Viva La Revolucion, The Land of Lakes and Volcanos

Im sitting here in Granada, Nicaragua, leaving in a couple hours heading down to San Jose Costa Rica. Nicarauga was an unplanned stopover, and has been wonderful. We originally thought wed only pass through Nica on our way down to Costa Rica, but decided a visit to a new country was preferable to two straight days on the bus.

We spent our first few Nicaraguan days in the liberal capital of Leon. The Sandanista prescence in still strong here, and we saw a really great Sandanista band play at a student bar our first night. The bar was packed with young locals, who knew the words to all the songs, and who all sang along as they drank more and more. We spent a few days soaking up the feel of the place, and actually saw the father of Sandanista music on our last night. This crowd was quite different from that of that of the student bar, with admission costing 100 cordobas as opposed to 10 (about $7 as oppossed $.70). This restaraunt was full of the local well to do, and was an interesting contrast, but much less lively or fun.

We took one day trip out of Leon, to a volcano called Cerro Negro (Black Hill). Its a recently active volcano, last erupting in 1999. The entire hill truly is black, having erupted so recently no plants have yet had the chance to make a foothold. We drove for about an hour out of the city with our guide, down bumpy dirt roads, through agricultural fields, past shacks for houses, and dodging the occasional pigs, chickens, dogs and children all playing in the road. We arrived at the base of the hill, with several other, less recently active, greener volcanos in view as well. Along one side, large volcanic rocks were the path up. We arrived at the first crater, still smoking, smelling of sulfur. We were able to hike down into the crater and right up to the sulfur vents. Suprisingly, there was an abundance of beetle life on top of the crater. Ive never seen such an interesting variety of colors and patterns anywhere before. You wouldnt think anything would be attracted to such a barren and harsh landscape, but I imagine the beetles were attracted to smells only a beetle could love. We spent a while in the first crater, then continued hiking upwards, to peer down in the second smoking crater. This one was inaccessible by foot, but the top of the hill afforded some great views in all directions, and all the way out to the Pacific off to the west. Definitely the best part, the most fun part of Cerro Negro was the way down. On the opposite side of hill from the lava flows, a fine volcanic sand softens the hill. Imagine skiing on foot, in the summer heat. The sand was soft and viscous, and you could ski through, or take giant leaps down the steep slope and safely land and take another leap. Jumping as high and as far as you could felt like jumping on the moon. The steep slope made each leap seem that much higher, and landing so softly made gravity seem that much fainter. Its a bit hard to imagine, but if you ever happen to be on top of a volcano, Id recommend it as the best way down.

After leaving Leon, we headed down to San Juan Del Sur, near to the Costa Rican border, for New Years Eve. We ended up at a hostel full of french and french canadians, the most french speakers Ive seen anywhere outside of france, which was a cultural change. The town of San Juan itself, is alright, a tourist beach town, with plenty of internet shops, bars and surf shops. The beach in the town is lined with bars, and the cliffs on either side are littered with fancy foreign ownded real estate. This is the Miami Beach on Nicarauga. This is where in the Nicas Ricas come to play, and streets were teeming with wealthy Nicaraugan teeny boppers. There are several beaches to the north and south, which are much more pristine, and much more beautiful, but no less populated with wealthy locals escaping Manauga. I imagine the majority of expensive SUVs in the country were lining the small dirt roads on the way to the northern beaches. We spent New Years Eve in town, counting down on the beach, watching the plethora of fireworks exploding around us (fireworks are a national pastime all through central america). We spent the rest of the night dancing in the beachside discos. I did spend a couple days in Playa Majagual, playing in the waves and taking in some sun.

Rachel had to head back home after new years, and with some new friends from San Juan, I headed to Isla Ometepe, quite a unique and spectacular natural phenomenon. Lake Nicaruaga is huge, so huge in fact you could almost fit all of El Salvador inside. Its the 10th largest fresh water body in the world, and home to the worlds only fresh water sharks, who made their way from the ocean up a river, and took advantage of the open spot on top of the food chain. People actually get attacked by these fresh water sharks, though their presence does nothing to keep people out of the lake. All along the lake shore people are swimming and diving. In the middle of the lake, is a large island called Isla Ometepe, dominated by two large volcanos. The legend of the island actually equates these two large volcanos, appropriatly positioned, to the two breasts of a fallen Native princess. The island is the most populated island in the lake, with towns and farms ringing the shoreline around the volcanos. We stayed in a small Hacienda, right along the lake shore, on the smaller island, at the base of Volcan Madera. The hacienda was beautiful and catered to every need, with breakfest and dinner buffets, kayaks, mountain bikes and plenty of hammocks. A great group of travellers were staying there, and we had plenty to do.
My first day there I took out a kayak and visited the local monkey islands, two tiny islands right off the shore, populated with rescued pet monkeys. These monkeys, being rescued, though, dont seem too grateful, or more accuratly do seem quite vengful. They are vicious, and the illustrated sign (a monkey with large fangs, biting into a human skull) warned us so. Though, visiting them is still quite popular. Its only a short paddle along the shore out to the monkeys, and vigilance is necessary. We were conversing with some fellow boaters, while we unknowingly drifted into attack range. At the last second we heard a white face monkey flying through the trees in our direction, and started paddling backwards, just in time to seem him reach the outer most branches, teeth and claws bared. Luckily for us, and especially Michelle, who was sitting in front of the kayak, he figured the leap was a bit too far, and the chance of getting wet a bit too high. I did meet an australian here in Granada though, who didnt read the warning signs and ventured too close. A monkey jumped on his boat, laughed at the boys attempts to swat him off with the paddle, forcing the aussie to abandon ship out into the lake.
My second day I rented a full suspension mountain bike (the roads here are as bumpy and rocky as any intentional mountain bike trail actually in the mountains) and set off to explore with Nate from San Fran. We visited a beautiful natural pool, which was just what we needed to cool off after an hour of riding in the sun. We also visited a ranch with pre columbian petroglyphs, telling the stories of the islands original inhabitants, which I found particulary interesting. I was planning on leaving the following morning, but late that night was finally convinced to climb Volcan Madera, quite a popular hike. I hadnt originally planned on climbing, not having hiking boots and not feeling particulary hikey. But, the group who climbed the day before was unrelenting and their tales of adventure finally seduced me. We woke early the next morning and I donned some borrowed rubber mud boots. We set off from the Hacienda on what ended up being a 8 hour slog, through mud, swinging from trees on the way up and down. I cant say that I really enjoyed much of it, not really even having time to enjoy the view. At the top, there is a lake in the crater, but it was too cloudy to see more than 20 feet in any direction. The way down was even more of a muddy slog, though I took my time on the way down, and found a few choice spots to stop and soak in the cloud forest. In the end, I wouldnt do again or even recommend it to all but the most interested, but no regrets.

We took the direct and slow ferry to Granada the next morning. A beautiful ride past the lakes many other islands.

Granada is a colonial city as well, the conservative counterpart to liberal Leon, with which its shared a conflicted past. Its a lot more touristy, and the paint is a lot fresher, but I liked the feel of Leon a lot better. I did end up at a fun hostel here though, and met some fun people. And there is a lot to see around Granada. I viseted two more volcanos, reaching the top of these both by motorized transport. One is still quite active with a large smokey crater, and one being inactive has the only remaining cloud forest in this part of Nicaragua. The views from both were great. We spent our last full day at Laguna De Apoyo, which is a collapsed volcanic crater, now full of water, which is quite beautiful.

In just a few hours Im taking an 8 hour bus journery to San Jose Costa Rica, starting off the last leg of my trip.

Ill be in touch again soon...