Nicaragua
Facts:-
Day 74 - Wednesday 21st September 2005 - arriving in Nicaragua
Just as we were wondering how long we might have to wait for a bus, one arrived. We thought that we had been lucky to catch the 4pm (and according to the LP, the last) bus of the day to Ocotal, but Nicaragua time turned out to be 1 hour ahead of Honduras', so the bus was actually a 5pm one. We spent the extremely slow journey to Ocotal deciding where to try and sleep and eat in a town we had not planned on staying in, but instead, when we arrived, we were pleased to see waiting for us the 6pm and last bus of the day to Estelí. This journey was most notable for a brief musical interlude provided by a 5-man combo for a few minutes befopre they changed buses.
We arrived in Estelí earlier than we had expected, given the journey time indicated in the LP. Not that we knew we had actually arrived until after the bus had been sitting at a gas station for a while and we had checked with another passenger. The first hotel we tried was full and the second only had one expensive ($30) triple room left, but we managed to get a nice, cheap room at Hospedaje Sacuanjoche for 150 cordoba (about $9), just a couple of blocks from the plaza.
Since it was after 8pm, our priority was to get some dinner and we went straight to Beverly's Taqueria where we each had our first taste of Nicaraguan beer and both tried "gringas"- a variation on quesadillas.
Day 75 - Thursday 22nd September 2005 - Estelí
We started the day with a fabulous typical breakfast at Cafetin el Recanto. Then our search for a cash machine began. The LP suggested that they were few and far between, but the search ended almost immediately as we walked around the corner and found one :-) Unfortunately it only gave us 500 cordoba notes, which being worth about $30 each would be useless, so we queued for a while in the bank to change them.
We had picked up a flyer in Copan for an eco-tour to the Reserva Natural Miraflor, and we went to their office to find out more. It seemed we could combine a range of options to make up our own trip, but we weren't really sure what we wanted to do and it was better value to go on their 3-night package - one in each "zone". The first night was to be in the "low zone" which would be the warmest, then there would be the "intermediate zona" and finally the "humid zone", with cloud forest and being cooler. However this meant an early start in the morning (again...)
We decided to spend the afternoon walking to Salto de la Estanzuela and picked up some bakery snacks en route. The walk was quite hilly and seemed much further than the 5km suggested on the signpost and in the LP. A couple of local kids even parted us from 10 cordobas each for entering the "private land" as we turned off the track towards the waterfall itself.
We enjoyed our bakery / mini pizza lunch and despite the water being very murky, such that you couldn't see the bottom of the pool beneath the falls, even at the edge, Ian went for a quick swim. On the way back, we had our photo taken by some over-excited / mad Americans who hadn't seen any white people for a while!
Back in town, we finally found a hotmail-friendly internet connection, before heading to La Gran Via restaurant for dinner. It was good to have some stir-fried veg for a change and with some noodles made a welcome change to our regular fayre of beans and rice.
Day 76 - Friday 23rd September 2005 - Day 1 in Miraflor
We had to be at the UCA Miraflor office at 5:30am to leave our backpacks, so another very early start, with a rude 4:40am alarm!
We met up with Alex, our guide, and together caught the bus to Coyolito (one of the Miraflor communities), about an hour north of Estelí. The bus dropped us right outside Dora Iglesia's house, where we would be staying that night. After breakfast, Alex led us off up a very steep, muddy path to the Mirador la Meseta and, after a short rest back at the casa, we did a second walk down to a river and a couple of waterfalls.
After lunch, we were very tired and so, after a bit of a chat to Wendy (recently arrived from Leeds to teach English in the community) we went for a siesta. After a couple of hours, we used the shower (a curtain with a small dish with which to pour water from a bucket over yourself) before getting ready for dinner, which was a special affair as it was Dora's birthday.
We were very impressed by the large candle-lit spread on the table, which included 3 large, iced birthday cakes. There were quite a few people there, including us, Alex, Wendy, another couple of english teachers (Christine and Sadie, who had been living in the community for a few months) and some of Dora's other friends. Rum and "Mega Big Cola" (a brand obviously focused on quantity over quality!) was served, there was lots of chatting (in both spanish and english) and even some cake icing throwing (perhaps a tradition here?).
After a late night (or at least a late night where there is no electricity - it was only about 10pm after all!) we were standing on the little balcony by our room, brushing our teeth when Nikki spotted a couple of eyes staring at here from a nearby tree. As our eyes adjusted we could see something climbing there. We went to find Alex to identify it and he said it was a "zorro" or fox (but after a bit of searcing on the internet it looked more like an opossum to us).
Day 77 - Saturday 24th September 2005 - Day 2 in Miraflor
The children from the community had a day trip to León today, so we were woken by the bus at 4am and were kept awake after that by Dora's chickens and cockerels! After a quick cup of coffee and another slice of birthday cake, we caught the bus to La Terrera. From here we hiked up and along tracks and overgrown forest trails to Sontula, another Miraflor community where we were to spend the night in Rafaela Gonzalez' house.
We had a tasty breakfast of eggs, beans, rice and tortilla (what else!), but it was also served with chips - the first time either of us could remember having chips for breakfast. Then we set off again on another walk to Mirador Las Nubes, accompanied by 10-year old Yared. At the mirador, there was a viewing tower, but you couldn't use it as there was a large wasps' nest there. Anyway it was very cloudy (as the name suggested it would be!) so we wouldn't have seen much. Alex left us there to arrange the next day's activities and Yared took us back by an "alternate" route, requiring walking through several fields, climbing over a number of barbed wire fences and passing right by a couple of locals' houses!
Over lunch, we chatted for a while to Rafaela (and drank liquid sugar, with a hint of coffee) and then sat on the porch next to the pig (of course!) occasionally joined by a hen and her young chicks and / or a dog.
We were a little disappointed that there was nothing arranged for us to do or visit for the rest of the day, but as after a while, the clouds rolled in and it began to rain heavily it didn't matter so much. We relocated inside to play cards and while away the afternoon. Dinner was a 5:10pm, a bit early - but we did get to try some tasty repochetas - deep fried tortilla filled with cheese, onion and some other veg. There was not much else to do (we had limited our backpack contents to the minimum for the trip, so had no music or books etc.) other than play a bit more cards before and early night.
Day 78 - Sunday 25th September 2005 - Day 3 in Miraflor - horseriding and lightning
Another repocheta and sweet coffee before Alex arrived with our horses for the day at about 8am. Ian's horse was a grey called "morrow", whilst Nikki had "cachasa" (apparently named after a type of cake, rather than the brazilian rum drink). We had a short ride up to the next community of La Perla and the house of Maribel Gonzalez, where we were to stay that night.
