Nicaragua—

A wee message

So I’ve been lazy again and haven’t updated in a while. I’ve got a backlog of 5 weeks to empty out, left Nicaragua over a week ago for El Salvador (by chicken bus, that was very interesting), and now, have just arrived in Antigua , Guatemala, a UNESCO world heritage site and beautiful city. The good thing is that I have actually been writing out content, but I just didn’t want to publish it as I felt some of the content was a bit mundane, but I know some of you are looking forward to reading about what I have done, no matter how boring it is..

I am looking forward to writing about and taking pictures in Guatemala, I only arrived and have to say it is the most unique and beautiful city I have been to in Central America yet. Because there is a lot to see and do in terms of culture as well as sights to see such as the lost Mayan cities, I had to loosely plan what to do here as I want to fit it all in one month, before I head to the Caribbean coast of Honduras. Anyway, thanks for taking the time to read again and enjoy!

Part 1

So 5 weeks back… Ah yes, the homestay was a very comfortable experience. It was walking distance within everything, had Wifi (albeit the neighbours Wifi) and effort was made to make my meal as unique as possible every evening and was even presented nicely, in comparison to the rest of the members of the family. The family makes their money on selling cooked food. The head of the family, Betty, whom is one of the aunts of the family, kept a very strict budget and ensured it by filling in a little book for literally every transaction. Her siblings of 1 brother and 1 sister and their children also lived in the house, but based purely on tone of voice and body language, I figure she was the head.

The rest of my time there was spent either studying Spanish, sitting on my laptop working on my website idea, jamming on my ukulele, and either the at the gym or surfing. My ukulele teacher, Dave, an American who runs Volcan Ukulele on the main road of SDJS, hooked me up with a quality board repairer. To be honest, I have no idea when it comes to repair, but my board came back looking better. My surf excursions consisted of getting up at 6:30am, getting served breakfast by the family, catching the 7:30am shuttle to Playa Maderas and then leaving on the 11am shuttle back. For a Central American beach, Playa Maderas is the coldest so far, to the point that I would shiver.

As for the gym, I signed up with the local one for about $6 USD for 2 weeks membership. It was extremely good value, as the equipment wasn’t too bad. Only issue was the heat, as there was no fan. My spanish teacher Xochilt was awesome and she made sure that we spent most the time having spoken conversation. While I tried talking with the family, I still couldn’t hold a conversation, most conversations were pretty short. Adter 3 weeks there, it was time to leave, life was becoming a bit too stagnant. As a leaving gift, I bought some luxury food like Chips Ahoy for the family and gave the one of the young adults of family my Sunday Funday tops because I was planning to get a new one that Sunday.

First night at Casa De Olas

I decided to spend one last weekend at Casa De Olas before leaving San Juan Del Sur. After 3 weeks of timid behaviour, I cut pretty loose as soon as arrived during happy hour. That particular night, I went out and unfortunately for me, go my iPhone stolen from me. Now this is one story that I dare not put into words for the public domain, I was being incredibly stupid for getting myself into a situation to get it stolen off me, but I’m pretty sure it is now pre-programmed into my subconscious not to get into these type of situations.

Blanche

At the hostel, I met a cute and awesome Jewish-English-French chica, Blanche, who was traveling with 2 other chicas whom they had all met each other in Arts college back in the UK. They had planned their trip out so that she could participate in the Jewish Passover at the only Jewish synongoge in Nicaragua. The opportunity came up to go to the passover when she invited me. Porque no? When will I get the chance to experience this special traditional event? So I accepted, and was locked in for the passover on Monday.

Sunday at Casa De Olas

Instead of yet another Sunday Funday, there was a mock wedding at the hostel with two friends celebrating their 2 year travel-versary. Everyone made special effort to get into the theme, with a bride and groom outfit, a priest, flower girl, all the bells and whistles. The owners put on a special deal for everyone that made it much more economic that going to Sunday Funday. Another day and night of debaucherous fun.

Wedding

Monday at Casa De Olas

I had some ambioutious plans for a monday after a hectic Sunday. Get my police report for my stolen phone and then participate in my inaugral Jewish Passover experience. The police station was a clean but basic facility in between town and the hostel. The place was teeming with officers, but most of them were just standing around, chatting amongst each other. I talked to the plain clothed man at the reception, trying to explain in my poor Spanish that I had lost my phone, only wanted a report for my insurance. They then replied with some questions, which went in one ear and out the other, even after I told them “Muy lento”, which I had to follow with a “No entiendo, lo siento”. Anyway, the seated policeman called one of his minions over, said something, and off he went.

