking into Costa Rica for the chance of a better quality of life, and just the same as the immigration issues occurring in England, tensions begin to rise. Getting our passports back from border control was quite amusing. The guy stood on a barrel with a pile of passports and begun shouting out people's names and then throwing them to us in the crowd!

We arrived into Granada in the late evening, and jumped in a taxi heading straight for our hostel. It was an upgrade from the last few we had been staying in Costa Rica, with a swimming pool, hammock strung chill out area and a lush tropical plant garden. As we were soon to find out costs in Nicaragua were roughly half that of Costa Rica... nice! Granada is a beautifully restored colonial town, from the grand Cathedrals to the brightly coloured humble homes and I can't forget the fine plaza (Parque Central).

Our first activity on our itinerary was to visit Volcano Mombachu, and en route to the bus station we stopped off to visit the local markets which were full of fresh fruit and food that was cheap to produce, usually rice or flour based.

We saw a number of women carrying all their goods on their head... super strong muscles! This little guy also approached us and swung out a machete from behind his back. We froze and tried to figure out if the cheeky little fella was attempting to rob us in broad day light before realising what he actually wanted was his picture taken.

The young hustler kids had a good sense of humour and we were soon approached by another who was trying to sell me a shoe shine... we both began laughing because as he knew full well I was wearing flip flops! (I gave in and purchased some in Costa Rica. This was a big move for me as many of you know my dislike of these foot thongs). All jokes aside though they were children not privileged enough to go to school. Instead they were forced to hustle and make a living any way they could. It does remind us how lucky we are.

After finding the bus station we took a rickety bus heading in the direction of the volcano. The public bus was actually an old American school bus painted with flames down the side, I think it is the Nicaraguan equivalent of nitrous :-) The driver can't have been older than 15 as well! We arrived at the volcano entrance and we met a great San Diego couple. We had to take another rickety truck up to the information centre from where you can take a number of hiking trails. We stopped off at a coffee farm on the way up and Nic had a little taster.

Volcano soil is apparently really good for growing coffee plants. We took the trail that gave us views of Granada, Managua (the capital), Lago de Nicaragua, Laguna de Apoyo and Las Isletas.

As it was an active volcano we saw some fumaroles as well - small hot steaming openings in the ground. Mombachu is an active volcano although the last major activity was recorded in 1570. We also saw this butterfly and I was chuffed to get close enough to capture this photo.

The photo below shows the views from the top of Mombachu. The town on the left is Granada and the little islands on the right are Las Isletas. There 350 islands were formed when Mombachu erupted 10,000 years ago. Many of them are now inhabited by traditional fishing families and more recently the super wealthy.

On our second day we went to visit Laguna de Apoyo along with some friends we had met at the hostel. The Apoyo crater lake was created when a volcano imploded many years ago.

The smell of sulphur as we approached was very strong. The Laguna supposedly has the lowest point in Central America. Nic and I took out some canoes and paddled to the other side which was MUCH further than we initially thought. We did well getting to the other side but then realised we had to paddle back!

The views from the middle of the Laguna were immense. We were surrounded 360 degrees by a vast crater wall consisting of dry tropical rainforest. Arriving back we thought some relaxation time was in order so we went and lazed in some big inflatable tubes.

That evening after playing cards and drinking games we all went into town. There was a good atmosphere in the air, and lots of people were about having come back from watching the final big baseball game of the season. Nic and I were gutted as we would have gone to see it if we had found out about it sooner. There was a live latino band and people dancing in the street in and around all the bars. It definitely had that latino vibe that I always imagined the place to have. We had a great night!

Early start the next day - we were off to visit Leon and Cerro Negro in northwestern Nicaragua which happens to be the most volcanic region in Central America. Leon (once Nicaragua's capital) was a beautiful place and we spent the morning walking around the town appreciating the sights. We made our way to visit the Cathedral... the oldest and largest Cathedral in Central America. We went off to explore. The decorations were very lavish as we expected and there was a lot of gold! The Cathedral symbolises hope for thousands of Nicaraguan people.

We walked around the whole Cathedral taking photos along the way of the intricate detail. We were both very impressed! Construction of the Cathedral began in 1747 and took over 100 years to complete.

The views from the top of the Cathedral were amazing. We could see all of Leon with the faint outline of volcanoes on the horizon.

Cerro Negro was next up - Nicaragua's most active volcano! We were first introduced to some of the local creatures. Nic was brave enough to have this photo taken. Cerro Negro (meaning black hill - which I think is a well suited name!) appeared in 1850 making it the newest volcano in Central America. It has erupted over 20 times since then and last erupted in 1999. Our guide kindly pointed out that they were expecting an eruption any time soon! So naturally we began our climb to the top, stopping along the way to take some awesome photos. Below is one of my favourite photos - the contrast of the colours makes it a little eerie.

We saw a number of fumaroles at the top and the rocks were pretty hot (which I found out when I lost my footing when I landed this jump, cutting my leg, arm and body. Our tour guide asked who wanted to jump into the crater to get a wicked photo, no-one was putting themselves forward so I stepped up to the challenge).

Nic and I boarded down the volcano at the same time, I was in the lead until about half way down. I was shouting over banter at Nic calling her sloooooooow, when I started to have technical difficulties... I stopped still.

I have no idea how this happened. Can you believe that? It's not like it was a little mound, it was a 720m high bloody volcano with a 45 degree incline! That defies the laws of physics. Nic found this hilarious and when I finally made it to the bottom she was rolling round the ground in stitches! It was an amazing experience nonetheless and something I won't be forgetting in a hurry. Below is the view from the bottom of the volcano looking up.

That evening we took a horse drawn carriage ride around Granada taking photos of all the great views along the way. Although in some areas there was quite a bit of litter and it appeared to be the locals throwing litter not tourists as we originally thought.

We stopped off afterwards to sample some local food in the main plaza. We tried the local dish of yucca plant,

mixed salad and deep fried pork rind, topped off with a generous helping of hot sauce and served in a banana leaf. We also tried a very bitter type of mango served with salt and chilli sauce. Nic's face explains it all! We didn't end up finishing all of it as it was just too bitter! The locals were pretty hardcore though, they were walking round munching it all day.

Below is a photo of one of the streets near our hostel with Volcano Mombachu in the background.

We thought Nicaragua was an awesome place. Our time there seemed to fly by (again!) and I felt that we only briefly touched the country, but from what we saw we thought it was beautiful. I am also now a big fan of volcanoes, they are so impressive (and some a little confusing!). Unfortunately we didn't have enough time to visit Isla de Ometepe which is an isalnd formed by two volcanoes rising out of a lake... there was just so much to see! The country exceeded our expectations. We were so glad it had that Central American vibe that we had pictured in our minds. It had more of a gritty feel to it, not a dangerous feel just a little bit of an edge and we liked that a lot. Nicaragua you and me have become good friends and to say goodbye is going to be a little emotional.

written by

SupandNic on March 23, 2010 from Granada, Nicaragua

from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!

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