It was time for another border run, this time from Nicaragua to Costa Rica. All in all, things went as expected; we stood in lines, filled out forms, and went back and forth between offices to get this copy or that form. Once across the border, we headed towards tiny Junquilla National Park. We had followed instruction and stocked up of food, beer and rum before crossing the border, but still nearly died of shock when we say how expensive entry to the national park was. $19 each for the night. We were not in Nicaragua any longer, and the rumours of Costa Rica being exorbitantly expensive were obviously true. Other than a friendly French couple, we had the entire park to ourselves, and spent the evening admiring the bountiful wildlife. Fish leapt from the water, rays roamed the surf in packs, their fins protruding from the water and the local coati joined us for dinner. I think he was hoping we would share our sausages (we didn’t). Later that night racoons raided the bins and found a Tim Tam packet caked with melted chocolate. The beach at night was covered in hermit crabs and during a bare foot walk to the car, I spotted a baby snake.
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Masaya Volcano 20km South of Managua was the second active volcano we have seen on our trip, and had the bonus of having a road right up to the rim. Before ascending to the volcano mouth, all cars must stop and passengers must sign a waiver. Apparently the volcano sometimes sprays visitors (and the car park) with stones and large rocks. Luckily the day we visited, it was only spluttering with steam and smoke.
A problem with our starter motor sent us back to Managua for a night, on the mission to collect a part sent from the US to our hostel 3 weeks previous. We knew the part had crossed from the US, into Mexico, to Costa Rica and into Nicaragua but hadn’t heard anything since. To be honest, we didn’t hold high hopes of finding it. Much to our surprise however, it was waiting for us safe and sound at the local post office. As to be expected however, our current starter motor hasn't given us any problems since we collected the back up.
An extra night in Managua gave us the chance to visit the The Acahualinca Footprints Museum. Footprints of Paleo-Indians dating back 6000 years were discovered preserved in volcanic rock in a dodgy suburb of Managua city. The museum itself is small, but interesting and the staff were exceptionally friendly. From humid jungle lakes, to cold and damp cloud forests, we were headed north into the highlands of Nicaragua. Matagalpa is cool, green and perfect for growing coffee. We chose a hostel that was a little out of town, called Hostal Ulap Yasica, which offered clean beds and a very nice surprise. Hot water. Real hot water, like the kind you would find in any Canadian or Australian home. It was the first real hot shower we had found since Mexico, and it was like heaven. First and foremost on our itinerary in Matagalpa was coffee. We took a tour to a local coffee finca where we met one of the farmers 5 daughters, and were shown the process of coffee farming from seedling to roasting coffee beans. The farmer explained that coffee was graded and sold in three categories: first and second grade coffee were sold to coffee shops and cafes while third grade was sold to Nescafé, to create the gastronomic delicacy we all know as instant coffee. We also learned that coffee beans are flavoured by the plants have as neighbours. Plant coffee trees near citrus and you will get citrus accented coffee beans. Plant coffee near cacao and you get chocolate. One large North American coffee chain (you know who…) doesn't care about the beans natural flavor, as they add their own flavours during the roasting process. For more in-depth information, the Coffee Museum was also worth a visit. It provided information so detailed you could start your won coffee farm, but also gave a nice overview of the history of coffee in Nicaragua. Once our coffee education was complete it was time to learn about chocolate. El Castillo del Cacao is a tiny chocolate making factory that produces high quality chocolate from local cacao. Think Willy Wonka’s Chocolate factory, but smaller. Much smaller. There were two staff members on shift (much to our disappointment, they weren’t Oompa Loompas) who made a batch of chocolate bars from start to finish, including wrapping the finished product and sticking their labels on with glue sticks. It was a low key production, but very informative and well worth the visit (Especially the Spanish hot chocolate and samples at the end of the tour).
Reserva Natural Macizos de Peñas Blancas was "possibly the most enchanting nature reserve in Northern Nicaragua, boasting mossy, misty, life-altering primary cloud forest". Or so the Lonely Plant told us. In fact, we got lost and never found the place. Instead, we spent 6 hours driving up and down bumpy dirt roads. To be honest, we should have learned our lesson by now. 1. If all the locals look at you like you are from Mars, it probably means they don’t often see tourists, and you are going the wrong way. 2. If you do find you self lost in Central America, don’t bother asking for directions. Locals don’t want to be rude to you (you are a guest in their country), so even when they don’t know the location of the place you are asking for, they will point you in ANY direction, just to be polite.