After a nice breakfast (and coffee to which we were able to add our own measures of sugar!) we set off with a long day's riding ahead of us. Within a few minutes it became clear that Ian's stirrups were too high for him to sit comfortably, but unfortunately Alex was unable to adjust them and so for much of the rest of the day he had to ride with his feet out of the stirrups to ease the pain.
We visited La Laguna de Miraflor, but it was mostly overgrown with reeds and other water plants (apparently there are plans to clear it up and offer canoeing here). We continued on, passing a local baseball game, and then stopped at Alex's family house before sitting in the sun for a bit watching another baseball game (this time it was Alex's team playing) - someone even hit a home run. Then it was off again and down a very steep and uneven track that was really difficult for the horses to negotiate. It took about half an hour to reach the end of the track where we walked over to a small waterfall where Ian and Alex went for a dip.
It was already 2pm and was a long and hard (and very painful on the bum) ride back to the casa. In places the mud was really deep which made it hard work for the horses and more painful for us. By now, Ian could barely sit on his saddle let alone get Morrow to move quickly, so it was 4pm by the time we sat down for lunch.
We were lucky to have returned when we did, as only a few minutes after we finished "lunch" a big thunderstorm started and we were glad to be sheltering undercover.
There was a lot of lightning around and some very loud thunder, but one particular crack was exceptionally loud and the family thought it had hit the tin roof of our room just a few feet away, whilst Ian was inside! It was certainly the closest either of us had been to lightning striking and we both literally jumped in shock. We all continued to sit around watching the rain and eventually Alex had to leave on his 2 hour ride home with the horses - we couldn't really imagine how bad the mud would be by now!
After a bit more card playing and dinner, Sandra (the youngest daughter) drew some pictures for us and put our names on them. The children played with our cards for a while and we joined them for a game of "pairs" (no translation of rules necessary!). Unsurprisingly it was another early night - this time in a comfy bed with duvets where nothing smelt damp. We even had an electric light!
Day 79 - Monday 26th September 2005 - on to Matagalpa
After a good night's sleep, we woke up to a late"ish" breakfast. There was nothing to do this morning except catch a bus back to Estelí and there was only one of those! The bus passed a junction about half and hour's walk from the casa and, depending on who you believed, passed between 11am and 12 noon. Anyway, we were escorted all the way there by Pinguin (the Gonzalez family dog) and sat and waited for the bus (as did Pinguin!). We were relieved when the bus did arrive (at about 11:40am) and we even managed to get seats. But, as the bus trundled along the country road, more and more people got on. It started raining and the windows steamed up, so we couldn't see anything either inside or outside the bus.
An hour and a half later (it seemed much longer!) we arrived back in Estelí and returned to the UCA Miraflor office to pick up our backpacks. We also took a small detour back to Hospedaje Sacuanjoche, where we had left one of our travel towels, but they claimed not to have seen it and so we headed out of town, backpacks slightly lighter!
After picking up a bakery lunch, we went looking for the bus terminal for buses heading south - we had been told it was near the "north" terminal, rather than where it was shown on our map. Thanks to this advice, we found it easily enough and after discovering that an express bus to Matagalpa (leaving immediately) cost only 23 cordobas each (about $1.50), we jumped on - what extravagance!
The ride was unusually smooth, at least until the paved road stopped and then it was another 15 minutes of bumping along until we reached Matagalpa. As it was raining and our chosen hotel was a couple of kilometres away, we took a taxi there - more luxury! And the luxury didn't stop there as the Hotel Fountain Blue not only had a clean dry double room with a clean shared bathroom, but also hot water! (only our second opportunity for a hot shower this month!).
Obviously our priority was to have a hot shower, which we did straight away, before heading into town to explore a bit. After an short email stop, we struggled to find somewhere looking acceptable to eat (Nikki was insistent that we have something other than eggs and beans! The Vy-Pay bar fitted the bill nicely and we both had jalapeño steaks and even had beer from litre bottles.
Day 80 - Tuesday 27th September 2005 - Selva Negra
Day 80 and nowhere near around the world yet!
We started the day with complimentary coffee and breads / pastries at the hotel. Then it was just a short walk around the corner where we picked up a bus to Selva Negra (a long-standing German owned coffee plantation with walking trails). After about half an hour, the bus dropped us at the turning to the Selva Negra entrance - rather oddly marked by the presence of an old wreck of a military tank. From there it was a pleasant 1.5km stroll along a tree lined avenue to the entrance. En route we heard a lot of howler monkeys howling not too far away.
A trail map was available at the hotel reception, which also helpfully gave suggested times for walking the various trails. We chose a route that followed "Las Pilas", "Indiana Jones" and then took the steep "Fountain of Youth" to the mountain ridge trail, before descending "Peter and Helen" and "Atajo". These were all well-marked trails through rain / cloud forest. We heard loads of birds and monkeys high in the canopy, seeing a few colourful ones from time to time. We also spotted a crab (!), an agouti and a couple of squirrels.
We returned to the restaurant for lunch, where we had excellent cheese and bacon burgers and were pleased when our entry fee was offset against the bill. :-)
After walking back up to the road, we only had to wait a few minutes to board a bus back to Matagalpa. We picked up our bags and (this time) walked to the bus station. The previous day we had asked about the availability of direct buses to León and were told that there was only one (at 6am), so we had assumed the 3pm direct bus mentioned in the LP no longer ran. However, we happened to arrive at the bus station at 2:50pm and a direct bus was just boarding - hooray!
Ian could barely fit in the narrow space between the seats and our backpacks had no chance of fitting in the overhead racks, so regularly fell into the aisle as we bumped along the road.
After about 2 and a half hours the bus was stopped on the highway somewhere near León by a large group of locals. We didn't know what was going on - neither did a lot of other passengers as we all hung around for a while. Eventually we had to get off the bus and (after avoiding a number of expensive offers of a taxi ride) were pointed in the direction of some really scruffy buses a couple of hundred metres away, which took us into the centre of town.
We tried the newly established Big Foot Hostel, which looked good, but didn't have a double room, so we ended up over the road at the Via Via Hostel. we settled in and then had dinner and a few beers in the hostel restaurant, whilst sheltering from the torrential rain, before heading to bed.
Day 81 - Wednesday 28th September 2005 - León
At about 4am Ian woke up and realised that, not only was it still raining heavily, but also that some was actually coming through the roof onto the bed. So we hastily moved the bed out of the way, strategically positioned a couple of waste bins to catch the drips and tried to get some more sleep!
After spending 4 of the previous 5 days walking in cloud forests, we desperately needed some clean clothes! After breakfast at the hostel, we tried to have our clothes washed there, but were told that the weather was too wet and that it would take at least a couple of days for everything to dry. But, we were given basic directions to a a place a few blocks away where we could get everything cleaned and dried that day. We wandered the streets for a while, near where we had been directed, we gave up looking. Fortunately someone else gave us directions to a launderette, which we did find. Our wash and dry cost us 97 cordobas (about $6), being by far the most expensive laundry bill yet!
