The road chose me

I really don’t know what else to see & do in Nicaragua so I ask a few locals and fellow travelers and everyone agrees Isla Ometepe is a must see. The island sits in the middle of Lake Nicaragua, formed by two volcanoes, Conceptión which is huge and still active & the smaller dormant Maderas. Taking the Jeep onto the island is a little expensive, but well worth it to make getting around so much easier.

Volcan Conception on Isla De Ometepe

At the ferry terminal all the different taxes, charges and tariffs quickly get confusing and then I go and loose my ticket, so I have to buy another. All told I pay 480 cordobas (about $25 USD) to get myself and the Jeep over to the island and I drive right onto a ferry ready to go. The ride is really rough in high swells whipped up by the wind and I get chatting to a few backpackers who are mostly traveling solo and have randomly met up. They’re pretty stoked to realize the benefits of having a vehicle and we soon find a place to camp out at Hostel Chico Largo for the night right on the side of the lake.

Volcan Conception in the early morning

We move along and checkout Ojo De Agua, a natural spring on the island. After we pay our $2 USD entrance the guy at the gate gives us a huge spiel about the spring and I’m amazed to hear it’s about 25 °C and doesn’t change temperature no matter what the active Volcán Conceptión is doing. I’ve heard some rumors about hot springs on the island, this guy is certain there are none.
It turns out to big a big concrete pool with crystal clear water welling up from the bottom – a bit of a tourist trap but a really nice place all the same.

Ojo de Agua on Isla de Ometepe

We camp at the night at Finca Magdalena, a beautiful organic farm a little way up the side of Volcán Maderas. It’s obvious they get a lot of tourists through here, with a menu entirely in US dollars and the convenience of running a tab.. All the guys in the group are really excited to hike up the volcano in the morning and we ummm and arrr about getting a guide, which is apparently mandatory, though we’re not certain about that. We decide that if we’re careful we won’t have any problems.

The crew setting out to climb Volcan Maderas

Early in the morning the hike starts dry, hot, dusty and steep just as we had thought, but quickly changes into extremely lush wet rainforest and we begin climbing through mud and slippery rocks. This continues for hour after hour and it takes us a full four hours to reach the summit, unfortunately surrounded by very high trees. We descend an extremely steep section down to the lake in the volcano crater, which is stunning to say the least. We had hoped to swim here, though it’s quickly obvious it’s a shallow mud pit which Ben illustrates by sinking past his knees, a feat greeted with roaring laughter.

Lake shoreline

The very steep descent into the crater

We hang out for an hour or so, soaking in the atmosphere and chatting to other hikers before setting out for the return leg. After a while it becomes apparent we’re not on exactly the same trail we came up on, but using the two volcanoes as landmarks we know exactly where we are and decide to continue down. The trail seems much longer and a few hours later we break out into farm land, first passing through open fields with cattle, then banana plantations and more open farmland. We eventually make it down to the road and have a couple of kilometers to hike back around to Magdalena, where we arrive throughly exhausted. A few people snicker at our “getting lost” and one of the ladies says in Spanish we need to learn how to use our brains.
Ouch.

The lake in the crater of Volcan Madera

The beautiful farmland below the volcano

Almost the whole crew moves on the next morning, some heading south for Costa Rica and some moving North. Mike, Simon and I move around to the other side of Maderes and spend another night lakeside, mostly relaxing for the day after our big volcano hike. I’m feeling pretty sick with another stomach bug and am happy for the rest day.

Hiking through a bananna plantation

Isla Ometepe is an amazing place and the peaceful, relaxed way of life is really infectious. A great way to finish up my time in Nicaragua

-Dan

I wake in Leòn and decide to spend a lazy day around the city, taking in the sights and enjoying not driving. I spend most of the morning trying to buy a map of the whole of Nicaragua, with no success. Apparently such things don’t exist, and if they do, it’s not possible to get them inside Nicaragua. The city has the oldest cathedral in Central America on which construction began in 1747 and went for over 100 years. It’s a beautiful stone structure on the edge of the town square and I spend lots of time hanging around the area getting the feel for the city. The heat in the concrete city is intense, making for a very lazy afternoon.

The Leon Cathedral, from 1747

Another beautiful building in Leon

In the morning I make my way to Jan Juan del Sur, arguably the surf capital of Nicaragua. The town itself does not feel like much to me and the bay seems to prevent swell from rolling in so I make my way north on a little gravel road to Playa Madera, which comes highly recommended. Tourists seem also to have heard about this place, arriving twenty at a time on ‘learn to surf’ tours. A few hundred meters further up the beach is Matilda’s, a great campsite right on the beach. I setup here and wind up staying for a few days, enjoying the surf, sun & monkeys that come right into the campground.

I'm looking at you

I meet up with a bunch of different people, all hanging out around the area and am amused how most of the surfers are depressed at the lack of swell for the last few weeks and aren’t much to talk to. I meet a couple of crazy American guys who drink rum like I drink water and so of course we head into San Juan del Sur on Saturday night to see what we can find. It’s not hard to find drunkenness when beers are $1 USD and rum is equally cheap. The Iguana Bar is the place to go and it’s extremely crowded with both gringos and locals. I finally bump into my friend Ty, who’s car I saw in Antigua. He’s had an awesome drive down and his trusty old Subaru had done just fine, minus a couple of broken windows. He’s moving into Costa Rica soon to sell his car and then continue on foot and we’re both certain we’ll see each other again.

