After Costa
Rica we caught a taxi up into Nicaragua. We negotiated with a few cab drivers
and one guy said he would take us for a lot less than the others. The other
guys freaked out and told us the guy didn’t have a cab license and was driving
without insurance which is why he was taking us for so cheap. We didn’t really
care and the guy said it’d be fine. About 30 mins into our drive through the
cops pulled us over and gave the guy a huge ticket, sucks for him. He had to
head into some town and get some day insurance to keep taking us to the border,
dude had a bad day.
Our route
in Nicaragua was San Juan Del Sur – Ometepe – Granada – Little Corn Island –
Leon. San Juan was the first stop and probably one of the most hyped up spots
we’d heard about in Central America but I didn’t really care for it. It had
nice beaches and good surfing which we did a couple times but the place was a
zoo with college kids who just wanted to drink their faces off and sleep all
day. I guess that’s what you do when you’re on vacation though! I personally
couldn’t wait for our next stop but I think Brit liked going out to the bars
with people for once (boring non-drinker boyfriend, I know). So we stayed there
a few days in the loudest/most party hostel ever and then packed up and headed
for Ometepe.
For those
that don’t know Ometepe is a volcanic island in the middle of Lake Nicaragua.
Our plan was to hike the volcano but once we got there and saw the thing Brit
really didn’t feel like it, and neither did I to tell the truth. We linked up
with some people from Colorado who convinced me to do it though and we planned
a trek for a couple days later. In the meantime, we spent our days wandering
around the town and going on mini-hikes. We rented motorbikes one day and rode
across the whole island. We ended up at Ojo de Agua which is a very cool
lagoon/swimming hole in the middle of the island with rope swings and diving
boards. We hung out there most of the day before riding to the other side of
the island and checking out some beaches.
I got up early on the day of the
volcano hike and grabbed my gear. We met out guide and got the bus to the base
of the volcano. We hiked for about an hour into the forest when we came across
some monkeys. I went to grab my camera and take some flicks and…uh oh, not in
any of my pockets or in my bag. I started freakin’ out cause we hadn’t backed
up our photos from that camera since Bali. I told my guide I had to backtrack
to look for it but the other guys wanted to press on so I had to leave them.
This ended up with me wandering in the forest looking for my camera for hours.
I eventually got super lost in the woods and ended up in small little farming
towns asking people for directions. Finally, I ended up on a main road and just
started walking. I waved down a bus and jumped on, luckily it got me where I
needed to go. Once back at the hostel Brit wasn’t very pleased with me and we
spent the rest of the day putting up posters and searching for the camera. We
spent another day or two extra on the island hoping it would turn up but no
luck. Which is why we have limited photos of most of Central America and no
pictures of our day in Tokyo! Bummer, but at least we still had our nice SLR
camera.
We grabbed
the ferry back and jumped on another bus to Granada. Probably the most popular
city in Nicaragua. We spent our first day or so just wandering around checking
out all the cool buildings and alleyways. Our hostel had a pool which was nice
so we spent a lot of time there swimming and hanging in the hammocks. Next day
we did more of the same and then went on a volcano trek in the evening. We got
to see the active volcano and then go clambering through some bat filled caves.
That day I noticed my ear kept bleeding and we were having to clean it up a
bunch. Thought it was nothing but then woke up in the morning with blood
covering my entire pillow! We’d planned on doing a trip to a nearby lake that
day but thought I should get my ear checked out. We ended up at some very
sketchy hospital and got rushed into the ER. The Doc checked me out and let me
know (in Spanish) that I had some type of bug in my ear! The leaned me over and
with a huge syringe started pounding some type of solution in my ear over and
over again. It made me super dizzy and unbalanced and to top it off they rushed
some guy in who was completely busted up and were trying to get an IV in him
but screwed it up so his blood was just squirting all over the place near me. I
almost passed out but luckily kept it together and they got the bug out
eventually. That afternoon we headed out to some market towns and did a bit of
shopping before heading back to the hostel.
Next day we
went to the nearby lake/lagoon thing and spent the day swimming and kayaking.
The water was crazy warm and I just wanted to swim all day but wasn’t allowed
because of some drops I was having to put in my ear after the bug ordeal. This
was the last day in Granada and tomorrow we would head out to Little Corn
Island.
We got a
cab to Managua where we would catch a local flight to Big Corn, then a boat to
Little Corn. We met some girls from Edmonton on the flight over and we all
cruised around the island looking for a place to all stay together. We decided
on a place called “Cool Spot.” The days on Little Corn were all blended
together because we were there about a week and did so much lounging on the
beach in the sun. We had really good weather the entire time and we both agreed
it was one of our favorite spots we’d ever been! While we were there we went
snorkeling, diving, hiking, swimming, tree climbing, clubbing, and even did
some yoga classes at a studio on the beach. The snorkeling and diving was
sweet, saw a bunch of sharks, rays, giant lobsters and turtles. The food there
was also delicious, 2-3 different styles of lobster tail and all the sides for
about $10!
We were
both sad to leave Little Corn and wanted to stay another week but had flights
to catch in the next couple days! It was such a cool island though, it was so
small so there was no cars and you could walk around the whole place in a few
hours. It was probably our best time in Central America, just cruising on the
beach and drinking out of coconuts. Good times.
After
Little Corn we flew back into Managua but had a day or two to burn before we
flew out to Florida. Instead of hanging around there we headed into Leon which
was a cooler town with a bit more to offer. We spent out last couple days in
Nicaragua there cruising the city checking out the local markets, shops and
architecture. It wouldn’t be a trip though without me getting sick so the
second last night there I woke up in the middle of the night COVERED in
rashy/welt looking things that were so insanely sore and itchy I couldn’t move.
I had to run to the hostel bathroom at about 3am and spent a good hour in there
puking and having wicked diarrhea. I got back to the room and told Brit, she
didn’t believe me and then looked at my rashy body said “that sucks” and went
back to sleep. I eventually fell back asleep and in the morning I was
completely back to normal, whatever I had it was in and out in a flash.
Our last
day in Nicaragua we just got up and caught our last bus back to Managua for our
flight to Miami! We would be getting picked up by our friend Aly who we
traveled with in Laos and Bali and staying with her for the first bit before
heading to Disneyworld! Can’t wait.
As always
thanks for checking this out, hope you enjoyed it and if you didn’t…I don’t
even care.
-
Dan
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