We whiled a few more wet hours on the internet before eating lunch at El Sesteo, where Ian had a "nacatamale", a local dish of cornmeal, pork, vegatables, rice and sultanas cooked in a banana leaf.
We started the afternoon checking out a couple of tour companies to hike up some local volcanoes and decided to book ourselves on a trip to Cerro Negro with Quetzaltrekkers the following day. A quick visit to the local supermarket supplied us with Ian's belated name day present - half a bottle of rum and a bag of limes. We weren't meant to drink our own alcohol in the hostel, but we sat outside our room on a couple of rocking chairs, bought a litre of coke from the bar and polished off the rum over a few games of cards - it was our 4-month wedding anniversary, after all.
We started the evening sitting on the roof terrace at Don Señor's with a couple of beers and nachos as the sun set. However, we weren't inspired by the rest of the menu, so headed elsewhere for dinner. We ended up at the Taquezal Bar - Café and Nikki treated herself to a glass of Chilean red wine. Back at Via Via, we had a couple of games of pool (and Nikki had a very strong rum and coke). Nikki almost beat Ian and then Ian was challenged by a local who he also beat but we had to call it a night as we had an early start ahead of us.
Day 82 - Thursday 29th September 2005 - Cerro Negro
At 3:50am (yes 3:50am!), Ian's alarm woke us up - how rude! But the meet for the hike was at 4:15am so it was unfortunately necessary. Once there we had a simple (and very early!) breakfast and met our fellow hikers (Craig and Lorraine, from North Carolina, and Dirk and Kirsten, from Munich plus our guides Tali and Hilde...)
Apparently we had to start this hike so early as there was only one bus going our way (at about 5:30am). Even then, there was some debate as to whether this bus would run today as we found out that there was an ongoing bus strike (which explained our inconvenience with our bus arrival in León). So by 5am we were sitting on a street corner in the dark hoping a bus might arrive. Fortunately, within an hour, it did turn up and by about 6:45am, we were hiking towards Cerro Negro. Apparently this is the youngest volcano in Central America and in the crisp, clear and increasingly hot morning, we could soon see its bare rocky cone ahead of us. Gradually our route climbed through forest into the more barren, black ash landscape surrounding the volcano itself. Every now and then we would see a few bright green sprigs of grass or a small tree and the occasional petrified scorpion or insect.
In the first crater we climbed to, we could see down to where a large amount of steam was rising and we were able to wander down for a closer look (and smell!). There were loads of different coloured rocks and minerals making a very interesting landscape. Unfortunately, Ian managed to fall over on the sharp volcanic rocks whilst trying to take a a photo of Nikki and although he protected the camera from any damage, he did suffer a grazed arm and a bruised and bloody shin as a result.
We returned to the crater rim and followed it around to the highest point - where we should have been able to look into the youngest crater - but the clouds had rolled in and we coudn't see much. It even started raining (again!). The route down was straight over the edge over loose volcanic sand / gravel (apparently people regularly sand board down the steep slope). Nikki headed off confidently and almost immediately fell over, so with somewhat dented confidence, struggled down the slope. After a couple more falls, paired up and holding onto each other like we had done when descending Volcán Pacaya, we made our way down more sucessfully. Everyone else was way ahead of us and by now we were actually in the clouds and it was raining steadily. It was bleak and pretty unpleasant. Eventually we made it down where we snacked on some sweetbreads.
The walk back to the road from here took over an hour and it rained steadily all the way. We didn't even get a chance to stop under a tree to empty all the volcanic ash from our boots for ages! Fortunately, there was a tienda (small shop) with a corrugated roof shelter, where we rested while eating lunch and waiting for the bus.
Despite this experience, once back in León, we signed up for the weekend hike to Volcán Telica. Funnily enough, we were pretty tired so, after showering and changing into dry clothes, Nikki snoozed in a rocking chair, while Ian lazed in a hammock.
In the evening we tried to find a Cuban restaurant mentioned in the LP, but it didn't seem to be there any longer, so we had a couple of repochetas and a couple of beers at Bar Occidente, before moving on to Cafe Viejo for dinner (passing lots of drunk students on the way, perhaps they were protesting against the bus strikes or, even simply being unable to get to class, went to the pub instead!). As an aperitif, we treated ourselves to some caipirinhas.
Day 83 - Friday 30th September 2005 - León
We had an excellent breakfast at the Big Foot Hostel across the road from Via Via (both the traditional - Ian - and the pancakes - Nikki - were fab!) It was raining again so we spent the morning in an internet cafe before having a very large soup for lunch back at Via Via. In the afternoon, we wandered around the city centre looking at the cathedral and a variety of other churches before popping into the supermarket for some trekking supplies for the following day and then trying to catch up on some sleep.
We'd decided to spend the evening in the bar at Via Via as there was a band on (the well known Son Cinqo!). We played some pool before our chow mein dinner (although it was not as good as Ian's from a couple of day's before). Craig and Lorraine (from the Cerro Negro hike, and who would also be with us on the Volcán Telica hike the following morning) had chosen the same evening hangout and we shared a table with them and chatted over quite a few litres of beer - the litres were on special after all! - although we received one of our free beers well after we really should have stopped drinking!
Day 84 - Saturday 1st October 2005 - Volcán Telica trek - Day 1
A slightly more acceptable start time for today's hike, although it wasn't really any easier to get up after all the beers the night before - especially as we also had to finish packing our bags. But just after 6:15 am we were back at Quetzaltrekkers. We spent some time trying to pack all the stuff we had brought (and all the food and water we were to carry) for the 2-day hike into the small backpacks provided by Quetzaltrekkers. After a breakfast of bread and fruit our hiking group (us, Craig and Lorraine plus our guides: Rebecca and David - apparently another guy from New Zealand failed to show up...) departed.
We caught a camioneta (basically a small truck with a rain cover and a couple of benches along the sides) from the end of the block to the bus terminal - it was really uncomfortable with our backpacks on.
We took a bus to San Jacinto, where our hike started with a visit to the "famous" bubbling mud pools. From there, we walked for a couple of hours through forest and frijoles (bean) fields until we got our first glimpse of the cone of Volcán Telica. But a few minutes later, as we rested under a mango tree, we watched the clouds roll in and it began to rain. As we hiked higher through the forest, the clouds closed in and the rain continued - thank goodness for our waterproof backpack covers!
About an hour later we stopped under a particularly big tree for lunch (still in the rain). We had some surprisingly good egg salad sandwiches and some unsurprisingly bad peanut butter and jelly ones. From there, it was only a little further to our campsite, which we set up rather quickly.
