21 January… it was a long day. We woke up at 6am to cross the border, found a(nother) fuel leak in the car. Took it to a mechanic, fixed the leak (which had miraculously disappeared) and went to the border. Border 1 involved 20 copies, 6 desks, plenty of smiling and patience and finally the (dubious) reward: an entry into Honduras. We drove for 2 hours, got stopped by 6 cops (but only had to pay off one, which, from all reports, wasn’t too bad), hit 100 potholes at reasonable speed (3 or 4 at more than reasonable speed) only to get to another border. More copies, more desks, much more heat, more waiting (yes, we arrived at lunchtime) and finally a somewhat better reward: entrance to Nicaragua!
2 borders in one day? For better or worse, we decided to avoid Honduras except for the strip of 150km separating El Salvador from Nicaragua. Honduras is a bit of a hotspot at the moment so for that and time reasons, we decided not to go. We met many people who enjoyed Honduras very much so perhaps it wasn’t the right decision, who knows. In at least one respect we made the right decision- after 4 months on the road with no trouble with cops we had to pay our first bribe in Honduras with only 2 hours in the country (he didn’t even pretend there was something wrong with the car, he just said we had to pay him or he wouldn’t let us go which was, at least, honest? And only cost $5)
So onwards we went. First stop was a surf spot in Jiquilillo at Rancho Esperanza. Jiquilillo is a quiet fishing village in the Northern part of Nicaragua with a few surf breaks, a long beach and some turtle conservation projects. It’s a peaceful spot with nothing much going on but it was just what we needed after the long border day… lots of reading and hammock time, bit or surfing (although not many waves to speak of), ice cream eating (at the home-made great ice-cream spot down the beach) and pondering the benefits (or drawbacks) of social-mission-driven hostels (for another blog perhaps).
Colourful boats on Playa Jiquilillo (this one is called Fountain of Life)
One of the highlights was joining in the turtle release at the turtle sanctuary down the beach. Turtle numbers are rapidly declining mostly due to human consumption of eggs– we mentioned in one of our previous blogs that in Mexico one of the solutions we came across was to have some beaches guarded by the military. In Nicaragua, there isn’t the money or the will for such solutions so conservation groups and have stepped in to create hatcheries (basically big sacks of sand with eggs in them) for the eggs where they won’t get dug up by people or dogs. The interesting thing is that come new moon (when most of the turtle lay their eggs), the conservation groups buy the eggs from the ‘poachers’ shortly after they are taken out of the ground. At first this seems counter-productive but we could see why… the area around the beaches are a long way from anything and is poor. People have been eating eggs as part of their nutrition and culture for years so the last thing the organisations wanted is to be seen as is a bunch of foreigners coming in and steeling the eggs from them – it wouldn’t go down too well.
When the turtles hatch, they are collected in a tub and swum out beyond the breakers where they are released (to give them the best chance of surviving) so we joined them and let them out. They swam all around and and clung on to us until we pushed them away and wished them luck for the epic journey ahead. With a little luck, of the 60 or so we released that day, maybe just one of them will survive until nesting age and will be back on that beach in a few years time.
Turtles released, it was time to head onwards to Leon, where first stop was a mechanic… yup, Pepe had stopped starting on the day of the border crossing (poor thing didn’t like the heat either) so rather than pushing-starting him through Nicaragua, it was time to get it looked at. We feared the worse when the mechanic took out the ignition switch and looked at us with a sad face saying it wasn’t possible to repair. But he offered, somewhat sheepishly, to install a nifty start button instead – he looked at us as if he were suggesting the ultimate fashion crime but we were of course ecstatic. A start button! We always wanted a start button! So off we went to Leon, 30 min later, feeling very much like we were driving an aeroplane … we now have a button that says start!