Just hanging around

While hanging out one sunny afternoon two motorbikes roll up that are obviously geared up to ride a very long way. Quickly I recognize Adrian who I met in Stewart, Northern British Columbia many months ago. Riding with him is James, who has come down from Toronto in a few short months. We chat for a long time before Adrian has to move on, so James and I continue the conversation for many hours. He’s had an awesome ride down and we swap story after story, discussing everything and nothing at the same time. Checkout his blog at http://tripdown.regioncoding.com/

Playa Madera

Hanging out on the beach is great for a few days and I’m thoroughly ready when it’s time to move on.

The sunset at Playa Madera

-Dan

Before crossing the actual border I decide to mingle with some Hondurans and so sit down in a little cafe for lunch. I order tacos, which turn out to be the delicious rolled hard kind with cheese, onions and tomato. I immediately order another round. Striking up a conversation with the locals is pretty fun and I can’t believe how far my Spanish has progressed. For the entire day, with all the borders and bribery attempts I’ve understood about 99% of everything said to me. The week of lessons is paying off ten fold and making life a lot easier and more fun.

At the border I have to cancel my Honduran paperwork for the Jeep before exiting the country. The guy at the final check looks in my passport and tells me about four times this is absolutely the last thing in Honduras, and I won’t have anything else to deal with. He slips in that I just have to pay $10 USD and when I ask why and ask for a receipt he instantly bows his head and waves me through. Can’t blame the guy for trying I suppose.

Welcome to Nicaragua

In Nicaragua I walk up to the immigration window and am told I have to pay $7 USD to enter. Again I question this, thinking my CA-4 stamp gives me free travel. Apparently this is not the case, so I pay and move on to more paperwork. I find it amusing the official fee between two countries is in US dollars, considering neither country has that as their official currency.

The paperwork for the Jeep is fairly run of the mill stuff, and thankfully free. It turns out I did have to pay that $7 fee and need my receipt. The police guy does a thorough inspection of the Jeep, making me pull most of the stuff out of the back. I have to exchange my money for the second time today and have no idea what the exchange rate is, having never looked it up. The guy offers me a rate that I barely even listen to before immediately saying I want a better rate. He bumps it a little. I pressure hard and he bumps it a little twice more before walking away, saying that’s the best he can do. OK. I’ll take that.
The border here is extremely quiet and not a single person hassles me or even begs for money. This is my cleanest, quietest, friendliest border crossing yet.

Driving away from immigration some enthusiastic people come up and I have to pay $3 USD for something I don’t entirely understand before they’ll lower a rope and let me pass. The military guy standing right there says it’s legit and they give me a receipt, I think it’s some local municipal tax thing. The guys run their eyes over my paperwork and passport and I’m free to drive into Nicaragua.

I’ll be the first to admit I’ve picked up some horrendous driving habits since crossing the border into Mexico. Road rules simply do not apply down here and more often that not it’s safer to ignore them anyway. I honestly have not even looked at a speed sign in months, couldn’t care less if I’m at a give way or stop sign and completely ignore double lines on the road. Extremely slow vehicles are a common occurrence and I zip around one on the outside of a somewhat blind corner, over double lines, doing about 90 km/h. Two police are at the bottom of the hill and wave me over, looking very official.

After taking my license it becomes obvious they are going to fine me for all of the above, about a $20 USD ticket I’m told. The catch is they are going to hang onto my license while I goto the bank to pay the fine, and they’ll give it back to me when I return. I was absolutely breaking the law and caught red handed, so I’m happy to pay the price. The problem comes when they want me to back-track about an hour to pay the fine, with the sun already very close to the horizon. After talking around the problem for a while we figure out they need some money for gas, so I give them 100 Cordobas ($5 USD), literally everything I have in my wallet. After this they are my best friends, forgetting all about any ticket, giving back my license and they happily give directions to my destination.
Only the second speeding ticket in my life, and I bribed my way out of it.
I like it

It occurs to me that maybe Nicaragua is a little more strict with road rules and I should watch it more than I have been. That lasts for all of about five minutes before I fall right back to my old ways of doing as I please.

I seem to have over-estimated the distance I would cover today and I drive through dusk for quite a while before it’s completely dark. Horses, bicycles and children materialize out of the darkness every couple of minutes, making me work overtime on concentration. I remember why I avoid driving at night now. On the outskirts of Leon I pull in to a gas station and am surprised to see such a familiar sight – it’s extremely clean, bright and even has the requisite junk food & fast food joint attached. The top 100 music in English helps finish the picture.

Finally, at 9:30pm I climb stiffly out of the Jeep, safely parked in front of the Big Foot hostel in Leon, after driving about 500km across three countries in fourteen and a half hours.
A cold shower and beer put me right to sleep.

-Dan