Nicaraguan Excursion

So, I’m back at my homestay after a week in Nigaragua. Here goes:

On the Saturday the 28^th, Scott, Leanne, and I went ziplining. It was pretty cool, I guess. Not too exciting, but it’s something you should do at least once—I wouldn’t pay to do it again unless there were other circumstances. Luckily, it was “free.” I don’t have any pictures from it, but other people took some. We met some secret service agents who were also ziplining. Apparently Biden was coming to San Jose a few days later, and they were there early to “scope it out,” which I think really meant “have fun.”

That night we went to a hostel in San Jose since it was cheaper than paying for another night at the homestays (our reservations/free/pre-paid nights were up as of noon that day). Tranquilo Backpackers, it was called. $10/night, free internet. It was cool. We went to eat at a Lebanese restaurant/hookah bar which was very cool. Definitely the BEST falafel and baba ghanoush I’ve ever had. Mmm.

The next morning we got up at 5 to pack and be at the bus station by 6:30, and our bus left at 7:30. We only stopped once, and that was at the border to take all of our bags off of the bus, stand in a line, and press a big button that was attached to a stoplight that had red and green lights. If the light was green, you went back to the bus (after having your passport stamped). If the light was red, you had to have your bag searched. Scott’s was red, but the guy told him to press it again and it was green. I also got a red light, but the guy just motioned me to go back to the bus. Score.

We got to Rivas, a city on the shores of Lake Nicaragua, caught a cab to the $2 ferry at San Jorge, and took it to la Isla de Ometepe (the Island of Ometepe) in Lake Nicaragua. On the ferry we met a Canadian guy who’s lived in central America for a decade who “knew a guy,” and before we knew it we were all in the back of a pickup with two Israeli girls for a total of $25 that took us to where we wanted to stay.

I say “wanted,” because we didn’t have reservations, and we just hoped that they had room. It was called Finca Magdalena (finca=farm in Spanish), and it was really cool. We ended up paying $2.50 a night in a dorm-style room, and we got all of our food there too. I ended up paying $40 for three nights, all of my food, which included quite a few beers and bottles of water. Not bad at all. (The two beers made in Nicaragua are Toña and Victoria. Toña is better.).

Finca Magdalena

The next day we rented horses for $8 each and rode to the “Ojo del Agua” (“Eye of the Water”), a small natural spring-turned-pool where we swam and relaxed for a few hours. Our guide had a hangover and fell asleep in a chair, so we didn’t wake him up and got an extra 45 minutes there.

On the way back, we rode along the beach and could see the smaller of the two volcanoes on the island, Maderas. Scott’s horse and my horse didn’t get along, however, and they decided to race along the beach. And by race, I mean a full out gallop. It was really cool, but my “huevos” didn’t appreciate it very much. I wish I hadn’t had my camera and back so that I could have really ridden the horse like I should have, but as it was I ended up flailing around and trying not to lose all of my stuff at the same time. It was worth it, though, even if the saddle stained my pants red.

Afterwards I had some awesome green curry at a little restaurant along the lake, and then Lili (one of the two South African girls we were with) and I lost track of Scott and Leanne and hopped on a bus back to the farm. I was quite literally hanging out of the door of the insanely packed bus for ~30 minutes, but that was way better than being inside the bus like that morning. I don’t think there is a point when those buses are ever full.

That $40 at the farm also included $5 for the guide that took us up the smaller of the two volcanoes on the island, Maderas. You have to take a guide, and ours was pretty cool. Along the way we saw some petroglyphs, as in the picture. The word “ometepe” literally means “two volcanoes” in the native language there, the name of which I can’t remember. At the top of the volcano was a small lagoon/pond/lake. It was a fairly difficult hike if only because of all of the mud on it, but it was worth it. I was sore until about three days after. The two Israeli girls (Mika and Ofra) went with us so we could all get a better discount, and that was cool too. They wre pretty interesting; I’ve never met so many Israelis in my life. There are quite a few in Costa Rica/Nicaragua, which means that Scott got to practice his Hebrew a lot (he’s fluent). Lunch at the top was nice, though it was only two sandwiches from the farm.

That night we could see some lava on the side of the larger volcano, Concepción, as in this picture. Neato.

And a couple more pictures of Concepción.

The next day we caught a mini-bus then a regular bus to the ferry and went back to Rivas, where we took a taxi (for a few more dollars and a few hours faster than the bus) to Granada. Granada is a touristy town along the lake that has some crazy cool Spanish colonial architecture. The food was touristy, the buildings were touristy, the people were nice, and it was really, really hot. We stayed for $6/night hostel style in the Kalala Lodge. The next day we went to the markets at Masaya. We ended up at the “local” market first, which consisted mainly of food and clothes (including a revolting meat section with pig heads, flies, and much more), but took a taxi to the touristy market. I had planned on buying most of my gifts there, but it turned out that the same touristy junk was at every store and the prices were silly. You ended up finding something you wanted and going to different stores to try to get the price down. I’m glad I had India to give me some bargaining practice, because I sure needed it there.

That night we stumbled upon a photo exhibition put on by a local organization called niñoVista (children view, literally) that teaches kids how to take pictures and the skills associated with that. It was really cool. Some of the pictures were pretty good, and they were playing Jack Johnson the whole time. I liked it.

After Haiti, Nicaragua is the second poorest country in Latin America; however, I felt safer in Granada during the day than I did in San Jose. Weird.

We also happened to be there during the beginning of the Semana Santa (Holy Week), a.k.a. Easter. This was a procession that started at around 7:30 a.m. when I was having breakfast, and continued until later that night. The band was horrible.

After some huevos rancheros, Lili and I rented kayaks for $8/hour and paddled around the lake. It was pretty cool, and I only got a little sunburned. The lake can be pretty choppy, but we were long the coast going in between little islands. There were usually one or two houses on each island, and everyone used rowboats to get around. We even passed a small school that inhabited a whole island, and there were boats lined up along the shore of it. Pretty cool. That night we treated ourselves to a really nice dinner ($13 for me) at a restaurant called The Third Eye. It was trying to be a hippy-ish, spiritual, laid back place with “expensive” food, and I got lasagna and garlic bread and a salad and a watermelon juice and an awesome iced tea with lemon and ginger.

Here is a barrage of pictures from Granada.

The next morning, yesterday, we got up at 4:45 to get at the bus station by 5:30 for our bus to San Jose that left at 6. However, we found out when we got there that the bus left from Managua at 6 and didn’t get to Granada until 7. It didn’t say that anywhere on the ticket. Lamesauce. 9 hours and another border stop later, we made it back to the Tranquilo Backpackers, got some dinner at a supermarket, and went to bed. This morning I got back to my homestay at around 11, sat outside and read until someone got home to let me in, and then took a nap after doing laundry and taking a shower.

Now I have to go finish packing and get to bed so I can be at the OTS offices by 7:30 so we can leave to go to Monte Verde. A week there, then a week at Cabo Blanco, and then we’ll go to La Selva. Two weeks without internet/phone and only a little electricity. Whoa!