We shared a 2/3 man tent with Craig and Lorraine - very cosy and certainly no room for our backpacks, which we wrapped in their waterproof covers and left on a rock under a nearby tree. The rest of the afternoon was spent in the tent playing cards while the rain lashed down. After some time, the floor of the tent began to rise and it felt more like a waterbed. We started measuring the depth of the standing water just outside the tent but, although we worried about it a lot, the inside of the tent remained mostly dry :-)
Dinner was pre-cooked (luckily) pasta with which we mixed a packet of pasta sauce and our evening entertainment was an episode of Fawlty Towers! - yes it really was - Ian had copied some episodes onto our Archos.
Day 85 - Sunday 2nd October 2005 - Volcán Telica trek - Day 2
Well, not much sleep was had by any of us. Ian, in particular was very restless with a splitting headache, which added to the fact that the tent was considerably shorter than him and the lack of space for everyone, meant he kept everyone else awake for most of the night.
By 5am it was only raining slightly, but the campsite was still shrouded in thick fog. Nevertheless, Ian and Craig (and Rebecca) went to see what they could see of the crater (and the red-hot lava that was usually visible there). Nikki and Lorraine, wisely chose to stay in the dry tent and try and get a bit more sleep.
Apparently the route to the crater normally takes about 20 minutes, skirting a small pond, normally about 5 feet wide by 10 feet long. But, this "pond" had been swollen by the heavy rains that the crater party could not get around it in the dark. So we had to climb back up and along to the ridge, before descending back down the other side of the water. Unfortunately, visibility was so bad that you couldn't see the crater, nor could Rebecca see anything see recognised to get her bearings! So taking an indirect route, stopping every so often to agree on the direction to head in, we were pleased to see the top of the cone briefly emerging from the clouds just above us. 5 minutes later, Ian and Craig were at the crater's edge, from where they could see... cloud - there was absolutely no chance of seeing any lava below, glowing red or not.
On the way back to camp, we could now see the full extent of the rain. The "pond" was definitely more of a lake now, being at least 50 feet wide by 100 feet long! - at least we could skirt around it more easily now it was visible. After breakfast of the rest of our supplies, we packed up and realised that some ants had eaten right through one of the backpack rain covers (Ian later stopped counting the holes after reacing 150!) and were in the process of building a nest.
Surprise, surprise, the walk back started in the rain. After about an hour it eased off so much that everyone took their waterproofs off - more fool us! 5 minutes later it began to rain again, shortly later getting heavier. After that it got heavier again, and after that heavier again, and again! Until we were effectively walking in a river (more of a small raging torrent, really!) We thought that we had survived without being completely soaked (in that our feet were only slightly damp), but when we arrived back at San Jacinto, what had been a completely dry ditch the day before was now a knee deep 15-foot wide river. There were a few "stepping stones" to aid us across it, but unfortunately, Nikki managed to mis-place a foot and so had water gushing into one hiking boot! - Squelch!
We were somewhat relieved to have finished our hike and we enjoyed a hot lunch in a local comedor.
After catching the bus back to León we re-packed our own backpacks and decided to head to Granada straight away - we reckoned we would be wet wherever we were!
A camioneta took us back to the bus terminal, where we boarded a bus that was leaving for Managua "in 2 minutes". Almost an hour later, we finally left León and, unsurprisingly, both slept on the journey to Managua. As usual when we arrived in a town (especially at night), we didn't really know where to get off the bus. Fortunately, in this case, at the terminal we had a choice of taxis, one of which took us to the microbus terminal for Granada. Immediately on exiting the taxi (possibly slightly before!) a microbus pulled up and we were squeezed in. It was very cosy, and they didn't really know what to do with our backpacks which took up valuable standing / crouching room! - the small guy collecting fares could hardly lift them. But it was a hassle free journey and we were in Granada in under an hour, where we found a double room and had dinner at the Bearded Monkey hostel.
Day 86 - Monday 3rd October 2005 - Granada
We were both very tired after so little sleep and so much hiking in recent days, so sampled breakfast and used the (complimentary) internet access at the hostel. Since it was still raining, we ended up having lunch there as well and playing some (complimentary) pool - on one of the least flat tables we had seen - even in Central America!
We had some laundry done and made several unsucessful visits to the Hostel Oasis where we had hoped to stay, but anyway had arranged for a parcel to be delivered by DHL. However, we did sucessfully retrieve our Costa Rica guidebook, which had been waiting at the post office for us for a few weeks. We also sucessfully retrieved a missing sock from the launderette!.
We finished the day with a relaxed dinner at El Club.
Day 87 - Tuesday 4th October 2005 - Granada
Breakfast at Kathy's Waffle House was interrupted by the arrival of a Japanese princess to visit the convent of San Fransisco opposite us - not that we could see her as there were far too much security around! After another failed attempt to collect our package, we walked down to Lake Nicaragua and along near the shore for a while, hiding from the occasional showers. Back in town we had a look around the market in search of a lunch snack, but ended up instead at Restaurante Los Portales from where we got to see tha plaza and cathedral in the sun!
It was now quite urgent that we located the package as it contained Nikki's prescription tablets, which she was running out of fast! As we walked back from lunch we managed to find the DHL office, which confirmed that they had just delivered the package to Hostel Oasis, so we were finally able to pick it up. Hooray!
We had another rainy afternoon abusing the complimentary internet, before heading out for dinner. We ended up at Nuestra Casa for a huge steak and burger - both highly recommended.
Day 88 - Wednesday 5th October 2005 - The Monkey Hut, Laguna de Apoyo
We enjoyed some french toast for breakfast at the hostel before catching a ride to the Monkey Hut. Nikki got to ride up front, while Ian sat on the backpack in the back of the pick-up. But at least he was able to enjoy the view as we descended towards Laguna de Apoyo. The view from the deck of the Monkey Hut down to the laguna was fabulous and we soon decided to go for a dip. The water was incredibly clear and quite warm, but when we swam a little further out, the breeze had whipped up the millpond surface into some white crested waves and so we returned nearer the shore, where it was calm and flat once again. It was without a doubt the best water to swim in of the trip so far (and for many years before that too!). We even got to dry off in the sun on the dock.
Back on land, just along the road from the Monkey Hut, we found the Monte Verde restaurant, where we enjoyed lunch just a few feet from the lakeshore. For a while, we entertained the thought of kayaking in the afternoon, but instead opted to read and snooze in hammocks on the deck!
A couple of dogs and a cat were also making themselves comfortable on the deck. One of the dogs must have eaten several of his pedigree chums, which led Nikki to comment "no wonder that guy said it was comfortable to sleep on the dog!" - referring to a guest book entry Ian had read out earlier. Of course, for "dog" read "dock" - what an easy mistake to make. But this entertained Ian for hours! (at one stage, he almost rolled out of his hammock!)
For dinner, as we had the use of a kitchen, we had bought some pasta and veg with us and cooked up a great little meal.
