Hotel Campestre El Pantano Nicaragua

... but the early night was much needed anyway after the 4 hour chicken bus ride earlier on. The locals I have met along the way who live in Guatemala City refer to it as the '******' so I had an appropiate '******' hotel to get some rest. Having spent a couple of hours the following morning trying to meet up with no joy I decided to take off. The info in my guidebook for the bus departures were completey wrong so to cut a long story short I had to spend another 2 hours ...

Got on the bus to Juquilillo by the back door as main aisle crammed with vendedores &amp; got a hand up by the conductor. We both thought I was safely in - my head was - so he let go, but my massive pack is obviously taller than me, so thumped it in to the lintel &amp; all but bounced back out again - gripping on the rusted metal doorway, I managed to break my fall until someone could push me back in from below &amp; only sustained minor cuts &amp; bruises!<br><br>Was willing to ...

... Coast, a broad expanse of land covering large parts of Honduras and Nicaragua which remains largely uninhabited. <br><br>Considering the geographic distances covered, the route was quite simple compared to our recent connections. One microbus to Managua, a very looooong bus ride to Rama (see the previous map pin), a boat to Bluefields, then a boat to the Big Island. Then a boat to the smaller island. Simple, really.<br><br ...

... were vaccinated on site by the guy I was working with. Next time, it will be me holding a needle!<br><br>Weekend Life:<br> The crew headed out to Ometepe Island this last weekend. The island consists of two volcanoes, La Concepcion (active) and La Maderas (inactive), and is located in the middle of the largest lake in all of Central America, Lake Nicaragua. What a beautiful place. The only access is by ferry, giving the island a true rural ...

... of water in the Americas, after the Great Lakes. It contains over 350 small islands. Ometepe is the largest of these islands and is formed by two volcanoes, one on each end of the island. We arrived just before dark and were met by the usual onslaught of taxi drivers vying for our business. We decided to head to Playa Santa Domingo, a beachy area that&#8217;s supposed to be centrally located to all of the natural attractions.<br>Mom likes to leave the decision-making about where we ...

... bars and raisins haha.<br style=""> <br style=""> <br><br>Well, I took some sleeping medicine before going back to the room and it did the exact opposite. I laid awake, tucked into my cocoon of sheets as tightly as I possibly could to keep the bugs away. Oh, and the bathroom was&#8230;. Well, check out the picture of the spider. Yes, that was on the wall of the bathroom. So, I lay awake all night, having to pee so badly, but scared to death to put my feet in the ...

... grandma, so that put us off, especially the dribbling, so we plumped for mid-range and ****. Ended up having dinner with a Belgian who was cycling across Latin America and his bit of fluff that he picked up in Nicaragua. She was hilarious. She´d been living in the Costa Del Sol for 8 years but spoke no spanish. She had run a bar and an illegal bookies until it got shut down by the police. She was now trying to find herself. Think she found it in ...

... dinner he took us into his living room and showed us a home-made video of him working on his tomatoes. It was so welcoming and odd, like watching a strangers family album. Afterwards we bought some pastries from his wife for breakfast and trundled on back to our evil eco lodge. But the nasty man and his wife were angry that we didn´t have dinner there. As there had been a powercut we argued with him in the dark in spanglish and ...

... and is well-known as a vital coastal wetland region.<br><br>At a local restaurant we make an appointment with a local fisherman: the next morning he will take us with his boat for an early morning boat tour in the mangrove, for 50$ (US dollars). A dutch couple, staying in the same hotel and experienced birdwatchers, wants to join us on the boattrip, so we can split the price.<br><br> So, the next morning we get up at sunrise at about ...

... From Léon it's a 35 minutes drive to Las Peñitas, on a road that is in full construction.<br><br> <br><br> Sébaco is a hot and not really attractive town, situated at the junction of the Pan-American Highway and the Rio Grande de Matagalpa. Sébaco is the largest town of the agricultural valley of the same name. The Sébaco valley is some of the most fertile land in Nicaragua. Vegetable fields stretch as far as the eye can ...