What is there to say about Granada except that it is a handsome colonial city? Our morning was spent exploring the boulevards and laneways of the city, and admiring the beautiful architecture. Also worth a visit was the Dona Elba Cigar factory, with friendly staff who are happy to demonstrate the art of cigar rolling and can introduce you to the factories’ resident macaw. Another unique experience was eating at Cafe de las Sonrisas, where all the wait staff were deaf. The menue cards came with simple sign language instructions, as well as easy common phrases like ‘thank you’ or ‘bill please’. Attached to the café was a hammock workshop which made for interesting entertainment as we breakfasted. The border crossing between Guatemala and Nicaragua was much less of a hassle than expected. Lots of time and patience required, but another crossing with polite business like staff and officials. Our first night in Nicaragua was a true backpacker experience. Lots of beer and North American tourists, which was a strange and slightly surreal experience after so long without seeing other gringos. The following week consisted of drinking, relaxing, and catching up with a friend on the volcanic island of Ometepe. Twin volcanos (one active, and one dormant) on an island, in lake Nicaragua. My sister Tessa arrived in Nicaragua a week later, and we spent time hiking, horse riding and swimming. The islands main draw card is the twin volcanoes, Conception and Maderas. Conception rises sharply 1610m from the land in classic volcano form, puffing clouds of smoke. Maderas, lies dormant, and slopes more gently to a point of 1394m, with thick jungle covering the path to the top. Most visitors to the island choose at least one of the two volcanoes to climb, and I preferred the shadier and slightly more leisurely option of Maderas. As it happened, a group of 12 others were climbing conception the following day, so we decided to tag along. The climb was steep, basically scaling the volcano directly up one side. It was also difficult going, scrabbling up a recent rock slide. Sharp loose rocks moved and slid under your feet making every step up (and down) tricky. On the way up, I decided I was never going to make it, and on the way down I fell more times than I could count. Luckily we had three wonderful guides, who followed right behind me on the way up, and held my hand half of the way down. One section of the decent however made it all worthwhile. Tiny volcanic gravel and a steep decent allowed you to slip and slide, at a run, so you basically flew down the mountain side. In the following days, while we waited for our legs to recover we kayaked the mangroves, rode horses, took a sunset boat cruise and swam down a river to its mouth at the sea (well, lake actually).
Once out of the car, San Pedro was a lovely little town. It had skinny little alleyways that snaked their way through the village, and more western style restaurants, pubs and bars than we had seen in months. The main industry in San Pedro was Spanish schools, and it was set up accordingly. We had a week in town (nowhere near enough time to brush up on Spanish, we could have stayed at least 3 weeks more) and stayed with a host family organised through the school. For anyone studying Spanish with the option of a host family, I would definitely recommend it! We had good luck with a wonderful and welcoming family, and speaking Spanish at night definitely helped to consolidate the learning you had done Cooperative Spanish SchoolCooperative Spanish School
This purpose built school is the perfect learning environment. The yard is luscious and green, with birds and butterflies throughout. Each student-teacher pair have their own small cabin, so you aren’t distracted by other students. Teachers are of the highest quality, and the school provides a variety of after school activities. Booking and paying was a breeze, as all administration processes were efficient and business like. Best of all, the school is run by community members, and a percentage of your tuition money goes back to community based projects. Feeding local families, building houses, and supporting education etc. I found prices quite competitive when I looked for schools across Guatemala.
The tiny town of Hopkins is so relaxing that we didn’t even get around to taking the camera out of the car. We spent three days lazing around reading, walking on the beach and eating pizza. The town was a friendly mix of local Mayas, Garinagu and Gringos, which meant good food, good bars and good music. Tuesday night is drumming night, so we had a chance to see the local Garinagu drummers in action. The band included skin drums, vocals and a man playing the turtle shells. While the beach was wonderfully relaxing, Western Belize and the Cayo district was calling. The drive from Hopkins to San Ignacio was a short one, and we spent the afternoon exploring the Mennonite community of Spanish Lookout. The town itself is a base for the local white Mennonite community, who produce the almost all the dairy and chicken products in Belize. While we did see the occasional long dress, bonnet, beard or cart, most of Spanish Lookout felt like a slice of rural America. Large shiny trucks parked next to well-built and well maintained houses definitely seemed more in keeping with Iowa or Montana, than with rural Belize. Highlight of the day was taking the car across the river on a hand cranked car ferry.
The following day we were up early for a tour of the Actun Tunichil Muknal Caves. After a long bumpy drive to the park entrance and an hour hike through the jungle (which included three river crossings), we made it to the cave entrance. After swimming across a deep dark pool, the trip continued into the cave and along the river, which was sometimes ankle deep, but often reached your waist. It was a very exciting, and slightly chilly trip. ATM caves were visited by Mayas for hundreds of consecutive years, and contains pottery, and remains of human sacrifice. Archaeologists believe that the locals begun by leaving food sacrifices, and as times got tougher for the Maya, their priests and religious men started sacrificing men, then children and babies in an attempt to appease the gods. Spookiest of all, were the bones of a young man who had his spine broken as part of a ritual sacrifice, and was left to die slowly, trapped in the dark cave. His bones can be seen today covering against the cave wall for protection. On a slightly lighter note, Xunantunich is a Maya ruin in Western Belize. The sight is named after a ghost or ‘stone woman’ that people have claimed to see around the sight since its rediscovery in the 1890s. A great little sight to visit, Xunantunich is accessed by hand cranked car ferry, which of course adds to the adventure. By this stage of our trip however, we were suffering from ``ruin fatigue`. |
AuthorsThis is the story of Linden, Angus and their (not-so) trusty steed Pancho as they set off on an overlanding adventure through Mexico, Central America and beyond. Archives
April 2015
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