So I left you last when I told
you about the extremely crazy trek we made from El Salvador to Leon,
Nicaragua. It was here we started our
month long adventure through the country.
I had high expectations for Nicaragua, with many of my friends telling
me it’s the best one in Central America – cheapest, friendliest and the most
things to do. While I agree the country
is full of amazing things to see and do, I wasn’t sold on the rest. Our time was still a lot of fun, but our
adventure was full of ups and downs, highlights and disappointments, nothing
was overly “cheap” (obviously yes, to Australia, but not to the rest of the
region) and to be honest, the locals were the rudest we’d met so far. Saying that though, every trip is an
experience and we still made the absolute most of our time and we still have
some interesting tales to share!
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| Sunsets in Nicaragua are breathtaking! |
After spending our first night in
Leon, we decided to head straight to the beach at Las Penitas, so David can
surf a little more and I could sunbake…and it was much hotter in Nicaragua, so
I honestly just wanted some water close by! But after spending an hour finding
somewhere to stay, to then find the bathroom not working, we were already a
little annoyed. The staff didn’t want to
help rectify the situation and after witnessing David lose his temper for the
first time, we found ourselves on the street, without a place to sleep at
7pm. We proceeded to head to another
hostel where we slept on the most horrible dorm beds, in a hot, stuffy room for
the night, and promptly gave up on the beach and headed back to Leon.
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| Half-way up on the first day |
From Leon we organised a 2 day/1
night volcano trek with a local, non-profit organisation, Quetzaltrekkers. This is a great company where all the workers
are volunteers (even paying for their own board and food) and all the proceeds
go to help child projects in the local area.
It was due to this we chose to trek with these guys, and we had an
absolute blast! The first day we hiked Cerro Negro outside of Leon, to do the infamous
Volcano Boarding down the other side.
David and I decided to race, and me, thinking I’d chosen the faster side
(based on everyone before us), was oozing with confidence. However, I got off to a horrible start,
slowly cruising down and then once I picked up speed, found myself turning sideways!
Not the best when you have volcano rocks flying into your face!! David thought
I was in front of him so he just kept going faster and faster…he didn’t need to
bother! But, he did manage to get the fastest speed of the group that day :-)
After this bit of fun, we then
trekked off with our backpacks to hike to the top of Volcano El Hoyo, where we
camped for the night. We made it to the
top in time for sunset and it was absolutely beautiful! Photos couldn’t do it
justice! The next day we saw the sunrise,
another incredible view, before we headed down to a volcanic lake for a much
needed swim (or I should say, bath) before bussing it back to Leon. This trek was a wonderful experience and one
of our highlights in Nicaragua!
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| Granada Cathedral |
From Leon we headed into the mountains
for a few days to Matagalpa and Jinotega.
Reviews of the area boast about beautiful towns and surrounding
landscapes, but to be honest, it wasn’t an area to rave about. The coffee was good, it was a nice change to
a little cooler temperature, but apart from that, not a “must-see” in
Nicaragua. Because of this, we didn’t
stay here long and headed to Granada, a beautiful colonial city full of a lot
of history and gorgeous buildings. Our
time here was incredible and we had a great time sightseeing through the city –
churches, Cathedral, old train station, markets, etc.
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| Before the drinks started at Sunday Funday! |
By this stage it was getting late
in the week and so that meant it was time to head off to San Juan Del Sur at
the south of the country just in time for Sunday Funday! I’d heard about this epic pool party with a
bunch of tourists in SJDS and it was something not to be missed. This is where we met back up with quite a few
of our El Tunco (El Salvador) family members, Tony, Andy, Tobie, Simon and Tom,
with a new addition of Frankie. But
while I had a great time (I was drunk), it was extremely expensive ($30 for
entry and a t-shirt) before you had even bought drinks and is basically just a
group of drunk people in a hostel area near a pool…pretty confident you could
probably do that yourself?? Don’t get me wrong, if you’re in SJDS to party,
hook up, or both, it’s a great place for it – we just thought our money
probably could have been better spent…The next day we spent the day at playa
Hermosa south of SJDS. It was a
secluded, beautiful beach and had a little bit of surf for David to have some
fun…for me, it was hammock time with a book as I was hungover :-) - now that’s a
surprise isn’t it, this old body ain’t what it used to be!!
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| All the boys after our "ordeal"...being tough and stuff |
Afterwards, as a family, the
group headed to the island of Ometepe.
It was pretty amazing, with two volcanoes making up the island, in the
middle of Lake Nicaragua. It is an
island to chill out, hike a volcano or cruise around. Our first night here wasn’t the best
experience we’ve ever had – got attacked by some locals walking in a dark
street. Lucky for us, we were unhurt and
somehow I managed to keep my bag with all our belongings inside…how, I have no
idea! As bad as the experience was, we realised we’d become a little complacent
about where we were travelling and needing to be aware of the situation
better…probably a good thing to realise before heading to Africa!! Saying this, we had a great couple of days –
one day we rode bicycles to the middle of the two volcanoes to some natural
springs. David was kept entertained like
a 12 year old kid with the rope swing into the water!! The next day we hired a scooter and tripped
around the entire island. It was an
awesome day on the bike! :-)
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| David and his pretty pink bike :-) |
Our next stop was another
highlight of our trip for me – the Corn Islands. We decided to mission out to the Corn Islands
via land and boat, making the journey much more interesting, and as we missed
the once-weekly ferry from the mainland to the Corn Islands (and we were also
advised not to take it due to the
vomiting of everyone and animals on-board with you), we ended up flying from
Bluefields, which made the trip not much cheaper than if we flew from Managua!
But it was an experience and after hearing stories of travellers who had taken
the boat, I’m very glad for spending the extra cash!
The Corn Islands are just for
relaxing…and scuba diving of course!! We spent all our time on Little Corn
Island, which while it is smaller, boasts beautiful, white sandy beaches and
crystal clear waters. It’s so small you
can walk around it in an hour or so, or take a day like we did, and stop along
the island at the numerous beach spots.
We managed to find a secluded beach, which was so lovely! The best thing
about here was waking up to the ocean, right at the front of the hostel. It was the best way to shower in the morning!
If you go here, you definitely have to try the seafood Rondon – so incredibly
delicious!!
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| Ometepe - on one volcanic side, with view of the other! |
By this stage we were running out
of time to get to Panama where we ended our Central America journey. Therefore, we made our last stop in San
Carlos, near the border of Costa Rica.
We decided to stop here as we were told El Castillo castle on the San
Juan River was a must see. Now don’t get
me wrong, it was a nice castle and cool to read the history, but it wasn’t amazing…sometimes I wish we find these
things without having expectations – things are always better without having an
already pre-conceived idea of what it’s going to be like!
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| Beaches are perfection here...can't help but fall in love <3 |
That’s my last check-in for our
Central America trip. Next up is
Africa!!
Until then,
xxxxx