There were only 2 other overnight guests - Aussie Nicola, who we didn't see much and Daniel from Germany, who we chatted to for a while - he seemed to be following much the same route through Central America as us.
Day 89 - Thursday 6th October 2005 - Hike to the Mirador at Catarina, Laguna de Apoyo
A bowl of "Excellent Cornflakes" (we guessed that "Average Cornflakes" wouldn't sell so well!) set us up for a walk to a mirador overlooking the crater lake. We weren't sure whether we would find the trailhead - apparently Aussie Nicola had failed to find it a couple of days before. We walked for about half an hour along the road near the lakeshore, on the way, seeing a group of about a dozen green parrots. We heard them from some way off but, due to their colouring, we didn't see them until only a moment before a squirrel frightened them off :-( (even though they were in a tree just by the road.) Soon after that, we asked a few locals for directions and found the unmarked trail.
For once it was so hot that we were glad of the shade offered by the forest! After only a few minutes, we heard some howler monkeys really close by and, even better, we spotted them in the tree tops near the trail. As we stopped to look we realised that this was a sizable group of about 20-25 monkeys, including some babies. It had been so long since we had been lucky enough to see wildlife close at hand that we stayed to watch them for quite some time. We didn't think that they were particularly impressed by this, as from time to time they "howled" at us very loudly!
The rest of the walk was pleasant, surrounded by the sounds (and occasionally the sight) of birds, but fairly steep right up to Catarina on the crater's rim. We had to ask for some more directions in the village and had to part with a whole 1 cordoba (about $0.06) each entry fee to the mirador itself! The view across the Laguna, as far as Lake Nicaragua and Volcán Monotombo was really excellent and we decided to continue enjoying the view over a brunch (clearly the "Excellent Cornflakes" hadn't quite been enough!) Nikki was craving a "typico" breakfast of eggs, beans, gallo pinto (beans and rice) and fried plantain etc, which we found without too much difficulty!
A local pointed us along a more direct route back from the mirador to the top of the trail down to the lakeshore. The howler monkeys hadn't moved far, so we watched them a little longer, before returning to the Monkey Hut. It had been a 5-hour round trip, rather than the 2-hours advertised on the Monkey Hut noticeboard so we had missed the 11:30am bus back to Granada and had to wait for the next one - at 4:30pm. Anyway this gave us the chance to have another swim and laze around for a bit.
We had reserved a room back at the Bearded Monkey, but on returning we found out that they didn't actually take reservations - we had unfortunately spoken with a new girl on reception... Of course they were now fully booked! However, they did suggest we tried the Hospedaje La Libertad, a newly opened hostel around the corner. This place was more expensive, but did come with inclusive internet use and breakfast, so we decided to give it a go.
We both fancied some pizza and so we went to Tele Pizza for dinner, which wasn't at all bad.
Day 90 - Friday 7th October 2005 - Reserva Natural Volcán Mombacho (in the rain)
We had wanted to make an early start, but breakfast wasn't served until 8am. So we wolfed down our scrambled eggs and bread roll and headed for (one of) the bus terminals. We wanted to visit Reserva Natural Volcán Mombacho and the bus dropped us at the turning. From there, it was a 20 minute walk to the entrance and we were pleased to arrive in time to catch the "ecomobile" (4x4 truck) to the biological station at the top of the mountain (the next one was not until 1pm!)
At first we thought the truck was a little unnecessary (and expensive), but the road just kept going on and on, getting steeper and steeper. Of course, by the time we got to the top it was raining and we were in thick cloud!
As we investigated the hiking options available to us, the rain intensified. So much so, that the guide we were speaking to (who was needed to accompany us on the longer hikes) was very reluctant - we probably would just have got wet and not seen anything. Then we discovered that we only had the choice of a 12:30pm or 4pm ride in the ecomobile back down. There was no contest.
We did make the effort to walk the short trail around one of the dormant craters but of course we got wet and didn't see anything except wet trees and clouds, and a meteorological station to keep Nikki amused (albeit briefly)! However, we didn't get as wet as the school party (perhaps an exchange programme between US and Nicaraguan kids) who had almost exclusively turned up wearing jeans and without waterproofs!
Back in Granada it was also raining and so we sheltered and had a late lunch in Los Bocaditos. We changed venues and continued to hide from the rain, now in the hostel, before going for dinner and a half bottle of the excellent Flor de Caña rum at the Bearded Monkey!
Day 91 - Saturday 8th October 2005 - Raining in Granada
After breakfast of Ometepe (a sort of mash of local white cheese and beans with other unidentifiable ingredients), which was nice, if small, we were able to move back to the Beaded Monkey, which was a nice surprise. We were keen to move back as not only was it cheaper and a more happening and welcoming place, but also the inclusive internet used Windows applications, rather than the Linux ones we had been struggling with in La Libertad!)
In between the showers, we tried to go for a walk and made it as far as the plaza, where we had lunch at Nacho Mama's. But by then it was raining again. It continued raining solidly for the rest of the afternoon, so we went back to the hostel and whiled away the hours on the internet and playing Scrabble and pool over some more tasty Flor de Caña. Ian was feeling slightly below par with a bit of a cold, but Nikki was on top form, thrashing Ian at Scrabble and even scraping an 8-6 victory at 9-ball pool!
Day 92 - Sunday 9th October 2005 - Raining Again in Granada
We woke to see blue sky above the coutyard to our room (which was very exciting!) and therefore ventured out of the hostel for breakfast. We ended up at Kathy's Waffle House again and had some fantastic omelettes.
Later, Craig and Lorraine came by the hostel and we decided to try and take a boat trip around the isletas just offshore near Granada. We walked down to the lakeshore and, almost as soon as we had paid our 2 cordoba (about $0.12) entry fee, it began to rain again!
We made it a little further along the lakeshore before stopping for a beer and waiting, hopefully, for the rain to pass. But it didn't and eventually we walked back into town.
At least the rain had stopped by the time we went out for dinner - pizza again, this time at Don Luca's. (They certainly served better pizza than Telepizza, but it was probably not worth the extra cordobas!)
Day 93 - Monday 10th October 2005 - Finally an Istelas Trip on Lake Nicaragua
We were pleased to see that we had another dry and bright start to the day and enjoyed a filling typico breakfast just around the corner at Cafe Isabella.
We had agreed to meet Craig and Lorraine at 9am to try (again) to do an isletas trip. This time, before we had even reached the lakeshore, we had been offered a private lancha (small motor boat) for which Craig negotiated a reasonable price. However, once again we were forced to shelter from the rain and started to believe that we were just not destined to make this trip!
Fortunately, the rain stopped and we were even wondering about the need for sun cream on the walk to the dock! The boat took us at a leisurely pace around some of the 365 small islands created by one of Mombacho's ancient eruptions. We saw lots of water birds, some close enough for decent photos, as well as passing by a large number of private islands which looked very exclusive.
