Central America re-visited
Trip Start
Mar 31, 2006
1
33
37
Trip End
Mar 31, 2007
Tela,
Honduras
Tuesday, February 27, 2007
Costa Rica dry forest
. And like Panama it looks all up for sale to foreigners.The Santa Rosa Park (the last remaining original dry forest in Central America, according to the guide book) was lovely especially as we were the only campers in a huge campground which is dominated by four vast fig trees. We had two lovely nights there and during the day took the worst road, by far, that we have ever driven down to the coast which is almost completely deserted apart from a few surfers. We were highly entertained by the huge iguanas that frequent the picnic site and watching how they enforced their pecking order. The beach is endless around a magnificent bay and is reputed to have good surfing. We really should have hiked the 24km return journey but the heat put us off.
Our third night we went into the adjoining park of Rincon which has an active volcano we wanted to visit. They no longer allow camping in the park but we found a lovely garden setting in a nearby lodge; why a posh lodge lets people use their garden for camping I do not know but we did not complain. The next day we were up bright and early to be the first at the crater only to be told that it was too dangerous to walk there due to the fierce winds and anyway it was in thick cloud. A shame but we made up for it with lovely walks in the large acreage belonging to the lodge and soaked in some hot springs which we had all to ourselves
Daddy Iguana
.We were sad to leave Costa Rica as it does have some of the best parks we have been to in Latin America but another work trip is calling me with flights booked from Guatemala. We crossed into Nicaragua without too much hassle although a straight-faced official did us out of $10 in fees; quite deliberately asked for $14 but only gave us a receipt for $4! We only noticed the difference when back on the road. We passed through three police road blocks in very short order with no problems before the fourth hit on the right question: where are your triangles? No triangles: infraction! $25. Not a huge amount in the greater scheme of things but big relative to our budget! He did a tremendous song-and-dance about our safety when changing a tyre; meanwhile pick-up trucks were going by so full that passengers were hanging on the sides. But the wrinkle was that we had to pay the fine at a bank (over 50km away) while he kept my driving licence; when we had paid, the bank would radio to him and he would bring me my licence! Pull the other one mate. Strong words were muttered by the licence holder with the policeman asking the wife what the licence holder was saying; thankfully wife did not know the Spanish words for a literal translation. But she asked couldn't we pay him? He pulled himself up to a mighty five feet and said, very hurt, prohibido! Sheila then said that the banks would be closed by the time we got there; wasn't there something we could work out
Flowering trees near Jinotega
. He then relaxed and said we could pay him. What a performance. It took a good half-hour to get to where we knew we would get to in the end.We had not really recognised how poor Nicaragua is when we came south but we immediately noticed the horses and carts everywhere and the dirt-poor dwellings in stark contrast with Costa Rica. The Nicaraguan receptionist at the Rincon lodge had 10 years of university but could not get a decent job in Nicaragua; I asked him about his new president and he said with bitterness "garbage!" Daniel Ortega, who led the original Sandinistas, has got in again on his fourth try after several unholy alliances had not worked; I do not think he has any political ethics, just wants to be president. As you drive past Managua on the way to Leon you pass some sumptuous villas behind high barbed wire fences and are frequently passed by darkly tinted, fast moving expensive cars; so there are some extremely wealthy Nicaraguans who pass out jobs to family and friends and keep their money very tight. It is difficult to see how the man in the street can get to the next rung and the new president is unlikely to help. All the Central American countries seem to be trying to emulate Costa Rica on the tourist front but they have not protected their tourist "resources" so how they are going to do it I do not know.
La Ensenada Garifuna village
We spent two nights in Leon which is the "other" city that travellers visit; the first choice seems to be Granada but we liked Leon much better as it is more alive, more lived in, than Granada. We stayed at the Hostal Clinica which really puts you in the midst of a Nicaraguan family with granny wandering up and down on her bowed legs with a parrot sitting on her head; daughters doing homework; dog and cat playing endlessly; all in the same room that the guests relax in; very pleasant. We always like a town once we have found an establishment that sells cheap beer, which we found on our second night. Lots of live music in the streets and a lovely religious procession wending its way slowly from one blessing stop to another. Nothing fancy about the town but an enjoyable visit.
