Nicaragua was probably one of the biggest surprises of our Central American tour. We had known to expect beaches, mayan ruins and spanish :) , but we had not expected the beautiful lush green mountain scenery we had encountered during our long drive from Honduras to Nicaragua. We wondered at first if we would have enough time to explore it due to the fact we only had 3 non travel days to explore it.
The first stop in Nicaragua was Granada. Due to our limited time here we crammed in as much as possible into one day. This meant that we started early
visiting the Masaya Volcano. This volcano is still active and so we were lucky that we were allowed access on our one chance we had. You can get right
up to the edge of the volcano and really feel the heat and smell the sulphur coming off of it.
Our next stop was a lookout over Lake Apui. This really is a huge beautiful lake. From here we visited some local comunities to learn about their way
of life making pots and growing corn. It was strange to see the football / basketball court double up as grain collection point. Finally we ended the
days activities with a boat trip of Lake Nicaragua. Made especially special by the fact we got to bring along some rum punch. On our way back we also
stopped for some red wine while watching the sunset. This was the first time we had the older lader travelling with us really let go a bit and actually
relax / socialise with us. All in it was a good end to the day, but we weren't done here.
We were supposed to have a talk from our tour leader when we got back to the hotel, but we were all too pissed for it. Which was funny. We therefore
went out for a night drinking in the town and a nice meal. While we were here we got to watch some locals break dancing in the street for fun as well
while we ate. Needless to say we all ended up quite drunk and the next day we just took it slow and got a later breakfast before we started our journey
to Ometepe Island.
The journey to Ometepe led us to taking a chicken bus to a halfway point, where we were supposed to have a private transfer waiting.
The chicken bus was funny and we shared it with a piglet in a sack and a bunch of chicklings. The pig got lose at one point and made
several of the woman scream. It was very funny for both us and the locals as this piglet ran around cramped bus. Our private transfer
was even funnier, falling to pieces and drove so slowly. This was made even funnier by the fact that our tour guide was desperate to
get us on the ferry, which we ultimately missed anyway. We therefore had a little wait before catching an old and slow ferry to the
island with motorbikes, cemet and loads of other building supplies.
Once we arrived on the island we got to watch a beautiful sunset over the beach shortly before the rain set in. The next day was our
only full day on the island and so we all decided to rent bicycles and ride to the Ojo de Agua natural water pools. This was a very
intense ride as it went up towards the islands central volcano and then back down to the pools. Given that we set off at 10am it was
very hot. All of us were red in the face and soaked through with sweat. Several of the bikes had broken as well and this meant that
I being the only man had to fix them. Thankfully for them I am very good with my hands ;) Once we arrived at the pools though it was
very worth it. Unfortunately the restaurant here wasn't open and they had to call in a chef in order to make some much needed food
for us, basic as it was. Thankfully the locals making fresh cocktails with coconuts, loca rum and ice made up for this. The swim in
the cool pools helped us cool down from the ride as well. Thakfully the ride home was much more pleasant, once we got over the brutal
hill it was a very long and nice descent at high speed which led to there being a nice cool breeze.
From Ometepe we headed onto the next Central American country and the place our tour actually officially ended, Costa Rica.
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