Miss Maps Goes Solo

Wrote this sitting in a bus shelter in the pouring rain at a muddy border crossing between Nicaragua and Costa Rica.

Debbie and I reluctantly left Granada. A couple of chicken buses and a 1 hour boat journey later, we were on Isla De Ometepe, a sleepy island with possibly the friendliest people on earth. One theory from a French lady I met is that the island was isolated from the war, giving the people a certain softness.

Anyway, we arrived after dark so only had time to find a guide for our volcano trek the next morning. Yes, I hiked up a volcano! Not only was this my first hike ever, but it was up an active volcano 1600m high. We could only go to 1200m because of the ash and poisonous gasses but believe me, that was enough. I’m not very fit cardio wise which, together with the mental hurdles of ‘I’m not going to be able to make it’ and ‘I’m going to make a fool of myself’ made it hard. I hit the wall at about 800m but I kept going and my god was it worth it. From our viewpoint we could see Volcan Mombacho in Granada, right down to Costa Rica. It was so windy you could lean right forward and it would hold you up. The way down was fine (my legs are good, my heart is crap). By this point we’d seen a corn snake, white faced monkeys, blue magpies and an enormous blue butterfly the name of which I can’t remember. We’d also heard howler monkeys, I’ve heard them before in Tikal but they’re elusive so when we saw a large male and 2 smaller ones in the tree right above us we couldn’t believe it. Our guide made an excellent howler monkey noise and the male responded every time. In one picture his face is turned up and he’s actually howling!

Completing the trek was a great feeling and I’m keen to get more fit then try more. That evening we headed to another part of the island and watched the sun go down over the lake. The hotel was so beautiful and the people unbelievably friendly. Debbie decided she wanted a horse ride with a Nicaraguan cowboy early the following morning and they sorted it for her.

San Juan Del Sur was our next destination, a nice little sea side town on the Pacific Coast. The water is pretty nasty though so I decided to go to one of the more remote beaches further north. What the Lonely Planet failed to mention is that the bus stops miles away from the beach. I spent about an hour trekking along a muddy path, somethimes through streams, in the boiling hot sun, carrying all my belongings, including the two bloody paintings. The end result wasn’t entirely worth it. A lovely beach with good clean water but I have to admit the same can be found in Cornwall (well, on a very hot day). The ‘eco-lodge’ was a dive with a concentration camp style dormitory and a creepy manager.

I stayed for a few hours, had a swim then headed back to San Juan.

Whilst writing this I’ve left Nicaragua and headed into Costa Rica, my final Central American country. I’ll spend a few days on Playa Tamarindo then probably head inland before my flight to Ecuador and the galapagos, yay!

Anyone reading this thinking about going to Nicaragua, you have to go, it’s amazing and it will change pretty soon when more tourists arrive.

Most importantly of all today:

Happy birthday to my gorgeous niece Tabatha and happy anniversary to my just as gorgeous sister Nikki and brother-in-law Gary!

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This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 29th, 2005 at 12:40 am and is filed under Nicaragua. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can skip to the end and leave a response. Pinging is currently not allowed.