We stopped on an island on which a small fort had been built by the Spanish to dissuade English and French "pirates" from visiting Granada from time to time! We continued on to "monkey island" where some semi-captive spider monkeys were very interested in us. Then our captain stopped on one of the larger islands for us to get a drink, which we did whilst watching storms across the lake.
Although there was a little drizzle on the way back to the dock, we were very pleased to have finally been able to do the trip and stay predominantly dry!
We stopped at the "world famous" Zoom Bar for a late lunch snack. After that, Ian was still trying to shake off a cold, so rested while Nikki amused herself online.
As it was still raining, we stayed at the hostel again for dinner, enjoying another half bottle of Flor de Caña with Coke over a game of Scrabble, which Ian narrowly won.
Day 94 - Tuesday 11th October 2005 - Volcán Masaya
We had decided to stay one more night and take another chance on the weather, this time to visit Parque National Volcán Masaya. The day started well, with some sunshine and bits of blue sky visible. But, by the time we had eaten breakfast and set off to the bus stop, the rain had begun (again!) It was only 20km from Granada to the entrance to the national park, but the bus went through periods of heavy rain, clearer patches and drizzle.
When we arrived, it was raining enough for us to put on our waterproofs, but not enough for us to pay the extra 40 cordobas (about $2.50) to get a ride to the top. In any case, we wanted to call in at the visitors? centre en route and wanted the exercise. It was about a 20 minute gentle uphill walk to the visitors? centre, which had a really good exhibition on the volcanoes of Central America and further afield. Whilst we had been sheltering inside, rain had been hammering down. But we were delighted when, shortly after beginning the 4-5km walk to the crater, the rain stopped.
The walk was along a paved road, which was sometimes steep. It took us through lava fields from an eruption in 1772 and other more recent volcanic debris, before bringing us to the near-deserted car park at the crater?s rim.
The crater was spewing out an enourmous amount of steam and sulphurous gases, nevertheless, with the wind in the right direct direction we were able to see deep down into the crater. This was actually the Santiago crater of Volcán Nindiri, which is the only active one of the 5 in the park. The precarious path around the rim to the highest point, marked by a cross, was closed as it was too dangerous, but we were able to walk up to the edge of a dormant crater [San Fernando], which was mostly forested. Apparently, you could usually walk right around this crater and get great views over Lake Masaya, but there was just too much cloud and volcanic fumes, so we were advised against this trip. Our visitors?guide recommended not staying at the crater for more than 20 minutes, but due to favourable winds taking some of the fumes away from us, we managed to stay longer. But after about 40 minutes, the wind turned back towards us again and with both of us suffereng from eye and throat irritations, were forced to leave. We probably stayed too long, as Ian?s eyes suffered for a few days afterwards too!
We returned back to the main road, via the visitors?centre, and caught a bus to the town of Masaya itself. We even managed to make it to a restaurant near the artisans?market for lunch before it started to rain. We toyed with the idea of buying hammocks, but it just seemed too expensive to send them home. Otherwise, we were unimpressed with the quality of the artisans? market, which just seemed to be a collection of souvenir shops all selling the same things.
As we made our way to the bus terminal, it began to rain heavily and we were very pleased to be able to jump on a bus back to Granada immediately. Due to heavy rain back in Granada too, we made the most of the inclusive internet and popped out for a meal at El Zaguan, which was a little disappointing for the price.
Day 95 - Wednesday 12th October 2005 - on to San Juan del Sur
Back to Café Isabella for another filling typico breakfast followed by visits to the bank and post office (we were pleased to see how cheap it was to send stuff home from Nicaragua).
Then, we finally left Granada on a bus bound for Rivas, where we changed buses (onto possibly our worst bus yet!) and had a taco bus snack for lunch. An hour later, we were in San Juan del Sur and checked into Casa Oro with the hope of visiting a nearby beach at night to see Olive Ridley turtles nesting. On arrival, however, we were told that because the rains had been so heavy recently the rivers were too high and it was not possible to get along the road even in a 4x4. Oh well, perhaps tomorrow!
Whilst exploring the small town, we spotted some green parrots nesting in the eaves of a house on the Pacific shore and later saw loads more flying around - so much for spending our time bird-watching in cloud forests - we should have stuck to coastal towns!
We stopped for a afternoon snack of some delicious cinnamon rolls direct from the bakery and spotted an attractively decorated terrace restaurant (El Colibri), which we went back to for dinner. It turned out to be Italian influenced (with a British / Italian couple running it) and we enjoyed some rather nice fish fillets in a herb and cream sauce, washed down with some sangria, which made a nice change from beer!
Day 96 - Thursday 13th October 2005 - San Juan del Sur
It rained some of the night, but we had a lie in and by 10am we were hopeful that it might remain dry (for at least part of the day) and that we might get to see turtles that night! We popped round the corner for a very cheap and filling breakfast at Soda Los Angeles, then ambled around the town again (this time with Ian?s camera) but saw no parrots!
We spent the rest of the morning lazing around the hostel courtyard, lying in hammocks, sending emails and working up an appetite for lunch, which was satisfied by a market lunch at Comedor Itzel. On returning to the hostel, we were delighted to be able to sign up for a turtle trip for that evening (weather and river-level permitting) :-)
Nikki took advantage of the one and only hammock in the coutyard while Ian went to the bakery for some turtle-watching snacks, then to use the internet and at dusk around town, parrot spotting with his camera. The turtle trip departed at 8pm, so we had an early dinner of shrimps (washed down with some rum and coke) at Marie?s Restaurant. Back at the hostel, we packed our waterproofs and snacks in preparation for the trip. However, while waiting in reception, we learned that the trip had been cancelled due to persistently high river levels. We were sooo disapointed and perhaps a bit annoyed that we had not been told of the cancellation before we had rushed dinner. :-( We consoled ourselves over a game of Scrabble with a large bottle of rum (with some free limes) and coke! The game wasn?t much of a contest as Ian scored nearly 100 with his first turn, using all his letters and a triple word score square!
Day 97 - Friday 14th October 2005 - on to Ometepe
We thought long and hard about whether to stay another night and hope to see turtles this evening or just to move on. However, it had rained a fair bit overnight and so, reluctantly, we decided to move on.
Another cheap and filling breakfast at Soda Los Angeles, then we packed up and headed for the bus to Rivas. We were "delighted" to see that despite seeing numerous buses in decent condition in San Juan, the bus was the same rusty amd run-down wreck that had brought us into town!
In Rivas, the LP detailled a bus we could catch to the ferry terminal at San Jorge and we checked this with a girl sitting at the bus stop on the suggested street corner. However, after we had turned down the offer of a ride from numerous taxis, the same girl asked where we were going as there were no buses to San Jorge, only taxis! Needless to say, we took one of the next taxi offers to the harbour.