Grafiti of the revolutionary hero ‘Sandino’ in Leon
Leon is small colonial town which was really quite cool… its a bit run down and certainly doesn’t have the charm of Antigua (our last colonial town stop in Guatemala) but we loved its slight sketchiness and feel, mostly as it wasn’t overrun with tourists and felt like a working town. Two favourite bits were the main cathedral in town where you can walk on the amazing whitewashed roof (photos aplenty in the gallery) and the Museum of the Revolution where our enthusiastic guide told us all about Nicaragua’s sad but triumphant history over dictators, military coups, Oligarchs, the CIA, US Foreign Policy etc. (the same sad list that defines the history in every Central American country). It was evident here as well as throughout Nicaragua that people are very proud of their revolutionary history and about singing to no one else’s tune but their own, they’ve even managed to go against the wishes of their big bossy neighbours up North on occasions and they seem pretty chuffed. He was pretty excited to have his first ever South African visitor and loved talking about Nelson Mandela – in fact, he was the first person to mention Nelson Mandela rather than elephants when they hear Bridget is South African.
Cathedral of León by night
The white-washed roof of the Cathedral of León
The sink hole on top of ‘El Hoyo’
Filled with revolutionary fervour, it was time to tackle our next volcano hike to El Hoyo. This one proved to be much easier than the last and even had some volcano boarding thrown in the mix (slide down a volcano on a plank – everyone does it, no idea why, its a gimmick) as well as a giant sink hole. The views from the top were incredible as you look across the chain of volcanoes that runs from Leon to Lake Managua and onwards. On our last volcano hike in Guatemala, the weather had not been kind to us, so we were quite relieved to witness a perfectly clear sunset over the pacific and then a magical sunrise over lake Managua & Volcono Motombolo. We went with the tour company ‘Quetzaltrekkers’, a charitable organisation which is run almost entirely by international volunteers with money going to schools and thus its slogan is ‘Hike Volcanoes, help kids’. While we liked their mission, when we saw the mission of a local-run competitor of theirs (‘Hike volcanoes, help our employees’) it made us think a little on the merits of mission-driven tourism again.
View across Lake Managua from El Hoyo
View from El Hoyo
Our free camping spot on Playa Amarillo
Our next stop was the magical coastline of Playa Gigante where there is: a world class surf break, a Spanish school, free beach camping, a place to buy food and get internet. Pretty much perfect really. There are three beaches in the area that are completely different – Playa Gigante is a sleepy town with a backpackers, a tiny shop, plenty gallo pinto (rice and bean dish), boats and a Spanish School on the beach, Playa Amarillo is totally empty stretch of unspoilt beach and Playa Colorado (with the surfbreak) looks like America – big private beach mansions and hotels. We stayed in the middle on the incredible, deserted beach of Playa Amarillo which felt a million miles away from anywhere, except it wasn’t… there was a shop 10min walk away! Each day would begin with a 30min walk along the beach to the surfbreak (on the fancy beach), a surf, walk back, breakfast (gallo pinto) and then Spanish lessons on the other beach (the school really is right on the beach) and then back to our little camp to make some food, have a swim and watch the sunset. We never wanted to leave and just as our Spanish course was coming to an end and we were ready to move on, we got a message from some friends saying they would be arriving soon. Delighted to have an excuse to stay, we waited another day for the arrival of the clan…
Brendan at Playa Colorado (photo taken by Nicaragua Surf Shots)
Boats at Jiquillo
Jiquilillo
Jiquilillo
Jiquilillo
Jiquilillo
Chicken bus in Jiquilillo
Looking across the chain of volcanoes
Climbing El Hoyo
El Hoyo – The Hole
Momotombo Volcano
volcano gazing
Sulfur vent, El Hoyo Volcano
Sunset views from El Hoyo Volcano
Dualling Volcanoes at sunset
Campfire vibes
Sunrise over Lake Managua
Leon Catherderal
Revolutionary street art in Leon
Revolutionary street art in Leon
Leon Catherderal
One of the many beautiful churches in Leon
Man riding bike carrying mannequins….
another fine church
Leon Cathedral at dusk
Leon main square by night
An evening rendezvous for the sisters
Leon night market
Meat feasting
Freshly restored roof – Leon Cathedral
Freshly restored roof – Leon Cathedral
Whitest white against the bluest blue
Freshly restored roof – Leon Cathedral
Revolutionary museum Leon
Revolutionary museum Leon
Sunset Gigante bay
Lunchtime, Playa Amarillo
Free camping, Playa Amarillo
Sunset, Playa Amarillo
The pig per capita ratio in Nica is high!
Our magic tree, Playa Amarillo
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