Lakes, beaches and a rather muddy volcano
Trip Start
Jul 27, 2004
1
18
120
Trip End
Dec 13, 2006
Leon to San Juan del Sur,
Nicaragua
Wednesday, December 1, 2004
We spent the next day exploring the town. On one side of the parque central there is a huge cathedral which is quite well preserved, they also had an exhibition of numerous statues of Mary in various immaculate poses. We also visited the 'Gallery of Heroes and Martyrs' which is dedicated to people who were killed during Nicaragua's turblent past
01 Cathedral in Leon
. On the west side of town there is another big church which we took a look at & immediately opposite there is a big playing field where the local kids were practising their baseball which is the most popular sport here. We also looked at the ruins of two churches which were flattened by previous earthquakes here.. but there are only a few overgrown rocks left to see.The next day we travelled on through the capital Managua (land of the pickpockets but we didn't stop) to Granada. Granada is a pretty colonial town and quite popular with tourists. It is right on the edge of lake Nicaragua which is the 10th largest freshwater lake in the world and unusually for a lake is populated by Bull Sharks. We walked down to see the lake but it was windy and really rough so we didn't spot any fins.. We stayed at a hospidaje (guesthouse) which had a lovely big courtyard garden with resident humming birds. The rooms were big and appeared to have been converted from stables - they had large double doors opening directly onto the courtyard. The town of Granada also has the usual splendid churches and old buildings but unlike Leon it also has plenty of estate agents targeting rich gringos. The plus side of the increased tourism was that we found a great place called simply 'El Bar' which was run by a dutch lady. It was a really cool bar which had obviously been refurbished at great expense and was deservedly popular. It also had a restaurant with a lot of enticing western food so we indulged and had Lasagne and a bottle of red wine.
02 Yellow Church Leon
. absolute luxury after 2mths of rice and beans!!! They did well to cook it as we had a power cut and the kitchen staff were apparently cooking by candelight..We stayed in Granada for 3nights and then took buses south to Rivas where we took a cheap taxi to the port of San Jorge (complete with statue of George and the dragon). Here we got our first view of Isle de Omnetepe.. this is an island which is framed by two huge volcanoes at either end. The island was created a couple of hundred years ago when the larger one Concepcion erupted (it is still active now) and the ensuing lava cooled in the lake and created one island about 30km across. The view from the harbour was pretty spectacular and we took the boat across, sitting on the roof with the luggage due to a lack of seats inside. After a 3hr bumpy bus ride across the island we were dropped off by the bus and then had to walk for an hour to reach where we were going to stay. It was dark before we got there but we could still see the path as it was nearly a full moon and there were hundreds of fireflies lighting the way! Finca Magdalena is a co-operative of about 14 local families who grow coffee to sell but they also have a basic guesthouse/restaurant where the small basic rooms are only $5 US a night. It is an ideal place to stay as it is at the base of Volcan Maderas (extinct) and the starting point for climbing it. On our arrival it was quite busy with some military people about.. two men one British and one American had gone missing climbing the volcano ten days before and were still being searched for. The following morning we organised a guide ($5us each) and headed off up the volcano. It was a 4hr hike to the top and although you get good views on the way up the summit is covered with vegetation so you can't see anything from the top. However you then climb down into the crater for about 20mins (at one point using a rope to get past some steep rocks) and inside the crater is a green lagoon
03 Christmas Tree and Cathedral in Granada
. When we got to the lagoon you could only see about 15-20metres out due to the mist and cloud but we still went in for a swim. After drying off and whilst having lunch the cloud cleared and you could see the oval lake and forested sides of the crater which were beautiful. Also at the lagoon we saw one of the many search parties looking for the two missing men. We thought the climb down would be easy but it had rained and the path was now really muddy so it was just as slow going down and very slippy. Big patches of mud over a foot deep were everywhere and the mud was soon covering us too as we tried our best not to slip over completely! We made it safely down and had a beer with some of the others who had also climbed it.. although we had plenty of clothes to wash !!The next day as Sunday so no buses were running but we managed to get a minibus back across the island and caught a boat back to the mainland. We stayed the night in Rivas a nearby town along with Julia a German girl we had met on the island. There wasn't much choice of places to stay so we took rooms at a cheap hospidaje although it was a bit disconcerting to see a rat running around from the kitchen into the corridor. Only a small one and actually looked quite cute and fluffy to me but the girls didnt think so!!! We went and had a few beers in the town and whilst Mandy & Julia practised their spanish with some of the locals I settled for watching Oakland Raiders beat Denver Bronco's in the snow on the tv.
The following day we caught the bus (10cordobas/30pence) to San Juan del Sur which was only an hour away. This is a lazy beach town and we found a good place to stay right on the seafront - the Hotel Estrella (65cordobas/2pounds each). The beach is quite big with very fine sand and arcs round to some rocks at the north end, which is quieter. There are quite a few pelicans flying around and it is great fun watching them crash land into the water as they try to catch fish. We spent a couple of lazy days here enjoying the sunshine and beach and I did some fishing off the rocks although no luck this time as the sea was too rough (well that's my excuse!).
Unfortunately the two men missing on Volcan Maderas have still not been found (as of Dec 3rd) but searches are continuing there. Our next stop in central America will be Costa Rica.