Having just missed a ferry, we had a bit of a wait for the next one. In any case, about an hour later we were on our way to Isla de Ometepe - the biggest island in Lake Nicaragua, dominated by its two volcanoes. At the dock in Moyogalpa, we avoided the bus and taxi touts and checked into Los Ranchitos. We even appeared to get a low-season discount without asking for one! The giant ants in the room were also complimentary!
Rocking outside our room in some rocking chairs, enjoying some home-mixed rum and cokes, we researched the available activities for the next few days and potential itineries for our time in Costa Rica. Then, it took us only a few minutes wandering to see what Moyogalpa had to offer - not much!
We ate at the hotel, which was a good (LP recommended) choice - we particularly enjoyed our starter of garlic bread sticks! :-)
Day 98 - Saturday 15th October 2005 - Cycling on Ometepe
As dinner was so good, we stayed at the hotel again for a good typico breakfast of gallo pinto (rice and beans) and eggs with fried plantain.
We had realised that at almost 100 days into our trip we had not done any cycling yet. So, the previous evening we had checked out the bike hire oportunities in town and went back to the best looking of the bunch. We thought our plans might have to change as the hotel where we wanted to hire the bikes was locked up. But after a few hopeful shouts of "Hola!" and "Buenas Dias!" it was soon opened up for us. We selected a couple of nearly new mountain bikes and were pleased to see that the gears and brakes were still in decent condition and were even more pleased when we were given a couple of gel-filed seat covers - this was far beyond our expectations!
We had decided to ride to Charco Verde (a nature reserve with a couple of hotels, we thought we might stay at). It was about 13km, which we were able to count down using the signs each kilometre advertising the sponsors of the newly paved road around this part of the island. It was a lovely smooth ride and mostly flat. After an hour or so we got to Hotel Finca Playa Venecia and enjoyed a swing in a hammock, a 7Up and a view over the lake, before checking out the rooms. Next it was a little further along the road to the Charco Verde Inn.
From there we had planned to walk in the Reserva Charco Verde, but soon discovered that the path was submerged and the lake and the lagoon were temporarily joined. We had lunch at the hotel, where Ian was surprised that his fish soup largely consisted of a whole fish in a large bowl of broth (I guess it did what it said on the menu!). Although their cheapest room (at $15) would be our most expensive for some while (since Parque La Tigra), and the restaurant prices were significantly higher than indicated on the flyer we had been given on the ferry, we reserved a room for the following day, planning to relax on the lake shore for an afternoon.
We noticed that the clouds covering Volcán Concepción were now darker and lower and so we cycled back with a little more pace than our outward journey. This meant that we got back to Moyogalpa only slightly wet and were in the rocking chairs (this time under the ovehanging roof to our room) again before the heavy rains started. After the rain eased, we went down towards the dock to arrange a guide for a hike up Volcán Concepción for the following day.
We had to have some more garlic breadsticks, so once again had dinner in the hotel, which today was quite busy with other tourists.
Day 99 - Sunday 16th October 2005 - Hiking Volcán Concepción
We had pre-ordered breakfast, so by 7:15am we were ready and waiting for Eric (our guide) to arrive. We had been expecting to take a local bus to the start of our hike, but Eric was running a bit late and so had arranged a taxi to take us to the trailhead. Over recent months, Volcán Concepción had been rumbling and there were fears hat it might erupt, so you couldn?t do the 10-hour round trip to the top, but we probably wouldn?t have opted for this in any case.
We hadn?t seen much of the volcano so far, but shortly after starting the hike, the clouds cleared and we caught a glimpse of the summit - but unfortunately that was to be our last sighting for the hike!
Once we reached the base of the volcano it was a steep two and a half hour climb to the mirador (about at the halfway point on the summit hike) taking us through thick forest. Most of the forest was in cloud, but we did get to see and hear some howler monkeys and later some white-faced capuchin monkeys too, one of which came really close by. Needless to say, the view from the mirador was entirely of cloud. Apparently looming somewhere above us was the rest of the volcano!
On the way down it rained heavily and the path became pretty slippy (both of us slipping over a few times), but by the time we reached the road again, the sun was out and it didn?t even look like it had rained at this altitude. It was nearly 1:30pm and we had to wait for the 2:30pm bus. However, despite aching legs, when no bus had arrived by 3pm we started walking. Of course, no more than 5 minutes later the bus arrived and we were back in Moyogalpa in time to collect our backpacks and catch the 3:30pm bus out to Charco Verde.
Of course, the 3:30pm bus didn?t materialise and we eventually found the a bus waiting at a petrol station at 3:50pm, which was allegedly the 4:30pm departure.
Of course it didn?t leave until 5pm, but at least that gave us the opportunity to have our first petrol station beers of the trip (possibly ever!). We also thought it was unusual that one of the reasons for the delayed departure was to allow the bus driver enough time to finish his fourth beer (at least we only saw him drink 4!).
We eventually got to Charco Verde just before dusk, having missed all of our hammock-lounging relaxing afternoon. Fortunately, however, the hotel had kept our reservation. After much needed showers, we ordered the cheapest food off the dinner menu - a small but tasty jalapeño fish fillet. Returning to our room, we read and relaxed listening to some music and called an early night.
Day 100 - Monday 17th October 2005 - Charco Verde and on towards Rio San Juan
After breakfast on the beach, we followed the route up a hill to a nearby mirador. It was hot going and we were surprised to have to climb over / under 4 barbed wire fences across the path!
The approach to the top was particularly steep and slippy, but the view down to the Charco Verde lagoon and out to Lake Nicaragua and both volcanoes (Concepción and Maderas) was pretty good.
Back at the hotel, we had a quick swim in the lake to cool off and (submerged path or not) Ian decided to explore the reserve. He got a bit concerned wading across the flooded section of path, as the water quickly rose to his knees, but then literally bumped into a "bridge" (which didn't reach either end of the flooded section) that was only a few inches below the water's surface. Walking the trail took about an hour, including stops for viewing howler monkeys and lots of magpie-jays.
A lunch of pasta was squeezed between two periods of hammock lounging. We certainly felt we needed a proper meal as we weren't sure whether we would get any dinner.
After another lengthy wait for a bus, we set off for Altagracia, enjoying for the first time a completely cloud-free view of Volcán Concepción - it was even spewing out a little smoke for us. A couple of kilometres further, by minubus taxi, and we were at the dock where we had to decide between 1st and 2nd class travel for the 10-hour overnight ferry to San Carlos. It wasn't really much of a contest... There, we introduced ourselves to Marise, from the Netherlands, and chatted over dinner of two enchiladas (total cost 10 cordobas, about $0.60!) whilst sitting on the cement dock.