I think I stood around for half an hour waiting for some kind of response from any of the officers there. Eventually, they asked me what language I could speak, which cleared up some of confusion as they assumed I was Japanese or Chinese and couldn’t speak English. Anyway, I was led to some room, where I sat for another 10 minutes, twidding my fingers because I didn’t have a phone to stare at, until I was passed a phone, which had the caller ID of some name’s brother. It was the English translator, whom I was able to explain the whole situation to. I passed the phone back to the officer, and then he eventually sat at a computer, where he brought up an existing report about stolen items, and I was able to communicate in Spanish then as I do much better at reading and writing than speaking.

After 45 minutes at the station and another 25 minute trek up towards Casa, I made it back in enough time to comfortable get ready and arrive at the Passover in time. Fred couldn’t believe I managed to get the police report, especially not even after paying a single cordoba, you hear of many unfortunate stories about not being able to get a report because of the language barrier or they don’t have enough dinero on them. Fred and Carla had just finished building their upstairs apartment, so celebrated by offering shot after shot of Flor De Caña to the guests.

Jewish

Arriving at the Jewish hangout. It was a little uncomfortable at the beginning, all the men and boys were greeting each other in the tradition way, and I kept forgetting the words “Chag Semeach” (Literally means Joyous Festival in Hebrew) The most uncomfortable moment is when I thought it would be a good idea to go pray. I borrowed a bright blue Kippah (the small cap who were on an angle), and went down into the Synagogue. What Blanche didn’t inform me, but she probably didn’t know at the time, was that they were quite orthodox, so as soon as we stepped in, I got the quick “You have to sit in the front.”. It was setup so that Women sat in the back and men sat in the front. Though it was unique and rare experience for me to witness praying during the Pesach, it was also pretty awkward, especially when I given the Jewish Bible, written in full Hebrew, and one of the participants noticed I was on the wrong page (because I simply had it open to blend in), flipped it to the right page and starting singing in Hebrew, pointing to the line and expecting me to join in.

The Dinner Ceremony was amazing and the one thing I was looking forward to the most. It is an extremely traditional ceremony, with the traditions dating back 5000 years and having had not many changes. Nearly everything was imported in, as all the food had to be Kosher. I won’t go into detail what the Passover Seder entails, the booklet written in English they gave us outlined the whole process and the meanings of the prayers filled about 70 pages. We got to sit at the English speaking table where someone would translate the spoken Hebrew as well as advice us when do carry out a particular tradition. At our table were Jews from around the world: a 70 something year old ventilation salesman from England, a Ukrainian and Nicaraguan couple who met in Canada. It becomes a pretty lively dinner because, combined with all the singing, as part of their tradition, you have to down at least 4 cups of wine, and you have to do it in one gulp, which I think represents the fact that at their first dinner after escaping slavery, they were indulging in their freedom. When we arrived back at the hostel, it was another lively party night, on the back of some 6 bottles of rum given away, though I wasn’t really in the mood, so I kept to myself for most the evening.

What I do after SJ

I had to get out of San Juan, I’d been there for over 5 weeks. That particular evening, there was a Full Moon party planned on Ometepe Island, but I really couldn’t be bothered to party again at that point. At least at that point in time. I still have around 4-5 months left to party in more unique situations. Two Aussie guys I met, Byron and Troy were off to Popoyo to go surf, and another American guy, Mike, just wanted to get out of there, so that was enough for a full taxi to share the cost to Popoyo. 30 minutes later, we were on the road, a short hour and a half ride there at $15 USD each.

Popoyo is actually the name of the surf break. Las Salinas is the name of the small village we stayed in. Probably the smallest town I have stayed since I got here, with only about 3 places to eat out in the evening. The only thing to do there is to surf at Popoyo point break. Much warmer water than Playa Maderas and Playa Hermosa down south. While it is a nice left and right break that barrels often, it is quite crowded as well as some aggressive people out there. Wasn’t ideal for a learner like me, and sitting on the inside meant spending more time duck-diving than catching waves. To be honest, I didn’t have as much fun out there as I should of.

The town was preparing for Semana Santa (Holy Week), the biggest holiday in Central America. Unfortunately, the earthquake red alert and subsequent tsunami warning (!) meant that the town was dead, despite the bars keeping face and pumping music at ear piercing levels and charging cover to go in. The only event that was slightly interesting was a particular meeting with a pair of local girls. There were these pretty Nicaraguan sisters who were on their vacation who were staying at the same hotel we were at. They could speak a little bit of English, but it was also a good opportunity for me to practice some of my Spanish. The one I was trying to chat with was all good, but she had a sister that was quite drunk. The sister kept annoying me to introduce her to one of of friends, and eventually I gave in and introduced her to my American friend, Mike.

