Back in January I had decided six days wasn´t enough time to get to Nicaragua and back. Funny how things change over time. With two days off school added to the weekend we decided that last weekend was the perfect time to pop up to the neighbours upstairs.
Having survived the bus ride to Panama the six hours to Nica passed stress free (excpet for the waking up at 4.30am to catch the thing). We crossed the border without issues and soon got to Rivas, our destination town. But it seems like the lure of the bus (and the quality films on board- Scorpion King and a film about a monkey that is also a spy. Yes, you heard me.) was just too much and we decided to stay on until the Granada. I´m so glad we did (Granadas always serve me well, first Spain now this). Granada is a beautiful colonial city perched on the northern shore of Lake Nicaragua. All coloured facades and tall church spires it has something of a tidier Havana feel. We arrived into the scorching heat of mid-afternoon (it was about 36-37oC, much hotter than CR and boy did we feel it.) After a meal for 3 which cost $7 in total we found a hostel and headed out to explore.
A quick stop bought us some Nicaraguan cigars then it was on to climb a church tower, trying our hardest to resist the temptation to ring the giant bells. Our will-power was rewarded with a stunning view over the city, which helped give us our bearings for more exploration. The main square was a beautiful, tree and cafe filled cocktail of noise and people overlooked by the city´s big, yellow cathedral. We wandered the streets, got a lovely dinner in an Indian-hippy-style restaurant and then settled down in a hotel bar overlooking the square where we drank red wine, Ben smoked his cigar (with hilariously queasy results...Hannibal never went green when his plans came together) and we were serenaded by two guitar players. All in all, pretty luxurious!
The next morning we got up early to run to the bus station, only to find we had a 3 hour wait. Luckily the station was slap bang in the middle of the busy, market area so we hustled our way through the streets, found some breakfast and soaked up the atmosphere. Our bus down to Rivas was a chicken bus (these old, yellow US school buses they have down here). It was baking as we loaded on but sat by the open windows, being blasted by the breeze we found the 1.5hr journey pretty pleasing. At Rivas we jumped in a taxi then boat to get us out to the Lake´s main island Isla Ometepe.
The island is flanked by two volcanoes, one active, and is a quiet little haven of natural gems. After finding a hostel we jumped on a motorbike tuk tuk and headed out to the nearest beach. A little, black sand peninsula it was a little rough round the edges but was a lovely place to grab a beer, wade into the cool waters of the lake and watch the spectacular sunset over the water. Driving back under a sky of candy-floss pink clouds it was hard not to notice the yellow signs flanking the road announcing that this was the key evacuation route in case of an evacuation. Possibly the only thing able to spoil the calm of the glorious sunset is the mental maths needed to calculate if you think you could out run lava.
Our next day we went in search of the ancient petroglyphs that dotted the island. It turns out the old inhabitants of Ometepe really like monkeys and weren´t shy in displaying that love through engravings on volcanic stone. It also appears 5 year old children today have better artistic skills than back in the day. That or monkeys have really filled out.
After the strenous task of tracking down stones we headed to the Ojo de Agua, a concrete lined, natural pool, surrounded by lush forest. There we cooled off in the clear blue water, drank caipirinhas which were delivered to the pool side and generally felt like superstars. It was a lovely relaxing break before we headed back to town to catch the ferry back to the main land.
We literally sailed off into a glorious sunset. It was such a beautiful moment sat on the smooth boat, listening to the National and Little Hands of Asphalt as the sunset all across the lake. Back on the mainland we pushed on in a taxi to San Juan del Sur, a beach town on the Pacific coast.
San Juan had a great, fun vibe to it. We grabbed some pizza then headed down to a beachside bar where Isabelle and I drank White Russians in front of the dancing lights of the boats in the bay and the lighthouses. We had a little paddle in the dark, wide sea before heading back to meet Ben at the hostel.
The next, and last day we headed out early on bumpy dirt track to a hidden cove where Ben and I had a surf lesson. I am standing up easily now and starting to try to catch my own waves without help. Had a few big wipeouts misjudging some of the waves which were bigger than times before. Having swallowed my share of the sea and burnt my face and butt it was time to head back to catch the bus home. We had had a serious think about staying in San Juan an extra day but the responsibilities of organising European and Middle Eastern night dragged us back to the hectic world of party planning.
Things have been pretty damn stressful with planning this flipping cultural night and perhaps you wouldn´t have thought a 3.5 day race around Nicaragua would recharge the batteries but it really did. We had heard some horror stories about dangerous times in Nica but we had nothing but pleasantness and beautiful moments.
Lessons learnt:
If there is one person better at sleeping anywhere anytime than me it might be Isabelle. Boats, taxis, beaches, you name it, she Zzzz´d it.
Despite factor 50 suncream, 2 hours in the water under the blazing sun, lying on a boad with your butt in the air.... does not make for a comfortable bus ride home.
Monkeys make good spies, according to a documentary film I think I watched on a 6 hour bus ride. It may have been their skills on espionage which made them so reverred by ancient island inhabitants.
Double volcanoes all the way!
No hay comentarios:
Publicar un comentario