After about an hour the ferry arrived from Granada and was already pretty full. We soon found out that our first class tickets got us space on a padded bench in a chilly air-conditioned room with an exceptionally loud TV showing various horror films in Spanish. We struggled through most of a game of scrabble, helped by some rum and coke we had bought with us, until one of the crew told us we weren't allowed to drink alcohol on board and looked after the rest of our rum until the morning.
Most of the other backpackers had hammocks, which they had strung up out on the upper deck and since it wasn't too cold, we decided to get out our camping mats and sleeping bag liners and sleep outside as well. At first it was quite pleasant, lying under the stars and the very bright full moon. But the breeze soon picked up and eventually Ian even unpacked a sleeping bag (we had been carrying them for 100 days and this was the first action they had seen!). Nikki, however, didn't need hers as she was sheltered from the wind by Ian :-)
Day 101 - Tuesday 18th October 2005 - Rio San Juan
To begin with, neither of us got more than a few minutes sleep at a time. This was not helped by the completely unnecessary ticket collection at 2:10am! But after leaving the penultimate dock, we did manage a couple of hours sleep before dawn broke at about 5am and we arrived in San Carlos.
The dock was surprisingly busy and by 5:30am we had bought our onward tickets up the Rio San Juan. We certainly needed breakfast, but a slow walk around town revealed that nothing much was open yet, so we sat in the plaza for a bit. We did manage to find a comedor that was open a little after 6am - Marise was also there with three Swedes she had met. We had a great typico breakfast for only 20 cordobas (about $1.10) each and thus felt a little more prepared to face the day.
We tried to board our next boat early to get some good seats for wildlife watching, but were turned back by port security and were directed to a waiting "cage". Needless to say, when a boarding queue formed, it was abused by locals and we only just got a seat. Our bags weren't as lucky and they ended up somewhat unsecurely placed on the roof of the lancha. In fact, the reason the lancha was so full was that several locals had boarded the fully-booked boat without tickets. This was eventually sorted out and the last of the waiting backpackers squeezed their way past the armed guards and onboard.
The journey to Sabalos Lodge took about 2 and a half hours, with the river winding through the forest for about 45km. There were hundreds of swifts darting around the river and the banks were lined with cormorants basking in the sun as well as many herons and egrets.
Marise had decided to join us heading to Sabalous Lodge and it turned out that the Swedes from breakfast were also hoping to stay there - needless to say, none of us had reservations. When we arrived, we were told that they had "no" rooms available, but soon discovered that this meant that only the rooms in the "Adventure Cabin" (read: basic) were vacant. Although we would have preferred a proper cabin, this was fine by us (although at $14 for a room only just big enough for the bed, our backpacks (upright) and ourselves (standing) was a bit much.
Ian had a quick dip in the river - it was too fast flowing to swim any distance - and, after a disappointing and expensive lunch, we spent the rest of the afternoon lounging in hammocks. A little later, we decided to explore the area a bit and Greg (an American living locally) showed us and Marise the way to Sabalos village, where we enjoyed a Fanta by the river dock. In fact, we only just made it back before nightfall.
After so little sleep the night before, we really needed a early night and were showered and ready to order dinner by 6pm. Unfortunately the group occupying most of the other cabins (some Americans and guides, who seemed to be filming a documentary) were receiving all the attention the staff were giving, and all of us backpackers felt rather ignored. We actually managed to order dinner by 7pm, but didn't get our meal until after 8pm, by which time we were all thoroughly fed up (even our order of 2 beers took almost and hour to arrive!). Consequently the others all decided to leave first thing in the morning. We decided to see how we slept and re-assess our plans in the morning. This experience was all the more disappointing as we had miscalculated and thought this was our 100th day on the road and we had wanted to celebrate a bit. It was only a couple of days later that we actually realised that our comfortless boat journey had in fact been our 100th night!
Day 102 - Wednesday 18th October 2005 - El Castillo
We did have a good night's sleep - despite the other backpackers catching the 5:30am and 7am boats from just outside our room. We toyed with the idea of moving into a hotel in El Castillo for one night. But, now we were the only guests around we decided to stay one more night.
In any case, several people had recommended a day visit to El Castillo and a 45-minute journey further downstream saw us there comfortably before lunch. We headed straight up to the fort (El Castillo) itself, which was clearly showing the signs of ongoing restoration work. We thought that no-one was there to collect our entrance fee and looked around for a few minutes, but we had been spotted. However, for our $2 entrance fees we got a guided tour in Spanish (we understood the jist of most of the information: the fortress was built by the Spanish in the 17th century to defend the route to Lake Nicaragua and Granada from English and French "pirates" - including on one occasion a young Horatio Nelson). We also looked around the small museum, where we were amused to read that Sir Francis Drake was "commonly known as the father of pirates".
After a quick wander around town, we stopped at Soda Vanessa for a cheap and tasty typico lunch.
The last bus (sorry: boat) back along the river left at 2pm, so we were back at the lodge in time for some more hammock-lounging before dinner. However, after only about an hour, we were disturbed by the howling of some howler monkeys, which sounded pretty close by. So we went to watch them for a while. So as to increase our chances of a timely dinner, we had ordered shortly after breakfast(!) and so had to stop watching the monkeys to shower etc. But while Ian was shaving, he noticed that some of the monkeys had come even closer and lower in the trees, so we had to take some more photos!
Given the poor service the night before, we didn't feel too concerned that we drank our own rum and coke in the restaurant before dinner. But, to be fair, when our meal arrived (only 15 minutes late), the huge garlic river shrimps were excellent and 2 each was plenty to fill us up! However, we did need another early night in preparation for another early start.
Day 103 - Thursday 19th October 2005 - on to Costa Rica
Another 5am start meant we were sitting on the dock in plenty of time for the early boat back to San Carlos and the trip back was another pleasant river journey.
We went back to Soda Jessica for a cheap breakfast and even managed to find a "post office" to send some postcards from and a shop to sell us some more Flor de Caña rum before we left the country.
It turned out that our boat left from a small jetty accessed only through the immigration office, where we queued for quite a while to get our exit stamps. Meanwhile Ian had a lot of fun trying to change our remaining cordobas into colones. His normal routine of asking all the money changers for their exchange rate and choosing the highest number (surely not an unreasonable approach) didn't work here. It was pretty confusing as some of the money changers quoted "35" colones to the cordoba (whilst others were quoting "28"). However when it actually came to changing money it materialised that "35" actually meant 10,000 / 35 (i.e. about 28.5!!!). To confuse matters further, once everyone was quoting rates in a more logical manner, one guy quoted "39", only to use "29" when it came to calculate our colones! Anyway 29 seemed the best available rate (this turned out to be about 500 colones to the $).
The journey up the Rio Frio to Costa Rica was possibly even more pituresque than along the Rio San Juan (although there was not as much visible wildlife), Certainly the border itself must be one of the most pituresque frontiers in the world...
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