We then made our way east through San Jacinto (near Leon) which has a field of bubbling mud pools and sulphurous steam vents where, in company of six or more resident expert volcanologists most under the age of 10, we were lead around in expectation of a tip. Sheila's hand was firmly grasped by one little girl who proceeded to rub her face up and down Sheila's arm; it was a very hot but extremely fascinating walk. They told us that the hot sulphurous mud would take away the itching from mosquito bites so Sheila's legs looked very funny by the time we got back to the car where a dozen hands were presented for a propina
Lake Yojoa, Honduras
!We then headed towards the Honduran border via Silva Negra (always a good stop as $1.5 per person buys you a good cup of coffee and a slice of cake and the run of their coffee estate and large cloud forest...we visited it on our way south as well) with a night in Jinotega where we had stayed previously. The little restaurant next to the hostal specialised in Sopa con Huevos de Toro: you guessed it - bull's balls. I could not resist especially as the pretty young waitress winked at me, nodded towards Sheila, and said it would give me strength; not at all sure what she meant but the wink was enough!
Our reason for retracing our steps through Silva Negra and Jinotega was that it is said to be the best drive in Nicaragua but last time it was cloaked in cloud. This time it was beautifully sunny and we stayed going north on a very minor road and had one of our best drives joining the Pan Americana north of Esteli.
We reached the border at about mid-day on a Sunday with the usual line of trucks leading up to the border but nothing moving and it was abnormally quiet. We soon found out why! We were greeted by the usual young touts who had some story about the banks being closed and $40 we had to pay etc
Leon Cathedral
. etc. Sheila, very haughtily, said nonsense and that we did not need their help. The touts were very patient and followed closely until this rather rude senora found out that they were right: since we had passed through the last time they had slapped on a whole host of charges some of which could only be paid at the bank. Of course banks are not open on Sundays. Under the notice informing the tourist of these new charges was the exhortation that "no further charges were necessary and that we should help stamp out corruption by reporting irregularities". Well if you do not want to spend the night at the border you first give the customs lady $5.50 to hold your money till the next day and $3 to the tout that delivers the money to the bank and gets the necessary stamp. Honduras boasts that its borders are open 24 hours but have now put in a system that actually severely limits the hours of operation for the poor motorist. The tout, a very patient and knowledgeable young man, also did the job of the hugely fat policeman who was having lunch and watching football on TV and sent the tout to examine our car and check the chassis number. The young man was the first person who had actually done it properly and who actually knew where the chassis number was; of course it did not match but he went all over the car until he found a number that did. We were then on our way with a frequently cursing Sheila.Our first stop was on the banks of Lake Yojoa 2.5 hours beyond Tegucigalpa (my favourite city name) in a barely begun campsite where we stayed for free courtesy of the pucker British owner, although the restaurant meal, that we felt obliged to eat, wiped out any savings
Mud pool
. But we had a lovely quiet night except for some odd noises that had us on the edge of our mattresses but as you can see we are still alive.As we followed the road from Tegucigalpa to the Caribbean coast Sheila kept saying watch out for a right turn; we never found a right turn the whole way; a complete mystery to Sheila and nothing like the map but not the slightest bit surprising to me.
From the lake we drove a few hours to the Caribbean coast and I write this from a very hot little Garifuna village called La Ensenada (mostly black inhabitants that were shipped across from St Vincent by the British to an off-shore island and then from there to the mainland by the Spanish). These villages are given very high billing in the guide books but I think they are grossly over-blown as they are really only there to serve the tourists and the litter on the beach and throughout the villages is the worst we have seen (but maybe we are just getting jaded by all the wonderful places we have already seen). We did feel we should have at least a quick look at the Caribbean but we both much prefer the Pacific with its large crashing waves.