To cut things short, the drunk sister is actually a little bit crazy, and caused a huge commotion, saying they feel insecure from Mike because their rooms are joined by a door. They woke up nearly everyone in the hotel, and the staff and other guests sided with Mike, but with the whole language barrier for Mike, he didn’t feel comfortable and packed his bag at 4am in the morning to leave. Thankfully we had met these Canadians that had a spare bed in their rented room down the road. I’d like to offer another well-deserved sorry for asking you to be my wingman that night.

Popoyo to León

Overall, I enjoyed my stay in Popoyo. Had good company and met a wide range of cool travellers. All the teething problems Hotel Yalta were having while we stayed there, such as toilets breaking and no water for 80% of the time. Eating at least 2 hamburgesas a day con Fresca at the only decent looking restaurant that was open at night next door. Making the 40 minute hike to Playa Santana to surf somewhere other than Popoyo. Good surf that I couldn’t take advantage of.

Troy and I left Easter Monday morning while Byron stayed, waiting for the big swell. Unfortunately, the town we were in does not have any chicken buses running from it, and the route to the closest stop meant having to cross the river with all our gear. We were lucky to get a taxi that was heading towards Rivas for half price. It was one of the quickest taxi rides I’ve ever had, we were drifting around corners and swerving through loose cows. We were dropped off at the Rivas terminal, and stepped into bedlam. Mucho gente were queued for the chicken buses, or loitering around. After looking around the terminal and assessing our current situation, we mutually agreed to take a taxi to the capital. Our aim was to find one for $15 USD each, and we were dumbfounded to find it on our first go. Of course, once we got to Managua, the price had jumped up to 1500 cordobas ($30 USD) and we really couldn’t be bothered waiting for the police who would have been no help so we paid the extra and learned a lesson; simply get them to write the price on a piece of paper so that there can be no confusion, I’m pretty damn sure we said $15 USD each. The travel between Managua and León is straightforward, there are queues of minibuses that you can jump on for $2 USD that takes you there.

We caught one of the bicycle carts to the Bigfoot hostel for 20 cord each. I felt sorry for the conductor who had to transport both of us, our packs and 2 surfboards on a single gear bicycle so when he asked about my ukulele, I felt obliged to play him some music while we trotted along the cobbled road. The Bigfoot hostel is a popular party hostel on the Gringo trail. It is also claimed to be the original home of volcano boarding, invented by their Australian owner. At $8 USD a night, we decided on the air conditioned room.

Volcano boarding

The next day, I missed the opportunity to have a cooked breakfast because I was preoccupied reading news, so had to settle for some packeted chips. There was a full truck load of us for the volcano boarding trip. An hour long transit through farmland on bumpy dirt roads, we were had to watch our heads for low lying branches. The destination was the Cerro Negro volcano.It is only about an hour and a half to the summit. We took some cheesy photos of us in gear and jumping in the air with the active crater behind us before lining up at the drop-off point. Our route down was pretty much just vast volcano rock, ranging from the size of pebbles to dust, with 2 very faint tracks on a vast flat face with about a 41 degree angle half way down the descent. The guides lined the face before we took our turns, one by one, sliding down the volcanic face with only 2 planks of wood between ourselves and the harsh volcanic rock. Unfortunately, I ate the rock twice on the way down, and only managed to clock a speed of 43km. Fastest of the day was 75km, with the fastest ever with Bigfoot being 95km. On the day I went, another Kiwi was with us and managed to get some candid photos of him faceplanting into the rocks after his board broken. His face was pretty scraped up but at least there was no broken bones.

That evening, I spent it at the hostel, jamming on my ukulele and teaching other how to play. I met another kiwi at the hostel, who I got to talking with and explained to him my story and how I broke my GoPro. He said he was finishing his trip soon and offered to sell it to me for $130 USD. Was absolutely stoked, exact same model as my broken one so all my accessories fit it. So from now on, will actually have more pictures! I did the lava shot challenge twice, which is just a drinking challenge of 3 incredibly spicy shots. The catch is that you have to wait 10 seconds between the first 2, then 30 seconds on the last one, without drinking or eating anything, and not throwing up. Much tougher than the Loose Moose challenge in SJDS. I got rewarded with again more singlets, but since so many people successfully do and complete it, it doesn’t look too special.

That concludes this particular post, ahh that was painful writing that up. Still have some awesome content of my overnight volcano hike plus all the other things I have been doing. It should up be much quicker (lies) because I’ve actually already written most of it. Anyway, here’s a taster:

That’s at least a 200m drop into the bottom of the crater with lava.